Sunday, August 16, 2009

Week of Fun
This week I have been just messing around knitting, spinning and dyeing -- doing some things I have been wanting to do and a little bit of experimentation. One thing I wanted to do was dye some of the "mixed" blueface leicester roving that arrived about a week ago. This is a mix of ecru and brown -- heather like. I am always telling my spinner friends to ply two very different colorways together to see what happens, because you might be very surprised at how beautiful the yarn turns out. So . . . . just to prove the point, I dyed two quite different rovings:
Here are the singles on separate bobbins:
And then plied --

And skeined -- wow, do those two colorways look good together. What a fabulous pair of socks this skein would make!
I had been forever eyeing a skein of Polwarth handspun that I had spun months ago from some of Francine's "Badlands" colorway (Rovings.com). I found a chevron pattern that I really liked and began knitting this scarf. I really love knitting this kind of pattern because the colors create bands that look like you have changed yarns but with the handspun, there is no need to change yarns and no ends to weave in. One of the best reasons to spin your own yarn.

Another thing on my "to do" list is to continue working on the felted vest I started at Golden Gate Fiber Institute. This is a work in progress as I continue to add top stitching with my handspun yarn. Hem stitching to clean up the raw edges:
Stitching on the back.
Full view -- front and back. Buttons and beading to come. Armholes need to be finished, too.


Another thing on my lengthy list was to break out the silk chiffon that I had in a drawer in my studio -- the same silk that Loyce Ericson dyed for us for our felting class at Golden Gate Fiber Institute. I wanted to dye the silk I have and then do another felting project using the skills I learned in Loyce's class. This, again, is an experiment and a work in progress and here's what I have so far. Silk chiffon with dye, ready to be zapped in the microwave:
Yippee! It worked -- my silk fabric drying in the sun.
Silk fabric all dry and ready to use. Here's one of my merino/bombyx silk hand-dyed rovings that I will use in this project -- probably end up being a shawl.
And did I mention that Loyce's class was one of funnest (?) classes I have ever taken. I would take any of her classes again in a heartbeat.

Pictures from Golden Gate Fiber Institute
While perusing the Carolina Homespun group on Ravelry, I saw that Heather had posted pictures she took of some of the classes and Point Bonita, many from her dyeing class with Darlene Hayes. If you missed GGFI this summer, are thinking about going in the future, want to see what it's like, check out these pictures. They give you a nice sampling of the fun to be had. I am ready to sign up for next summer.

Spinning at Common Threads - Aug. 21st
Just a reminder that a few of us spinners will be meeting at Common Threads in Encinitas this coming Friday, August 21st, from about 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Anyone who wants to join us with their wheel is welcome.

Sunday afternoon -- gotta go have some more fun!

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