Spin A Yarn for Ewe

I finally have the beading when plying thing down. I really like how it looks as I tend to do the beads randomly which makes it look like little dew drops on the yarn. The color is very subtle as it is a white wool plied with a pink thread with pink and pearl beads. Very spring and I love it. I got 2 skeins about 57 yards each. Should make great trim or a small project or maybe I will spin more to make something bigger. That leaves me again with the "what to spin now" as the plain wool I ordered has not come in so no dying has been happening. I also ordered some merino top today on sale for a great price so we are soon to be 7lbs deep in fiber just beggin' to be dyed. Now I think I have to order some more dyes. I was also thinking about trying something totally funky ala the "PluckyFiber" stuff. I was thinking about maybe plying in some silk strips. I am not sure how this will work but I picked up 2 100% silk scarves at AmVet for $1.95 today that I am going to cut up. Gotta love a great thrift store buy.

The bead yarns are done. I have one skein of the blue and 2 skeins of the pink. They turn out how I had hoped. The pink is a little more subtle as the beads are a closer match colorwise to the roving than the blue and a few are clear or frosted but over all the look is nice. You will have to zoom in on both to actually see the beads. I used size 8 seed beads so they wouldn't be too huge but not so small as to get lost. the size 11's seemed too small for me. I think I am going to do a small skein to match the blue one and ply the beads in a little more often for more bling. We will see how this works as previous tries have been unsuccessful. The beads are great until they hit the flyer and then they all seem to get moved together so we will see if I can solve that problem.

The yarn a spun for myself is done. The ruby red merino/silk is sheer heaven. I love it and can not wait to use it for a next to the skin project as it is cuddly soft. I have also been working on more bead yarns. I am going to ply the blues together and I am currently spinning some pink/hot pink roving for the other. They turn out very cute but I am going to try doing the next batch differently. I tried it before with no luck but I think I understand what I did wrong before. Guess we will see. The multi colored blue in the picture is the dreaded Faux Cashmere aka nylon. It dyes great and is super soft but I HATE spinning it. It is just a bear to spin. It does not draft easily now matter what you do so I ended up ripping it down to pencil thin strips and still predrafted it. This made it a little better. Why use it you ask? Because I bought a bunch of it online and I hate wasting anything even this evil stuff. I hope to have pictures of both finished yarns tomorrow if life doesn't get in the way.

Today was the big day. Selling yarn to the LYS. It was a huge success. She bought all but 4 skeins including the "Magic" ones. She wasn't happy that the magic ones were so big but I told her that if they were only a 100 yards each there would not be the same effect with the finished yarn. She is under the impression that people would rather buy 3 100 yard skeins than 1 big one. Go figure. It makes no sense to me but what do I know. This yarn was her favorite. It is actually alot more blue in real life with a hint of purple but I was in a hurry this morning. She wants more of this yarn and since I already had plans for a pink version I said sure. I charged her quite a bit more for this yarn but it is worth it since it does take me a little longer. I have gotten really good with the beads and I only spin a single to go with it so it is almost about the same time as 2 ply. I have decided to take a break from the store yarn for a few days and do some for me. I decided on the merino/silk blend I have in a ruby red that is stunning. It is a dream to spin and I could do it all day. If only it was cheaper to buy it would be my basic roving. Wouldn't that be nice.

Well, I am off to the LYS with my yarn. I have quite a selection and hope she likes it. If not it is just more yarn for me. Here is one more "Magic" skein in blues. This is a great way to use up the very tiny skeins you always have left over from a bobbin. I have started plying all the left over singles on themselves from a center pull ball and then use them in these skeins. Here is another shot of it. The true color was hard to get today as it is cloudy but it is pretty in person. If she doesn't like these I think I will whip myself something in them as I find them very fun and changing yarns has already been handled. I also have one more skein I whipped up yesterday which has beads in it. I will photo it tomorrow when it is dry and then I think I will take that with me too.

