I finally finished my VERY FIRST skein of Handspun Yarn!

See? Here it is! Yes, you didn't misread...this is the very first yarn I ever spun. It was spun on a CD Drop Spindle. And it's been sitting...as a single...for 4 years. And so, after all that time, I wound it off to my hand for an Andean Ply, then plyed it up on the same drop spindle it was spun on. The result is about 80 yards of lovely yarn.

And here it is skeined up now that it's dry...

That was actually the LAST thing that I finished today. This morning I went to spinning and finished plying this gorgeous Corriedale that I recieved from a Secret Pal back in January. You can somewhat see the variegation in the colors...I think this will be lovely knitted up. It was over 250 yards.

Once that was finished, I needed something else to spin. The only thing I had was my basket of wool and drop spindle in the car. I started this for an SCA project. A pair of small dog brushes, a drop spindle, some Gulf Coast Native wool from a "local petting zoo", and the best part, a MelodyBasket! This was part of my Christmas present and works perfectly for my drop spindle & wool!! Anyhow, I started this spinning back in May for SCA. Took it out today but kept finding that the cop was sliding down on the spindle. Decided it was time to ply it off. This was actually the first time I ever plyed from the drop spindle! It was what gave me the courage to dig out that four year old single at the top of the page :) So, here's the basket and yarn.



On the left is the unwashed yarn, next to the raw fiber. On the right is the washed. Most of what came out was sand, but the water did get a little dirty as well. I think you can see in the picture on the right that it has lightened up slightly, but the yarn still has a bit of color in it. I think what I'd like to do is spin more of these (it's about 25 yards), and natural dye them to different colors. Then I can use the yarn for small period weaving projects. I don't LOVE drop spindling, but there is some merit to the idea. Enough to keep me spinning on the spindle. Besides, the staple is only about an inch long, so this fiber needs the TLC that drop spindling will give it.

Remember these batts that I got at Convergence last week?

They've been my pet project this week, spinning them up on the great wheel. A little bit here, a little bit there... When I got home from all of my other spinning today, I finished up the last single on there and plyed them up! So here we have two skeins, totally about 150 yards. The batts did spin nicely on the Great, though I'll admit their still very slubby.


This is pre-wash, but you can get a feel for it. If anything, the yarn bloomed even more when it was washed.
And here is the day's haul...ok, it's missing the first skein...which was really the last, and was still wet at the time of this picture.


And in one other piece of info...remember the sheep I got at Convergence? It's found a position of honor in our office!

He hangs right inside the office where everyone can see him and pet him. His name is still pending, but I did catch my co-worker picking him up, petting him, and rubbing him on her cheeks during a conference call last week...