Progress on the bridal shawl

I've been concentrating on getting the yarn spun for my daughter's bridal shawl. It's two-ply, one of merino and one of silk. I'm spinning the merino on a drop spindle that I purchased to spin fine yarn with, and I'm spinning the mulberry silk on my Kromski Fantasia wheel. I've been plying the two together with my wheel.

My spindle and whorl are from www.pallia.net. The merino is from a fleece I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I flicked the locks of the washed fiber and am spinning the flicked locks with the spindle.

So far, I have about 480 yards of two-ply merino/silk yarn.

I'm hoping to have somewhere around 800 yards or so when I'm done.

A successful book signing at the indoor farmer's market

My book signing at the indoor farmer's market yesterday was fun. I brought my drop-spindle along with a finished skein of yarn to show anyone who was interested in my spinning.

I ended up selling not only several books, but my finished skein of yarn, too! I also got to eat a warm breakfast pie from the Gaelic Imports table, and I brought home some ground bison from the man who sells pasture-raised, grass-fed bison, and made a big pot of bison chili for dinner last night. Yum!

I love farmer's markets!

My latest project

I really like my new drop spindles. Here's what I'm working on now:

My new drop spindles

I recently purchased a top-whorl spindle and a bottom-whorl spindle from this shop on Etsy. They came in the mail very quickly, and over the weekend I played around with them. I've never spun with drop spindles before, but it wasn't hard to get the hang of it.

I ended up spinning about 1.5 ounces of fiber onto each spindle. The white fiber on the top-whorl spindle below is Bluefaced Leicester, and the red fiber on the bottom-whorl spindle is merino (you can view larger versions of the pictures by clicking on them):

Once I had spun the fiber up, I decided to ply it right from the spindles, using my spinning wheel (I have a Kromski Fantasia). Here's my set-up for plying:

I'm not finished plying yet, but here's what's on the bobbin already:

I call it Candy Cane yarn. I've made it before with my wheel. I really like it. I made a pair of mittens with it that look like crushed peppermint, and I sold a kit with enough yarn and a pattern for the mittens. It's really soft and yummy yarn.

Spinning with the drop spindles is a little addictive. I really like it, and as of right now, I don't have a preference between the top- and the bottom-whorl types. Spinning with a wheel is faster, but there's something really satisfying about the drop spindle. I'm looking forward to using them lots more in the future.

If you'd like to try spinning with drop spindles, I'd recommend the shop I've linked to above, and I'd recommend this book, by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts:

It deals mostly with the top-whorl spindle, but you'll pick up how to use the bottom-whorl as well. It recommended adding notches to your top whorl spindle if it doesn't already have them. Mine did not have notches and I did add one. I'll probably add at least one more. The notches really help keep the yarn in place, which is important as the amount of yarn wound around the spindle starts to become substantial.

Happy spinning!

Drop spindles

I purchased two drop spindles from a shop on Etsy and they arrived yesterday. One was a top-whorl and one was a bottom-whorl spindle. They came with a bit of yarn with which to get started.

I spun and plied half of the included yarn on the bottom-whorl spindle, and half on the top-whorl spindle. Combined, I made a 19 yard skein of yarn.

I like spinning with the spindles more than I thought I would, but I haven't decided yet if I like one type (top or bottom) better than the other.

As of this moment, I still like spinning with a wheel best.