stereotypical single woman

That, my friends, is a very bad picture of four very usable skeins of yarn. All spun by my very own little hands. I won’t say that there aren’t problems with them, because there definitely are, but each skein has gotten progressively better, to the point where my fourth skein, fresh off the bobbin, looks like this:

That’s right, no twists or kinks in that skein! Granted, I haven’t tried making anything with my hand spun yet, which is the true litmus test as to how good a yarn is, but hopefully someday soon I’ll take a break from the wheel and knit again. Mostly hats for Amelia, because a toddler can never have too many hand spun and hand knit hats from her Aunt Kitty (that’s my new name - if you ask her if she wants to go see the kitties she thinks she’s going to visit me and play with my “da-dogs”.)

And since I know you’re all curious, here’s some closer pictures of my yarn.
Skein #1 - complete crap

(note - a picture will be here once blogger stops being a pain in my ass and starts talking to flickr again, until then you can see it here)

This one didn’t get put into the group photo - I don’t think I’ll ever use it. It’s made from coarse, itchy, ugly wool roving of an indeterminate species that I’ve had sitting around forever. It’s horribly over twisted and under plied. But it’s my first full skein off my wheel!

Skein #2 - the potluck skein

This is a variety of different wools and colors - all from my stocking that my wonderful sister Trina filled. I was getting used to the wheel so there’s not much consistency in thickness, color, or plying, but it’s still a funky looking usable yarn. (I tried arranging it artfully like the people do in Yarn Porn, but to me it still looks like a yarn turd.)

Skein #3 - three-ply Merino

This one I actually planned and used a triad color scheme and some merino Anna and Dan gave me for Christmas. Plying three yarns together is a pain in the ass without a tensioned lazy kate but until I get one I will continue to ply multiple singles the hard way because it produces a much more consistent yarn. Someday soon I will invest in a new lazy kate to help control the snarling singles, but until then I have all three cats doing what they can to help me provide tension by flossing with the singles as they come flying off the bobbins.

Skein #4 - two-ply Merino


Not too much to say except that I used more of the Anna and Dan gifted merino in corals and browns because I thought it was pretty.

Skein #5 - Merino and some unknown grey wool


It’s a combination of some grey wool Trina gave me (and Trina, when you read this, get on your eBay acct and find out what it is and where you got it - I want to get more, it spins like a dream and is incredibly soft) and about 1 1/2 ounces of Ashland Bay merino in Snapdragon and Primrose.