I bought this merino/tencel blend at the NWRSA spinning conference in 2006.
I started spinning it at the Purlygirls retreat in April 2015.
I finished it this week.
That is slow.
10+ years to make 270 yards of yarn.
Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts
March 11, 2016
Slowest Yarn
You've heard of slow food, here's slow yarn.
I bought this merino/tencel blend at the NWRSA spinning conference in 2006.
I started spinning it at the Purlygirls retreat in April 2015.
I finished it this week.
That is slow.
10+ years to make 270 yards of yarn.
I bought this merino/tencel blend at the NWRSA spinning conference in 2006.
I started spinning it at the Purlygirls retreat in April 2015.
I finished it this week.
That is slow.
10+ years to make 270 yards of yarn.
April 1, 2015
A Fleece of a Different Color
At the Whidbey Weaver's Guild Spin-In this weekend Judith Mackenzie gave a talk about color. I got me thinking about some old fleece that had been sitting in my stash for a very long time (the sales slip in the bag says 2006). It's a small brown Corriedale fleece that I scoured when I first got and flick-carded, then set aside.
I'm always drawn to variegated fleece but when you spin them they're just light brown. I thought I'd experiment with adding some color. I put small bits of fleece in three jars, added a little Dawn dishsoap (just a drop), water, vinegar and a drizzle of dye. I choose Cherry, Violet and Cyan from my Mother Mackenzie dyes. I heated them in the microwave for a few minutes and let them sit until the water was clear.
I was immediately partial to the violet. It allowed more of the original color through and seemed to work well with it.
But you don't really know if a color is any good until you spin it. Since these were just little tufts of fiber, and I already have a project on my wheel, I pulled out a heavy old drop spindle that I never use and made a three mini skeins.
I still like the Violet the most. It shows off the variegation in the fiber really nicely, brightening the lighter bits.
This experiment revealed a new problem though. The fleece, which seemed well-scoured many years ago, now feels a bit sticky. I made an attempt last night to wash it again but there's still a residual stickiness. I should probably wash it all again, this time in much smaller batches, to get it really clean but what a drag. It might just go back in the fiber closet for another nine years...
I'm always drawn to variegated fleece but when you spin them they're just light brown. I thought I'd experiment with adding some color. I put small bits of fleece in three jars, added a little Dawn dishsoap (just a drop), water, vinegar and a drizzle of dye. I choose Cherry, Violet and Cyan from my Mother Mackenzie dyes. I heated them in the microwave for a few minutes and let them sit until the water was clear.
I was immediately partial to the violet. It allowed more of the original color through and seemed to work well with it.
But you don't really know if a color is any good until you spin it. Since these were just little tufts of fiber, and I already have a project on my wheel, I pulled out a heavy old drop spindle that I never use and made a three mini skeins.
I still like the Violet the most. It shows off the variegation in the fiber really nicely, brightening the lighter bits.
This experiment revealed a new problem though. The fleece, which seemed well-scoured many years ago, now feels a bit sticky. I made an attempt last night to wash it again but there's still a residual stickiness. I should probably wash it all again, this time in much smaller batches, to get it really clean but what a drag. It might just go back in the fiber closet for another nine years...
February 25, 2015
Busting the Fiber Stash Too
My obsession for using up all my little bits has extended to my spinning fiber. I used up the final bits of superfine merino and plied it with some corriedale cross that I bought about a decade ago. I spun the singles softly and on the thicker side and then slightly over-plied them. The spinning went so fast!
I've also been clearing out any bits left on bobbins. Just grabbing two or three and plying them together. These skeinlets are only 15-20 yards each. Most of the singles have been on bobbins for so long I don't even know what they are.
I've also been clearing out any bits left on bobbins. Just grabbing two or three and plying them together. These skeinlets are only 15-20 yards each. Most of the singles have been on bobbins for so long I don't even know what they are.
This is a 2-ply light fingering weight from left over singles from my first fleece. I used most of the singles to make a 3-ply and knit Linney last year. There's about 225 yards.
I still have a tiny bit of this corriedale on a bobbin but other than that all my storage bobbins are empty! Now I need to decide what to spin next. And what to make with all this yarn.
