Here’s a compilation of my recent Instagram posts, showing all the wooly activities I’ve been up to lately. I always think of my Word Press site as my primary site, because it’s the one I began blogging on, so of course it means more to me. That being said, the convenience of Instagram has won me over at times, even though I like Word Press a lot better. There’s just something about taking a phone pic and posting it quickly that’s so easy. It has it’s limits though: perfectly good pictures get unexpectedly cropped, and in depth posts just don’t seem to have a place as they do here, at an actual blogging platform. I could post my phone pics here too, but I don’t usually because I have a higher standard for this site and most always use DSLR pics exclusively here.
For today’s post though, I’m going for the best of both worlds: a recap for WP using phone pics, with a short narrative that tells a story timeline in pictures:
It all began when I decided to spin up the Sari Silk batts I made. I did 2 spins: The first spin, a 2 ply Aran weight, 8 WPI, 155 yds (142 m):
I really love pouring on the Sari Silk color! I can’t get enough of it!
The 2nd spin I did ended up being a fingering weight single, 15 WPI, 210 yds (192 m), which I autowrapped with gold Sulky Holoshimmer thread. It’s from my daughter’s sewing stash, and she kindly lent it to me for my spinning:
I’m going to keep it for myself. I have a sweater pattern in my queue that I’ve been wanting to knit for years. First I didn’t have the pattern, so I finally bought it. Then I needed the right size needle, which I didn’t have. I recently got around to buying that from twistedyarnshop.com, and it came wrapped up so nicely:
It’s my first try with a square needle, so I’ll be reporting on that in a future post. It’s supposed to be easier on the hands. When I took it out of it’s bag, I found it to be a wonderfully lightweight needle, surprisingly so. I think it’ll make my sweater knitting very enjoyable 🙂
Over the past couple of months, the last part of winter, I spent some of my extended indoor time processing wool from the 3 fleeces I bought last September. I really must take a picture of them fully laid out in the sun so you can get an idea of how they look. First really nice day of mild weather I’ll do that. I washed small amounts at a time in the kitchen sink. Here’s a washed, uncombed lock from each of the fleece:
Each one is very unique in it’s own way, and it’s quite amazing to realize how much could be said about 3 different kinds of wool. I wouldn’t be doing them justice to try to in a brief post like this.
Here’s what I processed during my self taught apprenticeship over the winter:
And on my work table (the dining table converted to a wool station):
I made homemade drying racks out of some frames and the tulle I bought to wash the wool with. The frame on the left is from an old roaster pan, and the other is from…I can’t remember where we got it from! It’s one of those items.
Finally, I had to stop and do wheel maintenance during the spin with the gold thread. It got sucked into the central bearing of my wheel when I first began, and it made the wheel noisy, which of course tipped my off to the fact that something was wrong. I knew what had caused it, and I stopped what I was doing to take it apart:
I didn’t spare any care:
Thankfully, once I removed the thread it spun noise free once again.
It brings me joy and I love the way it looks, so I do my best to keep it in good condition 🙂
And that, my friends, is the latest update on my wooly & artful doings.
Take care and thanks for reading 🙂
Sewcoordinated 