A Summer Fling

I finished up some of the projects I was knitting with store bought yarn.  This brown tunic is a Norah Gaughan design. The pattern is for a sweater, but I liked the shape and thought it would make a good tunic.  It's a very interesting idea: it's made of only knit stitches--no purling.  You go back and forth on the bottom, sleeves, and collar and the rest is made on a circular. The pattern is call Truro. I used a cotton/linen yarn.

The other project I finished was thd knitty design called Gemini by Jane Richmond.  I doubt if I'll ever wear it.  I'm not sure who I should give it to. It's too boxy for me.  And I was running out of yarn so I scrimped on the sleeves.  I think this was my first ever knitted project made of cotton.  So that was my little break from hand-spun yarn and wool.  I'll call it a summer fling.  I'm going back to my true love...wool.

Cochineal, Logwood, and Tin

 The craze of natural dyeing continues.  I started with a skein made out of flick-carded Romney locks that I spun into a lace weight 2-ply.  I dyed it with cochineal but there was a problem.  The dye didn't take up where I had the ties in the skein.  Also, there was a few dark gray spots on the yarn from me not cleaning the pot well.  To fix the situation I dipped half of the skein in a tin mordant and heated it.  (I had to tie up half the skein so it didn't fall in the dye bath.) Then I added some left over logwood dye liquid to the tin water.  After a little time in the heat, the yarn turned bright purple magenta.

Now I have to decide what to make with it.

Dyeing with Logwood

Last weekend I ventured into a dyeing project. Here's a photo of my adventure. The first dye was with Logwood which I soaked and heated for a half hour and then poured the liquid off.  The darkest purple yarn was achieved with a tin mordant and the first pass through the Logwood dye bath.   Next I took some locks and poured some of the dye bath over them and added a little heat for a short while.  Then I added the roving to the rest of Logwood dye bath.  I didn't mordant the roving, but I assume a little tin residue was probably in the dye bath by that time.  (Or does the mordant always stay on the wool that was previously in the dye bath?) The roving was heating and then it sat over night before I rinsed it out.  The fourth dyeing project was with cochineal.  I used only a heaping tablespoon of the dried bugs, ground them in a coffee grinder (the one that's for dying only), and didn't use a mordant.  The skein was submerged, heated, and left overnight. The result was a nice rosy-pink color.  As you can tell my my description of my dyeing project, I am not a precise dyer.  I don't keep records, I don't measure much, and I don't expect to impress other natural dyers by my techniques.  However, I do enjoy throwing wool in a pot and seeing what happens. If I don't like it, there's always over-dyeing.  ;)

Au Naturale

 When I was down at the Black Sheep Gathering I pick up a few items from the vendors. One item was a pound of mixed natural colored fiber roving from Fantasy Fibers.

 It just caught my eye because I loved the blend of colors. I think it's a blend of wool and alpaca, but I'm not really sure--it seems to be "left overs" from the mill. At $1/oz it was a steal.

This was the first time I spun pencil roving. It spun up fast because there was no fiber prep involved. I spun it up in to a 2-ply. Here's 8 ounces of finished yarn.

A Gem on the Oregon Coast

 We took a little trip to Oregon that included a stop at the Black Sheep Gathering.  I brought my husband along and he hung out in Eugene while I took a lace knitting class. It rained so hard that our tent filled with water and our sleeping bags got soaked so we left a day early and headed to the coast for my 25th year High School get-together (not an official reunion).  We had lots of fun in Florence and then headed up the coast. Just past Depot Bay I saw the truck in this photo.  Roving? Did that just say "Roving"?

Yes! I found this lovely little shop.

 After purchasing several pounds of roving in their down stairs shop I went up and took a look at the weaving studio. These folks give weaving lessons and the students leave with a nice rag rug at the end of the class.  They get selvage from the Pendelton Mill and use that for the weft.The plastic bags in the photo above were filled with colorful wool selvage.  Even my husband who does not weave or spin enjoyed visiting with the couple who owns Elsie's Discount Rovings.

Back in the Yarn Barn

 Yesterday I rearranged the yarn barn so I can open the front door. I had the front door covered with a quilt for the winter because there's no heat in the shed and it had an unbearable draft.  Now that the weather is nicer, I like to leave the door open while I'm in there and let more natural light in.

 I'm spinning lace weight these days, so I thought I'd take a break and spin some woolen.  I actually made a sample! I think it's the first time ever I sampled for a spinning project.  I liked the results so now I'm going to sit down and card a bunch of clouds.

 I'm using some merino roving that I dyed with some black alpaca.  Both are in roving form so I'm carding to blend the colors and fiber types, and to mess up the fibers so they are not aligned.

Now I have fluffy little clouds to be spun woolen style.

Store Bought Yarn

 I've set aside my spinning projects for some knitting.  It all started when I discovered Little Knits yarn store. At first I ordered some yarn on-line, but found it easier to drive to their shop in West Seattle to pick it out myself.  This is a first for me--using store bought yarn. It has allowed me to knit with fibers I do not spin (yet).  I bought some 100% organic cotton, naturally dyed yarn from Samp'a and started the new Knitty pattern "Gemini".

 Then I bought some cotton/linen blend from Nashua Handknits and began a project called Truro.

Also made with store bought yarn: felted slippers.  Even though I'm totally into wool, I've never really taken to felting projects.  I used some Lamb's Pride Bulky for these.  It's 85% wool/ 15% mohair.  After I felted these I took a pair of scissors and trimmed all the mohair that stuck out.  My dog Foxy wouldn't stay out of my photography session.

Little Knits sell close-outs that's why the prices are awesome.  Now that I've gotten my kick with store bought yarn, I'm planning on getting back into spinning.  Later next month I'm take a class on spinning flax, so there's one more fiber I can cross off my list.