Aaron knits…and spins, and weaves.

Good morning everyone, and happy Saturday! Isn’t it great to finally have this weather? It’s certainly much nicer than last Saturday. But last weekend did get better and Memorial Day was really quite spectacular. My pool was still too cold to use though. The water temperature was about 58/59 degrees and I was only brave enough to dip my feet in, but not for very long. After a week of perfect summer temperatures (and a solar cover) the water is now above 70 so last night I went for an official first swim of the season.

Last weekend I started spinning some beautiful fiery orange Finn top on my Bliss wheel. During the past week I only managed to get about one third of the fiber spun. Because the highest ratio (18.5:1) on the Bliss is a little harder to treadle, I’m sacrificing twist speed for treadling ease and using the 12:1 ratio. The singles are coming out pretty fine so I’m expecting at a 3 ply this will be fingering/sock weight yarn.

Continue reading “Saturday morning spinning in better light”

You’ve seen it in pictures from the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat and I’ve promised to write more about it. It’s the new Bliss spinning wheel by ;Woolmakers.

Continue reading “Saturday morning spinning on a brand new wheel”

I wrote this post this morning. Honest. But cell service up here is abysmal, and the bandwidth of the wifi gets maxed out pretty quickly. It’s almost midnight, and I can get good enough internet access to upload a few pictures and finally publish my post. I’ve added in some updates too. Enjoy!

Good morning everyone, and happy Saturday! I’ve been having a great time here at the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat even though I haven’t done much knitting. I’ve done quite a bit of spinning so far though. Yesterday afternoon I lead a workshop for beginning spinners. Four guys who have never spun yarn before learned the basics of spinning on a wheel and created their very first hand spun yarns. A few other guys who didn’t sign up for that workshop will get a one on one intro to spinning later today, and later on this morning I’m leading a workshop for intermediate spinners and introducing them to woolen drafting techniques. Continue reading “Saturday morning spinning at the retreat”

This past weekend I attended my fourth <a href=”http://www.mensknittingretreat.com/”&gt; Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat </a>. This retreat, now in its sixth year, has become the official start of my “fiber season”. There are other events that happen earlier like the Chancellor’s Sheep and Wool Showcase in Clermont, Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival, and even the Washington County Fiber Tour. I have yet to make it to any of those. From the time registration for the retreat opens around the beginning of the year, my focus is on one thing only, spending a weekend with the most amazing and talented men I have ever met.

Continue reading “A Weekend of Knitting and Brotherhood”

My car is mostly packed, and I’m off to the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat for the rest of the weekend, held at Easton Mountain in Washington County. It’s a beautiful time of year there and the weather for the weekend looks great. This event is something that many of us start thinking about as soon as we get home from the previous one.

I’ll have more to say about it next week, and we’ll do Saturday morning spinning there. You’ll also get to read a lot more about the cool new wheel you see there in the back of my car. It just arrived yesterday.

Good morning and Happy Saturday! I hope you’re all doing well. Things here are a little different this weekend. We lost our oldest dog this week. Lili was 17 and in failing health, and it was clearly time for us to do what all pet owners dread having to do. She was already old when she came to live with four years ago, but she was the sweetest little girl and feisty too. We all miss her very much. There are only our two dogs in the house this morning with us, and it seems so quiet.

Continue reading “Saturday Morning Spinning in an unusually quiet house”

April 6, 2013

I’m always amazed when I see what my handspun yarns look like when they are plied. It’s kind of like blocking a lace project when that strange looking pile of knitting suddenly transforms before your eyes. Three bobbins of singles which on close inspection do have their own flaws and inconsistencies that I could go on and on about (yes, I’m my own worst critic) come together into one beautiful even yarn. A two ply yarn would probably have been just as lovely, but I like the extra roundness and evenness that the addition of the third ply provides.

Continue reading “Saturday Morning…Plying”