the Village Knittiot

Last year I went to Rhinebeck in search of yarn and came home with a drop spindle and a couple pounds of rovings. Not yarn, per se, more like the embryonic equivalent of yarn. Three weeks later, my honey of a honey bought me a wheel (the spindle was soooo slow). Since then I’ve spent a considerable amount of time wishing that I had bought more fiber. At least more fiber that wasn’t so pretty and soft I was afraid I’d ruin it. In the last eight months I’ve managed to dabble and experiment my way through a little more than half what I bought. Still, everytime I look at the results of my spinning, I am a little disheartened at what has become of those large piles of fluffy soft merino. It isn’t that my handspun is particularly awful, it’s just not very stunning…

Also over the course of the last eight months, I have become progressively more obsessed with lace knitting. An obsession only fueled by the Fiddlesticks Triple Mohair Triangle Shawl Kit given to me as a birthday present by my mum. True, lace can progress slowly. And, often times, mistakes are not apparent until you get several rows into something and at that point ripping back your work can be quite an ordeal. Then there are the things you don’t see at all until you block your work. Nevertheless, lace is lovely and worthy of obsession. There is such an art to it. And the slowness of it all and the attention it requires and the rhythm you get into — there is nothing like it. And I must admit the tiny, tiny thread-like quality of a laceweight yarn has me over the moon.

So, on Saturday, when I picked up half a pound of plain old natural white roving, I decided that I wanted to spin it into a lace weight and design myself a shawl. Never mind that I had never spun a lace weight. Or that my strictly amateurish attempts at a standard sport or DK have been uneven at best, wildly varied at worst, and usually more on the worsted side than anything. But, lace weight is what I wanted, so lace weight I set out to create. And you know what? I did!

I am spinning singles so fine, the spider living in the corner of my den is starting to eye me with the cool and jealous air of competition.

I am knitting a quick swatch on 1’s and the stuff is loose enough that I think I would need triple 0’s if I wanted to get a tight weave. It is soft, but strong, and even with 2 strands plied together (pictured below) I am still measuring 31 wraps per inch! If you want a point of comparison, fingering weight comes in between 16 and 18 wraps per inch.

Now, I’ve got nothing on this girl (40-50 wraps-per-inch and all on a drop spindle!), but I have to say I am feeling pretty giddy over my spinning right about now. And my mind is awhirl with the possibilities. A soft lacey wrap? A delicate cardigan perfect for cool summer evenings? An elaborate shawl? Only time will tell. For now, you’ll find me happily spinning away the early morning hours mesmerized by the fineness of my yarn.

Also, if you are looking for a little bit of inspiration, and you don’t mind potentially being tempted into another one of the fiber crafts, check out the tapestries this woman weaves. I have never seen anything like them. I followed a link and followed a link and followed a link — you know, the way you’re apt to do on a lazy afternoon at a job you hate — and there these were. I was so overwhelmed that I wrote her an email just telling her how awestruck I was. And you know what? She wrote me back! Just to say thank you. Pretty cool in my book. Please note that she spins and dyes her own fibers to create these phenomenal works of art (her artist’s statement is worth reading). She also knits and writes and teaches and is just damn amazing.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2005 at 7:14 am and is filed under this Random Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.