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!