I’m always surprised by how the type of wool and the preparation of said wool changes how the dyes will uptake a certain colorway.
This is the same colorway that I used on the Perendale lamb fleece. While the saturation is fairly well the same, Gotland loves taking up dye, the black brown didn’t go as dark on the Gotland roving as it did the Perendale.
It still came out lovely though. I drum carded one of the 28g/1 oz braids and as always Gotland roving delivers a delightfully slinky batt.
Played with some different than usual dye colors. I hadn’t ever worked with reds before so I broke out some of my perendale lamb wool and searched for some inspiration. Thanks to National Geographic, I found this image of molten lava and gave it my best shot to recreate the colors.
The reds absolutely overtook the dye pot but I think it came out pretty well for a first time. I’m debating how to process the wool for spinning. I don’t know if I want to drum card it or spin from the lock. It’s a very short staple wool, as it is the lamb’s first clipping, so the staple is between 1-1.5 in/3-4cm, and lambs being lambs is full of vegetal matter (VM). I think I will break out the drum carder and see how it cards up. Drum carding would make it a lot easier to spin, but I worry it may lose some of its vibrancy. We shall see. Until then I am enjoying the feel of soft fluffy lambs wool.
Awhile back ago I played around with trying to achieve dyeing one of my favorite shades of teal. I set aside 4 oz (113g) of Gotland roving and hoped I had learned enough about dyeing that I could do it.
I came close. I at least have a better idea of how to get the exact color I want. When we settle from our moves and I can break out my dye kit again, I look forward to trying.
I turned the roving into 25 very slinky rolags.
Im still working on regaining my consistency from having to take a break from spinning due to injury. So the resulting yarn isn’t perfectly consistent but i can tell I’m getting back into the spin of things. The yarn single came in around 24-28 wpi.
The finished chain ply came in at 14 wpi (dk weight) with a 45 degree Z twist.
I got 144 yards out of this test batch. All tallied this represents 19 hands on hours. I am looking forward to further dyeing attempts. I think it’ll ultimately make quite a lovely project.
It is done! All 24 oz (680 g) of the Gotland wool roving that I dyed has been spun, chain plied, and the twist is set.
From start to finish it took me 80 hands on hours to get 781 yards of 20 wpi, 45 degree S twist, chain plied yarn.
I started with 100% gotland wool roving that I dyed for a monthly fiber spinning club. I was a newbie dyer when I did this so I felted the roving slightly. I dyed up another batch (without felting it) sending it to the club, and kept this batch of 22, 1.1-ish braids for personal use. I ended up drum carding each of the braids into lovely, lofty batts and spinning them up over the last couple of weeks.
I’m still getting my feel of things back since it’s been over five years since I have spun thanks to injuries that ultimately led to my diagnosis of ehler-danlos syndrome, among other autoimmune disorders, so the yarn isn’t the most consistent and is nowhere near what I used to be able to spin. But being able to sit at my wheel at all is wonderful.
I only have 2 bobbins to use for this project so I fill one and ply with the other. I set the twist on the first 8 oz and it finally dried overnight.
I was concerned about my consistency after having to take such a long time off from spinning, but after finishing this skein, I can hardly believe my eyes. Chain plying helped with the inconsistencies and it is quite squishy. The challenge now is going to be keeping the consistency throughout the rest of the spin. I think I’ll be able to do so; I’ve been keeping track of my wpi as I have been spinning. The single was anywhere from 32-20 wpi and the ply came out to around 12 wpi.
Photo description: coiled skein of yarn in shades of browns, greens, and blues on a warm wooden background; the same yarn held against a yarn tool showing 12 wpi; and various close ups of the same yarn on the warm wooden background.
I had been spinning some 100% Gotland wool roving that I dyed quite a few years ago in my dyeing infancy. The colors came out beautifully but the fiber was a little felted. It got stuck in a bag and then packed away for moving, which totally didn’t help with the compacting of the fibers over time. It’s not spinable as it sits in braids, I’ve tried. So I have been drum carding the 1 oz braids into batts a few at a time before I predraft the individual color sections and spin them.
