Feb 28, 2007

Relative Romney

When it rains it pours. Isn't that what they say? As if my issues with m new laptop were not enough, today I got a new computer at work. All freaking day long I dealt with problems with stuff that wasn't loaded correctly and stuff that was missing. At the end of the day I'd worked most of it out but I'm still missing one MAJOR thing - my AIM. I cannot tell you how badly work sux without instant messaging. The worst part is that the person who can fix it for me is out of the office right now so I can't get it fixed till next week. Oh woe is me!

By the end of the day I was literally banging my head against things - the desk, the wall, whatever. I really needed to vent so on my way home I listened to a little '80s metal (Def Leppard) really loud. I sang with it (lucky you couldn't hear me) at the top of my voice and banged on the steering wheel as I crawled along with the traffic. I feel better now.

Grapefruit RomneyThis is the Romney I was working on the other day. The color is really soft and muted now and it reminds me of grapefruits. The feel of the roving was not soft at all - almost coarse or stiff or something. It was not pleasant to spin but the longer staple made it easier in a way and I think that it's more even than other stuff I've spun. Not even - but more even. Everything is relative.

Dyed Silk HankiesWhen I was complaining about it last week, a friend suggested that I try plying it with some silk. Silk? OMG, I can barely spin wool! She was so helpful and sent me all kinds of information on spinning silk and suddenly it didn't seem so scary so I pulled out a few hankies and dyed them to match the Romney. Look at how much deeper the colors are on the silk.

Tonight I dove in and spun up the silk but I'm not gonna show it to you yet. It was totally fun spinning the silk. It started out really even but super thin (like laceweight) and I didn't think it would show up against the Romney so I started to draft it less (is that right) and spin it thicker and a little irregular - on purpose. I can't wait to see how it looks all plied together!

7 comments:

Carole Knits said...

Good for you for trying something new! I'm excited to see how it looks plied.

Melissa said...

I love blasting old music and singing loudly!!
Love the yarn...gorgeous

Anonymous said...

Hillary .. AIM has a web-based version "AIM express" (http:/aimexpress.aim.com)

Uncle howie

Teyani said...

It's going to be fabulous!
thick and thin or teensy, both would be great. the intensity of the silk colors will deepen the romney.
I predict "grand" will be the result!
Hoorah for you trying something so new!

Krista said...

Your spinning is so beautiful.

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

Ooooo, it is going to be fantastic! I know at least one woman on You Tube just predrafts the hankies and plies them with the wool, just like that! I haven't tried that yet. I just spun and and am ready to ply some silk hankie spinning. I don't think it'll be much yardage, as I just grabbed a part of a sampler for DH to video as I'm hoping to put up a tutorial on hankie spinning on You Tube sometime in the not too distant future.

knitfriendly said...

Wow - that yarn is beautiful! Great job on trying the silk. I can hardly wait to see your post about it! :)