Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Pajama Day and Naked Gardening

It's time to post about something other than All The Fleeces.
Something with colour.
Something knit!

How about how this gorgeous merino-silk (80/20) hand-dyed fibre from sdspin on Etsy (I bought it as a pick-me-up right after the twins were born in 2012).

became this fine single on my favourite support spindle (over a very long period of time; much of it was spun while nursing twins as I sat on the floor)





that was plied with some white louet merino-silk (plying singles were whipped up on the wheel where I also plied)



and later sections plied with some white-orange Falkland when I ran out of white

to be knit into this Naked Gardening shawl. [Design link provided]




The body and lace of the shawl was knit with the white-plied yarn while the ruffle was knit with the orange-white-plied yarn.  I used 6/0 iridescent beads that capture the colours of the yarn and provide a subtle shine.
Having been knit in some of my precious handspun lace (that took me over a year to finish! and actually is not yet complete as there is still some of the coloured single on the spindle waiting for something to ply it with - it's a never-ending thread! Many times I was certain I'd spun up enough to ply it with, only to discover I had much more remaining) this shawl is MINE.



I had already tested this MKAL design using white lace. That shawl was gifted in June.  Normally I don't reknit a pattern, but I knew this design would show off my beloved handspun delightfully.





Friday, July 3, 2015

Baa Baa All The Sheep, have you any wool?

...Yes ma'am, yes ma'am, three bags full.


Took a trip to the Farm for Canada Day / my BIL's birthday and skirted three more fleeces the next morning.

 Empty barns/animal shelters on the way to the shed.


 Sack is still very full. Will I ever empty it?

 This fleece was shaved funny - it's somehow inside out!

 I was much more aggressive in my skirting this time.  Experience has taught me that I really don't want to deal with ALL the fleece of all the fleeces.  I have enough to be choosy. Skirted more than a third of each fleece. That's the skirting from one fleece.

 Some of this fleece is very yellow!



Three bags of fleeces. One extra stuffed bag of garbage.