Spring Fling and New Yarn

I finally have the picture of my Spring FLing package from Anne in MD. It is such a wonderful package with a big fluff of yak fiber (oooh so soft!) and natural silk for me to keep trying the dyeing. Also the book Knitting over the edge- which was on my wishlist, some lovely earrings handmade by Anne, purple (my favorite color) flowers, and some fun spring flower rubber stamps. That was a fun exchange!

I have now completed my first true novelty yarn. I made a two ply skein of beaded yarn. I think it turned out pretty good. The colors in the photo aren't quite true (maybe it's tiome to upgrade the camera!) but they should be deep and medium blue with aqua in there too. The lightest parts of the photo are what should be aqua...

Catch-up and Bummer fleece

Yes- I've been neglecting the blog lately. So busy. I have however managed to get some stuff done. I finished the sandalwood merino (1st picture) 2 ply, 400yds, 5.7oz. I also finished up a single in a colorway called Desert Summer (hand dyed by a woman from my local fiber arts center) it's about 4oz but I can't remember now how many yards....

I finished a poncho for my MIL made from a nylon organza ribbon and Berroco quest. Every time she saw the ribbon she said how much she loved it and it was just screaming "her colors" so now it is hers :)

I fninshed washing my three fleeces though I managed to felt one- what a bummer. I was adding rinse water (I have low water pressure so that doesn't actually do any damage to the fleece) and forgot about it when my 2.5yr old woke up from her nap and wanted snacks, to play outside, etc, etc. So the agitation started and was going at least ten minutes before I finally remembered it was in there. Well- at least it was the one I wasn't really excited about. It was a shetland cross in a very dark brown and dark brown is not my thing. But my other white (a Merino X) turned out nice though I don't have a pic. I did start doing a little carding. One little rolag is a blend of the BLX and some purple corrie, then there is a striped rolag of the same, a semi stripe-blend of rose, purple, and natural gray corrie with a little of the BLX, and one rolag of just the BLX. They are very soft and should spin nicely. I'm happy for my first effort at carding!

I also tried my hand at dyeing for the first time. I used a polypay roving I bought this past october at a local wool festival and a bamboo. I used fiber reactive dyes (that's what I had on-hand) and next time will try out some acid dyes. I used too much dye and the magenta kind of took over, but I think it still turned out pretty.

I've got another project on the bobbins- it's a coopworth roving in a colorway called "deep blue ocean" and I've fininshed spinning one ply- very fine (avg 34wpi) and will add beads to that fine strand and ply it with a little thicker (avg24wpi) of the same colorway. It will end up being a lacy scarf for my mom. There's also a little picture that shows the majority of my stash- I'm already a fiber addict and it's only been about 6 months since I started spinning! Pictures next of my Spring Fling package and hopefully the new yarn for my mom's scarf.