I have an idea rolling around in my head for an application for my alpaca yarn. I pulled out some spun merino to test the concept. Basically, it is varied sizes of spirals sewn together. I used a half double crochet to make the circles, stitching not into the front or the back loop, but the third loop. It results in quite a pretty spiral. This test swatch will suit nicely to protect my pots and pans now that it has successfully demonstrated the technique works!
Sounds more like something to have in the evenings than to do with spinning. Ha. I transferred the first skein of alpaca off the niddy noddy and wound it into a cake so that I could wind the second spindle full onto the niddy noddy and wet it down. The next step is to card some more fleece!
Oops. I could probably reduce the amount of fiber I spin into singles, that spindle is very full and hard to handle! But I did it. I plied all three singles onto a single spindle! I was pleased also that the singles were nearly all the same length. When the first one ran out, there was very little left of the other two. Neat.
Time to ply again! My spinning production took a dramatic downturn with the onset of the stay at home orders, which seems strange. Turns out that it had nothing to do with staying home (although with two kids and crisis schooling I have much less time for my crafts), and everything to do with not wanting to knit. I changed my plan for the yarn to a crochet vest, with motifs rather than a large solid piece, and suddenly I have motivation to spin again. I don’t know why, but even though I can knit, I don’t enjoy it as much as crochet or nålbinding. I like the stretch and feel of knit, I just don’t like ripping it out (which ALWAYS happens). I thought about nålbinding the vest, but that would be a two-year project, which also makes me go “ugh”. So the current plan is to make crochet motifs and join them together into a vest (note: this may change!)
Any who, I am still looking for the best plying method for me, and have been researching what works for others. I’ve seen many wooden contraptions, in many different styles. I like working in wood, and I have scrap wood in the garage, but before I render anything in wood, I thought I should try it in cardboard first. So I took the box that I tried a sideways method to hold the spindle shafts, and poked holes in it and tried an upright method. This worked better, but needs a weighted bottom. I actually think a slight angle on the shafts also works nicely. Now to think on how I want to make a wooden one.
Is the mask on the right a little small? Yes, yes it is. It is for my youngest’s doll. We put the mask on the doll first, then put her mask on. Just in the house, just for a minute, just to start adjusting to the idea. My youngest wears glasses with a strap and has hearing aids, so no “behind the ears” elastic for her; she has enough going on behind there. These are unused shoe laces that I found in my stash (and they’re pink, so perfect). The loop goes behind her neck, then the ties tie behind her head. It works. We all now have cloth masks, and will start wearing them a little at a time to get used to them. Turns out my eldest needs this gradual introduction too. I was not expecting her aversion to mask wearing. So here we go, taking it easy, one baby step at a time.
Critters and Craft 