I’ve made splendid progress on the alpaca. In fact, it’s done! Here are the lovely balls of washed yarn. They total just under eight ounces. Two ply, sport weight, very soft.
Finished Yarn
So, check off number one on the list.
And, as for number two, well . . . I finished my silk! Yes, I’m trying to distract you. Flax has rapidly lost its sparkle. I’m trying to decide whether to spend the last few days before the trip working on it, or just switch over and do something more fun. Something small. It’s not like I have a whole lot of time. Maybe I should focus on washing wool, since I completely forgot about it.
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No, this is not a horror story involving Angora rabbits and sticky candy. This is the next-to-final project on my New Year’s Dash list.
This is the Bunny Yarn.
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The Completed Rebecca Yarn
Ta-da! It’s done. All the work and excitement has transformed into twenty-three ounces of light-worsted/worsted yarn. According to my calculations, that means that only nine ounces of weight washed out with the lanolin. As far as I know, that’s a decent amount. I’ve read that Merino wool loses half of its weight when you wash the grease out. Anyway, I am now trying to decide what color to dye the yarn, and whether to just wing it on the pattern, or look around and see what I can find.
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I have officially finished spinning all of the Rebecca wool into singles, and I’ve even started plying it! I have two nice skeins done already.
The First of the Bunch
I’m not sure how much they weigh, or how much yardage is in them. I’ll find out once they’re all done. And, once they’re all done I’ll just have the two drop-spindling projects left to finish up.
Ha ha. Just two drop-spindling projects. I spun a little on each of them today and managed to remind myself that they’re good for leisurely, enjoyable spinning. Not so good for speed work.
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I finally finished plying the Flamenco yarn. (Isn’t it gorgeous?) Due to some shedding of reddish powder I decided to try steam setting the twist, in the hope that it would set any excess dye that was laying around. And since I wanted to steam set the twist in the silk yarn, why not do them together?
Two For The Road
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Someone remind me that silk is (literally and figuritively) a whole different animal than wool. And remind me especially when when I try to oven dye silk again. (I am assuming that there will be an “again.”) I didn’t have any huge goals in mind! I just wanted to dye 1 3/4 oz. of silk pink, and 3 oz. gray/blue. Well, here are the final products.
Voila
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And now, for a general spinning update, and a chance to show off the projects that have been languishing in my closet due to an influx of other distractions (cough, cough, the Walking Wheel, cough) . . . Here is the Flamenco fiber, almost all spun into singles. (On the drop spindle, top whorl.)
The End Is In Sight
Oh, and if you’re wondering about the twins, I didn’t want to wind off an entire spindle full, so my dad made me a second one and I spun the other half of the fiber on that. An extra spindle is a very handy thing.
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I seem to recall hearing silk referred to as the queen of fibers. If that’s the case, I heartily agree. I’m getting more and more in love with silk. The way it drafts, the way it shines, the way it swirls into a colorful rush of beauty . . . and that sounds like some really weird love song. But, I have proof that it swirls into a colorful rush of beauty! See?
Silk Swirl
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SAFF purchase details: Post #7
The Sanguine Gryphon has lots of beautiful stuff. But this particular batt told me I was taking it home. No arguments.
The Gawain Batt
It’s three ounces of superwash merino and silk bliss. I am so happy with it. I could just sit there and pet it all day.
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SAFF purchase details: Post #4
During the initial walk through of the first building I had spotted a place that I recognized from online. Little Barn. It had a sign up saying 10% off if you paid with a check. Am I going to argue with 10% off? There wasn’t a lot of gorgeous fiber, but there was a good variety and some really nice stuff.
Wool Silk Blend
Like this blend. I’m working on spinning this right now, along with some black Angelina that I got there. Angelina is little bits of sparkly stuff that you can spin or card into your fiber. The wool/silk drafts like a dream.
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