Fibre Friday - 6th June 2008

[kathleenalice]

Yup, a Brit. Which means not only that I spell fibre with an -re, but also that it's midday Friday here already!

First off, this is Fizzy Vimto.



It's 188 yards and 22wpi of scrummy squidgy merino. It was on my spindle for what seemed like forever, but I'm super proud of it.

After that, I was in need of some instant gratification! This is Frou-frou.



It's only 30g and 43m, but it's so fun. Wensleydale locks plied with some quilting thread.

And then a wee bit more Blueberry muffin.



There's 234m of this now. Whatever it becomes is gonna be magic. Not sure what that'll be though.

[myklia]

I covet Bluberry Muffin.  I have loved how the British spell things since I was in high school (oh so many years ago )

This yarn I wasn't really feeling the love while I was spinning it, but it is ok.


I was feeling the love for this blue tussah silk:



I think I might have over drafted the silk because it would break in parts I didn't expect.  I finally worked up the courage to let the spindle drop and spin in the air.  I love it.  It works so much better and makes the spinning go a little faster.  I still do the "park" method when doing joins though.  I'm feeling a little more confident.  Yay!!!

[jazzturtle]

Happy Friday Everyone.. 
We are on our way to closing on our HOUSE TODAY!!  WOOT WOOT!!  I'm so excited!!

I've been a busy bee this week...   So onto the Pr0n!!

Singing the Blues, 154 yards
bamboo with silver sequins and 3 colors of blue angelina..
The photos don't show how sparkley the yarn really is!! I love it!!




Fiesta, 134 yards
bamboo, firestar and sari silk
This yarn is also really sparkley from the firestar.. again the photos don't show it very well!!  It's really fun..  the batt came from butterflygirldesgin s.etsy




I spun up my first cotton this week.  It was handpainted pima organic cotton.. it's SOOOOOOOOOOo soft and squooshy.. I just keep petting it. It was a difficult spin.. took me almost the entire Sunday.. with it taking over an hour just to predraft..  but I do like the finished result.  Thanks to Abby for all the tips!!
I spun it thick and thin, and plied with a green irridecent thread




Sunshine DayDreams, 105 yards
mixed wools, cotton, tencel, neps, icicle... with added icicle, 3 colors of angelina, firestar, glass leaf and flower beads, sparkley pom poms, holographic thread and sequins... I LOVE how this yarn turned out.  It's from TravelingRhinos Jan club batts (with deluxe extras)  Pics pre twist set soak..





Finally, I spun up some loose cotswold locks from the Yarn Wench. I love how this yarn turned out so much.. it reminds me of the black cherry cake we had last weekend for my fiancee's birthday.. 
Black Cherry, 44 yards



This yarn has an amazing halo.. which of course I couldn't capture well.. but I tried.


Happy Friday Everyone!!

[jazzturtle]

Mykila.. the silk is just beautiful!!  Congrats on jumping into silk so early.. I didn't mess with it until I'd been spinning awhile!!

[myklia]

Thanks Jazzturtle.  Next I want to buy bamboo.  I love your "Singing the Blues".

If anyone wants to see what happened to "Tropical Flowers" that Jazzturtle posted on Fiber Friday on May 16th, go here:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=249320.0

By the way Jazzturtle, we haven't had a sunny day for me to take better pictures that show the yarn sparkle and a better shot of the necklace.  Hopefully tomorrow.  We'll see.

[KatyMai]

I love that Fizzy Vimto

[jazzturtle]

Thanks Jazzturtle.  Next I want to buy bamboo.  I love your "Singing the Blues".

Well.. if you can spin silk.. then you can do bamboo..  you have to be careful since it's really slippery and when you predraft there's lots of flyaways.. unless you spin from the fold (which i'm not sure you can do on a spindle..)  It's really slippery.. since there's no crimp to the staples (like wool has.. which causes the fibers to grab to eachother and hold twist) but it is a long staple....

I find black diamond (carbonized bamboo).. which is a beautiful gun metal color.. is a *bit* less slippery than regular bamboo.. but that could just be in my mind..

