Things of Beauty

I actually won a blog contest!....Theresa sent me some of her photo cards.....they are even lovelier in real life than they are on the computer.... Just quality. Thank you , Theresa!

Wisps of Summer

Spring comes in like wisps of summer.....





Spindle spun tussah silk single "Sangria Nights" by Spunky Eclectic, knitted into a little wisp of summer scarf on size 8 needles.

Black Norwegian, Ramboulliet, Bamboo Yarns

The outdoors and especially thoughts of tranforming our yard into a fruitful flowery paradise have still not managed to woo me away entirely from fibery pursuits.....Above is the Babydoll Southdown that I dyed in the wool, and am now in the process of carding.

Above, 150ish yards of Ramboulliet in Yarn or a Tale's "Wendy" colorway, spun up to make socks for Peace.

Nestled on top of some black Norwegian 3-ply that is the last of the yarns for my rug.

Below is 170 yards of two-ply bamboo spun from my natural dyeing last summer. I want to use this for my first project on the floor loom. Because it was missing some heddle bars, I have had to wait some time to use it. At last it is in working order, and soon it will be time to warp it....to that end, the bamboo has captured my attention this week....even though there is more to spin there is not enough for a scarf....so I will have to think of something small to make. Any ideas?

Bottom Whorl, Score 1

Two spindles, ready to wind off. Despite this poor little bottom whorl's disadvantage of having a pretty bead, it wins for the larger cop category. I have never been one who can deal with big cops, and some would say these look downright sickly, but the bottom whorl definitely lets me pack on a lot more singles while keeping a nice stable spin! :-) And that is a good thing.



Here is the finished yarn, 160 yards, from a polwarth-silk Abby batt. Yes, more lace. For in spring, a young spinner's heart turns to thoughts of lace.....

This was pure spinning pleasure. If you want a smooth even yarn, get your hands on some of Abby's batts. (Spunky Eclectic and The Spinning Loft both carry them now, but they go fast....)
I was privileged enough to watch her card a batt after the class last month, and let me tell you, she is one particular, relentless carder. :-)

Verity's Second Yarn

Here are my girls spinning. Verity's first yarn was not knittable, and so her goal was to make her second something she could knit. She succeeded quite well. In fact, she spun this so fine that I may have to teach her to knit lace. One cute little skein.

Rug and Scarf: Handspun on the Needles

Bruce and I had a chance to go out to a couple of dinners a few weeks ago....I haven't had much chance to knit lately, so of course I took some along to work on during the programs....no need to even glance down for the garter stitch of the rug, so it came along, and I got five little rectangles done. They shall be windows, to peer out and see the different moods of autumn. They are
knitting up beautifully....

..

Getting my hands on the needles again made me want to cast on for the "Branching Out" scarf in my green Clun Forest yarn. It is a happy marriage of yarn and pattern. So some of my precious spinning time is going into the scarf.... but it is a pleasure.

Exploring the Down Wools: Babydoll Southdown Samples

Amy sent me two samples of her clean, coated Babydoll Southdown fleeces. The sample on top is a short-stapled , irregular crimp, the one below is a longer staple, more defined crimp. That is no stain on the bottom sample, but some rich yellow lanolin! I liked them both, but found the short staple of the first sample difficult to process with my hand cards.
These are some fairly fine fibers, and they wanted to spin up thinly for me. Even as a three ply, they are on the light side of a fingering weight yarn. Extremely elastic yarn. Amy says she is making an effort to breed for next-to-the skin softness, but isn't sure that that is attainable. I think it depends on how sensitive your skin is! Just as an experiment, I tucked one of these samples in one of my feminine undergarments.....and forgot it was there for the rest of the day. Though it would not be my first choice when a need for softness was primary, I look forward to making socks from my wool, as I think they will be quite comfortable.

Perception of softness even with the finest of down wools is affected, I think, by the wool's greatest strength .....which is its wonderful elastic crimp. This southdown has bouncy, bouncy crimp. I would compare it to a mattress. The springs in some are firm, and in others the springs are yielding. This affects the perception of softness for both mattresses and for wool. If you want a mattress for sleeping on, well, that will depend on your taste. But if you want to jump on the bed and have pillow fights, then pick a nice firm mattress. Bounce is fun!

Amy pointed out in her correspondence with me that Southdown has the most microscopic scales of any wool fiber.... this allows it to "grab" onto very fine fibers, making it perfect for blending with angora and other fibers that tend to want to escape! She sells some very yummy sounding blends, herself, which I hope to try one day.

I will finish spinning up my larger, lanolin rich portion, and check back with you all with notes on the spinning and the dyeing.

In the meantime, I have reserved two fleeces (one white, one colored) for next year. With their diminutive size, a Babydoll Southdown fleece is a very modest investment, and one that may just steal the heart away.