I can’t spin at the moment bc my right knee that was injured in an accident a year ago is still recovering from overuse from spinning for a few days straight. I admit I was overzealous in my return to spinning. So today I did some bulk fiber prep today with my drum carder. I got four ounces carded this afternoon.
The batts came out lovely. I can hardly wait until I can get back to spinning them.
Picture description: a braid of hand dyed Gotland wool roving on a cement background; a close up shot of the drum of a carder with Gotland wool roving in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; the batt of Gotland wool fiber in the same gradient being pulled off the drum carder; a batt of Gotland wool in the same gradient laid flat; four batts of the same gradient Gotland wool in a cardboard box.
I mean mine are behaving right now but... Yeah having the ability to single-leg the sonata for a while if one knee does choose violence is great. But when I gave the old loppis find Swedish production wheel a quick test before starting the restoration, I could work it with either leg, because it ran *so* nicely (even in its extremely iffy state) that once you've got it up to speed your foot it just sort of giving it a bit of encouragement.
Looking forward to the wood turning course in a couple of weeks, so I can start on making replacements for the most knackered parts without worrying too much that I'm going to end up in A&E through cluelessness. When I've bought a lathe and all that, anyway.
Ha, yeah. I switch legs all the time on my louët. It has the same feel as you described. Get it going and I barely have to put any pressure on it to keep it going. That is quite the wonderful surprise that the production wheel is still able to do that despite sounding like it may need a fair bit of restoration work. No shocker that your sonata does it; those wheels are a delight to spin on.
I love that you are going to learn how to make replacement parts for your production wheel. That’s hardcore and metal as hell.
It's raging ADHD is what it is :) The sonata is so much lighter with the magnetic flyer fitted it's ridiculous, but the treading is still heavy and slow compared to the old wheel I rescued from a local loppis. Which *might* have something to do with the fact that some of the parts were so worm-eaten in places that they were pretty much just held together by the paint, but I'm more inclined to think it's more that it's optimized for spinning thin yarn quickly, whereas the Sonata is meant to not take up too much space and be an all-rounder that you can use for any type of yarn you might want, and to be easy for those who spin more slowly. You can't go slowly on the old one, it gets stuck if you try.
Anyway, someone has tried to fix it before, but they didn't do a very good job of it: part of the treadle was made out of a bit of laminated furniture, the table is warped and the slot misaligned, the piece the adjustment screw goes into is cracked and sticks in the slot, the flyer and whorl are both glued back together, the bottoms of the legs and the places where the pieces of the wheel rim join are disintegrating, the one bobbin is really rough...
I have another wheel that's in much better condition - just needs a new footman (existing one is held together with a metal plate which is rubbing a groove into the shaft of the drive wheel), flyer arms (can't see if they're busted because Paint, but I'd rather not take chances), some more bobbins and a top section for the distaff and, with a whorl I found in a loppis which by some miracle fits and sits straight, its good to go. And they will both take the same bobbins even though they're by different makers.
Heard. Thats how I got into spinning. And buying whole fleeces to dye. and weaving. Raging ADHD.
I have a spinning goddess to thank for my louët. One of three actually. One taught me to spin, one to weave, and one to dye. The weaver traded me her extra louët s15 for bulk shea butter so she could make lotion. Other than the fact that she is a crafting goddess, I don’t know how she chose the louët for me over her other extra wheels; but it’s been the perfect wheel for me. I didn’t know anything about spinning wheels when she offered a trade. I was such a baby spinner then. I don’t think I could have been luckier. It’s been able to spin everything I want from funky chunky art yarns to 60 wpi cormo singles. Quick as a fox too (when my knees will let me that is) And it’s not too heavy to travel. The only thing that’s a chore on it is plying. That’s when my knees scream bloody murder at me. One day I will have an e-spinner just for plying. Until then, I slog through plying over multiple, multiple days (or weeks) or just work with singles. by the gods, my knees hate plying.
A production wheel sounds absolutely amazing. My brain loves going fast. Though it sounds like yours isn’t going to be flying anytime soon. The picture I have in my head… oof. I totally get why you’re taking a wood turning class. It’s perfect as a spinner with multiple wheels. They will always need work and if you can fix it yourself?? Even better! I’m so excited for you!
