Spin A Yarn for Ewe

If you couldn't tell a title today is too much work. I think I am coming down with something but I am fighting hard to not get it. I hate being sick.

I did finish spinning the Sea Glass last night so I hope to ply it tonight unless I totally feel like s**t. I also decided to get the Alice batt ready to spin. I decided to z-strip it per Color in Spinning. (By the way every one who spins needs to get this book as it is a HUGE source of information.)
I liked how it came out. It decided not to be one long piece as it broke a few times but since the plan is to make 2ply I would of had to split it up anyway.

It should make for a very fun yarn.
I also decided yesterday to take another shot at the oven dye method. It turned out great I think.

I don't even know how much I have of each as I threw cautioin to the wind and just pulled out handfuls of it. See the roving was something I got for a song or at least the fleeces were. I bought the Rambouillet fleeces from a lady who keeps sheep for her sheep dogs to work with. She saves the fleeces but has no idea what to do with them. I bought 50lbs of fleece for $30. Now alot of it was garbage as they were dirty and unskirted but I ended up with 25lbs of finished roving after sending it out. It is not totally clean but better then some I have bought online so I decided to get some of it out. It is alot less processed and very fun to spin.

Of course I couldn't stick with the Embers roving as it is 4-5oz and I wanted something quick so I started on the Sea Glass.

I only dyed about 2oz of this since I really wanted to make sure I didn't totally ruin the roving on the stove. I like how the colors are turning out although the picture is a little off since I only had indoor light today with the rain.

This is why I decided to spin up the smallest roving. This

and this

came in the mail yesterday. It was too late to photograph it so for the sacrifice of the blog I waited until I could photograph it. I so wanted to tear into it too. The blue/green one was called Puck and it is 100% wool with a little glitz thrown in and the orange one called Alice is wool and soy silk. It doesn't have glitz but with all those colors going on I really don't think it needs it. Don't ask about the names as they make no sense to me but I love the batts. They came from Peculiar Ambitions I don't usually buy roving or batts already done but these looked like too much fun to pass up. Plus it will hopefully motivate me to get out the old drum carder and use it again.

Flowers in Snow is done. I really like how this came out and it is not even close to as light as I thought I would be.

I ended up with 363 yards of DK weight yarn.

Now to decide which of the newly dyed rovings to spin next. I am thinking Embers since it is a departure in color for me and I am curious to see how it looks. If anyone thinks I should spin one of the others let me know as I can be persuaded.

I guess I could start the Project Spectrum roving since it is almost time. I think I am going to make hats out of it for both my boys when it is done.

I am cruising along on my CeCe cardigan too. Since the body is worked in one piece up to the arms it is slow going but I like how it looks so far.

I have to say that coming up with a title for every post really gets hard for me. I have no trouble writing stuff but coming up with the title stumps me sometimes. Maybe I will just go to letters or numbers if I can't come up with something. Todays should gets some strange hits.

I finished the first bobbin of Flowers in Snow. I think it will make for a very interesting yarn as there are large sections of no color that will probably meet up with color on the other bobbin.

I am spinning away so I can see how it looks.

I also dyed more roving, surprise surprise. I have been eyeing roving on Etsy a lot lately for new color combos and I saw one that I almost bought that was called Sea Glass. By the time I thought about getting it, it was sold. So I decided to do my own version of it and I think it came out fairly well.

I did this on the stove top which is not my favorite method but since that was how the original was done I thought I would try it. It takes lots of watching over but would definitely be a method I would do again. I have a tendency to play with it too much so maybe I will reserve this method for superwash.

The dreaded Starsky belt is finally done! DONE!

It is 60" knit in the round over 24 stitches. Now you see why I am celebrating. No, I did not follow the pattern as the belt they show and what I got from the directions were 2 different things. I wanted wide so I did my own thing.

As soon as it is dry I am getting pictures of the whole sweater. I am off to swatch for CeCe now.

That is the name I have given my newest roving. I wanted it to feel like fire and with 2 yellows, orange, red and black all mixed together it looks a lot like I wanted.