[PinFish]

Hooray, my first fiber (fibre) friday!

I got a wheel about a month ago, or so, but with finals/graduating college/ getting married/ honeymoon/ finding a job I didn't finish anything worth talking about until this week.

Here's my first leetle skein, 2oz of wool blend from Maine Woods Yarn.

There's only a few dozen yards there, navajo plied and not exactly... ahem... even. Something like worsted weight, mostly.

next is what took me sooo long because, as it turns out, I get really bored spinning undyed wool. It's Brown Sheep top, 4 oz. 2 ply, 188 yards, thick-and-thin as I was practicing different techniques. Sport to bulky.



Finally, here's what I'm working on now. I have a lot more than this now- I worked on it some yesterday, I have probably half of a bobbinfull?

It's more Maine Woods Yarn blend, and I'm shooting for sock yarn. Hopefully 3 ply but it's probably too thick for that, in which case I'll do a really tight 2 ply and whack the heck out of it. I'm planning on plying this colorway (vineyard) with some dark green (evergreen).

[pmpknpunk]

I've only got one this week but I was practicing spinning thin (I'm a chunky spinner) and I'm quite happy with the result. It's Northern Lights Pencil Roving and exactly 300 yards. I named it "Baby Blanket" because it looks exactly like my blankie I had when I was little!



I also have two singles on the bobbins waiting a day or so to be plied:

[SesSpringett]

Eeee, I got my kiwi on tuesday - so on tuesday I spun the red, on wednesday the blue and the pink yesterday. No idea of the yardages or anything like that yet, I've been too busy cooing over them! Hehe









:D ooo and i looove jazzturtles yarns, so shiny!

[feralfeminine]

I haven't been taking pictures of most of my yarns, since I'm saving them up for a craft show, but here are two new vegan spins for me this week:



Semi-Precious - one ply organic cotton (with perfect little bobbly coils), one ply handcarded bamboo & sparkle. So soft!





Sweet Pea - tencel handdyed in soft spring-y colors, with slubs of thread-wrapped organic cotton spun it.

[luxx]

Heyo,

Just one this week...




Ol' 55 - supah bulky - I bought some mixed wool batts from birkeland bros, carded in some raw mohair and tencel. I just might have to keep this one in my stash. I'm not usually an orange person, but I really like it. I think that it might become a hat, although I have a billion hats. This is the second in my series of music inspired skeins. Ol' 55 is a Tom Waits Song.

[myklia]

I so totally love semi-precious.

[laminathegreat]

I love hearing about what else is going on in our lives that we manage to spin around.

It started simply enough. I was inspired to make yarn based on Star Trek Enterprise for the star trek swap.

Then Turned out fabulously and my partner loved it.
The inspiration kept flowing. Put together a few batts (tardis batts!) and then suddenly I was gripped with inspiration that hasn't let go yet. Yarns based on the Twilight books.

This is Edward and Bella. Wool, ecospun, sari silk, blue jean shreds 178 yards 4 oz

Jacob and Bella. Alpaca, Wool, Blue Jean shreds, Sari silk. 171 yrds, 4 oz.
And that's only the yarn I have spun. I still have Twilight, New Moon, Edward and Jacob, and Isabella Swan to spin. *sigh.*

It's like crack, my friends. Vampire flavoured crack.

[pixiefarts]

I have a couple thing to show this week.
2 finished yarns and an FO.


I made a hat with some handspun and eco wool.

**************************
Polypay.Hampshire
I think it came out to 70yards
handdyed, carded, & spun





2 different Spunky colorways plied
8oz 400yards
south african fine

[dragonflyducky]

I got to spin a bit this week:


"Retro" 2 ply from handainted roving.


"Amethyst" A 2 ply silk/merino blend



"Denim Robot" Spun from a batt of mill ends and recycled denim.

[Eliea]

I love the yarns in the first post, as well as "Semi-Precious" and the star trek and twilight inspired yarns! I love the creativity in the inspired yarns I Never would have thought of that! Great idea! Now what perfect twilight object will they become?

