Handspun lends itself so well to the perfect simplicity of Nikol Lohr’s Pebble baby vest. There are so many beautiful examples on Ravelry that I thought I might have a go using my own 3-ply handspun. I swear this design is like a potato chip. I am utterly unable to resist casting on another one. I probably will, in a week or two. Good thing this design is so addictive - between my own coworkers and the hubby's, there are enough babies on the way for me to knit a half dozen!
This handspun yarn is my first attempt at Navajo ply (turning a one ply into three, a neat trick that even piqued the hubby’s interest!). I love how this technique preserves the colour changes in the variegated roving and leaves self-striping effect intact. It also gives the yarn that bouncy, squishy feel I *LOVE*. There are many fluffy, uneven bits of yarn in there, but I'd like to think that they give the tiny vest a rustic appeal. Sometimes I mind these quirks, other times not at all - they remind me of that Amish tradition I've heard of, where a mistake is sewn into every quilt, because “only God is perfect”, or where Arab rug weavers would weave in a mistake because “only Allah is perfect”. Admittedly my reasoning is nothing so spiritual – I just want to love the look and feel of handspun :)
This was spun from a Lorna's Lace wool top – sadly I can't remember the fibre content!
Click here for the Ravelry project page
While this particular yarn was spun on my modern Lendrum folding wheel, I'm really, really excited to mention that I now have two new (although much, much older) wheels for my tiny craft room, which is already filled to the brim with yarn. So while I try to convince myself that I'll make space, I'd like to brag a little about my recent finds!
This is my Canadian Production Wheel, Evelyn. She's French-Canadian like me, and while she'll need a little bit of TLC for a gap in her drive wheel, we get along swimmingly!
I found her in the classifieds for $60 while on a trip out north visiting my parents, and she's in rather good condition for being well over 100 years old! Mom is keeping her at her place for the moment because she was a bit too fragile to ship her home, but I'll be picking her up by car in a few weeks.
In the meantime, I get to work on refurbishing this lovely Norwegian- style wheel I found at a garage sale near Toronto.
She was even cheaper than Evelyn, but in great need of cleaning! It was nothing a little bit of oil soap couldn't handle, and she's just glowing now. I call her Jenny. She's made of a number of different woods, my favorite being the birds eye maple of her uprights, and the burled mother-of-all.
See what I mean? How could I not fall head over heels over that craftsmanship??
I plan on dismantling the MOA this evening and cleaning our the tensioning system.
And just to bring this spinning post to close, I thought I'd share some of of the fluff that I just finished plying. The fibre is from Pigeonroof Studios, my current favorite indie dyer.
This is about 4 oz of Blue Face Leicester in « Modolva », plied with a Superwash merino base in the same colourway. I have special plans for these two skeins (about 350 yards, unknown WPI, I really should get around to measuring it!). Hope to have something to show in the next two weeks!
3 comments:
let me reveal my ignorance: i didn't know you had a blog and i had no idea that you were a spinner. hooray!
congrats on the new wheel! your yarn looks quite lovely. :o)
The spinning AND the vest are wonderful. I have a wheel that looks similar. I inherited mine, but something is missing. Looking at yours, I think I'm missing the gizmo that connects the foot pedal to the wheel, as there is no way to make my wheel go round.
Both the spinning and the vest are wonderful I have a wheel that looks similar to yours that I inherited. Looking at yours, I think it is the gizmo that connects the wheel to the foot pedal as there is no way to make my wheel turn.
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