spinning!

All this talking about souvenir fiber reminded me of some amazing roving I bought a couple of years ago in one of Toronto's amazing yarn shops, The Naked Sheep.  Sadly, I've just discovered that it shut down.

I'm so glad I have this Painted Fleece to remember it by.  Missy Westgate lives and works in Toronto.  She hand dyes fiber from a local Canadian mill.

 To make it go further, I plied it with some pencil roving I used to practice spinning back in the day.

As you can see, the pencil roving is nice and even, whereas the roving from Painted Fleece is thick and thin.  That's just my own inconsistency--and absolutely not a reflection of Painted Fleece.

 I'm finding the imperfection charming, thankfully.

After much reflection, I decided to crochet all my thick-and-thin handspun into a little woolen rug.   

The beauty of this project is that it can continue to grow as I spin more.  And it's a great way to commemorate my spinning progress.  Each color is like a ring on a tree stump--the burgundy is my first handspun ever (and quite sad, I might add), followed by some very stiff turquoise. The improvement is already evident!

Right now, it's living on one of our kitchen chairs.