Darkside Cowl

I have recently finished knitting a project with my own handspun Raspberry Silk! I don't think I really knew how satisfying it is to knit with your own handspun. I envisioned it, but I did not full understand it. When I look at the cowl I see all the parts of me that went into it. From selecting the fibers I wanted to dye to the experimentation in the dyeing process to the actual spinning and plying, then finding a pattern suitable for my yarn. It was a great journey. I must state that I did not foresee this cowl when I first started the yarn. The whole process was an experiment but it came out wonderfully.


And there it is! That's me modeling it. The cowl is intended for a co-worker of mine for Christmas. Pink is her colour so I hope she will like it. Here is a close up of the stitches.


I have also been spinning for my Newfoundland Iceberg yarn. I seem to naturally want to spin thin. Not sure if it's me or the fiber or the spinning wheel that wants to spin thin when I spin BFL but the BFL singles came out thinner then I envisioned. Oh well. It will be pretty anyway. Here are the BFL singles.



Next I will spinning the silk hankies to ply with the BFL singles. I love spinning silk hankies so this will be lots of fun.

Newfoundland Iceberg Dyeing

As some of you might remember I frequent the Ravelry forum boards a lot. Seems to me that I spend way too much time on there but I love this community. There is so much inspiration and knowledge shared on these boards. It is fabulous.

One of the many groups that I am part of is the Canadian Spinners. Great group with great people. We have started a small challenge to spin yarn based on different areas of Canada. For the month of October the challenge was this gorgeous picture of icebergs in Newfoundland. Now since it is now November first I'm a bit late but I thought I'd do it anyway. I finally got around to dyeing my fiber on Thursday and now everything is dry. I'll start spinning it this weekend and hopefully what I envision will become a reality. Cross your fingers folks.

So I experimented with kettle dyeing again. The last time I kettle dyed it was when I ended up with the burgundy Blue Face Leicester. All the colours merged and the colour came out great but not what I was aiming for. This time I paid more attention and since the iceberg had quite a bit of white in it I played with negative space instead of saturating the whole BFL roving. This is what I came up with:

I am very pleased with the outcome. The colour is close to what I was aiming for. I basically had three colours that I mixed up. Two were the same blue but at different intensities: one very light and the other very deep. The third was a medium blue-green tinged colour. It is subltle but effective.

I also dyed some silk hankies to ply with. I'm really liking plying a wool single with a silk single. Really makes the yarn shin. Since the iceberg was in the water I figured that the reflective and shiny silk would be appropriate. I decided to kettle dye the silk hankies as well. In the past I have only hand painted them so this was going to be new.


I dyed the whole 50 gram stack in one shot. The pictures above are that stack split in two and each side shown. There is a great variation here. The dye did not penatrate all the way through. I did flip the hankies so both sides would get dye but it is not even. Since I did not want an even dye job this is great. The texture is awesome. I will definately try this again.

On a side note I finally finished my labyrinth gloves for my mom. I mailed them on Thursday and hopefully she will get them on Monday. They said two business days so lets cross our fingers. The second glove went much faster then the first. I really enjoyed knitting these gloves, going to have to knit myself a pair but with a different pattern so that they are unique. I'm flirting with the idea of writting up a pattern for others. Let me know if anyone is interested.

I didn't take a picture of the two gloves but here is a picture of the first one in case you all forgot what I'm talking about. ;o)

Labyrinth Gloves and Burgundy BFL and Silk

When I went to the Waterloo County Knitter's Fair last month I picked up some yarn from Zen Garden. I know the women behind the label from Ravelry. She is a regular in one of my favorite forums Love to Dye. I was in a booth and I turned around and saw her logo. I thought "OMG! That's Roxanne's yarn! I must buy some." It is gorgeous yarn. It was two skeins tied together, one large and one small, that complemented each other. I thought it would be perfect to try some colour work with.



I decided to challenge myself to design and knit some gloves with it. Now this a challenge since A) I have never knit gloves, just mittens and gauntlets; B) I have never done colour work and C) This is my first project that I am designing that is complicated. But I like to challenge myself. Makes life interesting.

I took out all the Barbara G Walker stitch books that my library had and started to go through them. I knew I wanted to do a cable or twist stitch pattern for a bit of texture and finally found Labyrinth in Charted Knitting Designs. After some experimentation and restarting a few times to give it to fit, I came up with this pattern.

