Handspun, much fun

This past weekend, we fiber-fans living in the southeastern United States -- and anyone else who cared to join - celebrated all things fibrous at the Southeastern Animal and Fiber Festival, or SAFF. Unlike last year, where two of my best friends were waylaid in various ways, this year, one of them was able to come visit, and she was on a mission: to take a spinning lesson and choose a wheel. Her mission appears to have been wildly successful! (I'd love to link to her blog, but I'm not sure she wants me to.)

My mission at SAFF (which Coffeeboy chose to accept and enable!) was to find different types of wool and other animal fibers - but I'll have to tell you more about that when I post pictures of the loot! Instead of offering you a really long post, I have some more finished objects and spinning catch up to share, plus a picture of a 4-day-old baby goat that stole the show, so to speak.

Before I took my trip to New Jersey in September, I spun up a 4 oz. braid of BFL in "Mahogany" from Liza Souza, and also 4 oz. of a merino-tencel blend from Three Waters Farm. I liked the results of these so much that they immediately turned into quick little projects! In fact, the merino-tencel finished drying on a clothes
hanger as I drove north, much to the amusement of my aunt and uncle. (Their amusement had a happy result that I'll get to share with you one day!)

I turned the BFL into a scarf for Coffeeboy, using the Yarn Harlot's one-row handspun scarf pattern to make a very nice husband scarf.  I think it makes a great manly scarf, with the vertical ribs balancing the stripes of color.

Since the yarn excited me so much, I never even took a picture of the fiber or the finished skein!! However, I did take this close-up, which gives a sense of the yarn:

The yarn had fantastic give and sproingyness, and was just a joy to knit. I knit it all up into this scarf in a matter of days, and presented it to a hubby who is very happy to have a lighter-weight scarf (well, lighter than his bulky weight, wrap twice around the neck winter scarf).

The merino-tencel turned into a short "My So-Called Scarf," using only about half of the finished skein. I don't even remember how long the whole skein ended up being!  I started this one in New Jersey as well, and finished it in Charleston last weekend during our quick vacation, when the weather turned unexpectedly cold.  I found myself eager to wear this scarf, so I cast it off with just enough for a short scarf held closed by cool wooden shawl pin I bought at SAFF last year. This was my second time spinning with this type of fiber, and I think it came out quite nicely, not perfectly even, but certainly better than my merino attempt!

 

As for SAFF, I had so much fun this year in terms of looking at fiber, introducing my friend to fiber and exploring the festival with her, that I didn't actually do too much of the other online knitter meetup stuff. I brought my wheel and planned to sit and spin, but that didn't happen - oh well, there will be other opportunities! - and ran into surprisingly few of the knitters I know who live in this area.  I'm sure they all had as wonderful a time as I did, visiting with a baby goat and bringing home a bunch of loot.  But more on that in a day or two! 

      

Now, if I'd brought the goat home, it would have been a really great kidnapping, wouldn't it have been! 

After SAFF

Some of you might have noticed that I didn't blog a lot during October, nor did I read blogs/comment a whole lot. I kind of dropped out of things for a while. I'm not really sure why, but I expect it had to do with visiting friends, visiting family, and the need to get a little bit of work done in between all the visits. (We have more visitors coming in the future weeks, but SAFF, spinning, and (yes) a finished sweater make me feel like blogging.

So what did I think of the fiber festival?

When I stepped into the barn with all the vendors, I immediately felt overwhelmed! All the yarn! How would I ever make my choices? Remember where I'd seen something?

Would I meet other knitbloggers? I did manage to meet up with Keri, who's blog I've been reading since I started blogging. We had a little adventure driving over to the EarthFare natural supermarket to grab some lunch. After that, though, it was time for my much-awaited spinning class, which I believe I've already mentioned!

Saturday, since my friend couldn't be there, Coffeeboy went with me to the fair. He's such a good sweetie. He encouraged me to try the wheels (which at this point I merely treadled at) and he encouraged me to buy yarn (of which I still need daylight pictures). He looked at sheep and goats with me, but that's not a surprise as he's a big fan of the hooved and horned set. He liked scratching under the chins of the sheep!

Saturday evening, I went back up to the festival and spun some more. I had a blast. 2 oz. of fiber passed like nothing, and after what seemed like very little practice, I was spinning without overtwisting and getting the yarn far more even than only the day before. I'm going to be brave - or is it foolhardy - and show you two pictures of the "skeinlet" I came home with:

Plying, not so much there yet. But for a second bit of yarn ever, I was pretty happy with it.

Sunday, predictably, I made a split-second decision to drive to SAFF again (about 20 miles) and try wheels. At first I was nervous, but then it was just interesting to see how the different ones felt. I really wanted to like one that was "prettier" than the modern-looking Lendrum we used in class, but I'm starting to think it will be a Lendrum for me. (This conclusion is aided by the fact that I have a lead on a barely used one that comes with all the main add-ons and then some, plus possibly fiber, for a reasonable-ish price).

Meanwhile, when I was out on Sunday trying out wheels and learning about making yarn, Coffeeboy was at home, making cheese.

This is a queso fresco with garlic, scallions, and cracked black pepper, his second cheese. Last weekend he made a plain queso fresco. He's had the cheesemaking equipment for a while now, but hasn't made any since a mozzarella attempt a few years ago. I think he might be getting into cheese again though, which is just about as great for me as handknit socks are for him!

A bit of meditation

The time this evening is just flying by! It turns out that Angel indeed can't visit this weekend because of her beesting. Sadness! Coffeeboy is out for the night, and I'm home, ruminating on my first day of the Southeaster Animal and Fiber Festival. What am I doing with all my free time?

...reading about spinning wheels on the internet.

Um.

Spinning felt like meditation. For at least for a few minutes at a time, and that was quite a few minutes after I might have uttered some under-the-breath cursing about things not working, twisting too much, twisting too little, the wheel turning in the wrong direction, on and on. Little by little, though, things started clicking. I remembered spinning the not-well-prepared fiber at the New Jersey festival last year, and I liked how the wheel kept the tension going, rather than all the stopping and starting of the drop spindle.

Eventually, I forgot that I was sitting on a really hard concrete bench. Somehow, my feet were doing one thing and my hands were doing another, and yarn of some variety found itself on the bobbin. I was spinning (sort of)! I forgot about the concrete bench until I realized a couple of hours had passed and my tired feet reminded me I could barely feel my rear!

Folks, I think I might have turned to the dark side, or whatever you want to call it.

I'll have more to say about the festival in a day or two after it's over; I just wanted to share my excitement about spinning! I guess the big question is: what will come of tonight's internet research? Will the cats have to learn the dos and don'ts of wheels? Can I let the fact that I'm turning the big 3-0 in, oh, about 5 weeks figure in somewhere?

Twas the night before SAFF...

The sweater is done. It's very wet from its soak in the tub, with which I managed to, I think, increase the size a bit - very necessary. I won't be wearing it tomorrow, but maybe Saturday or Sunday, if I'm lucky?

SAFF is tomorrow! My first wheel spinning class is tomorrow!

Unfortunately, though, my good friend Angel might not be able to join me. She was stung by a bee a couple of days ago and had a very major, extremely scary allergic reaction. I've really been looking forward to seeing her but the doc says travel is out. Sadness! She's hoping she feels better enough to come visit. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for her!