Habilements Raiments – Garments – Vestments – Clothing – Garb – Costume – Attire – Habits – Drapery

Sun 11 Dec 11

Completed – Mittens for R

Filed under: Knitting,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:14 PM

Handspun and handknit mittens for R by request:

mittens-for-r.jpg

Observations:  Highly simplified pattern stands out better.  Also, keeping the side stripe solid also looked better.  I liked the double rolled cuff, and was surprised to see how easy it was.

Catching Up – Mittens that were not photographed before they were given away

Filed under: Knitting,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:12 PM

Handspun and handknit for C:

mittens-for-c.jpg

Observations: my handspun is so fuzzy that pattern definition is lost, and making two patterns, one on each “face” of the mitten, was rather a waste of time.  They are cozy-soft, though, and I love the base design.  See Anna Zilboorg, Magnificent Mittens.  In this case, the mischief was started when a certain knitting laurel loaned me the book.  I promptly tucked hers away “someplace safe” and bought my own copy in which to make notes.  I did eventually figure out where the “someplace safe” was 🙂

First try at color – Food Coloring on BFL

Filed under: Dye,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:04 PM

bfl-dyed-purple-with-food-coloring1.jpg

Observations: got a reasonably dark purple, and now I can say I’ve tried food coloring, but I will be graduating to real dyes next, so I can get reproducible and predictable results.  Enamel pots and other tools arrived today.  Just remains to spin up the rest of the BFL.

Spinning – Luster Longwool merino cross

Filed under: Carding,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:02 PM

lust-longwool-merino-cross-spun-fine-1.jpg

Observations: the crossbreed means the staple length is a little longer than usual merino, but retains the lovely qualities.  Easier to spin, and actually spun up extremely fine – as close to lace weight as I have ever achieved.

Spinning with Merino

Filed under: Carding,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 9:00 PM

mostly-brown-merino-spun-fine1.jpg

Observations: still had to put a bit on long-staple wool on the drum carder first so that it would be easier to remove.  Required two times through the picker and two times through the drum carder, and was still slow and tiring to spin. Results were fine and lovely, though.

Spinning – Peach commercial dyed roving

Filed under: Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 8:58 PM

peach-commercial-dyed-roving-1.jpg

Observations: I would rather be able to make this color than buy commercial roving.  BFL/acid dye experiments will be forthcoming.

Thu 08 Dec 11

Spinning BFL for dying

Filed under: Carding,Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 10:59 PM

bfl-spun-about-3-ounces.jpgSupposedly Blue Faced Leicester takes dye well; I believe this may have been a lamb, though, as the staple is far shorter than I understand BFL is supposed to be; using a picker and realigning the drum on the drum carder made all the difference.

Carded:

bfl-picked-and-carded.jpg

Spun, about 3 oz:

Spinning commercial roving – purchased already dyed

Filed under: Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 10:55 PM

sage-roving-spun.jpg

Learnng About Merino

Filed under: Carding,Prep,Spinning — admin @ 10:54 PM

Brown merino fleece after washing:

ewe-choclate-washed.jpg

Blending merino and Opal (Border leiscester/Romney Mix) in the picker prior to carding:

blening-opal-and-brown-merino-n-teh-picker.jpg

Compare this to Opal alone out of the picker:

new-picker-with-opal.jpg

Left is pure Opal, middle is a sage purchased roving, right is 50/50 merino/Opal

spinning-brown-merino-with-color-comparison.jpg

Three balls of yarn prior to making hanks:  Pure Opal, 50/50 Opal/brown merino, and pure merino, left to right:

opal-and-opal-merino-mix-cmpared.jpg

Wed 30 Nov 11

Spinning – Llama Alpaca Romney Mix

Filed under: Spinning,Uncategorized — admin @ 1:51 PM

Purchased as roving:

alpaca-llama-romney-mix-1.jpg

Compared to Opal and the entrelac scarf, in which both were included:

color-compare-scarf-opal-alpaca-llama-mix.jpg

Observations: Lydia the Alpaca added a lot of warmth to the browns in the scarf.  Don’t find spinning of roving as satisfying as spinning my own prep.

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