Fiber Dyeing 8/15/15

After my class at The Spinnery, I started thinking about color.  Last night I chose the fibers I dyed in my acid dyeing in the grill - Carribean Blue, Chartruese, and Flamingo Pink. I rotated the fiber on my hand carders and blended them to see what I would get. And here it is!

Can't wait to spin it! (Hurt my wrist carrying groceries today so I am unable to spin, knit or crochet. Actually everything is difficult right now.)

I then set up for today's dyeing. 

Today I dyed 3 oz salt/pepper alpaca and 1 oz white merino to dye teal.

And 4 oz merino to dye Brilliant Yellow.

4 oz merino to dye Chartruese. 

I practiced the technique I learned yesterday.  Took mill ends from Kraemer's Yarn (fiber content unknown). I layered Brilliant Yellow, Salmon, Blazing Orange and Royal Purple.

Cooked for an hour at 350. Cooled, washed, and conditioned. Two came out in what I would describe as blended fall colors (a happy accident) and two came more brilliant with separations of colors (what I was aiming for). Pics to follow when dried and reskeined. Very pleased with the results. Tomorrow I will post pics of the fiber when washed.

Tomorrow...more dyeing, make sauce, more canning....busy, busy, busy. I have been roasting tomatoes, canning sauce and freezing zucchini, eggplant and peppers for weeks already. It seemed like the veggies are coming in a month earlier this year! Makes it tough to keep up with the fiber arts!

Enjoy! Happy, happy, happy

Nancy

Spring is Here!

This was a busy first weekend in May! On Saturday my sister-in-law Beth and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool show. It was in West Friendship, Maryland. My new friend Abby, from my new Fiber Group was on the trip too. It was a beautiful day, 72 degrees and sunny! We had to meet the bus at 5:15 am and returned around 8:00 pm. Long day.

 

I purchased some beautiful fiber. I got a chocolate brown alpaca fleece that is the softest I have ever felt! The fleece was from Wanda. If you look in the bottom left of the picture, you can see a part of her head.

I also purchase lovely fresh clipped Angora. Here is one of the bunnies that was for sale. He was so sweet and soft.

These gorgeous Angora Goats had beautiful fleece. I got mohair from one of the yearlings. It is soft and has a beautiful luster. It is white to golden in color.

After the long day Saturday, Sunday morning we went to our favorite nurseries to purchase our vegetable and herbs to plant. We had the onions, lettuce and peas in already. Today I planted Super Sauce Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Amish Paste Tomatoes, Marconi Peppers, Yellow Bell Peppers, Eggplant, Canteloupe, Spaghetti Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary. Thankfully the Oregano and Thyme survived the winter!

Enjoy the beautiful weather & happy gardening!

Nancy

Finishes this week!

I was happy to finish one older WIP, one new project, and a skein of yarn! I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a project, especially an older WIP!

The older WIP is my blanket with sleeves. The pattern is Winter Warmth in the booklet "Snuggle Up!"  I used Red Heart Super Saver. The dark color is actually Dark Teal, though it comes out more blue in the picture.

I finished "A Noble Cowl". This is an easy pattern and fun knit. It took a few nights to complete. The yarn is from A Hundred Ravens. The color is Here We Are Dragons. It is the softest merino wool I've worked with.

I finally plied the winter storm singles. I decided to try N-Plying (navajo or chain plying). It was the first time I tried this technique. I like it and it is easier than I thought. I ended up with 38 yds of a worsted or bulky yarn.  I will determine the weight once the twist has been set. 

I start spinning a fiber I purchased from Taylored Fibers. It is 50% SW Merino/50% Tencel. 

Fiber happiness! Enjoy!

Nancy

Spinning the Pain Away

The weekend we were to get "snowmaggedon" was not pleasant for me. I start with tooth pain on the Thursday prior due to a broken tooth. By Friday, a migraine was beginning on top of that. By Friday night I was in pain. I tried to crochet (simple pattern), but I think it caused my brain to work too much and didn't help with the pain. UGH! I woke up Saturday still in pain. I decided to get my spinning wheel out. I had not spun anything since November. I began with a braid of 100% Shetland wool called Homely that I purchased from Bittersweet Woolery at the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival.

