Thank you, Mr. K'Nex Man.

Thank you, Mr. K'Nex. I'll put your leg back together, once I'm all done spinning. 

More K'Nex!

Here, you can see how I get started on these spindles. I hand spin about 8 inches' worth, then I clip it into the whorl, and away I go!


In the picture above, you can see how all of the pieces are arranged - -
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And this is how they all go together for spinning. Easy, yes?
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Remove the clip from the bottom to hold the spinning-in-progress.


Once you spin a bunch of wool, well, you have to ply it, right? K'Nex to the rescue! Here you can see my Lazy Kate -



I put my foot onto the grey bar which is across the front, in this photo.
I can adjust the tension - press harder to slow it down, release it to let the spindle revolve more quickly. It works amazingly well!

This is showing a close-up of the hub -


And here, you can see an action shot.
I love spinning action shots...
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K'Nex Spindles!

I learned to spin, just about a year ago, on spindles made from the building toy, K'nex! They are quite easy to make, and if you have children, then you don't even need to leave the house in order to gather your supplies! (Click on the photo for a close-up.)

Here you see me, about 10 minutes into my new addiction - a still shot -


and an action shot -



I'm using this spindle as a supported spindle - on an upturned coffee cup.

It works!
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...yarn....


Here is a picture of my very first ball of yarn!



I'm so proud! This ball is surrounded by some spindle options available - of course, there are many more possibilities. (See the yellow, green, red and white spindle on the left side of the photo - with the fiber on it? This is my favorite design.)

Here are a few more ideas, along with the spindle shaft.





Here you see my first ball of yarn, on its plying spindle. Isn't it sweet? LOL.


(Please, disregard the electrical tape which is hiding a hole in the piano bench *blush*)

The support spindle is very nice and all, but sometimes one gets the urge to take the show on the road, so I figured a way to make my little spindle turn into a drop spindle - -




...spinning at the Reservoir, at sunset, on a peaceful October evening.


Now, does it get any better than this? Nope.

This little spindle is so small, and it comes apart ( to a degree) without disturbing the already-spun fiber, so it is just perfect for taking on a walk. Stuff it all into your pocket, and off you go!

For the past few months, when I get around to spinning, I use the spindle shown further down this blog. I got to where I preferred to spin while standing up, and I *really* like the longer shaft on the beading-elastic-spool spindle, and on my CD spindles, and I much prefer to use a top whorl spindle while drop spindling. I can make the K'Nex spindle into a top whorl, but the shaft is really too short to work with the thigh roll technique. So, I use it as a bottom whorl drop spindle and twist it to make it spin, and this makes my hand fatigue really quickly. I think that I'll stick to support spindling with my K'Nex, and drop spindling with my other spindles. I love the rhythmic whirring that this spindle makes, as it twirls on its little coffee cup. Almost like it's purring, lol.

What's really the coolest thing of ALL is that this little K'Nex spindle can go from a support spindle, to a top whorl drop, to a bottom whorl drop by simply moving the little black clip from the top to the bottom and then... just doing it. A convertable spindle! Really! It works just fine! Cool or what???
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Magic Stripe Socks

Grace cleaned her room, and take a look at what re-surfaced! I knit these socks two summers ago, and they've gone missing for just about that long.... Grrr....

Anyway, these were great fun to knit! I love the yarn - Lion Brand Magic Stripes, I think. I really like how the socks are sort of alike, in that they are clearly a pair, but they really don't match at all. I've decided that this is the only way that I'm going to knit socks anymore. What's the point of knitting them to be exactly the same? You can go to any store in the land and buy two socks which are exactly the same! For my effort, they are going to be FUN! LOL.

I knit these from the toe up (Is there any other way? LOL.), with a peasant heel. I had experimented with different heels in the past - see my variegated merino superwash socks below - and I really like this heel. It's knitted in the exact way one would knit a hat, only really really small. One's heel is rather head shaped, isn't it? It fits the foot much better than any other heel that I've knitted.

I love how the heel ended up with a tiny spot of blue, right in the middle. Serendipity!

The sock looks rather deformed on my foot, because it's way too small. The only trouble is that it is way too small for Grace's foot, too. Grrr... It wasn't too small, back when I knitted it. Grrr...

Here is a link to the yarn - Lion Brand Magic Stripe in Jelly Bean Stripe. Too cute!

Grace's cute new purse!

 
 
 

Well, she's at it again! Grace designed and knitted this cute little purse out of Plymoth "Encore," a wool/acrylic blend. Isn't it darling? She held two strands of yarn together, to give the purse thickness. Notice her shoes? Notice the trim on the purse? (She also made a pony-tail holder, but it's not in the picture.) Now, isn't this a rather pulled-together outfit??? I forget the name of the yarn trim, but it's from Walmart and maybe it's an eyelash by Bernat? It has a "bird" name... Anyway, it all came together to make a really cute outfit! Best of all - except for the tweety-bird yarn from Walmart and the flipflops, also from Walmart, *everything* else in the photo comes from various thrift stores! I bought a HUGE sack of yarn from the Salvation Army, and in the bag were 12 balls of Encore, in 4 really nice colors, along with all sorts of other wonderful balls of wool - my spider shrug is knitted with wool from this sack-o-yarn, too. What a haul! The pants and the shirt are also from thrift stores.

My little girlie is a devoted thrift store shopper. Want to know the reason why? Look in her purse, and you'll see what she saves her hard earned money for. BOOKS! I can die happy. 

Finished

 
 


My spider shrug is finally completed, YAY! Just in time for today’s prediction of highs in the 100’s! Well, when the weather does cool down, I’ll be ready for action, lol.