Every good bolognese deserves fiber.

I could say I did this because it's Self Portrait Tuesday:

Or I could just admit it: I'm too damned cheap
to buy a niddy noddy. Why bother with a niddy noddy
when an arm will do? Besides, it's Wednesday now....

Heh. I'll tell you why to buy a niddy noddy. First, it's really fun to say. Niddy noddy niddy noddy.... Second, arm-as-niddy-noddy means you have to walk around the house winding wet wool onto yourself (or in this case, wet llama down).

Oh, wait, you wouldn't have to walk around the house winding wet wool around yourself if you freaking remembered to tie off the skein before you soaked it to set the twist...wasn't the untangling process torture enough? Now you want to turn yourself into the human equivalent of a time-tested, extremely useful, and, to be frank, not very expensive tool? What, are you crazy or something?

Don't answer that. Just look deep into the llama down....
Suddenly, you have an inexplicable desire to get a spindle....
buahahahaha....

Before I had this brush with handspun death minor accident which could have been prevented with a little butcher's twine and a little forethought (forethought? is that like fore...nevermind), I had what could have been worse:

It's hard to see, but trust me, when one single broke
and its end disappeared into this Andean bracelet abyss,
it was not a pretty sight to behold. Cooking dinner
wearing an Andean bracelet was worse.

The mnemonic for learning musical notes changes a bit once you cross my threshold, thanks to my inability to Andean-ply without a massive accident. I am, however, in love with llama down, despite its tendency to break while plying. The resulting yarn may look a bit like hemp twine in these pictures, thanks to the colour, but it feels incredibly soft, and it's a much thinner weight than I've been able to get before. Which then led me to completely rethink a special project...but more on that later.

This is a sample of what I'm getting with the llama down.
Hypersoft. And there's a lot of it. It spins up very fast,
even though I'm using a spindle.

Yeah, okay, I have the use of a wheel, but I'm not daring enough to try such an expensive fiber as llama down on it. Yet. For now, the three-sheep periwinkle wool is gracing the wheel.

Some of you might be wondering if I still knit. Duh, why do you think I'm spinning so much? Yarn, I'm makin' yarnnnnn.... So far, in the knitting department, I have evil scarf plans for this llama down. They involve elven runes and a secret love note. And in the meantime, I knit these bootees out of RY Classic Yarns Soft Tweed, a slightly chunky mix of wool, silk, and a few other things:

Shake your bootees, baby. Colourway is Bramble.
Ties are Classic Elite Something or other which is discontinued.
Pattern is a total rework of a Quaker-style bootee, thanks to yarn thickness.

It is an expression of my deep love for a pregnant friend that I used dpns to make these bootees. I have an unreasonable hatred of dpns. Still, the magic loop was not working for me with this pattern, so I had to fade back and punt. It hurt. Small porcupine not entirely swallowed by tweed. But I like the result, and I hope she will, too. Matching sweater to follow. It's getting freaking cold around here.

In other fiber news, I tried to teach Twinkletoes to spin, because at Vermont, she picked up a spindle at the Bosworth booth and fell in love with it. How can you not want to do what Sheila Bosworth is doing? She walks around with her drop spindle, making it look so easy that you can't help yourself...and Twinkletoes is an impressionable seven-year-old. So we did a little community-effort spinning, because Twink is too short to hold the fiber and spin the spindle at the same time. So I was the official fiber-holder, until she had to do the mantra: "Park. Pinch. Draft and pinch. Let go of first pinch. Magic! Spinnnnnnnnn...."

Et voilà. The product of a fiber addict in the making.

Then we knitted it into a mini-mini-neckwarmer together. Four-handed knitting. She'll do fine if she can get over the "Maman, you can finish it faster" phase...because, you know, Barbie's needs are rather immediate. NORma. Okay, I have to take it one further: fucksake. Was I this impatient as a child? Don't answer that, Mum.

Speaking of my mother, she's not having a good time right now...my stepfather, who just had his second heart surgery, fell off his roof while trying to shingle it, and has descended into a vortex of torn aorta, broken arm, and congestive heart failure. While at first, we were all thinking, "buddy, you are SO a candidate for the Darwin award," right now we're just glad he's home and healing. Meanwhile, what did my mother do to deal with the stress?

My mother learned to knit. Of course. She was an excellent seamstress when I was a child, she taught me to crochet, and she is a fabulous illustrator and portrait artist, so, you know, it was only a matter of time before someone got needles into her hands. And it wasn't even me. Thanks, Melissa Weeks. I don't even know you, and I love you. Thanks for helping my mum retain her sanity through this crap.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned a special knitting project. It's a small-scale project, but it's special, and it's going to be replicated a few times, with, uh, special modifications (you know I'm good for it) to suit the recipients. Meanwhile, I get to learn some new techniques. So in my quest to make these gifts exactly right for their recipients, I'm trying to make laceweight yarn. Ready, experts? Tell me, is this sort of close to laceweight singles?

I feel like I'm spinning a mending kit. It's freaking awesome. This is Fleece Artist merino, and I hope the hell they keep making this colourway because I didn't buy enough of it and I deeply want a whole roomful. It spins into thread and I'm just in awe. Fiber preparation necessary, though. I separated the roving bigtime to get to this. Edited to enable the curious and the lustful: the spindle is a Cascade Tiger lightweight. Cascade spindles are stunningly gorgeous, smooth spinners, and I love them.

Holeeeeeee crap. My husband just told me he wants to try the spindle. How'm I doin', Madame SyndiCate?

October 12, 2005 12:47 AM  | Permalink  | Comments (27)  | Print