extremes

I am amazed by the skill of ancient spinners. Thousands of years ago, Egyptians used drop-spindles to create thread that was later woven into cloth. Think of the size of the thread used in Egyptian cotton bed linens, which is amazingly fine stuff given the difficulty of spinning cotton. Up until the 16th C, in Europe men dominated the knitting trade (according to Richard Rutt in 'A History of Hand Knitting'), and the knit stockings they created were made with impossibly thin yarn. I took the tuft of roving (sourced from a Lincoln sheep) I was given by a lovely lady in the fiber guild I attend, and gave it a whirl (or rather, a whorl). Here is what I came up with; at 28 wraps per inch, any self respecting spinner from centuries ago would have been ashamed. Today, we consider this laceweight.


On the opposite end of the spectrum, I completed this bulky weight yarn this week (6 wraps per inch), and knit it into a hat for my rainbow loving eldest son. I plan to line the hat, which I will do in tutorial form this week (I hope).


I was also able to crochet this very simple cowl for a dear friend. (The picture is just a peek, since she reads this blog.) The buttons are hand whittled by a local elderly man, who charges far to little for his expertise. The yarn is a bulky weight uruguay merino, so it will be very soft against the neck.


I finished this cowl for myself. It is also out of merino, but not nearly as nice a base. It was dyed by Hillary of Dashing Dachs. I have had this yarn stashed for a few years, and was very happy to have a chance to use it.


Here is a link to the pattern if anyone desires it (it's free!):