Just Signed Up With Ravelry

I've been reading so much about Ravelry that I had to check it out: www.ravelry.com. It's still in beta and they've got a waiting list to join, but it only took about a week. I haven't really gotten into it yet, but I've created my account and I've been poking around and it looks fabulous. One of the features I'll use most is a database that allows users to keep track of their stash and tools. The timing was perfect for me -- I'm in the process of turning the spare bedroom into my craft room, which means a huge reorganization -- okay, it can't be an reorganization if it was never organized to begin with! :) Anyway, I can't wait to really get into using Ravelry!

Chaos and Alchemy

Chaos and Alchemy -- these are a few of my favorite things! I've been working hard to get ready for Burnham Community Day which takes place tomorrow. Each year Warp 6 does a sheep to shawl demo there and Mary Anna and I have a sales booth next door. Below is my latest batch. The Chaos colorway is on the left and Alchemy is on the right. The Chaos skeins are Merino dyed with KA. The fiber for the Alchemy skein was purchased from eBay as a Mystery Batt. The seller had thrown all kinds of luxury fibers into the picker with a wool base. Beautiful, huh?

Happiness Is . . .

. . . a rack full of freshly dyed roving!!! I dyed a pound of Merino with Kool-Aid this morning and I just hung the last of it out to dry. Jet the Wonder Schnauzer and I are going to head on over to the Pen & Thread shop a little later to deliver some finished yarn. I'll try to take some pics over there and post them later tonight or tomorrow.

I Named It!

Okay, remember this skein from a few days ago? I finally thought of a name for this colorway. I'm calling it Candy Dots That Come on a Roll of Wax Paper. Remember those from when we were kids? Well, from when I was a kid, anyway! Did I just date myself? Okay, for anyone who's really that curious, I was sleeping soundly in my crib when JFK was assassinated.

Party in a Bag

That's not my name for it! I bought this stuff from a vendor at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival a few years ago. She basically threw everything she had lying around into the picker and this is what came out the other side. This is all I've spun so far. I have 2 more lbs to do. I'm not going to ply it. I like the singles just fine as they are. What do you think?

Handspun, Handknitted Hats

So I thought you might like to see some of my finished products. These hats are all handspun and handknitted.








This hat above is made from mystery wool.






The gray part of this hat is Jacob wool and the white part is Karakul. They are both primitive breeds and the textures are very different. The combination made for an interesting end product.






This hat is 100% Jacob.

Latest Kool Aid Skein

This is the latest batch of KA yarn from Fiber Space Designs. I don't have a name for the colorway yet. Suggestions?

Some Close-Ups

Even though you can just click the pics to get a better look, I enjoy posting. Humor me! The first three pics are close-ups of different batches of my Chaos yarn. That's what I call my random Kool-Aid colorway. The other pic is my yarn label. Oops! I see a mistake -- I should have deleted the bottom sentence for a label on a natural skein! Think anyone else will notice?

Ready for Market

Another load of yarn ready to head off to the Pen & Thread for sale. I don't usually have this much at one time, but I destashed some of my commercially dyed stuff. The top row is all Kool-Aid dyed. The middle row was commercially dyed roving and the bottom one is natural .

Only One Bobbin? No Prob!

There are many reasons you might want to ply from a center pull ball rather than from your bobbins. For instance you might only have one bobbin. You might have two bobbins, but only one is full and you don't to waste any of your singles. Just wind into a center pull ball and ply from both ends. A word of warning, though: No matter how lazy kate is, she's not going to help you with this! And the outside will always unravel at warp (;>) speed compared to the inside. This can lead to some serious tangles if you're not careful. When using this method, I always use a drop spindle instead of a wheel. I've found that placing some sort of weight on each side of the ball helps. Placement must be strategic, though, so it doesn't impede the movement of either strand. I've become adept at using my left foot to control the draw. Don't worry -- I always clean my feet and the yarn gets washed again before the finishing process to set the twist!

Pastel Experiment 2

Okay, this isn't really a separate post. I just didn't have the pics ready the first time. This is just a picture of the full skeins of the pastel experiment. Feedback welcome!

Pastel Experiment

This is my latest work. I tried diluting the Kool-Aid by using less than usual and adding more water than usual. In the roving, I got a very nice lavender, but the blue and pink were a little too "baby" for what I was going for. The yellow was pretty much what I expected. This is the finished product. You can see the singles still on the bobbins if you scroll down the page.

Latest Batch of Kool Aid Yarn

My specialty is yarn that's been dyed with Kool- Aid brand drink mix. I know that's a registered trademark. Apologies to Kool-Aid. I haven't yet figured out how to use the symbol on my blog, but at least I'm giving them props, right?

I wrote a tutorial a few months ago on the KA dye process that was printed in a fiber-related newsletter that is published by Mary Anna at the Pen & Thread shop in my hometown. In the near future, I'll post it. There are plenty of places online to learn about it. I like it because it's safe and easy. No harmful chemicals and you can dump it down the drain when you're done. I do it my the kitchen all the time. I love to just dye up a bunch of roving in different colors and then spin it randomly -- I do two bobbins and ply them together, creating fun randomness that I love because you never know what you're getting until it's done. The three skeins on the right are this type. Recently I've started experimenting with creating actual colorways that I can reproduce. The three skeins on the left are that type.

Jacob Lace Scarf

This is one of the first things I made with my handspun yarns. A friend of mine here in central PA who raises Jacob sheep gave me some fleeces. In return I spun and knitted scarves for his wife and sister-in-law. The picture looks like b/w but it really is a color photo. I spun the black and white wool together to get varying shades of gray. I spun it to to something between a lace and a sport weight and knitted the scarves in feather and fan.