Spinning an Ocean

 Yowzers!  It's been a busy old time recently and this week I'll be moving house too.  With everything else that needs seeing to during the day, it can be hard to find even the brainpower to craft, let alone the time!  I think that's probably why I've found myself turning to projects which rely almost completely on muscle-memory and require the absolute minimum levels of thought or concentration.

For me, spinning definitely comes under this category.  I adore the way you can get some really fantastic results without having to invest massive amounts of love and devotion, and the fact that it can be very very forgiving.

I currently have 4 spinning projects on the go, but mainly this week I've been working on this:

 I dyed some white merino and overdyed some grey/blue using blue and green food colourings, making sure I dyed them fairly unevenly so that when I span it, it would all pull out and blend at random.

Aren't the colours just glorious?!  They really sing to me somehow.  Expect many more tales of hand-dyeing in the future ;)

I think this also might be some of my best spinning yet!  I've managed to avoid some of the problems I've been having with overspin, and this skein is a lot better balanced than my previous have been.  This was actually spun using a supported spindle - my first time using anything other than a top-whorl drop - and it certainly took some getting used to!  The conventional wisdom is that the yarn on a supported spindle is less prone to breaking since it doesn't have to support the weight as it twists.  As usual, I'm going against the grain - this was snapping all over the shop (something that's never happened to me on the drop spindle), and continued to snap as I skeined it.  That'll be something to focus on as I spin the rest of the fluff in this batch!

A note on the spindle: it is BRILLIANT!  It was made for me by the lovely MintyWeaver, who has been experimenting with making her own spindles from old dpns and various bits and bobs from B&Q.  They spin magnificently, and the weighting is just sooooo comfortable.  How long d'you reckon before I'm glueing stuff to other stuff and attempting to twist fluff with it?!!

Kim x