Undyed fiber report

There's been so much application of dye to fiber around here of late, that it's something of a relief to have some naturally colored fiber to play with. I've been plugging away on the Gotland (halfway to the required yardage, with another full bobbin and starting another one tonight), but I decided I needed a break, and I'm spun up the Hebridean fleece for the colorwork.

This stuff started out looking like this:


There were some intact locks.

The staple length was about 3-4 inches, and the fiber had some really nice crimp!

I had 68 grams of raw fleece, and after washing I had about 60 gr left.

I carded that up, after tossing out the bits that were too matted or scurfy to be worth messing with. This box full of rolags,

Ended up as approximately 70 yds of lovely 2-ply yarn.

This was really nice to spin - it drafted pretty well (better then the Gotland for sure!) - and the resulting yarn has a nice bounce, although it's not the softest in the world. Sadly, 70 yds is only about half of the required yardage! I do have a couple of other lots of black/brown fiber (Black Welsh Moutain, some Jacob), so the plan is to use the Hebridean for the colorwork on the arms of the sweater, and spin up probably the Black Welsh for the hem and yoke. We'll see how it goes.

Fibreholics unite!

This week has been all about finishing up the dyeing for the next update, and packing up a bunch of samples for the next round of sample boxes from The Fibreholics UK. For those of you not familiar with them, Fibreholics UK is a sampler box scheme (similar to the Phat Fiber boxes in the US) that gives customers the opportunity to try small samples of yarn or fiber from UK independent dyers.

The first set of samples I'm providing should look pretty familiar.

Leaf Peepers BFL

There will be larger bumps of this available in the shop. The other half of samples are in a similar, autumnal color range, and will also be available in 4 oz bumps in the shop.

Salamander on Wensleydale

I'm really excited to be part of Fibreholics, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity for a bunch of new people to try some of this stuff. Boxes go on sale 1 October.

Baby present #2

Some good friends of ours had their first baby six weeks ago, and it's been so much fun to whip up teensey tiny sweaters in a few days. This particular project took a bit longer, but not much...

Pattern: Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket by Celeste Young
Yarn: Stylecraft Life Aran (light blue, 75% acrylic/25% wool), approximately 530 yds, and Stylecraft Special Aran with wool (dark blue, 80% acrylic/20% wool), approximately 420 yds.
Hook: US H/5.0 mm
Gauge: after sending through the washer and dryer, 5 dc/4 rows per 1.5 inches.
Start/finish: 24 August - 9 September 2012
Comments/mods: my second real crochet project completed - hooray! This was a good second project - similar construction to the potholders (crocheting around and around and around and around and...), similar techniques (changing colors), but on a much larger scale - the finished blanket was 41 inches across from point to point.

But...the whole thing is constructed entirely out of double crochet stitches with a few chains thrown in at the points. It was really useful to me to do something that didn't require worrying about different stitches so I could focus on how placement of the stitches altered the shape of the blanket.

The trickiest bit was the center, but after the pattern was established, it was clear sailing.

I don't usually use mostly-acrylic yarns, but having lived through two babies, the ability to throw anything associated with them straight in to the washing machine and the dryer is just too important. This yarn was fine to use - no discernable squeaking! - and softened up really nicely after going through the wash. I'd use it again for baby stuff for sure.

Neglected FOs

OK, school has started, some of the school run bugs have been worked out, and I suddenly have a bunch of hours in my day when I'm not being called upon to feed anyone or read books or mediate in the latest round of she-took-my-toy-she-touched-me-she's-looking-at-me! There are a number of things that I finished up over the summer but never blogged about, which does tend to make me feel like they're not actually really finished.

Up first, Lady Stark's Clapotis.


So named because of the colorway of the fiber.

Yarn: handspun BFL/silk from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club (July 2011 offering), colorway "Night Gathers" (Thank you GRRM!), 460 yds of DK/sport/fingering weight singles (8 oz).
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm, I think. I forgot to put that little detail into my project page on Ravelry, and I finished the darn thing three months ago, so I have no idea.
Start/finish: 17 May - 3 June 2012.
Comments/mods: this is the second time I've knit this pattern. The first time (also in handspun) I did some mods as recommended by the intarwebs (i.e. knitting the first and last stitch of each stockinette band through the back loop to keep it tighter). I did a similar mod this time around, although only on the right side. I worked the increase section, weight the yarn, worked straight until I had enough (by weight) to work the decrease section, and ended up using every last inch. Mostly I spent my time hypnotized by watching the colors appear...






Is that too many pictures?

Shades of things to come

I've been doing a bunch of dyeing of late, getting up to speed for a shop update in September after school starts, and I found one of the new colorways irresistable.


There was a chill in the air this morning that means autumn might be just around the corner (although given the weather over the past few months, it will be 35 degrees by the end of the next week). Sadly, here in the UK we don't get the same brilliant colors that cover the trees in New England, but this fiber is a pretty close match!

I couldn't help myself - BFL is totally one of my favorite fibers!

Most of the 4 oz became a three-ply, but the leftover singles from two bobbins went together pretty well too.

This was the first non-natural colored spinning I've done in quite a while, and I whizzed through it. The singles were all spun up in one evening (fractal spin: I split the length of top into three equal lengths, then spun one from the entire width, one split in half and one split into quarters). The plying was done the next day (gotta love summer holidays!). I've got about 100 yds of bulky 3-ply that I think is going to become a cowl of some sort. Gotta go crawl through the stitch dictionaries...