What does Spinning mean to you?

What does Spinning mean to you?

 

Some think it is a child turning round and round really fast, while playing, until they get dizzy and fall down.  Some may even think of a merry-go-round from their childhood, and how fast they could make it go, before they jumped on.When you type in spinning on the internet you get things like spinning bicycle wheels, tires, exercise bikes. 

However, to us Fiber Artists, it means twisting fiber, fleece, or wool roving, silk, alpaca, angora, mohair, flax, etc. into a continuous thread using either a spinning wheel or a drop spindle.  Spinners can spin their thread thick or thin, plied or un-plied, some will dye their yarns, while others leave it natural.

Fiber artists use their yarn for knitting, crocheting, or weaving projects.  I have seen people even use unspun fiber for knitting, crocheting, weaving and yes even felting.  I love seeing all these different ways of using fiber.

I love to spin my yarn into thin singles, 2 plied yarn and even a 3 ply yarn.  I knit a lot of different projects from my yarn, like socks, hats, scarves, boot cuffs, cowls and shawls.  I have even wove triangle shawls, scarves and overshot coverlet squares with my handspun yarn.  I have even dyed my own yarn too, its fun to watch the fiber absorb the dyes.

Spinning is a form of art and is done in a variety of ways, which makes it exciting, because no 2 yarns are the same.



Do you have enough Fleece or Roving?

Do you have enough Fleece or Roving?

Can you answer this question, or is it hard to admit, or are you aware of what you have in your spinning room?

How much is enough FLEECE or ROVING anyways?

I suppose that if you had 7 big tubs filled with carded batts from 1 Alpaca fleece, 2 small buckets of dyed carded alpaca locks, 2 small buckets of dyed carded mohair locks, 1 small bucket of natural silvery mohair locks, 1 small bucket of Wenslydale Teeswater locks, 8oz of Icelandic roving, 2 bags of border Leicester/Corriedale cross (each 2.5 oz)

Wouldn't this imply that you had enough?

Probably not if you spin daily.

But then.....when you see some new fleece or roving, that's been dyed by the owner of the sheep, goat, or alpaca and it really grabs your attention.

Then you've just got to buy it right?

Think about this for a moment -

Do you have room for more fleece or roving? Is it something that you will be spinning up right away, because you have a project in mind?

Sadly, we all have a tendency to buy things in the spur of the moment, often without thought of where we'll put it, when we'll get to spin it, etc.

So...

Always look in your spinning room first before you buy anymore fleece or roving.

(sigh)

Remember, you can always get more fleece once you find room or need it for a special project, you just don't need to over do it.

Beware fleece and roving is very addictive for spinners!

Happy Spinning

Virginia

aka Spinning Ginny

My Website – http://www.spinningginny.com

Happiness is #fiber and a #spinningwheel

Give me some Alpaca, Mohair, Blueface Leicester, Merino, Camel Down, Angora, Shetland, Romney, Jacob, Australian Bond, etc., and my spinning wheel and I'm happy.  I only have a few of these fibers right now, so I'm making do with what I do have.

I just finished refilling the second bobbin and started in refilling the third bobbin.

 

I can't stay long as I want to get back to the wheel and see how far I get in refilling this last bobbin before the day is out.  I would love to have 2 more skeins to dye at the end of the week.......that's my goal anyways.

The list of fibers I gave at the top is my goal of fibers to spin this year again.  So far I've only been spinning Alpaca.  But keep watching I will be spinning up some of these other fibers soon.

 



What a happy morning, another full bobbin, and socks

This morning I am happy to say, that I finished the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl, washed it and have it blocked on my blocking board.  It feels great to finish the first project of the year!

Next thing I want to share is, the second bobbin.  I finally finished refilling it and removed it from my spinning wheel and placed it on my lazy kate with the first bobbin.

But the fun doesn't stop there, I replaced the second bobbin with the third bobbin and started in spinning all over again.

If you've been following my posts, I've finished the first sock on my mom's Christmas present and the cuff is now finished and the leg started on the mate. 

and now the first sock on my brother's Christmas present is finished and the cuff is also finished and the leg started on the mate.

Its now time to leave you all until tomorrow.  Hope you all have a great day and thinks for stopping by and reading my blog.



Days flying by, Last sale of 2015 arrived safely, up late taking care of Sue-chi the spinning dog, #knitting #spinning

 The days are beginning to fly by me and it even feels like they are running into each other. 

But on a good note:  The last day of 2015, I made a sale and of course my sale had ended and my new sale failed to start on time.  So I initiated the sale myself and refunded a portion of my customers money.  I didn't get to the post office that day to mail it off, so I mailed it off on Saturday.  When I came home from the post office on Saturday I looked up the shipping receipt to see just when it would arrive to my customer.  Happy customers to me is very important!  Anyways USPS said my customer should receive the package on Monday and sure enough, yesterday morning my customer let me know she received it and that her daughter loved the shawl.

