Getting to grips with handspun

I've been spending quite a bit of time peddling away on my spinning wheel (Ashford Traveller), trying out various fibres and trying to get the hang of it.  I'm pretty sure I've not got a classic style or indeed spin "properly" but to be honest as long as I create something I'd be able to make something with then surely thats OK?

Here's some of my efforts, some more successful than others as you can see.  The big blue ball sitting on top is Merino/Silk blend and was lovely to spin - this is done 3 ply (as is the brown ball that its sitting on).

At the other end of the scale is the ball of silk (over on the left), that was really tricky to spin - if you have rough hands (as I do all winter!) the fibre sticks to your hands and the fluff gets everywhere.  Also I didn't realise just how much twist you need to put into silk.  For a first attempt I'm not too disappointed, its a little inconsistent and there are a fair few fluffy bits in the yarn - but overall its OK, and good enough for me to try making a little lacy scarf with it.  I'll post the results of that adventure when I get closer to finishing.

The others are camel - right at the front, merino in the middle, generic "wool" at the back and the black one at the right side is black shetland.

I'll post again with close up photos of the yarns when I get a moment.

Handspun baby socks

I wanted to make a pair of socks for my husbands cousins (relatively) new baby.

Both of these yarns are spun from merino tops.  I created the first by plying together one black and one white single yarn.  The second was  made by spinning a sea green and light blue top together to create the singles & then plying those together.



And here are my little socks.  They are sized for 6 to 12 months.


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There is a slight gauge difference between the yarns - my consistency is getting better, but its not there yet.  Even with the difference I think that they look OK.



They are pretty cosy.  Hopefully the little fella will like them.



Finally making something with my yarn

I finally got round to starting a project with some of my hand spun yarn.

My friend as recently had a new baby daughter so I thought I'd have a go at crocheting these from a pattern selection I got from Annies Attic called Beautiful Baby shoes

I got a selection of merino fibres from forestfibres

I have plyed the pink and pinky-grey colours together to make a 2 ply yarn and have started my little project.  I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn to finish so I have another one of these selection packs on order in case I need to spin up another batch.

I'll post the results of my endeavour when I get a chance to take some photos.