This is some lovely merino/angora that I’ve just started spinning. I can’t do the longish draft I normally do since the fibers are quite short so this one’s going to take awhile as I’m much slower when I do a shorter style draft. It’s a good thing it’s such a pleasure to spin!
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Tagged Spinning
I ended up with about 700 yards of Falkland lace-weight from 4 ounces of roving. I think it’s time to try 3-ply sock yarn again soon!
It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve updated y’all on how my crafty world is going….
I’ve been focusing on spinning a bit, since I’ll be traveling in April for a conference and I know I won’t have a lot of spinning time so there’s no point bringing the wheel or spindles – I can knit during a workshop pretty unobtrusively, but spinning draws attention. And I knit on planes…so I know I’ll have knitting time, which is why I’m focusing on spinning.
Also the Ravelry group for Spunky Eclectic is doing a stashdown. I took a ton of pictures of the stash I want to spin down – mostly I want to spin down the stuff that is not appealing to spin, which is the white stuff I bought for dyeing, and some random stuff I bought to see how it spins (and sometimes it’s a combination of the two).
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Remember the BFL/silk that my friend Jenn gifted to me? If you don’t, here’s a reminder:
The colorway is called “Floating Down”. Well, I got a 460 yards of a 15 WPI yarn from 4 oz, which is pretty good yardage:
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As for the Color Me Pretty Sweater for my niece, it’s coming along. But it’s knitting, so I’m not really focusing on it. I did get some knitting on it done Friday night, during Tony’s gig. The sweater is full into the body now, and it’s stockinette in the round all the way for a few more inches. It will be good plane knitting. As for Tony’s gig – it was not his usual stuff, but if you want to hear all 45 minutes of awesomeness (Tony’s the one playing the piano), just download the link on this page. It’s 432 Mb so it might take a while. I hope you enjoy it!
I also worked a little more on a baby sweater for my co-worker. The baby has been here for a few weeks already! I’ll probably prioritize finishing this first, and then finishing the Color Me Pretty sweater. All this spinning is really driving home the fact that I need to knit up what I already have! It doesn’t help that I’m part of 2 spinning clubs, and get 12 oz of fiber each month. I’ll likely drop the batt club that I’m in, I’ve found that I prefer spinning top to batts….but I don’t hate spinning batts, either! I really love the yarn I get from the batts, though…mostly because I get a lot of sparkle in them. April’s shipment will be 6 months in the club…I may wait it out and do a year, who knows?
Weaving? None. But I signed up for a bi-monthly weaving club, that ships in the even months, so in 2 weeks I’ll have something to weave. Yeah, I should probably cancel my batt club, since I’m doing the weaving club.
I also spun up some mystery wool. It was white, and somewhat of a longwool, but not as coarse as Wensleydale. I want to say it’s Romney, because that’s what it feels like, but I can’t imagine when I had some white Romney around or bought some. I did have some shetland, but I recall it being more downy than what this is….anyway, there was only a little bit of it, 11g = 3/8 ounce, and I did a 2-ply and got 38 yards out of it. Then I dyed it apricot (who knew green + pink = apricot? Not me!) and it’s hanging to dry now.
I plied up the red yarn this week. It’s 20% nylon %80 superwash merino from MadColor. Unfortunately, this yarn really bleeds even after 2 washes in Synthrapol and a vinegar rinse as well. No color bled onto my hands as I worked with it so I think it’s safe to make a shawl or something wearable with it but I will have to remember to always wash it alone.
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Tagged DFW Fiber Fest, Knitting, Ravelry, Spinning, wool
I’ve been a busy bee this week. I also finished spinning the sea colored Falkland roving and it’s waiting patiently to be plied.
I have a long, full day ahead of me, so I started it out right. Brock made me this heaping plate of peppery scrambled eggs and bacon. I couldn’t eat it all, so the leftover bacon is in a baggy for a snack later.
I am visiting a farm out in the country with some fiber friends where they sell garden supplies–hopefully I can get a good deal on some seedlings since the hail we had yesterday morning destroyed some of mine. After that I have some Farmer’s Market planning to do. Then, best of all, it’s Open Stitch Night at the PFA!
If you’re in the area, come join us from 7-9 pm at Potwin Presbyterian Church in Topeka, KS. Bring your favorite fibery project. I’ll be there with my spinning wheel and some sparklies, and hopefully will have had something to eat besides bacon.
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Tagged bacon, eggs, firestar, Inspiration, open stitch night, paleo, pfa, polworth, Potwin Fiber Artisans, primal lifestyle, scrambled eggs, Spinning
I have been busy busy busy what with preparations for the farmer’s market and the spate of special orders I have had lately. While I have some fun blog posts brewing, today I thought I would share a bit of what I have been working on.
Some local Lincoln roving drying on the balcony
Some bulky singles hand spun from Falkland wool.
Another skein of hand spun. This thick n think yarn out of Corriedale cross.
What are you up to?
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Tagged corriedale, falkland, hand-spun yarn, In The Works, lincoln, singles, Spinning, thick n thin yarn, wool
I grabbed all the pictures I’ve taken in the past few weeks, so here’s a version of what’s going on with me, based on the pictures I have. I know I just updated y’all yesterday, but today’s post has lots of pictures!
In the “knitting while traveling” series, first off is how to knit on a plane when you have a pattern:
Then there’s my answer to “how do I block a scarf in a hotel room”?
Unfortunately it’s a bit too pointy for my tastes, and I do want to re-block it:
Exactly a month ago, on Saturday, February 18th, I finished a Flower Scarf. What’s special about this scarf is that this started out as one ounce of white cashmere roving. I spun it, dyed it (with food coloring) and knit the scarf.
Here is a close-up that shows the color a little better (although it’s a bit washed out):
I acquired a loom while I was in California 2 weeks ago, and I have finished my first piece – the warp is a simple black cotton for weaving, and the weft is Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. This has not yet been blocked:
And I jumped right in and started another project – the warp is mercerized cotton and the weft is Jil Eaton CottonTail:
Here’s a more detailed shot:
I have continued to work on my niece’s Color Me Pretty sweater. I have just gotten to the point where I slip the sleeve stitches off and start working on only the body. This is the magical part of a raglan for me, as it’s when the piece actually starts looking like a sweater:
The yarn is a dark purple solid color, I’m not sure why the photo shows a gradient-type color.
Yesterday was a day full of shopping, and I picked up a seam ripper to finish getting all the cashmere I could out of the thrift store sweater I started on last week. I got the rest of the sweater pulled out and Navajo-plied it. It’s resting on the bobbin now, but I did have a full bobbin from Wednesday, which I took off, measured, bathed, and put up to dry. It dried this morning, and it’s close to 600 yards of what looks like a sock-weight yarn (I haven’t measured WPI yet, but it’s 3.75 ounces, or 109 grams):
I have been spinning more of the Hello Yarn BFL/silk that I talked about yesterday. I also took pictures of the fiber – here’s the fiber as a bump:
I think the colors show better as a braid, though:
I’ve spun up almost half (2 ounces). I’m thinking I might do a 2×2 cable with this yarn, but I’m not 100% sure. I will have to sample. I worry that the colors will muddy, but I think as a cable it will be more heathered. I’ve just split the yarn lengthwise into 4 parts, so there’s no fancy fractal spinning going on or anything, but I’m sure I didn’t divide it exactly equally.
