More colour and exotic texture

I don't have time to type a great big post, but this is what I have done. 

This, turned into

This, which completed my exotic spin session. 

What I have made using a couple drop spindles, Nova Scotian hand dyed wool and some imported fibres, are these:

From left to right, Bfl (fleece artist), silk and camel; camel and bfl (fleece artist); cashmere and merino. 

Now, what to do with it!!

Alpaca wool blend done

I finally finished the project (I have more than one project on the go) I have been posting about. The result is quite lovely and soft. 2 skeins of 3 ply (Navajo) blue faced Leicester.  Both are 44g, one is 105m and one is 106m. This is exciting news because it means I was relatively consistent in the spinning of both skeins, even though they were spun several days apart. 

So, there you have it!  Now onto the next project!  

It's a merino camel blend that I am hand blending with hard carders. Hopefully I will have the same consistency in next project!

Cats plus fibre art equals....

It takes longer to get things done with cats around. Spinning, plying, knitting, crocheting - these are all things that put cats into a happy place. I was finishing up a project that was 75% for a long time. All I had to do was ply 2 singles. It took so long, because of this:

Yes I use chairs to wind my yarn from the spindle to a skein. The cats follow my every move. I don't have photos of what they do when I am plying, because I have no hands free!  Anyway, the end result is a 62g camel/wool blend. With a bit of trilobal nylon for some pizzazz!

One done, one to go, two done, eight to go

If you have been paying attention, you will know that I have been working on a wool/alpaca blend. The goal is 2 similar skeins of about 40g each. I finished the first one last night and here it is:

43g of Navajo plied almost worsted weight softness. The second will follow. 

While all this is going on, I am also on a knitting frenzy. I have a few hats to make, of a Dutch nature. I have 2 done and this one almost done. These will be mailed to my friends who have asked for one!  From far and wide. 

I made this pattern after watching the Olympics and with some fine tuning based on another pattern I think the result will be happily accepted by others!

Have a great day!

Part two to yesterday's post

So yesterday I explained that I am blending alpaca and bfl hand painted wool to make a 3 ply (the process I am using this te is called Navajo plying), colourful skein for making mittens. I am doing this with hand carders, spinning with a drop spindle, and plying with a larger drop spindle. Last night I took some photos of the blending

This is what the bfl looks like after I put it in the cards and add in some of the alpaca. I am not using a lot, because the wool is hand painted and I want to keep the progression of colour relatively intact. Otherwise, what is the point of getting a hand painted roving?  

Here is that same bit after 3 passes of the handcarders. As I comtinue to blend you will see that I have to keep the rolags in order off the cards. 

When I spin these I will get long colour progressions, which is perfect because I will be Navajo plying the singles when I am done. This means that instead of using 3 separate singles and plying those together, I basically make looooong loops like crochet, ply and repeat, with only one single. This is what the yarn is looking like   

This one should be done today. I'll keep you updated. 

This and that blending

I am putting together an experiment. Well, maybe not a complete experiment; I do know what is going to happen. The experiment is going to tell me if I like what I am doing. 

I like hand painted wool top or sliver to spin with. Usually I spin fractally, to create interesting patterns in the colour shifts of the yarn. Not this time. 

This is what my materials are for this one, I want to call neopolitan. 

I have my hand carders, a hand-painted sliver of blue faced Leicester, and some local alpaca. I have split the BFL in half lengthwise, and for each one I apply in order onto the hand carders, alternated with the alpaca. Then I card each section and place the rolags in order into baggies (they have to stay in order). I spun the rolags that I created with extra twist,  using my drop spindle. 

This is a shot of the first one all spun up, and me transferring the result to the paint roller foam thing. (I use these rollers while I ply the yarn because I don't have a lazy kate - paint roller works great!  I have used up to three at a time with no issues). I will be Navajo plying these, and making 2 similar looking skeins with about the same colour progressions. That is the experiment- can I get it close to being right? I would like for the result to be turned into mittens, so the two skeins will end up being 35-40oz each. I hope. 

I'll let you know how it goes for the next step, which is plying!

What lurks on the to-do list

Happy New Year! And Happy Valentine's Day. And Happy March Break!
Yep, I have been a slaaaacker at writing. I vowed to a friend that I would do a better job. To tell you the truth, I like to include photos with my blogs and winter is so dark here, and I only have oil lamps for light. I just am never satisfied with the results of my photos. So I don't write.

So You will have to use your imagination when I describe things without photos. Else, I will wait for a day off work to take nice sunlit photos of what I have been up to.

So, what if I share one story a week about fibre and spinning, and one of knitting. If anything else comes up outside of that, I will share it too.

I am currently kept busy making hats for people. It seems winter is not leaving us. The other half of my spare time is spent creating dance costumes for an upcoming competition. So there is lots of tulle in my life!

Tomorrow I will update you on my spinning activities. A little show and tell, of sorts?

Until then,

Sarah