Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Yarn Along


On Monday morning at 3:30 my alarm went off. I jumped out of bed, made a cup of coffee and waited patiently at the window for my mother to drive up to my house to pick me up.  We were heading out to East Berlin, Pennsylvania.  We were taking a beginner's spinning class at The Mannings Hand Weaving School and Supply Center.  We drove over three and a half hours.  The entire time thinking to ourselves "I hope this class is worth it."  Just when we got close to The Mannings we watched the moon set over the hills. The moon was huge. I have never seen a moon set like that before it was amazing (unfortunately I couldn't get my camera out in time to get a picture).  We passed some llamas, sheep, goats and a great pyrenees and then down a steep winding road and we were greeted by a one lane bridge with a beautiful stream passing under it. A wonderful farm house, barn and studio.  We were in heaven.  The class was amazing. The instructor was Tom Knisely and he was fantastic.  It was definitely worth getting up at 3:30 in the morning.
 Above is the yarn I made at the class. It is my very first skein ever on a spinning wheel. It is a mixture of merino, jacobs wool, and I am not even sure what else.  I was using an Ashford Traditional wheel.

Below is the yarn I spun last night. I have three bobbins with alpaca and now I have to ply them into one yarn.  I learned in my class that for knitting or crocheting the yarn should be at least 3 ply, but for weaving 2 ply is fine.  I haven't plied 3 together before, so I hope it works out ok.  The reason for the 3 ply is because it makes the yarn round.

 Below I am making an infinity scarf with a Extra Fine Merino Wool.  The yarn is Indulgence 6 ply Distrato.
 The scarf below I made with Eco Baby Alpaca yarn. It is natural undyed yarn.

I am joining along with Ginny from Small Things Yarn Along

1 comment:

Lori ann said...

that's awesome. i'm so envious, i would have been happy to wake so early for a day like this too. congratulations on a beautiful first skein!
love your cowl too andee, the softness of that gorgeous fiber comes through in the photo!