September 8, 2014
I Also Made Yarn
I recently inventoried my fiber stash and got it all on Ravelry. It is sobering, my friends, sobering indeed. In addition to coming to grips with the massive quantities of wool in my stash I also notice a zillion (slight exaggeration) little bits of fiber samples from classes, events, etc. I spun a few up this past week and plied them. When I ran out of one I grabbed a bobbin of some other driblet of singles in my bag of tiny bobbins with minute amounts of singles on them. I ended up with one these three skeins.
Nothing was labeled so I'm guessing here that the blue/green skein (the big one) is wool and wool/silk. The middle skein appears to have some bamboo. The skein on the left is just wool...maybe?
Nothing was labeled so I'm guessing here that the blue/green skein (the big one) is wool and wool/silk. The middle skein appears to have some bamboo. The skein on the left is just wool...maybe?
March 2, 2014
More Plying, More Dyeing
Once I emptied the majority of my bobbins I discovered 8 oz of Shetland/Merino singles sitting waiting to be plied too. Cross that off the list.
While at Madrona a friend was getting rid of some Knitpicks Palette in several shades of yellow. I offered to take it to use for charity hats. I thought I'd hold a few strands together. It then occurred to me that I could make a cabled yarn from them. I overspun them on my miniSpinner then plied them together.
Here's a rough idea of what I started with.
Plied together (and wet and photographed with my phone at night) it looked like this.
And finally overdyed and dried it looks like this.
I'm not a fan of yellow or orange but I still think this came out kind of nice. It reminds me of a Tequila Sunrise.
I also swatched the Corriedale from last week and have picked out a pattern for it. I'll be making Linney by Amy Christoffers. It's simple and uses a lot of yarn plus I already own the pattern. Perfect!
While at Madrona a friend was getting rid of some Knitpicks Palette in several shades of yellow. I offered to take it to use for charity hats. I thought I'd hold a few strands together. It then occurred to me that I could make a cabled yarn from them. I overspun them on my miniSpinner then plied them together.
Here's a rough idea of what I started with.
Plied together (and wet and photographed with my phone at night) it looked like this.
And finally overdyed and dried it looks like this.
I'm not a fan of yellow or orange but I still think this came out kind of nice. It reminds me of a Tequila Sunrise.
I also swatched the Corriedale from last week and have picked out a pattern for it. I'll be making Linney by Amy Christoffers. It's simple and uses a lot of yarn plus I already own the pattern. Perfect!
February 21, 2014
Plying and Dyeing
It's here. The Post-Madrona Glow. The period of the year when I want to make ALL THE THINGS!
I took a dyeing class with Judith MacKenzie on the first day. I took this class with her many years ago at Madrona and as it's always good to spend time with Judith. She had some rovings she had dyed that she called dogs. They were okay but the color didn't sing. She overdyed them in class with stunning results. I was reminded of something Heidi from The Artful Ewe told me the first time we met. She said she always dyes everything at least twice. Otherwise, she warned, you get "clown hair."
I also returned from Madrona with a bag of Knitpicks Palette in three shades of yellow. My least favorite color and so much of it! I thought I'd just hold several strands together for charity hats. Then inspiration struck. I would make a cabled yarn from them. And then I would overdye it. I pulled out my spinning stuff on Monday when I got home from knitting and realized that I don't have any free bobbins because I have had the same spinning project in the works for over four years. Four years. Four. It's insanity. One of the few resolutions I made for 2014 was that I would ply this yarn at long last. I finished spinning the singles a year ago and they have sat, hogging my bobbins and my spinning mojo. So the 2014 ply-a-thon began. Three days later it was over and I now have 2000+ yards of questionably-spun, hand-dyed Corriedale from the first fleece I ever bought.
While I was working on that I dragged out a crockpot I bought years ago at a garage sale that I use for dyeing and fired it up. First victim was some roving I won at the Knitters Guild holiday party.
This is definitely the clown hair Heidi warned me about all those years ago. So I splashed some black and cyan over it and let it heat overnight. It's so much better now. This is a terrible photo but it's a deep murky green and much less eye-searing.
