You Spin Me Right Round...

Remember that song? I watched a 'Best of the 80's' show yesterday - Pete Burns, the lead singer of Dead or Alive has morphed into a woman with the most incredible trout lips I've ever seen. They're so full they must hurt.


Onward: Kathy in San Jose has started a blog! Head on over and give her a warm welcome to the dark side, ok? I met her from comments on this blog and it turns out we live quite close to each other. We spent a very pleasant hour at a coffee shop last weekend knitting and chatting, and I'm hoping we'll do it again sometime soon. Hi Kathy!

It has been a while since I showed any knitting activity; it has been going on, but I frogged the entire Icarus I'd started and have been re-doing it. It's going well - much better than the first time, but it looks essentially the same as it did when I last blogged.

I have however, picked up my wheel again (I can do that, it's small) and am making some progress. I still have a really hard time getting it started on the bobbin, but once I get going, I'm ok. I also need someone to show me how to Navajo ply! Anyone local care to enlighten me?

Here's what I've been doing:

I bought this roving at Stitches, from Carolina Homespun. I think it's Corriedale. I didn't have anything particular in mind when I picked it up; I just wanted to play with color at a modest price, and that fit the bill perfectly. There should be enough for a pair of ankle socks which I'll wear in winter along with my clogs - I prefer that over slippers for arch support. I also like that these are totally not my colors; it's a nice change.

I also spun this up:

This is the 'Mars' roving I bought for my birthday. This will also become socks, or else a scarf.

Now to make you all jealous. Look what I bought with some birthday money!!!

MMMMMMM....ALPACA.........

My best friend growing up raises alpaca with her husband in southern VT. The blonde roving is from Ayana, and the black is from Sami and Tamaya. I love how she includes a picture of the alpaca from whom the roving came . You're looking at about a pound total of amazing softness.

Bonnie is the person who introduced me to spinning about 18 months ago. I visited her just before I moved out here and asked her to show me how she spun. She let me try it and about 4 seconds later I was hooked. I visited her again last fall, and she had a big pile of roving in the middle of her living room just waiting for me, and I spent a very happy hour learning how to spin and to ply (kind of). She sure knows how to get a girl hooked.

So I want to start dying some of my own roving and yarn. I've bought some books, but I'd love to hear from people who do it. What's the best kind of dye for a beginner to use (I don't want to do the Kool-Aid thing)? I also want to avoid anything toxic. I'm hoping to grow a few dye plants in our garden, but for now I want to keep it simple. So any hints anyone can offer will be very much appreciated!

One last look at my treasures. What else could I possibly need in life? Except a few sheep and alpaca of course...