Spinning Out of Control

I finally, FINALLY, got my hands on a drop spindle. I bought someone's destashed learn to spin kit that included a bottom whorl spindle and I'd say about two ounces of unknown quality wool. It came Thursday, and I found it waiting for me when I got home from taking Haytham to the airport. It definitely took a little of the edge off of sending my Bubby on his way again, but the problem was I couldn't spin a lick with it.
At all.
I tried everything. I tried spinning the whole big mess of fiber that came with it. I tried pulling it apart. I even tied the fiber to the leader yarn and just ran it across my leg. Nothing worked.
So, I took a trip to Spin a Yarn yesterday, and begged Christy to help me figure the darned thing out. She showed me how to pre-draft and draft the fiber. She also suggested putting a hook in the top (it didn't have one) to help guide and hold the yarn rather than relying on a half-hitch and groove. (I also got to try a wheel, though VERY unsuccessfully, but hopefully if I get to go to Fiber Folks on Wednesday I'll get another chance and do a little better.)
When I got home, I tried to put a cup hook in the end of the spindle. The wood (pine, I think) split. Luckily, the split wasn't too long, so I grabbed some duct tape and hallie-rigged it.



Worked like a charm. Inspired, I spun as much as I could before my arms got tired.
I got it out again this morning, and spun some more of the wool.



I put it down long enough to go visit my dad, and take a nice drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I got home about 6, and I've been spinning ever since. End result?


Forty one yards of single, now stretching out and drying in my bathroom. (It took about half of the fiber to spin that much, so I'm going to spin the rest of it up to make a second single, then ply them after I dye them.) It's too thick in some places, and nearly laceweight in others...

But I don't care. I love it.
The plied yarn will be pretty much useless as it will be too short and will have too many variations in weight (though I may turn it into a swatch, just to be contrary). Doesn't matter to me, though. I made it, and I like it. And, once I get a little better, I've got two ounces of gorgeous turquoise merino/silk blend calling out to be spun. Ha!

Or maybe I'll dye after all...

I was reading the directions on Knitty, and it said you could brew the yarn in a ziplock bag like sun-tea. So, I fixed up a bath for the mystery yarn (which started out a light beige) before I left for work, and this is what I came home to.







Pretty good for a first try, I think. :) I used two packets of Flav-R-Aid in Kiwi Watermelon, and one packet of cherry. The yarn is unknown fiber, unknown amount, unknown weight, but it took dye like crazy. The color is losing intensity a little as it dries, and it took better in some spots than others, but I'm still happy with it.

Sweet...

Many many many thanks to Tanya of Starry Eyed for the blog's butt-kickin' new header graphic. :D I think it absolutely rocks.
Speaking of rock, I bought the stuff today to work on learning to dye yarn with Kool Aid. Even got two skeins of wool yarn. Yes, wool. I've noticed I can play with wool yarn now and not wind up with the reaction... I'm also thinking part of it was how Jojoland is processed. But either way, I'm going to see what happens when I throw Kool Aid at Louet Riverstone (and the mystery skein I got out of the scrap basket). And of course I'll post pics of whatever I get out of it. :D

Malabrigo is love.

So, today I opened my mailbox to find the most awesome package from another member of the RAoK group on Ravelry. Two crochet hooks, an aluminum K (which is what I posted in my wishlist) and a beautiful blue acrylic glittery K, along with two balls of Malabrigo yarn. (It was leftover, but I've never seen this stuff in person, and WOW!) Color me happy. I'm even fighting the blessed wool reaction to make myself a hat with the yarn because it's so soft and pretty. Luckily, the reaction only seems to hit when I'm working with it. I can wear wool things fine (and I can hang with the sheep, so why the reaction when I work with the yarn is beyond me). YAY to the nth degree! I'll post a picture when I finish it. (And yeah, it's the hat pattern I mentioned last two posts.)

Damn.

I got my KnitFit yarn sample today. It's so soft and pretty, but thanks to the wool reaction I discovered, I can't do a thing with it. I could cry. So, I'm sending it off as part of the RAoK group on Ravelry, and hopefully it will find a happy home.
Dammit.

Well, that was not so fun.

Apparently, while it's not an actual allergy, I have a reaction to wool yarn. I try to work with it, and my eyes start to itch and burn and my throat gets a weird tickly sensation. Six bucks shot to heck. I'm actually leery of even frogging the hat as I don't want to deal with the consequences. I guess Mom gets another skein of yarn to play with. Feh.
As for the hat, I think I'm going to wait until Haytham gets home on Tuesday and let him pick the yarn, either from my (always growing) stash or out of Wal-Mart.
I'm also making my first foray into the world of amigurumi. I found the cutest little bat pattern and I'm making it for a friend's daughter (the friend and I are both old-school goths from waaaaaayyyyyyyyyy back in the day...she moreso than I, and neither of us are very much into the scene anymore, but still). I've got a whole bunch more queued up and waiting to be made into gifts for others and decor for me. :) May as well, as I bought an entire bag of fiberfill this afternoon.