Thursday, September 11, 2008

Spinning Kitty!

Did you think I forgot about you? I'm trying to adjust to my new schedule (made harder by the hurricane) and haven't quite figured out where blogging fits into that...so tonight it is!  I think I've miss named my blog....instead of "Knitting Giraffe" maybe it should have been "Spinning Kitty"?

See Knox loves when I spin!  She comes running to "help."  Don't know how I could do it without her!

I rigged up a tool to help me wind my singles into a ball.  See you spend lots of time putting twist into singles and this twist wants to twist onto something....I think of it as a magnet that is attracted to anything it can twist onto to even out the tension so to speak.  It will twist on itself (which can be very annoying)  Eventually you ply (put two singles together) and let them twist on each other.  Then all is happy and you have yarn.  BUT....until you ply you must keep tension on your singles or it will twist back on itself.

So I poked a hole in a shoe box and cut a notch to put my spindle in and voila.  I am able to keep tension on my single while winding.  (If that doesn't make sense and you want more details let me know....I'm still a novice and learning a lot)

Here is my 4 ounces of Cordial top ready to be plying!  Note:  toilet paper rolls are perfect for fitting over a ball winder to help keep the middle of your ball under tension.   I used this to help me make a Lazy Kate.  Mine doesn't work quite as well as hers because I don't have bobbins (not using a wheel) but over time I think I will be able to tweak it!  Plus the price was right!  (You can by lovely Lazy Kates, but I'm not ready to invest in that)

Soon I'll have yarn! :)

8 comments:

Robin said...

Clever! Thank you for sharing all of this ~ your pictures have answered many questions I had!

Stacy Kraus McDonald said...

So exciting - thanks for sharing. I like learning about spinning slowly through you.

Davene McBride said...

You are so creative. You made it work with the resources on hand and I'm proud of you! Love, Mom

Davene McBride said...

Knox is too cute!

Aunt Kathy said...

I love your spinning kitty

Jennifer said...

Interesting and clever! I understand enough about spinning from blog reading to actually follow what you said. :) Reason 534 why I love blogs!

Rebecca Jo said...

Thanks for the prayers for my daughter during the Hurricane....

And I must say - I'm always jealous of people who spin! I think that is the next level I have to work up to with my love of yarn!

Kenyetta said...

The cat is so adorable!