Monday, April 12, 2010

Back in the Saddle

With many of my duties completed and with a determined effort to ignore the rest, I spent a nice amount of time this weekend hanging with my spinning wheel. My big ol'box of fleece was taunting me each time I passed it on the way to do laundry. "Put down that basket! We are over here!" Eyes straight ahead, I marched past. Steady, cold-hearted even. But by Friday, I started poking around in the box, deciding which of my lovelies would be first.


Oh yes. This was the fleece painted by Moonlightbaker. I am a sucker for green and purple together. I was a little worried that it would end up a brownish grey mess, as can sometime happen if you aren't careful, but chain plying seemed to do the trick. Nice, eh?

What's next?


The carbonized bamboo. I was really curious what a 100% carbonized bamboo yarn would be like. It was not so fun to spin, being rather slippery and fussy. I didn't fill a bobbin but made just enough for an experimental skein. The result is much like a high quality cotton - very soft with no elasticity. I am knitting it into a lacy short scarf. The colour is really lovely but I don't think I will spend more time making 100% skeins: not quite enough bang for the buck. A lesson learned. But I think it could be pretty amazing blended with some merino.

And finally, this.

Superwash BFL painted by Capistrano Fiber Arts. I have never spun superwash before and I have heard less than positive things about it, but this was a dream to spin. Maybe it was because I was just coming off of spinning the bamboo but it felt like I hardly had to even hold it in my hands and it was spinning itself. I am very pleased with how it came out. At 270 yds, it isn't quite enough for a pair of socks, which was my goal. But I happen to know where I can find more.

In addition to these skeins, I have numerous hats ready to put into my etsy shop. They await some lovely models to show off their qualities. I have been looking at my friends with a mercenary eye...

No comments: