Seeing Red These Days

Seeing Red These Days

I have to admit that I learned how to spin about four or five years ago, bought a wheel and then set it aside. It's been collecting dust and would continue to do so if it not for the small group of spinners that belong to Yarn for Breakfast. I have talked about them before. Every once in awhile they meet at someone's house and spin, talk about fibers and where to get the "good stuff". Being with them inspired me to start spinning a little more every week.

I went to Rhinebeck (NY Sheep and Wool Show) and bought roving. I have five fleeces stored in the house but thought I needed some more color in my life. I bought red roving what was really meant for felting but didn't realize that until I started to spin it. It's coarse and I have no idea what the fiber was other than it was a nicest color of red. So I snagged it and started spinning. I ended up with this... It's a bit blurry but you get the jest of it. I triple plied the yarn for a project. I did two plies red and threw in one in a misc. light colored roving that I had. The yarn ended up being a bulky yarn. That was what I wanted. It's for a project that needed bulky weight yarn.

I wanted to make my very first bowl from this book. I love books but never seem to use them after I buy them (except for sock books). I have thumbed through this book many times and admired the felted bowl. I have seen them on blogs and different sites and decided I wanted one. So I made one. I have to say that I was totally impressed. The pattern was wonderful. You can be the judge.

Here is the yarn in a cake (same blurry picture as above). Then I knit the bowl. I am sorry that I didn't get a before shot but I was so excited about getting it into the washing machine that I forgot.

After I felted it I found a bowl to serve as a form to put the newly felted bowl on so that it would dry like a "real" bowl. I was lucky because I found a pyrex bowl the perfect size in my cabinet. I wanted the outside of the bowl to dry first so I flipped it upside down and left that way on the dining room table for two days during Thanksgiving.

This is the bowl upside down drying. Once the outside felt dried to the touch I turned it back on the flat side of the bowl so that it would sit flat . Worked like a charm.

I love the texture. I haven't shaved it. Don't think that I will either. I did think that the two colors would be stripped or marbled or something but it turned out speckled. I really do love the way it looks; hairy and speckled.

Here is the final bowl. It's dried and it stands up really well. The walls are not as thick as I thought they would be but I really love the bowl. It has given me great satisfaction to spin the wool, knit the bowl, felt it and now get to use it. I have got to use my books more often!