Friday, July 11, 2014

Fibery Friday

Long summer days are great for getting lots done.  I'm not a morning person at all - I'm wired to start hitting my stide around 2 PM and am most productive until dark or suppertime, whichever comes first.  This tendency is a bear to fight in the short winter days :-/

We've had fair weather for a change.  These clouds are neat - the one at top looks like a waterfall to me, complete with fine mist coming from the 'river'.


Three dry days means Andy can bale hay.  We took two loads off last night and two this morning so he had four empty wagons to work with.  The hay is more mature than we wanted but with the cool damp weather we've had it's hard to get any so we'll take all we can get.

 
 
I finished spinning my half of Pearl's last fleece and washed the skeins.  I've got 756 yards of a nice 2-ply yarn. 
 
  
I'm thinking of either a jacket or vest.  I'll have to poke around in some patterns I bookmarked on Ravelry to see which one I have enough yarn to complete.  I'm pretty sure I want to dye it as I'm not a good candidate to wear white.  I'll either get it dirty immediately or I'll look like I'm ready for the undertaker - I'm pale enough in winter as it is.  I'm waffling over a nice solid color or doing some casserole dyeing with multiple colors.  Then I'll have to worry about the colors making mud at the bottom of the dish or unexpected unpleasant pooling of colors when the item it knit.   Hmmmm......
 
 
I also finally finished my Wingspan knitalong project. Everyone who wanted to participate was to turn their shawl in at the May guild meeting but I just didn't make it.  I'll get this in the mail next week.  All the shawls will be in a special display at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival in September.  It's always astounding to see how very different they all are from one another even though we all started with the same basic pattern.  I used some handspun sample skeins from my Cotswold rovings that I've had processed over the years. Might as well use them - the roving is gone so they don't match anything now.
 
 
 
I like the way it hangs on my shoulders although I should have made the triangles bigger.  It's more of a "statement" than my usual functional duds. ;-)
 


And today I got busy dyeing some silk sliver to use in the carded spinning batts I hope to stock in our booth at FLFF.  I don't have a firm plan about what colors are going with what wool roving, so I just got started and reached for colors as the mood struck me. 

 
 


What I don't use in batts can be sold alone as dyed silk to spin or blend. 

Holly had a big playdate with Angel and Brandy next door.  She got to play in the wading pool and even helped to chase Boo the cat up a tree.

"Heh, heh, heh....."
 
A busy day for everyone!

7 comments:

  1. You have been busy with your wool and your dyeing. Holly is my favourite picture though - she does look very happy with herself.

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  2. Your Wingspan is beautiful! I wish we'd done some dyeing when you were here. You have such a good eye for color. Can't wait to see what you do with your yarn. I'm still waffling here...

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  3. What a beautiful and interesting shawl! I had to smile wryly at all that lovely two ply yarn. I am learning to use a hand spindle and have one small skein of one ply so far and another on the way. It seems a far cry from all that bulk! :)

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  4. Nice looking wingspan! I take it that you won't be a guild on Saturday? There is a pretty good chance that I will be done with the green within the next couple of days. Maybe by Thursday, I hope (there is Mom stuff that also needs doing).

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  5. ...maybe even tonight...the high humidity is quite beneficial for processing!

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  6. Love your Wingspan! Beautiful rainbow colors. And your dying is gorgeous :-)

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