 

Last night I was up late because Sue-chi wasn't feeling well, so I did some knitting and spinning.  I started out knitting on the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl.

I only have 3 more rows to knit on it now and then I'll be binding it off.

It was nice to sit down at the spinning wheel a little while later and do some more spinning.

I came really close to refilling this second bobbin.  Then because I was, still awake, I decided that I'd sit down and do some knitting on my mom's and brother's socks

I finished the cuff and started on the leg on my mom's socks, before I put them down and started on my brother's socks.

When I started on my brother's socks, I was just starting on the toe take off.  I finished the first sock and then started casting on for the mate.  Finally Sue-chi was starting to feel better and getting some much needed sleep, so I headed off to bed.

 

Not much sleep happening.....on a mission!

Another day and more knitting and spinning to be caught up on, not much sleep happening, because I'm on a mission.  The Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl is getting closer to being finished (16 more rows to go).

finished refilling bobbin #1 again and started in beginning to refill bobbin #2.

I have managed to complete the first sock for my mom and started casting on for the mate.

I've even finished the instep on my brother's socks and started to work on the toe take off.

Soon, very soon this sock will be finished too and the mate started.



Working vigilantly to finish projects in order to start on new ones

Well, here I go the beginning of a new work week and a new year.  Time for me to really plow in and work vigilantly to finish knitting projects like the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl

Spin up some more White Alpaca Batts from Bellagio's Fleece into 3 ply skeins of yarn and then dye them

and finish knitting up socks for my mom and brother

so that I can start on new projects.



Knitting and Spinning away on the last day of the year.

Well, here I go knitting and spinning on the last day of the year.  I was hoping that I'd get another project finished before the year ended, but I didn't!  Oh well!!  Here's how today went though.

First off I packaged up this lovely Handspun - Woven - Wildberry - Colonial Blend - Shawlette for a customer.

 

Then I sat down and continued knitting on the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl

It really coming along now, but I think I still have some more knitting to do, before it will be finished.  I roughly have a little over 44 rows knitted on this cowl so far.  I then headed upstairs to do some spinning.

I almost had the first bobbin refilled again, just need to spin up another batt and it should be filled.  Then I came back downstairs and started knitting on my mom's very late Christmas present.

The instep is really coming along now, I only have 24 more rows to knit and then, it will be time to start taking off for the toes.  Soon I'll be starting on the mate!  Then I picked up my brother's Christmas present, which is now looking like it will be his birthday present (his birthday is on the 14th).

I finished the gusset and started on the instep.  I think these two socks are having a race to see which one is going to be finished first.  LOL

So now the last day of the year is almost gone and the knitting and spinning is done for this year. 

A new year of spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving starts tomorrow!!



Productive as Yesterday? You tell me!

Today's been almost as productive as yesterday.  Well, maybe!  It started off with me rewinding and making labels for the 2 skeins that I dyed yesterday, then taking pictures of them.

This I picked up my knitting needles and settled down to knit on the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl.

Then after 1 hour and 5 minutes of knitting, I made my way back upstairs to do some spinning.

This is the first bobbin being refilled for the 14th time and its now a little over half way full.  Then I headed back downstairs to start knitting on my mom's late Christmas present.

The gusset is now finished and the instep is started.  Then it was time to put it down and begin working on my brother's late Christmas present.

 I ended the day finishing up the heel turn and starting on the gusset.  So was today a Productive day?  You tell me!



Yesterday was active, but today was industrious!

Yesterday was a very active one, and today turned out to be just as industrious.  The day started out with me knitting on the Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace Cowl.

Then I went hightailed it upstairs, to finish plying up another skein of 3 ply handspun white alpaca yarn.

Once I had this bobbin filled, I wound it off onto my niddy noddy, then I washed, and hung that skein to dry.  Then I went back to spinning, this time starting to refilling first bobbin again.

Soon it was time to stop spinning and start in knitting again.  So I boogied down the stairs and picked up knitting needles and the knitting commenced once again.  This time on my mom's Christmas present.

I managed to finish the heel flap and heel turn, then start on the gusset.  Then it was time to start in knitting on my brother's Christmas present.

I finished the leg and heel flap and then started in on the heel turn.  Now that I am caught up with my knitting and spinning, it is time to dye up 2 skeins of newly Handspun White Alpaca Yarn into 2 skeins of Handspun Dyed Yellow Sun Alpaca Yarn.

This is only the first skein of Handspun Dyed Yellow Sun Alpaca Yarn.  When this one is done, in will go the second skein.  Soon both skeins will be dyed and hanging to dry.

 

So yesterday may have been active, however today was very industrious!!

