Rest, Relaxation, and Spindles

Ahhh, that was the sound of stress evaporating. Getting away and hearing the constant whoosh-ing of the waves on Waikiki Beach--a good thing. It was a most glorious trip to paradise which I knit into a shawl.

My Hawaii Charlotte's Web.I took a bunch of Koigu (and various clones from other hand-dyers) along with me and this was the result. The first three colors of various turquoise/aqua reflect the colors of the water. I especially like how the alternating sections between the colors expresses the breaking waves. The pink represents the Royal Hawaiian (which looks like a big pink sand castle) where we stayed. And, the green mix for all the various shades of green in Hawaii.

The first four colors were knit on Waikiki beach. Had alot of comments from people (not all favorable) about knitting on the beach. But, the best was one morning when a Japanese lady made a trek up from the water's edge and the rest of her family to see what I was making. As she knew no English and my Japanese consists of counting from 1-5, it was an interesting display of how knitting crosses all boundaries.

I also learned a new fiber craft--Hawaiian Quilting.
A sweet lady named Daisy came to the hotel and was willing to help anyone learn. It is deceptively difficult. And, I'm not a stranger to needle and thread work as the very first craft I learned was embroidery at the age of six. But, getting the edge to turn over on the appliqued pineapple with just the tip of a needle and even sts (Daisy was a perfectionist after my own heart) was easier said than done. Wish we could have stayed longer but I plan to keep practicing my hand quilting and maybe make a pillow top this summer.

Ah yes, I promised spindle pics. As it was my Aloha birthday, a couple of boxes were brought along. Kerry alerted me to this spindle maker, and I couldn't NOT get this spindle for this particular trip. A pink mother of shell spindle from ButterflyGirl on Etsy.
It's difficult to tell, but the whorl is only 2" and it weighs about 1 oz. Most of the ButterflyGirl spindles have quite long shafts, especially for the size of the whorl, so I had her shorten this one to 8". I'm very glad I did as it's a nice size to use while sitting now. About the same size as my Golding Tsunami. It's a very fast spinner since it's more center weighted and I was spinning 50/50 merino/tencel which was slippery and could take alot of twist. You don't even want to know the looks I got from spindling on the beach in the early morning.

The other spindle was a complete surprise to me. Sort of. I'd picked out a number of them that I liked on a couple of different websites and this is the one that I was given. A Forrester Tree spindle!! It has a Rock Maple whorl and Maple shaft--31 gms. Spins like lightening! Might be the perfect spindle.
Here they are together--it's a bit easier to see how really tiny the shell spindle is this way.
Also from Butterfly Girl--3 oz of merino/silk batts in a color she calls Plumaria. Because I changed my mind, these didn't arrive until after I was home. They're nicely prepared and I'm looking forward to spinning them up.
Oh, and the first installment of my Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club arrived this week, too. It's called Perfect Storm and is Wensleydale! Can't wait to dive in.
More Wensleydale is on the way, too. From my favorite hand-dyer, too--Lisa S. Photos of that next time.