Respect The Spindle – Spin Infinite Yarns With One Amazing Tool!

This is the most awesome spinning book I’ve ever looked at, and there’s a DVD to accompany this book! And, if you go to Youtube, you can find Abby Franquemont’s short series of videos on spinning. And…..

This book Respect the Spindle will tell you how to spin on a spindle. Period. Clear pictures, step by step tutorials, and then, once you’ve become addicted to your spindle, it will show you how to take care of it, and how to make your spinning hobby, just as portable as your knitting.

No matter what kind of spindle you have, by the time you reach the end of the book, you’ll be spinning and plying like a pro. Don’t need a new hobby? Well, think of this as an extension to your knitting! No longer will you have to hunt for the yarn you’ve been looking for, now you can create it yourself!

Click on the Interweave Press link to get your copy of the book and DVD!

Next Pattern:

I’ve been enjoying knit amigurumi animal patterns lately (see also: this adorable knit pigeon) and of course being a knitter I love llamas.

So when I saw this little llama pattern I knew I had to share it.

The appropriately named Llama patter from Annie Ahn calls for fingering weight yarn, and it uses two colors for the body and three for the little blanket. The pompom can be made to match or in another color. All of these parts take tiny amounts of yarn so you can use whatever scraps you have left over from socks or other projects and change colors whenever you need to.

It might also be fun to use some mohair or other fuzzy or textured yarn on this one to give your llama a different look. In all the project uses between 100 and 150 yards, or 91-137 m, of yarn and the llama comes out about 10 cm/4 inches tall.

The body of the llama is worked in one piece, so this project is suited to intermediate knitters or those who have comfort working in the round and with all those little pieces.

This one is made to be small so you can carry it around with you (it would be super cute on a keychain or as a zipper pull) but I think it would be a lot of fun to knit this in larger yarn, too, to make a bigger llama. You could even make a whole family in different sizes just by using different weights of yarn and corresponding needles.

The details are so cute, from the shaggy hair to its little accessories, but you could make it plain or change it up by knitting a tiny scarf or even working a little fair isle pattern on the legs or body. So many fun possibilities!

The pattern is available on Ravelry in English and Korean.

[Photo: Annie Ahn]

Next Pattern:

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