Remaining Rambo

Finally got a scale and broke down the last of my "bale" of Rambouliet Fiber that I had purchased a while back.  I ended up with 9 balls of four ounce fiber.  The task of spinning it up doesn't look at daunting this way.  It is spinning up so nice.  Can't wait to see how much I end up with once I ply it.

Handspun Keyhole Scarf

 I was working on last minute knitted gifts for my mom and sister and forgot about this hand spun merino that I had purchased in Lancaster County, PA three years ago.  I loved the color way and immediately purchased it.  It was handspun on a 1.5 ounce spindle and it yielded a little under 200 yards of fingering weight yarn.  This was my first handspun gift for my mom and she loved it.  I still have some of this merino left over and can maybe do one more small project out of it; maybe a cup sleeve. 

Corriedale Fingerless Mitts

I purchased this corriedale fiber from the CT Sheep and Wool Festival.  After spinning and plying, I ended up with almost 200 yards of fingering yarn.  This was the perfect amount to make my sister these fingerless mittens for her birthday.  I used size one needles for a really dense knitted fabric.  These mittens were knit from the top down with a thumb gussett decrease.  It was very interesting to work them up this way and it went very quickly.  My sister loved her birthday present.

Creatively Dyed Bamboo

In the previous post, I had featured some bamboo/merino blend that I purchased from the Creatively Dyed booth at the 2011 New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York.  I really love the way the blues and unexpected greens popped up while I was spinning it up.  I navajo plied the yarn and came up with just under 200 yards.  I found this "Abstract Leaves Cowl" on ravelry.com for free.  The yarn is super soft and light.  It will look nice against my purple pea coat this winter.  The design of the pattern began with larger needles with the last two rounds of the pattern done in a smaller size needle for the graduated decrease effect.  This helps it hug the neck.  I will definitely be visiting the Creatively Dyed booth at Rhinebeck this October.

Bamboo Blend

My mantra at Rhinebeck 2011 was "Step out of your comfort zone."  I resisted all the colors I usually reach for like greens, browns and teals.  I found this pink, gray and black colorway from Creatively Dyed fiber in South Carolina.  Two years ago I had got some fiber from this vendor in a beautiful carmel colorway.  As I began to spin it up,  I saw that it also had some deep dark blue in it also. After navajo plying, I ended up with 142 yards of yarn.  I think it's a heavy fingering/sport weight.  I haven't measured the WPI.  I had meant to two ply it using the andean method, but I was impatient. I think I can get a nice scarf or fingerless mitts out of this that will compliment my purple coat.

Time For A Big Project

I found this Rambouleit at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival.  I wanted to do a  BIG project and this 2.45 pounds of fiber had such a great price tag.  It was hard choosing from the many different colors this vendor offered, but I settled on this chocolate with bright blue running through it.  I have almost one spool spun up and am nowhere near finished.  I posted a challenge on Facebook to all my friends.  Whoever guesses the closest yardage I end up with (without going over) will win a had knit scarf from me.  If you find me from just surfing the web, you may also enter to win.  Let the games begin.  While you're here, subscribe to my blog so you can see how the progress is going.  
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Outside the Comfort Zone

Ok I admit that I have 3lbs of Ramboulliet from the 2010 Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival, but I couldn't wait to get spinning on this fiber I bought from Rhinebeck.  I instructed my BKFF, Mary to make me step out of  my comfort zone and get colors that I don't usually get.  This meant no purples or blues.  I can't remember if this is Alpaca or Merino, but it is spinning up like a dream.  I purchased 8oz and plan on two-plying it to have more yardage and a finer yarn.  I see a nice shawlette or scarf.  This color will look great against my purple coat.