The first glove is done. Now am starting the second. Hopefully the second will go a lot faster then the first.

I've also been spinning. I finished spinning my burgundy BFL and silk hankies. They are all plied up and looking lovely. It came out to 252 yards at 13 wpi. Definitely enough for a small project.


Here is a close up.

Not sure what I want to spin next. There is an interesting spin-along theme in one of the forums that I am in but I need to dye some more fiber. Maybe I'll get around to do some dyeing this weekend.

Silk Hankies and Pictures of FO's

Here is what I have been working on lately. I dyed some silk hankies to go with two ounces of burgundy BFL that I had dyed months ago. The burgundy BFL was an early experiment of sorts. I was trying to kettle dye three colours: russet, sky blue and brown but I put too much water in the pot. Instead of staying seperate, they merged into a burgundy colour. Not bad but not what I was going for.



Sorry for the blurriness. The picture was taken months ago with my web cam before I got my camera.


So for the silk hankies I separated the 50 grams into three piles and dyed them differently with the same colours. I used the original colours to make the burgundy but kept them separate. I learnt quite a bit from this experiment on how the colours can be applied and blended. Also during spinning the hankies,I learnt how the colours interact and blend depending on how and where the colour was applied. Very good experiement over all. Right now I am in the procees of plying the too singles together: one from the burgundy BFL and one from the hankies. I will update and post pics when done.

As well I finally took some picture of a couple of finished knitted projects. The first is a shrug that I knitted last fall. The pattern is from Fitted Knits and is the Two Toned Ribbed Shrug. I only used one colour for this project and used Berroco's Ultra Alpaca yarn. Very soft and yummy. I love this shrug, I wear it quite often.

Also I finally finished the Drop-Stitch Lace Tunic from the same book. I knitted it from Cascade Pima Tencel and is also very soft. It does stretch like crazy but is very form fitted. Haven't worn it out yet since the seasons have just turned colder but I am looking forward to wear this soon.

Three New Handspuns and Some Dying

I've been quite busy since I got my new Ladybug two weeks ago. The first thing I tried spinning was the polypay pencil roving that I had bought awhile ago. It was really boring to spin with the spindle but I figured that it would be perfect to learn how to spin on my new wheel. Here is one of the skeins that I made. It is really fluffy. Think I'll try kettle dying with it and knit a fulled bag with it. It is a little too rough to knit something that is close to the skin.

Then I decided to try spinning some of my superwash merino / nylon blend since I have so much of it. I picked a roving that was blue, orange and golden yellow to start since it was not my favorite colourway. If I messed it up it would not be so bad. It came out all right. Thick thin about 63 yards and chunky. No idea what I'll make with it. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

I also did some dying. Dyed about 25 g of silk hankies and some more superwash merino / nylon. Came out pretty good. The silk came out much lighter then I thought it would. Next time I'm going to use a stronger concentration of dye. and steam it longer.

With the left over dye I dyed a complimenting superwash roving. The red comeout more raspberry pink but still nice. I dribbled brown over the pink in areas and it turned a purply hue. Interesting. Can't get purple from mixing red and blue together but I can with pink and brown. The brown must have some blue undertones.

Did one more roving. I used emerald green, brown and leftover red. The experiment was to see how complimentery colours looked when next to each other and overlaped. The effect was very nice. There is not alot of red in this just drops here and there.

A couple of days later I started to spin the silk hankies. I must say the silk hankies are tough. They look all fragile but they really arn't. Had to use my muscles to draft. Spinning from hankies is probably not as smooth as from silk rovings but it has a nice textured and shin. I really like it. As I was spinning I realized that 25 g is really not alot and if I was going to ply it with itself I'll bearly have any yardage. I decided to spin and ply it with the merino that I dyed with the similar colours. I really like how this turned out. The silk is lighter in colour and adds a shin and softness to the superwash merino. I got about 165 yards of sport to worsted weight yarn. Propbably make a cowl or something with it and gift it for Christmas.

Well that was a pretty big update. I really need to get into the habit of blogging more often as a do stuff so when I do update it's not this hugh post. Hmmm it's up there like doing housework more often so I don't have to spend a whole day doing it. Oh well. One day I will have good habits.

