Spinning my heart out.

Well with all the expenses taken on: new house, fixing old house, little A's surgery, holidays etc. something had to go. So I cancelled my Stitch N' Beach cruise. Sometimes it hurts when you have to make adult decisions. But there is always next year. To help cushion the blow I was able to use some of the money I had saved up to buy this beautiful Lendrum spinning wheel. It truly is a joy to spin on. And I have been busy putting it to use.

This is the yarn that I made from the fleece I posted previously.

Our last day of class was dye day. We used all natural dyes: onions skins, walnut husks, kingwood chip and cochineal . We also used three different mordants (iron, alum and copper) which resulted in three shades from the same dye.
My favorite was the color achieved by using the cochineal. Who knew that little bugs could create such lovely colors. I think I will use these small skeins to make some slip stitch hats.
This is the Brown Sheep roving I spun as well. I really like how it turned out, but I have decided that from now on I will only spin roving that is not also available as yarn. It just seems silly to spend all that time spinning something you can buy.
For example, this lovely soy silk merino blend I spun. This is one of a kind yarn that can not be bought anywhere. I love how it candy caned into such pretty combinations.
I ended up with 245 yards of what I would say is sport weight. I want to use it for socks but don't have quite enough. I think I will spin some bright pink to match and use for the toes and cuffs. I think they will be such fun socks.

And lastly this is what I am currently spinning. It is a nice super wash wool that I bought when in Buena Vista. This will probably end up as socks as well. I think it will be some time before I spin enough yarn to make a more substantial project. But for now I am just having lots of fun!