Guess what? It’s only 23 days till SPRING!!! Let’s celebrate with a little giveaway, shall we?
Have you seen this book? A Fine Fleece is all about knitting with handspun yarns and it’s absolutely lovely. Whether you spin your own fiber or just appreciate the art and craft of handspun you will love this book. There are 26 projects in the book and photographs of each pattern knit up with handspun yarn and with commercial yarn, a great tool for understanding when and where to use handspun.
I am a sucker for beautiful handspun. Some of my favorite skeins are so beautiful that I haven’t ever bothered to knit with them. I just display them in a big bowl on our hearth. My friend Maggie, a.k.a. Little Grey Cat Designs, does some amazing things with texture and color. Here’s an example:
Shareholder Deb is an awesome spinner as well. Check out some of her photos in this raverly thread. Lisa, another shareholder and our very first advertiser on the new site just started a blog with pictures of some of our mohair locks. Do you have any pics of your handspun you’d like to share? Post them in our flickr group so we can all see what you’ve been working on.
Are you a spinner or do you aspire to be one? Is there something extra special about knitting a sweater made from yarn you spun yourself? Or do you find it hard enough to find enough time to knit without throwing spinning into the mix? Post your thought on handspinning in the comments on this post and you might just win your own copy of A Fine Fleece AND your choice of any Little GreyCat Designs handspun skein in our shop.
Entries close at Noon on Saturday, February 27th. One entry per person please. One winner will be chosen at random from all the eligible entries. The winner will be announced on this website on Saturday and must contact us within one week to claim their prize.
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I just began working with a drop spindle…it’s addicting. I am still scared by the wheel though…
spinning is something i’ve been wanting to try, but the drop spindle class at my lys is always scheduled for a time that i can’t go. one day…
I love handspun for the control over the final project. Start to finish I can have everything just how I see it in my head before I start. I don’t have to compromise on color, texture, fiber or yarn weight.
RavName – BratKnits
OMG–I am beginning to get fascinated by this whole, multi-faceted craft of yarn MAKING…haven’t explored it yet (too many knit and crochet projects, plus a dissertation to finish?!?)…but maybe some day…
So I was standing in Old Town Albuquerque at the Indian market talking to a silver jewelry artist about spirals. Like the galaxy, I said, and you make them when you spin! That’s why I love hand spinning. I create a world with every spiral.
I am just getting into the spinning aspect of all things yarn. I was thinking that my first two “attempts” weren’t that good, but some of my new friends in the local spinning guild said, “Attempt! What are you talking about? That’s YARN!!! I strive to get my yarn to do just that!” So, I felt better about it and myself. I can say that I am a spinner. Now I just have to start getting some books about spinning to try new things and then be able to make stuff with the yarn I’ve spun.
For the longest time, I had no interest in spinning. But eventually, after watching my good friend spin on several occasions, I HAD to give it a try, and I was hooked immediately. I don’t spin nearly as often as I knit, but I love it. It is relaxing in a completely different way from knitting — the sound of the wheel spinning and the tactile sensations of the fiber flowing through my fingers are like meditation to me.
And my husband called it from the beginning — as soon as I started knitting, he started to say things like “WHEN you start to spin…” and I’d roll my eyes at him. I guess he knows me better than I do! (And he even bought me my wheel for Christmas last year. What a guy!)
I am a spindle spinner. So far I have made a head band, and a scarf/cowl. I am still very much just in the learning process and haven’t figured out how to spin for a project yet. I am loving it! It looks wonky, but I enjoy having a project I spun and knit about 100 times more than just a project I knit. I have found I do have more trouble getting projects completed (especially since I use a spindle) but it is very worth it to me.
My daughter is trying to learnto spin. I can barely find time to knit.
I had a full fleece of natural white wool that had been sheared from my own sheep. I challenged myself to spin it all and to do something new. I decided to make a sweater from the top down. This would be an experiment. It was so nice to work with my own wool and then to knit it up. The sweater came out great and I love to wear it. I get lots of compliments. Of course I know where the small mistakes are and where the spinning is not perfect. But reflecting on the lovely hours working on it and thinking about the sheep the wool came from, makes the wearing even more pleasant.
rats. guess this will teach me to not drop by your blog in so long.
:0(
Wow that is really gorgeous handspun!
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