How fortuitous that the bobbins are interchangeable! That’s insane. I haven’t had to purchase a bobbin yet for my louët, and I am not looking forward to when I may need to. Last time I priced them, I was legit horrified. I baby my bobbins now. Well, my entire wheel actually. I’m slightly terrified to need to replace anything on it that my spouse can’t easily fix.
I had been spinning some 100% Gotland wool roving that I dyed quite a few years ago in my dyeing infancy. The colors came out beautifully but the fiber was a little felted. It got stuck in a bag and then packed away for moving, which totally didn’t help with the compacting of the fibers over time. It’s not spinable as it sits in braids, I’ve tried. So I have been drum carding the 1 oz braids into batts a few at a time before I predraft the individual color sections and spin them.
I can’t spin at the moment bc my right knee that was injured in an accident a year ago is still recovering from overuse from spinning for a few days straight. I admit I was overzealous in my return to spinning. So today I did some bulk fiber prep today with my drum carder. I got four ounces carded this afternoon.
The batts came out lovely. I can hardly wait until I can get back to spinning them.
Picture description: a braid of hand dyed Gotland wool roving on a cement background; a close up shot of the drum of a carder with Gotland wool roving in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; the batt of Gotland wool fiber in the same gradient being pulled off the drum carder; a batt of Gotland wool in the same gradient laid flat; four batts of the same gradient Gotland wool in a cardboard box.
I had been spinning some 100% Gotland wool roving that I dyed quite a few years ago in my dyeing infancy. The colors came out beautifully but the fiber was a little felted. It got stuck in a bag and then packed away for moving, which totally didn’t help with the compacting of the fibers over time. It’s not spinable as it sits in braids, I’ve tried. So I have been drum carding the 1 oz braids into batts a few at a time before I predraft the individual color sections and spin them.
I can’t spin at the moment bc my right knee that was injured in an accident a year ago is still recovering from overuse from spinning for a few days straight. I admit I was overzealous in my return to spinning. So today I did some bulk fiber prep today with my drum carder. I got four ounces carded this afternoon.
The batts came out lovely. I can hardly wait until I can get back to spinning them.
Picture description: a braid of hand dyed Gotland wool roving on a cement background; a close up shot of the drum of a carder with Gotland wool roving in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; the batt of Gotland wool fiber in the same gradient being pulled off the drum carder; a batt of Gotland wool in the same gradient laid flat; four batts of the same gradient Gotland wool in a cardboard box.
I mean mine are behaving right now but... Yeah having the ability to single-leg the sonata for a while if one knee does choose violence is great. But when I gave the old loppis find Swedish production wheel a quick test before starting the restoration, I could work it with either leg, because it ran *so* nicely (even in its extremely iffy state) that once you've got it up to speed your foot it just sort of giving it a bit of encouragement.
Looking forward to the wood turning course in a couple of weeks, so I can start on making replacements for the most knackered parts without worrying too much that I'm going to end up in A&E through cluelessness. When I've bought a lathe and all that, anyway.
Ha, yeah. I switch legs all the time on my louët. It has the same feel as you described. Get it going and I barely have to put any pressure on it to keep it going. That is quite the wonderful surprise that the production wheel is still able to do that despite sounding like it may need a fair bit of restoration work. No shocker that your sonata does it; those wheels are a delight to spin on.
I love that you are going to learn how to make replacement parts for your production wheel. That’s hardcore and metal as hell.
I had been spinning some 100% Gotland wool roving that I dyed quite a few years ago in my dyeing infancy. The colors came out beautifully but the fiber was a little felted. It got stuck in a bag and then packed away for moving, which totally didn’t help with the compacting of the fibers over time. It’s not spinable as it sits in braids, I’ve tried. So I have been drum carding the 1 oz braids into batts a few at a time before I predraft the individual color sections and spin them.
I can’t spin at the moment bc my right knee that was injured in an accident a year ago is still recovering from overuse from spinning for a few days straight. I admit I was overzealous in my return to spinning. So today I did some bulk fiber prep today with my drum carder. I got four ounces carded this afternoon.
The batts came out lovely. I can hardly wait until I can get back to spinning them.