Ladybug

I am now the proud owner of the Schacht Ladybug. I bought her at the Waterloo County Knitters' Fair last Saturday. I had been in contact with Gemini Fibres about trying her out and was really excited when they told me on Wednesday that they had just received it in time for the fair. Think I was giddy for a couple days over the prospect of try her out and buying her. I know I annoyed quite a few of my co-workers and consumers with my endless chatter about it. hehe

Isn't she pretty? Lovely modern curved lines and is so smooth and quiet. I find spinning on a spinning wheel to be much easier then a spindle. Much faster as well of course. I can definitely see my stash growing very quickly.

I started to practice on the Ladybug with some polypay pencil roving. I had tried spinning with this stuff with my spindle last spring but found it very boring. It is also rough but it think that it will be perfect for fulled bag. For learning how the spinning wheel works and how different adjustments affect performance pencil roving is awesome. There was no drafting involved since it is so thin to begin with. I plied last night a bobbin worth with what I had spun on the spindle. It is now soaking to set the twist and I'll be whacking it to even it out. I'll post pics when it's done.

Once I had finished spinning some polypay pencil roving and was getting in the groove I wanted to try drafting. So I changed the bobbin and took out a roving that I had dyed last spring. Wasn't loving the roving so thought that it would be perfect to practice on. If it turned out to be extremely uneven and unusable... who cares. Well I divided it in two and did a bit of predrafting. The fibre is superwash merino and nylon mills ends. It is very slippery but I'm used to it on the spindle so I thought it would not be too bad. Luckily I seem to want to treadle pretty fast for some reason so it was not too bad. The single was pretty consistent for awhile and then it would go thin or thick. Oh well not bad for a first yarn. Here is a pic.

I'm like it much better now then I did in the roving. The colours became much softer somehow. Think I'm going to call this colourway Caribbean Sunset. I can totally picture a vivid sunset on an ocean when I look at the singles.

I spun the second bobbin as well last night so I will be plying the two together today. I can't wait to see how they will go together.

I also did some dyeing this afternoon. I dyed some silk hankies and two more superwash merino / nylon mill ends. I need more fibre to spin! They are cooling now. I'll see how they turn out tonight and post pics soon.

Just reminder the few who are reading my blog: I love comments! Feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think. I can take constructive criticism well so don't be shy.

Summer Is Over

It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. I've had a really busy summer. Not a lot of spinning or dyeing though I have knitted quite a bit. Work has been really stressful so I guess I was not in the mood to spin or dye.

But now it's September and the Waterloo County Knitter's Fair is on Saturday and I'm really excited about it. I've also caught the spinning and dyeing bug again and I'm glad. I'm going to be test driving some spinning wheels on Saturday and hopefully I'll be able to bring one home with me. My eye is on the Schacht Ladybug. I've read many great reviews about it and I love the looks and design of it. I can't wait till I can get my hands on it!

I picked up my spindle up again last week to finish plying the singles I was working on. I remember last May that I was having trouble plying and was getting frustrated. It went real easy this time. All that forum reading at Ravelry must of paid off. My fourth hand spun is now finished and here it is.

Here is close up:

It's 110 yards of superwash merino and nylon blend. It's about 13 wpi and a little heavier then sport weight. It is super soft too. It's the softest yarn I have spun yet! Very happy with it.

On Monday I dyed a bit of superwash merino and nylon fiber. I'm in the process of knitting and designing a purse from my previous hand spun yarn and I ran out of yarn. :o( So as a design solution I dyed up some more fibre but in a different but similar colourway. It might of came out too bold but it could be interesting. Here is the roving.

With fall and winter coming I'm seeing a lot of dying and spinning in my future. I will try to update at least once a week with my progress. So stay tuned!

Dying Some More

I've had a couple of days off this week so I decided to do some dying. I wanted an effect where there was one colour at one side and an other at the other and they would merge in the middle. I wanted the colours so be strong and saturated so I mixed up more dye then I usually do and poured away. The colours that I wanted were the emerald green and a navy blue. I don't have navy blue so I mixed some russet into the sky blue to see if the colour would be close to navy. I learnt that even if you put just a bit of red it really overpowers that other colour. I had to add half as much more blue again to get it to the colour I wanted. Also even though when the fiber cooled the water in the pot was clear it took many washings to get all the extra dye out. I think there is still some in the fiber but I got tired of washing and just laid it out to dye. Here is a pic of the fiber in the dye pot.

