Homespun Goodness

I finally plied my singles for the sock monkeys I want to make for the kiddos. I was able to meet up with my spinning buddy on Monday night to use her wheel.

I started with my first wheel spun single: 2 oz of white corridale


And plied it with two 2oz singles of gray BFL/Corrie X that I spun on my kick spindle.



Here are the results:


Both skeins came out to be 68 yds! Don't know how I managed that! The first one has a few spots where the ply twist is underspun but we were having some trouble with friction in the wheel. The second skein is much more even. Over all I am VERY HAPPY with the results.

I even have some of the corriedale left over. It's from the inner bobbin and was some of the first stuff I spun on the wheel (back in October) when I had the tension set too high...boy is that some ENERGETIC yarn!! :)LOL

Dyeing in Black

Ok, so got on ebay to see what kool aid flavors were out there and found this...

Scary Blackberry "Ghoul Aid." Of course, I bought some (read "72 packets")

Skeined up the last of my Fishermen's Knitting Wool (only ~54g left). Tied cotton ties so I would have 5 roughly even portions to dye that would represent ~1/8 of a 100g skein.
Here's the mixes I tested, From bottom right, clockwise: Blackberry, Blackberry + 2 Lemonade, Blackberry + 2 Lemonade+ Ice Blue Raspberry, Blackberry + Lemon Lime, Blackberry + Lemon Lime + Orange.


Yarn added.


Ready to zap...


90 minutes later...the dye baths are all FINALLY exhausted. The BB + LL took the longest to exhaust. I was only zapping for 2 min at a time and letting it rest for 2-5 min in between.


This pic is blurry but it has the best match to the color I see with the naked eye.
From left is BB+LL+Orange, BB, BB+Lemon, BB+Lemon+IBR, BB+LL


Here's with a flash


Blackberry alone


Blackberry + 2 Lemonade


Blackberry + 2 Lemonade + Ice Blue Raspberry


Blackberry + Lemon Lime


Blackberry + Lemon Lime + Orange


Results:
BB alone is a really pretty dark purple.
BB + 2 Lemon is not that different.

The closest to black (in my opinion) is BB +LL. If I was to try it as a stripe on a 1/4 skein I would use 2 BB, 2 LL, and one IBR or berry blue just to liven it up a bit. There are some nice grays but it's pretty flat as it is.

BB + 2 Lemon + IBRL is close to a cool black. There is potential for a nice navy here too.

To get these approximate results on 100g, multiply packets by 8.

I haven't decided if I'm going to over dye the BB + LL + Orange. It kinda reminds of army fatigues. If I do, I'll add more BB or grape.

And there are some pretty cool looking combos at the edges of the dyed sections. I have NO IDEA what I'm gonna make with it :) LOL

Stash building

I've been in a stash building mode recently...I'm not transferring any $$ into Paypal to cover it either :)

Let's see in the last month....
One pound worsted weight BFL from Ashland Bay


4 balls of black Berroco BFL, won on ebay...didn't discover this till after it was discontinued :(


3 balls tan Berroco BFL.swapped with Raveler "happycat" for 150g of purple sport weight yarn.


2 HUGE skeins (250g) Cascade Eco Wool & 3 balls Regia plus cotton (wool, cotton, nylon mix) purchased from Raveler "kinttinfiasco"



I also bought 72 packets of Scary Blackberry Ghoul Aid on ebay and I have lines on some marled white & gray Eco wool, 8 more balls of Berroco BFL, 1200g of Perendale bulky (some purple & some white), and maybe some Cascade Fixation (cotton, elastic) in white.

Gotta wait for PP to refill :)LOL

Solar Yarn Dyeing with Kool Aid

Well, I did it!
I've been wanting to use my sun room to dye yarn for a while now, but wasn't sure it was going to get hot enough to set the colors. After a few info-seeking posts on a couple web forums I finally jumped in and did it.

We started at noon when the sun room was about 83F.
Started with this...
100g undyed, aran wt BFL, pre-soaked in warm water.

The colors: Cherry, Mandarinas, & Lemonade
All Kool-Aid flavors.

The ratios:
1 packet per 1/6 of skein for Cherry & Mandarinas.
2 packets per 1/6 skein for Lemonade with...

just a DASH of Mandarinas.

Add water.


Add yarn

Watch thermometer (it's on some diapers that were "sunning" too)...I have since learned that wool needs to get to 180F in order for the color to set (170F for silk).
It only got up to 60F outside.

Exhausted yellow & red dye baths (after 7hrs)

Let it sit in some vinegar water for a bit then gave it one 2-minute zap in the microwave for good measure (I was nervous about the orange even tho it was BARELY bleeding in the rinse).

Done :) Destined to become a pair of shorties for Owen.