It spun beautifully. Until now I had only spun Alpaca and Romney. I am trying different fibers and techniques.  I decided to ply this.

71 yds of Sport Weight. It is gorgeous. I wish I had more of this fiber.

Then I spun a Merino wool/Tussah Silk blend called Tahiti from Loop. I purchased this fiber at Vogue Knitting Live NYC 2014.

Though I did have to pre-draft the Shetland wool, I found that if I spun this from the center pool and did not pre-draft, I got better results.  I had planned to leave a single yarn. Then I thought about trying an art yarn. I plied it with Plymouth Yarn Carry On 100% Polyester white and gold. I added 6/0 round japanese seed beads.

Though I could have used more beads and need practice plying with different materials, I am happy with the finished yarn, 118 yds.

Finally, I spun Winter Storm, Merino/bamboo/Mulberry Silk, from AJ's Handmade Creations on Etsy. Wow, this was a joy to spin. Like the fiber above, I got better results if I did not pre-draft. I took thin strips of the fiber to spin.

I have not decided if I want ply this alone, ply with Carry On & beads, or ply with another yarn, with or without beads. I have not spun anything else. I have the jumbo flyer on (I needed it for art yarn). I want to decide what to do with this and ply it before I take the jumbo flyer off. 

I spun Saturday to Tuesday (snow storm closed Schools so I was off) and felt better but wiped on Sunday. Spinning helped deal with the pain on Saturday. The art of spinning is a Zen experience for me. Once I'm set up and started, I feel one with the wheel and fiber. Everything around me fades. I am still amazed that I will begin spinning and then look at the clock to see hours and hours have passed without my notice. This onenest with spinning helped deal with the pain I felt Saturday. 

These yarns are the 3rd, 4th and 5th skeins of yarn I have spun. :)

Peace

Nancy D

New Jersey Sheep and Wool Show

Hunterdon County Fair Grounds served as host to this year's New Jersey Sheep and Wool Festival www.njsheep.org September 6 and 7, 2014. On Sunday, September 7th we took a road trip down to check it out. Walking into Barn 1 we were able to see the end of the showing and judging of Lincoln Sheep. Beautiful creatures!  After visiting a few of the vendors, we left Barn 1 and the Border Collie Demonstration was going on. The shephard had three Border Collies and was demonstrating their skills and personalities. All so different. She likened them to automobiles. The first was the Hummer, powerful and steady but unsure if you can control and handle. The second was the SUV, reliable, steady and controlable. This one was excellent in following the direction she gave with a whistle. The last was Jet. He was the Ferrari, fast, powerful, and barely controllable. He was so fun to watch. He took off like his namesake, a jet. She then brought out an 11 month old being trained. She demonstrated some training techniques. He did very well.

In Barn 2, 3, and 4 were vendors, spinners, spinning demonstrations, and English Angora rabbits for sale. They were the biggest rabbits I have ever seen! Size of a small dog! There even was an appearance of a famous Sci-Fi icon.

Yes that is Mr. Spock sporting his freshly knitted scarf. If you look closely, you can see he has Tardis knitting needles! Nice job Spock. Live long and prosper (and keep on knitting!). I saw some familiar faces Betty from The Spinnery, Amber from Tailored Fibers, and Verdant Gryphon (featured in my Vogue Knitting Live post). Enjoyed meeting the ladies at Bittersweet Woolery, Hum-Dinger Alpacas, the sheep from Swayze Inn Farms, and all the other vendors at the festival.

Made a new friend (he's a ham posed perfectly for me)

As we were leaving, the parade of sheep by the junior shephards was beginning. The sheep and young shephards were sporting the knitted and crocheted pretties.

Can't wait for next year!

Nancy