[Lufah]

I am loving the shiny/matte combos here lately, and am in awe of the cotton spinners (especially spinning cotton big and fat?  I cannot even comprehend that).  I've got two skeins and 2 FOs for this week.

First yarn is a corespun called 'Bally Ho!'.  I combed up some of my crazy roving balls with a million different fibers in it:





And then wove this scarf:





Then I dyed up some fiber earlier this week, and set to work on a 3-ply boucle.  I had a skinny ply each of neon green suri alpaca and red/orange/purple soy silk, but I had to comb up some black merino with nuclear green sparkle:



The finished yarn is called 'My Favorite Candy Coated Nightmare' and is only 89 yards, but over 7 ounces:





Finally, I just got done weaving a scarf out of some of last week's yarns (these are the wool/seacell blends).  This is my first woven project where both the warp and weft were handspun:





Yay for getting stuff done!  Jazzturtle, good luck with the closing!

[krafty_kelly]

What an inspiring week!  

Jazzturtle - I love that cotton!  Gorgeous.

Here is my offering this week.  My first plied yarn called Prom Queen.



How do you all go about estimating yardage?  If someone could suggest some easy methods or point me to a thread discussing this would be great.

[the noodle princess]

How do you all go about estimating yardage?  If someone could suggest some easy methods or point me to a thread discussing this would be great.

a pvc niddy-noddy is easy and cheap to make:
http://www.doctordirt.com/blog/niddy.html

[hobbledehoy]

laminathegreat, OH MY GOODNESS!  Your Star Trek yarn is fabulous!  I kinda melt with nerdy bliss over that sort of thing.  I'm having problems with my camera today, but hopefully, I'll be able to post later this evening.

[inle_rah]

Lufah, I love your 'My Favorite Candy Coated Nightmare' yarn.  It's fantastic.

I haven't been very productive lately, but I did spin up this 8 oz batt of merino/angora fiber that I bought at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival a few weeks ago.  I plied it with turquoise metallic thread, and ended up getting about 430 yards.  I call it "Mermaid's Kiss"

[laminathegreat]

Now what perfect twilight object will they become?

That IS the great next questions. Sadly I've been just thinking 'scarves'....

Lufah I LOVE your scarves. I really want to weave more but I'm having a hard time with two active kiddos (and a loom that's too big for my needs.....) What loom are you using if you don't mind my asking?

Hobledyhoy- thanks! I'm so happy with how well it came out, and I'm really shocked with how much people LOVE it!!

[nicolassa]

Howdy, folks!
Not a huge lot of interestingness from me, I'm afraid.  I've just fallen into this spinning-very-skinny-yarns phase, so it takes me fo'EVA to finish a yarn!


Dueling Rainbows  Two skeins of superwash merino that should similarly stripe.  They are navajo-plied, total of 370 yards. 

***pssst, pssst, pssst** ((laminathegreat has a Star Trek pinball machine in her living room!!!))

I mean, really.  Does it get cooler than that?   

[krafty_kelly]

a pvc niddy-noddy is easy and cheap to make:
http://www.doctordirt.com/blog/niddy.html

Thank you so much for that!  I'm off to the hardware store.

[hobbledehoy]

uh, I nominate laminathegreat for hosting a spinathon headquarters   pinball machine!  sweet.

Your Navajo plies are so pretty, nicolassa!  I tried Navajo plying last night, and failed miserably.  It's one technique that I really wrestle with. 

Here's a few of my spins this week!  Like jazzturtle, I gave cotton a try.  I love love love her bright cotton yarn!  Mine is pretty mellow, "Rosewood."  One ply is a pale caramel organic cotton with soft gold sparkle, the other ply is hand-dyed 50/50 cotton/ecospun.  110 yards.


"LouLou" is a blend of mostly merino with some camel down, sparkle, and a bit of bamboo.


"Pollen Count" is a simple two-ply.  one ply is straight up hand-dyed merino, the other ply is a little mixture of odds and ends.  140 yards.


And finally, I've been processing lotsa fleeces lately, so some of my local alpaca fleece wound up in this yarn.  It's mostly merino though, and has lots of silver sparkle.  "Topiary," 140 yards.



