Saturday, January 27, 2007

My wheel has it's Mojo at the moment....

Although a simple timber inanimate object, sometimes I swear my little ol' wheel has spirit. As I've explained before, my country cousin, Daryl, tracked down this wheel for me. When I finally had it here in my home (and had been fiddling around with it with no spinning knowledge at all) I found the precious little hair bobby pin loving shaped into a little hook (for pulling yarn through my wheel's orifice) with a little leather strap and a length of cotton string tied onto the end, simply hanging from the eyelet which holds the brake string.
My instinct tells me that the woman who made this simple hook loved this wheel. She loved spinning and she was efficient and organised. I had been spinning for quite a while when I realised that the leather and the string were backup spares for the wheel. I often wonder about her while I spin. Is she still in this life? Or has she gone on to the next? I'll never know...but I'd like to tell her that I love this wheel too. I'm not as organised as she was/is but I share the peace that spinning with this wheel brings. I share the medative rhythmic hum of its workings. I share the satisfaction of holding some beautiful freshly made yarn....
Which prompts me: My little Ashford traditional has a lovely Mojo happening at the moment. For some reason it's running bee-ewe-tee-fully and I'm having some really pleasing results. Check out these pictures...
Here is the cute little rovings my neice, S hand dyed during a Sheepychic Dye workshop these school holidays...see two postings ago. I've spun them up to a nice, simple little single...about an 8 ply or there abouts.
And also the dusty pink that P & D dyed...with Mums supervision, of course. I've plied it back with a simple gold thread, just to keep it simple and elegant.

Hehe...gotta love this fabulous fur-ball...It is some black alpaca simply plied over with some commercial stringy fancy yarn. It's colour really caught my eye..it is so cute. A bone colour with purple.

I know it's left-field, but I'm eyeing off this for some Sheepychic Stubby holders / water bottle covers. (see the previous posting) I know this isn't traditional handspun type yarn but it is divinely soft....and so unusual!

Anyway...that's it for Sheepychic bloggings for tonight. I'm off up to the country tomorrow and while I'm there I'm going to pop into have a spin and dye up with Mandie, a fellow fibre lover and Sheepychic regular. So Hi to you, Mandie and I'm really looking forward to catching up.

All the very best, Ruth.

Oh..of course, any enquiries on the yarn you see here or anything else Sheepychic you can contact my at sheepychic@hotmail.com.

Feel free to leave a comment and say G'day.....bye for now.

5 comments:

roseys madhouse said...

Wow didnt the rovings that the kids dyed come up beautifully.I really like the yarn for the stubbie holders and I think the drink bottle idea is fantastic.
Your amazing at what you can create. I know that when Nana used to spin she would go off into her own little world too. Well as much as us two kids would let her anyway lol.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU Ruth for giving so freely of your time today, it was wonderful to finally meet you. I had a ball learning from you and am feeling much more confident, my face is aching from grinning so hard - I'm stoked with my first ever skein! I'm not cooking dinner tonight, going to dash into town and grab Chinese, eat, bath my babies and read them a book in bed then I'm going to PLAY!!
Thanks again :-)
Mandie ( who is thrilled that she is the proud owner of the Trophy Hank!) LOL

Anonymous said...

I love all of your yarns, but the pink with the gold thread has inspired me. I am stopping on the way home tonight to get gold thread! It is so simple, yet so delicate and classy.
Your work is so classy, so I guess it fits!
Holly

Ruth.... said...

Hi guys...thanks for popping in and leaving a comment. Look forward to your stubbie holder, Kathie...I'll email you tonight with some details. Mandie...I had stacks of fun..I'm sure we'll spin together real soon. Holly..hehe..I'm sitting here with vegemite on my shirt. Oh-so classy! hehe

Kerry said...

Ruth you are spinning up a storm!
Love the purple and black yarn!!

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