It's like I'm on drugs!
Thanks for all the well wishing for Pamplemousse en caoutchouc. Jess and I really appreciate the support. To answer a couple of questions I got in the comments, Yes, eventually we will be set up with an online store and will definitely ship internationally.
We also do have plans to sell hand dyed yarn. At the moment Jess and I are investigating and choosing a yarn that makes us both drool, will be versatile and repeatable (read: yes a sock yarn, but we probably won't label it as such). Our yarn will start off with kettle dyes and we plan to expand into self-striping and other experiments. I will of course keep you posted on such progress. And eventually we'll be organised enough to have a dedicated blog so that those of you who just don't care about the company stuff (or to read about my sweater angst) won't have to. I promise we'll get organised one of these days.
Onto today's topic: Spinning is addictive. Especially for crazy tactile people like myself. It's like ALL I want to do! Spindle Spindle SPINDLE!!!
First I spun this:
Then I spun some of this and refused to let Jess leave my place with either the rest of the roving OR her spindle:
Then I spun up the scraps from the floor that I wouldn't let Jess throw away as well as some little puffs that the Ariadne girls gave me at some point to make this:
After delivering our wares to Ariadne on Saturday (and kind of eaves-learning during their first spinning class), I went to check out possible future studio space chez Jess and she let me take one of the felted rovings to play with. I also got to keep one braid that was way light (but I'm saving that for when I'm a little better).
Right. So I blame my business partner Jess for starting the crazy addiction. During our first day of dyeing exploits chez moi, she brought out some roving and a spindle and in like 5 min I was hooked. I like to think it clicked right away, but upon second look...maybe not. But dood I've been spinning for a week now though I'm not an expert just yet, I'm totally addicted to it. OMG. I mean yes, now that I'm a 'dealer,' I should know how to use my product, but at the current rate I may never knit again.
Expert knitter/hand-painter Virginia told Mr. Peabody and myself that she learned to spin but didn't care for it. It was good enough for her to understand it enough, but the whole idea of getting a fleece, washing, prepping then making the yarn, dyeing the yarn and THEN knitting was not her bag. Too much delay before getting to the knitting.
But I have to say that I completely disagree with her sentiments. Since getting back from holidays, I've not been feeling it for the knitting. Pretty much all my projects are at a point that require quite a bit of figuring/thinking/paying attention and I really haven't had the energy. Blame the never ending winter, lack of light, Boring Job Inc., Busy Beaver & Co. and now Pamplemousse en caoutchouc, but I just haven't had the mental energy to go whole hog on anything. The knitting part isn't the problem, it's the PLANNING for knitting that's got me somewhat blocked.
Enter spinning. A new and pretty much completely tactile experience to save the day! And I think the way I've learned is pretty decent. Jess showed me kind of the basics. Then I spun & spun & spun. Then sort of listening the class on Saturday made me pick up Spinning in the Old Way and start reading it again while stuck in the Laundromat. I don't do well with learning things from books. I'm much better with someone showing me and then once I 'get' it, I can read about whatever I'm learning and whatever I'm reading with actually 'click' and make sense to me.
So some of my more recent handspun's don't really seem like a vast improvement mostly because I'm trying to do it the 'right' way. Jess showed me a pre-draft method of spinning and now I'm trying out drafting while spinning (with a bit of predraft because of what I'm working with). For the most part it's making sense, but really I'm having a riot. And I don't see any signs of stopping. But I kind of feel bad since I had signed up for the April learn to spin class at Ariadne... I think I'll go anyways to have someone validate my technique (or tell me that I'm HORRIBLE and should do the world a favour and NEVER spin again—but Leslie seemed very nice and likely wouldn't say something like that....aloud).
I realised later that Leslie once even posted a comment on this very blog. I'm sorry I didn't reply in any sort of timely/efficient/at all manner. I didn't figure out until last month that Blogger doesn't so much link to someone's website directly, it requires some user ingenuity to properly stalk the non-Blogger commenters. Sorry about that Leslie, but now I'm properly prepared for future internet stalkings so rest easy.
