She Was Twisted

This yarn is on its way now to become hair on a handmade Waldorf doll. Pretty cool. I blended the wool on my drum carder and spun it corespun over a thin wool binder. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I will post a link once Theresa has a chance to make the doll.

I thought I would use up some of my handspun yarn that has been sitting around for awhile waiting for projects. So I knit up some simple fingerless gloves.

The yarn is called “Parade” and it is 72 yards of bulky Merino/Falkland wool, that I spun into a self-striping yarn and plied with an acrylic thread. I BARELY made it with the yardage, so next time I will make sure to have more yarn before I start. I followed the pattern in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns (Interweave). (I can not tell you how much I adore this book!)

But I think they are quite pretty. Very soft and squishy too!

I’ve created the most ugly yarn of all times. …or is it?

Just for the heck of it, I spun a yarn that I usually make fun of when I see it at the store. I call it “used” yarn. Many people adore the look. Me? Yuck. It reminds me of an old sweater that has been wash way to many times, and is covered in pills and felted fibers. I see these horrish yarns knitted into big bulky scarves, and still, my reaction is not a pleasant one. The term “old hag” comes to mind.

So of course, I had to try to spin one of my own!

I started with raw locks from a Merino Columbia fleece that I’m still deciding if I like. When it was in the grease, it seemed like it had so much potential. Then I washed it, and, well…it got scratchy. Very weird. So anyway, I  solar dyed the locks in canning jars into basic color of cools and warms. Then I teased the heck out of the wool by hand, mixed up all the warm colors and put it into a grab bag. After seeing the colors together, I decided there need to be a “pop” of contrast, so I found some lovely purple mohair locks that I dyed ages ago. I teased these lightly and kept them in a separate pile to add when I pleased.

I spun up the ratty mess into a super bulky yarn, all messy and uneven. I added locks of mohair here and there. The result? Nah. O.K. but not great. The colors are dull and and dreary. The texture is “used” and haggered. So what do I do? I plied it with a cherry read yarn thinking that it would liven up those sad colors. Nope! Not the case. I actually think I liked it much better without the ply, darnit.

So here is my finished yarn. ewww?

Just for fun, I’m going to knit it up. Just to see. Maybe seeing it in stitches will help.

More to come.

I almost forgot to post that I updated the shop the other day with new Handspun Yarn goodies. Here’s a sample preview:

(click on any photo to be taken to the Handspun Yarn page.)

Yummy! All are family-friendly and potty trained. Go have yourself a gander.

I’ve been a very bad blogger and I haven’t updated in a long, long time. I blame it on the holidays. It’s been busy, busy for the past 3 weeks, as I am sure it is for everyone this time of year.

But….now we can get back to the grind. Spinning and knitting! Yay!

So let’s start with my new obsession. FINE spinning.

I usually get frustrated with spinning fine because it takes forever and I usually end up fighting with the fiber and throwing it across the room. Well, I decided to give it another go. And it was great!

So here is the roving. It is Faux Cashmere roving (nylon) that I dyed with Lanaset Dyes in the microwave. Purtee. I’m going to call this fiber Faux Silk from now on. To me, it is not like cashmere at all, but everything like silk. Sue me.

I started by dividing it up into super, super thin strips so I wouldn’t have much drafting to do. I figured that would be a good way to get my hands into the groove. Since the fibers are so fine and long, I found that you have to keep your hands firm on the fiber and never, NEVER let the twist come anywhere near the drafting triangle. (Just like when spinning silk.) If it does, the whole thing will get choked up and it won’t draft at all.

LOOK! Oh my, it’s so fine! Weeeee.

The more I spun, the more confident I got, and was able to start spinning thicker pieces of roving. Still split pretty thin, I’d say like finger width. And much to my utter surprise, I LIKED IT.

So here is my bobbin filling up with singles….

And here it is plied on the bobbin. Doesn’t all the color mixing look nice? I just love how rainbow or handpainted rovings spin up. You never get bored with the color variations.

And the final product. (This pic was taken in natural light, so it is a better representation of the true colors.) I ended up with a fine, sock-weight 2-ply yarn. Yippie! I’m so proud of myself! Since then, I’ve spun one more Faux cashmere and 2 Merino yarns. The Merino did not come out as thin because it likes to pop out of itself when plied and the twist is set. Sneaky.

I’ve got another Merino ready to spin that I will start tonight most likely. It does take a long time to spin fine and 2-ply, but the results are worth it!

I thought I would give you a sneak peek of 3 of the handspun yarns that will be added to the store sometime later this week. (I’m hoping)

Oooh, la la!

Although both of these are already sold at my store (sorry) I thought I would post some of my new creations.

First up, is Organically Grown.

Then comes Earth Flower.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with silk flowers. I’ve always wanted to try adding them to my yarn, but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. The yarn with the yellow flowers is my favorite-ist of them all. I just wish I had put aside more fiber for it to amount to more yardage. (I only got 46 yards – bummer.) I’ve got a bunch more small flowers that I’ll play with next.

I think I’m finally getting back into my groove with Yarn Rescue. I’m starting to feel creative again, and I’m always thinking of what could be my next yarn. This is good. I’ve been in such a slump for the past 6 months. Not sure what my problem was – well actually I DO know, just I’ll save it for another post.