Off The Wheel, On The Wheel

On The Wheel, Off The Wheel

If you've been following me on Instagram you'd have seen that I've had a lot of fun dyeing yarn over the weekend. I have lots and lots to tell you about my dyeing adventures, and I will soon - but I thought I'd wrap up some spinning talk first.

The green yarn is off my spinning wheel and wound onto my niddy noddy. I haven't had my niddy noddy long but I'm loving it and am relieved I'm no longer making skeins by winding my yarn around two chairs. I'm finding it quicker and a whole lot better on my back. Plus, I'm betting it's more accurate at figuring out how much yarn I've got.

On The Wheel, Off The Wheel
On The Wheel, Off The Wheel

My niddy noddy is an Ashford. I bought it here in New Zealand but they're available all over the world; Ashford is a huge brand in spinning accessories.

It's a funny contraption. The ends come off so it can be stored flat but you use it in a twisted position with the ends perpendicular to one other. It's pretty easy to wind yarn on to. I hold the middle stem and pull directly from my bobbin so the that yarn travels over each of the four ends making a long, bent circle. Apparently the end skein is 1.5m around, so when I count the number of strands wound around and multiply that number by 1.5 I will know, more or less, how many metres of yarn I've spun. (I haven't done that with my new green yarn yet - but I'm guessing it's going to be around 600m.)

The colours in my photo are pretty true to life (I try really hard to get the colours as close as possible!) and I'm liking it more now it's all stretched out. I've developed a crush on green lately and this skein is feeling both serene and fresh, if that's possible. Just what I need on this grey, wet, wintery day here today. 

I wonder how it'll knit up? Motley I guess. It's quite fine, probably a light fingering, so it might end up as a wrap or maybe even a hat... 

Once I soak it, thwack it (whack it around a bit to even out the twist) and knit a swatch, I'll know.

On The Wheel, Off The Wheel

Look what's jumped onto my wheel?!

This braid absolutely makes my heart melt and I have TWO. That's 250g of delicious BFL wool, hand-dyed by the very talented Beata from Hedgehog Fibres in Ireland. Lucky me!

I am adoring how it's spinning up. BFL is a lovely fibre to spin and the colour changes in the braids are pretty much the same and are beautiful. This is going to be the fibre I chain ply - don't worry, I've got a couple of bobbins with some old singles on them that I'll practice on first.

How's your spinning?