August 17, 2013
Good morning, and happy Saturday! It is nice to see more summer like temperatures returning, especially the forecast for later in the week. I have learned to never trust a weather forecast in this area until the day before, but I am hoping it is accurate. It seems like forever since we have had temps above 80, so let’s enjoy it while we have it. I have been noticing how much darker it is in the early morning hours lately, and how much earlier the sun has been setting in the evening too. Summer is still hanging on, but it won’t be for much longer.
Last weekend I began spinning four ounces of Corriedale from Into The Whirled. I finished spinning it by Monday night and had it plied on Tuesday night. I absolutely love how it came out, and specifically, how the colors come together in the 3ply yarn. I have another four ounces of this fiber, an I have not decided yet if I’m going to try and spin this the same way and aim for a similar blending of colors in the plied yarn or if I want to spin a completely different yarn with it.
On Wednesday night I sat down with my double drive Hilltopper and spun two ounces of a beautiful and brightly colored Romney roving that my friends Will and Jeff gave me for my birthday last year. It is hard to tell from the picture, but there are three colors here: a bright blue, a bright purple, and a bright fluorescent green. I finished spinning the second two ounces last night and I will do the plying this morning. I chose to do a 2ply for this fiber, aiming for a fluffy, bulky yarn so I spun the singles relatively thick and low twist. I will update with a picture later this morning when that’s complete.
After that plying is done, I have another four ounce braid from my stash to start next. This was a gift from one of the guys from the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat. It is a Colonial wool top from Two Sisters Stringworks in gorgeous shades of purple.
I am not sure how much I will be able to get done this morning though. We are planning to go to the Altamont fair for the day. We have not been since 2009 so we are long overdue. I have a craving for some fried bread dough and it has been far too long since I have been on any kind of rides. My favorite part of the fair is all of the agricultural exhibits, the animals (specifically the sheep), and all of the amazing knitted, crocheted, and woven items that are entered for competition. It has been just as long since I entered something, and I would like to see what kinds of things people have entered this year and try to get some idea of what I might be able to come up with to enter next year. I think there is a spinning competition taking place today too. I am not participating in this one, but I will be sure to drop by and watch.
Enjoy your weekend, and enjoy these last few weeks of summer. I will be “off” from my Saturday morning spinning next weekend but I will be back Labor Day weekend with more fibery fun!
Aaron knits...and spins, and weaves. 