Her Name Is....

Wow, thank you so much to all the people that left me suggestions for the name of my spinning wheel. It was great when people provided meanings or reasons for the names too. After considering each and every one, my absolute favourite is.... drum roll .....

PEARL

I initially liked the suggestion of Gretta but when Pearl came along, I just knew that was her name, it fits just right. Plus I like the play on the knitting term 'purl'. And as I liked the name Gretta so much too, I've decided to give two gifties. :-)
So, if Wilma and Lori would like to email me at tayds (at) tower (dot) net (dot) au with their mailing addresses, then I'll get your thank you gifties in the post. Which, incidentally, are the last two embroidered bookmarks I made (hope that's ok!). The Australiana one for Wilma and the purple one for Lori.



Here are some photos of my first attempt at spinning fleece!


This is the raw fleece. It's still greasy and very 'sheep pongy' but the lady assured me that greasy fleece was the easiest to learn to spin with. It's from a 'Corridale' sheep apparently.


Here's a handful of fleece combed and fluffed ready to spin with. I just used a wide toothed metal comb.


Look! Look! I'm spinning!! :-)


This nifty device is called a 'niddy noddy', you use it to wind the spun yarn onto before you wash it. You just tie the yarn in about 4 different places so when you slip it off the niddy noddy it doesn't turn into a tangled mess. This yarn has been plyed (plied?), meaning I've spun two strands of yarn and then spun them together in the opposite direction, so they snuggle against each other.


Da dum - my very first skein of hand spun fleece. Uneven, lumpy, overspun, fuzzy, but I'm so pleased with myself cos it actually LOOKS like yarn! Wait until Meshell posts photos of her finished skeins - yummy! She has used some of her stash of hand dyed roving and wow, her yarn is beautiful!

Here She Is - What's Her Name?

I picked her up yesterday. Isn't she lovely, she is a pre 1980 Ashford Traditional. She is gleaming after being oiled and she makes the most gorgeous purring noise when the flyer is whizzing around. And the foot treadle has a tiny little squeak that I find very endearing for some reason. Last night I sort of walked around her in a wide berth for a while, a bit scared. Then I had another read of the book I bought for reference. Then I stared at her a bit more, then I finally plucked up the courage to have a go.

I grabbed a handful of fleece, combed the ends, took a deep breath and had a try. After about 20 minutes of broken yarn and two left hands a sort of rhythm developed that I think is how it's meant to be, in a crude sort of way. Result is half a bobbin of sort of yarn... I think it's a bit overspun and it's a bit fuzzier than it's meant to be, but it's yarn! Today the aim is to spin another half bobbinful then have a go at plying them together. That is, when I can get a turn - Meshell has commandered her today - she is having a lovely time spinning some of the gorgeous hand dyed roving she has bought.

I'm dying to get mine plyed, having never attempted that before. And also, because I spun greasy fleece, I'm looking forward to washing it to see what effect that has on the spun yarn.... I wonder if that will fluff it up a bit maybe. Anyway, I'll post a few photos of my maiden attempt in the next post.

Now, one last thing, the spinning wheel is definitely a 'she', and she needs a name. Probably an old fashioned but strong/dependable sort of name. I can't think of one.
How about I throw this out to anyone that visits my blog: if you want, leave a comment with a suggestion of a name for her, and the one that I like the most will win a small giftie.

Oooo, it's so exciting learning a new thing! :-)

I Estimate 5 Years For The Jumper

It went like this...
Meshell: nag nag nag (over the past week), we have to visit Bilby Yarns, they have cool stuff - yarn, roving, fleece, spinning wheels, bits and bobs

Me, beaten down by the constant nagging: Ok, let's go

Arrive at said Bilby Yarns
Me, hissing under my breath: We are just looking Meshell, we are not buying ANYTHING. In particular we are not buying a spinning wheel, we are raw beginners and need to learn our craft before making frivolous purchases of expensive equipment

Lady in the shop: Anything I can help you with?
Me: I'm curious about the price of a new spinning wheel
Lady in the shop: They start around $570
Me: Oh (bugger)
Lady in the shop: But I have 3 or 4 second hand ones here, this is a nice one, why don't you sit down and have a try
Me: Ok, ooo, this has a lovely smooth motion
Lady in the shop: It's $120
Me: I'll buy it!

Pathetic isn't it. :-)

Me, upon arriving home: Steve, guess what, I'm going to knit you a jumper
Steve: Oh, that's nice
Me: See this bag of fleece.... and there is a spinning wheel to go with it
Steve: Riiiight

And Meshell is beside herself with joy, not quite believing that we have a spinning wheel when her mother sounded so stern and determined one step from the door of the shop. We have to wait til Thurday to pick it up, as the lady had to clean it up a bit.... she bought it from a hippy man from Margaret River and he left the cobwebs on it :-)

So, there you are then