Well, today was the big day here, CT sheep and wool 2010! It was wonderful. You would have loved it. The temperature was perfect, the skies clear, and there was plenty to see and do. I tried to look at all the bunnies. They were so cute and plenty of puffy angora to adore. The sheep were not pleased with getting sheared. Some were in a big pen in a building after their trims and they looked mighty displeased with their new do's even though I pet them and told them they looked great. There were two alpacas and a llama to admire as well. I found plenty to want, but restrained myself. I did find several great finds, including an incredible score that would have made you squeak with excitement, too. There was a couple selling cleaned merino wool in grocery bags for $5 a bag. It smells strongly of mothballs, but nothing a good dye and soak could remove. There is some vegetable matter still stuck in the fibers, but once it is spun, I think I'll be able to get it all out. I'm guessing each bag weighed about 1/2 pound.
After some thought on our way out, I decided to get more, but they were already sold out! I guess everyone else knew a great thing when they saw it!
I bought some silk hankies for us to spin in the merino with bright colors. There was also a woman there who was at the Fiber Fest in Coventry last fall that I had bought some gorgeous gray and teal merino from (that I made those super thick winter socks with). I told her how much fun I had spinning and knitting the socks and wound up getting more gray merino from her. She was delighted to know how I had used her wool goodness.
I placed an order for the Jaquard dyes in the greens and silver gray so when you come visit, we will have plenty of good stuff to use dyeing. I also bought an inexpensive little professional dye kit in primary colors and black to have a little more variations in color. And before you start thinking that we will have too much dye and not enough wool, look at this pretty pile of merino that Karen picked up for me from a homeschooling family in upstate CT near the MA border earlier this month.
There's a pound to play with there! I found some white 100% silk in a lace weight yarn that looks like it will make a lovely shawl once dyed. I'm hoping to stay super busy in the two weeks hubby is away training in Phoenix next month that I don't miss him too much.
I finished his socks, too, just in time for our 18th wedding anniversary. They are really soft with the possum mixed in the wool. They aren't the most practical, since they need to be hand washed and air dried, but I hope when he puts them on, he knows that I knit each stitch with love and good thoughts for at least 40 years more of happy marriage with him.
Here's a pic of the fingerless gloves I knit up using the yak yarn from the yak we dyed and spun up last time that you were here. There's still a little yak fiber left, but I'm not anxious to use it up. Spinning it straight was hard because the crimp is so incredibly short, but it was a pretty fun experience overall .
Hope to see you next week, Baby Sis! Happy Spring!
I realized looking at my baby sis's post it's been a month since I posted anything that I've done or thought of doing. It's been a quiet month. Spring has officially sprung and the weeping cherry in our front yard is almost in full bloom. The days are warming up and thoughts of sheep and fiber festivals fill my head. The first one is this month in Vernon, CT. Though not as big as the one in Rhinebeck, I have had many good and exciting hours of fiber viewing at this festival. 101st_annual_sheep_and_wool_
I've done a little knitting with some of my handspun. This scarf is from yarn I spun up and showed on a previous post.
I've done a little spinning. With some leftover baby camel from the last time my sis visited and some dark brown wool received in a trade, I made this hank:
It's just enough to make a pair of fingerless gloves with. Yeah me!
On another occasion, I spun this up:
This has silk, alpaca, and a variety of wool in it. It's the thinnest I've ever spun any yarn. There's 8 ounces of it. I really think I have enough to do a pair of socks.
Speaking of socks, here is the merino and silk yarn I spun up two months ago with a few other smaller specialty skeins in a pair of thick winter weight socks.
My 18 year anniversary is next month. There isn't anything significant I've found to give on an 18th wedding anniversary, so I've decided to make it the year of socks. I have one sock down, another to go, with this fingering weight yarn. It's a merino/possum blend from Cherry Tree Hill. Before I hear any further gagging, I did a search on possums of New Zealand and found they do look a bit different than the opposums of North America.
Finally, because I was so excited to try this out before finishing my dh's pair of socks, I started this pair. It's made from two skeins knit together, both handpainted with the same dyes, but because they are two different types of yarn, take the dye differently. One is a merino, the other a mohair. It's made by Fleece Artist/ Handmaiden yarns. If you can believe this, I found it on closeout! I was beyond thrilled when it arrived, glad I had ordered a few other colors so I could love on it some more. The yarn knits up soft and deliciously warm.I doubt I will get a case of second sock syndrome knitting these up!
...dyeing some fiber. I am on vacation this week and have been spending the past few days with the big sis. This afternoon, we went to several local yarn stores and picked up a pound of 50/50 merino/bombyx silk fiber. It was gorgeous and inspired us to dye. We also had some yak fiber (thanks to paradise fibers). Using an Ashford wool dye kit, we tried it out first on the yak....with some interesting results. We have done some fiber dyeing before, but usually it's been already-spun fiber, not roving. While the directions were fairly straightforward, we were expecting the colors to mix more and create soft shades of color. As you can see from the pictures above, we got a more "batched" result, possible because we did not stir the fibers too much during the process (we didn't want them to felt). Perhaps we also diluted the dye mixture too much...any suggestions?
Either way, it is currently drying right now and we will spin it, but we will definitely practice more before attacking the merino/silk. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences with dyeing, please share.
We are two sisters who have a strong appreciation for the finer things in life, like angora bunnies and alpacas and sheep. We card, spin, dye, and knit in our spare time (one of us has more spare time than the other :)). We are separated by two states and the George Washington Bridge, but we love to get together and work with fibers every chance we get! Our inspiration? Finding creative ways to relieve stress, whether with a few pointed sticks or a very sharp needle (or a chopping block).
Hope you enjoy our "spin" on things!
