Lamb and Frog

For tomorrow–

We ply! What we have here is two small bobbins’ worth of 1) blue-faced Leicester in the ‘highways and byways’ colorway from the Sanguine Gryphon and purchased (by my mom for me for Christmas, mom don’t suck) at The Loopy Ewe; 2) an 80% Peruvian wool/ 20% alpaca blend hand-dyed by Dagmar the Enabler; and 3) Kool-aid-dyed 100% alpaca (also dyed by Dagmar, not for nothing is she called ‘The Enabler’). The odd man out there at the top of the vertical kate is a merino wool/tussah silk blend.

When I got my second spinning wheel some people wondered why I needed two. Well, among other reasons, because the second one has this–

A large head with a jumbo bobbin, perfect for both spinning chunky yarn and plying. You see, when you spin singles onto a small bobbin on a smaller head–

and then you get ready to ply two bobbins (one single on each) together, you still have two bobbins’ worth of yarn (in terms of yarn volume and mass). That means, unless you have a larger bobbin, you will have to stop plying somewhere in the middle, break your new two-ply and start another small bobbin. With the large head and jumbo bobbin, you can spin two small bobbins of singles onto one bobbin.

So, the new wheel came with both heads, one large bobbin, and four small bobbins. All four small bobbins are now full. That means, until all that yarn is plied, one large bobbin full at a time, I can’t spin more singles. Well, it would if I didn’t have my Ashford (right).

The Lendrum (left) is now mostly permanent furniture (it is sitting where we put the Christmas tree) in the living room. Yesterday afternoon I rearranged furniture in my bedroom so that I could give the Ashford the same status. I can now sit down and spin in either the living room or the bedroom whenever I want without moving either wheel. If you don’t spin, you may not understand just how freakin’ cool this is. If you do spin you know exactly why I am spending so many words and pictures bragging on this. You might also understand if you, like me, suffer from insomnia and are often looking for a quiet, yet constructive, something to do in the middle of the night when everyone else in the house is asleep.

So, I have that orphan bobbin of merino/silk I mentioned above, but I hope I don’t have it for long. That bowl sitting next to the Ashford is the rest of the fiber and I’ve already started bobbin number two. (I think I have enough for four bobbins, or two skeins of two-ply yarn.)

The plan is to finish spinning the second bobbin of the silk, leave the rest for another time, and then to spin this hand-dyed (by Dagmar again) mohair/merino blend.

I know, I know. I have fiber issues. But every now and then they pay off. I sent my Aunt some handspun for her birthday and today I got this in the mail:

The gold is my handspun (half of what I sent, she’s saving the rest for herself thank goodness). It is combined with some turquoise wool and some shiny, multi-colored, highly textured novelty yarn. Yum.