The blue looked quite purple even though I added half a cup of blue dye on top but it merged well when it set in the oven. The end product is pretty close to what I was aiming for. There are a few areas that are not completely saturated but that's ok. Next time I think I'm going to try to actually paint the fiber. That way it will have the colour exactly where I want it. Here is a pic of the finished roving.

On a different note I think I'm really getting the hang of spinning with a spindle. Drafting finally clicked in my head. Before I would have to do a lot of pre-drafting and then spin it with very little drafting to get the thickness that I wanted. Now I'm able to do a little of drafting to fluff up the fiber and then seperate it in fourths instead way thiner and then draft as I'm spinning. I still don't have the yarn perfectly even but it is still a huge improvement. I feel as though I'm spinning way more then just putting twist to something. Yay for me!

Dying Test no. 3, Random Picture of FO's

I finally got a picture of my latest dyed roving! Had some issues with my new digital camera and had to go exchange it. Ended up up-grading to next model up from the one I bought. Love it! I've had no problems with it so far. Here is my roving.

The fiber is superwash merino/nylon. I presoaked the fiber in a water/vinegar solution then arranged the fiber in a spiral in the dye pot. Poured and splashed the dye in a random pattern. Set in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes. The colours I used were russet, sky blue and brown. I added a few drops of russet in the blue to change the colour a bit. I really like the effect.

I've started to spin it on my spindle. I Pre-drafted it pretty fine so the singles are more consistent.

The next dye test I'll try will be blue and green I believe. I'll also try to saturated more of the fiber so that there is no white. I think that I'm scared of wasting my dye so I under dye. The effects have been wonderful but I have to get over it on just pour more dye on.

On a different note I have recently joined Ravelry.com and I took some pictures on some Fo's that I have knitted in the past. I have a bunch more but have not taken any pictures yet. So for now here are the first two.

The first is a pattern from Victorian Lace Today. It is called Scarf with the No. 20 edging. The title is actually longer but I shortened it to that. I knitted it with Roving's hand painted 100% Polworth wool in Brick. It was my most complicated project ever but so worth it. I could not memorize the lace pattern even after repeating it 50 times. But I love it.

Here is a close up of the scarf.

The scarf is really wide. It could also be used as a wrap. I feel glamorous when I wear it.

The next project is the Brea Bag from Berroco. It's a free pattern on their website. I use this bag all the time. I knitted it with South West Trading Company Bamboo yarn. I doubled up the yarn to get closer to the gauge. I also knitted a strap instead of buying a leather one like the pattern suggests. I lined both the purse and the strap with a red Asian themed fabric. The button is from AB Originals who makes hand made buttons. Here are some pics.

The lining inside the bag.

Handmade button by AB Originals.

It's been a week

So it's been a week since my last post. A few things have happened that are blog worthy so here we go.

I have been sick. I'm pretty tired of it. I've been sick since Monday April 21. I have a cold, my nose is stuffy and I have been coughing. My voice has been going through interesting ranges and of course I've had to work through it all. On top of all that I've had to train new staff which means lots of talking on my behalf followed by lots of coughing fits. It has not been a good week for work. This is the main reason why I have not posted recently. I'm was just too tired. I've been sleeping a lot which is good to heal but I 'm still sick. Anyway lets hope that I get better soon.

On a different note it was my Birthday on the 23rd. I had a great day even though I was sick. Had the day off work. Dyed some fiber, had dinner at my best friend house and had a generally good day.

I got a gift certificate from my friend to the Stitch Niche and I'm thinking I'm going to buy some yarn to make myself a summer top. I have the Fitted Knit by Stefanie Japel and I've been wanting to make the Drop Stitch Lace Tank. I check this pattern on Ravelry and it looks as though it is very flattering. Really looking forward to it.

