After a lovely time together, my “Rondel” base laceweights are retiring. These are the lovely alpaca/silk blends with a unique construction, lots of drape, and a little touch of fuzzy halo. It’s been lovely having them, but it is their time to go.
All that being said, the skeins of Rondel left in my laceweight store are now on sale. So drop on by if you’d like to adopt one before they go away. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.
~ Rebekah
I launched a new product today (with more coming) and I’m rather excited about them. They’re batt kits for those people lucky enough to own a drum-carder.
Coordinating colors in the nice, small amounts you need for blending a batt. The only trouble is how to go about spreading the word among the drum-carding community.
I also received permission to do something very exciting. Cyan Worlds gave me the green light on creating some Myst-inspired yarns! (Myst is a series of amazing computer games, very heavy on the visual arts side.) I get to make them! Yay!!!! I’d like to have them available in October sometime, but we’ll see what happens. It’s not like I’m creating the official Myst yarns or anything, but I’ll be able to have lots of fun with it, and, maybe, become the official Myst yarn person. I can dream.
And, last but certainly not least, this is the month of the indigo merino. I have almost an entire bobbin of singles done already.
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!
Beginner’s Info: Part 2
The Reason Behind The Rhyme
Ultimately the goal of spinning is to create yarn. If you just like to watch things go round and round then go to the laundromat.
How do we create yarn? Well, let me give you the general concepts first, then later we’ll go into details about actually making it on wonderful things like drop spindles and spinning wheels.
You begin by spinning one long piece called a “single,” because it’s by itself. Once you’ve spun that you can either leave it and call it a single ply yarn, or you can spin another one and twist them together for extra strength, thickness, and manageability. This is called “plying.”
It seems pretty straightforward, right? Spin two things, then spin them together. But! There’s a little trick to make it work. When you spin something, your wheel or spindle turns in a certain direction. Clockwise or counterclockwise. (Or in the spinner lingo I’m still having trouble remembering, it’s “z” and “s” respectively.) Never switch directions while spinning a single or it will break.
I went to a craft show with my grandmother and two of my sisters. Guess what I had my eyes peeled for? Jewelry! No, I’m kidding. (Although there was some pretty stuff there.) I was looking for spinning fibers and I sure found them. There was literally only one place that had roving: Au Gres Sheep Factory. My sister stopped to look at some felted Christmas stockings hanging up outside the stall. I kept walking because I wasn’t all that interested, but on the other side of the stall I spotted two full fleeces. (Tibetian fleeces, actually. Very pretty, but one would have cost as much as my wheel.) I hurried back to the front of the stall and peered in. Two wonderful baskets sat on the floor filled with bags of wool. One basket had dyed roving in it, the other had natural.