Happy Valentine's Day

Plying

2-ply, wool single plied with silk single

It's been over a year now since I got my spinning wheel and I've spun quite a bit, but I still feel like an absolute beginner at times.  One step forward and another step back, and definitely learning something new all the time from my own experiences at the wheel and from other spinners.

One of the things I'm working on is my plying.  I've noticed that I'm not always consistent with the level of twist when plying, mostly with not putting in enough twist.

In any case, I like the effect of my latest spinning efforts involving plying wool singles with silk singles.

3-ply, wool singles plied silk single

Notice how the silk pops, almost like it's been spun with gold.

2-ply wool and silk blend

Compare the first two skeins with this last one where I spun and plied a wool/silk blend fiber.  There's an overall shimmer to the yarn rather than the silk standing out.  I find the differences fascinating and I like both results.

I also realized that there's more twist in this last skein.  Interesting, because I spun the first two skeins after this last one.   I'm going to keep at it.

The best of intentions

Buggin' Out sock

This time I planned ahead and gave myself a few weeks to knit a gift, a pair of socks.  Wouldn't you know it, I got through the heel turn on the first sock and realized I made the sock much too small.

BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight, Pining for Ewe

I had fallen in love with the sock by this time and couldn't possibly bring myself to frog it and start again in the bigger size.  So what was the logical thing to do?

Tesserae sock

Start another sock, of course!   By this time though, I was getting close to my deadline.

Wollmeise 100% Superwash Merino, Mitternacht

Fortunately I finished one sock so I had something to wrap instead of just a ball of yarn for the big day.  My needles are clicking away trying to finish the second sock so I can turn the pair over to the anxious recipient.


What's going to happen to the other pair of socks you ask?  Well,  miraculously, they fit me. Wasn't that convenient?

Sweet hearts

 

Fascinated by the yarn bombings we've seen online and on the streets, Cheeky Attitude and I  decided we'd do a little of our own.  But maybe not quite on the scale that the artist Olek favors.  

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, naturally we thought sweet little hearts scattered here and there would be quite nice on the day of love. 

Want to join us?  We've found that the pattern from Jackie Z Crafts knits up beautifully.

Surprises

100% Tussah Silk in Orange Crush

One of the most important things I've learned with my dyeing experiments is to welcome surprises, both good and bad.

It's not that I don't like what came out of the dye pot, because I absolutely love orange, it's that the color is not exactly what I had intended.  I expected more yellow than red, but apparently the red won out.  

I had envisioned some golden silk to blend in with the magenta/purpley/black fiber I was going to play around with on the drum carder.   It could still work out.  We'll see.  I love surprises.

Good things come in large packages

I can't even begin to describe how excited I was when the UPS man arrived this afternoon.  He brought a giant box containing a Strauch Finest single-wide drum carder.  I'd been eyeing this drum carder, but the cost of a new one wasn't in the budget.  Luckily, a few days ago I found a seller online who was willing to part with her nearly-new one in my price range.  What an angel!


What is a drum carder you ask?  Well, I had no clue myself until a few months ago.   If you don't know, it's a tool for making fiber batts for spinning.

Good thing this drum carder and I found each other because I was beginning to worry that I would have to card or comb a big bag full of dyed Polwarth fiber by hand.