Two-Fisted Spinning?

Laura's holding onto my singles while I'm helping Sue, so we get Sue straightened out and then I have to hold her singles... Then of course I feel stupid for having Laura continue to hold on to mine, so look what I end up with...
And it was much funnier when Sue ended up holding onto her own yarn and my yarn and they sort of self-spun together. But I broke them apart too quickly for someone to snap a pic.

I can hear you now - run, do not walk to therapy and get a life! Well, I'll tell you...spinning IS therapy. It's either the wool or me, baby...one of us is going to have tension. I'm twisted to begin with. And who are you to talk? You got nothin` better to do than read my blog. So...

Stash Buster

As a new spinner, it's typical to be really enthusiastic about it and experiment a lot to build skill. What do you end up with? A great big yarn stash! What to do? Weaving is great stash buster - uses a lot of yarn, as I found out. Also, it's a versatile craft, and much faster than knitting.

My husband Dave and I had a great time weaving at Misty Mountain. Both newbies, we were surprised how long it takes to prepare the loom, getting the warp set. The equipment can be intimidating and the setup is not intuitive, but Linda and Leanna Witt, the owners and instructors for the class, were so encouraging that I felt extremely comfortable and I could just go for it and have fun.

Below are some pics - we are measuring out the warp and putting the warp on the loom. More pics to come in follow-on posts. Thank you to my friend Sue for the pictures - she's got a great new camera, and since I forgot to bring any camera at all we wouldn't have pics without Sue.

`Tis the Season

A great version of `Twas the Night Before Christmas, from the fiber-holic point of view.

Knitter's Night Before Christmas:
http://knit-a-bit4u.blogspot.com/2006/12/knitters-night-before-christmas.html

I'm about the zillionth person to post it or a link to it, and amazingly nobody really knows the original author.

But Can You Dance to It?

The ambience is important when I'm spinning. It's great to have company and chat, and it can also be nice to spin in solitude. I enjoy listening to audio books and music. Spinning over the last several days has been a soothing experience because I have been accompanied by the music from La Belle Dame Sans Merci - Peg Loughran and static & silence and reading writing and arithmetic - both from The Sundays.

I'd like to know what you enjoy listening to when you're trying to get that spinning rhythm going. Is it your usual favorite genre of music? Is it the same music you listen to while driving? Does it depend on your mood? Can it help you spin better (or worse, if the music is wrong)?

Results

Dear readers, a follow up from an earlier blog .... ("Slippery Purple Slope", October 23, 2008). I had much better results than I anticipated. Here are two full bobbins.

I decided to simply ply the singles together, for a two-ply yarn instead of Navajo ply. I think it's a very pretty yarn, and very soft. I believe I will get more than three bobbins full of plied yarn.