Yes, I’m still here. Not much new, fiber-wise, though. I spent last Thursday evening plying and spinning more alien yarn.
Last Friday was the Colin Meloy/Laura Veirs concert* (with John Wesley Harding as a special guest for the rock versions of a few old ballads, including Barbara Allen)–many thanks to whichever performer requested that there be no smoking. I was pleasantly surprised, when I started up the stairs to the balcony, to hear Alisa call my name. So, instead of just having my knitting for company, I got to talk to Alisa, her twin Rebecca, and their SOs. The knitting was good, though; I made some real progress on the second felted bowl.
Saturday was grocery shopping and some cleaning, until I lost focus and started spinning more alien yarn. I wound up staying up way too late finishing plying the last skein, because I knew I was going to see Jill on Sunday. And then I got hungry, and had some carrots and hummus for a late-night snack. Oops. I’m not sure which, but one of those made me ill, necessitating cancellation of the PhillyKnitters gathering I was cleaning for. Still, I got Jill to come over for a little while, so I could give her this:
(Okay, I gave her that plus an extra skein that was still drying when I took the picture. All told, probably just under 200 yards of fingering-to-sport.) It was really good for me to spin for someone who doesn’t knit with laceweight yarn. Extra motivation to make the singles as thick as possible, always good.
Anj has told me that it’s easier to spin heavier yarn on a wheel than on a drop spindle. Do any of the rest of you have opinions on that? I’m certainly hoping she’s right. Much as I like knitting with fingering-weight yarn, I really do want to be able to spin worsted-weight eventually… Until I get a wheel, though, I ought to get something else onto my now-empty spindle.
an ent knits 
January 31, 2006 at 23:11
I’d say the wheel spinning is so much less dependent on the weight of the fiber + spindle that you have a lot more control in some ways (once you get to know the wheel you’re working on). In that sense, yes, I agree with Anj. Still, once I got the hang of my wheel and drafting to keep up with it, its taken me a while to venture into trying to spin thicker, and more consistently. Some fibers don’t want to be spun thin, and some fibers demand it – it really is a matter of what you’re spinning and what the fiber wants.