It's a gloomy trying to rain day in Wyoming and I've been dyeing Lincoln wool and a superwash Columbia Rambouillet wool roving.  I've been doing this for years and the process is pretty automatic to me.  Clean wool, stuff in canning jars, make dye, add dye, heat set, let cool, dry, spin.  Today I looked at the curly Lincoln wool and squished roviing in the jars and noticed something-  the play of color and texture is actually very intriguing.  So much, that I took the pictures you see below.  Maybe I should pay attention more often. 

Welcome back!  Well, at least to me.  I’ve been slacking.  Okay, that’s not completely true.  I have been spinning lots of yarn, dyeing lots of wool, and knitting a sweater (the Terra Linda Cardigan if you’re interested.)

Last month I also was gifted a spinning wheel, my third one.  She’s an Ashford Traditional, first purchased by the original owner in 1976.  She was originally dark walnut, but I painted her teal and she’s used for demonstrations sometimes.  Her color, incidentally for those who are fans of Daryl’s Restoration Over Hall on DIY network, is the same as the reproduction historic sink in the new kitchen.  She’s supposed to represent something from the 1800s and I spend a lot of time explaining that the color is, yes, historically correct.  It's a bit darker than pictured.  I also spend a lot of time explaining the theory of spinning yarn- the how to's and different types of wool.  One family found out I can ramble if you let me.  Her name is Charlotte.

If you’re wondering, and if you’re not, the dark walnut bench behind it was something that I built from a kitchen cabinet I got from Menards.  I needed something to #1- store wool, and #2, be the right height to sit and spin.  I find around 17 inches tall is the right height for me. 

At some point I will give a thorough review.  And at some point I will give a history lesson on historic painted spinning wheels. 

Actually, I’ll do that right now.  I’ve been researching spinning wheels lately- forms, styles, and colors.   While a vast majority of wheels are natural wood colors, I have found two colors that predominate when they are painted-  shades of medium-dark blues and greens.  I found one with burgundy trim. 

Since I can ramble on about anything spinning related I will stop now.  See you soon!

I did a bit of spinning last weekend, about 800 yards total, mostly on my Louet S17.  I guess there’s something about Spring in the air because my yarn had flowers growing from it! Okay, not really growing from it, but they are spun into it.  I call this Flowered Fleecespun, because it has flowers and is spun from hand dyed wool locks.  I seem to spin this series in cycles because I was looking back at my yarn archive and I seem to, fittingly, spin this during the warmer months.  I don't have much of a yard for a garden, or much gardening skills for that matter, but my yarn can bloom.

New flowered fleecespuns (the ones pictured at right) will be available in my Etsy shop soon.


Below are some of my flowered handspun yarns from the past two years.  

I was spinning some handdyed Wensleydale wool roving last night.  Below is some pics of the yarn in progress.  It is a self-striping yarn.  The roving had blocks of color so instead of slivering the wool, I pulled out chunks by color.  It's turned out to be a very bright colored and fun yarn!  That's my Ashford Kiwi 2 spinning wheel that I'm using.