Lace Weight Handspun

The Rambouillet-Polypay spun up nicely into a 2-ply lace weight yarn. The prep was mentioned before in a previous post. It is so enjoyable to spin off of locks that have been opened up with the flick carder. It makes a nice smooth worsted yarn. Now I have to decide what to knit with it.

Tired Hands

My hands are tired from combing and spinning. On Saturday I went to the 40th Anniversary of the Whidbey Island Weaver's Spin-in. It was in Oak Harbor. What a wonderful event! Judith MacKensie McCuin spoke to the group about spinning wheels. This was very interesting because I had never heard her speak before. I'm not sure of the head count, but there was over 200 spinners there. That day I worked on the Jacob fleece (see photo below). On Sunday I started spinning some roving that I dyed (see photo above).

Jacob Fleece

Last week while attending our local Northwest Spinner's Association Spin-in at the Ballard Library, I sat next to a very nice woman. I told her about the fleece rugs I'm trying to make, she said she had a fleece that she wanted to give me. This woman left the spin-in to run home and get it. I took one look at the Jacob fleece and told her I wouldn't want to put it in rug, I'd want to spin it! And that's exactly what I've undertaken this week...
After sorting colored sections, I began to wash the locks. I decided that I'd comb this fleece, so I carefully washed the locks between two cooling racks so they would stay aligned. This system worked well. I sandwiched the locks between the wires and then submerged them in hot soapy (Dawn) water. After they soaked for a while I submerged them in a rinse bath and Voila!--clean locks.
Here's a comb loaded with one of the "mixed" color sections.
After two passes...
The waste is on the left and the fiber, ready to spin, is on the right. I used a total of 3 passes on the combs. This is my first time working with a Jacob fleece. I can't wait to spin it!

Spinning for Lace

I've been working on the Cold Mountain lace shawl and it has inspired me to spin some lace weight yarn. Above is a little sample. I started with raw locks from a Rambouillet-Polypay fleece that came from Maplewood North. I washed the locks by holding them in hot water with Dawn and then gentle swishing them in clean water. After they dried, I flick carded the individual locks. Then I spun them up into a two-ply yarn.

Since I'm pleased with the sample, I began washing enough locks to make a skein.

Now I'm on my third try for the Cold Mountain pattern. This time it's working out. I'm using a commercial yarn: Cascade Alpaca Lace. It much better than the soy silk that drove me bonkers.

New Color Combintion

Back when I was dyeing a lot of roving, I attempted to do a black/turquoise combination. The black turned out gray, but I still like the effect. This is merino. Here it is spun up into a 2-ply yarn.

I've been working on a few things, but...

I haven't made a blog entry lately because I have nothing worth showing. The blue skein of 2-ply merino turned out okay. However, my recent knitting projects are big flops.
I got the bright idea that I'd add a thumb gusset to a mitten pattern. The thumb didn't turn out so I cast off to make a fingerless mitt. Boo.
The biggest defeat of all is the Cold Mountain pattern I swore I'd conquer. Well, it kicked my butt. I got to 2 1/2 repeats and gave up. I cast off instead of frogging it because I have a ton of this soy silk and I wont miss the little bit I used. My plan is to try it again with WOOL. That soy silk stuff was slippery and it wasn't enjoyable to knit with.

The Woolly Rug

The woolly rug is done. I thought I'd use a crochet hook and pull the odd long pieces through to the back but I actually like the wild woolly look as is. Now I just need a house with wood floors to put it in.