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Saturday, April 30, 2011

more yarn!

I've been spinning like a crazy person.  I seriously need to stop and move on! But not quite yet... got a few things lined up first!

This is this week's additions, minus one, which is still on the bobbin.  Plied it tonight!

wool alpaca mohair silk yarn
Awool alpaca mohair silk yarn, blue and green, 55g

The silk is from hankies from Lone Tree Wools, the alpaca I bought at a Black Sheep guild sale, and the wool/mohair blend that is the third ply came from a Spinner's Flock sale.

wool silk alpaca
wool, silk, alpaca - 50g

The grey alpaca came from Spinning Loft, the wool was drum carded by me, and then made into psuedo rolags, the silk is the same as above.  I should have taken a picture of the batt, it was pretty! It's light blue and lavender, with hints of other things.

raspberry, orange, and yellow
raspberry, orange, and yellow wool yarn, 75g, self striping

All this came from Spinner's Flock.  I blended an orange roving with peach, and yellow rovings, with hints of pink for the second ply (on the drum carder!), but the raspberry I ran with without altering.  It's a wonderful color!

The best and perhaps most troublesome aspect of the spinning guild is that people are there every meeting trying to sell you gorgeous roving. I swore off buying yarn and fabric, but I couldn't bring myself to forbid the purchase of the occasional roving. I mean, I can avoid the temptations of yarn and fabric, mostly, but roving is always around. And I know will power is not my strong suit....

On the topic of resolutions, I did mean to do some wool dyeing this month, but it didn't happen... And until I clean up my crafting space, it probably won't. That should be my goal for May, seriously. Order, organization!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

A digression into adorable

I am going to set up this post abruptly, so here goes: Hey. I have two kids. We have been invited to a super girly birthday party, and it requires tutus.

I found a cute and quick tutorial online, and off we go:

tutus!
tutus for two

tutu!
toddler tutu

The blue/green one was made pretty much following directions with the following color sequencing (blue green blue green blue gold).  The red and coral one is much more freeform (*cough* I mean Artistic!). I cut the pieces at an angle, and they are varying lengths. And put in a bit randomly. It's also got some gold, some glittery red.

An easy and fun project, though tulle is very static-prone and not the easiest thing to cut evenly.  Luckily, it doesn't really matter.

Friday, April 22, 2011

One more yarn

It's been a while, and I've been up to all sorts of things, but only one is ready to post!

wool silk yarn
presenting!

about 2 oz, two plies of a silk and wool roving (hot pink, green, purple, and white), one ply silk hankies of various colors.

This roving was one of my first purchases at my first fiber festival. These days, of course, I plan my vacations around fiber festivals, but once, I went to see friends instead. Then got them to take me to fiber festivals!

So, I've had this roving for years, and it was so gorgeous, I was afraid to spin it up. It was fear of the pretty roving/ugly yarn syndrome stopping me. But the time had come.

I didn't put a lot of thought into it, really, just let the colors fall where they may. I think it looks really neat, but the test, of course, is in the knitting! Which I've not really been in the mood for recently... It's beginning to look like I either need to start selling yarn, or getting more storage bins, here in my basement/studio.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cross section of a project – jellyfish pillow – part 4

part 3

It is beginning to look like it may not be a pillow after all, I've had some more ideas, but I can't just change the title. hmmm.

Here are the results of the final dye bath - a combination of blue, turquoise, and black.

just dark teal
dye on white - on left woodgrain effect, at right plain with wax dots

overdyed pleats
overdyed pleats: from left - blue, pink, purple
overdyed woodgrain effect
overdyed woodgrain effect: from left - pink, blue, purple

Friday, April 8, 2011

March spinning challenge - to eleven

So, I'm a bit late in putting this up, but you should be used to it by now... Turns out I completed my 10 yarns for March about an hour shy of midnight with an eleventh yarn.

50% superwash merino, 50% tencel
#8 - 50% superwash merino, 50% tencel, about 2 oz


targhee, tencel, sw merino
#9 - one ply targhee, one ply tencel/sw merino about 5.5 oz

merino
#10 - merino, about 4 oz, from pseudorolags*
scrap yarn
#11 - yarn made up of single ply leftovers, about 4 oz

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*psuedorolags were the focus of one of the articles in the most recent issue of Spin-Off. Basically, you take a fiber preparation where the fibers are already lined up and make them into small rolags with your hands.

I did it this way:

merino batt
1. take a batt


making pseudorolags
2. tear bits off and roll up

pseudorolags all together
3. step back and admire

And then spin!