Which-Crafts?

Yesterday I finally got to dye up the lost/found fiber to match the old batch that I dyed back in october. I decided that since I had hoped the last batch was darker that I would aim for the same colors only more intense. I got fabukous results colorwise. (I would post pictures, but I accidently drowned my camera with a horrific water-bottle/purse incident earlier in the week)

I used jaquard dyes and used the powdered dye to water ratios in the Twisted Sister book - but for the sky blue and turquoise I used the recipe for 2xstrong color stocks and diluted them one to one stock to water&vinegar. For the sun yellow and black I used regular strength stocks with the same one to one dilution. The colors are beautifully intense and deep.

The only problem is the roving turned out much more felted this time, and there will be no way to get around carding it all before I spin it. So I have spilt the old dye batch and the new dye batch up into equal 5 foot sections and will pair them up dark to light and card them together for a good distribution of the colors.

I hope my camera drys out in a few days and then I may be able to post some pictures.

There I was, we had just finished a HUGE project at work and I was baked, burned out and tired but desperately wanting to see my friends. We were supposed to go over to a friends house and play games with a bunch of other friends, but I couldn’t figure out how I could think enough to play any of the games. I thought about going and knitting, but all of the projects I am working on now are on tiny needles and I don’t find tiny needles very relaxing and none of the projects are complete no-brainers. (I know Whine, Whine, Whine—wait for it there is a happy ending coming shortly)

I was sort of wandering aimlessly around the house, trying to decide if we should go or not, and what I could bring with if we went. Wandering to the stash, I realized that I mostly wanted to curl up in a pile of Grafton poofs and revel in their softness—and then I realized I could just take them and my fairly portable spinning wheel and setup in a corner do something relaxing and comforting and STILL get to socialize. It ended up that there was more than one of us who was in the same mood, so we setup a craft corner and all hung out and knit/spun/beaded/needlepointed/crocheted and relaxed while still getting a chance hang out and be social with all of the game players.
I was apparently in the perfect state of mind to spin a nice fuzzy lofty yarn, which the Grafton bats are excellent for. I had two bats that weren’t quite the same color intensity but were clearly mixed in the same batch. So I stripped each one into thick strips and then tried to even the colors out a bit. It sort of seemed to spin itself, spun on the middle ratio on my Lendrum and then plied on the loosest. The yarn is a nice worsted weight and is very soft and I really like the way the colors spread themselves out from the bat.

One thing that has become very clear is that I need a large Niddy-Noddy. The “sample” size one I bought when I was just starting, was perfect for the quantities of yarn that came off the drop spindle. Now that I have a wheel it the little guy is getting overwhelmed, and the thick short skein that comes off of the little niddy-noddy takes a *long* time to dry when I am washing and setting the twist.

More images of the yarn below the cut:

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I know some of my readers and friends are interested in spinning (especially spindle spinning) and this guy has some *great* advice for newbies.

Knitter Guy on
Spinning pt 1 and pt2

At the end of October I posted about my experiments with dying fiber. What I didn’t mention what that I was *sure* that I had quite a bit more BFL for my Twisted Knitters project than I could find – I thought maybe my memory was playing tricks.  But then while digging through my stash the other day, I found it . . . a medium sized plastic bag, with probably a pound of BFL.  (I so need a scale for this hobby) I’d post a picture, but who really needs to see a clear plastic bag full of off white fuzz.
So now I need to try to dye this fiber to either match or at least blend with the previous batch.  (I am sure this will be easy HAH!) Especially because my scientific technique for dying the previous batch included free-form pouring the dyes across the fiber and crossing my fingers.  And the results weren’t exactly what I expected either.   I am thinking I might aim for it to be darker and then blending the two together, being that I had wished my original batch was both darker and more saturated.

I have been spinning quite a bit lately, and not knitting much - for more than one reason.

• I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get into a position of being pressured trying to get the socks knit for my mom (IOW I shouldn’t have offered), I hate the pressure and it makes me not want to do it.
• I have TOO many projects on the needles (plus more being planned in my head) and it makes me feel disorganized and it is hard to focus on a single project.
• The tiny sock needles on the projects I *should* be working on, hurt my hands when I use them too long, and in conjunction with all the extra hours I at work with my hand superglued to the mouse - I just am not out courting the hand pain and tendonitis.
• Spinning travels better than 2 socks at one time with 4 balls of yarn that are always twisted up. I can spin in the car with my drop spindle (and did all the way back from MN) and I proved last weekend that my spinning wheel is quite portable.
• Spinning has more of a zen quality for me. I can get started and once I get the feel for what I want to produce, it just flows and flows. No need to worry about the pattern or maintaining gauge or switching needles etc. Its all in the touch and plus the spinning feels all soft and cozy with all the fiber.

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*sigh* I hang my head in shame and plead too much work.  For a while now I have been working very long weeks, which does not mean I haven’t done any thing, it means that I just haven’t posted about it.  BUT COMING SOON! Posts about spinning - I have been a busy bee and have much spinning to do over the next few weeks for Christmakwanzukah ( I am just hoping that the fiber shows up with plenty of time).  If you are just *dying* to see the images before I post about them you can check them out at my photo gallery.

But I am aiming for a actual content post(s) by the end of the week including “frustrations with finding fiber”, “oops, was I supposed to dye *THAT*?”, “picked it up for a song”, and “oooooohhhhh soft”