Where does the time go? I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted an update. I’ve been crafting but in all honesty, I seem to have a hard time getting my pictures downloaded and put on flickr. I need to work on that. I’m currently working on organizing iPhoto and trying to decide if that works for me or if I need something like Aperature. What do you use to organize your photos?

On the crafting front, I’ve been spinning, have been quilting, and even knitting!

I got my new spinning wheel and I love it. It’s so fun. Talia at International Fleeces has started a weekly spinning group and just going and enjoying the community has been so helpful for improving my spinning skills and is keeping me excited. The first fiber I spun on my new Matchless was the Just Figs fiber from Into the Whirled.

Now that I’ve gotten some good spinning lessons (thanks Talia!), and have spun some fiber, I feel like I have a relatively easy time spinning fiber using the worsted method.  I can get pretty fine singles, but I want to be able to spin whatever I want – not just one thing.  So, I set out to make this fiber into a nice worsted weight yarn.  While I was spinning, it seemed that my singles were pretty uneven, but I plowed on in the hopes that practice would actually make me better.  Go figure, huh.  In the end, plying worked miracles and I ended up with a pretty decent yarn.

I spun the 4 ounces of Falkland into 86 yards of 3-ply worsted weight yarn.  It isn’t perfect, but I’m pretty darned happy with it.  I just need to find a cute little project that doesn’t need much yarn so I can actually knit with it!

To continue my desire to improve my spinning skills, I have been practicing woolen spinning.  I want to be able to spin some gorgeous cashmere/merino fiber into laceweight yarn for a Malagash shawl.  So, to practice my woolen spinning, I decided to spin the BDL/Silk I got from Sweet Georgia’s May fiber club from the fold.

My understanding is that since this is top, rather than roving, the only way to really spin it woolen is to spin it from the fold.  It’s turning out pretty well, and I’m getting better at my woolen technique.  We’ll see how it looks once it’s plied, but so far, so good.