Hey Cousin! I Made Yarn!

2 small skeins of Sandy's Colorway (read about the colorway and its origins here) from Bay Colony Farm Border Leicester roving purchased at Rhinebeck (with an extra couple of "bumps" of roving sent by Helen of Bay Colony for me to practice on. Thank you, Helen.)

It's overspun in places, underspun in places, and quite loosey-goosey in the plying, but it's come a long way from my first attempts, and I think it's knittable into ....something -- I don't know what. I'll let Sandy decide.

And here is a mini-skein of Jacob wool purchased from an Upstate New York small farm vendor at the Vermont Sheep & Wool festival. I'm very excited about how this turned out and can't wait to spin more. This was a BARGAIN. The bag says 8 ounces, but I think it's more like a pound, and it was only $10. An outstanding thing to practice on, and I love the resulting yarn.

My wheel and I are definitely friends now. Cousin, I'm thinkin' about you, and you need a wheel. (no, new readers, we're not really cousins, but we have the same last name, so we have adopted each other.)

Like the plate in the photos? It's part of our collection of Harker Mallow pottery. Harker Pottery has a fascinating history (but the link to the history doesn't seem to be working, damnit). Anyway, Mallow is the pattern name, and this was made in the 1930s and '40s. My husband had four pieces of this stuff when I married him. He did not even remember where he got it -- some auction or other. (P.S. What kind of a weird husband comes with his own Depression china?  Queerest thing was, we had been married five years before I saw it. It was packed away in his attic when I moved in and I had no idea he had it. We built our house, I chose the colors for the new kitchen, we unpacked boxes and voila! There are these pieces in my new - which is now 17 years old and outdated, ick - kitchen colors. Freaky.)

Anyhoo, I started searching for it and found it quite prized and collectible on eBay. That was about 300 pieces ago. Yowsa! The design on there is actually a decal, not painted on. I love it.

Comments

[sandy]

Love how you plate up your yarn. Every yarn deserves a good resting place along with some history.
And I'm thinking about that beautiful yarn you spun, did I say THANK YOU? Probably not.
I'm thinking :cough:mittens:cough.
But I'll keep my options open!
:)
xo

[Liz]

Your yarn looks great, but that Jacob? Wow. Glad the spinning finally took. :)

[Kim]

Fabulous job on the spinning, woman!!

[Cassie]

I don't know. Everytime I hear you brag about your spinning, I get all choked up. And its not even my fault that you're spinning.

[Helen]

You are doing great! :)

[Kevin from NY]

Hey, at least you have a kitchen! Cool yarn Norma!

[Katy]

The Jacob looks good enough to eat. ;)

[margene]

Look at you go! Yummy yarn on a delightful plate...good enough to eat,er knit!

[Carole]

Awesome job on the yarn! Norma spinning. Blows my freakin' mind. ;-)

[JoVE]

I got out a nice shallow serving bowl and put my handspun in it on a surface in my living room. Why not?

How much of that yarn is there? You could maybe make a neckwarmer. I did a kid's one out of my second skein (this was before plying so I used a stitch pattern that could cope with the biasing of singles). I'm currently knitting a lacy scarf from some kind of uneven loosely plied stuff I spun up when I got back from Rhinebeck. Maybe that's an option for you.

[Kim]

Hey.......that jacobs looks like real yarn.....way to go!

[stephanie]

The Jacob is perfect. I would buy that in a yarn shop.

[anj]

hey norma! great spinning there! looks like you've got the hang of it and now you are making some fabu yarn.

I took some of my first attempts at spinning and made dulaan hats. Talk about warm and toasty!

[Jenn]

No tempting me on the wheel front until I get a job, Cousin! First: Fabulous Job. Second: Fabulous Wheel.

Your spinning is looking great and Sandy's colorway is so beautiful!

[Jean]

The yarn looks terrific, Norma! Gorgeous color, too!

[Vicki]

That's one of my favorite patterns, too! Harker has some of the coolest marks, too, if you like lookin' at the flip side of dishes (I do).

[mamacate]

Just simply beautiful. And Sandy's colorway is even more gorgeous in yarn (I first typed that "yearn". Coincidence? I think not.).

Keep spinning. And knit up that handspun. It deserves to be shown off.

[Marcia]

Jacob is one of those magical fibers that almost "teaches" you how to spin! I told you you'd love it! Shetland is another one. Your Border Leicester is wonderful...hopefully I will come back from Utah with all kinds of plying know-how to share.

[cari]

Definitely knittable.

[Judy]

Yarn looks good, having fun??

[Laurie]

Beautiful spinning job! Pokes me to get off my butt and do some plying, then washing.

YGG.

[Rabbitch]

Ooh, that's nice! (both of the "that"s are nice, that is).

[Anne]

Yarn looks FABU, sweetie! You rock.

Doncha love Jacob - easy and fun. My kinda fiber. ;0)

[Kay]

Thanks for the Harker lesson. I love how the forms for the dishes are so 'machine age' but the transfers are so sweet and old-timey. Crazy mixed up dishes! Do you have one of those cool statuesque pitchers?

Oh and nice spinning too. xoxo Kay

[Kathy]

Ooooh, nice yarn! So now the question is, what are you going to do with it?

[Kathleen]

can't comment on current blog post. i was gonna say can't you start the sleeves with the brown--but it's a vest! Can you do a little whipstitch detail at the bottom, with the brown? it's not a fashion show but I understand.

[Cara]

Lovin' IT! My birthday is getting closer and closer - I can smell the Lendrum now. Oops. Did I say that out loud?