Dyed Locks

I'm prepping some raw Merino cross fleece for spinning. These locks are not as soft and smooshy as pure Merino, but they have considerable lustre! I'm working out a new colour work pattern for mittens and need several colors.

Into the dye pots (well mason jars, actually) to get two shades of pink, some green, orangey yellow and orange.



These are the same dark pink locks from the first photo, I've separated them and will flick the tips open before I spin them.



The green is actually from a Merino fleece - it's just a small sample. The bulk of the yarn for this particular project will be green and I love how this Merino fleece feels! I wasn't sure how best to obtain the precise green I wanted - hence the sampling.



Here's a few one yard 3ply samples that I spun from various blends of dyed fleece and undyed fleece. My fav is the one second from the left.

I'll also need light brown (sampled above), black and white. The black will be from some Shetland fleece I've recently washed and the white from some Merino lamb leftover from this dyeing project with B.

Incidently, all this fun is for Episode 3 of Project Spinway...

Project Spinway - Challenge 1

If you're familiar with Project Runway, you might understand the Spin-a-long I'm part of better than me. I've watched part of one episode.

Over in Natchwoolie's Ravelry Group, she's running a Project Spinway competition. Should be loads of fun and a good way to spin up some stash.

Challenge 1 is Surprise Stash Down with a Purpose. Go here for more details.

(I have no idea why this pic is rotated)

I was going to wait for my kids to wake up so they could do a blind grab from my stash for me, but I wanted to start right away. After setting aside a few special bags of fluff that are earmarked for other things, I numbered all my bags that had about 4oz in them and used a random number generator to pick two.



And here are the two bags that correspond to the randomly generated numbers.



A 4oz bag of raw Romney (Multi Romney Darks)from Natchwoolie's Sushi Club and approximately 4oz of Newfoundland Dog fur from Bruno.

Should be exciting! Even though I don't know yet what I'm going to do with these two.

Watching Fluff Dry

B's fluff has been dry for a few days, but I only just found time to photograph it. We're both very happy with how it looks. But now we have to decide how to prep it for spinning.



My plan is to blend it like I did for my Peacock yarn, but the fluff I used for that was already either drumcarded into a mini batt, or pulled into top. We've got fluffy clouds of farm fresh merino lamb and I'm not sure what to do to make it mix together. I tried using my hand cards on a bit of it and don't think it's going to work to blend it like I did with the Peacock Spindies fluff.

Maybe I'll have to find someone with a drumcarder to help me.

Purple Fluff

B wanted to dye roving or carded fiber instead of yarn. Which is a good thing, since that's all I had in colors that would take dye well!

For her first attempt, she wanted to dye 8 different blues and purples to blend with a teensy bit of natural black and white.

Yesterday, while getting my Purples in order, I also washed up 4oz of Merino Lamb Fleece from Natchwoolie's Sushi club. This club is so much fun. There is something about knitting with yarn that started out as raw sheepy smelling fiber that gives me a thrill!

So today, the Merino Lamb was ready for her to dye. She used my kitchen scale to weigh 10g balls of fleece and placed them into 1L jars with water and vinegar. Then we calculated how much of red and blue each jar would need to obtain the colors she wanted.

We placed the jars in a 200 degree oven for about an hour, then placed them on the kitchen counter to cool. The water was completely clear, and the fleece took up the color beautifully.

Once the fleece is dry, I'm supposed to prep it like I did for the Peacock Spindies Yarn and spin it for her. I'm thinking a thick single, to preserve the softness of the merino. I might make it into mittens for her, but she's still somewhat wool resistant, so the final judgement will be in if she finds them itchy once knitted up.

Knotty Gloves

My poor sad, neglected blog...

I've been spinning this summer, but not so much knitting. But with the kids heading back to school, I start thinking about fall. And then thinking about winter and Christmas gifts and cold weather. And that almost always cures the knitting funk!



So today I cast on for Knotty. I'm using the East Friesian lamb I spun up this summer and I'm still just as in love with it as I was when it arrived in it's raw sheepy state. It is such a lovely smooshy yarn. I'm hoping the 80g I've got will be enough for these gloves. These will be a Christmas gift for someone who always appreciates handmade goods. The fact that these come from raw fleece to finished product will not be lost on this someone!

Soft, Fluffy Clouds

I started carding the East Friesian last night and it is oh so soft and bouncy.


The little bowls show approximately equal amount of fiber: one washed and dried, the other also carded!


And here's all 80g carded and ready to spin. It really fills up the same blue basket the raw fiber was sitting in in the previous post.

Sushi Club - East Friesian Lamb

My July installment of Natchwoolie's Sushi Club arrived today. Absolutely gorgeous bouncy, soft, creamy white East Friesian lamb's fleece!



As usual, dog and cats had to have a sniff of the sheepy goodness enclosed in the ziploc bag! And again as usual, the kids groaned at the farm fresh scent!



It looked like so much fun, I gave it its bath immediatly! And it has already fluffed up so much. I can't wait until its dry and ready to spin.

Rambouillet Tweed

My back has been slowly on the mend since Monday.



I spun a wee bit Wednesday evening and finished up the Rambouillet singles. I plyed them yesterday and have about 120 yards of lovely soft tweedy worsted weight yarn.


My May shipment of the Sushi Club from Natchwoolie arrived on Monday too. Some darling Lincoln Lamb Locks. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but they are very soft with darling curls!

Look what I did today!

I finished carding the Sushi Club Rambouillet.


I will likely start spinning this during the hockey game tonight. I'll need something to take the edge off the excitement of the Habs endeavor to win against Sid the Kid. Go Habs, Go!

*****

Another in the "catching up" series...


I'm now at 15 repeats of the Print O' the Wave Shawl. It's just as fun as it was, but had sat idle for a bit until I picked it up again after finishing my Fountainhead Scarf.

Rambouillet Fines and SuperFines

My first shipment for the Sushi Club arrived a few weeks ago, and I just realized I neglected to take any photos of it in it's original sheepy goodness. The puppy could not get enough of the smell and the kids couldn't wait until I washed it - different perspectives!

Here's one raw lock, with a measuring device to indicate scale



The washed fluff, with some silk noil that I'm carding in for a tweedy effect. There are two little nests of carded fiber in the upper right corner with pale pink noil already carded in.

This is soft stuff with a lovely staple length. I could pet it forever!

New Purchase - treating myself for the year

I've been saving for a new wheel. Not that I don't love my very old second (maybe even third or fourth) hand Ashford Traditional, but it's only got one speed and I hear all these neat things about ratios and wheels with greaseless bearings and smooth pedal action that I really think would make my spinning more fun. Don't get me wrong, my dear Ashford Traditional, I love the dead spot you have at the top of your wheel that I makes me have to pedal quickly to keep you from stopping and that if I want to make a high twist yarn that I have to pedal like a hamster on speed in his exercise wheel. But a new wheel would be nice. However, I kind of blew a hole in my savings this past week by purchasing the Sushi Club from Natchwoolie. Why Sushi? Because it's raw fiber from the animals Brenda raises.



Here's the description from the Etsy listing

"Make It RAW" receive 4 ounces of a different color or type of raw fiber or fleece each month of the year. We raise all kinds of fiber bearers....alpacas, llamas, cotswold, shetland and merino sheep, angora goats and angora rabbits in many different colors so you never know what you might get. It will be lots of fun when you get your fluff.

This is for raw fiber right of the animal and is not scoured or washed.

I'm so excited! I need more fluff in my stash like an extra ear, but I can't wait for my first shipment to arrive! and the second... third... excitement all year!!!