Also, I made a itty bitty corespinning demonstration (I remember we were talking about corespinning last week... or was it the week before?)  Anyhoo, it's here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hobbledehoy-liz/2553963625/

[SensiblyTacky]

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you thank you thankyou!!!!!!!! That is precisely what I have been looking for. THank you so much for offering to do this!!

By the way.... i love the stain of your wheel..

[Ekioart]

Oh Love, Handspun is thy name. ^-~

I think Semi Precious and LouLou are my favs this week. (I say I think because I'm enamored with them all!)

[the noodle princess]

ohhhh so MANY exciting yarns! Thnk you for your video Liz! I really want to try that now.

I already posted mine in a separate thread because I didn't want to wait until friday. 
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=249957.msg2776014#msg2776014

[isamax]

YAY for fiber friday videos!!!

I did some corespining with some merio locks this week but I was much s l o w e r.

[Lufah]

Lamina, I have an Ashford 32" rigid heddle loom.  I got the biggest size there was in order to be able to do rugs and shawls, but I wouldn't mind having a skinnier loom that was devoted primarily to scarves.  My storage space is pretty limited, so we put up a little pegboard thing on the wall where I can hang the loom when not in use:



Hooray for vertical storage!

[cloudlover]

I need to try some cotton spinning.  I've been lusting for more bamboo lately too!  I love the yarn with the black and green!

Here's what I've got to show for the week:

Frog Prince, b/c it's dominated by purples and greens (I saw another frog prince yarn on here too, awesome!)  Spun thick and thin from many many batts.  I'm keeping this one for myself b/c there is a suspiciously underspun section that I'm afraid will snap off:


Lady Heather, spun from Pigeonroof Studios roving.  I broke my back spinning this sucker in one sitting while watching Twin Peaks!


And here it is being knit up!


Violet Hour, plied with thread, thick and thin, 110 yards:


Get Happy, plied with thread, thick and thin, mostly from Hobbledehoy batts, with some other misc batts and roving thrown in- SO bright and cheery!


Off to dye some wool- gotta do it in the evening when it's not nearly 90 out.  Blech.

[Jadzy]

I only spun up one yarn this week... my spinning mojo has been next to none for a few weeks and I'm trying to bring it back. I've been waiting all day for this to try to take pic... (It's almost dry  we're going out for dinner pretty soon)
I'm calling it "Red Wings Win!" in honor of their Stanley Cup win this week. (I'm not a Red Wings fan, but my Canucks didn't make it  )
I used a red baby cake from Loop, bamboo, tussah silk, merino, firestar, a little bit of sari silk & 4 colors of angelina.

"Red Wings Win!"

and of course a close-up, to better show off the sparkles!


Happy Spinning

edit:
Cloudlover - I LOVE your frog prince

[subloke]

Everything is SO beautiful this week (as usual but...  wow).  Too many to begin listing off favorites.

I realized this week I hadn't spun in a long time, so... 


"The Perfect Storm" - April 2008 Spunky Eclectic FOTM  4 oz about 400 yards.  Probably about a sock weight or so.

The colors were really intense and beautiful in the roving but really muted in spinning.  I love how it turned out.

[krafty_kelly]

I'm calling it "Red Wings Win!" in honor of their Stanley Cup win this week. (I'm not a Red Wings fan, but my Canucks didn't make it  )

Eeek!  I love it!  I was thinking of something along those colours and calling it Danny Cleary.  Its beautiful.  Have you ever spun any Canuck inspired yarn? 

ETA - I love the bits of silver that represent the cup.

[mullerslanefarm]

I finally found the cord to my camera, download the pics and lost pics of 4 batts I did this week.

Didn't mess up these though.

This is my first full bobbin from my Kromski Sonata using a WooLee Winder


Naturally colored 100% CVM, 4.5 oz, 234 yards

And some funky rovings  I carded and diz'ed out for a fiber swap



Sunrise
Corriedale, Merino and DorsetXHampshire 5 oz


I also did a 'Sunset' that was a progressive colored roving starting out with yellow, progressing to orange, red, purple and black.  I wish I didn't mis-file the pic

My bUatt Ugly #2 was mis-filed also.  GRRRR.  They were both for a swap on another forum so I'm hoping my swap partner will take pics and I can download them from her.

