Schacht Contest

I found out on Sunday that I won Honourable Mention in the Schacht contest. Since I honestly didn't expect to win anything this is such a great thing. It has given me much more confidence in my spinning. I won one of their Dizzy Yarn gauges. I had to enter as an expert because I learned to spin in November 2006 and for their contest 2 years and more is considered expert. I, personally, don't consider myself an expert at all. There was time in there that I didn't spin at all or very little. I do see considerable progress in my spinning and I'm happy with that.

And speaking of spinning, I finished the Louet merino/silk fibre I've been working on. This was spun on my Schacht Ladybug. The fibre is the Louet Merino/Silk blend in Glacial Green. I'm not totally sure of the yardage but it's 220 grams and I think it's about 1300 yards total. There are two skeins. One is 137 grams and the second is 83 grams. I think it's lighter than fingering but not as fine as some lace yarn you can get. I still have to check the WPI as well. When I wind it into a centre pull ball I'll check with the yarn meter so I know the exact yardage I have. This way I can decide what the yarn wants to become. Right now I don't have a clue.

I've also been working on another sock design. The stitch pattern is from a Japanese stitch pattern book I have. The yarn is a Regia sock yarn. I am happy with the first sock but want to try something different in the heel for the second sock. I just have to figure out how I am going to do it. I've never tried it before. I'll have more details once it's finished.

Giuseppe, I haven't forgotten about your request for the picture. The skein I did at that time is very tiny. I haven't really done another skein because I haven't been very happy with the singles so I have been playing and taking it off the spindle and tossing it in the garbage. I will set up the charkha tonight, I hope, and take a picture of the spindle so you can see what I've done.