My New Spinning Obsession

My New Spinning Obsession

I had the unbelievable fortune to take not one, but two of the online class offerings from MDSW last week.

My first class, Twist with Maggie Casey, was mind-blowing. For a long time… too long…I have spun the same default yarn. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing if you always make the same thing… but if you want to make different things, you need to make different yarn.

BFL, Shetland, and Merino

Enter Maggie Casey! I spent 3 hours with her helping me see twist in an entirely different way… and as a result twist and tension have become my new jam! The fibers she sent for her class were just incredible, as you can see!

I loved that she started at our “default” yarn and had us make tiny adjustments from that point. It was dramatic to feel the difference and to see the difference on the bobbin!

And if all that wasn’t enough, I then spent two hours with Judith MacKenzie learning about Columbia Sheep and especially their amazing fleece! I learned about processing wool… washing, carding, flicking, and how amazing fiber makes processing so much easier! (and better quality fiber means better spinning!) Judith sent a gorgeous box of fiber… some washed locks to flick, a batt that I made rolags from, and even some unwashed locks to wash myself! (Have Dawn Dishsoap, will wash fiber! Purists out there…if Dame Judith says Dawn works and I believe her!) This fiber washes up completely white… bright white! And I learned why Columbia wool likes to be dyed! Columbia wool has “dye sites” which is how the fiber draws in dye from the tip and the color is pulled down the fiber in a corkscrew fashion on each strand of fiber (I Googled this to learn more, but I found nothing. However, if Dame Judith says it, I absolutely believe it!) It was also fun to see a familiar face in the virtual class!

On a side note… Columbia Fleece are enormous! If you’d be interested in splitting a fleece with me, let me know! 

Columbia in all forms!

Unwashed locks on the far right…it gets so clean!

Flicked locks… puffs of white that begs to be spun!

These rolags… long draw heaven right there!

I did a bunch of sampling this week and I was inspired to move beyond sampling and use my newly learned techniques to spin up the Chickadee fiber from FiberNymph Dye Works and I am blown away! I have a full bobbin and still have fiber to spin! Three ply sock yarn that is actually sock yarn weight has been achieved! I am so excited and hope to finish the bit of fiber I have to go today and ply next week.

This mixed BFL is going to be gorgeous yarn!

I got the second Backyard Birds shipment this week and the Polwarth/Silk fiber is gorgeous! The Colorway…Blue Jay and I am thinking shawlette currently because I don’t know that I could get a shawls worth of yarn spun, but who knows!

I love the hint of blue in the complimentary color fiber!

And that is all I have for this week! Have a great Mother’s Day weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!

 

 

 

Three on Thursday, Nightshift Edition

Three on Thursday, Nightshift Edition

Greetings, gentle readers!

I am joining with Carole and Friends with a quick and feverish update on the rage that is taking over Blogdom thanks to our Fearless Leader: Vicki!

Thing One:

Every time I think of Nightshift this pops into my head…

Sorry, not sorry for that earworm gentle readers!

Thing Two:

There is a Nightshift KAL Group! Whew… I needed that! (also, Vicki did some AWESOME images for you to use, you can find them here!)

Thing Three:

My yarn choices….

::drum roll please::

Ta-da! Six skeins of hand spun yarn (yes, six – two are on the “light side”) and I think they all work beautifully together…yes?

I was going to ply two of the skeins a bit more, but you know what? I think they will be fine just the way they are!

Casting on in 3…2..1…

 

Three on Thursday, Nightshift Edition

Three on Thursday | 6.27.19

Carole is on vacation this week, so yesterday afternoon I began to toss ideas around for an alternative post. I was not having much success, so when feedly told me this morning that there indeed was a Three on Thursday post, I breathed a huge sigh of relief! LOL

Thank you, Carole for salvaging a blog post!

My things today all involve making – or making inspiration!

Thing One:

I do not follow many hash tags on IG, but the most recent hash tag find has been providing amazing inspiration: #sewover50 is my favorite new rabbit hole to slip down! (However, it is easy to lose all track of time, so I am limiting my “look time” to the end of the day!)

Thing Two:

You will all be happy to know that the second Screen Door was cast on yesterday! I picked an incredibly lovely skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk that has been maturing in my stash for a very long time! I went up a needle size and will only do the prescribed repeats! I almost got 10 repeats done yesterday (thanks in much to debate knitting last night!) Anyways – I was pleasantly surprised to find that this yarn matches some fabric I recently purchases for a new Esme Tunic!

Thing Three:

Finally, I have been seeing the Zadie Jumpsuit all over IG! Everyone looks amazing in this cute jumpsuit and it seems to work for all shapes, sizes, ages, etc. So, I am hoping that I will find something on super sale to make a muslin this weekend!

There you have the things that are inspiring my making this week! What is inspiring you in your corner of the world?

Fiber Friday | 3.1.19

Fiber Friday | 3.1.19

It seems that March is off to a roaring start! We got about 5 inches of snow overnight, with more in the forecast for the weekend. Although, all this snow has not hampered the bird’s enthusiasm as they were singing loud and long this morning!

I have not done a Fiber Friday post in some time, and the mood is striking me that this is just what I need to share today!

First up, it seems I am working on becoming a Mohair Silk Knitting Jedi. Yes, this year just might be the Year of Mohair Knitting! My second mohair project of 2019 is underway, and I am cruising along. There was a slight hiccup when 5 rounds in I discovered that yes, I have twisted the damned cast on and have a Möbius sweater started. Now, if you know anything you know there is no “ripping back and starting over” with mohair. My solution? I dropped the last stitch of the round down to the cast on, untwisted the twist, and carefully purled up the laddered yarn. It shows a bit now, but once I have the ends woven in, I think it will be barely visible!

Thank goodness for that Mohair Halo!! This project is bringing me unbelievable joy – the color and the fabric are wonders!! This is exactly what my Tegna wants to be!

Next, today I will be ironing all these fat quarters to begin the process of cutting out squares for assembly! Yes, I am beginning my 100-day project today and hopefully I will have a quilt top done by June 9th.

I also picked up more fabric to make another 1 Hour Top!

So, March will be full of sewing and fluffy knitting! And, hopefully soon, some spring-like weather!!

Happy Friday all! See you back here next week!

Best Nine 2018

Best Nine 2018

Today I am sharing the best of my making. 2018 was a most productive year for me! Ravelry tells me I completed 17 projects – a most impressive number! And, of these 17 items – 9 were sweaters!! It truly was the year of the sweater for me and I plan to work to continue that in 2019 as well!

And, that number grows with my renewed interest in sewing! I made a good number of things for myself and for Genevieve in 2018 – best of all, many of the things I made were repurposed from garments that were too large! I even did a bit of hand sewing with an Alabama Chanin-style top! All in all, I sewed 17 items this year!

But, out of these 34 things, these are my best items of the year:

Today, the making continues! I will be working on finishing a “snowsuit” for Genevieve’s Bitty Baby! Snaps and some elastic are all that it needs to finish it up!

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