Spinning and Dr. Who

My most recent trip to yarn store also included a side trip to the bead store. Among the various things I picked up were some beads intended for use as spindle whorls. Last night I went to the dollar store in search of cheap wooden handled paintbrushes.

This is what I came home with (the paint brushes and eye hooks, everything else I already had).

And this is what I made. It spins pretty nicely, with only a bit of wobble at the end of a spin, the only real problem with it is that the handle is too short to hold what I was trying to use it for last night. I'm going to need to hit Curry's downtown to find something with a longer handle (and a wider circumference as the hole in the flat beads was too big). But over all I am pleased.

I spun all of the purple/brown/pink fiber yesterday, trying to do so according to the article on fractal self striping yarns in one of the Spin-Offs from earlier this year. This is what I ended up with.

Now I just have to figure out how to ply these singles...(and also to figure out if I spun one of them the wrong way... should I have done one S and one Z or do I do both the same and then ply them the other way... guess I should have checked that first huh...). I did spin some of the one with my DIY spindle, but ended up transfering the singles to the ashford and finishing it with that. It is uneven and wretched, but an improvement over the last time, so I count that as a small victory.

This week, knitting wise, I've been focusing on the Dr. Who scarf I'm knitting for my sister for Christmas. It is now significantly taller than I am... and I'm only about half way through. She is coming home this weekend so I won't be able to work on it then, but I should be able to finish it up next week. By which time the needles and yarn I need to move on to the next batch of Christmas things will have arrived. (If only my school work were this productive and well organized....)

Wool gathering

Today was a good day - as most of it was spent shopping or knitting (and I finished Iter, bonus).

I went to Lettuce Knit to pick up some of the necessaries for a couple of projects and my HSKS2. I noticed a red in the Euroflax I didn't see before, I think that is what I want to use when I do one for myself. I also picked up some Mini Maiden (half silk, half wool) it is soooo soft. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I'll probably stash it and then collect a few more in matching colours then maybe do a shawl or some such.

My next stop was Lee Valley, where I got dowel rods to make into needles (and a book on the navy). I am ever so excited to try it, I love the idea of being as involved in the total knitting process as possible so making the tools ranks way up there on the 'how cool is that' scale. [It remains to be seen if I can execute, but I look forward to trying anyway]. BTW: that store is amazing! It was a very dangerous place to go into, I'm terribly lucky I didn't leave with plans for a roll top desk or a boat...

Question: could pen blanks be used to make effective spindle shafts?

Later I went back to Michael's for a few things and hit up Fabricland for bag making supplies - I think ours might be closing. After that I found a few things I still lacked at Zellers.

The rest of the night was knitting- I've finally got started knitting the nightie from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I am very much enjoying it, I'm nearly finished the lace at the bottom for the back. (Which is a good thing since I need to have it done soon, very soon...)