Thermalgal’s Temperate Mumblings

Guess what I did last night!

January 6, 2005 on 1:00 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off on Guess what I did last night!

If you guessed unpacked my wheel and spun some yarn, you would be correct! I’m almost afraid to say this, but I’ve had nothing but good luck with Ebay. Granted I only buy maybe two or three things a year… but even on the chances I’ve taken it turns out okay (I bought a used darkroom enlarger that had next to no description).

So, last night, after I removed the twenty to thirty Dell monitor boxes from my car, I unpacked my wheel and put it together. Of course yesterday morning I was so excited that I opened the box and took the assembly insructions with me to work. And guess where they were last night… still at work! But that is okay, they wouldn’t have helped me anyway. I wasn’t quite sure of some bits and it turns out that those parts come pre-installed when you buy the wheel so the assembly instructions didn’t have any details on that. But I think I got all the bits in the right order. Not only did I win my nifty new Louet S50 (how old does that make it since they only sell S51s now and it has the old two ratio bobbins while the current ones have three), but I also got a set of Louet handcarders and a drop spindle. The wheel also came with three bobbins and a wire lazy kate that attaches to the base. Not only was the wheel very well packaged (it did have to survive the trip from Holland), but the seller also threw in some free wool. Granted it is cheap wool, but hey something for me to play with that I won’t feel bad about messing up.

And then after dinner, I proceeded to make some yarn. I split up the batt into about two even sections and I’m going to make two ply out of it. That way I can practice my spinning and my plying with this freebie wool. My first try is slightly better than my first try on the drop spindle, so I find that encouraging. It is the usual beginner thick/thin yarn. Gotta learn some consistency in my drafting. During all my surfing these past six weeks, I knew to take it really slow at the beginning and not treadle like a bat out of … err… So, that is what I did, but I think it was too slow. I finished up the one section and switched to the next bobbin. This morning I did a quick measurement and it looks like my single is about 15 WPI. So, I’ll end up with a two ply super bulky which is about what I expected. After this bunch of wool is finished, I’ll get out the undyed stuff I bought in the spring. I bought a pound and I’ve only done a little bit of it on the spindle (I got tired of standing). Then I have some wool/alpaca blend and some wool/silk blend to play with. Hopefully after I’ve finished the pound of plain stuff my skill will be up to the nicer stuff. So, the plan is to work up all my roving (I don’t have that much) before May so I can buy more at the MDS&W festival. Oooh and if I have some money maybe I can sign up for a class or two!

Tonight is stitching night at Sue’s, so I’ll be working on Scent of Old Roses again. I feel bad for it, it won’t get its usual hours this week because of the new wheel. But that is okay, that is what Tuesday (new work S’nB) and Thursdays are for! To make sure I get some stitching time. Especially since we have to start packing up the house for our move in March.