Drop Spindlin'

Has it really been since March 4th that I last posted on here? I'm sorry. I've been keeping busy with my lovely Ken Ledbetter drop spindle.

My first five skeins in order,
starting at the back
with the tomato red
(all merino wool)

The coral and mixed colors are also merino.
The second and sixth are spun from locally sourced Tunis roving
and the third skein is Navajo-Churro

These five are all from a roving of
Bluefaced Leicester Top
dyed by Mountain Colors.

The colorway is called Indian Corn
and I love it

Lastly I spun two skeins like this (merino).

felted rugs

All three of my rugs have now been machine-felted and are blocking to dry outside.  Here they are, at approximately 1/3 smaller and with a new rustic, shabby appeal?!

I love how the little knots I tied with the warp became felted fringe.
I was planning to cut it off, but I am going to leave it like this instead.

wool rugs

I am pleased to show you my new weaving adventure: rugs!  I'm using Cascade 220 (worsted) in the beautiful neutral Doeskin Heather for the warp with 2 ends per inch, and Cascade Magnum (super bulky) for the weft in a multitude of fun bright colors.

One skein of 220 is just right for warping three rugs approximately 23" x 40".  I cut my first batch of three off the loom a little while ago and here is what they looked like:

I'm kind of laughing now because I just machine felted the pink/orange/red one as I started this post, and it looks so completely different already!!  Stay tuned for a post-felting update on all three!

Twill Scarf

I finished my first handwoven piece, a semi-plaid scarf woven in a twill pattern.  I'm not sure if it can really be considered plaid since there is no repeating pattern of the three colors.  If you are unfamiliar with twill, it basically refers to the way the parts are woven together forming diagonal lines.  I have learned only the tip of the iceberg so far - there is a lot you can explore with twill.  It adds strength and stability to the fabric, and this is why all denim is woven on a twill.

I used stash yarn to make this scarf:
Black and charcoal grey wool
and poppy red cotton.

more progress on Applewood

On Friday I joined the underarms with 2" worth of stitches on each side. Ever since then this sweater has been knitting up very quickly! I love how it is turning out.

Notice something funny about the color?  One thing to consider with hand-dyed yarns such as Malabrigo is that no two skeins are exactly alike.  If this is a problem for you then you can knit each row from a different ball and have them blend together, but I prefer to play up this feature and ensure that my sweater is one-of-a-kind.  It's helpful to have a plan for how the colors will be distributed.  In my case, one of the three balls I have is much lighter than the other two.  I thought it would be pretty if there was a wide band of the lightest yarn (containing the most pink color) in the top-middle area, and having the darker (more brown) parts on the very top and on the bottom half.  I saved part of the light ball to pick up the sleeves and knit a few inches with it there too.

Schacht weaving loom

Recently I took up another new activity: Weaving! Working at Tempe Yarn & Fiber, it was only a matter of time. Soon after I took my beginning floor loom class, my employers found that they had too many floor looms in the shop and needed to make room for some new rigid heddle looms.  I jumped on the opportunity and so I became the happy new owner of this beautiful Schacht loom.  For practice I weaved off the piece that was already warped on it when it came to me.  Finally this past weekend I threaded my first warp (warp=lengthwise strands) since taking the class probably over a month ago. I don't expect perfection in my tension at this point and so I figured this would be a good time to use up some stash yarn. The color scheme is probably a little too wintery by now, but I picked it out several weeks ago. I still love it though!

better views of applewood