On and on and on...

Lace knitting has always been one of my favorite things to do.  This one has been quite a challenge because it's boring in the middle. The middle part of this shawl has a 6 row repeat that needs to be done 30 time.  It takes over an hour to do the 6 rows.  I'm 15 repeats in to. Ugh. I think it will all be worth it because the pattern is lovely. It's a free knitty pattern called Anthemion. I started it LAST MAY and I'm half way done. This is hands down the longest knitting project I have ever done.

Madder-Dyed Scarf

 Once the loom was warped the weaving went really fast---done in one afternoon.  It had been a while since I had used the loom so I had forgotten how long it takes to warp and how fast the weaving part goes. My little madder-dyed scarf was made by using 3 types of handspun yarns in the warp.  They were all dyed with madder and alum. Then I used the yarn that was dyed with madder and "saddened" with iron for the weave.

Dyeing with Madder

From left to right:
1. handspun wool that was once dyed with cutch then over-dyed with madder with an alum mordant
2. hand carded, hand spun blended alpaca that I spun last month, dyed madder/alum
3. Norwegian White hand spun dyed with madder/alum
4. Norwegian White hand spun dyed with madder/iron

I've been dyeing.
These are the yarns that I'm using for a little weaving project. I'm warping the loom now.

Sometimes you just have to stop.

 I really don't like hand carding.  Forgetting this fact, I started a little blending project. Using several kinds of natural colored alpaca I hand carded about 40 little tuffs to spin from.  After carding about 3 I remembered: I really don't like hand carding.  Ah, but my drum carded definitely will not work with alpaca. So I carried on...

After making one skein of two ply yarn, I terminated the project. Spinning, for me,  is suppose to be enjoyable. Now I'm going to get out the drum carder and some WOOL and have some fun.

Norwegian White

 Have you ever heard of the breed Norwegian White?  I hadn't until I saw some top at Weaving Works: Norwegian White Top for $1.70/oz.   I bought about 8 oz and begun to spin it up into a lace weight yarn. It's so soft!  The breed Norwegian White was not in any of  my reference books so I googled it.  There's not much information out there. It became an official breed in 2001.

 I'm loving the Norwegian White and getting ready for my next dyeing project by spinning up some white skeins. I wonder how it will take dye? Stay tuned, we'll find out.

knitting

I'm still here... knitting.

A Green Spring

 Seattle got to experience a few days of glorious weather. The sun inspires me to dye because I know it will help me dry in a fraction of the time it would take indoors.  This time I decided to try a dye brand that's new to me even though it's been around since 1879.  I bought Cushing's Olive Green, Green, and Bright Green.  I started with the Bright Green and dyed 8 oz  Norwegian White roving. I had never heard of Norwegian White before but a google search got me up to speed on this type of wool.  After spending just an half hour on the stove, I left the roving in the dye pot over night. In the morning the water was clear.  I drained it off and rinsed the roving and laid it outside to dry.  It was almost 70 degrees out and by evening the roving was dry.

Now the rain it back and I can sit inside and spin up my spring time yarn.