Posts Tagged yarn

What’s on the wheel; Whats happeing around here

Well, this week, I have been working hard, AND hardly working.

I have gotten a fair bit of spinning done, and have no less than 5 skeins of yarn all spun up and in some stage of the process of being skeined, washed, and ready for photos.  I’ll show off a few-

This one is Polwarth wool, and it is scrumptious soft. this one is only a bit over 2 ounces, but it is over 150 yards, and very pretty.

Merino wool in pastel colors... this was at least 4 ounces, and there is a fair bit of length here... its probably somewhere between sport and DK weight...

This one is a finer yarn, about a light fingering weight, 2 plied with a lower plying twist than usual. It is superwash BFL and was meant to be lace, but I feel like it is thicker than a typical lace, though I have not measured the WPI yet. There is over 400 yards here, but there IS one knot in the yarn where there was apparently a weakness in both plies that I did not account for. Boy, that hasn't happened in a LONG time. It will go in the shop, but as a slight second because of the knot.

One of the yarns I spun up in the last few days is a Jacob wool batt that I had dyed pink while it was still locks.  I took video of the spinning, meaning to create a series of videos on spinning batts using different methods, but sadly, the video camera did not want to pic up the images (too low light) and just shows a big (fat from pregnancy) sillohette.  bah humbug on that.  I guess I need a better camera… but how to afford that?

On another note, whats going on here is a bit of chaos.  We spent a chunk of money a few weekends ago on 2 new appliances, a stand up freezer that we meant to put in our pantry, and a water softener.

We realized right away AFTER it arrived, that the freezer was no way no how getting into that pantry.  the room was plenty large (its a huge pantry) but the door?  far to small.  by inches.  even with the doors off both the pantry AND the freezer.

Oh well.  the freezer is now running in the cellar (up on cinder blocks) and is being steadily filled with good things.  I have been cooking giant batches of food and stockpiling for after baby is born.  so far, there is a meal of stuffed peppers down there, 2 sheperd’s pies, and 2 pans of baked mac and cheese.  Yum.  next will be baked ziti, and after that possibly lasagna.  we’ll see how industrius I am feeling.

The water softener, we needed so badly.  Our water is a 14 on the hardness scale.  If you don’t know what that means… well, my understanding is that 7 is considered hard.  10 is VERY hard, and 14?  we might as well be just eating sand.

Sadly, the water softener, while it DID get hooked up last weekend, is still not running and softening our hard water.  My wonderful husband was trying to save us some money and him some work, and figured that he would just let the water softener recharge itelf into a big tub… since we have no drainage down there.  well.  the tub was too small, and we wound up with an inch deep of water across the whole cellar floor.  thank goodness that freezer is on cinder blocks.

SO, this weekend, he will be installing a utility sink down there, and connecting the water softener directly to the sewage pipe.  (for the drainage).  He figures, if he is gonna have to cut into the pipe to connect for drainage, he might as well get a sink out of the process too.  he is working very hard to turn the cellar into a usable work space, and this will also allow the de-humidifier to drain directly into the sink too, eliminating his every few days trip to empty the basin for that.

We are getting closer to baby time too.  As of this coming sunday, I will be 36 weeks along… further if you go by the date my dear husband is using (somehow he keeps marking wednesday as the week turner) but I will happily keep thinking it will be May 23 for a due date.  I know, you see, that the baby is more likely to be late than early, and I would rather not be thinking that baby is late before I have to.

Now, after having typed far too long, I am sure I have lost the interest of all but the staunchest readers, so I will end for today, and say, may you have happy spinning, knitting, or just browsing the web time, until you join me again!

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Photo Friday

Here we are again, Photo Friday, and the first in April.  With that in mind, lets get on. :)

Here is April's PhatFiber contribution- It is "Ladybug Tweed" in honor of the theme "all creatures great and small", and includes merino, bamboo, and silk noil. These are all hand-dizzed rovings from the drum carder, and each sample comes with its own little mascot Ladybug Stitch marker.

Falklands wool Dyed by a friend, I am calling this one "Riverbed" because of the lovely greens and blues and even a bit of browns it contains. a soft, lofty yarn, somewhere around worsted weight.

Super pretty, Shiny, 3 ply Sock yarn, From a SW Merino/Tencel blend... "Just Roses"

Happy Friday, and Happy Easter!

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Photo Friday

Photo Friday!  and I have new batts, and new yarn, and progress pics on the CPW to share!  Enjoy!

"Shocking!" - Merino, firestar, and angelina, 4.6 ounces. Coming soon to the Shop.

Handspun yarn - contains Alpaca, Merino, Milk Fiber, firestar, and angelina! a little eclectic, but pretty!

After a bath in denatured alcohol, here she is! (still needs the drive wheel to be finished, and some touch up in spots, then a nice oil bath!)

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Photo Friday

Ok, Sorry, once again, I am pretty late with my Photo Friday… but, at least it’s still Friday, right?

So, here are the pics, stuff that got hit with the camera today:

"Sunshine" - This is 3oz. of dized roving straight off my drum carder. Merino and Firestar. Because during a winter like this one (and here we don't get much sun) everyone needs a little extra sunshine.

"Surprise Me" - Batt 2 in the series. Another one of my whatever falls into the carder batts. this has a little bit of anything I may have carded up anytime in the past, leftovers and stuff. Full of color, its lots of fun.

THis one doesn't have a name yet. but it's a luscious soft merino dyed in pinks and purples and even a bit of blue. I haven't measured the WPI yet, but this is over 7oz and looks to be somewhere around a heavy worsted... YUM

So there you have it.  The fruits of my afternoon’s photo session.  Don’t worry, I did other things too, I just didn’t do a ton of photos today.  I did lots on Wednesday, and you have seen some of those already in the shop.  Today, when these were done, I finished spinning some low twist singles yarn (that I am still not sure how it will come out when it dries) and played with some other fibers…

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Photo Friday

Yikes!  I had a very busy Photo Friday today!  But, I have pictures.  Later than usual, but here they are!

I haven't come up with a name for this one yet, maybe you can think of something. This is Merino/Silk yarn, and there is about 450 yards in 4oz here. Lovely, lovely yarn!

This one is Superwash BFL, 3 ply. I haven't measured the WPI yet, but looking, I think it is probably about a sport weight, and there is somewhere between 250-300 yards here. (I promise, I do have it written down, its just not here in front of me at the moment.)

Merino yarn, spun somewhat thick and thin on one ply (mostly towards the thick side), and thin on the other ply. It has a really cool effect, that wavy look I am starting to love.

This is my very first Art yarn, all washed and whacked. It really came out very cool, and is basically a thread-wrapped yarn with little coiled cocoons every few inches. This was spun from my own layered batts, one of which will be in the shop very soon.

A close-up shot of that Art Yarn

Sherbert Swirls - This is Punta fiber I got in a swap a while ago, one white ply and one blue and green ply. Very pretty!

Uraguayan Merino - so pretty and soft!

Finally, the Fiber! This one is "Electric". It is a blend of merino and firestar, and it was MEANT to be peacocky batts... but you know what? This does not say peacock to me. It says more of-- Electric! So there you are.

And this one. This is a blended Batt version of my Earthy Princess colorway. I haven't done Earthy Princess in a long time, but it was a colorway I very much loved. So here it is again, with a happy blend of about 70% merino, 30% bamboo!

Ok, so I was late posting my Photo Friday pics.  But you know, I really think you can understand why, with all these new things ready and waiting to be listed in the shop.  Each of these will be listed at some time over the next 2 weeks, so keep an eye out if you like something.  I will try to get at least one of them listed over this weekend, and then more after that!

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