I also got some money from my Mom for my birthday and she wanted me to get a DVD player with it and then get whatever else I wanted with the rest. May I say that it is hard to find normal DVD players. Mine died which it why I need a new one and I went shopping yesterday to replace it. I went to a few different stores and had a real hard time. All the DVD players they had were either Bluerays or HD which is way out of my price range or up-converting types which I was informed is a waste on my non-HD-TV. The only place that had a decent normal DVD player was Future Shop and they were of course out of stock. So no DVD player yet...

But I did get something else. I got a digital camera. YAY!!! I've been wanting one for a few years and especially since starting this blog. It will now be way easier to take pictures for this blog. I played with it last night and had a blast taking pictures of my cats. Here are a few of the best.

This is Tygra. She is so cute and cuddly.

I woke up Diamond for this picture. She is not too thrilled.

Was playing with the zoom and got this cool shot.

Now I was going to take some pictures of my newly dyed fiber but something seems to be wrong with my new camera. It's making a weird noise and the the screen is shaking and flickering. It was definitely not doing that last night so I'll have to bring it back tomorrow and see what is wrong with it. I'm recharging some batteries to see it that will solve the problem. So sorry folks no pics of my fiber. I'll post again as soon as my camera is working properly.

Russet, Sky Blue and Emerald Roving All Spun Up

My first hand dyed roving is all spun up!!! The thickness is a lot more even then my first attempt at spinning. Here is a pic:

I spun approximately 50 gr of merino and got about 56 yards. Not sure what category that makes my yarn fall into but I think that it is a bulky yarn. Not sure yet what I will make with it. Maybe a neck warmer or a purse. I'll wait till inspiration hits me.

Right now I am spinning the Polypay pencil roving that I got. I'm not liking it too much. I don't have to draft it since it is so thin already and the yarn is coming out very consistent. But it is too easy. Maybe I need a challenge but I don't think I'm learning anything when I'm spinning this fiber. I'm just going through the motion of spinning. Think I'm just going to spin a spindle worth and then ply it. I'll keep the rest for when I get my spinning wheel. I can use it to learn how to spin with the spinning wheel without worrying how to draft at the same time. Once I have the motions down I can try drafting and spinning at the same time.

On a different note the reason why I did not post my yarn last weekend it because I went out and partied! It was so much fun. We went out to celebrate my birthday which is tomorrow. I went out with my best friend and a friend from work joined us a bit later. We danced like crazy and had way too much rum and cokes and tequila shots. My feet were still hurting the next day.

It made me realize I don't go out nearly enough. I forgot how much fun it can be. There is no reason why I shouldn't go out more, I'm single and still young. Guess it's because I work evenings and every other weekend. My best friend is also married so I don't think her husband would appreciate it if she went out with me all the time. Oh well it was fun anyway.

Dyed Blue Face Leicester

As promised here is the picture of the dyed Blue Face Leicester. It is a mixture of russet, a mixed purple and brown. It is pretty uniform in colour with some areas that are darker.

The colour is actually starting to grow on me. It's not what I had in mind but while taking pictures of my stash for Ravelry I realized the colour is very similar to a ball of Mountain Colors that I have. I bought it a the Kitchener Knitter's Fair last September to make some gauntlets but haven't made them yet. Maybe when I spin this fiber I'll make a hat to go with them. I don't actually own a hat and it might come in handy. ;o)

The name of the colorway of the Mountain Colors is Red Hawk Tail. It's really pretty. I've been looking around for a pattern for gauntlets but haven't found one I like yet. I think I might design my own when I come around to knitting them. Can't think of knitting gauntlets right now. It's too warm. Spring is definitely here.

I'm probably going to wait before I spin this fiber. The Polypay pencil roving is really calling me and I want to try it out. My hand dyed merino that I was spinning is done! It is now hanging to dry in my bathroom. It came out really nice. I think it's a little over twisted. Hopefully it will relax abit before I knit with it. I don't know what I'm going to make with it. I have only 56 yards of it. I'll take a picture of when it's dried.

Mister Postman

So my doorbell rings at 8:30 am this morning... It's my package being delivered with my two fibers that were missing.

But 8:30 am... Someone must of been yelled at lol. I mean usually they just leave it outside my door when they deliverd it sometime in the afternoon. This time they hand delivered it first thing in the morning. Interesting...

Anyway I had just gone to bed actually since I had done another night shift so I was not too happy about being woken up just went I had just fallen asleep but it's OK because my fiber is here!!!

