Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Spinning Kid Mohair Locks


Being a spinner/knitter I cringe at the thought of acrylic yarn but really like the look of the furry novelty yarns... here is my acrylic-free version. This is dyed kid mohair locks, spun "Z", then plied "S" with a silk thread, and plied again "Z" with silk thread. I washed the yarn and gave it a good whack while it was still wet to help it "bloom", brushed it up with a soft bristled brush and hung it to dry.... What a fun yarn to spin and knit with!!

Emily and Mo Freckles



Emily and Mo Freckles are our little Angora Goats (Emily on the left, Mo on the right). They are hilarious!! Their personalities are great but their fiber is even better.... I can't wait to shear them in a couple months!

Yakkity-Yak about Spinning Yak....


Yak Fiber... well here is a skein of the light brown that I spun and plied (2-ply). It is soooooo soft and springy... I also did another 2-ply with 1 ply Yak and 1 ply of Angora and it is super soft with a beautiful halo.... Now, the big decision.... what do I do with it?????

Saturday Weaving at Linda's House


Our Weaving Study Group met last weekend at Linda's house. Our leader, Leone, has us studying plain weave.... very simple. Yeah, right! I decided to do hand towels out of cottolin at 20 epi. Well, I wound my warp wrong and ended up with a tangled mess that seemed to take forever to untangle. I thought I had it under control as I took my rigid heddle loom home, warped and ready to weave, only to discover a threading error.... I can see how one might abandon their loom or toss it in the wood stove! I am finally weaving!

Making Slippers


Well, I am still knitting and felting slippers with my hand dyed yarn. I need to make a natural pair with pewter sheep on them... Size 11. Well, I worked up a pair this last week but they were odd looking to say the least! I guess I need to adjust my pattern a little to make them come out right (they looked like tubes!). Anyway, I'll post them if I can get them to turn out right.

Knitting Socks


I wetted some sock yarn for dyeing last week and decided to go ahead and dye the yarn over the weekend. Leave it to me to pick the coldest weekend on record! I had the space heaters going full blast in the garage as I hand painted my 2-lb. skein of yarn. It was hung to dry by the wood stove and I started my sock... It is a little slow going on Size 1 Needles but here is what I've done so far...