I took a dyeing class with Judith MacKenzie on the first day. I took this class with her many years ago at Madrona and as it's always good to spend time with Judith. She had some rovings she had dyed that she called dogs. They were okay but the color didn't sing. She overdyed them in class with stunning results. I was reminded of something Heidi from The Artful Ewe told me the first time we met. She said she always dyes everything at least twice. Otherwise, she warned, you get "clown hair."
I also returned from Madrona with a bag of Knitpicks Palette in three shades of yellow. My least favorite color and so much of it! I thought I'd just hold several strands together for charity hats. Then inspiration struck. I would make a cabled yarn from them. And then I would overdye it. I pulled out my spinning stuff on Monday when I got home from knitting and realized that I don't have any free bobbins because I have had the same spinning project in the works for over four years. Four years. Four. It's insanity. One of the few resolutions I made for 2014 was that I would ply this yarn at long last. I finished spinning the singles a year ago and they have sat, hogging my bobbins and my spinning mojo. So the 2014 ply-a-thon began. Three days later it was over and I now have 2000+ yards of questionably-spun, hand-dyed Corriedale from the first fleece I ever bought.
While I was working on that I dragged out a crockpot I bought years ago at a garage sale that I use for dyeing and fired it up. First victim was some roving I won at the Knitters Guild holiday party.
This is definitely the clown hair Heidi warned me about all those years ago. So I splashed some black and cyan over it and let it heat overnight. It's so much better now. This is a terrible photo but it's a deep murky green and much less eye-searing.
Then I really got going. I found all sorts of odd bits of things to ply to free up bobbins (almost entirely from spinning classes). Then I over-dyed those to make them less of a patchwork.
But so long as the dyepot was going why not throw in some more random lengths of roving I'd been given in various classes over the years. I think these are wool/silk and Corriedale.
And hey, what's this bag of cotton candy pink fluff? Who knows! But into the pot with you!
Once it dried I realized I had accidentally created the color of the year, Radiant Orchid.
Then last night I pulled out my drum carder and carded this pile up into batts! I haven't used that thing in years. But Clemes & Clemes had the booth opposite The Fiber Gallery at Madrona and I couldn't resist their batt lifter and storage set.
So this is all to say, I may not finish my Ravellenic Games project.
May 10, 2011
Another Obesession Comes to a Close
I finished! I finished spinning and plying the filthy alpaca. I've washed it several times and I still think it's fairly dirty but it's improving.
That's 660 yards of sport-ish weight alpaca.
I also now seemed to be obsessed with sweaters. I've started Idylwylde with the Seattle Knitters Guild Hazel Knits colorway in Artisan Sock.
I'm chugging along on Lavaliere for the Purlygirls' Cecily Glowik MacDonald knitalong.*
I'm using Road to China Light and it is delicious. You know how you shop for yarn for a project and you find yourself thinking, "I could save $20 if I used this nice but fairly nondescript yarn." Well, I say, at least every once in a while, don't! This yarn is heavenly. It's soft, silky, fuzzy and lovely and the color is amazing. Treat yourself. You will be happy.
I snapped up a few yarns at the Fiber Gallery's annual sale before they were discontinued and gone forever.
This is Noro Retro in two shades of grey. I have a plan for a stripey, top-down sweater.
This is O-Wool Classic. It's still being made but this is the old put-up from Vermont Organics. It was a bargain and I've always wanted a sweater in it. And, you know, it's green.
*We do this a lot. We did a casual KAL for Aidez. We've done them for sock patterns. It's a lot of fun to see what everyone does.
That's 660 yards of sport-ish weight alpaca.
I also now seemed to be obsessed with sweaters. I've started Idylwylde with the Seattle Knitters Guild Hazel Knits colorway in Artisan Sock.
I'm chugging along on Lavaliere for the Purlygirls' Cecily Glowik MacDonald knitalong.*
I'm using Road to China Light and it is delicious. You know how you shop for yarn for a project and you find yourself thinking, "I could save $20 if I used this nice but fairly nondescript yarn." Well, I say, at least every once in a while, don't! This yarn is heavenly. It's soft, silky, fuzzy and lovely and the color is amazing. Treat yourself. You will be happy.
