Sunday, March 15, 2009

Heaven Sent


You may recall that not too long ago I referred to this as an instrument of the devil:






Well, if that's an instrument of the devil, my Golding Solid Lignum Vitae must be heaven-sent! Just look at how sweet and angelic it looks sitting next to my first beginner's spindle.






The two beginner's spindles (one bottom and one top whorl) that I bought to give spindling a try for the first time are certainly adequate for that purpose, but I do find having something really well made and also suited to my tastes (that is, for finer yarn) makes spinning much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I haven't had a whole lot of time for it lately but I've been try to squeeze in a few minutes a day at least. I even bought this:






I'm a few chapters into the book and am finding it an enjoyable read. I haven't gotten to anything particularly meaty yet nor learned any great tips to help improve my still sorely lacking spinning skills, but I have found it an interesting read and also found the section about characteristics of a good spindle helpful. I'm sure I'll want to buy another spindle or two before too long.


In the meantime, with this lighter-weight tool (.65 oz) I'm able to produce a finer yarn. I spun the blue yarn that I showed you previously with this spindle. The Feather & Fan scarf I was knitting with that yarn is now done and just waiting to be blocked. I have some more of the same wool fiber dyed in a very similar shade of blue that I'm spinning now, but this time a bit finer still. Here's a blurry photo for you:






I have a long way to go, but I've come a long way already from those first whirls (eek!):






I'm off to make a nice lunch of cod and brocolli (still holding steady on the diet path!) and perhaps will take up the spindle for a little while after that.

Hope everyone is having a glorious weekend!

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