Friday, March 06, 2009

Handspun Friday - Newspaper

Fiber - Newspaper

fiber source: Spritely Goods
fiber: 2 x 2oz merino/bamboo blend
colorway: Newspaper
yardage: 241 yds
plying: 2-ply
notes: left over singles made into navajo plied yarn
I find spinning batts is hard for me. As much as I like how batts look, I don't think I'll be buying any more in the future. That said, I still have several in my fiber stash. Maybe with practice I'll get better spinning batts. But spinning is supposed to be fun, and with this fiber, it was not much fun.
The fiber itself was a dream, so soft, and I liked the red color. The finished yarn has a shine to it and is very soft. To knit someting with it, it's possible to wear around the neck, even for me (Mimosa is my middle name). But knitting this up is not on top of my to-do list.


Newspaper

***
I guess these are the last snow pictures of Biko and Sam this winter. Spring is as good as here.

Biko Jan. 8

Princess Biko

you can click on the pics and look at them in the original size on flickr

Sam Jan. 8
Sam

I like both of these pictures a lot, especially Sam's, he looks so great in this one.

22 comments:

Cloudberry said...

Beautiful yarn!
Looks like the picture of Biko is deleted...
But it sure looks like Sam is king of the snow :)

Have a great weekend!

momsue84 said...

What adorable pictures of the kids. Wish Spring was here for us. Snow all weekend. Love the fiber, even if it was a pain to spin. The color is so lovely. Hope you have a terrific weekend.

sgeddes said...

I love the photo of sam!

I have the same problem with batts. I've quite buying them and have given several away. I still have some to practice on, but I like spinning top a lot better!

Toby said...

Sam and Biko are great subjects. :) They look at you, but stay back so you can get the shot and their joy of playing in the snow always comes through.

Wish I could teach the Blondie horse to stay back and yet look at me. She's either in my lap or paying no attention at all.

Senja said...

Oh that is gorgeous yarn and batting!
The dogs are pretty too:)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love it! I need to stalk Spritely Goods' store, I've admired their (her?) batts for a long time!

Anonymous said...

Before I could even spin, I wanted to work with batts & practically drooled over the idea. So I bought a couple of batts & spun one. What a shock!

I thought it would be like roving (it's not), and that I would enjoy the fiber blend (I did not) and now that I have the yarn spun from it, I don't know what to do with it. It'll be in the yarn basket forever.

Dave said...

What don't you like about batts? Is it the bamboo (which I find difficult to spin), or just the batt-ness? Have you tried breaking of chunks and spinning from the fold?

Claudia Bugh said...

Your spinning is beautiful as always! Love the pretty red shade and can't wait to see what you make with it!

Beautiful photos of both Princess Biko and Sam :) They will miss the snow even if you won't!

GoldenTracks said...

Love the pics of the dogs. Those are suitable for framing!
The fiber color reminds me of strawberry taffy. Love the yarn. If you don't want to knit it up, send it to NC. I'll handle it for ya. LOL!
winter is definitely gone down here. 80* today! I was dog walking in shorts, Yippee!!!

Anonymous said...

Princess Biko!! How funny. It is an excellent picture of Sam!!

Anonymous said...

Sam looks like he's got a bit of an attitude in the photo. Very funny! So far I actually kind of like spinning batts but maybe I should spin some more to make sure. It's so interesting how the batt looks so red and spun up with so much purple showing.

Marianne said...

I am SO jealous of the snow you've gotten! You already know how seeing photos of Sam and Biko brighten my day.

I'm with you, I'm not at all crazy about spinning from batts. I'm just hoping it's my inexperience, that maybe there's a way I don't know about yet.
Hmmm, perhaps Dave could give us some kind of tutorial... :^)
I'm spinning some merino/bamboo, roving, and we are talking smoooooth spinning.
Your handspun is gorgeous, I really like the red.

Kris B said...

Hey Monika, I'm catching up on reading my favorite blogs. Just wanted to let you know I loved seeing all your wonderful knitting and spinning projects.

I also had to put Venus de Merino on my to do list, she's great. I remember studying about her in an art history class I took agea ago.

Anonymous said...

The yarn looks lovely, too bad it was not much fun to spin.

And seeing the pictures of your dogs is such a pleasure as always!!

Anonymous said...

Sam is VERY photogenic! Gorgeous picture. They are both just beautiful!

Knatolee said...

I just love the colours in the yarn. And Sam and Biko are unspeakably handsome, as always.

Anonymous said...

Sam looks quite regal.

And, I'm right in line with Golden Tracks - I love the finished yarn and can just see a lovely scarf - maybe prismatic - though your yarn doesn't have long color stretches.....
Margie in Maryland

Angelika said...

Those two look so cute, especially surrounded by snow. I don't think we'll see anymore this year.

T-Mom said...

Beautiful pics of the kids! You're lucky to still have snow--it's Mud City here.

Anonymous said...

Sam looks like a wise old judge in that picture, the cute puppy.

The yarn is gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

I really like the way Newspaper turned out. It has such a cozy look to it! I've done very little with batts but they do tend to be ultra-fuzzy, not nearly so tidy as top. Beautiful work though!