Drop Spindling.

One of the women in my Wednesday night knitting group makes drop spindles. Last week she gave one to me. I had always thought drop spinning was just a craft I could not catch on to, but it turns out that the spindle I had been using was really unbalanced and difficult to spin with. Since trying out the one she made, I've spun all this.

This was my first 50 g. It's Fleece Artist hand-dyed merino sliver from Nova Scotia. I bought it at Yarn Forward in Ottawa. It broke a lot. And is very thick and thin.


This is my second batch. It's Schoppel-Wolle merino pencil roving from Germany, purchased at All Strung Out in Guelph. It's much more even. The colour changes inside of this one are impressive too.


I'm going to make a large artwork type thing out of all of my handspun wool. I need to think of the best way to show off the fibre and all of my hard work.

Raes Junction.

Right now I am way out in the country in the southern part of the South Island.

The internet here is dial-up and I have a cold so I can't tolerate the lack of speed to put up posts here.

I have learned how to spin on a wheel and have already made a toque out of the wool I spun. They have huge industrial wool carders here and make all sorts of rovings for spinners. The past few days have been black merino and silk. It is so beautiful and I wish I could have a huge bag of it, but it would take a year to spin it all on a drop spindle at home. The grandfather has been running this place for years and he does all the dying too. This week he dyed a bunch of hanks of spun merino pink, purple, and blue. Not really my colour combination, but I did find some I liked. He sold me 3 HUGE hanks of light heather grey, dark heather drey, and light heather purple for $10 each. There is enough to make a giant sweater. I'm going to make a normal sized striped raglan sweater and still have a ton left over. I haven't figured out how I'm going to get it all home yet. I'll probably leave some other things behind.

Fibre Spectrum.

Nelson is known for being an artsy little city. Long before I visited I had a feeling I would find good wools and things there. And, well, I was right. I made a list of all the local yarn stores I had heard about and then set off to find them. When I came across Fibre Spectrum I knew my search was complete. This little storefront was pretty nondescript, but it houses the products of a local cooperative. They handspin and handdye and handweave and knit every item in the store from fibre to finished product. The store is long and narrow and is completely lit by skylights. The natural light makes everything even more beautiful. I spent a long time chatting with the woman running the store the first day. Then I bought a lot of things from her. Then I met a girl who graduated from the University of Guelph the same year I finished my undergrad. She recognized me and we talked for a few minutes. She wasn't a knitter though, and I has some serious shopping to do. I had to limit my purchases for financial and backpack space reasons. Mara and Chris think I am crazy. Then, I spent the entire night thinking about one skein I had really liked, but didn't buy, and had to go back the next day to pick it up and take pictures of the place so I will never forget it. O, and then I visited several of the women in the co-op at the Nelson Farmer's Market on the weekend. Yep.

When I wrote out the list of pictures for this post I had about 40, but I narrowed them down to just these few.



Baby Surprise Jackets!

Wall of handspun, handdyed merinos and corrydales and silks and everything you can think of. I pulled out every single one of them and inspected them all.

Did I mention all of the handmade felt in this place? So cool. I bought a little heart christmas ornament (well, it's bright blue and beaded) for Mara and Chris to thank them for their hospitality.

Handknit sweaters.

The weaving was pretty incredible too.

Yeah. Good day for wool shopping.

"We tend to get addicted to our activities so you better make sure you love what you do." Wilt Chamberlin.

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