Saturday, July 14, 2012

handspun

handspun yarn
...Have I mentioned that I've been doing a little spinning lately?
The pink skein is from the same wool roving as my first handspun, and the yellow is for my "Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica" scarf.  The color looked a little too dark and flat after I washed the yarn the first time, and there was quite a bit of excess dye left in the pot I was using, so I gave it another rinse this morning and it's looking much more light and buttery, with more tonal variation, like it did while I was spinning it.  It's hanging up to dry right now, but you'll be seeing the new and improved version soon when I cast on for the scarf!  Yay!

handspun yarn
This blue yarn was my first try at spinning merino wool-- I was really surprised at how different it was to spin!  It sticks to itself much more, so it's a lot harder to draft.  I love the color of this yarn though.  I always love robin's egg blue, and the little swirls of yellow, green, and purple add a depth that I really like.  I have another four ounces of merino, in yellow with shots of color, and I'm excited to see if it's more intuitive the second time.

handspun yarn
This grey was my first go at spinning alpaca and oh my goodness, it was a dream.  
The resulting yarn is soft and lofty and squishable.  I have another four ounces of the same roving.  When I spin that up, I think they'll become a soft, cozy hat.

What projects are you working on?
I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

7 comments:

  1. Loving your yarns! Gorgeous colours!
    Victoria xx

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    1. Thank you so much, Victoria!
      xo Julie

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  2. The alpaca yarn is very lovely; I have always wan't to try spinning alpaca! I know exactly what you mean about the Merino wool being so different to spin, it doesn't like being drafted! I was wondering if you get your roving from a local spinning shop, online, or another source?

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    1. Aw, thank you Grace! I wasn't brave enough to try full alpaca yet, so this is a blend of alpaca and wool (I want to say it's 60%-40%, but I'm not completely sure), but it was wonderful to spin. Going from that to the merino was a major adjustment, as I'm sure you can imagine. I get most of my fiber from my wonderful local yarn and spinning shop, The Gentle Arts (at www.thegentlearts.com), but the merino is from Alpaca Direct via Amazon. I have my eye on a few rovings on etsy, too, but I'm going to try to keep my fiber stash to what I have a project planned for. (We'll see how long that lasts.)
      xo Julie

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    2. Oh okay! It still must be very soft! The only fiber I have ever done is various wool, and some mohair (it was rather sticky)! I have not bought any fiber online yet, but there is a lot more variety online because my local spinning shop sells mostly wool they process from their own farms or local farms in the area.

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  3. Would never have dared to try that =) The colors are really sweet!


    Even though this might not be your cup of tea, I nominated you for the Liebster Blog award: http://cocalores.blogspot.de/2012/07/the-liebster-blog-award.html

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