#hipstrings

[affreca]

I'm fighting a cold, so didn't finish yesterday's spinning until today. So you get a twofer.

Day 11 (December 18)

Autumn Beauty is another top from Hipstrings, consisting of 50% merino wool, 25% Shetland wool, 12.5% mulberry silk and 12.5% tussah silk. I think the golden yellow is the mulberry silk, and some light color is the tussah. It's so very rich, with the yellow making the red lusher.

Day 12 (December 19)

Space Unicorn is an older blend from Hipstrings, consisting of 75% merino, 25% viscose (Bamboo/Pearl), 25% baby alpaca and 12.5% trilobal nylon. The black is the alpaca, with the pink is viscose. It's the most difference in color between top and yarn in this set. It person it's a grey purple, but with depth from the variation and sparkle. I might have to either buy some, or make some batts with black, white, light cyan and magenta.

Last picture is all the yarn I've spun as part of this homemade half assed advent calendar. If your count is off, that's because the second yarn (hematite) is hidden between snowy raven and vanilla slice. I don't think I can do a project that coheres with all the yarns, but I might be able to make something out of several of them.

[sharppointysticks]

Days 7, 8, 9, A, B, and 10! #base12sal #hipstrings #spinningwheel #ashford #ashfordespinner3 #handspun #handspunyarn https://www.instagram.com/p/CmuUL35pOP0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[spinningabout]

Little haul from hipstrings. Ordering some of the stuff from vendors I would have bought from at Maryland sheep & wool festival. Since the festival was cancelled I'm still trying to support our fiber artist community. I adore hipstrings, I order stuff from them several times a year. I love their tags too, I fill out the back and attach it to the skein, and then I often attach it to the finished knit item too.

[affreca]

Day 17 (December 24)

The final fiber of my half assed homemade fiber advent calendar is Hipstrings Goblin Mode (discontinued), consisting of 50% merino, 12.5% Shetland, 12.5% BFL, 12.5% bamboo (rayon/viscose) and 12.5% hemp. Colorwise, this ends up being a very similar grey green to yesterday's Lichen. The kitchen sinkness of this fiber is somewhat annoying to draft and I tried to make myself leave in the bamboo slubs. I'm also not sold on hemp or linen in wool blends. I've done it, but not sure what it brings to the table. Though someday I need to go on a linsey-woolsey experiment someday.

The other lesson is that if I make a point of it I can spin an ounce a day when home and not working. I have seven ounces of my blue carded wool bamboo project left to spin, so maybe I will try to finish the singles by the first. Not quite enough time to also ply them and have empty bobbins to start out the new year.

[affreca]

Day 6 (December 13)

Today's fiber is The Algorithm from Hipstrings, 75% merino and 25% bamboo (rayon/viscose). The merino is mostly a deep, almost black, navy with dark purple and cyan bamboo, which reminded me of the luminous lagoon (left side of bottom right photo) I spun last year (the blue in lagoon is mulberry silk). In person I see the purple in The Algorithm, but it doesn't pop.

One of the projects I have in the back of my mind is a series of blends with 75% dark wool and 25% bright silk. After I finish all the other projects in my queue.

[affreca]

Day 16 (December 23)

All caught up, but now only one day/fiber left.

Today's spinning fiber is Lichen, a Hipstrings blended top consisting of 50% blue faced Leicester wool, 25% Shetland wool and 25% tussah silk. This is one of my favorite named fibers. I think the BFL and Shetland are both all natural colors (light browns), but the tussah is a sage green. The spun yarn ends up grey, with a hint of green. I think it's closer match to bark than lichen, but maybe a subtle lichen? It's similar to a blend I've thought about with tan, brown, dark green and sage.

[affreca]

Day 10 (December 17)

Today's fiber is Lord Berrywinkle from Hipstring, consisting of 50% merino, 35% Shetland, 10% tussah silk and 5% stellina. It's all purples, even the stellina (closer to the second photo). I think there's a bit of white wool along with the stellina, which gives it a slight frosted look like the snowy raven from day 1. I think they would look good in a project together, maybe a hat? I wonder where I put the leftovers from my second bloodmoon shawl/head in the clouds hat?

[affreca]

Day 5 (December 12)

Today's blend is Lapis Lazuli. I promise I did not plan this, just made a few errors with reading the schedule. Lapis is another Hipstrings gemstones blend. 75% superfine merino, 10% merino, 10% tussah silk and 5% angelina. The angelina has an orangy sparkle, and seems to mostly mixed in with a grey wool with a crimpier texture than the rest of the wool.

The color is much more blue than yesterday. Lapis lazuli is properly a rock as it's a mixture of different minerals. Old school ultramarine is made by grinding it up and pulling out just the blue lazurite. But lapis lazuli will often have a bit of sparkle from pyrite (fool's gold). I've spun a previous blend of lapis lazuli from Hipstrings, but it was merino, mint (viscose) and angelina. I'm going to have to dig through my spun yarns to see if I still have that sample.