My latest yarn play. I dyed a ton of yarn ( details in previous post ) with a mind to knit them into an autumney-equinoxey sort of thing, but now I think not. I’m calling this colorway ‘curry blend’, or maybe ‘marigolds’ . Anyway, I think it fitting for my recent post-pattern-writing crash, to continue to chill out with a clean slate for a while. Just knit socks, socks, and more socks, and not have anything big brewing beyond re-writing Penny Candy Socks pattern for the remainder of Spring. Oh, just look at these cheerful balls of yarn perched , happily waiting for whatever comes. I am very pleased with the dye this time !
Category: Dyery
Am I Kidding Myself?
This is just what I asked myself when I was finished spinning up this Suri Alpaca , as I ended up with only about three-quarters of a bobbin full when all plied. What a gross miscalculation. You see, I only used half of what I had stashed of roving, ready to be spun up in this post here , thinking that would be well enough for a nice fat skein. I was kidding myself ! All that dying , all that spinning, all that fuss… for a wee 180 yd skein of very purple, and very fine weight of alpaca.
So, here it is. Cute . Spirited. Very purple indeed.
I panicked. I thought, how can I give a very special knitter a very special gift of such a small single skein of 180 yards? I thought , well, maybe quick get something to accompany it, um, like one of those “One Skein Wonder” books. Yeah! Well, so I just ordered one last night, and with expedited shipping, thinking I’d have the whole thing to bundle up and send off by the end of the week. Great ! My “What was I thinking?” situation solved nicely.
* * *
So now that I’m waiting for the book to arrive, my thoughts drift. They become “ I really could spin up some of that odd left-over tussah silk roving I have stashed. ” Except that Nora’s Mom asked for purple, and there’s no denying , this silk roving was dyed roses and maroon. I dyed it myself a few years ago. (It’s the very same silk which I spun, in fact, and is featured in the banner of this blog.) Well, I happen to have a box load of dyes, and I ended up overdyeing an already dyed bunch of roving. Adding separately and blended, navy and crimson, I managed to get a nice deep purply wine… really needed a lot of rinsing though. Though not quite purple, more cabernet, I think it will accompany the alpaca well, and what could be better than a nice book and a skein of yarn? Two skeins of yarn ! I dyed, dried, and then set into spinning like wildfire.
Ready for a good washing and rinsing, here she is, just wound off of the bobbin.
And as I talked about in Yarn Candy , searching for just the right lighting to show the color.
Sometimes it’s the whole of the sum of several photos
which grasps the trueness of tones
and hues.
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~ Edited In ~
All ready to go ; 234 yards of tussah silk , 180 yards of suri alpaca, and one book .
Off to New York !
Handspun for Fair Isle
Spun from gorgeous long staple and soft New Zealand Top roving which I often purchase by the half-pound, at Dharma Trading Co. in San Rafael. I dyed the roving with Jaquard powder acid dye, various reds and maroons, and this spun up to the finest yarn I’ve spun to date.
Smitten with Fair Isle knitting I really tried to emmulate the Shetland yarn while spinning this, and though I thought I spun fine enough, when plied together, the yarn is still not fine enough. Though it is pretty fine anyway, that is a dime in the photo ! Perfect amount of spin, good evenness throughout, and made a lovely loft !