02.19.07

About Me Hobbies on President’s Day

Posted in Anything goes, Historical Trivia, Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 6:09 pm by Administrator

Happy President’s Day, or more specifically, Happy Washington’s Birthday. The weatherman turned out to be right after all. Even though the weather started out nice and sunny yesterday, we ended up having rain in the evening, continuing on through the night and even early this morning. I managed to get some stuff done early today and decided to take more pictures. Mainly my craft stuffs. . . hehehe.

So here’s a picture of some of my spinning stuff. I actually made my very “first” small, 2-ply ball of yarn, which is ready for knitting! It’s two ply with white and brown wool. It’s sitting right on top of the roving. The fluffy white and brown stuff is what is called roving–fleece, which has been washed and carded and ready for spinning. The wooden stick (for those who may not know) with the disk on top is my hand spindle. I used that to spin my first ply or single strand of yarn with the white roving. Below is a picture of a ball of my first ply of the white wool (sheered from a bluefaced leicester sheep), and the brown roving and single ply of brown wool made from a Jacob sheep is still on the spindle. For a long time I’ve been interested in spinning my own yarn. Basically, you spin two balls of yarn, then spin the two yarns together to make a 2-ply.

Years ago we took a trip to the east coast to places like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, etc. where we were able to visit historic sites some of which were old farms where they recreated what farm life was like in the olden days. Employees would dress up in clothing of the era and move about the farms like they were back in time. One farmhouse had a woman spinning yarn, and I still remember that. I thought it was so cool. I’m sure I’ve even got her picture in my photo album of that trip, heh. So this is fun that I’ve actually made my own yarn! Here’s a closeup of the ball and a small white ball that was part of it before it got plyed with the brown yarn.

I’ve still got quite a bit of roving to spin as you can see from the basket above with my first ball sitting on top. Since I’m only just learning, I have been using a hand spindle, but seeing that I think I’m getting the hang of it, and I like it, I would like to eventually get a spinning wheel. Here’s a picture of me spinning (nice that today is a holiday, so Brian manned the camera). I’m just a beginner, so I need to concentrate as evidenced by the “tight lip.” Ha! I’m actually spinning both white and brown at once here, just to experiment. You can barely see it, but the brown roving is behind the white roving draped over my left hand. I’ve also been working on using up my old yarns. And when I say “old,” I mean it! I found a stash of yarns that’s about as old or just a little older than my oldest son. Uh, that makes it about 19 years old! I can’t believe I’ve stashed yarn for 19 years without even working it up! So to get rid of the old and in with the new, I’ve started making a retro baby blanket, heheh. It’s not finished yet, but I thought I’d take a picture of it before I’m done. The stripes are going diagonally, so I’m working from corner to corner diagonally. It looks like a triangle right now, but should finish up to being a square with diagonal stripes. I’m thinking that a border would help give it a more finished look, too. It’s a simple garter stitch so that I can finish it up quickly and I can get to my new better quality yarns (20 years ago, I don’t think I was as particular with what kind of yarn I used). Just so long as the yarn will now be “useful,” rather that just taking up space in my garage. So this is what it looks like so far. . .

I think it kinda looks retro or a sideways Mexican blanket, ha! Regardless, it should keep someone warm. Below is a basket of some new stuff I got. It’s organic yarn . . . so my choices in colors were limited. This stuff is from Australia. I’m still waiting on an order from New Zealand. Since today is a holiday, I don’t expect it in the post today, but hopefully, soon. I’ve also found some organic fleece and roving that I may be able to order soon, too. Why organic?  Oye, that’s another topic.  Boy, I hope I’ll have the time to do all this stuff! Brian’s so sweet that all he cares about is that I’m happy. So he says. . . What a sweetheart. Actually, I think he likes me keeping busy like this to stay out of trouble, ha! So here’s a picture of my new organic arrivals:

I’m actually starting early for Christmas presents, ha! So by the time I get myself organized, and learn how to do a few things, I’ll be taking pictures of some of my completed projects. One might think that it’s cheaper and easier to just buy Christmas presents, but I’ve got my own peculiar philosophical thoughts behind it, one thing is that I don’t want to promote slave labor in foreign countries so that I can buy cheap/inexpensive products, nor do I care to make the rich richer. Another reason I like to make things is because I think basic skills are being lost, especially since we’re so removed from the land. I think there is value in self-sufficiency in more ways than one. Anyway, before I get too into my philosophical moods, another thing I hope to tackle is dying my own yarns. . . woo hoo! Yeah, I know, the things that get me excited. . .

And lastly before I sign off, I thought I’d add a few pictures of the breeds of sheep from which the roving I got came from. Yes, it’s the geek in me that just loves this stuff. The white roving was from a bluefaced leicester sheep. Here it is pictured on the left. The other two brown colored rovings are from Jacob sheep and Corriedale sheep. The Jacob sheep is supposedly an ancient breed and the name “Jacob” is connected to Jacob in the Bible. More can be read about Jacob sheep here. So below is a picture of a Jacob sheep:

The final pictures are of the Correidale. They come in various colors. My roving is from a dark brown one. The correidale below is obviously lighter.

And a baby brown correidale, eeee, hee. What a cutie. . .  Can you just imagine King David as a child caring for sheeps like these?

Okay, that’s enough for today, right? Brian wants to see a Godzilla movie (Final Wars 2004) tonight, ha, ha! So off I go. . .

Marlakins

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