I don't yet want to spin in front of the TV - it requires too much attention, and it's still fun in its own right, so it seems like a waste - so just because I've been spinning, doesn't mean I haven't been knitting, too. We've been watching a lot of spooks, during which I've mostly been knitting the clapotis that's in the top picture. It's boring, so it's good TV knitting, and the gaps between the exciting dropping of stitches aren't too long, so there's something to look forward to all the time.
The second picture is the scrap scarf I mentioned below. It's been ongoing for ages, and probably will be for ages more, but it's shaping up nicely, and it means I only have to throw away leftover pieces that are too short to have two knots tied in them, which is good because I hate throwing away tiny bits of pretty (in the same vein, I'm keeping all my tiny wispy bits of spinning leftovers in a bowl next to my desk, with the thought of trying to spin them all together when I'm proficient enough to try it).
I have also knit a row or so of the goth space invaders (black and purple bmp), but I'm just not enjoying it. I need to persevere so I get the hang of the stranding, which will make it more fun, but at the moment it's just annoying and fiddly, and I'm channeling all of my perseverance and determination into trying to finish off my various academic assignments by the end of the semester, so the socks will have to wait.
The second picture is the scrap scarf I mentioned below. It's been ongoing for ages, and probably will be for ages more, but it's shaping up nicely, and it means I only have to throw away leftover pieces that are too short to have two knots tied in them, which is good because I hate throwing away tiny bits of pretty (in the same vein, I'm keeping all my tiny wispy bits of spinning leftovers in a bowl next to my desk, with the thought of trying to spin them all together when I'm proficient enough to try it).
I have also knit a row or so of the goth space invaders (black and purple bmp), but I'm just not enjoying it. I need to persevere so I get the hang of the stranding, which will make it more fun, but at the moment it's just annoying and fiddly, and I'm channeling all of my perseverance and determination into trying to finish off my various academic assignments by the end of the semester, so the socks will have to wait.
These pictures are of what I think I shall call my first successful spinning project - it's turned out roughly as I planned, and it looks lovely :-) (The tape measure shows centimetres for scale.)
This is the end result of the purple spinning from my last post - the big skein is about 90m of two-ply, and the smaller is about 26m of singles. The plied yarn alternates solid lilac, solid purple, and a candy-cane effect of both. The thickness of the singles and the twist in the ply varies quite a lot, but I still love it. I think it's probably going to be a hat, because it's about the right quantity, and because I need a hat that's a bit more sensible than my current silly pointy hat.
The singles are what was left after I'd filled the spindle with plied yarn - it would take no more, and since I'd plied enough to make a hat, I thought I'd leave the remaining singles. I might use them to trim something, or they might go into the ongoing scrap scarf (which I've actually knit some of this week, after being inspired to take it up again by someone on the LJ brit_knits community).
This is my current spinning project. Mostly I'm just trying to spin as thin and as evenly as possible; I'll decide how to ply it (and what with) and what to knit with it when it's finished and I can see how well I've succeeded. I'm more-or-less getting the hang of drafting now; I started off pulling sections as wide as I wanted from the tops, and hardly drafting at all, which meant it was slow because I had to make lots of joins. Now, I'm starting with a much thicker piece of fibre and thinning it down just before it meets the twist. As far as I can tell from my reading on the subject, this is what I'm supposed to be doing ;-) It's getting easier, and producing better results, all the time, which is always a nice thing in a new hobby.
This is the end result of the purple spinning from my last post - the big skein is about 90m of two-ply, and the smaller is about 26m of singles. The plied yarn alternates solid lilac, solid purple, and a candy-cane effect of both. The thickness of the singles and the twist in the ply varies quite a lot, but I still love it. I think it's probably going to be a hat, because it's about the right quantity, and because I need a hat that's a bit more sensible than my current silly pointy hat.
The singles are what was left after I'd filled the spindle with plied yarn - it would take no more, and since I'd plied enough to make a hat, I thought I'd leave the remaining singles. I might use them to trim something, or they might go into the ongoing scrap scarf (which I've actually knit some of this week, after being inspired to take it up again by someone on the LJ brit_knits community).
