FO, and… spinning?

Pattern: Plain weave with lace insertion
Warp & Weft: 1 skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Firefly
Dimensions: 40″ x 5″, including fringe

Tried a lace insertion on this one. I like it; it wasn’t difficult and adds a little bit of visual interest to an end of the scarf. I warped the loom for this one a few weeks ago, but when I realised I wasn’t going to have the time for it until after the holidays, I loosened the tension so the yarn wouldn’t get stretched out.

I can weave for longer periods of time now that I’ve made the space to do it sitting down–leaning over a table is murder on the back. And I’d like to move on to bigger projects. I have some chestnut brown merino that’s going to become the fabric for a tote bag, and I also have some gold pencil roving and a needle-felting tool to embellish the bag once it’s sewn together.

Speaking of roving (or rather, things that roving can be used with)… several months ago, when I was choosing between a spinning wheel and a loom, one of the reasons that tipped the scale in favour of the latter was that I thought it would make more logical sense to have a tool that would help me use yarn, instead of a tool that would help me make more yarn to add to my already substantial stash.

I don’t regret it–I love my loom. I might prefer plain to fancy, and I might not ever produce works of art, but I love that it’s so relaxing, and calming in a different way than knitting; I’d love to combine the two, eventually, and make woven scarves or blankets with knitted-on edgings. I love that variegated yarns look so thoroughly awesome when woven, too, even the ones I wasn’t so fond of in stockinette.

Like some of you will understand, though, where fibre love is concerned things don’t always make logical sense. I’ve never really stopped sporadically looking at wheels, but about a month ago the craving really hit hard. I thought about it for a long while, gathered information, and in the end, I made a deal with myself. If (through Etsy or Rav’s ISO/Destash) I could come up with half the cost of a wheel, I’d take the other half out of my paycheque. I also figured that wanting this bad enough to consider selling some of my stash was a damn good sign.

Today, I reached my goal. Hooray!

Now I get to choose a wheel, which isn’t easy for a beginner. I can read all I like, and talk to spinners all I like, but everyone has a different opinion and I have no practical foundation of knowledge. I do know one thing: I’m looking for single treadle. I have one leg that’s never quite recovered from a series of injuries, and it can’t keep up with the other. I think I’ve almost chosen one, but nothing’s set in stone yet.

As far as the stash goes, I’ve gone through every single ball of it and reorganised my storage. It all fits nicely into the closet, now, and there aren’t random skeins all over the place. I know I’ve said it before, but I think I want something of a yarn diet. I tend to forget what pretties are hiding in the back of the stash, and making myself look there first helps me remember. It’s not no-yarn-until-x-date or x-amount-of-yards-to-destash; it’s just shop-the-stash-first. Simple.

Also, please note that I said yarn, not fibre. I have to have something to spin, right?

I’ll be back later this evening, or tomorrow, with a year-end round up. Hard to believe 2008 has gone so fast.