Ode, to a spindle...

Remember this spindle, purchased last year at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival?  This is the reason you really shouldn't use your drop spindle on wood floors.  I dropped it and it shattered:

I really liked that drop spindle.  And I had built up quite a cop over the weekend:

I've since switched to my Spanish Peacock spindle.  I'm trying really hard not to drop it.  (I really need to get a rug for my livingroom.)

I've been spinning the fiber I dyed on Thursday and so far, I'm happy with how it turned out:

There's a little more pink than I wanted but I gave away the worst offenders to a friend.  These are pretty representative of what I kept.  The plan is to spin 3 ounces on the drop spindle in time for Maryland so I can enter it in the skein contest.  The other 3 ounces I can drop spindle spin at a more leisurely pace.  Eventually, the yarn will be a pair of socks.  Imagine, 6 centuries ago, everything was spun on a drop spindle.  The yarn for the clothes you wore, the socks you wore, the rope you used.  The Viking's sails were all spun using drop spindles.  The modern spinning wheel wasn't invented until the 15th century.  Kind of puts into perspective the amount of time it'll take me to spin 6 ounces of fiber for a pair of socks.

This variety of narcissus is at least a hundred years old.  It's not a particularly spectacular flower but it's kind of special to my family.  When I was young, we had a place in the country and occasionally, we'd find the odd flower growing in the fields.  My dad collected a few in the fall one year and replanted them near our house.  Over the years, they grew and were divided by my dad until eventually, he had clumps of them growing all over the place.  We now call them Frank's Narcissus since we have no idea of the name of the variety.  It's so old, it may not even have one.  My parents sold that house quite a few years ago but my sister took some of the bulbs to her place and when they got big enough, gave some to me.  I suspect some member of my family will be growing and dividing and growing this variety for quite a while.

Comments

[Crochet with Raymond]

oh my goodness, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that gorgeous photo of your hand dyed fibre! Breautiful!!!!!
Can't wait to see it all spun up... and have a good look through your blog!
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[gayle]

Love all the glorious color! Too bad about the spindle, though...
Narcissus and daffs are my favorites. I think it might be because they bloom about the time I'm really desperate for flowers!