Fiber Friday March 23, 2012

[nikschaf]

Hello and a happy Friday to you all.

My yarn this week was a first attempt at spinning foreign objects into a yarn.  Each bead and sequin was threaded onto a bit of roving and then spun into the white singles yarn.  I threaded lots of the objects onto purple, pink and turqoise bits of roving to get a little variation, and thought of rainbows and unicorns while I spun.  Then I plied with a fuschia semi-sparkly thrift store yarn of unknown fiber content.  I call it "Sparkle Princess," 150 yards.

[mullerslanefarm]

Cool!!!

The only thing I spun up this week was 3 oz of black Corriedale.  It has already been knitted into a Shawlette:

[nikschaf]

Ooh, love it, MLF!!  So delicate yet so cozy at the same time.  LOVELY!

[mullerslanefarm]

Thanks!  It's the Storm Cloud pattern .... Free!

[Belladune]

The name is very fitting, Niks.  Beautiful.

That's a lovely shawl, Cyndi.

[jexxican]

Nik, you make me smile.
MLF, you spun it up AND knit it already? you're amazing.

[Belladune]

I don't think I've posted these ones yet!

Handspun thick and thin merino silk alpaca blend by SpinHeartSpin, on Flickr

Handspun merino silk blend by SpinHeartSpin, on Flickr

[indigo_roses]

Love the colors in the top one, Belladune! I want to pet it. 

[Belladune]

thanks! I actually bought that one dyed, it's a colorway by Jazz Turtle.  And to be honest, the second one might be... I have no idea where that one came from! lol

[calluna]

lovely spinnings, all!
After not wanting to deal with the hassle of getting pictures taken/edited/uploaded for a long time, I had several handspuns to share this week...but I can't get the pics from the camera into the computer. (Same hassles I'd been trying to avoid.  ) Maybe next week!

[Shannin]

Lovely yarns! I want to try spinning stuff into my yarns someday. Maybe one day I'll make a shawl too, haha. I have a couple patterns bookmarked. Belladune your thick and thin looks sooo soft I wanna hug it!

I finished this before Friday but just got done taking pictures now.


Full size here.
70% BFL / 30% Firestar
Approx 273 yards, avg 10-12 wpi (dk to worsted weight) but there are some thinner and thicker areas.

Now to figure out what to make with it!

[Puppy_girl]

gorgeous yarn Shannin!

[Belladune]

that's gorgeous Shannin!  Also, thank you!

[jexxican]

Shannin, not only is your yarn scrumptious but your presentation is amazing as well.
*pinned*

[Shannin]

Thank you! I ordered some more fiber so I'll be spinning lotssss. I hope to get a lot done before the summer since I'll be out of the country for a few months and I won't be bringing my wheel. But maybe I'll end up buying a new one for the Tour de Fleece.

[nikschaf]

Nik, you make me smile.

:-)  Thanks!!

Bella, that thick and thin is absolutely amazing.  Just stunning, and the perfect use of that fiber.

MLF -- thanks for the link to the shawlette pattern!  It really is lovely.

Shannin -- your yarn is so pretty.  And I love that you showed the fiber in its pre-spun state too.  I always love seeing before and after pics.

Calluna -- hope you can upload your photos soon, I would love to see your yarns!

[sheeshakaye]

I know it's not friday anymore, but i wanted to share what I've been working on this weekend.

This is the roving I traded with Rodelphia for, I spun roughly a third of it (1.5 oz, maybe) and ended up with this-

- roughly 100 yds of pretty pink, blue and purple yarn, I haven't decided if I want to ply it yet, I think it will depend on how the rest of it comes out.

[Belladune]

So pretty!  

[calluna]

Okidoky, I'm going to trail in on sheshakaye's coattails and add one more post of pics, since I just got everything uploaded at last!  
There are shadows in the pictures; it isn't dark spots on the yarn itself...

