Fibery Stash Suprise

There is nothing like getting a package in the mail. I knew I was getting some alpaca roving to spin into yarn so that I could re-knit the thumb on my daughter's favorite glove/mitts but I did not expect this lovely array of squishy heaven that Maple from Northstar Alpacas sent. There are three slightly different colors-more easily seen in the picture w/o glove/mitt. The ball at bottom left is a near perfect match. Cannot wait to spin it!

Waiting

Yesterday was a waiting day. I was waiting for:

1. The Sears fridge repair guy (you know the famous we will be there between 8am and 5 pm) - found out at 1:30 pm that he was out sick and not coming-Thanks!

2. For the power to come back on. Due to icing we had no electricity for 2.5 hours. Not as bad as some folks but it does restrict what you can do.

3. Spring! I like to see the white flakes on occasion. I can do without ice.

So while I was waiting I decided to occupy myself with....Spinning





Soy silk plyed with silk noil. Love this combo and plan to make more.





Soy silk plyed with handspun green wool. Very Springy.
The soy silk is pink, peach, purple, blue aqua, green and yellow.

Dyeing Soy Silk

Rainy and gray today, perfect for dyeing soy silk.
Photo 1. -Soy silk roving as purchased
Photo 2.-Dye in"squirt" bottles with pre-soaked roving
Instructions from Halcyon Yarn, which carries the dye.

















The painted roving







Wrapped in plastic wrap, on a folding vegetable steamer on top of the canning rack in my canner






The finished product, still wet







Finished product dry and fluffed a bit. I made the mistake of agressively squeezing this batch - A simple towel blotting will do prior to drying.






Another view. I paint probably too many colors, but I like the cross over variations that I get. I can also choose to spin various segments instead of the whole. Several variations of spun soy silk can be seen in my stash on ravelry or in my etsy store.





Spun single of the soy silk above









Same single plyed with pale green handspun.

Lotus Scarf Correction

I finished the alpaca Lotus Scarf last night. In order for the needles to be facing the same direction for grafting you have to end on alternate rows or slide one half to a double pointed needle. To keep it simple, I ended the first half at Row 2 and the 2nd on Row 3 and then completed the grafting. Made a wider join than I anticipated. I have changed the pattern to End first needle at row 1 and 2nd at row 2. The join will be a straight line of a few rows of garter stitch.