Saturday, December 13, 2008

More Spindle Talk

I just had to drop a quick post here today to thank you all so very much for your words of encouragement, useful links, and general support for my little toe-dipping venture into spindling! Your words have inspired me to give it another whirl this weekend. I promise you . . . no matter how pathetic my attempt may be, I will post photos next week.

I've also gotten a few comments and also e-mails about the possibility of carrying roving in the future. So here's a little secret: I've got about 70 pounds of undyed roving that's been patiently waiting for an absolute eternity.



There is both an Australian wool there and also a superwash merino. I bought it long ago, with the plans to add some roving to my line, but after a bit of dyeing experimentation and more thought, I felt as though I could not do it justice since I'm not a spinner myself. I don't think I need to be an expert spinner to dye roving, but I feel as though I need to have a greater comfort level in handling the beast, as well as a better sense of how the dyed roving will look when converted into yarn.

For those of you who have been around forever, you may remember this:



That is handspun by Anne Hanson, using some of the roving I dyed. I sent her a few ounces of a couple of colors and fabulously wonderful gal that she is, she sent some back to me as gift, all spun up into the most glorious yarn! I still haven't used it. It spends most of its time sitting somewhere in plain sight so that I can gaze at it.

Anyhow, a big Thank You for all of your support! You guys are the best!


3 comments:

knitspot anne said...

damn, woman, you should knit that up; i'm pretty sure you'll able to gaze equally well at it as socks, or mitts and a scarf . . . and then you could even take it out on dates!
it truly is lovely fiber, too; i enjoyed spinning it.

Lynne E. said...

Agreed, that's too pretty to leave languishing and unknit-up. :-) It's typical of the care that you expend on your yarns that you haven't wanted to offer roving until you understood more about how it would convert to yarn.

EGunn said...

That's a lot of roving! There's a lot of good information in the Winter edition of Spin Off magazine; I'm new to spinning, and I found it really useful to see the different ways to combine colors to make yarn. The yarn is beautiful! I'm sure you can spindle, and I'm even more sure that you can dye beautiful roving! Look forward to seeing it some day. =)