Wool, wool, and more wool

A few months back, I did some spinning for a woman I know who raises sheep. The cool thing is, the sheep are completely grass-fed. Well, someone I know from church gives me this huge bag of wool, plus a spindle and some knitting needles. I must admit, I was a bit confused. Was I meant to spin this and send it back, or what? The next day I call her, and it turns out, the wool is for me to keep! Sort of like payment for the spinning. The wool is a Cotswold-Romney cross, and is remarkably soft for a longwool breed, in my opinion. Apparently, sheep that have not eaten grain have softer wool! Isn't that cool?
The pictures are, in order from top to bottom: spun yarn on my niddy-noddy; my new spindle with carded wool; and washed, uncarded wool.

Wooly Days

I spun, dyed, knitted and felted these fingerless gloves that I hope to sell someday. I am also spinning some Cormo-Romeldale fleece that I got at a fiber festival - check out the pics. I plan to ply it and knit up some nice soft socks. The wool is so dreamy to spin - Cormo is so on my sheep wish list!
In other news, the peas are being eaten and the squash and melons suffer from powdery mildew. I plan to use enzymes to kill the bugs and spray the mildew with diluted milk - heard about the second tip in Grow Great Grub, by Gayla Trail. Great book, she also wrote You Grow Girl. Grow Great Grub is definitely more guy-friendly, and has great tips for growing organic edibles in small spaces. So, what's going on in YOUR gardens and fiber workshops?

Musings of a Teenage Spinner

I am carding and spinning my Suri alpaca outside where my allergies don't bother me. It is pleasant work, when the fiber doesn't get dirty. People come and ask what I am doing, and I try to explain: I am spinning, making yarn. One man remarked that you don't usually see kids my age doing that kind of thing. I know it must look odd, but I like how much more intimately involved you get to be with your fiber than just knitting. It does feel weird, however, that doing what people did to clothe themselves for thousands of years costs me most of my allowance.

A dream to spin

I went to the Indiana Fiber and Music festival last week, and got a pound of Cormo-Romeldale cross wool, and 12 ounces of Suri alpaca! I started spinning the Suri and it is tricky, but so soft and such a long staple length, it is just begging to be knitted into something lacy. I am also knitting a sweater from Ethnic Knitting Discovery (the Dutch Sampler Pullover, actually) out of some handspun a friend gave me. Fun stuff!

How things are going (and growing) . . .

Well, it is almost September and my tomato plant (yes, singular) is finally producing three beautiful yellow flowers. Knowing the weather around here, I might get a few tomatoes before it gets too cold. This one I actually started from seed . . . outside. That's why it isn't making tomatoes yet, because I planted it outside in late June. But I've never had any luck with starting seeds indoors. Trust me, I tried.
Other things in my garden: chammomille container, sweet potato hanging bucket, and purslane planters. I cheated with the purslane and just transplanted some wild weeds of it into containers with potting soil. Hard to believe they are a succulent, considering how plump and juicy they get with lots of water. I will probably only get enough chammomille for a few cups of tea, but it will be extra special because I grew it myself. The picture up top is how much dried chammomille I have so far.
As for other things, well, good news. I don't actually have schizophrenia. Just anxiety and depression. This is such good news! Glory to God! Nowhere near as disabling! We all hope I can go off the Geodon, me included of course! And I am working on the purple section of a handspun orange, red and purple knitted shawl. I dyed the yarn with Kool-Aid, and the orange came out a bit orangey-brown, since the wool was gray to start out with. There are a couple mistakes, so maybe I can keep the shawl if I can't find anyone to give it to. And the local apartment complex crabapples are getting ripe, so maybe my sister and I can go PICKING tomorrow!

Random little things . . .

I haven't posted in a long time! I turned 16 over a month ago and I haven't posted since then. I had a chocolate chip cookie cake and my parents made the candles say 10000 (16 in binary!) which was so cool. And I got a huge bag of Lincoln wool to spin. It was from a sheep named Mary Todd. I made a PVC niddy-noddy and dyed some yarn red with Kool-Aid. Now I am trying to knit a simple lace shawl but keep messing up. Ugh!
A couple days ago I had a sleep-deprived EEG and an MRI. Luckily I fell asleep for the part of the MRI that scared me. I woke up and didn't have a needle in my arm anymore. Lucky me :) But I had to stay up all night so the tests had better SHOW something! Please pray for me about that.
We've had a lot of heavy rain that killed my lettuce and severely damaged my radishes, but I planted new radishes, sweet potatoes and chamomille, and now when it's about to rain I cover the radishes and chamomille with garbage bags so they don't get waterlogged or uprooted. I wonder if I can try again with the lettuce in the fall, since it a cool-season crop?

Adventures in spining: cotton balls!

So I figured out some tips for spinning cotton and spun some that came from a vitamin bottle. Now I bought two 200-pc bags of cotton balls for $4.24 at Walgreens. Two cotton balls makes this much yarn!

How to make a free item

I am fascinated by the concept of transforming free or very cheap materials into usable items. With this I made a dish scrubby, crocheted from 2-ply handspun cotton (it came with a bottle of vitamins) and 'yarn' made of plastic mesh bags. I don't know how effective this tiny scrubby will turn out to be, but if it's a total flub, who cares? The materials were free, and the work was enjoyable.

Handspun Neckwarmer (no button yet)!

Here it is, the first knitted thing from my handspun:

A Spinning Misadventure

So I asked for a spindle and some wool for my birthday present. The pair of spindles finally came in the mail. I had checked out a library book on handspinning, and it mentioned recycled fibers such as blue jean cotton or wool mixed with recycled plastic bottles. I wanted to see if these fibers were cheaper than wool, which can be pricey. So I searched and searched, and all the recycled fibers were at least as expensive as wool, if not more. Finally I stumbled across a website on making 'newspaper yarn'. I looked at the instructions and theoretically, all you had to do was cut newspaper into strips, twist it to make a leader, and twist the strips together with a spindle. Did it work?
No, of course not? The paper kept breaking. So that was the end of my 'new project enthusiasm'. I do admire the person who managed to pull it off though, and would be grateful for tips! So I will try not to be too pessimistic and wait to get some wool to spin.