Quiet Christmas, but back to work again.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!  It was a quiet one here!!  There were family phone calls from Alaska, California, North Carolina and Florida.  We had a nice Pork Roast for our Christmas Dinner.  Sue-chi our dog started out not feeling well and we thought, that she might not make it through Christmas, but she's pulled through and is doing much better.  My husband is still having a lot of discomfort from his kidney stones, but over all he's doing better too.  Unfortunately, I ended up under the weather...with an earache and a head stuffed up like a stuffed animal!!......today though I'm feeling a little better.

I able to work on my knitting and even got into the spinning room to do some more spinning!  The first this I did this morning was knit on my Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Irish Lace - Cowl.

After knitting several rows on it, I moved on to my mom's Christmas present (its going to be late).

I now have the cuff and leg finished and the heel flap is almost done.  Still need to do the heel turn, gusset, instep and toe take off for this sock, before I can start on the mate.  Then I moved on to my brother's Christmas present (which might end up being his birthday present instead).

The leg is almost finished, only 9 more rows to go and then I'll start on the heel flap.

Then after all that knitting, it was time to head upstairs to the spinning room and finish plying.

It didn't take very only to finish refilling this bobbin with some 3 ply white alpaca yarn.  So once I had this bobbin filled I wound off the yarn onto my niddy noddy and then washed and hung this skein to dry.  While it was drying, I started plying up yet another skein, but this was as far as I got today.

Tomorrow is another day so this bobbin will be filled soon and the new skein ready for washing.



Back on track #Spinning #Knitting #Baking

This morning I was busy in the kitchen baking a pineapple up-side-down cake, an apple pie and a pumpkin pie, so I got a late start on knitting and spinning.  However, yesterday I did get my newest cowl project restarted.  Here's what it looked like last night, after frogging and restarting.  I did change the pattern from Cellular to Irish Lace though, as the Irish Lace pattern looks so much nicer in my Cowl design then the Cellular pattern was.  However, I still love the Cellular pattern and will reuse it in some other knitted item.

Today though after I finished baking I headed upstairs to the spinning room

and after 1 hour 4 minutes of spinning, I almost had a full bobbin on 3 ply white alpaca yarn (this will be the 12th skein from Bellagio's fleece).

I then picked up my mom's socks and started knitting away

I only need to knit 4 more rows on the leg and then, I will be starting on the heel flap.

When I stopped knitting on my mom's socks, I picked up my brother's socks and started in knitting on them.

I only have 19 more rows left to knit on this pair before starting on the heel flap.

Arrrrrrgh! Time to frog and restart

Good Morning Afternoon Everyone!  Sorry for being late again.  Unfortunately, I was frogging (for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about its "ripping" or "undoing" my knitting), the "Cellular" Cowl that I was designing.  I dropped a stitch and that really messed everything up.  This is where I was before my dump mistake.

Now its all unraveled, and I'm ready to restart.  I'll probably try out a new pattern, as this one wasn't working out anyways.  So bye-bye Cellular Cowl and hello to a new Cowl pattern.  Hopefully I'll have something to show you tomorrow, after I play catch-up on this cowl.  I probably won't get to anything else today.



Finished, New listing, New Project, Spinning, Knitting

Afternoon Everyone!  Sorry I'm late!!  I've been busy taking photo's and listing the Handspun - Knitted - Cornflower - Suri Alpaca - Lace Scarf.  I finished this scarf early Saturday morning, washed and blocked it.

This morning I took some photo's and then listed it on my website.

 



http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31_122&products_id=562

Also on Saturday I started on a new project.  I pulled out my skein of Handspun - Maleficent - Mohair - Yarn and started casting on for a Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Maleficent - Mohair - Cellular - Cowl.  I say this is original as I'm designing this Cowl myself.  Its a little slow going, right now and this is how far I've gotten.

This yarn started out as Mohair locks from https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhoenixFarmFiber, who dyed the locks this beautiful dark purple and named it "Maleficent".

I finally finished filling up the third bobbin of White Alpaca

The first bobbin weights 4 7/8 ounces - 2 ounces (for bobbin) = 2 7/8 ounces

The second bobbin weights 4 5/8 ounces - 2 ounces (for bobbin) = 2 5/8 ounces

The third bobbin weights 4 3/4 ounces - 2 ounces (for bobbin) = 2 3/4 ounces

The total weight of spun single yarn is 2 7/8 + 2 5/8 + 2 3/4 = 8 1/4 ounces

Shortly after this, I began the plying process and this is how much I spun before I stopped spinning for the day.

Then I moved on to start knitting on my mom's Christmas present, the leg is getting longer. 

I'm guessing 2 more pattern repeats, but it could be 3 repeats more before I start the heal flap.

Then I picked up my brothers Christmas present, the leg is getting longer.

I'm guessing 2 more pattern repeats, but it could be 3 repeats more before I start the heal flap.

Sunday I took a break from all of the above and enjoyed the day with my husband.