Rainbow of various kinds of wool from various sources (majority of it was dyed for me by ptarmic wumpus), plied with white bamboo and/or tencel (I can't remember), and that was initially plied a long time ago with thread and iridescent sequins.


Blend of red mystery wool with black diamond bamboo, red angelina and undyed alpaca, plied with black thread and red beads. Both the rainbow yarn and this are pretty miniscule yardage.


About 115 yards, this one is targhee from Funky Carolina. Picture of roving is here, though I pulled most of the greens out to use in a different yarn last year.


This one is super-chunky, n-plied, and it reminds me of a '70s game show. Fiber is from Modern Spin (freestyle), with small amounts of metallic gold and sparkly nylon brown and pink. It took a long time to find a use for brown sparkles.   It doesn't photograph well, but it's become a nice addition to my 1st crochet project, which is in-progress.

[LaughingLark]

 I am loving all the yarns this week!

I'm here very late because things are crazy around here. Currently no end in sight to the things that are stressing me out. When I have had the time, I've been working on more recycled sweater yarns.

I'm also going to pretend it is still Friday and post my yarn. I did make it last week, but didn't upload my pix till last night. I found a sweater at the thrift that was visually interesting, but ugly at the same time. Maybe it's just me and my fat person's perspective on anything that has horizontal stripes, but this was a seriously unflattering sweater.
It's a mix of a very glossy rayon and some soft cotton. It also had the "bad seams", so I shredded it.

And made this:

I don't know what I'll make with it, but I enjoyed working on it. I'm exploring the concept of vegan yarns. Not that I'm a vegan (there might be eighty pounds less of me if I were, though). I like the challenge.

[Belladune]

beautiful work calluna! The rainbow yarn is so fun.

Lark, that sweater was definintely interesting! I love the way you transformed it!

[jexxican]

Can I just say that I love you guys?

[Rodelphia]

i love the sweater yarn! it looks so soft. i think i'm off to google vegan yarn, right after i shred up one of my junk sweaters with holes in it.

[calluna]

That sweater yarn is such an improvement on the original sweater, it can't even be described.  I unraveled a black acrylic sweater I found this week for $.65, but I'm just using it as straight black, so not worth a photo. Yours, on the other hand, = awesome!

Vegan yarns are fun but more of a challenge to spin, methinks. A local spinner I know has the tiniest handheld spindle made for spinning cotton; it looks like a toy (I guess it is, in a way, but not for the kids!), but it takes something rather small and lightweight for such a short staple length.

[LaughingLark]

Thanks!

I've tried to spin cotton balls before, and it was really hard to do on my wheel. I think I need the smallest and fastest bobbin Babe makes. I have held off on buying the bobbins thus far, but may ask for some for my birthday. I did manage to spin some, but it takes a lot of effort to spin something with such a short and irregular staple. I imagine prepared sliver would be easier than drugstore cotton balls though.

[Belladune]

Tahkli spindles are great for cotton and other crazy short staples.  i have one, and I love it.  I think I might try to spin on it for 10 minutes a day for the Tour de Fleece....  I might have to join team hopelessly over comitted too.... 12ounces of lace, spin my way through a book, tahkli spinning, organizing team C-ster and team look in a book...... oy LoL

[calluna]

"Team C-Ster" as in "Craftster"? We're gonna have a team?!? That would make me unreasonably excited.  

[Belladune]

HA! yes, Team Craftster!   It'll be a blast!

[Rodelphia]

i think i'm out of the loop here. can you guys explain what the Tour de Fleece is? it sounds interesting.
..........nevermind . found the discussion in questions right after i posted this. duh. lol

[jungrrl]

Congrats!!

This thread is a Craftster Best of 2012 Winner!



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[Belladune]

So much beautiful yarn in this thread! Gratz everyone!

[nikschaf]

Woot!  Man, this was an EPIC Fiber Friday, wasn't it?!  Wonderful yarns, and so many of them!