Fiber Club

Let's talk about stash, shall we? I've been kind of holding out on you stash-wise. A few months ago, I joined the A Verb for Keeping Warm Essential Luxury Fiber Club. All I can say is "wow". The talented Kristine only uses natural dyes and unique blends and rarer breeds of sheep. I have been super pleased with everything I've received so far. Plus, it's only in 2-3oz increments so I never feel overwhelmed by fiber, but just insanely tickled and inspired that I have this bit of awesomeness in my hand.


This is the latest club shipment. It's 2 oz of Wensleydale fiber and 1 oz of tussah silk. I'm thinking about spinning the Wensleydale into a thick-ish single, spinning the silk into thread, and then crazy-plying them together.


2oz of a 50/50 merino and cashmere blend. The colorway is called The Pyrenees. It's begging to be spun up soft and lofty and knitted up into something that you could wrap around your neck and purr like a kitten.


Merino/Silk/Yak blend. The colorway is called "The Best Bite". It's dyed with Indigo. Heavenly soft.


"Sweet Tart". 3oz of Targee Roving. I love the fact that she searches out less common breeds of sheep.

I'm busy knitting away a small lace shoulderette with this selection:

It's "Rainer Cherries" merino/silk.

I split the roving and lined up the colors for minimal candy-cane effect.


Spinning it was a joy. It's knitting up so soft and lofty. Swoon.

New Spinning Fibers Posted!

I posted some spinning fibers on my Etsy store over the weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, I dyed a few pounds of Tussah silk:



Silk takes dyes wonderfully, and granted that you don't expose it to high heat, the silk has a beautiful sheen. I especially love tussah- it has a light gold color that gives the overdye colors depth that you don't get with white silk.

Somewhat shockingly, the silk looks like this when it is dried:


but a little bit of fluffing and drafting turns it once again into pure dreamy awesomeness.







I also dyed up some faux cashmere. This is really soft and should spin up lofty. It's easier to spin than real cashmere since it has a longer staple. It's also much, much cheaper. This comes from some sort of elusive nylon goat apparently.



It takes dye beautifully. Above is a 2 oz braid in "Persimmon". Below is "Flamingo in the Mud", which should spin up lovely and muted.



I also listed some kettle dyed sock yarn in "Bitter Sweet Biddy":


Really subtle variegation of pinks and reds with purple tones. This is my Silk/Merino sock yarn blend and it will make a very pretty pair of socks.

Depending on my schedule this week, I am going to try and get some more dyeing in. I have some silk caps soaking and a mountain of merino and romney ready to go.