I snapped up a few yarns at the Fiber Gallery's annual sale before they were discontinued and gone forever.
This is Noro Retro in two shades of grey. I have a plan for a stripey, top-down sweater.
This is O-Wool Classic. It's still being made but this is the old put-up from Vermont Organics. It was a bargain and I've always wanted a sweater in it. And, you know, it's green.
*We do this a lot. We did a casual KAL for Aidez. We've done them for sock patterns. It's a lot of fun to see what everyone does.
April 25, 2011
The Benefits of Monogamy
I'm finishing the final edge of my tenth and final mitered cross. There is still a lot of joining, half-squares and edging to do so I'm not close to the finish line yet but I've got the bulk of the project done.
I also spent six hours spinning the filthy alpaca (it's all processed now). I have a few more hours of spinning to go then plying then figuring out if I can ever really get it clean. But having a single focus is really paying off.
April 17, 2011
Obsessed I Tell You
I can't leave that filthy alpaca alone. I've been spending hours combing it by hand into little cloud-like coils.
In fact yesterday I went to an all-day spin-in. I spent six hours spinning it. Even after washing (multiple times), carding and combing, this is what it did to my hands.
Say it with me, "Ewwwwww."
It's gross, right? But I keep going back to it. Yesterday I carded the rest on my drum carder and still only got about half of it combed.
You may be wondering why I'm carding and combing this beast. The locks are really clumped up with dirt. When I just comb it it takes a huge amount of time and energy and I end up throwing away a lot of fiber. Carding it first kind of breaks it up and makes the combing much easier and more productive. I can't just card it either because of the amount of veg in it. If I just carded it all the hay and grass would just get mushed up and mixed in with the fiber. I want to get as much out as possible.
I'm going to try to take a little break from it tonight. But it keeps pulling me back in!
In fact yesterday I went to an all-day spin-in. I spent six hours spinning it. Even after washing (multiple times), carding and combing, this is what it did to my hands.
Say it with me, "Ewwwwww."
It's gross, right? But I keep going back to it. Yesterday I carded the rest on my drum carder and still only got about half of it combed.
You may be wondering why I'm carding and combing this beast. The locks are really clumped up with dirt. When I just comb it it takes a huge amount of time and energy and I end up throwing away a lot of fiber. Carding it first kind of breaks it up and makes the combing much easier and more productive. I can't just card it either because of the amount of veg in it. If I just carded it all the hay and grass would just get mushed up and mixed in with the fiber. I want to get as much out as possible.
I'm going to try to take a little break from it tonight. But it keeps pulling me back in!
April 13, 2011
You Filthy Beast
A few weeks ago I was dyeing this skein of yarn. I realized I had a lot of extra dye in the pot and ran to my fiber stash to find something else to throw in there. I found a bag of what appeared to be relatively clean, soft alpaca. I didn't remember where it came from but I put it in a lingerie bag and started soaking it before dyeing. People, the unspeakable quantity of filth that came off this fiber and the amazing amounts of hay, grass and God knows what else...it was amazing. I washed it several times. I dyed it. I washed it several more times. The rinse water was still brown. Disgusting. And the vegetation was all still there. I decided to comb some of it to try to get out the veg. (Carding just mixes it in.)I combed a bit. Huge quantities of dirt and veg came out. I spun a bit. It turned my fingers black.
At this point a normal person would think, "Hey, this is just a small bag of free alpaca someone gave to me. I can just compost it and call it a day." But I can't stop. I spent all last night combing bits of it and spinning it. The fiber ended up a soft blue-green.
It's spinning up into a sage-y gray. I can't stop. Last night I also dyed the rest of it but a much more vivid yellow-blue-green. In the end I might get 4 oz of yarn from this. But I can't stop myself. Last night I would spin a little, wash my hands and call it done. Then drift back over to the pile of fiber and start sorting it again, picking out the yuck, spinning more. There was a lot of hand washing. This sucker is still disgusting.
My other obsession is still continuing too.
At this point a normal person would think, "Hey, this is just a small bag of free alpaca someone gave to me. I can just compost it and call it a day." But I can't stop. I spent all last night combing bits of it and spinning it. The fiber ended up a soft blue-green.
