Sunday, February 28, 2010

Spinning, Hockey, Another Day Off

Spinning spaced-dyed roving is so much fun. I love seeing the colors develop from the fluffy stuff to the string on the bobbin. Today I started the lemony summer colored Blue Faced Leicester while I watched the end of the Olympics. What a Hockey game!

To mix it up a bit, I have a basket of fibers to card. This is actually Shetland (not Cormo like I said before) and angora dyed fire red. If I get tired of spinning I can pick this up for a bit.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Dyeing, Drying, Cleaning Up

The wool locks are beginning to dry. The prepared top is dry and I picked the first one to start spinning today. I've cleaned up most of my dyeing equipment and put it away. Now I'll have lots of fiber to work with over the next few months. I plan on hand carding some of the locks, experimenting with blending. Some of the dye pots were filled with different fibers with the intention that they would be blended together later. Each type of fiber took on the dye in a unique way, so there should be rich dimension to the color in the end. I am excited to have so many kinds of projects to work on!

Friday, February 26, 2010

A Good Day to Dye

I just spent the last 10 hours dyeing. I dyed Blue Face Leicester top, Merino top, Angora, raw Tarhgee, and some Cormo that I had hand washed lock by lock but never spun.
I dug out all non-dyed fiber in the stash went crazy. I used the plastic wrap method for the top and I dyed the locks in pots. All the burners on my stove were going all day.
The roving is now drying on the rack. The two last pots are on the stove and pretty soon I'll have to clean up the whole mess and put all the equipment away. I get so much joy from dyeing. My dream house would have a dye room. For now I just have to transform my kitchen and try to be careful---not to splash and not to contaminate any food or surface that's used for food.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Behold, the SUN!

The sun is out today! It feels like I'm in California or somewhere with blue skies. But no, it's February in Seattle. I haven't spun much lately, but I did process the blue skein above. For my Olympic knitting project, I chose to finish something... the orange shawl I started in the fall (well, started dyeing last July).

Friday, February 12, 2010

Joy Sliding Hook Flyer Review

I got a call on 1/29 saying my new flyer was in at Weaving Works so I went down there and dropped $82.13 ($75.00 plus tax) on it.
I took one look at it and put it back in the box and then left it in my car for over a week. My plan was to get my money back. I had tried to find some reviews or information on-line before I purchased it, but I couldn't find anything. I thought it was like a Woolee Winder---sadly it's not. I kept changing my mind--keep it, take it back, keep it, take it back. I decided to give it a chance.

It screwed on just like the other flyer. I had to adjust the fishing wire and springs, but that was no big deal. I had already spun 2 full bobbins of singles. I used the new flyer to ply the singles. In the end, the new bobbin was not even full! It does hold a lot of yarn.

This is definatly an upgrade for my wheel. Is it worth $75.00? Probably not. But I think I will keep it anyway since thrift and practicality have gone by the wayside.
By the way, I love love love the knitted hats worn by the US Olympic Team!