Do-Overs and Spinning

Wish they were for real when it comes to living a year over again. 

Overall, we've had many blessings this year, but it's definitely had major challenges as well. Being a grown up sure isn't what we think when we're young. 

Our latest challenge has been my FIL recently becoming ill with lung cancer and is now going back and forth to the hospital for various reasons. He had his first chemo treatment recently, but has been in for pain in his chest, swelling, possible pneumonia, and now he has a fever.  It's hard to explain to your children that someone they love so very much may not be with us a whole lot longer but that we have to continue to pray for them no matter what. Around the holidays it's even tougher. 

But we're holding onto hope. Always gotta hold on. And Pray.

I figure it's also time to document my spinning for this year. Next year I hope I see some progress and growth. What I don't want is yarn that looks like something I can buy at a LYS that's manufactured. I totally want the barber pole effect in a nice soft lofty yarn and many colors! 

I'm loving my little Ashford Joy wheel, she spins wonderfully when I get my groove going, it's just THAT part isn't as consistent yet! I know I need to practice more, my legs and fingers haven't been as cooperative as I'd like. Sometimes after I spin for a bit my legs feel like jello, weak as a new born calf. This auto-immune thing I have seems to have weakness in my arms and legs as a regular symptom anymore. It really stinks. But, I do enjoy it when I get some good spinning time in. It's just a price I have to pay to do what I love.

Here's my first round: 

Frabjous Fibers - Hand Dyed Blue Faced Leicester Top - Cabbage Rose colorway - 4 oz. (Bought at LYS).  I did this around summer time I believe and since I don't keep track of things very well I can't remember my approximate yardage on this one. I'll need to remeasure. I believe it was around 160 yds.

OMgosh, it was so hard to get the colors in the picture accurate on this one. But I love just looking at it. I'll never knit it up since it's my first, it holds a special place in my heart. It's thick, thin, and badly plyed (I didn't realize how tired I'd get doing that - should've saved it for a day when I had more energy and less overall pain.) But I love it. 

Here's my second: 

Yarnadoodles BFL Combed Top - Tea Time colorway - 4 oz

I finished this one recently and tried to take my time with the plying this go around, but still, it has it's 

thick and thin spun spots that make it individual. 

I managed around 232 yards this time. It's funny, but I just like to pet and look at my own skeins. It makes me smile. I doubt I'll knit this up anytime soon either. I just love it. 

I did try navajo plying on some Louet Coopworth I spun when I first got my wheel. That was fun, but I still need a LOT of practice in that department too. My Joy is weighted so the "spin back" happens when I forget where my feet are on the treadles. I'm not crazy about that, but it's getting easier with practice. It was really evident in this type of plying as I had to keep rearranging my hands and the fibers every now and then. 

I don't know what I'd do without my knitting or spinning. It's my sanity in these tough days. I'm waiting on some more fiber to spin that I ordered from Etsy (my own Christmas present). I can't wait. I just hope my legs hold up. I may need to look into an electric spinner one day....

Happy Spinning and Knitting! And please, if possible, keep good thoughts for my FIL and our family. 

Spinning Love

NOW I GET IT.
My first attempt on some llama stuff my friend gave me to practice on:

Not much there but I'm still very proud of it! It's funny how much I screwed up but I'm still having a blast! I couldn't get my tension quite right the whole time, I over-twisted TONS, and I could hear Helen telling me to feed my yarn to the wheel because I tend to forget. But every now and then: -*~Magic Happened~*-.  Things just "flowed" for a few seconds here and there and I was in total love.  My end result is not nearly as neat and pretty as my friend Helen's, and I had to keep reminding myself that what she spun first for me with this stuff looked JUST FINE and it wasn't the WHEEL'S FAULT but rather my own shortcomings.

See:

Looks like I have a whole other animal here! I don't know if this is normal for many new spinners but from the DVD I got from Interweave Knits, she said it's not unusual for spinners to have bits and pieces they've had to remove all around their feet, so I didn't feel quite as bad once this pile built up. (I'm still learning pre-drafting too.)

This is the wheel my wonderful friend Helen let me borrow for the summer. It's a discontinued Ashford but she said it's similar to a Kiwi. It's got a harder treadle than the Ashford Traditional she let me borrow the last time, and it feels sluggish compared to the jet-speed of her Joy. But I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to even TRY it I'm over the moon! 

I'm thinking a "double treadle" is the way I'm going to go though. I just hope I can finally test one out one day to really determine that. My right leg is my "bad" leg, so balancing it out would be better for me in the long run (as well as starting and stopping the wheel). As it is, I only spend less than 10 minutes at a time on this one before I get tired. 

I have some pink merino waiting in the wings....that should be interesting!