Things I'd do different next time:
1) Stir the dye baths sooner than 5hrs into the process (temp was already going down).
2) Cover table with black cloth & move into direct, unshaded sun (top of sun room is tinted).
3) Try to be more patient...boy that's really hard!
4) Add vinegar to the orange (see below) & red (just in case)

I also threw in some test strands of Paton's Classic Merino already dyed in the "Camel" colorway. I've got 6 skeins & big plans :)
I DID pre-mordant this with vinegar (did not with the bare yarn).


UPDATE:
As I rinsed, the orange was faintly bleeding into the water. I thought I just needed to rinse more...but it didn't stop. I zapped it in the microwave & let it sit overnight in vinegar water...no change. Accidently rinsed with warmer water & MORE orange came out (follicle opening?).
After getting some advice/reminder about acid + heat = set color, I piled it into a pyrex dish with orange on the bottom. Covered only the orange with vinegar water (wet the other sections just a tad) & zapped it a few more times. I think/hope/pray that it's FINALLY set.
Pic after all that with no orange in the water..YAY!!


Ok...now I'm mad...at myself!
I blame my inexperience.
While I was rinsing after the above pic was taken, I saw that some red & orange had contaminated my yellow!! SO UPSET!!!
So now I'm overdyeing the yellow with two more packets in the microwave.

Pic of orange-infiltration of yellow. It is not complete. About 1/2 of each segment is still plain yellow. I guess I'll have to be ok with it.

EERRRAHHHHRRRGG!!
I'm sure the sun-dyeing had nothing to do with all my troubles. I'll just have to try it again to prove it.

"Firestorm" dried & reskeined

Fiber Fun Day: Part 2

After leaving BSSW, we went straight to Alpaca Fest '08 in East Peoria...I had already been planning on taking Serena after J got back from work. PLUS it was on the way home so we HAD to stop :)LOL

Very cool!
Lots of stuff for sale...all way too expensive (there's that penny pincher again). I REALLY wanted to get some yarn & may be some roving to try spinning it but my wallet was gasping at the price tags.

Got some rally cute pics of the alpacas tho.

Here's some judging going on...


A brave alpaca sniffing Serena's hand...


Here are some of my faves...




My ABSOLUTE faves...


I did find a booth (Augusta Creek Farms from Augusta, Michigan) that had some dk/sport wt yarn (just what I was looking for) at really good prices (she wanted to clear last year's inventory before this year's came in).
So I got 1 skein of fawn & 1 skein of dark brown.

I also got a 1oz bump of lavender roving that Serena liked...which I will spin AFTER I know more about what I'm doing when spinning.

There is quite a bit of veggie matter in the yarn & roving, but it'll be ok.

It's official...Fiber Snob

I went to the LYS in Morton yesterday, "Ewe-nique Yarns Etc" and spent ~1.5hrs there (a lot of it chasing my 10mo son out of the floor level yarn bins). I touched every type of 100% wool they had & only found 2...count 'em 2 that i thought were soft enough to buy...and they have a LARGE selection. Now that doesn't count the wool/synthetic blends...they were soft, but they're blends...not really interested. And that also doesn't count the non-sheep's wool...ooooo, baby alpaca :) I was disappointed that even most of the merino & merino blends were not very soft either :( not that I'd get them either (too delicate & pilly). But it makes me glad that I haven't purchased that much off the internet...I've been hesitant cuz I haven't touched it.

So what DID I buy? I'd been looking for a wool, wool/cotton blend, or cotton yarn to make some leggings for dd to wear next winter under dresses but was not happy with what I'd found. Was afraid anything merino would lose the elasticity in the ribbing, and did not want a lot of (if any) synthetic. Result? Alpaca With a Twist, Baby alpaca...SO SOFT!! The color is darker than I'd originally wanted (off-white), but it should work fine & not show so much dirt.


So now, what to do about yarn I want to use for myself & my family?
Well, the two commercial brands I liked were Aussi Wool by Oasis Yarns & Ecological Wool by Cascade Yarns.
Anything else is gonna have to be Blue Faced Leicester or hand spun by me from the Black Socks Sheep & Wool farm. Just heard from the shepherd today, they've been busying with lambing. I can stop by Friday or Saturday, YAY!!

I think I'm gonna take all that Paton's back to Michael's. Why do I waste my time there?

I've been on a "Wool Bender"

Otherwise known as a "wool shopping spree."
I need help...but I don't really want it :)

This is what I bought at Hobby Lobby on Friday.

2 skeins of Bernat Felting in happy Bouquet.

This is what I bought at Michael's Saturday afternoon.

6 skeins of Patons Classic Merino & 1 skein of Lion Wool for felting.

And take a look at what I found in the mail on Sunday (delivered Saturday).

200g of Blue faced Leicester Aran wt in Natural/undyed & Country Patchwork...YAY!