Picture description: a braid of hand dyed Gotland wool roving on a cement background; a close up shot of the drum of a carder with Gotland wool roving in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; the batt of Gotland wool fiber in the same gradient being pulled off the drum carder; a batt of Gotland wool in the same gradient laid flat; four batts of the same gradient Gotland wool in a cardboard box.
It took me five days to drum card the rest of the Gotland wool roving I dyed. My hands and grip strength would call it quits after about four ounces a day.
But I got it all carded, the batts are rolled and safely tucked away in a big box awaiting to be spun. (It reminds me of a big box of weirdly colored cinnamon rolls when I open it.) So that makes 17 batts boxed up, plus one batt I’ve already predrafted, to go with the three batts I’ve already spun. My knee is happier having had a bit of a rest so I will be breaking out my wheel again. Only this time I will be more cognizant of the fact that I’m still recovering from a knee injury and won’t spin for hours on end without a break.
Picture descriptions: a large cardboard box filled with rolled batts of Gotland wool in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; close up shots of the rolled batts; various shots of the different batts
I had been spinning some 100% Gotland wool roving that I dyed quite a few years ago in my dyeing infancy. The colors came out beautifully but the fiber was a little felted. It got stuck in a bag and then packed away for moving, which totally didn’t help with the compacting of the fibers over time. It’s not spinable as it sits in braids, I’ve tried. So I have been drum carding the 1 oz braids into batts a few at a time before I predraft the individual color sections and spin them.
I can’t spin at the moment bc my right knee that was injured in an accident a year ago is still recovering from overuse from spinning for a few days straight. I admit I was overzealous in my return to spinning. So today I did some bulk fiber prep today with my drum carder. I got four ounces carded this afternoon.
The batts came out lovely. I can hardly wait until I can get back to spinning them.
Picture description: a braid of hand dyed Gotland wool roving on a cement background; a close up shot of the drum of a carder with Gotland wool roving in the gradient of dark blue to light blue to green/teal to brown; the batt of Gotland wool fiber in the same gradient being pulled off the drum carder; a batt of Gotland wool in the same gradient laid flat; four batts of the same gradient Gotland wool in a cardboard box.
1930 knitted bed jacket - a project 10 years in the making
In 2015 I was shopping at my LYS when I had the disheartening realization that the price for 100% wool and natural fiber yarns was far what my beyond my to poor bank account would ever be able to afford. I was at the checkout counter with my meager purchase of 4 skeins of mohair yarns, trying to figure out how to justify the purchase, when I saw a flyer for a beginner's hand spinning class. I asked the store owner about it and she said she would be teaching it the next month and covering all of the basics for hand spinning yarn. The price was about the cost of my purchase; according to my maths I figured that i would be an idiot to not give it a try. I signed up, paid for my yarns and the class, and went home pleased as punch and looking forward to the class.
When the class rolled around the next month I showed up to the LYS ready to learn. However, besides the owner/teacher and I, there was no one else about. I was severely disappointed thinking that meant the class would be cancelled and I'd have to wait for more people to sign up. To my utter delight, the owner said that she was going forward with the class and since it was just me we could cover more information and I would get her undivided attention. Needless to say, I was chuffed. We covered so much stuff my head was spinning by the end of the day. I had a blast, and was in love with hand spinning. I couldn't afford a full on spinning wheel but I went home and practiced with my spindle and the 4 ounce braid of corriedale wool roving i was sent home with. A couple of months later, there was a beginner rigid heddle weaving class offered. I signed up and learned the basics of weaving with a rigid heddle loom. While there, the instructor for the class mentioned that she had a few spinning wheels she was looking to sell and asked if I would be interested. I told her I probably couldn't afford one but i could easily barter if I had anything she was in need of. As it turned out, we were able to come to an agreement and I went home with a louët s17 single treadle spinning wheel and 4 bobbins. Before I left class, I made sure to purchase some roving to practice on: 4 braids of polworth roving (pink/purple, pink/orange, green, and blue) and 4 braids of malabrigo nube Merino wool roving in the baya electrica color way.
