Smatterings

  • spindled silk

    1 = 200

    This dismal weather has affected the quality and color of my pictures.  I need some good, dry, natural light.  Every available horizontal flat surface is presently in use.  There are no set-ups, only hand held shots.  These taken at 1/6 sec.  The Rhinebeck sweater will have to wait for the weekend.  The spindled silk, well.. we'll make pretend the color is right.  In real life it is a lovely soft pastel of peach and olive.  Very light.  The spinning isn't as even as I'd like, but given the conditions, I'm pleased.   This was my first project spindling silk from the fold and it was a carry around, 10 minutes a day, or whenever project, so the conditions where more or less all over the place.  Restaurants, nursing home, TV, meetings, doctor's offices, you get the picture.  I kept the spindle in my bag and worked when I could.  When you see the skein it looks pretty even.  Close up, you can see the variation.

    P1050708

    one ounce 100% silk
    200 yds. 
    spindle: Forrester "Granny" style
    purchased from: Little Barn
    P1050710
     

    13 responses to “spindled silk”

    1. Marcy

      Mmmmm, silk! Purty!

    2. Margene Smith

      Beautiful! I need to spindle more often.

    3. Laurie

      That’s lovely!

    4. Manise

      A beautiful smiling silk skein! Thank you!

    5. Lynn

      What they said, doubled.

    6. claudia

      You have incredibly steady hands for these pix and those in the last post. My tripod is my crutch.

    7. michelle

      That is some mighty fine spinning! Beautiful!

    8. Kathy

      So pretty! And that’s pretty amazing yardage.

    9. JessaLu

      very pretty!

    10. Carole

      The sun’ll come out tomorrow . . .

    11. Anne

      I am amazed at how nicely your spindle-spun yarns always look when plied. Mine always look like crap. The singles appear fine, but not the plied once. Must work on that, I suppose.

    12. Donna

      The sun will come out tomorrow – or so they are saying.
      Beautiful spinning!

    13. elizabeth

      Beautiful!

  • plying from the cop

    P1050618a
     Last night the second lovely half ounce of silk was finished.  This time, it was spindles long draw and from the fold.  Sara told me that she uses this method for silk.  What a pleasure.  It drafts so smoothly that the silk feels like it flows from your fingers onto the spindle.  For me, spindling silk this way faster than spinning it on my wheel.  It certainly is more enjoyable. 

    I plied it directly from the cops onto my Schacht using  a lazy kate.   There were no messy tangles.  Very fast.

    P1050705

    The pictures are what they are.  Not perfectly sharp, but pretty good if you consider I hand held my little camera at 1/2 second using available light.  After dark.

    P1050704

    6 responses to “plying from the cop”

    1. Manise

      You tease! No plied silk skein to oogle?? And are you going to do a Spinning-long-draw-from-a-spindle” tutorial soon? Pleeeeez? 🙂

    2. Carole

      The pictures looks fine to me. I’ve never had great luck spinning silk but you make it sound simple.

    3. cyndy

      So simple and so beautiful! I really like the neutral color of the silk.
      How do you finish the skein? Or do you just work with it directly?

    4. margene

      Beautiful! Now let us see the yarn!

    5. Sara

      Hooray! It looks beautiful as singles, can’t wait to see the plied :).

    6. elizabeth

      Nice! I bet you felt like a spider.

  • dark and rainy night

    As I left the Tuesday night knitting group, a friend called after me.  "Be careful driving home.  The deer are everywhere."   Less than ten minutes later I was slamming on the brakes, sending my knitting bag and its contents flying onto the front floor boards as one of the chubbiest little deer I've ever seen jumped out into the road in front of me.  The road was wet.  I was afraid I'd slide.  The tires held and the deer and I avoided a messy confrontation. I think that next time I drive home on a dark and rainy night, I just might seat belt my knitting bag.  The deer are crazy out there.

    11 responses to “dark and rainy night”

    1. Stephannie

      at least you (and the deer and the knitting) are safe!

    2. Barbara-Kay

      Been there, done that. It makes you a believer in these new-fangled brakes, doesnt it? They tell you not to pump them, just keep holding them down. DH and I, who learned to drive 50 years ago with the old brakes, were concerned that when an emergency came we would revert to the old way. Fortunately, our deer walked away, too. Just reading your account made my pulse race, though. So glad you’re ok!

    3. Laurie

      It’s genetic dispersion. It’s the time of year that they scatter, and they have no brains yet. (Teenage deer.)

    4. Manise

      Yes, they are everywhere. Fortunately my encounters have been during the day. I can relate to the knitting bag hitting the floor with its contents spewed everywhere-very annoying. I now hook the handles of the bag to the arm rest and then push the arm rest in the up position. The bag now stays put. I have belted it in with mixed results. Glad you are safe!

    5. Carole

      It’s like that around here right now, too. I know my BIL was out picking up a road kill deer just last night.

    6. margene

      The knitting doesn’t get hurt and fortunately no one else did either.

    7. cyndy

      …thanks for the cautious reminder…
      do you have those little thingies on your car (near the headlights)? Some say they work great for alerting the deer to your oncoming car…

    8. AnnaMarie

      Glad you are okay! This warm up we’re having must confuse them not to mention the very noisy muzzle loaders. Car vs.Deer is not the way to get dinner.

    9. Donna

      So scarey. Glad you, the deer, and your knitting are OK.

    10. Teresa Campbell

      Whew! Thanks goodness you are okay!

    11. –Deb

      At least it was only the knitting that went flying!

“Our lives are dyed the colors of our imagination.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

copyright 2025 Judith Jacobs – All Rights Reserved