Have Ewe Any Wool?

Friday, January 30, 2009

First Snow and Spinning Progress

This past Tuesday into Wednesday, we had our first real snow. Tuesday evening was beautiful! The snow was falling with just a little bit of sleet mixed in. My doggie LOVES the snow! She was beside herself with joy when we set off for the 2+ mile walk in the snow. She's absolutely fascinated by the smells when it snows and always has a dusting of the white stuff on her nose (double click on the right picture).



Since all plans for both Tuesday evening and Wednesday were put "on hold" due to the weather, I took advantage of this time to finish off some of the projects I started at the retreat.

I plied the several yards of "lumpy" Angora that I'd spun. I like how the bright pink and deep pink blended during the plying process. Unfortunately, the "lumpy-bumpy" singles produced a "lumpy-bumpy" yarn. I did a little research on spinning Angora and found that some folks have better luck spinning smooth yarn by carding the fiber and making punis for spinning. I think I'll try that method next.

Next, I finished spinning the hand-dyed Merino. Who'd have thought it would take me a year to finish spinning a 4.6 oz. bundle of such gorgeous colors! I then tried my hand at Navajo plying - careful to keep the colors as separate as possible. The first skein was a bit inconsistent (foreground). The second skein was much more even (background). Wahoo! I think I've mastered it!

By Wednesday morning, the lovely snow had turned to ice. It had been topped by sleet and freezing rain. It was beautiful to look at, but treacherous to walk or drive on!
Even my "porch hedgies" were frozen!

6 Comments:

  • At 4:31 PM, Blogger Lizardknits said…

    The hand dyed merino is gorgeous! I'm still working on spinning up 4 oz of merino/tencel I got at last year's Montpelier Festival. I haven't tried Navaho plying yet. With all the knitting you do - how come that poor, skinny little dog of yours isn't wearing a hand knitted sweater? She needs one!

     
  • At 5:54 PM, Blogger Jinann said…

    Thanks!

    As for the "skinny" dog...she eats well - just enough without over-doing it (unlike her mistress). As for the dog sweater, she HATES wearing anything. DH says I'm cruel when I've tried to get her to where a bandana! But heaven forbid you remove her collar to put on the new dog license...she HATES having her "jewelry" removed! LOL!

     
  • At 6:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    ... the hedgies are still smiling! maybe they were skating around when you weren't looking?
    xo-py

     
  • At 9:01 PM, Blogger Mia said…

    What a sweet snow dog! Mine's really attached to his collar too. He looks lost without it :( That's some beautiful spinning. The Navajo ply is lovely!

     
  • At 3:25 PM, Blogger Lizardknits said…

    I guess I'm just used to seeing my chubby, short-legged dogs, who are currently on a diet - just like their owner!

     
  • At 7:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Such a sweet doggie, they remind me so much of children all of their joy and exuberance. I'm sure you will find the perfect project for the angora, the color is very nice.

     

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