Nothing wrong with homely, if it works...

I've been spinning the last couple of days, since I've left my sock project at my mom's. I really, really like spinning - a lot! I did my first attempt at two-ply, with a black and gray mixed roving that I spun as finely as I could. I thought it came out great! I loved the trick of pulling from the center and outside of the ball, and plying the strands together. (My silly fingers keep typing "playing" instead of "plying". It's early enough that I'm amused by this) So after I finished with the black, I felt it had to sit on the spindle to "set" the fiber, and I still wanted to spin. I talked on and on about knitters and their spindles, and how they would be a fine thing to collect (spindles, not knitters), now that I see how smart spinners are to own more than one spindle. They wouldn't have to stop for the night when they'd finished one roving. They might even be smart enough to have several different projects to spin, depending on their mood. Clever spinners.

My husband left the room and banged about a bit, while I relearned how to watch t.v. without something to do. After a time, with all of the drawer opening and closing, and him running to the basement and back, I figured he was making wine, which was odd, since he hadn't said "I'm going to go make some wine." Well, he came back into the room and said, "You don't have to use this, but I made it for you," and handed me the homeliest spindle. Oh, my. "You don't have to use this, but I made it for you"? I just had to grin. He had put it together with a dowel, canning lid, masking tape, and a hook he swiped from our upstairs curtains. Could it even work? I got out some single ply I didn't know what to do with, and tried the homely little thing out. Guess what? It worked! It wasn't weighted the same, but it actually wasn't bad. Pretty soon, I thought I was plying pretty darned well on it. Then I waxed on about how clever and nice he was to save me from just, well, sitting still, and he sat and soaked it up. What a clever man! (The pictures are bad, but it was late, no good light, etc.)




Here's a picture of some red roving I am spinning, which I got from Knitterly Things. I bought three 4-oz. bats, figuring I'll finally have enough to knit more than a hat with. Definitely going to two-ply it! It was too much fun not to do again.



And, finally, a picture of the slightly bumpy two-plyed black yarn I made, probably a DK weight. I only came up with about 67 yards. It was a two-ounce bat, and I don't know if that's good or not, as far as yardage. Eh, it is what it is. I had fun. Next on my list of things to own is a swift, so when I wind this stuff up before I wash it, it will all be the same length. Then, when it's hung to dry, I won't get parts that are bumpy because they're not pulled straight enough. I have, so far, saved six dollars toward the swift. *snicker* I just have to defend the cache against small people begging for ice cream.