Moving Right Along

I have learned a lot about spinning in the past 3 months. Here is all the yarn I have spun on my spindle so far since 8 September. This may seem silly, but I've come to realize (as tacit knowledge rather than a "fact" that someone told me) that drafting the fiber is more important than the twist. The first lot of yarn I spun was twisted really tightly, but I don't like it as much as the more recent batches of yarn. Spun less tight, the yarn is softer, and I like it much better. It seems more "springy" than my first attempts.


I've been spinning little bits at a time and plying them. Then I felt the ends together to make a bigger skein.


I spin my singles, then I wind from the spindle onto a skein winder. I take that off the skein winder and Peruvian (or Andean) ply from the ball of singles back onto the spindle. At first I took the singles and put it on my finger to keep the ends from tangling, but my finger quickly fell asleep, and it proved to be unnecessary. Just pop the ball of the winder and ply.

Socks

Much knitting has occurred since 13 November, but much knit-blogging has not. I actually finished the Falkenberg jacket on 14 November, but I've been struggling with blocking it. It's been blocked three times now, but to no great effect. Once it's dry, I'll see if this version is worth photographs.

In the mean time, I finished a project I began in 2003. I bought this yarn at SOAR and knitted one sock in Michigan. The other sock was almost entirely knitted while I waited for my visa at the Syrian border in mid November. I love them. They are pure wool, but worth hand-washing. Each time I wear them they felt a bit more to the shape of my feet. They are comfortable, and they are the first socks I've knitted that didn't have holes at the corner of the heel! As you can see, I didn't alternate skeins. Fire me.