Well, it’s not so much the time that weigheth heavily as it is the seeming lack thereof. (Daily dose of Old English has now been administered.)
As for me, well, I’m up to my elbows in a pile of spinning projects. Lovely projects, for lovely people, but there seem to be tons of them.
First off, I’ve been working on spinning up some Aussie fur for a good friend. (Yes, dog fur.) It’s really soft and fluffy, and has been washed. Definite bonus. I’m spinning it on a spiffy new gadget I’ll have to tell you all about in a future blog post.
Theoretically this yarn will end up as a two-ply fingering weight, although there will be some DK weight bits in there, given the nature of the fiber. I carded the fur into batts, but it’s so fine that it spins more like a cloud, which results in a lot of difficulty keeping things even. And there seems to be different lengths of fur in there, which also makes things interesting.
All in all, it’s spinning up to be an interesting taupe color. Almost like sand.
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The weather here has been nice, but I am looking forward to the air turning chilly. The more hats and scarves I can wear this fall the better! (And socks and sweaters, of course.) (And cardigans.) (And maybe gloves.) Ahem. Anyway, I got to spend yesterday evening dyeing some new, fall-themed yarns and fibers!
Beech Leaf - Corriedale Cross Fiber
It’s been so long since I’ve dyed anything. I really enjoyed this stint in the kitchen. In fact, I had only planned to do one, possibly two projects — but, true to form, I wound up doing four. Thankfully I was able to do them without feeling pressured to hurry things up and get out of the way. Going so long without dyeing made everything seem new and interesting once I started again. Of course, it also meant that I was way out of practice. Nothing irreparable, though!
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Bright and Sunny
I’ve been trying to figure out what to call this colorway.
Sunflower seems too run of the mill, I can’t remember what kind of tree turns golden-yellow in the fall (Birch? Beech? Aspen?), and “Lemonade in the Meadow on a Sunny Day” is too long. Or how about Daisy Bouquet? Ah well. I’m really relieved with the way it turned out. This is the first half of the Corriedale for my aunt. This yarn has been a fun one to learn from. It took some extra effort on my part to figure out the neccessary tension on the spinning wheel, and a lot of creative maneuvering to get it all to fit on the bobbin. My bobbin (yes, bobbin singular) has a disc attatched only to one end. The other end is open, and if I’m not careful the single will work its way off the bobbin and get caught on the flyer.
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Well, I tried for fall colors, but I ended up with this.
Dyed Roving
It’s not a bad colorway, it’s just very far removed from fall. Unless it’s fall in Hawaii. Maybe I should call it that. I did learn how to mix a nice grey blue, though. And I almost had a pumpkin orange, but it turned bright at the last moment. It’s funny how dyeing seems to take on a mind of its own.
I had planned to do the six ounces of roving (they were in one-ounce strips) and put them in my two big enameled pots. Then I would pour the various dyes over them and heat set them.
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After my foray into merino and silk I’ve found myself back in the wonderful, soft, sturdy, familiar world of corriedale wool. I’m spinning up twelve ounces of white corriedale roving for my aunt. Half of it will be spun first, and then the yarn will be dyed into a blue, green, yellow, and white combination. Here is the spun yarn.
Pre-spun Yarn
The other half (brown, red, blue, green, gold, orange) will be dyed while it’s still roving and then spun. The reason I’m dyeing it before spinning? Apparently when you dye first and then spin the colors get darker. I want the second colorway to be richer and deeper, so I’m trying this approach. I only hope that the colors won’t get muddier. I doubt it. But you never know.
I finally decided to quit pussy-footing around with the cheaper fleece and go right for the good stuff. This is Rebecca’s fleece. She’s a Corriedale/Cotswold mix. Isn’t it pretty?
Rebecca's Wool Locks
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As for me, well, I’m up to my elbows in a pile of spinning projects. Lovely projects, for lovely people, but there seem to be tons of them.