It's spinning up into a sage-y gray. I can't stop. Last night I also dyed the rest of it but a much more vivid yellow-blue-green. In the end I might get 4 oz of yarn from this. But I can't stop myself. Last night I would spin a little, wash my hands and call it done. Then drift back over to the pile of fiber and start sorting it again, picking out the yuck, spinning more. There was a lot of hand washing. This sucker is still disgusting.
My other obsession is still continuing too.
January 18, 2011
About That Retreat...
I've been meaning to write about my spinning retreat since I got home but things got away from me. The retreat was for spinners using Hansen Crafts miniSpinners and was taught by spinning guru, Judith MacKenzie. It was a small retreat with only about a dozen or so participants. On the first night Judith gave us an overview of what we would be covering and got us to work spinning some Corriedale top. The next morning Kevin Hansen joined us and spoke to us at length about how to care for the spinners. He showed us how to replace the brake band, how to disassemble the Woolee Winder and changes to the wheels as he has worked on them. Most important to me, he explained that those of us with older spinners have a stiffer, heavier spring that attaches to the brake band. He gave me a lighter, softer replacement spring and whoa! It was like I had a whole new spinner. It became so responsive to finest adjustments. Which was great because Judith wanted us to work on diameter control beginning with spinning the finest 2-ply we could manage.
Then we were supposed to spin larger and larger making fine adjustments to our spinners.
Making big yarn is hard.
Judith demonstrated spinning some novelty yarns. This is 60/2 silk spun with dyed mohair (bottom), duck down (left) and duck feathers (top). These are Judith's samples.
She also showed us dyed silk carrier rods. They are silk waste from reeling silk. It is stiff and papery. You can pull it apart and then lightly draft it to spin. My sample here has a whole cocoon spun into it. I would never want to knit with this yarn but I think it would make an amazing weft yarn for weaving. It's really fast and fun to spin too. I was online looking for sources right after I got home.
We also spun up some bison with 3% Merino that I adored. I bought a few ounces to take home.
The retreat was really wonderful. The B&B where we stayed was very nice and the innkeepers took great care of us. Other than the four hour trip home from Forks in the dark and snow and ice it was perfect.
Then we were supposed to spin larger and larger making fine adjustments to our spinners.
Making big yarn is hard.
Judith demonstrated spinning some novelty yarns. This is 60/2 silk spun with dyed mohair (bottom), duck down (left) and duck feathers (top). These are Judith's samples.
She also showed us dyed silk carrier rods. They are silk waste from reeling silk. It is stiff and papery. You can pull it apart and then lightly draft it to spin. My sample here has a whole cocoon spun into it. I would never want to knit with this yarn but I think it would make an amazing weft yarn for weaving. It's really fast and fun to spin too. I was online looking for sources right after I got home.
We also spun up some bison with 3% Merino that I adored. I bought a few ounces to take home.
The retreat was really wonderful. The B&B where we stayed was very nice and the innkeepers took great care of us. Other than the four hour trip home from Forks in the dark and snow and ice it was perfect.
October 29, 2010
It's So Fluffy!
The Purlygirls are having a capealong. (Erin explains why here.) I am making the Retro Cape in some handspun merino/angora from four years ago. As I knit with it the same thing keeps running through my head.
July 4, 2010
Tour de Fleece Thus Far
Day 1
Finished spinning Suri/BFL that I started months ago.
Day 2
Plied it. It's a 2-ply heavy laceweight. I lost count when winding it onto my niddy noddy so I'm not sure yet what the yardage is. I think I want to overdye it.
Finished spinning Suri/BFL that I started months ago.
Day 2
Plied it. It's a 2-ply heavy laceweight. I lost count when winding it onto my niddy noddy so I'm not sure yet what the yardage is. I think I want to overdye it.
February 16, 2010
Spinning for Sanity
So my arm is still really hurting. I went to knitting last night and tried to take it easy. I came home early. We all wanted to watch some Olympics coverage but I could not cope with just sitting in front of the TV doing nothing. Honestly, how do non-knitters do that? So I had Wes help me bring my wheel upstairs and did some long-draw spinning. It didn't hurt my arm and I spun 7 oz of mystery wool/mohair/whatever from Dawn's Custom Carding. I had it all plied before bed.
