Weekend Fibre Warrior

Now, what the world has asked for! Damn the Olympics! Everyone..I'm sure..is waiting with baited breath to see what all I've gotten accomplished on my hubby-free weekend, and I just couldn't disappoint everyone!

I have, of course, knit more on the "Socks Ahoy" sock project, although really not enough progress has been made to warrent a picture. I have switched off to my last two "half balls" of Koolaid dyed Patonyle, and have added another pattern repeat to either side of each sock (that would be two pattern repeats per sock) to compensate for my fat calves. I expect to have them finished in the next few days, although as we all know...anything can happen.

Finished or not, I do plan to cast on for another sock (or something small) project before next weekend, which is "State Titles" in Western Action shooting. I'm off work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we have a cabin over near the state shooting park for Friday and Saturday night, so I will need a small project for the event. The Socks Ahoy are just too close to completion to last thru that. Trouble is, I haven't settled on anything yet.

I also managed to get some dyeing done. I had 3 50g balls of white 8ply Heirloom superwash that I'd bought heaven knows how long ago, so Saturday morning, I put the wool on the skein winder and got it ready to dye.



I tied green cotton yarn around each skein, and then tied all three skeins together, so that (hopefully) they would stay together during the dying process and match fairly well.Then I gave the whole thing a good 24 hour overnight soak (ok, maybe 22 hours..but whose counting?)



I wanted something this time that wasn't quite as pastel, or as bright, as what I've made before. Something a bit more earthy...colors anyone would wear. So I got some ideas from this article in Knitty and from my Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook (which is, by the way, more about dyeing than about knitting socks)and went to mixing Koolaid colors.

I sat up the "dyeing lab" (the dyeing lab meaning old bowls, aluminium baking pans and a mismatched collection of jars) and I did a heap of experimenting. I really wish that I could tell you how much I used of what, but in the end, I really couldn't. I had decided that I was going to "dip dye" this lot, and that I wanted a yellow base and brownish goldish colors (that was the plan, anyway) I took a few packs of yellow koolaid and disolved them in water in a bowl. Then I looked at the color wheel. Purple was on the other side, so I added a few drops of purple to tone down the yellow. That was going to be my base color.

Then I took yellow or orange and added either blue or purple (those "opposite" colors on that wheelie thingy) and made a few other shades I wound up fairly happy with.



I took the skein out of it's soak, squeezed out some of the excess water, and dunked the whole bit into the bowl of toned down yellow. Then I took it out, set it aside, dumped the clear water left in the bowl and took the next lightest color, the more orangy one, and poured it into the bowl. Once again, I dunked, but this time only a part of the skein. I did this twice more, going from lightest to darkest shades, and leaving a gap of plain yellow for good measure.

I stuck it in the microwave for two-ish minutes and then lay it out to cool for about an hour (although it was probably cool in 10 minutes...but I had other things to do).



Then I gave it a bath in sudsy wool wash and rinsed and hung it in the utility room sink.



I'm pretty happy with the colors so far, but it's yet to dry, so I'll have to get back to you on my final verdict.

Now, on to other things. I had the intention of spinning something over this weekend, and having the "poodle trauma still fresh in my mind, I though perhaps a change of fibre would be in order...to give me new incetive...a new zest for the spin.

Not too long ago, my friend from Moseley Park Shop had sent me some silk caps that she had dyed with some Koolaid I had sent her (aren't we knitters a sharing bunch??!!??), so I though..yeah...silk..that's the ticket. I'm not sure what exactly I had expected. When the package with the silk caps had arrived, I had looked at them, even taken them out and felt of them, but I guess I hadn't examined them all that much. When I took them out this weekend with the intention of working with them, I discovered all sorts of things I hadn't counted on.

For instance, did you know that silk caps really do look like caps? Well, I didn't. But when you open it up, it does look like those little paper caps I used to make in grade school. Cute, but what on earth do I do with it?




Faced with this delimma, I consulted the Google Gods, and found this website with pretty dang good instructions on how to make rovings out of your cap.

So I separated the layers and came up with very very filmy stuff.



Then I poked a hole in the center of that and stretched and stretched and stretched until I had this HUGE circle of silky roving.


(that's a two dollar coin in the picture)

And came up with what looks like the right thickness..although I think the thickness is optional depending on how thick you want your yarn to be.



But now, I can't find any good advice on how to actually spin it. The fibres are so long...and ordinarily I would say that is a good thing, since I cannot handle shortish wool fibres...but these are so long I'm not sure how to draft it. I've read that you can't get silk to be smooth, that is, it will have texture, but I don't want it positively bumpy.

So, I've requested help from some spinners I know on Ravelry, and I'm awaiting thier advice at this point.

That's pretty much how my weekend went. Hubby is due back sometime this afternoon, but by then I suppose I will be in bed sleeping, getting ready for work tonight. Meanwhile, I'll play around on here trying to work out what my next sock project will be. Must cast on...must cast on..

Who says life aint fair?