The polworth braids were my first ever true spins. The yarns from them were hideous things. Thick and thin, inconsistent, highly overspun, and not much yardage from any of them. They were turned into a mat for my cats to lay on. So bad of me and a waste of such beautiful wool, I know. However, as i was a beginner, and they weren't fit for anything else.
With my next spin I learned to prep roving with pre-drafting. I pre-drafted and started spinning four malabrigo nube Merino roving braids. The resulting yarns were much better for being my second rovings to work with. The pre-drafting definitely helped me there. They were still highly overspun, inconsistent as all get out, and were so thin in many spots that the yarns broke when you looked at them. Not bad considering they were only my second pound of wool spun, but I had trouble finding something I wanted to make with them. I tried crocheting them into a shawl but about halfway through I realized I utterly hated the way it looked and felt. So the whole thing got put in Shame on You Land and sat there for ages and ages and ages.
That is the until this last spring after I finished knitting my first pair of thrummed mittens. I had just made it through my first cold climate winter and found myself needing to make more items that would keep me warm when winter came around again.
I spent weeks scrolling through ravelry for something I would actually wear that I had the yardage for. Enter the 1930 Australian bed jacket pattern. With my malabrigo Merino hand spun yarn it looked like i should easily have enough yardage to make it according to the pattern. I went digging in Shame on You Land for my malabrigo half finished project and started frogging. And planning.
Now even in this modern day and age, I am by no means a tiny person; I'm not even average sized. I come in at just over 6 ft (183 cm) with a not slim bust or frame. I have never fit into any modern clothes or patterns without serious alterations, let alone a vintage pattern from the 1930s where women on average were barely over 5 ft tall (if that) and had much, much slimmer frames than I do.
So I had to do some computations with gauge and measurements. By my calculations, I would have to add twice as many stitches on to every cast on as well as knit double the length for each piece.
Which also meant over double the yardage for the entire pattern. I quickly realized that I didn't have enough of the malabrigo Merino hand spun yarn to do the entire pattern by itself. But I did have plenty of undyed polworth/silk commercially spun DK weight yarn that I could possibly dye to match. So I went about doing just that. I dug out my undyed polworth/silk, some undyed silk thread, and my dye supplies and dyed everything i could to match.
I got close to the colors in the hand spun malabrigo but I went a bit too vivid with my saturation. However i believed I finally had enough to knit the bed jacket to fit properly. So I cast on and started knitting.
To help strengthen my hand spun Merino, I knit it with a 2 ply silk thread I had dyed in a coordinating color of fuschia pink. To help balance the unevenness of the yarns, i knit two rows of handspun Merino and then two rows of polworth/silk, alternating through out the entire project.
I cast on twice as many stitches for each panel ( 2 fronts and 1 back) and made quick work of the pattern. By the time i had reached the end of the pattern as written for the original pattern length, i decided to see how my maths and computations were holding up. I was very glad to see that i was correct. I would need to knit twice the length of the panels as they were written, as the original length would have left my bra-less boobs hanging out the bottom of the jacket.
Since i had to add such additional length and width to the original pattern, i knew that i would be playing a very competitive game of yarn chicken. I cast on for the two front panels and knit them two at a time. I knit them both to the length that would fit me, which turned out to be exactly twice the length of the original pattern. Now knowing how much length i needed to add, i finished knitting the back panel to the matching length of the front panels.
i then had to put the panels together. I decided to veer away from the original patterns suggestion of seaming everything with the mattress stitch and instead decided to do a seamless stitch.
With the tops of the panels connected, i seamed the sides and tried it on. I was thrilled. It fit just like i had hoped. But there was still much remaining to knit.
The original pattern called for knitting the collar and armbands separately and mattress stitching them together around the proper panels so that the stitches were all in line horizontally with the main body. I didn't have any faith in my ability to get any of that correct at all. So i decided to pick up stitches directly from the main body at the front panels/collar and then armholes, and knit the stitches vertical to the main body.
i knit the collar in the same mistaken rib pattern as the waistband; i doubled the length, folded it over, and seamlessly stitched it to where i picked up the stitches. I then did the same at the armholes.
