spinning with drop spindle | damp city knits :

New Projects for the New Year? Well I did start another pair of Monkey socks…

My knitting resolutions for the upcoming year are:

Enjoy making beautiful things in this beautiful city
Write out patterns for some of the projects I’ve knit up.
Spin more; specifically, dye and spin enough for a sweater, then design and knit the sweater.
Document my finished objects more carefully
Pick up and COMPLETE some if not all of my unfinished projects – at least those projects which are promising.
Knit myself a puppy… OK – the story is I really want to get a dog, but since I’m moving, and it’s pretty much impossible to find a place in Vancouver that allows dogs, I think that at this point in my life, I’m just going to have to be realistic, and move on. Thus I figure the solution to my problem is a knitted puppy.

Monkey Socks part deux

belated xmas spinning

I feel like the last little while has been a very productive time for me, but I haven’t really taken many GREAT pictures; so I don’t have the ‘money’ shots which inspire me to blog! Regardless, I’ve been spinning very regularly, working with the polwarth fibre I dyed previously to blue/greens. This is the first ball of a fingering-weight 2-ply. I’ve finished spinning the last of the fibre into singles, and I’m almost done plying the second half. I think when I’m done I’ll have 300 yards… what will I do with it?!?

I’ve also started to try to learn to spin a bulkier single; which I’ve found surprisingly hard to get at all consistent. One problem is that the roving I’m trying to spin felted slightly in the dying process… MY fault!! I am also not used to the heavier spindle, which spins more slowly. Pics of that inconsistent bulkish yarn will eventually go up.

This hand-dyed, recycled bulky wool-angora is another result of my recent productivity. All told it is 5 skeins of nice, bulky, solid yarn, 722 yards. I’m moderately happy with the results of the dyeing, and I plan to start making cushion-covers for my couch with this yarn soon. It will be nice to have the instant gratification of knitting with bulky yarn for a change!!