Yesterday I was determined to get some spinning done, but I must admit, I didn't get to that until late. What I really wanted to do was dye some of my fleece I have around here, particularly the white alpaca, but when I saw how much work preparing the fleece was, I shelved that for another day.

Instead, I picked up my socks and go the heel turned. How fun was that? Ok, not much, but it's done now. I sat at the computer and did it, with the tutorial on the screen in frount of me, and an audio book playing on WMP. Using the Magic Loop 2 socks at once technique, you do have to do the heels one at a time, which I did. I think I did a much better job of picking up the wraps neatly following this tutorial. The results certainly look neater than my last heel turning effort.



The socks on the tutorial are anklets, so I'm on my own for the leg part, and I still haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do with them. Some type of rib I suppose, or maybe a cable. I'll figure that out today.

But speaking of audio books, I had promised myself that during my extra free time this week I would figure out how to get audio books online onto a CD I could play in my car, or, well, anywhere. I love listening to audio books on my drive to work, or when I knit, but they are so expensive. You can get some audio book downloads online for free, and granted they are mostly classics and such, but until I can find some people that want to trade around with me, it will be perfectly fine. I like classics really, and I found a good site that has some of the best in classic romance..jane austen, the brontes, etc. I already knew how to download off the site, of course, but librivox had really clear instructions about which download served what purpose and a GREAT guide to get them burnt to CD properly using iTunes. So I downloaded Itunes and to my amazement, all my other saved libraries showed up on there, which I though was an awesome timesaver. I took a book from there that I had already downloaded, and whaaa-la, getting it burnt to disc was easy peasy. Mission accomplished!

My dye job from the day before I dryed, and the colors have came out exactly as I wanted them. I was afraid, once dry, they would become too light, which is always a chore, trying to guess the color once it dries, but these batches came out exactly as planned. Yippeeee!




Around 8pm I FINALLY pulled the spinning wheel and fiber out, and started up a new bobbin. I realize that this is heaps easier with the proper roving, done up in the proper way. I haven't paid much attention to the fleece preparation part of things..I just wanted to hop right in and get to spinning. I'm seeing now that it might have been worthwhile to investigate. I'm thinking though, I might start buying a few tops and such rather than fleeces, at least until I get the hang of the spinning thing.

I spun on and off for a couple hours last night, using some rovings a workmate gave me. There's a lovely grey, and a brown. I'm thinking I will spin a bobbin of each and then ply them together, although frankly, I'm not at all sure how much yarn I can get out of each roving, so those plans may change. As it is, I started with the grey, and did get some results.




The trouble I'm finding with spinning is keeping the singles a consistent thickness, but I hear that's common with new spinners, so I'm not too fussed. The big trouble though is that spinning hurts my back after a little while, and I find I have to get up, take a break, stretch, and do other things and then come back to it. I'm going to try shifting where I sit today, types of chairs, that sort of thing to see if it helps.

This morning the long anticipated knock on the door came! I could have kissed the AusPost van driver, but I was afraid she would run screaming and not drop the package first. Couldn't risk that, so I just grabbed my package and gave her a grinning ear to ear thank you and closed the door in her face, parcel hugged to my chest like a precious newborn. My Peace Fleece was here. I ripped it out of the bag, I held it, I looked at it carefully, noticing all the little nuances of color, the lovely pastel flecks in the Zarya Fog



the bright cheerfullness of the Chick Masala,


and the subtle but powerful hue of the Sheplova Mushroom.



I fingered its texture, feeling the yarn slide between my fingers, the sleekness of the wool and the prickly feel of the mohair. I put it to my nose and smelt that distinctive clean wool smell. I breathed in deep, then sighed. I'm in love. Again.

So I took my yarn up lovingly, color by color, and posed it for the inevitable photo shoot. For this, I opened the curtains of the bay window to give my new babies the proper lighting. Still, it's hard to capture the true glory of the colors on camera. Particularly the Sheplova Mushroom, whose closeups, even after several tries, failed to satisfy me.

I have enough Zarya Fog for a jumper or cardi, enough Chickie Masla for a shawl or a bolero perhaps, and enough Sheplova Mushroom for a hat, scarf, and mittens. Rough ideas of course. I have no concrete plans. Of course, it will have to be something big for the Zarya Fog. Having that many of the same dye lot begs not to be broken up, but really, the small possiblities are endless with the other two.

I'm on cloud nine! My house is a mess. There is wool flung everywhere. My open plan living/dining room has knitting and books on the couch, wool piled in chairs and on the floor, dry dyed wool hanging from the backs of the kitchen chairs ready to be wound, rovings and spinning wheel in the middle of it all. It truly looks like a mad crafty person lives in it now.



Chris would have a heart attack, but then, he's not due back until late tomorrow. It's just such a timesaver for a crafter if you can leave everything put, ready to pick up again when the whim takes you there. Or at least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Now, I go to fix up a few things on Rav, figure out what pattern I want to do the leg of my socks in, and spin till my fingers fall off. Aint life grand???