Cotton!

It was fun fun to spin cotton! I have made a skein that looks like something I could have spun decades ago :) Uneven, but can be used for something. OK, so I have to spin lots of cotton to get a yarn I can be proud of, but now I know how to do it. Spun on Hansen Minispinner:

Sock yarn

My first cabled sock yarn on Hansen Minispinner:

One thread is BFL hand dyed by Swedish spinner and knitter polpo:

I plied with red and dark gray longwool and orange and yellow merino. 225 grams, rather thin.

As you can see we still have lots of snow, but it's melting. At least I hope so.

Finnsheep

Here is a very good article about Finnsheep: International Fleeces, Focus on Finnsheep

First skein on Minispinner

This is my first skein ever on my Minispinner. I'm very pleased, even if both spinning and plying is a bit uncertain. It's 200 grams Shetland, about 1130 meters. Custom dyed for me by FridayStudios. I'll knit a Hap shawl. Only have to spin brown and white Shetland to combine with. The yarn isn't finished yet, but I don't think it will change much when washed.

Sun

The sun is shining, the snow is melting. Yes it's spring!

Black Grouse Dance

Good morning world! What a wonderful day in our valley! Black Grouse husband dancing for his wives just outside our house. Neither hubby nor me have seen this in nature before. Sorry about the crappy photo, didn't dare to go too close to the window, not to talk about going out. They are scary birds.

Here are better pics:

First singles on Minispinner

First singles spun on my Minispinner on the bobbin to the right. Shetland from FridayStudios, custom dyed for me. It's 100 grams, and I have 100 grams to spin for the second singles. I don't know if I'll make a 2-ply yet. The singles is 30 WPI, so a 2-ply would be a nice lace yarn. In the middle a 3-ply BFL-silk, and to the left my first attempt to spin cotton on Louet Victoria.

I'm as happy as yesterday. Oh - the WPI gauge is a gift from a Swedish spinner. I love it!

Minispinner!

I had given up hope for today and started cooking pasta for lunch and baking cookies when the postwoman drove up on our yard. Package! Package! Eeeeh! From HansenCrafts.

It's beautiful. It's so well manufactured. It's small. I love it. The wood is cherry.

The WooleeWinder bobbins are HUGE! I love the WooleeWinder too. I'm spinning Shetland. The other bobbins on the kate are the small high speed bobbin, and the bigger standard bobbin for Louet Victoria.

Here's what I ate for lunch: pasta + fresh lemon juice + goat cheese. Simple and easy to cook. Yes it's delicious cold also :)

Uusi kehruukirja tulossa

Katsokaa, jos ette jo ole ihailleet tätä: Kehrääjän käsikirja. Olen hirvittävän onnellinen tästä kirjasta, vaikka en tietenkään vielä ole sitä nähnyt. Olen tehnyt ennakkotilauksen.

New book on handspinning to be published in Finnish in April! Makes me very very happy! You can find the author as "Tuulia" on Ravelry.

Ny bok om spinning på finska i april! Åh vad glad jag är! Jag beundrar Tuulia och hon beundrar mig :) Här är hennes hemsida: Tuulia och Louhittaren Luola med några väldigt bra stickmönster.

Waiting for my Minispinner

Waiting for my Hansen Minispinner. It's at the customs in Helsinki. Wish I lived in Helsinki.

No. Never. I don't wish I lived in Helsinki. I wish the customs would be in Vasa.

The herder

Blanket!

I've been knitting this blanket since January last year. Domino knitting is a wonderful way to just - knit. No thinking. No planning. Just relaxing. I like this blanket. It's my new lap throw for cold days. Yarn: Drops Fabel sock yarn. Size: about 150x150 cm.

I crocheted a border and finished with what I think is called crab stitch. Backward single crochet:

I always have a domino knitting going. Here's the newly started:

Lot's of small skeins Sarah gave me. Most are hand dyed by Sarah and Jon Dunn Ballam of Easyknits. This will be a baby blanket.

Twitter

Because I couldn't figure out what had happened to Ravelry, I joined Twitter. And there I found a lot of fibery people :) And found out what had happened to Ravelry.

Ravelry up

Ravelry is up! The world looks much better again :)

Raverly down

Ravelry server crashed - I feel very lost. Sigh.