MONTHLY UPDATE PART ONE: THE FIBERY STUFF!!!!

I have been VERY busy getting fibery stuff ready for Christmas. I went nuts dyeing Superwash Merino, Border Leicester from Susan Withnell’s flock, Angora from the bunnies, and luscious silk top that I bought at the Mannings a while back. I think the frenzy started out of necessity to have various samples ready in time for my spinning demo at Elioak Farm in September. The demo went really well, and a reporter from a Baltimore paper did an entire article for their weekend section on me – ooh la la! I even got a COLOR picture with my article – aren’t I special?!!! Anyway, after dyeing several pounds of fiber for that event, I sat down to make out my schedule to spin, knit and complete the various Christmas presents that have to be finished from this stuff before December hits. Let’s face it – December is a wash when it comes to trying to finish any fiber project, so I mostly turn my efforts to the Temari Balls that family and friends have come to expect as ornaments for their trees. I can tuck the Temari into my bag and work on them easily at Stephen’s playgroups, etc, so I feel like a woman possessed trying to spin up and knit everything in the next month and a half. I love Gaywool Dyes because of the intensity of color and reliability in exhaustion of dye into the fiber. For the Border Leicester (BL), I soaked the roving in a vinegar-water solution first and then placed it in the dyepot with just enough water-vinegar to keep the roving from burning. I sprinkled several colors randomly on the roving, turned on the stove, and simmered for about 35 minutes. I usually allow the pot to sit overnight to allow the roving to come to room temp before rinsing. The incredible variety of color striation through the roving was just gorgeous, and I repeated the process with a batch of Superwash Merino as well.




I also handpainted two batches of Superwash Merino. I layed out plastic wrap onto which I snaked the roving after I had removed it from its water-vinegar solution bath and squeezed out most of the liquid. I painted on the dye from stock solutions I had already prepared, and rolled up the batches so each color stayed separated from the others. Instead of nuking in the microwave or steaming, I place the packets on my driveway in the full sun of the afternoon when the temps for the day had soared to about 91 degrees and left them there for the day. I had about a pound of Merino, so this was a great way to do a large batch of space-dyeing without dealing with steamers or other kitchen equipment. I left the packets on the driveway till the sun went down and the packets had cooled, and I REALLY was impressed with the results. The singles on this bobbin are the result.





The batch of Angora was an afterthought. I realized that I had gone back to the same several colors in various colorways in the different batches of BL and Merino, so I decided to dye the Angora in a limited color palette that would unify the other fibers if I chose to incorporate a variety of finished skeins into the same project. I usually blend my fibers before spinning, but in this case, I will spin singles of pure fiber types, with the Angora singles being the unifying ply in the finished skeins. I am planning on one ply of BL or Merino plied with one ply of Angora. The Angora will soften up the BL and make a very nice sock yarn that will feel super-soft to the touch but will have the strength of the BL to keep the sock structure from falling apart. I am not sure yet if I will ply Angora with the Superwash Merino. It is such a decadent fiber on its own that I am thinking about sock and mitten sets might be in order for those batches. We’ll see.

The nicest surprise was the experiment I did with a batch of BL on the bottom of the dye pot with a batch of Superwash Merino on the top. The Merino sucked up the intensity of the colors, leaving several areas of undyed fiber which added to the interest of the finished product. The interesting thing is the soft, muted overall tones that the BL produced. No undyed areas, and the gorgeous muted tones could not have been achieved through space dyeing. Since both fibers are the result of the same colorway, this may be the only batch where I will ply a single of each together to produce a BL/Merino skein. Again, I am thinking comfy boot socks are calling out!

SHETLAND LACE WORKSHOP
Ahhh – my favorite current project! My dear friend, Elaine Harvey of Crystal Creek Rabbitry (aka CCRFuzzy!), is the moderator of a great Yahoogroups list called EZasPi. It is devoted to making Pi Shawls in the method “unvented” by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I had thought about joining the group last year when it was being created and discussed on the Spin-List, but was too busy. After seeing the shawls at Elaine’s house, I HAD to join! Good thing I joined when I did – Elaine’s good friend, Liz Lovick, who lives in Orkney (an Isle south of the Shetland Isles) has agreed to teach an online workshop on Shetland Lace via the EZasPi group. Our group grew from 200 to 800 in about 2 days! I have knitted lace before, but this workshop has put on hold all of my other projects as I have become addicted to Shetland Lace. Since I breed and show Shetland Sheepdogs, I definitely have a love affair going with anything coming from the isles. Participating in this workshop was a no-brainer and I rarely am seen anywhere without my handspun alpaca lace WIP (work in progress). The first stole I finished was done using Chris Morgan’s (Woolybuns German Angoras) Feather and Fan pattern. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pattern. Fortunately I started this project after the beginning of the workshop, so it is eligible for the contest that is being held. I can’t believe that I will have a finished project to submit in time for the deadline! Definitely a first!


THE "SOCK!"
I started knitting a pair of socks for Stephen at the first competition committee meeting for WDCR-SCCA. I designed them to be 2 sizes larger than what he was wearing at the time. This was this past Spring. The pattern for this sock is one of my own. Needless to say, this became one of those WIP that just never got anywhere until this past weekend when I finally finished the first sock. Of course, it is too small now for Stephen, not to mention that fact that I missed the slight sparkle in the yarn when I first started - a factor that makes this sock way too "girlie" for Stephen...probably one of the reasons I was not rushing to finish the pair. I do love the colors and the way it turned out, so sock number two is now on the needles and this pair will become a Christmas gift for a special little girl.