I love these Fiber Fridays!!  They have really inspired me and taken me in other directions

[the noodle princess]

I've just been core-spinning some super bright batts I made, inspired by the wonderful Hobbledehoy.
It's crazy fun! I'm getting so much yardage out of my batts, I'm pretty slow at it still tho. Here's a piccy of it on the bobbin.

[Jadzy]

I'm calling it "Red Wings Win!" in honor of their Stanley Cup win this week. (I'm not a Red Wings fan, but my Canucks didn't make it  )

Eeek!  I love it!  I was thinking of something along those colours and calling it Danny Cleary.  Its beautiful.  Have you ever spun any Canuck inspired yarn? 

ETA - I love the bits of silver that represent the cup.

Thanks!
I haven't tried a Canuck inspired yarn yet, but I think I ordered some locks dyed in a blue white green look that could work with it. Good eye on the silver = cup thing... I wondered if anyone would notice it

[hobbledehoy]

thenoodleprincess, that spin looks delicious!  I love the shape of corespun- it really helps colors POP.

cloudlover, I'm totally unable to spin while watching Twin peaks.  My brain starts spinning in the opposite direction and my feet can't figure how to treadle.  haha!

jadzy, I love the chunk of sparkle in your yarn! 

and lufah, you've gotta stop tempting me with your loom!  I'm finally buying a rigid heddle loom this Fall, and I'm stuck between the Ashford and the Kromski.  I'll probably go with a 24 inch-er.

[Flowers and Lemons]

Everybody's yarns are beautifull this week.. As always
I'm still keeping all my roving untill I receive my wheel(s). We still have to visit my aunt and then take them home. She lives too far away
I think we'll be going there next month or so.. 

[Teetante]

I'm late, I'm late!

Your stuff is absolutely gorgeous, I really love to see what you made!

I wasn't in the mood for much spinning, but I made some things.
I had to ply the Rocky Road from last week, because it wasn't good as single. So I acquainted the suri alpaca with black extrafine merino and I think it's much better now:



Then I made some Swiss yarn, after all the Soccer Championship started right now and I'm experience it in the host country:



and I finally spun some Harry Potter inspired yarn, what I planned to do quite a time. It's inspired by the uniform sweater from the movies, but I used the book colors for Ravenclaw (blue and copper). It's extrafine merino in anthracite, and house colored stripes. The problem ist just that the yarn is thinner at the stripes than in the anthracite, because that were different fibers which were drafting thinner. I just couldn't make a good photo yet.



I also did some knitting and finished my strawberry granny square bag from handspun yarn which turned out quite pretty and I already started a second one in this manner, in Cheshire Cat colors and black granny squares.



cheers,
Teetante

[isamax]

Way to go Wings!  (I thought of the cup as soon as I saw the silver too!)

[timid_gothica]

swiss yarn makes me happy. Keep rocking your awesome fibre.

[Jadzy]

jadzy, I love the chunk of sparkle in your yarn! 

Thanks Liz!

I love that little video you posted It helped me to finally try core-spinning this weekend...  My first try ended up with a lot of overspin. Is there an easy way to fix that, or am I just treadling too fast?

[hobbledehoy]

jadzy, I love the chunk of sparkle in your yarn! 

Thanks Liz!

I love that little video you posted It helped me to finally try core-spinning this weekend...  My first try ended up with a lot of overspin. Is there an easy way to fix that, or am I just treadling too fast?

maybe try treadling a little slower- or drafting the fibers out a little more.  if it's a really really chunky yarn, it doesn't need spun too fast.  My first few were pretty overspun too!

[ticklemepink]

Semi-precious is awesome!

And Hobbledehoy, that corespinning video was so neat!  I have got to try that...

[SensiblyTacky]

Liz! I tried my hand at corespinning! Your video inspired me to get over my fear of it and it was awesome! It was a little tricky at first but the yarn is so fluffly and delicious!

Thank you thank you thank you!