Silk and Tamale Pie
Aside from the toe of my second Regia Silk sock, I find myself with not so much to talk about this morning. Soon I will have hoardes of 9-patch quilt blocks to show and tell about, but for right now, they are mostly just pieced together strips of fabric and really not all that interesting. So, instead, I'm showing of something that is much more interesting and beautiful.
Lately, I've been itching to spin. You'd think I'd just sit down in front of my wheel and do it, but instead I've been substituting the purchase of fiber. But I've been trying to be moderate in this area -- just enough for small projects. Sock yarn is my favorite small project spinning right now, so when I saw Abby talking about her Luxury Sock Yarn Batts with silk and BFL, well, it was just time to start cruising her Ebay shop again. And I ended up with 3 batts of a colorway she calls Tamale Pie.
I've been curious about BFL in sock yarn for a while. First of all, because of some lovely sock yarn that Emma sent me as part of one of our trades that was made of BFL. Secondly, because BFL is supposedly one of those wools that doesn't felt quite as readily. And finally, just because I have enjoyed spinning BFL and I thought it would be fun to have it in a sock blend.
Last time I didn't give you a good close-up of the batt I received. This time, since I had beautiful light and even better weather, I thought it would be nice to get a close-up so that it was possible to see how truly well prepared this fiber is. I think it's fair to say that my hair isn't this well combed on most days. And as far as the touch sensation goes, well, its lovely stuff and it will be a treat to spin.
I also got some silk samples from Abby. I'm still not an expert at silk identification, but I think the skein on the left is tussah and the skein on the right is bombyx. Since I've really only spun tussah up to this point, I'm looking forward to seeing how they compare.
Now... I have to get back to my rotary cutter and some strip pieces... lots and lots of 9 patches ahead!
I think you'd be surprised how interested your readers would be in the fabric strips and how they later turn into 9-patch.
I use to quilt, but have given that up for a bit while my kids are at soccer, baseball, recitals, etc. (where I can knit!)
I'd at least love to see the fabrics to see your coor choices!
Beautiful fiber! Good luck with the nine patch.
Oooh. the fiber is beautiful. I have been visiting her store since you linked earlier and am quite interested....
I bought tamale pie too! It arrived yesterday and it's raining this morning so I didn't take pictures. I should just refer people to your pics! And you're 100 right about the fiber; I don't think I've ever seen any this well prepared. Can't wait to spin it...soon, I hope!
When I first saw the title of the blog post, I interpreted it as being about some sort of kitchen mishap in which silk fell into a pie full of tamales. I think I need some coffee...GORGEOUS silk, though!
Haha, you know, I just had to make some custom BFL-including sock batts for someone named Emma... ;-)
I have set aside a particularly pleasant BFL-based batt or two for me to spin into a lace yarn this evening, as it happens... BFL is neat stuff. It's crimpy so it bounces and poofs some, but yet, not so much that it's unwieldy or unpredictable. It's long stapled, so it makes for nice worsteds and spins tight and fine in really delightful ways. It's next-to-skin soft... and there's always beautiful coloured BFL around. It's the coloured BFL I particularly can't resist. And if you blend it with, say, honey-coloured tussah silk, then overdye... bliss.
I find that in a friction zone like backs of heels, it will full but not felt all the way... but blended with silk it doesn't do that so much, and it wears nicely.
Oh, and I'm ogling all the quilt pics, and would undoubtedly ogle 9-patch ones as well. And I'm so glad you like the sock blends! Blends tailored for specific kinds of things are one of my chief joys, but at the same time it's hard to find something you can make a product from doing that; something enough people will want, that you can do a lot of, and that has a well-understood set of attributes to shoot for. Because people want similar things from socks, but wildly different things from sweaters, y'know?
Plus, socks are a good size of project. ;-)
*headdesk* But I originally started to reply to say you were right about which was tussah and which was bombyx. ;-) This must be one of those days they shouldn't let me talk.
The fiber is gorgeous. I love the colors. It is so wonderful to look at it and I am already imagining how it feels.
Lovely fiber! I'm curious as to how they spin up for you. I've found bombyx to be finicky. Tussah is easy and accommodating. The BFL is lovely, and I wish her website had some blues and purples and reds with it.
This may be the start of blend my own. The fiberfests are around the corner, and I may be collecting raw materials.
drooling over those amazing batts - wow!
Those colours are amazing - I can't wait to see what they look like when you've spun them up.
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