Can't stop spinning

Blogging taking a back seat yet again and Ravelry is eating my online time !!

Plus,since I bought my new wheel which has been named 'Lara' I can't stop spinning . The fact that I am more comfortable spinning has given me the incentive to spin for much longer periods at a time. Now I wonder how I coped using the Ashford Trav;of course my joints are the biggest problem and anyone fit probably doesn't have any problem using it, but boy it was much harder work to treadle and clunky compared to this smooth running wheel. So I am still very much in love with my wheel and a saying of my fathers keeps popping in my head 'proper tools for the job '. He was a most talented man and amongst his talents was model boat making and the detailing was superb and all handmade . His model boats are in a few museums around the world and his workshop was immaculate, a tool for every job and his view was get the best tool which suits you and the job in mind. He would most probably have been fascinated by my hobby and would have most likely tried to build a wheel just to see if he could.You are sadly missed Dad.

Well I am still spinning the Shetland shearling but I am not sure if its the fleece I need for what I have in mind. I have bought the book ' A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd' and it had lovely patterns in it and the cardigan called I want to make would look better in a less stripey yarn .The Shetland having a few colours in it , lovely though they are is not the effect I want. So I have dug out the Corriedale I bought at Wonderwool which is beige with blond tips and I think that will look better . We will see when I have plyed it together which one I rather . Either that or knit a jumper from the book !!

I have also bought a book called 'Intertwined by Lexi Boeger' which is a fun book on spinning art yarns. Now I have no idea what I will use some of these yarns but they are such fun to do and I think if you learn a craft then you should explore all avenues of it ; plus its a break from spinning miles and miles of yarn for garments. So these are a couple of my efforts . I have called this one 'Welsh Black Blues' as its Welsh Black fleece and dyed Lleyn fleece






This is a go at spinning coils and its again the Lleyn dyed in various colours and spun in random and the single then spun on a core yarn .I am thinking of doing a couple more skeins of this and using it to weave with.








I have also been doing a fair bit of dyeing lately too ; both natural and acid . Kath and
Christina came over and we had a day of dyeing. A bit chaotic but fun :) Sadly I didn't take a photo of the whole lot of yarns dyed that day , way too busy but there were some yummy ones created.
I have to say my favs were the natural dyed yarns and inspired by that day I bought some Earthue dyes from Debbie and dyed up some of my handspun to make the Danish Shawl from the last issue of Spin Off. I had managed to get a lovely vibrant shade of green at my first attempt with bought yarn but sadly I didn't reproduce it quite the same with my handspun. Still I love all the shades I got .


This shawl is such a simple pattern but none the less lovely and I think that is the theme of this post. Variety is the spice of life they say ;-)