Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Spinning Show & Tell

Today I am joining in with Sarah at Crafts from the Cwtch, for the sole purpose that she has including a Mr Linky widget in her most recent post about spinning. This means that I can put a link to my blog on her blog, and as her blog is, I believe, quite popular (at least, it should be, considering how enjoyable it is to read), some of her traffic might be directed over to To Live A Life. I am such a selfish person to be taking advantage of this.

I'm not doing this post purely to get a couple of page views- I also have some spinning-related stuff I want to talk about.
This is the yarn spun from the roving I bought at the DFW Fiber Fest 2013 (blogged about here). I originally intended to make a fingering-weight single from the roving, but spun it too thick (into a light sport weight, I'd imagine) and ended up just plying it into a wonderful 130 yards of bulky weight. I'm very happy with the result, but can't decide what to make with it- any suggestions would be welcome! 

Also, today I was tricked into joining Tour de Fleece, which I now cannot wait to begin on June 29th. I still don't know a lot about it, but I'm part of two teams- Rookies  and Tiny Owl Knits. The Rookies team is for first-timers, and I don't know if it's mandatory for first years to join it or if it's optional, but I did join it and that's that. 


I busted out my fiber stash to see what all I could spin up for the TdF, and this is what I came up with. Not much. However, the fluffy light brown fiber to the far right is only a portion of the alpaca I'm currently spinning, and I have about 2 pounds of 100% silk hidden away somewhere that I can spin if I use up everything else (which I rather doubt will happen).

The third and last spinning-related topic I wish to cover is one of celebration- my second spinning anniversary is coming up in less than a month, and I need to buy myself a pretty braid of fiber to celebrate. The TdF coming up only gives me more reason to want to treat myself. I've been searching Etsy for reasonably-priced, beautifully dyed braids, and if anybody has a favorite I'd love to hear it in the comments below!

2 comments:

  1. I just got an awesome thin pencil roving from Kauni (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Kauni). The colors are gorgeous and vivid, and there's no shipping which is always wonderful. Unfortunately she doesn't have braids available, but I imagine the roving will lend itself to a deliciously consistent yarn.

    My first time spinning, I used a braid I got from a closing shop that originally came from Purple Fleece (http://www.purplefleece.com). Mine was a merino/tencel blend in Peaches & Cream, but of course they no longer offer that in a braid, just as a yarn. But it was heavenly, especially for a first-spin. Not to mention, the colors are wonderful.

    That's my two cents, lol. I've decided to join the Tour as well. Weee! I'm very excited.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay! Thanks for joining in the Linky and for your kind words :)

    Lovely colourful fluff - can't wait to see what you make. I'll be adding a new Linky each Tuesday :)
    X

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! xoxo