Thermalgal’s Temperate Mumblings

Spinning Frog Hair

May 29, 2009 on 9:51 am | In Knitting, Spinning | 1 Comment

I wanted to spin lace weight… I think I might be getting closer to cobweb weight…  We’ll see when I’m finished and this is plied.  Looking back in my archives, I found this post which details when I bought the fiber.  I’m maybe half way done this batt, but it is a 50/50 wool silk blend in color Tigerlily bought way back in the fall of 2004.  This is my first time using a batt and I have to say that compared to the crappy wool I started with, I’m really enjoying this.  I tear off sections and pre-draft them before spinning.  The next section is mostly yellow.  This one had some black in it, most of the rest of the batt is orange.  I’m hoping to have enough for a small lace shawl.

I’m really liking my spindle.  I usually spin for a little bit each day.  It lives in the den next to my computer and I can pick it up and spin for a couple of minutes and then put it back down.  Which is exactly what I was hoping for with a toddler in the house.  Last night I found all my old spindles and did an inventory.  I have three toy wheel spindles that I made for a church event years ago, one pretty heavy supported spindle, one pretty heavy low whorl (the last two came with either my wheel or my loom when I got them on ebay), and two top worls that are about 1.5 oz.  One of those is my very first spindle (no idea the brand) which is plain wood, the other is a polymer clay one I bought with the silk wool batt.  I played with the polymer clay one last night to see how it does (okay but it is no Golding) and was able to get a 2 ply fingering out of it.

The reason I was doing a spindle inventory is because I fell off the wagon (okay, I fell off a while back and haven’t been able to get back on) and bought a Trindle!  This one in particular.  I want to use this one to spin sock yarn.  Those are my spinning goals, sock and lace weight yarn.  I’m hoping to get at least one Butterfly Girl spindle in the 0.5 oz range.

While I had my camera out I got a picture of my progress on Kai Mei (Rav link).  I’m using the sock flat from my first Transitions shipment, America the Beautiful.  The first 6.5 inches is just a 3×3 rib, but hopefully I’ll turn the heels this weekend and can start on the patterning on the foot.