http://monkeemaker.blogspot.com/ is running a contest. Comment on her blog, possibly win a monkey backpack. I LOVE this monkey. It has a very Aardman-esque quality to it. The original Sirdar pattern has its charm, but the creator gave it some extra personality somehow. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s a singularly British monkey. The signup closes soon, so head on over and poke around. Leave a comment, and maybe get lucky!
Behold! Grapey goodness!
I spun up the last remaining super-soft cormo/silk batt (pictured left) that I had in order to take a break from the neverending itchy red wool that I had been spinning. Last time I spun this, it came out very loose (pictured right) because I was underspinning it for my desired result. This was an early attempt at spinning. I’m still not an advanced spinner, but it’s been gratifying to see how much better, in my opinion, this one looks compared to that one.
I posted after that first attempt, and got a lot of good suggestions. This time, I loosened up the tension on my wheel and treadled like a one-legged duck as I tried to spin tighter. I actually wound up making the second bobbin of singles more spun than the first bobbin, and I think it shows, but I’m okay with that. I two-plied it, and Navajo-plied the last little bit from the bobbin that ran out last. The Navajo-plied bits are hugely more twisted than the two-ply, even though I slowed down my treadling for that section. Clearly I’m letting it take up more slowly with the Navajo plying as I try to get it right. I’ll have to work on that.
When setting the twist, I took a page from ‘s “rough set” book and soaked it in very warm water for about an hour, then in cool for a bit. Then I spun it around in my bathtub, then beat the tar out of it against the tile walls. Then I hung it unweighted to dry. It hung very straight. Pictured: a closeup of the plies. This still isn’t as tight or even as I’d like it to be, but it’s miles better than the last time I tried this fiber a few months ago. I don’t spin as often as I’d like, so I consider this good progress. I’m pleased.
The finished skein has 76 yards, enough to actually make something, but I have no idea what. I’m open to suggestion as to what to knit!
Many thanks to everyone in the community for all their suggestions, they’ve really helped make me a better spinner.
(crossposted to my own journal and )
So there’s a meme going around LJ where you link to your 42nd post ever and it supposedly is predictive of how your life will be. Apparently my life is about knitted hats (correct) and multicolored jeweltone boobs (not so far).
One out of two aint’ bad.
