WIPs

What I'm spinning:

On my nano I've finished spinning this 50/50 alpaca and silk top into singles and have started plying. You'll notice that the green bobbin is much more consistent and sleek than the white, that's because this is my first project with a spinning wheel of any kind and I did the white first. I like seeing how much I progressed between the first bobbin and the second. I plan to ply them with a pretty high twist in order to keep the alpaca fiber under control. I don't want it shedding all over the place.

This fiber was originally a Christmas gift from Husband, when I had spun all he got me and still didn't have quite enough to warp for my rug he quickly ordered more. I spun the first 4oz on a drop spindle so we'll have to see how my skills on the e-spinner hold up to my spindle skills.

When I'm done and the nano is free I've promised to teach Little Girl how to spin.

On my trusty top whorl spindle I have some handdyed merino from Frabjous fibers. I'm going for a semi-woolen single. It's top which is a worsted preparation but I wanted to add some air into it so I'm spinning it woolen. Never spun woolen before (except on accident I'm sure as I was learning to spin) I am getting the hang of it and I like how it's so much less dense than other yarns I have spun.

What I'm knitting:

This is Joji Locatelli's pattern, "Glacier" which I am adapting into a summer top and knitting with Sweet Georgia's flaxen silk sock yarn colorway is called raspberry swirl. Early on in this knit I made misplaced an increase. If I had checked stitch counts I could have discovered it early on but I didn't discover it until I tried to divide the sleeves from the main body. I was unwilling to rip back (as I often am) so instead I performed what I like to call "minor surgery" on it. I laddered down and rearranged about twenty columns of stitches. It made me rather mad at myself and this project but I didn't give it up which is probably what would have happened if I had ripped back. It took hours of work but I got it set right and am knitting away albeit slowly as I am far more interested in some of my other projects. Still I want to wear it before the summer is over so I should try to prioritize it soon.

What I'm weaving:

*sigh* This warp is giving me trouble. The suggested sett for this yarn (8/2 cotton) is something like 19-24 ends per inch and with two 12.5 dent heddles I'm working with 25 epi. This is why I made sure to weave a sample. The sample was definitely warp-faced but I didn't see that as a problem since I wanted the hand-painted warp to be the star of the show anyway. But here's the difference between my sample and this project, I only died the sample warp once. Because I subjected this warp to the dye process twice the fibers are more upbraided. Combine that with an very close sett and you get a sticky warp which make getting a clean shed very difficult. I've mitigated the problem a little bit by using a pickup stick behind the heddles but that means I know have two heddles and a pickup stick to manipulate every time I change sheds and the sheds still aren't great. So it's slow going. I'm planning to switch to a bigger weft yarn once I have woven one tea towels worth. I tested out some 3/2 cotton on the sample and while I like the smaller yarn better it should give me a result I will be happy with and it'll cut down weaving time on a project that no longer brings me very much joy.

What I am [going to be] dyeing:

Little Girl is moving to her new room in the basement soon to make room for Baby Girl upstairs. Husband and I have been working hard to get the room ready. I have never before had the opportunity to decorate a room start to finish in one go before the occupant moves in so I'm excited about the project. Little Girl has done a little weaving so I thought a rug that she and work on together would be great for her next project. We'll start by dyeing this t-shirt yarn for weft. I chose this yarn because I like to make sure I'm not wrecking the environment or benefitting from the oppression of people less fortunate than me with my purchases. Cotton is usually produced in less than ethical ways that doesn't meet either of those criteria. This yarn is made from textile waste so while it's not like Fair Trade GOTS certified cotton I felt comfortable buying it. When it arrived I was surprised by the label which read "100% undetermined fibers" I had been sure I ordered cotton, did I actually order polyester or some other synthetic. I nee a quick way to test....

I SET IT ON FIRE!

I snipped of a couple inches of the yarn and put a match to it. Synthetics melt and natural fibers will catch fire, my yarn caught so we are good to go. First I have to talk Little Girl into colors that actually match the colors she picked for her walls then we'll start sampling to figure out our dye formulas. I'm hoping to turn her into a fiber fiend like me. Only time will tell!