Brights Thick n thin spun

I got this beautiful fiber from splitrockranch on etsy. It was a gorgeous 2oz batt of 80% wool and 20% bamboo. The colors are far more vibrant than they appear in these photos, with red, green, yellow, blue. It just reminded me of a circus, so bright and wild! I decided it needed to be spun thick & thin to keep that vibrant nature. It looks gorgeous spun, and the texture of the tick & thin works really well with the colors.




I also got another 2 batts, and joined her 3 month roving club so I receive 4oz of fiber from Brenda for 3 months. How exciting! I am thrilled with all of the fiber I have received, they are all truly works of art, just gorgeous. I highly suggest checking out Brenda's site splitrockranch on etsy. She obviously loves what she does, and to top it off, is a really nice person (which I think is always a bonus! I had a few questions when I bought the batts, and she responded immediately sorting everything out for me. Great customer service counts for a lot.

I will post some more pics of the other fibers later. I am currently spinning a gorgeous wool/bamboo/tencel batt from her. Maybe socks? Who knows!

Circling the wagons

OK, so I have already explained the concept behind this yarn museum challenge here.

This is my entry to the challenge below:


It is 50% Corriedale, 50% Masham, 99yds approx with 7wpi.

The concept behind circling the wagons is protection. I therefore knew I wanted to heavily feature the color white, which is generally regarded as the most powerful and protective of colors, and that I wanted the yarn to be warm, soft and squishy. I am new to spinning, and only discovered Pluckyfluff and Holly's blogs this week after buying Pluckyfluff's new book "Intertwined". I was struck in Holly's blog by the beauty of her beach photos. It is obvious that the beach not only brings her inspiration in her work, but is also very special to her. In honor of this I dyed aqua ocean colors to ply with the white.

Have a look at all of the other BEAUTIFUL yarns in the challenge here. I was just so impressed by the colors and textures, just so beautiful. Actually, I have to admit that I saw some of them before I entered mine, and nearly didn't email the details off as I felt mine was so inferior to theirs. But then I remembered that we are doing this to raise some money, gave myself a slap and sent my email!

If you see one you particularly like, then please go and buy or bid here! Remember that all of the yarns are donated by the spinner. They were spun with love and the hope that we can raise some cash for Holly.

Party hat

I used my handspun "80's party dress" superwash corriedale from spunky's December fiber club shipment to create this "party hat" for DS.





It seems to be warming up here in AZ now, so not sure if he will really wear it, and I don't think it will fit next year, but I just couldn't resist. It is so cute! He loves it, has been wearing it around the house all day.

The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and is "Kim's Hat's", the earflap version. My yarn is bulkier than that required, so I followed the Babies size of the pattern to come out with the measurements of a child size. I got the thing done in 1 night, it was a very fast knit!

Koolaid!

I had a turn dying roving with Koolaid the other day. I dyed up some Masham and some Corriedale, using the tutorial here (it is very good!).

Anyway, this is what I ended up with:



The red in the first pic is slightly redder, and the second is more green and turquoise. Camera just won't take any pics with accurate color!

They smell pretty (fruity!) and overall I am happy. You can't get much easier than dying with Koolaid in the microwave! I will check which flavors I used, and update later. Just can't remember at the moment!

My pretty wheel...

OK, so I finally got around to taking some pictures of my beautiful wheel that Santa brought:



I just LOVE it! It is the Ashford traveller, double treadle. We had our first "outing" yesterday. I went to the Arizona Desert Weavers & Spinners Guild (ADWSG), and took my wheel along. What a fantastic meeting! We had a talk by Bhakti Zeik who is a fantastically accomplished weaver. I do not weave myself, but her work was just so inspiring and beautiful, and so fascinating to listen to!

After the meeting I stayed behind for a little to spin. I started my January fiber from Spunky's fiber club. It is 4 oz of Icelandic wool in the colorway "Snow Squall". Wow, it is gorgeous! I carried on spinning when I got home, and as it was so beautiful, I sat in the garden. (I know we are in Arizona now, but still can't get over sunny weather in January!!) The fiber comes into it's own in the sunshine, when it appears magically metallic. Just so shiny and silvery, like some magic fiber from Hogwarts or something! Anyway I went from this:


to this:

I got it plied and skeined today while watching the Superbowl pre-game festivities (our 1st ever superbowl!), but didn't get any pictures yet.

After the inspiration from Intertwined (see last message), I went out and bought some goodies that I might want to add into my spinning. Yes, that is a ball of eyelash yarn you see, and no I haven't gone crazy! All will be revealed later. There is also pink & white wavy ribbon, and an assortment of beads. Can't wait to play!

Intertwined

I went to Borders yesterday. As always I checked out the knitting books, even though I already have any that interest me. Yesterday was an exception however. There were a couple of new books that caught my eye, but this one in particular I simply could not put down. It was actually so irresistible that although I had a 40% off coupon at home and the store is only down the road, I could not possibly wait. I had to buy it there and then!It is called Intertwined, and is by Lexi Boeger, aka pluckyfluff. What a fantastic book! Essentially it discusses methods and includes some patterns for spinning and then knitting/crocheting with "art yarns". It is more than a "here is a pattern, go follow it and create this item" book though. It is a real source of inspiration, and honestly has made me look at spinning in a whole new way (although I got the book yesterday, I read the whole thing as soon as I got in last night. I could not put it down!). It is not a read it once and you're done book either. The book itself is so beautiful, just looking through at the pictures is inspiring!

I went onto pluckyfluff's site for the first time this morning, and read about a challenge that is running until next week see here. The challenge has been organised in the theme of "circling the wagons", as all yarns entered are being donated by their creator to be auctioned off. The money raised will go to Holly of hollyeqq.com, who has some medical issues to deal with at the moment, and I gather could really do with the extra cash. Again, I only discovered Holly's site this morning, but I am definitely going to contribute. Every little skein helps, right. Which is why everyone should try to contribute something. Details of the challenge are on the yarn museum website here. All entries have to be in by Sat Feb 9th.