K, I've got to get back to thecrack spinning. Oh, and don't worry, my very own spindle is on it's way. I'll be able to give Jess back her spindle before it makes her too cranky to be without it. She's got another one to work with in the mean time.
We also do have plans to sell hand dyed yarn. At the moment Jess and I are investigating and choosing a yarn that makes us both drool, will be versatile and repeatable (read: yes a sock yarn, but we probably won't label it as such). Our yarn will start off with kettle dyes and we plan to expand into self-striping and other experiments. I will of course keep you posted on such progress. And eventually we'll be organised enough to have a dedicated blog so that those of you who just don't care about the company stuff (or to read about my sweater angst) won't have to. I promise we'll get organised one of these days.
Onto today's topic: Spinning is addictive. Especially for crazy tactile people like myself. It's like ALL I want to do! Spindle Spindle SPINDLE!!!
First I spun this:
Then I spun some of this and refused to let Jess leave my place with either the rest of the roving OR her spindle:
Then I spun up the scraps from the floor that I wouldn't let Jess throw away as well as some little puffs that the Ariadne girls gave me at some point to make this:
After delivering our wares to Ariadne on Saturday (and kind of eaves-learning during their first spinning class), I went to check out possible future studio space chez Jess and she let me take one of the felted rovings to play with. I also got to keep one braid that was way light (but I'm saving that for when I'm a little better).
Right. So I blame my business partner Jess for starting the crazy addiction. During our first day of dyeing exploits chez moi, she brought out some roving and a spindle and in like 5 min I was hooked. I like to think it clicked right away, but upon second look...maybe not. But dood I've been spinning for a week now though I'm not an expert just yet, I'm totally addicted to it. OMG. I mean yes, now that I'm a 'dealer,' I should know how to use my product, but at the current rate I may never knit again.
Expert knitter/hand-painter Virginia told Mr. Peabody and myself that she learned to spin but didn't care for it. It was good enough for her to understand it enough, but the whole idea of getting a fleece, washing, prepping then making the yarn, dyeing the yarn and THEN knitting was not her bag. Too much delay before getting to the knitting.
But I have to say that I completely disagree with her sentiments. Since getting back from holidays, I've not been feeling it for the knitting. Pretty much all my projects are at a point that require quite a bit of figuring/thinking/paying attention and I really haven't had the energy. Blame the never ending winter, lack of light, Boring Job Inc., Busy Beaver & Co. and now Pamplemousse en caoutchouc, but I just haven't had the mental energy to go whole hog on anything. The knitting part isn't the problem, it's the PLANNING for knitting that's got me somewhat blocked.
Enter spinning. A new and pretty much completely tactile experience to save the day! And I think the way I've learned is pretty decent. Jess showed me kind of the basics. Then I spun & spun & spun. Then sort of listening the class on Saturday made me pick up Spinning in the Old Way and start reading it again while stuck in the Laundromat. I don't do well with learning things from books. I'm much better with someone showing me and then once I 'get' it, I can read about whatever I'm learning and whatever I'm reading with actually 'click' and make sense to me.
So some of my more recent handspun's don't really seem like a vast improvement mostly because I'm trying to do it the 'right' way. Jess showed me a pre-draft method of spinning and now I'm trying out drafting while spinning (with a bit of predraft because of what I'm working with). For the most part it's making sense, but really I'm having a riot. And I don't see any signs of stopping. But I kind of feel bad since I had signed up for the April learn to spin class at Ariadne... I think I'll go anyways to have someone validate my technique (or tell me that I'm HORRIBLE and should do the world a favour and NEVER spin again—but Leslie seemed very nice and likely wouldn't say something like that....aloud).
I realised later that Leslie once even posted a comment on this very blog. I'm sorry I didn't reply in any sort of timely/efficient/at all manner. I didn't figure out until last month that Blogger doesn't so much link to someone's website directly, it requires some user ingenuity to properly stalk the non-Blogger commenters. Sorry about that Leslie, but now I'm properly prepared for future internet stalkings so rest easy.
K, I've got to get back to the
Comments
_Silja
Too bad I sold it.