I tried to follow Judith MacKenzie McCuin's advice for worsted--under-spin the singles and over-ply it. This yarn came out fairly dense though since I was spinning more for sanity than for style.
I tried to follow Judith MacKenzie McCuin's advice for worsted--under-spin the singles and over-ply it. This yarn came out fairly dense though since I was spinning more for sanity than for style.
January 3, 2010
2010
The new year has been pretty busy so far. We celebrated a quiet New Year's Eve at home with the boys. They got to stay up late to see the fireworks which makes them feel very mature. On New Year's Day we had a brunch at our house with a few friends. It was a really nice way to ease into the new year. On Saturday I went to the St. Distaff Day spin-in hosted by the Northwest Regional Spinner's Association. There was a very big crowd with lots of great vendors. I spent a lot of time spinning and catching up with people. It was very relaxing. I can't believe the kids are going back to school tomorrow. And I am heading back to work.
I've been working on Bitterroot for the the 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge. It flows along so nicely. Not quite mindless but still very simple to knit. The yarn is from Butternut Woolens, one of the skeins Shelly sent to me. It's wonderful and I think very well suited to the pattern. I also picked up some beads at the spin-in that I hope will work well with the shawl.
I hope your 2010 has been treating you well so far.
I've been working on Bitterroot for the the 10 Shawls in 2010 challenge. It flows along so nicely. Not quite mindless but still very simple to knit. The yarn is from Butternut Woolens, one of the skeins Shelly sent to me. It's wonderful and I think very well suited to the pattern. I also picked up some beads at the spin-in that I hope will work well with the shawl.
I hope your 2010 has been treating you well so far.
October 16, 2009
Hues
I couldn't help but start spinning the fiber I dyed.
Camera phone photo, sorry.
It's great, easy spinning and I love the blue/green color.
Earlier this week I went to a talk by Kathy Hattori of Earthhues at Theo Chocolates.
Another rotten photo from my phone.
She brought this wonderful worsted-weight wool in 18 colors dyed from 3 dyepots. She explained her process and gave lots on info on some of the main natural dyestuffs they source. It was very interesting and I wanted to gobble up all this yarn!
Camera phone photo, sorry.
It's great, easy spinning and I love the blue/green color.
Earlier this week I went to a talk by Kathy Hattori of Earthhues at Theo Chocolates.
Another rotten photo from my phone.
She brought this wonderful worsted-weight wool in 18 colors dyed from 3 dyepots. She explained her process and gave lots on info on some of the main natural dyestuffs they source. It was very interesting and I wanted to gobble up all this yarn!
October 14, 2009
I Missed You
Ever since Saturday's spin in I've been really excited about my spinning again. I finished spinning the singles of this 4 oz. camel/merino and plied it on Monday. I intentionally put a lot of extra twist in the plying. I think I went a little too far and may run it back through my wheel to take some twist back out.
I started spinning this wool (with just a smidge of silk) on Saturday. It's a 6 oz. batt from Dawn's Custom Carding. I spun it up really quickly using a long draw. Then I plied it really tightly. I love the fluffy but tightly twisted yarn it produced and the tweediness the bits of white silk add.
Since I was on a roll with plying I pulled out two bobbins of down fibers I had spun as class samples for two different classes with Judith Mackenzie-McCuin. One was a year or two ago at the Whidbey Weaver's Guild spin in and the other was from Sock Summit. I plied them together. The thickness of the singles is all over the place but I think it's a fun yarn. I also plied this one a bit too much and will most likely remove a bit of that ply twist. I still have a big bag of sample fibers from these classes to spin up. There's cashmere, yak, bison, camel and a variety of blends using those fibers in there.
And while I was emptying bobbins I made up these mini-skeins of leftover bits from classes and whatever is left on the bobbin when you're done plying.
I have so many empty bobbins! I already started spinning a bit of the Corriedale I dyed last week. Oh, spinning, I missed you.
