I learned to spin yarn from wool fiber in 1978. I love spinning, but haven't done it very much since I had to give up knitting and crocheting due to a bit of arthritis in my hands. Today, though, I had a ray of hope shine through. I ran across the concept of "Mega Knitting." It is done with Very Large Knitting needles that have a sort of "hook" on the end. If you'd like to see, go look at
THIS video. It seems to me that the work my hands would need to do is completely different than traditional knitting and would be very gentle. I ordered a pair of the size 50 knitting needles and am going to try it out.
Then that inspired me to start spinning some Really Thick yarn, so I made a rough thick and thin yarn from some wool fleece I have. I carded it by hand, spun it up quickly and then did a Navajo 3-ply on the yarn. I've never done the Navajo plying before, but it is easy to learn.
My yarn is now hanging to dry on our inside clothes lines.
It is draped over the clothesline and I used a metal wire hook that I have in the kitchen and hung a pottery mug on it for a weight to set the twist while it dries.
It was fun!
I really hope that the new type of needles and knitting work for you! I've always thought it was sad that you had to give that up.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Me too...
DeleteThe wool yarn is so pretty. I bet it will make a beautiful piece. Show us what you make nice you get your needles.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol. I will!
DeleteOh! I hope the new knitting will work for you too! That is an exciting prospect!
ReplyDeleteI hope it works for you! It would be great if you could knit again!
ReplyDeleteI have found that I love spinning slightly more than I love knitting... So I'm accumulating quite a stash of yarn... Haha, one off these days I really need to try to balance the two hobbies.
Thank you! I used to have the opposite problem. I'd promise myself I wouldn't start knitting until I got ALL the yarn spun up for a project. Right. Never did that. Couldn't resist!
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