pink and blue

The new ball of yarn plied with the one from yesterday. Sorry about the short post!

How it started out.

Underside of the spindle when full.

Two skeins plied and the spindle ready for the next ball!

shade wall update

Earlier in the summer we decided to try a shadewall to help with the heat that radiates from the west facing walls of the house. There are no trees to shade this area and so we put up a wire fence kind of a thing to grow plants on. These plants are passionfruit vines.

They have these large purple flowers that smell very sweet and attract hummingbirds. So far no fruit.

This is the skein from last night. It weighed in at 1.2 ounces.

Of Skeins and Cats in Baskets

Cats are such wonderful curious creatures. This is not the first one to check out a basket but he surely must be one of the most beautiful. His name is Raffles and he is a Ragdoll who belongs to my friend Pam. I actually picked the basket to go with her living room rug and decor but it fits the cat nicely too.

I'm learning a lot even just at this beginning end of the Turkish spindle exploration. One of my goals is to eventually learn to navajo ply on one. For now I am pretty happy just spinning away and getting better at that.











This is the previous day's ball along with the current one.

The two pull balls ready to ply.

It is currently taking me 2 1/2 hours to spin one ounce. That is five hours total to spin the two ounces to make one plied skein. I'm cheating and plying on a spinning wheel and it take all of about 10 minutes. The reason I am not plying on the spindle is that it would not hold the entire skein and I don't want to cut it.

This is the latest skein and it weighed in at 2.3 ounces and was 81 yards.

August 3

Here is the plied yarn from days one and two. I like the blues of this with just a little bit of saffron.

Today's ball was slightly larger and came in at 1.3 ounces.

This is the batt before it was spun. 

On the spindle.

1.3 ounces!

Here is tomorrow's batt.

So all of this is well and good and I am getting better at spinning on the Turkish spindle but I had a thought. What if we put all these little skeins up for sale at the shop during this month as they are made, up until the middle of September. Then the proceeds will be donated to our local chapter of SNAP which is the Spay and Neuter Action Program here in Las Cruces. Some of the other Turkish spinners here asked if they could join in and I think that is a great idea. Hopefully we can raise some money for this very worthwhile charity this month. Come join me at the shop and spin some or email me pictures of what you are currently working on. You can also follow us on Facebook Here

Second Ball

Here is the day's spinning for you.

The spindle, last nights spun ball and the batt for today.

The ball from today. About an ounce.

The two balls together.

I plied them on the Lendrum.

Check back tomorrow to see the finished skein....

August

Last evening I was discussing with a friend that elusive quality that is sometimes found in the arts and crafts world. That certain something that lets you know that this person has been doing whatever it is for a long time. With writers they have this concept of showing up on the page every day and putting in the hours to write. With artists it is time at the easel. You get the idea. This conversation led us to speculate on the change in understanding that occurs when you do something everyday for a period of time. August is my least favorite month, so I got to thinking - what if I took this time when I normally count down the days until it is over, to learn a new skill or get better at a skill I already have. So last night I got out the new Turkish spindle, the beautiful Mesquite one with the turned shaft and began to spin a fairly bulky yarn. This spindle weighs 2.1 ounces which makes it pretty heavy for a drop spindle of any kind. I wanted to add at least an ounce of fiber to it and see what that was like.

This ball came in at 1.1 ounces and was made from a mini batt like the ones we have at the store. (Thank you Kym!)

The plan for today is to spin another one and then ply them together tomorrow.

I'm inviting you along on this journey to see if I can become a better Turkish spindle spinner. If you are in the Las Cruces area, come by the store to see in person what I'm spinning daily. If you are further away, check in with me here in bloglandia and we will keep in touch. Maybe we can think of something fun to do with the yarn at the end of the month?!?

Spindle Love

Delicate Lovely Turkish Spindles have taken over my spinning. This small one is just perfect for lace weight yarns. BFL and silk spin up like a dream on this.

The thing about these little spindles is that one is rarely enough. Three or five are even better. Even though you can make a pull ball or two and then ply onto the same spindle it is fun to play with several.

Mesquite and Cocobollo woods.

For the serious spinner a couple of Ashford Travellers all stained and put together and ready for new homes. This is such a nice all purpose wheel and like all the Ashford's they are solid workhorses.