After the Sunset
I'm spinning like a fiend right now -- all my drop spindles are whirling as fast as I can make them go. If I could make two spindles go at once, you know I would be. Dyeing wool is painting on an empty canvas, but it isn't a finished product, at least not to me. The real magic doesn't start to happen until the wool becomes yarn, and until the yarn becomes a fabric.
This weekend, my goal was to get the first of the Sunset rovings to a two-ply yarn and to get my Hawaiin Shore roving (which I have taken to calling "Blue Hawaiian" in my head) spun into a single. I accomplished both goals. Each is it's own story, however. And since the Blue Hawaiian remains to be plied, the Sunset gets to the blog first.
Unlike the spindle shot from Friday, this image shows off all the colors in this single. Truth be told, I wasn't really looking to have all that pinky stuff in the yarn. I also wasn't intending to concentrate it all in one place. I wanted a more random color distribution, but this happened because of the way I split pieces off the roving as I spun. I split the roving in half, width-wise and didn't realize that the sides weren't balanced very well. As a result, most of the deep gold ended up on one side and most of the pinky stuff ended up on the other. Lesson learned. I will now prepare the whole roving for spinning before starting and randomize the pieces a bit better in the future. I'll probably also stick to horizontal instead of vertical stripes. I dyed this roving this way as a learning experience, and i can definitely say that I learned something from it!
This is just another gratuitous pretty yarn shot. I thought it looks so nice and happy in that center pull ball. It also gives a better idea of where the individual stretches of color are concentrated.
Here's the yarn after being two-plied. I like the colors in this a great deal, but would like a little more gold, a little less pink. I did a wraps-per-inch measurement and get about 23 wpi , which makes it a fingering weight yarn. It doesn't really seem that fine to me, but I can see it knitting up nicely on US size 3 needles. Ninaclock asked on Friday what I was going to do with a mere .5 ounces. Well, intially I wasn't really planning to do much with it at all besides see if I liked the result. But this stuff calls out to be knit into something, I think. I'm wondering if I have enough for a small scarf/lacy neck warmer....
Makes me glad I took notes and know how to reproduce the colors!
So now I have to think about what I might knit up with it.
It looks beautiful. I haven't summoned up the courage (or the equipment--or the location!) to try dyeing yet, but you sure make it look fun. And really, absolutely beautiful!
I vote for baby booties! That's what I use a lot of my small amounts of handspun to make. Seems like there's always someone having a baby and it makes for a nice little gift for an acquaintance. Plus talk about instant gratification! Lovely yarn, btw.
Those colors are killing me over here! I happen to love the pink parts. All the pink and orange and red, just wow!
How pretty! I agree with you, less pink, more gold. I can't wait to see what you turn it into!
I love the plied yarn -- and you can never have too much pink in my opinion :)
Beautiful! That 2-ply is so inspiring... got to start spinning again.
Wow! Way to go on a fingering weight plied yarn! I vote for a Moebius scarf!
I have found that for my handspun I often have to go up one needle size than what I would for commercially prepared yarn. Looks like the one sidedness balanced out with the gold and pink. I think it would be a lot prettier in person.
Why am I unsurprised that you are already considering color reproduction?
;-)
Beautiful yarn! The colors are so yummy! I can see some nice socks or footies with this yarn!
a small lacy neck kerchief would be very very pretty. I love that yarn. I thank it is amazingly stunning. Good for you!