Sunday, March 28, 2010

The annual Log Cabin Spin-In was yesterday.  So much fun!  It was held at Templin's Red Lion on the river and is incomparable for hospitality and the view.  Lots of vendors were there as were lots of spinners and a few visiting public.  I had taken my big tapestry loom in hopes of selling it but it didn't sell, sad to say.  There were a few spinning wheels for sale and lots and lots of yarn and fibery stuff.  I was fortunate enough to win the very first door prize, a gift certificate.  It wasn't hard to spend ... I bought two more hand knit caps from my friend Diana at Going to the Sun Fiber Mill in Kalispell, MT who had a booth set up there.  She does beautiful work and her mill processes my fibers.  Here's a picture of the one I had her knit up for me previously.  I want to try dry dyeing it like we did with the yarn balls.  Just dip and hold a portion of the little hat in the dye pot and let the dye soak up as far as it wants.  Then turn the hat and do another section in a different color.  You just have to remember to dye the lightest colors first, then the darker.  The two dyes will eventually run together for a short ways and create a third color.  Its fun and sometimes you get something totally unexpected.  My kind of dyeing.  Unexpected results.  Yeah!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010


The wonder plying machine is a marvel!  I can hardly wait to get some more yarn singles spun up so I have something to ply on it.  I got some of the wool cones given to me last summer and plyed them and then put it on the ball winder.  Ended up with three pretty good sized balls of white wool yarn.  It looks great and will get dyed in the ball Thursday when a friend comes over.  We will be experimenting with different dyes and techniques.  This should be fun and will post pix when we're done.  Decided a couple days ago that the white LL I've been dyeing is just too bright for the braided rug.  I threw some dark gray, light gray, beige and white in the dye pots all together.  Each color wool turned out different but the same coloration.  The grays and beige are beautiful, but as I said the white was just too bright.  So today I have been blending some light and dark gray into the bright ones.  The blended orange and green is on the left and then blended with the dark and light gray is on the right.  Its turning out pretty nice and when its done it should all be a cohesive unit for the rug.  Hope it matches my carpet and wall paint ok.  I am really enjoying my studio these days.  I also was able to dye up some BFL in a light navy and have been blending that with some Kelly green columbia I had.  It makes a nice heathered dark blue-green yarn.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I got it!  An electric plying spinner from Babe's Fiber Garden.   Not pretty, but it sure does the job.  I just got it set up this morning (took the picture still sitting on the box it came in) and of course didn't have anything to ply.  I did find some old and scratchy mohair blend I had spun several years ago on a spindle.  I needed the spindle for another project so had re-wound it on two empty TP rolls.  They didn't work as smoothly as a real bobbin would have, but I just couldn't wait.  Started out plying the two together, then decided to add some mohair locks I pulled open.  I purchased them in Arizona last spring and they were nice and soft.  Between trying to get the hang of using a bobbin-led wheel and trying to insert those pesky little mohair locks, I've had a great time this morning.  This would probably look good in a wall tapestry or something like that.  Can't imagine where I'd use this yarn, but its fun and very pretty.  I can't wait to try plying some hand spun yarn.   I'm also dying up a couple pounds of wool in different colors and will try braiding a rug next.  So many projects and certainly not enough time.  I'm taking my tapestry loom to the Log Cabin Spin-In this month hoping to sell it.  Got to make room for more 'stuff'.