Another level

I have now officially reached another level of handmade. I made my own yarn.

I knew it would happen eventually, but I did not expect it so soon. Well I blame my dear friend Anthea and Yarndale. 

Anthea started spinning a year ago and I begged her not to get me to another craft. I was happy to watch her spin. And then we went to Yarndale - I am going to write about it in another post, it was just amazing... - and after 5 hours of absorbing all this yarny vibes I bought a drop spindle. Just because alpaca yarn is so expensive and Anthea bought the whole alpaca fleece and I thought I could just try...

I did not wait to get home, oh no. I started right away. I got a 100 g of Blue Faced Leister top for practice.

And in half an hour I had a bit of handmade yarn! (Can you see in the background? It is Lucy from Attic24!)

I remember thinking that I would spin for an hour a day. Well, it did not work as I couldn't stop so I spun all 100 grams on Monday. I took this photo in the afternoon, the rest is rubbish because of the lack of daylight.

I finished, I wind it into a skein, soaked it and then prayed for it to dry faster as I couldn't wait to knit it.

Here it is winded to a lovely little yarn cake.

I could definitely see a difference between the first and second half - let's just say the first one is more of a novelty yarn ;) That is why I decided to make a hat, the more even part would go for the ribbing and the body can be more fancy. 

And it looks great. I love it. It is the best hat I ever had. The best hat I ever made. It is sooo handmade by me!

I love it!