Why I Need a Huge Stash

I finished spinning and 3-plying the Corriedale Patootie roving from Yummy Yarns. I ended up with 252 yds (and nearly 4 ozs, more than I thought I had), which is just exactly enough to knit a pair of socks for me, but not enough to feel good about it. I mentioned finding, or dyeing, some coordinating roving to spin for the ribbing, heels and toes, and I fully intended to do that until I passed by my Great Railing O'Yarn (for the future stranded sweater) and spotted a skein of already-spun yarn that is the perfect shade to go with Patootie.

This yarn is merino/silk, and it's spun more finely than the corriedale, so I will have to double the strands, or jockey the stitch numbers to knit the ribbing/heel/toe with much smaller needles and more stitches (I think I'll double-strand, that'll be so much easier).

I bought that roving at the North Country Fiber Fair a few years ago, with no specific project in mind. I knew the right one would come along when it was time. And it did.

Which is why I need that wool room, full of unused commercial yarn, full of unspun roving, full of undesignated handspun yarn. And it's why I need to go shopping for more. Right, honey?

Thursday Tab- Abbott Playroom Dolls, Baby Cut-Out Dolls 526-1

Here's another book from my Abbot 1944 Playroom Dolls Boxed Set (with 5 small uncut pd books). This book is Baby Cut-Out Dolls #526-1.

For some reason, I whitened the background on page 4 without saving the original version. I tried to bucket-fill it back in so it would match the other pages, but it didn't look right. Sorry about that.

I don't think most of the toys will fit in the toy chest, but it's a cute idea.

Click on images to enlarge, right click to save as jpgs, print from any graphics program, clothes on plain paper, covers on card stock.

Patootie-er

I love how this yarn came out- my Navajo 3-plying is slowly improving. My joins are getting better though I still have a tendency to crowd the plying at the joins, so there are often little *bunches* of twists in those spots. But overall, the yarn is smooth and even, and the color separation is nice. This yarn is Corriedale, so it's not quite as bouncy as BFL, and it's a tad heavier than the So Far Away yarn. This skein is 1.5 ozs and 82 yds, and I only have 3.5ozs of roving, so there isn't going to be enough yarn to make a pair of my usual socks when I get done (I need 250 yds of fingering weight yarn for a pair to fit my size 8 1/2 feet).

Now, I can knit a smaller pair of socks (lots of people on my gift-list with smaller feet). Or I could make socks with shorter cuffs. Or I could find (or dye) and spin some complimentary roving for ribbing, heels and toes (it would feel like cheating to use commercial yarn with the handspun). Or... and this is a revolutionary thought... I could not knit socks with it at all. I could make mittens. Or a hat. Or, well, something that doesn't cover feet. If I could remember how to knit anything but socks.

just because it makes me laugh...

Cutie Patootie

It wasn't that I got tired of spinning the Shropshire- I did spin another largish skein (3.2 ozs, 101 yds, 2-ply, worsted weight), and it came out well (just a tad darker than the first one, though that didn't show in any pics. I assume that's because the roving came from assorted sheep, not a single fleece). It's just that the Patootie roving from Yummy Yarns called to me.

Patootie is handpainted Corriedale, which is a little more coarse than the BFL rovings (also from Yummy Yarns), but still soft enough. And it's a pleasure to spin. I was able to divide the roving into equally matching color repeats (2 strips per bobbin, with the leftovers to be spun into a single small skein for toes and extras). I have already spun up a bobbin full, and it's waiting for me to 3-ply it (after I finish the sock-book work for the day).

It occurred to me that though they were dyed by different people, the Patootie roving, and the Twisted Fiberarts Ravelry roving are much the same- pink bordered by black, separated by green. The Twisted is boldly colored, and the Patootie is pastel, but they're the same theme. And I imagine that I chose both (outside of the fact that you buy whatever you can of Twisted when it's available because it's not available often) because I have always been drawn to watermelon colors- and these are definitely watermelonish. I've designed watermelon socks, watermelon sweaters, and I've spun watermelon yarns. I just like watermelon, I guess- so dyers, if you want to lure me in, mix up those pinks, corals and greens.

