First up, spinning!
Here are all the spindles in Spindle Jail. I finally came up with a way to store my spindles that keeps them safe from nosy cats. I actually had asked John to build me something to hang them, and he came home from Target with this.
It’s simply a wire mesh basket. I cut the price tag off, turned it upside down, and voilá, a Spindle Jail. Low tech, but it works. Smart man, that one. He came home with two of these, figuring I’d add to the collection at some point. Very smart man.
There’s been a lot of spinning going on for the Tour de Fleece.
And I’m still working on the never ending pile of Corriedale. In a moment of insanity, I bought 3 pounds of this stuff with the plan to make sweater yarn. I’m almost through the first pound. Since I plan to spin all the singles before I ply it, I needed to figure out some way to store the singles so I could reuse bobbins. I have a bunch of bobbins for my wheel, but not enough to keep spinning 3 pounds of wool. Bobbins are expensive, so I found these. Here they are in action.
Click on that last one to see how pretty my singles are!
Next up, knitting! Yes, I’m still knitting around here, though there’s been damn little of it since the Tour started. I actually finished something.
Project Details:
Started: Oh good grief. I’m pretty sure I didn’t record the date. I finished the last pair of socks in December of last year, for pete’s sake, so I probably started these right away. ETA: not true, apparently. According to Ravelry, I started these in September of 2009. Yup, here we are. I started a second pair, since the pair on the needles was on very sharp Signature dpns that I didn’t think would get through airport security. Incidentally, those were the only pair I knit on those needles. Unlike every other human being who has knit with the Signatures, I didn’t like them, and sold them to Major Knitter.
Finished: This past Thursday, the 15th.
Pattern: Same old pattern, same old plain socks.
Yarn: Wollmeise, purchased before the Wollmeise became really really famous. The color name is Löwenzahn, though John renamed this Squashed Frog. I like Squashed Frog better, since every time I type Löwenzahn, I have to do a Google search for how to do diacritical marks on a Mac.
Needles: 2.25mm Pony Pearl dpns
For: Me
What I Learned: Buy yarn when you see it. This stuff has gotten impossible to get. It is good sock yarn, but not worth stalking shop updates like a madwoman. I still have 3 skeins of this left, so I’m good for awhile. Maybe the furor will have died down by the time I’ve used all of it. It’s superwash wool, but has no nylon, so I added Wooly Nylon to the heels and toes for a little better wear.
For the record, that makes one more project done from the UFO pile. I was very transiently down to 4 projects. It’s back up to 5, since I have to have a sock going. Here’s the new one, started yesterday:
The yarn is from Sanguine Gryphon, her Little Traveller sock yarn. The color name is Penny Pot, NJ. This is really, really nice stuff. I (ahem) might have a few other skeins in the stash. The needles are new also. I caved and bought a set of the Blackthorn needles, size 2.oomm. So far I like them. They are wickedly sharp. That photo is a bit fuzzy, click on it to make it bigger (but just as fuzzy), or go to their website to look at them.
That’s enough for one day. I’m off to hang out with the spinning wheel.
Spindle jail is genius (though I’m wondering what the crime was).
And, yarn ball cores? Also genius! Next, somebody needs to invent a spinning wheel bobbin whose end slides off so you can do the same thing without needing the ballwinder…
Lovely! Both the spinning and the squashed frog. I bookmarked the Mac diacritical page. I usually google the word (with its little mark) I want and then paste it in. Très intelligent, n’est-ce pas? Actually knowing how to do it will be better. But then, I also will need to know how to spell it. Not my forte.
John has always impressed me as a very intelligent man! Did your spindles get a chance to call a lawyer first? Your singles really do look lovely. On on the home stretch of finishing up my 3 lbs. of sweater yarn. Was going to try and finish mine today, but threw my back out, so am plunked in front of the TV, knitting and watching Law and Order reruns.
I missed it. What are you using to slide the singles on to after the ballwinder? Great idea…I might have purchased at one time about 3 #s of wool to spin for an unnamed sweater. It’s somewhere in the stash…
Those socks are fun!
Very, very clever way to protect the spindles, too.
I love the spindle jail. Great solution!
My Faery Ring is progressing… but it’s about to nap as I don’t think I want to knit something this large in 100 degree temps with no AC over the next few weeks.
Love the socks (completed and newly started) – I agree, it’s important to always have a sock on the needles.
Happy knitting,
Jennifer
Yes, you evil woman. Back to your old tricks of wonderful tools and seductive things. *sigh* I am helpless before your enabling.
I like the tubes. May give them a try. Even cheaper than storage bobbins!
Squashed frog..tell John I love that one. It doesn’t even have to include red for that species.
Enabler! I love the spindle jail and will have to point my other spinning friends to your site for your clever improvisation skills! I will give John the credit but point them to you.
The yarn tubes are a great idea! Bookmarked for future use! The color of the yarn is wonderful! I will continue to be in awe of your spinning and the delicate and awe inspiring products they transform into.
LOVE the socks and the colorway. I have never used Wollmeise before, so you have now added yet another fiber that I must hunt down and use…
Get that UFO pile down…I am marching on to get them done as well!
I’m totally wowed by the beauty of your handspun yarn (and usually speechless since I’m not a spinner).
The socks look great. I’ve missed the boat on Wollmeise, but the next time I’m ready for sock yarn Sanguine Gryphon is on my list of vendors to try. I hope you like the Blackthorns–they’ve made a new woman out of me since I can finally get 8 and 9 stitches/inch (on size 00s and 000s).
Spindle Jail !! woot woot ! Yay John.
I have to hide all my spinning toys and yarn in cupboards and closets – my cats are insatiable when it comes to eating fiber..
I just love John’s idea, (and the name) and wish it could work for me too.. happy spinning.
Spindle jail! LOVE IT. I have a room I have to keep all my fluff locked up due to a “playful” cat!
plus she likes to bat it around till it’s useless.
NICE!
and I really need to get my hands on a winder. love how it makes the yarn look!
🙂
I thought I had learned the “buy yarn when you see it” lesson. But then a couple of days ago, when we were visiting DD’s family in California, the youngest & only girl looked at my socks & said, “Grandma, you know those socks have all my favorite colors in them.” Obviously, she would love a pair of socks in the yarn. Unfortunately it is Opal Petticoat Cotton Color 1336- purchased at least a year before her birth & long discontinued. I have not been able to find it on the web so I guess I’ll knit some socks from some Meilenweit which has similar colors in it. Or maybe buy the wool version of the colorway (I found one ball of that.) Much as I love her, I will not rip out my socks to knit some for her!