Anyway, down to business! I have been busy spinning on the Dartmoor dyed fleece from a previous (March?) post. Most of the ladies in our spinning group have taken two, or more, little piles of fleece to spin and make something from for our Open Day in May. I started out with four piles (mainly because I couldn't decide which one would go with the rather lovely orange/pink/yellow/green pile which was my first choice) and have only got half a pile left to spin. The rather mottley-looking one on the left of the photo spun up to be a rather attractive green/yellow skein. It still never ceases to amaze me how a so-so lump of rather matted-looking fleece can become something which is quite pretty and soft! I'm not sure what these skeins will become yet, but I am thinking of a multi-coloured hat. Socks would be nice but I don't think I have that sort of staying power right now. (The socks I have been working on for some time now are still glaring at me in an unfinished state.)
The postman has been a little busy in my neck-of-the-woods recently. A while ago I borrowed a felting book, Felt to Stitch by Sheila Smith, from from the nearly-local-but-larger library. I liked it so much that I ordered it from Amazon.This book does not go into great lengthy details about each different type of felting, but does give enough information to whet the imagination as well as produce an article. A very nice an well-worthwhile book, in my opinion.
I also bought the Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman. I do like this book, too, but I feel that it doesn't really have any new information in it that I don't have in other books I own. A little disappointing.
One day recently, while having my daily fix on Knitter's Review I noticed an advertisement for stone spindles from One Planet Yarn and Fiber. They looked so pretty (has anyone noticed what a sucker I am for pretty things?) that I gave into temptation and ordered both a single whorl and a double whorl spindle.
I have tried both of the spindles out since they arrived and, while they both work, they do not spin for long at a time. I find that a little frustrating as I don't enjoy having my spinning pleasure interrupted by constantly having to turn the spindle. So, once again, I am a little disappointed with my purchase - but they are pretty, aren't they? The whorls are quite small in diameter (about 4.5 cm or 1 3/4 inches) and taper towards the edge. Maybe that is the problem - the weight is more in the centre than towards the edge. But they do look nice on display!
The postman also brought some goodies all the way from England for us, too! An Easter present from our daughter who is living, and working, in the Cotswolds at the moment (not for long as she goes on a European Contiki tour next week for 45 days - lucky thing!). Dark chocolate, Mars mini eggs, licorice and aniseed lollies as well as a novel and some English guide books. Mmm, so hard to make them last!
