What do you get when you dye roving with Kool-Aid in bright, awful colors?

Clown yarn!




I want to learn how to spin yarn. It's something that has always fascinated me, probably because of fairy tales. It's one of those things that calls to my inner gnome.

I'm just starting out and having to stick with the self-teaching route for now and I decided to try it with a homemade CD drop spindle since it's, well- CHEAP. Only had to buy the rubber grommet and dowel. For less than $2 and 15 minutes of my time, I had me a drop spindle! Ugly, yes. Not as "spinny" as a proper drop spindle, I'm sure. Didn't matter, though- I had something to make something with! Woo!

I actually dyed some roving with Kool-Aid in my favorite colors- dark, blood reds- first, but I don't have a photo of it yet. The above colors were more an experiment to see what colors the flavors would make and then to see how bright colors would look when mixed up (clowny). It goes well with my FAT-skinny-FAT-skinny-LuMpY-skinny-FAT-LuMpY yarn that I've been producing while getting used to this whole spinning thing. It's very addicting! I'm thinking this fall at the fiber festival, I may end up treating myself to a proper drop spindle. I love how they look clustered in jars and pots. The kind of thing Mrs. Weasley would have, I'm sure. Jars of beautiful wooden spindles.

Going with the theme of cheap and ugly, I also have plans to make out of all the PVC pipes I've had for the last 9 years: a swift and an inkle loom (saw it here and here). Trying to figure out if I can make my own ball winder with stuff I already have...saw one made of Legos, but I gave all mine to my nephews. After using the ball winder at my LYS, I was hooked! Although I love the look of a hand-wound center-pull ball, it takes a long time (time that could be spent knitting!) and they don't stack nicely.

Oh- and let's not forget the bead spinner made out of a plastic take-out container and a chopstick. Nowhere near as beautiful as the $40 wood one I saw, but worked fine.

If Fat Albert and his friends did crafts, they'd have the above.

It's late. I'm sleepy. I'll be back later to add links to some of the above for any of you who may want or need to go the Fat Albert route of making crafting equipment.