Very First Handspun Yarn

This is it, my very first handspun yarn! I spent the better part of four hours this afternoon plying my singles into the yarn pictured here.
It seemed to take forever to get through it, just went on and on and my arms started getting tired by the end. But, I am very happy with the results.

I still have to wash the yarn and measure it's WPI (wraps per inch) to determine it's weight. I also want to look into getting a scale so that I can determine it's approximate yardage. I still have 2oz. left of this fiber to spin up and want to eventually use it to knit a scarf.

I bought this roving when I went to the Fiber Festival in Booneville. It's naturally colored Dark Blue Faced Leister from Tactile Fiber Arts and I love the natural gray color. I had heard that Blue Faced Leister was one of the easier fibers to spin and decided to start with it so that I wouldn't get too frustrated.

Since then, I keep looking at all the beautifully hand-dyed roving for sale online and can't wait to spin something up that has lots of colors. Now I know why people tend to collect more than one drop spindle, you can work on more than one spinning project at once :)

Alive and Kicking

Just like this sheep! I took this picture at the California Wool and Fiber Festival two weekends ago in Boonville. I've been interested in learning how to spin and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I signed up for a beginning spinning on a drop spindle class with Nancy Finn from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks and loved it. I've kept up the spinning at home since the class and I think I'm getting better. At least what I'm making is looking more like yarn and less like lumps :)

Throughout the festival, I saw many sheep being sheered as well as some very fluffy angora rabbits. I bought some fiber from Tactile Fiber Arts so that I could practice my spinning and looked at all of the other wonderful things. I must admit that the thought of buying a raw fleece and turning it into yarn is a bit daunting at this point. I think I'll stick with my little fluff balls of fiber for now.

I was also out of town this past weekend. My boyfriend and I decided to go camping in Truckee. We packed up all the food and equipment and headed up there Thursday afternoon. It was beautiful, although a little chilly at night (about 3o degrees Fahrenheit). We toasted marshmallows, made s'mores and cooked hot dogs on a stick. I also knit by the biggest campfire I've seen in a long time :) Which reminds me, does anyone know how to get that campfire smell out of yarn?















On the knitting front, I also finished my Silk Shrug. Yeah, happy dance!! It took a while, but I knew I would get there eventually. I've already been eying other sweater patterns I can make next. This was the first time I've really had to seam anything and it took a while before I got the hang of it. I'm much better at mattress stitch than I am at the other types of finishing I tried. I still have to weave in a few ends and block it, but I think it looks pretty good. I can't wait to wear it this winter :) I love the color.