happy things

Did anyone else wake up to snow this morning?

I keep reminding myself that it's only the beginning of April, that snow in Pennsylvania this time of the year is nothing out of the ordinary.  We were just totally teased with those 70 degree, sunny days. That weather was out of the ordinary.

In the midst of my busyness, I am managing to find moments of sanity by playing with fiber and yarn. It's amazing how keeping my hands busy with fiber literally slows my heart rate and my mind. I know that not everyone would understand that, but I know that there are some who do. Yarn, fiber, wool ~ it's my happy place.

I recently ordered one skein of yarn from Buckaloo View. This particular skein was dyed with cosmos. It's a very beautiful, subtle shade of yellow/orange. I'm not convinced that this color will look good with my skin tone, but it was so, so beautiful so I will figure that out later. I'm not typically drawn to yellows or oranges, but I am drawn to natural, raw, and light, so this skein was very appealing to me.

I myself have been spinning away. I'm so happy with how my spinning has turned out. I feel so comfortable doing it now. It's no longer stressful to sit at my wheel. I no longer feel as thought I'm fighting the wheel in holding my fiber back. Rather, it just kind of glides through my fingers as I draft the fiber like it's second nature. I'm getting a nice little stack of handspun, and I'm throwing around the idea of possibly selling some of it.

My sweater. Oh this sweater. It's such an easy knit, but it's taking so long to do. Not because it's time-consuming (although it is quite a bit of stockinette stitching), but I just can't find big blocks of time to commit to it. Part of that has to do with my general schedule, but it also has to do with the fact that I'm also spinning in my spare time. I feel like I'm getting closer to the end, which really excites me. And it seems as though just maybe I'll even get to wear it before the warm weather rolls in permanently.

We've been working on decluttering and doing some very light spring cleaning. Although I don't really like the process of cleaning (translated: I rather be doing something creative), I do enjoy the lightness of a clean home. And I do LOVE to declutter. It actually thrills me. I love the feeling I get when I take boxes of things to the thrift store. I feel so much mentally lighter.

This weekend is our church's annual missions conference.  I love the missions conference. It's one of my favorite church events. We're hosting missionaries tomorrow night for dinner. These missionaries served in Holland, and we hosted them several years ago when they were back for a conference. Last year, we had missionaries from Brazil stay at our home for the weekend. My kids love listening to the stories that the missionaries always have to tell. Brad and I do too. It's just a wonderful experience and privilege to be able to open our home up to them. And it's a wonderful learning opportunity for our entire family.

Have a great weekend, ladies! Thank you for stopping by to read! I so enjoy stopping by your blogs too!

spinning the days away

 Lily's first bobbin of handspun.

I have been spending most of my extra moments sitting behind my wheel with some kind of fiber in my hand, making pretty yarn. I committed myself to practicing every day a couple of weeks ago, and it's truly amazing how fast I have improved in that little bit of time. I'm finally spinning a balanced yarn, and I'm finally mostly very pleased with the end product. 

Most of what I've been spinning has been merino. However, I did pull out a bunch of rolags that I had made last fall from Inferno, one of our huacaya alpacas, and spun up a very fine bobbin full of that. (very first photo) The last time I spun my alpaca it was quite interesting. Very bumpy. Crazy. Really thick and then really thin. This time, however, I kept a mostly consistent diameter which I am very pleased with. I am going to ply this, but I need to card more of the fiber and spin that up before I can do so. 

Lily has been begging me to teach her to spin for the last three or four months. I have been very hesitant because I myself just learned to spin last summer and was feeling very intimidated in teaching someone else. She asked me again last night, as she's been watching me faithfully spin everyday, and she has really gotten an extreme itch to learn. I succumbed to her pleadings, planning on just having her treadle for a bit. Then I thought, "What the heck! She's got to start sometime, so why not now!"

I had purchased two pounds of a 21 micron merino roving last month at a really great price and had put it back for the sole intention of using it to teach Lily, so I pulled it out of my studio closet yesterday and let her spin. Her first bobbin of yarn is pictured above, and let me tell you that my first attempt looked almost identical to that. It's challenging to teach the motion of spinning in a verbal manner. Just like knitting and crocheting, my hands just sort of follow their memorized motions without me really thinking about it at all. 

I also remember that the motion just sort of clicked for me one day, out of the blue really, so I'm expecting the same will happen with Lily if she continues to practice. And I encouraged her to imagine how good she would be by the time she was even just thirteen (three years from now) if she kept it up. I am just really in love with teaching her these old, timeless crafts and skills.

And now I am yearning for some warm weather (consistently warm weather) so I can wash and dry more alpaca fiber to spin. I also have four bags of angora from our rabbits that I haven't played with yet. 

Oh, I really am loving spinning.

on the spinning wheel

I've recently gotten back to spinning again after a few months away from it. Any extra "crafty" time I had during the fall was spent knitting to build inventory for my business so I couldn't seem to find the time or even the energy to practice my spinning.  I had even moved my wheel from the living room down to my studio (which is actually more like a really nice storage room for all of my yarn and supplies rather than a working space at this point in my life) because it was starting to collect dust and get in the way during the boys' wrestling sessions. 

My lovely Ashford Traveller, however, was most eagerly brought back up to the living room early last week as I just couldn't wait a moment more to get back at it. Shearing season is, after all, only three months away, and I'm still drowning in the last two years' worth of alpaca fiber. 

Right now I am mostly spinning merino wool because it is an easier wool to spin since it has a longer staple length yet is still incredibly soft next to the skin. Why am I not spinning my alpaca? Well, I have, but alpaca is not as "sticky" as wool so it's a bit harder to spin. But the even bigger reason is because I cannot possibly keep up with all of the washing, drying, and carding that needs done before the alpaca can even be spun. I have a set of hand carders but they are no match for garbage bags full of fiber. One day I will purchase a drum carder, but that's not currently in our budget!

Before my spinning hiatus I did spin some merino that I ended up plying together to make a marled yarn. After plying, relaxing, and drying the yarn I ended up knitting the little hat pictured above for Lily. I was quite proud of that little hat. Quite proud indeed as it was my first item knitted from my own handspun. I can't imagine how amazing it will feel when I can do the same with my own alpaca fiber. That will truly be a COMPLETELY handmade knit! 

I am currently spinning some more of the light blue merino. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it once it's spun and plied. I'm mostly just viewing these spinning sessions as practice. I did just place an order for some plain white merino as well as some wool dyed a rich berry color. I find I get bored spinning the same color for an extended period of time. Besides, once I get going, I seem to fly through those tops of wool!

I am really enjoying this whole spinning thing. I really love my wheel which, I have found, really helps when learning to spin. I knew from the moment that I "test drove" it that it was the wheel for me, having tried other models as well and having originally learned on a saxony style wheel. This wheel is a castle style, double treadle wheel. I really am quite fond of my wheel. I think she's quite beautiful. :)