Sunday, April 21, 2013

Busy Weekend!

I have had a busy busy weekend! But productive too, that's for sure!

I spun almost one bobbin's worth of mountain goat fibre (after I plied 3 bobbin's worth to free up space!)



I started knitting up a sampler from my first skein of mountain goat fibre. This will test of the qualities of yarn as well as a new pattern I designed. Can you see the mountains in my texture!?



Also! A new toy arrived in the mail! After a lively discussion on Russian drop spindles, I was convinced to buy one from Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts.  I can't wait to give it a try... I have some camel in my stash from just such an occasion. Now I just need to finish up my OTHER projects... but this one is alllll ready to start!



Later today - baking muffins, knitting a baby blanket, and cooking dinner: a gloriously domestic Sunday afternoon! Right on.

Cheers!
-Grace

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Part Two: A Gal and Her Goat...



Just a quick update to let you know how my goaty goals are coming along!

(For a recap about what the heck I am talking about, check out my other blog posts here and here).



I have spun over half of my singles now. I started plying a few skeins because I needed to free up some bobbins for the rest of my fibre!

Spinning up my mountain goat fibre is taking me a little longer than I expected it to, mostly because I have been distracted by all the pretttttyyyy colours I have made dyeing! However, I do wish to get this done soon! I am hoping to have all the fibre spun and plied by the end of May. I also hope to have a swatch knitted in the next few weeks.



Fingers crossed!
-Grace

A Little Off Topic... Saturday Night

 

I had a hot date with my husband this weekend.

It involved pizza, Lego, watching Star Wars Episode 2, and having an awesome time.



Cameron treated me to the Jabba's Palace Lego set as an Easter present, and he bought himself the Rancor Pit (which fits right beneath the finished palace). We watched an episode of Star Wars we haven't seen since it was in theatres, ordered in some pizza, and spent the evening building away.








Magnum helped.


Afterwards, Cameron found my old Lego Stegosaurus he bought for me ages ago, and worked on that up while I finished up my own Lego.



So. Awesome.

Ok, back to yarn now.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Dyeing... Touching Base



In the last few weeks, I have been REALLY into dyeing my own yarn.  I have played a little with roving, but most of my experimentation has used wee little samples of DK or worsted weight super-wash wool yarn. I bought the entire spectrum of colours available in one fantastic line of acid dyes, and I set about dyeing little samples of each colour. I want to establish my own colour palette, and I need to see what my base colours look like before I can do that.

First I created one litre bottles of stock in every colour... now I have a wonderful supply in my cabinet that I can pull out whenever I need!


Then I set about working my way around the colour wheel, making both light and bold samples of each colour of stock.


I have been making precise measurements and recording notes as I go. I have been taking care to make sure that all my results are completely "re-creatable".



I have been dip-dyeing and steaming my results... for these tests, that seems to be the quickest and most efficient way to get through ALL those colours at once in my tiny little work space!



I played around just a LITTLE bit with colour blending... mostly to see if I could make my own green.  I wasn't very happy with the first results, so I over-dyed it again with a stronger solution, and I am quite happy with this new shade. However, I have decided to complete my studies of all the base colours before I start a separate study of my entire pallet - making samples of all the blending options I have between dye stocks!




When all my samples were steamed and dried, I wrapped small lengths of yarn around index cards so I have easy access to a visual record of each colour. Now I can pull these out to see with my own eyes what each colour looks like before I set about designing a future colour combination.



Next stop: To create samples of the entire palette available to me. This will include tests with black dye and weak solutions so I can see all the tints and shades of my base colours. I have already got a start on it now, and will share the results as soon as I have them photographed!


Special thanks to my lovely sister Michelle for helping me take photos of the process!

Cheers! 
-Grace