Well, I finally got around to making my "magic" skein of yarn and I have to say I love it. I turned out to be 225 yards which should be enough for a scarf or other artsy project. I am not sure the the store will like it as it will be a ton more money than the other skeins but we will see. It really looks great even as a skein. I also finished the other neutral skeins and think they turned out nice. They are bulky weight and have some Angelina Flash in it for sparkle. It is a little hard to see in the photo but it is a gold sparkle. Subtle but nice and the other skein is one ply of that and one ply of a varigated mill spun yarn I had left over. It is a cool effect I think. One I wil do again. I am at a loss on what to spin next but I think it will be something for me. maybe the merino/silk blend I have been hoarding or maybe the really cool roving I got from Blue Moon Fiberarts. They are the ones that do the Socks that Rock yarn that everyone loves. I guess I will decide when I sit down tonight.

I finally have most of the yarn done for the shop. She is having a big Grand Re-Opening on the 25th so she wanted most of the yarns before then. I will probably take them down next Friday. I had to reskein most of them and use something nicer to tie them than the cotton kitchen twine I usually use. Here they are basking in the sunshine. I also added tags to them with info. I tried to do alot of colors as she said she prefered to have more "spring" colors vs darks but I snuck one neutral and have 2 others to go with it. Here is another shot from a different angle. I am going to do my "magic" skein tonight and take that with me too as I think it would be fun. I hadn't done it yet as I had 2 other left over bobbins of yarn that I wanted to add to it. I tried a new technique for me of plying from a center pull ball and it worked well to get 2 ply from a left over amount. It is for sure a technique I would use again for those left over bits.

I have been spinning and spinning for the LYS that is going to carry my yarns. She wants the skeins at about 100 yards so this sometimes leaves me with left over bits. I was thinking of making a "Magic" yarn skein and bring that too to see if she had any interest. Here are the yarns I was thinking of using. I would hope that it would be like a handspun Prism-type yarn. Any one have any experience with this? Comments on the colors. I thought I would use longer lengths of each color so you would get more than a row or two of each color in a repeat on lets say a scarf. I think this would look better, so off to tie and cut some yarn.

I have been spinning the yellow/red dyed roving I pictured last time. Just like I thought the singles are very subtle and pretty. I was surprised as I spun it how much of the roving had a pink hue to it. It didn't look that way to me when I dyed it but it looks nice anyway. I am half way done with bobbin number 2 so I should be plying tonight or tomorrow. I have decided to spin the KoolAid roving as a single. Since I am not the best single spinner yet I have ripped it down into about the size I want the finshed yarn to be. We will see how successful I am.

I have also decided to run in a 5k in March. My hubby and I have been running for the last 3 weeks to get in shape and I thought if I had a goal I would be more willing to keep it up. So far I am doing well, running 3 days a week and getting stronger. I am following a program that has you walking and running to start building up as you go and it seems to work. The 5k is the Race for Autism and is a fairly flat easy course so the goal should be possible but not easy to achieve. Worst case I can run/walk as it is also a walk and not look like a total loser but I am trying for a run start to finish.

I have been spinning up a storm lately. I finished the roving I photoed the other day and it turned out nice. I plied it with a natural white and it really has a nice spring feel to it. I have 2 skeins of 100 yards each and a seperate skein that matches of 88 yards. I dyed some more roving too. One is a yellow and red combo that has some orange in it where it mixed. It also has a lot of white so it should be a subtle color when spun. I also dyed some roving with KoolAid as I wanted to try a new technique (if you can call it that) that I hadn't tried before. I soaked the roving and then sprinkled the KoolAid on. Not my favorite technique but the roving should spin up nicely.
I have alos found something I want to knit. It is Odessa from MagKnits. I have wanted to try bead knitting and this hat seemed like a good first project. I already had the yarn, one ball of Rowan Cashsoft, left over form the baby stuff I knit adn all I needed was beads. I couldn't find the pearl beads in the size I needed so I went with a clear with silver lining that looks great. Very sparkly. I have finished the ribbing and am now starting on the pattern with the beads. Pictures once I get a few beads on.