I started on the plain version of Flowers and Snow last night. It should be a totally different looking yarn from the one I did with the fuchsia and purple ply. I will have to get a shot of them together.

I am still struggling with the Starsky belt as it is just so dang boring. I am getting close but at this rate it is going to be a few more days at least. Maybe I will just force myself to knit on it tonight and get it done. It really would only take and hour or 2 to finish if I would just get to it and since I am really wanting to start the CeCe cardigan I think I will. Once the belt is done I will get some shots of it since it really does look great. It is my best work yet, I think, my seams have come along way and they really make a difference.

I have many pictures to show but we will start with these. The roving from last week.

This is the one I dyed in the oven. At least that is where it started. After it was done I was not happy with the colors at all. More dyer error then the method since I liked the method. I decided to over dye it on the stove and that is what we got. I think it will turn out nice.

I also finished the Razzleberry Neck Thingy and love it.

The yarn was great to work with and the finished product is warm and comfortable. This will be getting lots of wear in the morning I know.

I also spent most of yesterday spinning and watching football. I decided to do something I have not done before. I spun up once ounce of the Flowers in Snow then I spun up one ounce of 2 different colored solid rovings that matched the fuschia and purple. I alternated back and forth between the 2 which should lead to striping and then plied with the Flower single. Here is what I ended up with.

I was thinking I might send this to my swap pal but what do you think? To weird or is it okay? It is hard to see the changing colors in the Flowers single but it is there.

The dyeing roving/spinning bug has hit seriously. Since DH was at a sales conference I was free to dye into the night. Something I don't usually do. I decided I wanted something with lots of white left in so it would be very muted. This is what I came up with.

I can't really think of a name for it...maybe Flowers in Snow.

I also dyed more today but I did it in the oven this time since I saw that method mentioned over at The Wool Room. It worked out well, I think, as it is not ready to be rinsed yet. I did have to change the temperature and the length of time to suit my oven as it did not even steam at 250.

The grape singles were to be plied last night and I did get about half done but the Razzleberry was calling to me so I cast on for another, gaiter, wimple, neck warmer thingy.

Whatever you call it, it is something I like to wear as it stays on and keeps the warmth up around my neck. This yarn my swap pal spun is so nice to work with but darn hard to photograph. The one above does the best to show all the colors that are in it even if they are hard to see in the skein. She will have to fess up and let me know where she got this stuff. My plan is to knit it about 12" long switching to larger needles every 4" so that is flares out at the bottom. This is how I have done others and I like it better than just increasing. Lazy I know but it works.

This is being knit now since I really NEED it. It has been so cold around here it is unbelievable. This morning it was 25 at 6:45am and only got up to 57. We are talking Southern California here so these temps are unheard of. It is devastating the citrus and avocado crops of which there are many orchards of in my town. It is really sad to see. I also finished sewing up Starsky so now I have to finish the belt. I will get photos when DH comes back.

I found this the other day at the De-Stash Blog.

What was a girl to do when it was a good deal and a yarn I have been really wanting to knit with? Buy it of course!

I decided that I am going to use it in this with 3/4 sleeves.

I should even have 2 balls left to do a hat or something. I have heard loads of praise on the Calmer and now I get to try it out for myself and at a good price too. Gotta love it.

My January package came form my swap pal. I am so excited as she really outdid herself. This is what it looked like before I ripped all the paper off. It took a lot of will power to not just dive in.

I am beyond thrilled. I got a little package of Soak wash in a scent I have not used yet,

DARK chocolate truffles,

the book that the exchange is based on. I know, I know I should of already owned it but I didn't.

And the best part is she sent my 2, yes 2, skeins of handspun yarn in a great colorway called Winter Razzleberry. It is a DK/worsted weight yarn and there is plenty to make a great small project, to be honest there is way more than enough with 205 yards.

My pal has been so great, I have to say. She comments all the time and emails me too. This has been great for me. I just have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love everything.

My pal finally emailed me to let me know she got the package. I was starting to worry but she got it and said she liked it.

Here is a shot of the first bobbin of grape roving spun. The second is well on its way and should be done tonight.