I started spinning this wool (with just a smidge of silk) on Saturday. It's a 6 oz. batt from Dawn's Custom Carding. I spun it up really quickly using a long draw. Then I plied it really tightly. I love the fluffy but tightly twisted yarn it produced and the tweediness the bits of white silk add.
Since I was on a roll with plying I pulled out two bobbins of down fibers I had spun as class samples for two different classes with Judith Mackenzie-McCuin. One was a year or two ago at the Whidbey Weaver's Guild spin in and the other was from Sock Summit. I plied them together. The thickness of the singles is all over the place but I think it's a fun yarn. I also plied this one a bit too much and will most likely remove a bit of that ply twist. I still have a big bag of sample fibers from these classes to spin up. There's cashmere, yak, bison, camel and a variety of blends using those fibers in there.
And while I was emptying bobbins I made up these mini-skeins of leftover bits from classes and whatever is left on the bobbin when you're done plying.
I have so many empty bobbins! I already started spinning a bit of the Corriedale I dyed last week. Oh, spinning, I missed you.
October 12, 2009
Mount Corriedale
I dyed my Corriedale on Friday. As always I worried I was using too much dye when I, in fact, I wasn't using quite enough.
It's not quite as light as it appears in this photo. The flash kind of washed it out. I did manage not to make a mess of the roving. It's still fluffy like a cloud. I can not wait to spin it.
Speaking of spinning, I went to an all day spin in on Saturday. I finally finished some camel/merino that I've been working on for months. I bought it years ago at Madrona and never spun it up because I thought I'd ruin it. I managed to keep the yarn pretty soft without being underspun but the diameter is all over the place. I chalk that up to spinning it over a period of months. It was such a pleasure to spend that time at my wheel. I really want to spend more time spinning.
It's not quite as light as it appears in this photo. The flash kind of washed it out. I did manage not to make a mess of the roving. It's still fluffy like a cloud. I can not wait to spin it.
Speaking of spinning, I went to an all day spin in on Saturday. I finally finished some camel/merino that I've been working on for months. I bought it years ago at Madrona and never spun it up because I thought I'd ruin it. I managed to keep the yarn pretty soft without being underspun but the diameter is all over the place. I chalk that up to spinning it over a period of months. It was such a pleasure to spend that time at my wheel. I really want to spend more time spinning.
June 7, 2009
Weekend Whirlwind
This weekend is scheduled practically down to the minute.
Friday night was spinning at the shop. I finished spinning singles from the "Batt of Beast" I've been working on on and off (mostly off) for nearly a year and a half. I think that's some sort of record for 2 oz. of fiber! I still need to ply.
Saturday we hosted a party at a local park. Older son is graduating from elementary school. He wanted to have one last hurrah with his gang of friends before the summer. A few friends won't be going to the same middle school so it's a bit of a goodbye too. He invited all his friends to come to the park for games and a potluck lunch. Ten 11 year old boys eat SO MUCH FOOD. There was a pizza, two plates of pot stickers, veggie wraps, crackers, cheese, meats, quesadillas, brownies, cupcakes, strawberries, grapes, watermelon. And there was not much left when it was all done. Older son wanted to bring something special so we made the Fruit Pizza from Clare Crespo's Secret Life of Food. It's the same book that the sushi cupcakes came from. I only have Wes's cameraphone picture of it. It's just a big shortbread cookie with a sweetened cream cheese mixture on top with strawberry jam around the edges, then sprinkled with fruit. It's really tasty, a bit like cheesecake but with a crisp, cookie crust.
After the party ended we hurried home to get ready for a friend's wedding. It was at the Olympic Sculpture Park. It's the perfect venue for a wedding. The space is gorgeous with a fantastic view, the catering was very good and the staff was very nice.
Now today we have Older son's cello lesson, then a simultaneous birthday party (Older son's classmate) and baby shower (knitting friend of mine) and then we all head to the Seattle Storm game with a group from Wes's work! I think I'm going to have a very hard time getting out of bed tomorrow.
I did finish the back of Georgie on Friday. I cast on for the fronts but have only gotten in a few rows of rib so far.
Friday night was spinning at the shop. I finished spinning singles from the "Batt of Beast" I've been working on on and off (mostly off) for nearly a year and a half. I think that's some sort of record for 2 oz. of fiber! I still need to ply.
