New Toy

This week's blog post is late because I was waiting for the arrival of my new toy. A Bosworth Charkha! It wasn't the easiest or most pleasant buying experience but it is a marvelous little machine. The cherry wood is beautiful and it runs as smooth as silk. And I don't think I've ever received anything in the mail that was so impeccably wrapped for shipping. I plan to learn how to use this little baby in my Folk School class with the Spinning Guru in two weeks. I can't wait! Patsy is such an incredible woman and spinner--the kind that never acts like she knows it ALL (but probably does) and always continues to strive to improve and learn more. She's definitely my spinning hero!

Even though there were some busy and stressful days last week, I managed to crank out two kinda different skeins.

In Patsy's Novelty Yarns DVD, she spins a single with Mylar and uses it to ply with different fibers. I had some Firestar laying about that I'd bought for blending and was inspired to spin it alone.
It had a decent staple length (about 2.5 in.) and was actually very pleasant to spin. I ended up plying it on itself and the finished yarn came in at 18 WPI. It made quite a nice yarn; flexible and soft with only a slight crunchy feeling. It would be a little scratchy to use for a garment alone but I could definitely see using it for a few rows on the ribbed edges or maybe as a single stripe. Was definitely Fun!

My Blue Moon roving skein was also fun--a thick and thin slub yarn. Certainly not my usual yarn! Originally, I intended to make a spiral yarn by plying it with a thin singles spun from the carded up roving to produce a perfect neutral (which would coordinate with all the colors). I even went so far as to card up the strip and start spinning but it made me so sad to see the resulting dull grey (at the time I needed color!) that instead I plyed it on itself. Being Merino, it's probably not the most stable yarn since the slubs matched up together nicely and don't provide alot of strength. But I love how the colors look in basically a two ply yarn--so different than the muddiness of the regular 2-ply with the consistantly spun singles. Which is another lesson learned in and of itself.

The discoveries continue...