Monday, August 18, 2008

Can't keep a fiber kid down!

Although the shoulder crankiness kept me from spinning, it wasn't bad enough to keep me from sock knitting. (yay sock knitting!) So now the super-ugly supersock sock#1 has a heel, and it is just waiting to see what kind of fun stitch pattern needs to happen for the calf...

You can't keep a good fiber kid down! We keep on working through the pain...(ok, so we take a little advil, lay on a heating pad, have a good nap, and then we work out a few knots, then we whine for a minute and get back to business-but we DO get back to business)

Socks are fun, fun, fun, and I can't wait until I get good enough at spinning to spin my own sock yarn. So far the spinning has been getting a lot thinner and more even, so hopefully I can get to that point in the next month or so.

Since I couldn't do any spinning, of course I check out some library books on the subject, hoping to get a little more info than what I had already. *Prepare yourself for some short, unsolicited book reviews since there is so little to blog about*

So far, I'm really digging "Teach Yourself Visually: Hand spinning", but I don't think I'm advanced enough to get into the Alden Amos book of spinning (forgive me for not remembering the full title, at the moment I am drawing serious blanks.) So, Girlfriend needs some pictures at this point-I'm too much of a new kid on the block to be without images- Heck, I would settle for drawings if nothing else, but the drawings in this book seem to be more for setting tone than illustrating the processes in the text. I do really want to try his recipe for ginger beer, if nothing else :) Someday I think I will go back to this book and it will do much more for me, I'm sure.


The TYVH book is so much more in depth than "Start Spinning" by Maggie Casey (even though I was pretty happy with SS to get me up and going). TYVH gives you a bit more info, goes into more depth on the prep process and multiple styles of plying, and more fibers, where SS only gives you a basic basic intro-albeit a good one. and if you only get one book to start your library I think TYVH is a fine choice. (*take this with a big grain of newbie salt since I'm only speaking from what little experience I have, but feel free to leave opinions in the comments *)

Well my dears, now that I have blathered on about my opinions on book options, I've gotta roll... There is a fun sock calf ribbing pattern waiting to be decided. Have a good one. Happy knitting and spinning!

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