Saturday we hosted a party at a local park. Older son is graduating from elementary school. He wanted to have one last hurrah with his gang of friends before the summer. A few friends won't be going to the same middle school so it's a bit of a goodbye too. He invited all his friends to come to the park for games and a potluck lunch. Ten 11 year old boys eat SO MUCH FOOD. There was a pizza, two plates of pot stickers, veggie wraps, crackers, cheese, meats, quesadillas, brownies, cupcakes, strawberries, grapes, watermelon. And there was not much left when it was all done. Older son wanted to bring something special so we made the Fruit Pizza from Clare Crespo's Secret Life of Food. It's the same book that the sushi cupcakes came from. I only have Wes's cameraphone picture of it. It's just a big shortbread cookie with a sweetened cream cheese mixture on top with strawberry jam around the edges, then sprinkled with fruit. It's really tasty, a bit like cheesecake but with a crisp, cookie crust.
After the party ended we hurried home to get ready for a friend's wedding. It was at the Olympic Sculpture Park. It's the perfect venue for a wedding. The space is gorgeous with a fantastic view, the catering was very good and the staff was very nice.
Now today we have Older son's cello lesson, then a simultaneous birthday party (Older son's classmate) and baby shower (knitting friend of mine) and then we all head to the Seattle Storm game with a group from Wes's work! I think I'm going to have a very hard time getting out of bed tomorrow.
I did finish the back of Georgie on Friday. I cast on for the fronts but have only gotten in a few rows of rib so far.
May 12, 2009
A Little Bit of Everything
I'm continuing to make slow progress on my GLMC. I still only work on it while at Purlygirls. I'm just a few rounds from starting the neck shaping.
Late on Sunday night I got to the armhole on the second sleeve of Lamour. I pulled out all the pieces and was preparing to join it all together when I realized that I was too fried and tired to think about it. But I still wanted to knit and made a rash decision to just knit the top of the front and back flat. So I'm working my way up the back.
I'm getting a little nervous about running out of yarn. I think I will make it but it's going to be close.
I've started a Babette blanket. I have 30(!) skeins of Rowan All Seasons Cotton that I've been collecting for a sampler afghan for years. Yesterday I bought a crochet hook and started a few blocks.
I'm quite sure I'm doing something not exactly right at the end of the rounds. I'm not sure I care all that much. They look all right.
I've been spinning a tiny bit too. I bought this "Batt of Beast" from The Artful Ewe two years ago. I started spinning it about a year and a half ago. It gave me a lot of trouble when I first tried to spin it. I spoke with Heidi about it and she suggested just blending it all up as much as I could before spinning. I've been tearing the batt into strips, rolling the strips up, pulling out a roving from the end of the roll, tearing the roving into short lengths and spinning from the fold. It makes a huge difference and the spinning has been much easier.
Just a little more to go. Look at all that cashmere. Yum.
Late on Sunday night I got to the armhole on the second sleeve of Lamour. I pulled out all the pieces and was preparing to join it all together when I realized that I was too fried and tired to think about it. But I still wanted to knit and made a rash decision to just knit the top of the front and back flat. So I'm working my way up the back.
I'm getting a little nervous about running out of yarn. I think I will make it but it's going to be close.
I've started a Babette blanket. I have 30(!) skeins of Rowan All Seasons Cotton that I've been collecting for a sampler afghan for years. Yesterday I bought a crochet hook and started a few blocks.
I'm quite sure I'm doing something not exactly right at the end of the rounds. I'm not sure I care all that much. They look all right.
I've been spinning a tiny bit too. I bought this "Batt of Beast" from The Artful Ewe two years ago. I started spinning it about a year and a half ago. It gave me a lot of trouble when I first tried to spin it. I spoke with Heidi about it and she suggested just blending it all up as much as I could before spinning. I've been tearing the batt into strips, rolling the strips up, pulling out a roving from the end of the roll, tearing the roving into short lengths and spinning from the fold. It makes a huge difference and the spinning has been much easier.
Just a little more to go. Look at all that cashmere. Yum.
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