Knitting the collar and armbands took nearly as long as knitting the entire body panels. I was glad I had many shows saved up in the queue and could just binge watch as I knit. I was starting to think I wouldn't have the bed jacket finished before winter, but with enough perseverance I was able to finish it just as summer's worst heat is breaking.
I'm very glad that I took the time to do this jacket right bc by the gods, I love it. It fits me perfectly. It's warm, soft , and snuggly. I can see myself wearing it this winter while sipping a hot chocolate.
Took a small break from my current massive project to make a few things. In February we had a surprise addition to the family. The night of a very cold freeze (it was going to get down to 6°F/-14°C) my cats went batshit at the living room window. Turns out there was a cat on the porch. I opened the door and shook a food container at it and it literally ran into the house and hasn't left since. Much to my elder cats chagrin. We got her checked out at the vet, spayed, and vaccinated. She's around 2-4 years old and she is gorgeous with magnificent floof.
It's taken months to come up with a proper name for her with many trials and errors of finding something she would respond to.
Tumblr may I introduce, Kimchi.
As is tradition in our house every cat gets their own bed and blanket, whether they use it or not is up to them. So since we decided to name her and therefore keep her, kimchi needed her own bed and blanket. I went spelunking in my crafting stash for some yarns that would go together. I came up with a color scheme that is not my usual style but really worked together. It took me a few weeks to get everything made (got taken down with the flu which made it take a bit longer) but now kimchi has a bed and blanket of her own.
She isn't sure what to do with the bed, but she really, really likes the blanket. The blanket is 2' x 3', made in double crochet corner to corner; the bed is a simple 16" circular base with the sides crocheted separately and sewn onto the base. no pattern for either.
I decided that while I had the dye supplies out at the ready, I'd dye up some of the silk thread cones I had sitting about. I needed a couple thousand yards of pink to ply with my handspun Merino wool I was going to be working with and that I had dyed about 1000 yards of bluefaced Leicester DK yarn to match. It certainly came out nice and pink. Just like I wanted. While the BFL yarn was more vibrant than the commercial malabrigo roving I handspun, the pink silk thread that I'm plying it with brightens up the Merino and I think it enhances the malabrigo tremendously. Each Hank of 1000 yards of silk thread (there were two) took me two hours to wind back on the cones. I did fairly well for hand winding, I think. I did have to break out my wooden skein winder. That required another spelunking trip into my packed boxes to find. I'm glad I did.
Pictured is a hank of 20/2 silk thread dyed bright pink, a full shot and then a close up of the silk thread, both on a cement background; two hand wound balls of wool yarn upper right ball is the commercial malabrigo merino roving in pastel pinks and purples that was one of the first bits of yarn I ever handspun, left center ball is bluefaced Leicester DK weight yarn that i dyed in the same but more vibrant pinks and purples, and lower right is the hank of 20/2 silk thread dyed bright pink on a cement background; the hank of pink silk thread being wound by hand onto the original plastic cone with a wooden skein winder behind the hand holding the cone on a pale blue comforter; a fully hand wound cone of bright pink silk thread sitting atop a wooden skein winder on a pale blue comforter.
while I was at it, I decided I needed some turquoise silk thread for some handspun I knew I had sitting in my to be knit pile. I ended up accidentally putting too much turquoise dye in the pot than I had intended so I ended up scrambling for more things to dye turquoise. In the end I threw in 2000 yards of silk thread, two 30 inch square silk hair scarves, 20 mawata silk hankies, and a handful of silk cocoons in to the pot. I regret nothing. They came out beautifully. It had just snowed overnight and I had nowhere to hang them all to dry except on my bedroom curtain rod over the floor vent. I can hardly wait for wash day when I can braid the silk scarves into my hair.
Pictured a close up and a far away shot of two silk hair scarves, three hanks of silk thread, and mawata silk hankies all very turquoise hanging on a curtain rod in front of a window; three hanks of turquoise silk thread coiled up on a cement background; turquoise silk mawata hankies and silk cocoons on a cement background.
Ive been working on another wool knitting project to warm my hide now that I no longer live in a subtropical climate. I have been using up some of my first handspun but reached the point where I realized I don't think I have enough yarn to actually finish the project. So I went spelunking in my packed boxes and uncovered my dye supplies to work up some yarn to match my handspun.
