Spinning Fun Facts

Today I want to share some photos of my recent handspun yarn, but first, a few handspinning fun facts:

• the nursery rhyme, Pop Goes the Weasel, might be a reference to a spinner's tool known as a 'weasel', a skeinwinder with a ratcheting device that measures yarn and 'pops' when the desired length of yarn is reached.

• in Scandinavia, the stars located in Orion's belt are called Friggjar rockr, or Frigga's distaff

• the national costume of Romania includes a distaff and spindle

• in Greek mythology, there are 3 crones (the Fates or Moirae) who control destiny by spinning (Clotho), measuring (Lachesis), and cutting (Atropos) the thread of life; clotho is also the Greek word for spinner

• Norse mythology has a similar concept, in which the 3 Norns, Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, weave the tapestry of fates on their loom, which has one thread for each life

• other spinners in mythology include Brigid (Celtic), Holda (Germanic), Saule (Baltic), and Mama Ocllo (Incan) (fun facts from Wikipedia)

On to the yarns. Here are some of my recent creations. More views and other yarns can be seen here.

1. 'Blow Pop', 2. 'Night Sky', 3. 'Black Grape' detail, 4. 'Black Grape 2' detail

All are beehive or coiled 2-ply yarns; 'Night Sky' has glass seed beads nestled throughout, while the other 3 are plied with commercial novelty yarns. 'Night Sky' was spun from Pippikneesocks' 'After Midnight' fiber; both 'Black Grape' yarns were spun from a Moustache Rides batt I purchased from Material Whirled to support the Charkhas for Africa project.

Finally, a standard 2-ply yarn, using 2 strands of my handspun: 'Happy Feet'.

I knit 'Happy Feet' into my Freeform Knitting 365 project, but the others I added to my 'inventory' of Color Bomb Creations, my new cottage industry. My LYS has expressed interest in carrying my yarn, which I am very excited about. (Details on fiber content and yardage are available for each yarn by clicking on the individual photo links.)

Tags: spinning, handspinning, handspun, mythology, yarn