Silk stealing mice!

Looks like the dye sample book will be a bit short..............I went out this morning to check on the dyed fiber from last week. It has been cool and damp so things were not drying too fast. When I checked the wool and silk samples I noticed that some sample groups were missing the silk. Lost six silk samples and the mouse left some calling cards! Somewhere there is a mouse nest with a very colorful silk lining. Hope the wee mousses appreciate their mamma's efforts.
I had the samples on a drying screen with cheesecloth clipped down, both top and bottom but it did not stop the mouse

Dyeing with a friend

A friend came for a few days last week. We played with a lot of dye. 39 sample colors on wool and silk. 4 lots of vat dyed fleece and 4 painted rovings. All in one very l-o-n-g day!

The fiber was measured and placed onto plastic wrap after a good soak. Dye applied and the packages were rolled up and tied with some garden tape with the color numbers written with a Sharpe pen. Then steamed for about 40 minutes. The bottom photo shows some of the packages after steaming. The next morning we opened them and after rinsing they were put onto a drying rack. The garden tape was left with each bundle for identification.

This was done with some lesser quality roving which is fine for our plans. We are going to make sample books with the fiber and color information. The samples of wool are large enough for a bit to be put into the book as is and a bit to be spun to show what a yarn would look like.

My friend had mixed the colors prior to coming to my house. We needed to add vinegar to the stock solutions and some of the bottles being smaller could not hold the vinegar too. We poured some of the dye from each of the too full bottles into a jar as we worked. The jar became full so started a second jar and that one would up being about three quarters full. I thought it would be fun to see what *ugly* color those jars would produce. Hence the vat dyeing. One was sort of dark green (bottom of photo) and the other is shown in the top of the photo.

Blocking the Bitterroot Shawl

I have finished the Bitterroot shawl. I worked on it mostly in the evenings and had to rip back more than once. Even so, I enjoyed knitting it and putting the beads on with a crochet hook worked like a charm. Better than stringing the beads onto the yarn and playing slide around. As you can see from the close up below,  I need to put some pins into the edge loops yet, but had to get a picture and post while I had time. I still have quite a bit of the baby camel and silk handspun, so may do another shawl from it. This one is 58 inches across and 32 inches down the back with 47 inches on each side. Not sure yet if this one will be for me, a gift or for sale. On to the next project............

Bitterroot Shawl in progress

Going from this handspun baby camel and tussah silk along with some bronze beads to ......

 knitting in progress.....................

When finished will look like this.........
The Bitterroot Shawl from Knittyspin Winter issue 2009

Why yes, I do knit socks.....

I have been knitting socks for many years. Once long ago I read a pattern and when I got to the turn the heel instructions I balked. "Oh no, I do not think I can do that" went through my head. One day I saw and article in Spin-Off by Celia Quinn on knitting boot socks. With the article and the Elizabeth Zimmerman book that Celia mentions I decided to take the plunge. I figured if I got stuck I could ask for help.One step at a time is good in many situations. Go forward until you are at the end or get stuck and either figure it out, or ask for help. I managed to knit a pair of socks following the instructions even when I thought things did not look right. It worked! I was then on the path to being a sock knitter. I even had a pair of hand spun dog hair and wool socks published in Spin-Off.  Now these many years later I always have at least one pair in progress so I have something to do while waiting in a doctor's office or at the auto repair shop, etc. I used double points for a very long time and finally tried two socks at a time on two circular needles and now also the magic loop on one circular. A few years ago I tried toe up and that is my preferred method. Three pair in progress in the picture are 3 ply hand spun BFL that I had blended with 20% nylon at the mill. I dyed the yarn in balls, sitting them first into one color and then turning the balls over into another color. This is a fun way to dye and I like the results.  From top left the socks are; Jojoland Melody, (magic loop)   Drops Fabel Superwash, (magic loop) and the other three are my hand spun. (double points)  The first pair was done with peacock and old rose, second is a mix of color to cover up the screaming orange from the first dip into the pot. The last is done in purple and forest green. However, there are only a few spots of green showing, it turned into a nice gray where the dye mixed. Not bad, but not what I was aiming for either. I will be playing more with this technique, but first I must get more sock yarn spun.

More Dye results

We went from this>

To this>

Spot dyed dark gray Coopworth roving from Mocha Blue turned into a Navajo ply yarn. What fun!

and then today.........

 

 More of Sierra Silver dyed Myrtle Green. Straight from the dye pot, hung to drip.

This is also Sierra Silver. I think I am going to call this one Embers.  It was a combination of orange, peacock and magenta. Mixed and added to the dye pot. Then the soaked roving was added. The colors split and I like the effect.

Another Great Retreat and improvisation

The past weekend was spent with wonderful friends at our annual retreat. There was lots of spinning and knitting and some really great food. The weather was very cool and we had wind and rain. Perfect for wearing wool socks and woolies. Although a bit cool and damp for spinning on the deck. So many laughs that my sides are still sore. My cheeks hurt too come to think of it. My daughter in law tried her hand at spinning using a crochet hook to get the feel of twisting. I did not have my twisty stick with me nor did Cheryl. So I improvised with a tip from an oak branch tip that I found on the deck while Cheryl made some hook sticks from a coat hanger. It is from plastic coated wire and about 8 inches long.

Kelley soon decided to try with a spinning wheel. She borrowed a Lendrum and got the hang of things pretty quickly. In a short while she  had a singles skein to take home. It is wonderful that my daughter in law wants to learn to spin. However, I may be creating a monster. She is a massage therapist and does massage during our retreat weekends. The gals may be upset with me if Kelley  would rather spin than do massages. Ha.