While I was at it, I threw some more dye at some other yarns I had been waiting to dye. While not what I consider my finest work, it's not bad for not having dyed anything in over 6 years. At least I didn't felt anything.
First up is 412 yards of silk thread I dyed blood red to ply with some of my handspun I did a few months ago.
Next up is a skein of lions brand fisherman's wool in worsted weight I had gotten in white that when I went to work with it, I found myself going slowly insane with boredom. So I dyed it up and I'm rather happy with how it came out. 446 yards will make a decent something or another. Don't quite know what I'll make with this.
Then the extra yardage for my project, 734 yards of bluefaced leister DK weight yarn to match the malabrigo branded Merino roving I handspun when I was learning how to spin. My dyed yarn came out a bit brighter and more vibrant than the malabrigo but I'm not very good at dyeing pastels.
Now that the yarns are dry, I'm going to wind them into balls and get back to work on my knitting.
I grew up in and have lived in a subtropical climate for all of my 40+ years of life so far. Yeah, I've experienced fairly cold weather that can dip into freezing temperatures but it's usually so short lived that one only needs to wear a jacket maybe 3 days in the entirety of winter. And not consecutive days either.
So when my spouse and I decided to ultimately move to a much colder climate in the Ozark mountains, with a stop over in Tennessee for a little while, I knew I would need warm accessories that I've never used before. I didn't know what accessories I would actually need or use bc I had never experienced cold weather for prolonged periods of time. I was told when we moved to Tennessee that I would have until January before I really needed anything for truly cold weather (below 30°F). So I took my time to figure out what accessories I would purchase versus make myself. Once I had an idea of what I wanted to make, I scoured knitting patterns for what I wanted to make first. First up a pari of nice warm wool gloves.
I found a pattern for convertible thrummed mittens on ravelry. Having been a subtropical person, I've never needed to make gloves, thrummed or not. So it was a challenge on many levels as there were quite a few techniques I had to learn and the pattern was written with the expectation that one had made gloves before and was fairly proficient at it. ...... So, totally not me.
However, my ADHD brain thrives on challenges like this so I jumped in with both feet (or hands if you will) and thought I had months before I would need these gloves. Boy howdy, was I so wrong. I started knitting them in October and by the end of that month Tennessee was plunged into freezing temperatures. It hasn't let up since. So I did what every knitter does as winter approaches: knit faster.
I finally finished the second glove a few days ago, as we were experiencing more overnight temperatures in the high teens (15-19°F).
Y'all.
I'm in love with these gloves. They have every feature I wanted: thrums for warmth, flip top so I can actually use my fingers when needed and go back to warm mittens when I don't, and individual fingers instead of fingerless. The only thing is I have rather large hands so they look freaking comical with the fluffiness from the thrums. I know that will settle down once the thrums start to felt and conform to my hand shape, until then I just find them hilariously floofy.
But I now have my first bit of cold weather kit, I can go outside and my fingers don't hurt from the cold. I recommend the pattern, especially if one has more understanding of making gloves than I did before I started.
The yarn is BFL (blue faced Leicester) wool and silk (85/15) in DK weight that I dyed myself. The thrums are a merino and mohair wool with silk pencil roving I bought years ago from paradise fibers. The pattern is convertible thrummed mittens by Emaly Leak free on ravelry.
Finished spinning the purple haze mini batt. It was a blend of Shetland tops, merino tops, Corridale rovings, border Leicester locks, and Angelina tinsel. I believe it was a little over 2 oz of fiber.
This was one of the first batts to come off the mini drum carder I won in a contest, and therefore not one of the most well prepped batts. The fiber wasn't as smooth to spin as some of the others I carded up afterwards. So this yarn is a bit inconsistent in spots. Still decent for hand spun yarn and it will even out with plying.
It came out to 198 yards, averaging 25 wpi, single ply yarn. I know I'm going to ply it with a purple colored silk thread but I haven't decided on what shade I will dye it. I'm leaning towards the darker, cooler/blue shades than the warmer redder shades. Maybe like a deep eggplant purple. Hrm. I guess it'll come to me when I break out the dye supplies.
