A Creative Journey...

Haven't been crafting much lately...work is getting in the way of my play time! Having said that, it's hard to stay idle, even when I'm tired. I looked through my growing stash of fibers waiting to be spun and came across this little bundle that I received a couple of Christmases ago. MM carded these batts for me and I love the sparkle that comes from the firestar fibers. The bright colours and sparkle reminds me of carnivals!

Carnival - mill ends and firestar, sport weight (plied)

Coral Reef - BFL, Silk, Merino/Border Leicester




Faded Denim - Mystery Wool




Blush Blooms - Merino




Dark Lichens - Merino




Deepwoods - Domestic Long Wool




River - Domestic Long Wool

From what looks like a bunch of leftover yarns (well, actually, it's handspun from bits of leftover fiber scraps)...



Into another colourful, quirky, happy skein of yarn!!!

For a while now, I've been entertaining the thought of spinning a wonderfully quirky skein of yarn which embodies everything I love about the diversity of fibers. Last week, a swap buddy put out a request for bits of handspun fibers for her weaving project. I took all my leftover handpun and joined the ends to form one coherent skein for her to work from.

On the spindle, the colours were vivacious in spite of being haphazardly thrown together in the mix of things. There were strands of DK weight as well as lace weight, and textures ranged from smooth to nubby.



Once skeined, I marvelled at the cohesiveness of the yarn.



There will be many more quirky handspuns in the near future! The happy muddy of colours and textures makes me smile :0)

Kendall is great for spinning larger quantities of yarn, but I prefer using hand spindles for spinning yarn from art batts, luxury fiber blends, and for take-along projects when I travel. After learning how to use a top whorl spindle at the fiber festival, I've been a wee bit obsessed with hand spindles.

I picked up the babe spindle for its versatility (the double whorls may be positioned to make it a top, mid or bottom whorl spindle) and in a crunch, I could take it apart when I travel!




The other type of spindle I've been wanting to try out is the Turkish spindle. I found a basic one on Etsy and I'm pretty pleased with its construction and functionality. The advantage of the Turkish spindle is its portability (nifty three piece construction) and the added bonus of having a center pull ball of roving at the end of spinning. I really like this design and will have to pick up a better one soon!



While reading up on various types of spindles, I came across several cool homemade spindles and decided I should have a go at it. Yep. Made two spindles...one top whorl and the other, a bottom whorl.

The top whorl spindle has a carved stone whorl which gives it a nice weight. The initial test shows that it's relatively well-balanced and spins pretty easily/continuously. Can't wait to spin some yarn with it!




And I adore the details on this wooden bottom whorl spindle! I found the round wooden disk at a local shop and all I had to to was drill a hole in the middle of it to accomodate the shaft.



I'll be on the lookout for more materials that may be adapted to serve as whorls for hand spindles!

I've been sorting through my fiber stash and realized that I had better start spinning (or I won't have a justifiable excuse to buy more fiber when I go to the regional fiber show at the end of May)!! These were spun while trying to make a dent in my list of must-watch DVDs!

The One With No Name (domestic wool hand painted by CH)



Tide Pool (mill ends dyed by moi!)



Princess (superwash merino, milk fiber, nylon, and angelina blend by MM)