Let's face it. I'm die-hard spindle spinner. I have a wheel, but I still find myself spindle spinning most of the time. I say "most", because my new tactic is to spin singles with my spindle, then ply on the wheel. Recently, I acquired a nostepinne, and after a little practice and a view of
this video, I discovered that I could wind a very nice centre-pull ball on it.
The thing about a ball wound on a nostepinne, as opposed to a ball winder, is that it retains a hollow core after it is removed, which makes it just about perfect for plying directly from my lap using one strand from the centre and one from the outside of the ball. The two strands simply flow into my hands instead of getting hopelessly tangled. I just tried this technique for the first time, and my beautifully balanced skein is now soaking in a bowl in the kitchen. There's no waste with this method. Usually when I work from two separate bobbins of singles there's a bit of waste since the yardage on each single is slightly different.
Between this little experiment and a visit to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned, there's been no knitting today (so far, at least), but I have been playing with photos of Harriet in order to come up with an ad for Ravelry (my first). It says something about the way in which my designing income has grown over the last year that I'm ready to make this move. I won't show you the photo I've come up with, but I will show you what I wore when I went out this morning.
That's right--Lucy (the scarf) and Harriet (the jacket) turn out to be great go-togethers, especially when you're in the mood for a tweedy look (always, in my case).
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. We used to enjoy this long weekend at the start of the American "holiday season".