Dyeing Silk with Kool-Aid

A few days ago, I mentioned that I planned to spindle-spin the green and pink silk hankies that I'd gotten in a trade, and then ply both with silk from some white silk hankies that I had on hand (to extend the yardage- even as finely as I am spinning the green hankie, I'll still be lucky to get 200 yds from it)(which will add out to about 500 yds per oz, so we're talking very fine yarn here).

I didn't really want to ply the dyed silk with undyed, so I decided to dye the white silk hankies with Kool-Aid (to my Granddaughter's delight). We soaked the hankies in warm water in my plastic dye buckets (left over ice cream tubs, from back when we ate enough ice cream to have multiple tubs left over), and then added 2 packets of Kool-aid (Lemonade, and Strawberry Tea) to each bucket, along with a glug of Vinegar. The vinegar probably wasn't necessary, since Kool-Aid is plenty acidic on it's own, but it didn't hurt. I didn't care if the hankies came out mottled, so I just sprinkled the dry powder directly on the wet silk and stirred.

Then I microwaved each bucket to heat-set the dye: 2 minutes on high, 2 minutes rest, repeated 2 more times. And then we let the hankies sit in the water until they cooled completely.

Kool-Aid dye won't exhaust (the water won't clear), so there was really no way to tell when the hankies were *done*. After a couple of hours, we just dumped the cold water, and rinsed the hankies thoroughly (especially the red one- it took forever for the color to stop running, and I'm not sure I got it all out even yet because the wooden clothespins were stained when we took the hankie down).

Wet silk looks like something the cat threw up, but it regains its former sheen pretty quickly. We gently smoothed and stretched the hankies back out into their former square shape, and hung them up to dry. Within a couple of hours, they were soft and fluffy, and gorgeous. Ready to spin.

A note about dyeing: even though all of the ingredients in this dye job are edible, it's still a good idea to use only dedicated pots and utensils for any dyeing project. It's also a good idea to have a *craft* microwave that is not used for food (I have one for melt and pour soap making, that I use).

And a note about Kool-Aid: this stuff, wet or dry, will stain and dye everything it touches. Wear old clothes and gloves during this process, unless being a splotchy pink intrigues you.

Shropshire

I wracked the recesses of my mental hard drive and could not come up with a single song reference for the Shropshire wool that I am currently spinning. I got close to 1.5 lbs in a trade for some ginned cotton (the silk hankies from a couple of days ago were also part of that trade) and after spinning very fine wools (the sock rovings, and the Cormo) and threadweight silk on the spindle, it was nice to tackle something a little sturdier.

Shropshire is a Down Breed, and they're raised for both meat and wool. Down breeds are fairly common here in South Dakota (Suffolk, Hampshire), though I don't think I know anyone raising Shropshire, which was once the most common meat sheep raised in the US. The wool is short stapled (1"-3") and very crimpy and bouncy. It's not soft like Merino or Cormo, but it's not incredibly scratchy either. It spins into a lofty, bouncy yarn that is very good for outerwear. An added bonus for Down Breed wool is that it is extremely hard to felt- nigh on impossible, which means that anything I knit with this yarn should be machine washable and dryable.

The pencil roving has been nicely prepared, with very little VM (veggie matter- hay and other bits), and the wool spins easily, though I need a pretty heavy draw to pull it in. I'm spinning this yarn thicker on purpose, for a more worsted-weight yarn (mittens, hats, etc). I love the oatmeal color- I think this yarn might look very good with a cabled design. I have enough roving to make about anything I like (outside of an adult sweater), so I'll just spin for awhile, until I get tired of it, or some other roving speaks to me (or my order from Twisted Fiber Arts arrives- with 2 new sock rovings).

This first skein is 2.2 ozs and 93 yds of 2-ply yarn. It should knit up fine on size 5-7 needles.