Pennsylvania Alpaca

Finally got to ply up the Pennsylvanie Alpaca that I bought a few summers ago when I visited my BFF, Lori.  I ended up with about 476 yards of fingering weight yarn.  It should be enough to knit up the Lazy Day Lace Shawl pattern I found on ravelry.com.  I love the chocolate brown.  As you can see, I had to improvise with some alternatives for bobbins.  I was asking everyone I knew for coffee cans, oatmeal and bread crumb containers and even the paper towel rolls.  They will come in handy later for spinning up the three pounds of Rambo that I still haven't started.

Sapphire Bliss - Fingerless Mitts

In a previous you saw some beautiful blue merino from Ashland Bay. This is the final project with some yarn left over. This easy and free pattern from Ravelry was knit up on size one needles. The mitts were pretty tight, but I prefer that the mitts hug my hand. If I ever make more more larger hands, I will use a larger needle or alter the pattern. I loved how the colorway had some purple hues in it. This will go great with my violet pea coat for the winter. I also discovered through Picasa an application called "Picnik" which gives me some really cool framing options.

Debbie Does Dyeing..........

Once upon a time, a young woman wanted to learn to spin. She bought lots of nice fiber, one of which was not dyed. It was her hope one day that she would learn to dye and create something beautiful.

Here is the story:

First she placed the beloved merino/mohair fiber into a vinegar and water soak for 30 minutes. She used 1 cup of vinegar to one quart of water.

While the soak was processing, she then took these extremely expensive, hard to get ingredients, along with the same sophisticated equipment and mixed up her lovely dyes (aka grape, lime, and orange kool-aid). She used one packet of kool-aid mixed with 2/3 cup of vinegar.

Once the soak was done, she drained as much water out of the pot until the water just covered the fiber and placed it on the stove until just under a boil. Water boils at 212 degrees and she used another sophisticated tool (meat thermometer) to get the water to about 135-140 degrees.

Using a serving spoon she carefully added the dye from the darkest to lightest in the pot. She didn't have to use a lot, as a little goes a long way (about half the prepared dye mixture). When she added the dye, she then put the heat down to medium, covered then simmered for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes was up, she used this sophisticated tool to drain some water out of the mixture. As you can see, the water is clear which means the fiber has completely soaked up the dye.

And here is the progress so far. It is now in the cooling stage. In about 2-3 hours, it will be rinsed out and laid flat to dry.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my friend, Mary, for giving me the inspiration to dye

and for youtube.com for providing me with the videos for instruction.

Sapphire Bliss

This 4 ounce sapphire colorway was purchased online at Diva Knitting (www.divaknitting.com). A really nice merino wool from Ashland Bay Trading Company. I loved the blue colorway. I split the roving once, then each strip twice more. My goal was to spin it up as thin as I could. In doing this, I learned that in order to spin up thin fiber, you have to have a very tight twist. What I did as I spun was to pump my wheel five or six times before I let it pull onto the bobbin. When I plyed it, I found that I should have pumped the wheel a couple more times. There were some areas of underplying where the spun yarn came apart. This was also my third attempt at chain plying. I learned that if I "grab and pull" halfway rather than the plyed yarn all the way at the orifice causes the ply to run more smoothly with little breakage. I am proud of what I came up with which was about 160-170 yards of yarn in a fingering weight. I'm not sure what I'll do with this. I might just see if it matches the bronze/copper/gold colorway yarn in the previous post to see what I can come up with.

I Had Some Extra Money Left Over

On my recent trip to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival back in April 2010, my goal was to spend my money on a large amount of fiber in order to make a large project. I was able to fulfil this goal. I had about $8.00 left over and wanted to get as much fiber as I possibly could. Right before we left, I found this. It was two ounces of merino and I was not crazy about the color. Another goal was to step out of my comfort zone and get different colors or I wouldn't have even considered this colorway.

When I was going through the fiber a few days ago, I came across this and thought it would be a great fiber to spin up and practice my navajo plying on the wheel. I was amazed at the colors this fiber was producing as singles. I ended up with 70 yards of fingering weight yarn of the nicest gold/copper/bronze colorway. Now what to do I do with the yarn. The yardage doesn't give me much of a choice, but maybe this would be great to make some booties for my newborn neice, Alexandria. I might even use this as an embellishment or edging for another project. The prospects are limitless.

