Souvenirs

I am not a collecter of tchokies. When I travel, I generally always end up coming home with exactly what I left home with, except for a couple memory cards for my camera laden with images or something really unique and beautiful that I will treasure forever. Moving around a bit and not knowing where you might call home next are big players in this habit, and I also have no love for the act of dusting in which tchokies on the shelf love to attract.

Alas, I have a downfall: the odd skeins of local yarns that would be impossible to find anywhere else.

While France and most of Europe is filled with yarn of the mill-spun and commercial variety (functional but boring), every now and then I end up someplace that has something special. True, none of the yarns I picked up in Denmark were remarkably soft, but they have a lovely rustic appeal that I love. The brown skein of yarn is spun from sheep in Greenland. I didn't even know there were sheep in Greenland, but whatever they are, they make Icelandic Lopi seem soft as cashmere in comparison. The dark gray is probably Gotland, the grey a blend of local breeds from the Falklands. Wintery yarns made so that both man and beast are at ease surviving in a harsh climate.

I've been knitting quite a bit lately as being on the road a lot means I have plenty of time to stitch away. My goal for the summer months is to knock out a couple lace shawls and at least 3 sweaters, and perhaps a few gifts as well. I have also decided that I can't leave France with more yarn than I brought here, so I'll be whittling this down from the rubbermaid shipping container I brought from New York that I can barely notice a dent in so far.

Fiber Swap

Every once in a while, the Spin City group organizes a fiber swap to get rid of less-than-awesome stash that is taking up too much space. It might be something you bought impulsively, or something that isn't spinning up the way you wanted, or something you never got around to spinning. It's pretty much guaranteed to find a home if you bring it to a swap.



It's a fiber free-for-all. I really feel sorry for the book club that had decided to have their book discussion nearby. They were all pretty much writhing in horror at our antics.

I brought in a huge bag of things to swap (I could care less what I get for it, just as long as someone else takes it home) and everything was gone at the end. Success! An entire fleece disappeared, along with some braids of superwash merino roving that I didn't like the feel of, and some of my handcarded batts that didn't sell in the shop. I did go home with a few quality things as well, but considerably less then what I walked in with.


This is a 4oz braid of Falkland, which is very much like merino. It's very soft.


I also got about 5oz of Leicester Longwool. I fell in love with the spicy autumnal colors. Alas, it's a bit felted and will take some combing before I spin it. Whoever dyed this is quite the wonder of nature- it takes a lot of work to accidentally felt this kind of wool.


A tiny 1oz babycake from Loop. I've been collecting purple ones for a project, and this one is perfect. I have no ideal what blend of fibers this might be. I see silk noil, but I usually can't tell what else is blended in until I spin it.

Everyone has a great time and went home happy. I don't get out to this meetup nearly enough.

Zombies!

I finished spinning and plying my Zombies while slurping from a bowl of delicious brains. Totally appropriate.



It was a 4oz bump of Falkland from the August Spunky Club that I spun up and then Navajo plied in short chains to preserve the colors.



I ended up with 300 yards of heavy worsted weight. I haven't given it a relaxing bubble bath yet to set the twist, so it looks a bit wonky and uneven. Hopefully it won't bleed har har.

Spinning!

Not a whole lot of time to spin, but two wheels means I can have two projects going.

Here is the Spunky Club for August, "Zombies" Falkland:



I'll navajo ply it eventually and make a hat (maybe). KnithoundBrooklyn made a really cute bucket hat out of hers.

This is super special:



Cashmere! The down fiber class I took at Rhinebeck totally gave me confidence to actually spin a 1oz bump of the good stuff that I had stashed away. I Andean plied it on a spindle last night and I need to count up my yardage. I'm thinking a lace cowl needs be made: this stuff is amazing and soft.

Surprise! More Fiber!

I was on vacation when the postman tried to deliver my August Spunky Club, so I didn't actually get it until this past week.



Falkland in the "Zombies" colorway. Great name, great colors. Falkland wool is a breed of sheep from the remote, cold, windy Falkland Islands. They have a great deal of Merino in their bloodlines, so it's very soft and crimpy, but there is also a lot of silkiness to it and a longer staple length then Merino. It's great for beginners, it's usually not all that expensive, and it's nice and soft. It's bright white in color, so it takes dyes really well.



The colors are great- a sickly blueish-gray, some gory reds, some gray matter. I'll be here, squishing and petting my brain-eating wool all weekend.

The Dyepot finally gets some love

Sunday morning I awoke to the pitterpat of a torrential downpour gently lulling me out of my slumber. Cool, rainy weather means only one thing: time to stew up some dyes.

I pulled out my long-neglected dyepot and the acid dyes and begun to mix colors. Whatever my mood is tends to be reflected in the final product...and for whatever reason my mood was purple that day. I feel bruised, perhaps? Naw, more like hungry for plums and eggplants and grapes. Oh, and squash as well.

Here are my victims:



I went stash-diving and pulled out some boring white wool I had tucked away. 4 oz of BFL, 2 oz of a nice Falkland and 2 oz of kid mohair.

Mohair sucks up dye brilliantly. It has high luster and it absolutely begs to be something flashy.



I had a squash on the the countertop and a huge sugar pumkin from the food share that made do this. Now if I can only figure out what the pumpkin wants to be. Please, don't say pie. We don't need pie.

Another victim of the dyepot was a bag of white Icicle.



I had an 8oz bag that came along with my carder. It's a little sparkly but not too glitzy. It's made up out of nylon, but I was cautious with it- i was afraid that I might melt it into something toxic, or worse, uncardable, so I really kept the heat down. I applied dye and really had to press it to convince it to soak up the dye. Even after soaking it in the dye jar, i was still seeing a lot of white in the center. Nylon does not wick like wool does, and it is far from absorbent. Since this was going to be thrown on the carder eventually, I didn't take too much time worrying about it.

Here are the end results:



OH my MOHAIR. That is bright! And I'm very happy with the falkland and the bfl.

And here is the Icicle:


The purple I used on the Icicle was the same that I used on the BFL! Crazy, right? It's completely different on the nylon.

I still have a bunch of silk and some faux cashmere (don't ask. or go ahead and ask. I'll tell you about it later) and some more white wool that needs its turn in the dyepot, and also some lovely cashmere and angora and cashmere silk blends that need an extra special day in the dyepot when I'm feeling especially brave.

It's almost enough for me to wish for another rainy weekend.