Fiber Friday 10/05/07

[lelila]

Oooh... I swear, watching this thread every week is like going to a candy store.  Or watching porn... 

So, so beautiful!  I love the self-striping ones!

[pansymouse]

feralfeminine, I have to know how you dyed and spun than amazing colour change yarn, I adore it, it's just the sort of thing I started to spin to be able to make.  Any chance of a tutorial or even a few tips?

[SlickMariaVic]

I second the color changing yarn question. Did you just card it to get the color blends. The new issue of SpinOff has an article on carding self striping yarn so just curious.

Star-Have you noticed any warping in the knitting you create out of corespun? I bought a couple pounds of alpaca about a week ago and I was thinking of using the corespinning method for some suri I purchased, however the "Spinning Designer Yarns" book says that it is automatically unbalanced.

[feralfeminine]

Sure. This is how I do it (and I do it this way specifically to make the colors blend into each other a little when they switch): I dye a strip of combed top in a series of colors (whatever you want the stripe order to be). Then if I just want one big self-striping skein, I pre-draft the entire strip of top out into a much thinner strip, without splitting or breaking it. If I want two matching skeins, I split the top down the middle and pre-draft each half before spinning. You could also just spin from a bunch of separate pieces of roving/top, or from a series of carded batts. It's fun to play around with!

[Star217]

Star-Have you noticed any warping in the knitting you create out of corespun? I bought a couple pounds of alpaca about a week ago and I was thinking of using the corespinning method for some suri I purchased, however the "Spinning Designer Yarns" book says that it is automatically unbalanced.

Most singles are unbalanced, even low twist singles. But I use corespinning for crochet items with no problem the singles are a bit "energized" but with a good rest on the bobbin, then the niddy noody, and a solid blocking I have only noticed slight slanting with knitting. By the by, I love that book, it's what gave me the cojones to try core spinning in the first place.

[tehandehness]

Wow!  Look at all the color this week! I am in love with them all.

I don't have yardage on any of these, they just got off my bobbins.  And ignore the ugly pictures, I took them outside at 2am. It was the only time it wasn't raining this week.

First, Unnamed.  Sport to worsted weight, and every few yards theres a little overspun tail sticking out for texture.  This is from my own handdyed.





And I LOVE this one.  Handspun Merino from a yarn wench roving, squishy lovely merino.  She named it plaid blanket, but the colors became so muted and lovely that I was forced to rename it Rose Garden. Her stuff is awesome.

[grayling40]

Fiber Friday is so much fun,   

Here's what I did this week:

"Dreamhouse" (as in Barbie's Dreamhouse, haha), BFL... I swear I dyed these together, at the same time... but one came out a lot darker than the other, it's so weird.



"Robin" wensleydale... This was an oops moment, the colors are pretty obnoxious.



"Photograph" wool... I finally gave in and ordered from the Sheep Shed, and I love it!


I'm doing a spinning demo/yarn sale at a local pumpkin farm this weekend... Wish me luck! Have a great weekend everyone!

[AWynkoop]

I am loving all the amazing colors this week!
My daughter requested a key hole scarf after seeing the pink wool roving this was spun from. She thought it looked just like cotton candy (I was thinking it looked like fiberglass house insulation)! I am glad she liked it because I was going for a much paler pink and was a bit disappointed with the outcome. I showed her the roving on Tuesday and she asked if I could have her scarf ready by this weekend. Ummm, no.

Cotton Candy, 210 yds. corriedale wool

[bixby2]

they all look fantastic this week!

I finaly have something to post this week, YAY!  This is Superwash Merino in the Arizona Sands colorway from The Dye Pot.  I have 8 oz of it spun up in a lace weight, about 1600 yards.  It is so unbelievably soft!

[mandalinn]

Once again Amy you blow me away with your lace spinning.  Fantastic!