The fiber in the front is Polypay pencil roving. It looks like yarn it is so thin. I will definitely only be dying it after I've spun it. In the back is 1 lb of merino/nylon mills ends roving. I'm looking forward to playing with that.

On a different note I got my Ravelry invite today! So I will be busy taking pictures of my stash, FO's and WIP's. I hope my web cam can handle it. I really need to get a digital camera. I also need a cell phone so I might just look into getting a camera phone for now. Later I might invest in a good camera. I want my spinning wheel first. ;o)

Yesterday I also dyed some BFL. I tried a different technique then the first time. It's more of an immersed technique. I'm not too sure if I like it. I wanted a more blended effect then the first dye job I did but it's TOO blended now. It's way subtle. Which is not bad but not what I had in mind. Think I put too much water in the pot. I had poured russet, a mixed purple and brown in the pot. Now it just looks like a reddish brown colour. We will see how it dries. I would post a picture of it but it is drying on my table right now and my web cam does not reach that far. Once again I need a camera. I'll post it tomorrow when it its dried.

Not too happy with Canada Post

So I ordered some fiber from a fiber store in Ontario last Tuesday. I was all excited. I ordered three different fibers: 225 gr of Blue Face Leicester, 1 lb of superwash Merino/Nylon and 22o gr of Polypay pencil roving. The shipment went out on Wednesday and I received it Thursday.

Now here comes the problem. As I was leaving my apartment to go do some laundry on Thursday I notice my package outside my door. The postman did not ring my door bell to give it to me. He just left it there. The bottom of the box looked banged up real bad but at the time I thought nothing of it. I was just excited that my fiber had arrived.

I open up the box and this is what I find.

As you can see there are only two fibers instead of three so something is obviously missing. One of the fibers is pink with a business card of the store and it is unlabeled. The pink fiber is very thin so I am assuming that it is the polypay pencil roving. The larger bag is labeled 225 gr of Blue Face Leicester so I assume that that is correct.

Which means I'm missing the 1 lb of mills end merino/nylon roving. Also I was suppose to get the same amount of pencil roving as the BFL.

I was not a happy camper.

I e-mailed the owner back about my shipment and didn't get a response right away. At this point I'm not sure exactly what I have and what happened. I go do a night shift that night, come home and go to bed. When I get up later Friday morning I check my e-mail and still no response. I'm thinking, "OK she must not of gotten my e-mail yet, she'll e-mail me soon."

Go to work that afternoon and come back home later that evening and still no response. I'm getting a little mad now. I'm wondering if I've wasted my money ordering from this store. I decide I'm going to look more carefully at my package. I take the fibers out and see that white fiber is one complete roving so the fibers are not mixed up. I look at the box and I realize that the bottom of the box that looked really banged was actually riped 3/4 of the way around and taped back up.

My package has been tampered with.

So Saturday morning I send the owner an other e-mail with pictures this time telling her about the box and what is in my package. I go to work again (I'm on a 6 day straight stretch) and come home and there is a voice mail message on my machine.

It's the owner of the shop and tells me that for sure they sent me the three fibers that I ordered and thinks that Canada Post has either damaged the box in the one day that it was in their possession and they did not put the 2 fibers that fell out back in or someone at the post office opened my box and stole them.

She asked me to call her back and that we will resolve it. So of course I call her the next morning. (Which is Sunday morning.) She was really great. We went over what happened and what I got in the box and the condition of the box. We determined that I only got the BFL. The pink fiber is part of her business card. She sends out free samples with all her packages. I should of received 1 1/2 lbs more fiber then what I got. She is going to send me my missing fiber free of charge and make a formal complaint and claim with Canada Post.

I feel so relieved. I knew something was wrong when I saw my package. So I should be getting my new package Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it.

Spinning Away on My Spindle

So I have been spinning away for the last couple of days and below is how my hand-dyed roving is turning out.

It's comming out really nice. The thickness of my yarn is more constant and I really like how the colour changes from red to blue to green. The shades are also gradual where the colour changes and I like watching the colours mix as I spin them.

I still have the other half of the roving to spin to make the yarn a 2-ply. There is more white in the other half so it's going to be interesting how it will differ from this one. Also it will be interesting how the two singles with ply together.