Thanks to a few posts by Susan B. Anderson and some tweets I came across Rebecca Ringquist's Etsy shop, and fell down the rabbits hole of embroidery.
I ordered the starter kit, as well as the paisley, colorwheel and the DIY Love samplers. I like the look of embroidery and also, it doesn't really take up much in the way of space (unlike the table loom I'm borrowing right now and is sitting on floor in the corner of my apartment because I don't have space for it).
So today, I headed to Orillia to run some errands and just go on an adventure (including a visit to Target). One of my stops was at Michaels where they have an amazing wall of DMC threads.
Also they have some amazing pearl cotton and tatting thread as well as six bijillion colors of embroidery floss. After feeling quite overhwelmed, I started picking the colors that attracted me. Then I started trying to balance out the tints, tones and shades to get a good mix. I think I did alright.
One of the great things about having a computer in your pocket (aka my iPhone) is that you can use photo software while you are in the store to take picture of your potential stash and convert it to B&W which will let you know if the colors will play well together in the finished object. I heard about doing this from quilters, but it works great for people interested in color work knitting and all the stitching arts where you don't have a preset color palette.
I'm currently watching the New Girl and winding my floss onto bobbins, it is quite the relaxing way to spend the evening.
My spinning is also going well. I started spinning Angel after finishing up yesterday's post and I'm already more than halfway into the first 100g bag (which I'm trying to spin all onto one bobbin, so far so good) and her fleece is absolutely beautiful. There is a bit of VM in the roving, but to me its a great reminder of where fluff comes from, animals.
I'm not going to be able to make it to the Rosseau Market this coming friday, but Carla will be there so I may have to get her to get me more of this roving, there was one sheep who I didn't get any from, and I may have to get it because it is such a joy to spin this fluff.
So my dropcloth goodies are getting mailed out this week so I should have them just in time for the busiest day of the year at work, so hopefully I can get stitch on it on my well deserved long weekend following that event.