Spin, spin, spin

I have now spun two full skeins on my drop spindle. Yippee.
The first skein was three hanks worth of a black, red, and grey merino with threads of white silk all the way through. This fiber was a dream to spin with, so soft. I made this yarn for a swap in my Fairy Tale group. My theme was Raven and this fiber seemed to fit perfectly. I did a two ply and hated it. Way too thick for my taste, but my swap partner loved it. (I also hated spinning up the ply, way to much fussy)
The second skein was three hanks of green, yellow, and brown merino with silk (same company). I spun the whole thing up while I was at Firemaker and put it on the blanket at the Giveaway. It was single ply and gorgeous. My friend Aurora (who had watched me spin all week) picked it up. She says she is going to weave something fabulous with it.
The second skein was so much easier than the first. I am getting a much thinner and more consistent yarn. Which is fabulous. I can't wait to be able to make lace weight. I am still pre-drafting my fiber, but I find I can still spin up quite a bit even doing it that way.
Next skein I am going to keep for myself!! No really...I will. I promise. Perhaps something blue...

I've been slogging away on the February Lady sweater. I am using the cream coloured wool I got from KnitPicks in January. It looks fabulous so far. But sweaters...man!!! I can do a single 4 row repeat of the lace in the time it takes me to watch and episode of Stargate Atlantis (the current TV show we are running through). So it is slow going. I feel I need something quick and dirty to knit right now. Something along the lines of instant gratification. Fingerless lace gloves or some such. A hat maybe...we'll see. Just need a break from the sweater...

Spindle

I participate in a KAL (knit-a-long) in my Folklore and Fairytale group. The KAL's in this group are always centered loosely around a particular tale and this winter is (of course) The Snow Queen.
One of our group memebers is not a knitter (his wife is the knitter) but he does make drop spindles. For those of you who are not knitters a drop spindle is a small object that is used to hand spin yarn without a wheel. For an awesome demonstration (and the video that made me freak out and immediately want to learn this ancient way of spinning) check out Megan LaCore's Drop Spindle tutorial video.
Anyway. John, the spindle guy, decided that he was going to make some Snow Queen drop spindles out of a beautiful peice of holly he had. Much interest in the process of making spindles was expressed by the group and so John started a whole thread that explained, in serious detail and with many pictures, the process of making drop spindles by hand from scratch.
I quite enjoyed this thread, for John would post the "next step" every couple of days. Many members of the group fell in love with the spindles. So John decided to have a draw for "first dibs" on purchasing them. I put my name in for the medium size top whorl spindle (for making fingerling/sock weight yarn) and I won!!! YIPEE!!
I just sent off my money and I am so excited. Drop spindle spinning has been around since the Paleolithic era, so learning this skill is some seriously human heritage knowledge. I feel like this is the "next step" as it were in my knitting, to be able to make my own yarn (before you know it I will be dyeing my own wool, spinning it, and knitting things with it).
If you are interested check out John's Esty page The Dragonfly Workshop to see more of his beautiful handmade spindles. They truly are works of art.
I am going to be taking a drop spindle class at the local yarn store so I can have some expertise on hand while I get to know how to use the drop spindle. I will post pics and adventures when my spindle arrives.
Oh, and for those of you who know the story of The Snow Queen, my spindle's name will be Gerda.