Evolutions

I came across these "evolutions" at Twisted Fiber Art's website the other day.  I love the transitions from one color to the next and I love how the overall color progresses without returning to the original color.  This particular colorway reminds me of the blue sky over sand hills.

I'm not sure how I want to use this ideas in my own dyeing.  I usually dye rovings (which Twisted Fiber Art will also dye into evolutions), but I'm not sure if I really need to put all those colors on the same roving to get this type of end result.  In theory, I could just spin light blue and then purple and then dark brown and then tan and then yellow without having to have dyed them together.

Sarracenia leucophylla hybrid (aka Pitcher Plant)

While I think about that, here is a photo from KathyW's Web Space.  Check out the color evolution/gradation in the flower petals!

Alpaca Scarf

 This looks like the start of a weaving project.  Technically, it is the middle of a much larger project.  You see, a friend of mine owns alpacas.  Black, white, tan, beautiful alpacas! A year or two ago I talked her into giving me a bag of fiber so I could show her what could be done with the soft, wonderful stuff!  So I did.  I combed and carded and spun and knit and wove and gave her an idea of what could be done with her fibers.  This year, she sent the fibers off for processing.  The roving is luscious!  I spun 4oz of the tan and roughly 2oz each of the black and the white for this project.

 The scarf wove up quickly and I am pleased with how it turned out.  The tan yarn was set at 14 epi and the black and white together at 12 epi.  The structure is a simple 2/2 twill.  The ends have a twisted fringe, but no hemstitching.

I tried the scarf on and discovered a problem. It was scratchy!  See the culprit in the photo?  There are thicker hairs in the alpaca that I hadn't paid much attention to while I spun.  I should have paid attention!  I was able to pull many of them out of the finished scarf--which is a little disconcerting....can the whole thing be pulled apart fiber by fiber?  I think that these thicker hairs were easier to pull out because they were thicker and less tightly twisted into the yarn.  I hope so!

The alpaca scarf has gone to its new home where it will be loved by a mutual friend of both the alpaca owner and the weaver/spinner.

The Emperor's New Clothes

 I feel like I am weaving the emperor's new clothes.  There is a pattern in this piece, but I can't see it!  More realistically, I can see that there is something there, but I can't see the pattern I was expecting to see.  After trying two different packing densities, I gave up, checked my draft on the computer and went to bed.  I'm debating cutting this off the loom and seeing if wet finishing will make the huck lace patterns show.

Check out this photo of me threading the heddles.  As I sat down to work at the mighty wolf, I realized that the reed was going to be in my way.  So I unscrewed the top bar and took the reed out.  Now why didn't I think of that long ago with my baby wolf?  It worked great to reach forward without reaching over the reed!

Mighty Wolf 8H loom

 Thursday night as I was looking at various things on-line I checked the classifieds at Weaving Indiana.  Lo and behold, a friend of mine was looking to trade looms--her 36" wide Mighty Wolf for a 26" wide Baby Wolf.

A few emails later and my Baby got packed up for moving and was replaced with this beautiful 8H Might Wolf!

I am thrilled!  In fact, I'm off to my books to decide which project goes on the loom first! :)

Skeinsgiving -Strauch Petite

This "red, white, & blue" batt was my favorite.  The main fiber is a super soft wool.  It came out of Beth's huge fiber baskets and I didn't ask what was in it.  It is soft enough to be merino and I wonder if it has some angora in it.  I blended it with a tiny bit of white silk and added a touch of a blue wool and a touch of a pink/maroon wool.  It was so pretty!

The carder that I used was my favorite too: a Strauch Petite.  It was easy to crank, easy to clean, and made lovely batts (I fed the blue and pink through prior to adding them to the blend).  Ahhh.  It was very nice.  Guess what I've added to my wish list?

Thanks again to Beth at the Spinning Loft in Howell, MI for "Skeinsgiving" and the "Batt Bar".  It was great fun!