Lovely Louet

While visiting my friend last summer in Lancaster, PA, I was fortunate to visit Labadee Looms. My friend laughed at my excitment and said "you'd think she was at Tiffany's." I found this beautiful louet pencil roving that surprisingly nobody wanted. Of course, I saw the beauty of it and snatched it up. I was able to spin up about 200 yards of fingering weight on my Avi Wasserman spindle that weighs a mere 1.3 ounces. I used a double strand to make the "Caliometry" headband which is found on the knitty.com website. The lucky recipient was a young friend who was graduating from high school. She was very grateful for such a gift. I spun up the rest of the pencil roving on my new Heavenly Handspinning Wheel. It yielded 300 yards of plied yarn. Pictures of that and the finished object to come. Stay tuned.

Voila!!!!!

Well, here is the result of my Heavenly Handspinning "Fidelis" maiden spin. The grayish fiber was a small amount that came with my wheel. I used that for practice. The green fiber was made out of one ounce of green merino that my mother inlaw purchased for me at the Renaissance Fair in Hebron, Connecticut. The green merino yielded almost sixty yards of fingering/dk weight yarn. Just enough to make a nice cozy for my iphone. Spinning is done on a learning curve and it's definately getting easier.

My Mom is the Best

My Mom asked me what I wanted this year for Christmas. I have wanted a spinning wheel for the longest time. I didn't want to have her spend alot of money. I found this on etsy.com. The vendor is "Heavenly Handspinning" located in Atlanta, GA. I received it and immediately put it together and started to spin away. It took some getting used to, but it's a work in progress.

Now that I have my wheel, there's no stopping me. I'm already at my favorite sites looking at all the yummy fibers.

Oooooh..........Silky

The picture doesn't do the color justice. It's really a grayish colorway with hues of blues, and pinks. It reminded me of the sky after a storm. This was made with 2 oz of Tussah Silk purchased at the '09 Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. It was spun on my .5 ounce Golding (her maiden spin). I was hoping to get the yarn thinner, but I know it takes practice. It was two plyed on my 1.3 ounce Kundert with two separate toilet paper roll bobbins. I got about 185 yards of dk/worsted weight yarn which will make a small dressy scarf.

Good Things in Small Packages

I recently became a member of the Spindle Addicts Swap on Ravelry. This is the second swap that I have participated in and I love it. Here is my lastest package from Angie in Baldwin, Michigan (Valley on Ravelry). The spindle which is hidden is an Avi Wasserman which I was so excited to get. The three batts of fiber are so beautiful and I can't wait to get my hands into them. I also received some tea, hot chocolate, soap and a pattern for a great felted bag. Thank you so much, Angie.

Another beautiful 8 ounce roll of fiber which I acquired from Rhinebeck '08. I was really into the fall colors with the golds, reds, oranges, and browns. I was fixated on getting some fiber to spin up yarn to make some great scarves for my loden coat.

This spun up like a dream on my 1.3 ounce kundertspindle. I spun it up in short spurts and put on my original bobbins made of toilet paper rolls.

I andean plyed each roll an got a great result. About 250 yards of worsted weight fiber which I will make into a neck gaitor pattern I found on Ravelry.

In order to increase my stash of spindles, I joined the "Spindle Addicts Swap" on ravelry.com. This was my first handmade spindle made from polymer clay by cookie48. I love the sheep. Isn't she talented? I also got some great fiber from Montana. Very nice.

My First "Real" Project - Part II

My second "Dave's Martian Scarf" which was made with that sage merino knitted up great. The recipient was my future brother inlaw, Sean for his college graduation. He loved the scarf and was very appreciative. He even know how it got the name "Martian Scarf" as he's into alien stuff.