As The Yarn Turns

Mail Day!

Look what came in mail. Books! That's Katie checking out the books.

I love books, some would say a little too much. This batch was really good - Sally Melville Styles and Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti. Both are good resource books for different reasons. I'll cover Sally Melville Styles this time and save Sweater Design in Plain English until the next time. First, the title of this book sucks, not the Sally Melville part of the title but the Styles part. I'm not really sure what I would expect from a book titled "Styles" but this isn't it. While this book has patterns in it and some I would like to try, that's not the book's strong point. The real beauty of the book is the discussion of methods to combine different yarns (purchased or stash yarns) to produce a unique garment. Sally also encourages the reader to use the information to produce their own garments. The book covers organizing your stash, combining colors, overdyeing, and combining yarns. There are also a few pages on basic pattern drafting and a color wheel that you can copy and color in the colors you are using to see how they look together.

In other news, Rick and I and my "sock in progress" went to meet up with the PMZZ group of magicians on Thursday night for long but fun night. Encouraged by Stephanie's traveling sock, my sock managed to pose with our magician friend Bill for a picture.

That's me the far right. Rick is right next to me. The sock has been resting since that adventure though and I think I will too.

by Sydney  |

Hand Carding Fun

I bought some hand cards a while back but couldn't get up the nerve to try them out until last night. But there was all this multicolor wool from my weekend dyeing experiment that was screaming to be carded. Now this was literally my first carding experience. Spinning groups are hard to come by around here without traveling more than I care to travel right now. I found some great videos online demonstrating the use of hand cards, mostly from a recent discussion on the Spin-List. Armed with these great videos, I decided to do some carding last night.

• http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/ManitobaCrafts/storyofwool/crafts/teasingcarding.html
• http://www.icanspin.com/carding.htm
• http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/hand-carding.html

I also learned that everyone seems to have their method of hand carding, even though the basics are much the same. My carding wasn't the best in the world but I was rather pleased at the results. It was much easier than I expected and the color blended very nicely.

In no time at all I had carded up my first batch of wool. The colors came out so nice, I had to try spinning it. Now I can't say this experience turned out the way I planned but the singles are still nice in a rustic kind of way. Until now I have only spun from roving so drafting a rolag is like starting from the beginning again. It's making nice novelty yarn though.

Overall it's a success.

by Sydney  |

Fun With Dye

This weekend was a dyeing weekend for me. I decided to try out some crockpot dyeing with the Romney fleece I purchased earlier. I decided to soak some of the fleece in crockpot rather than the sink. After it had soaked in the water-vinegar mixture for about an hour, I started adding dye -purple, red, and blue.

The red ending up being a little too dayglow for my taste, but I think it will end up okay. I put the crockpot on high until the dye had exhausted, about an hour or two. Once the dye exhausted, I turned off the crockpot and let the fiber cool for several hours. Once it cooled, I dumped out into the sink to rinse it out.

The red bled a tiny bit but otherwise the color had set. Once it was rinsed, I wrapped it up in a towel to get some of the excess moisture out and then laid it out on the sweater drier to dry.

Once it dried, I tried to sort the fiber into similar color groups. It's not exact because many locks contained more than one color. I think it will card out okay once the colors blend a bit.

All in all it was a fun time and so far I'm pleased with the results. This was the first time I had used a crockpot for dyeing and I liked it. I didn't feel like I had to continually check on it.

I'm off for the rest of my leisurely 4th of July.

by Sydney  |