Spindling

Em and I went to Threadbear (our not-quite-LYS) for their celebration of Distaff Day on Sunday. Among other activities, we watched co-owner Rob give a very informative fiber dying demo. The dyes he used (I need to find out the brand) are crystals in the jars (and include mordant)...you can sprinkle the crystals where you've already painted to add flecks of color. Way cool!

Anyway, I persuaded him to sell me one of the SW merino samples he dyed and brought it home still dripping. Yesterday morning, after checking it was dry, I couldn’t resist spinning “a little” on one of my spindles. The fiber was so luscious, it just flew through my fingers. I ended up spinning and plying the whole 4 oz...

I actually had the plan to split the roving in quarters, spin 1/4 of it then join another 1/4 from the opposite end (blue-grey) I started with (red). So that each end of the single was the same color (reds) and the color changes met at the blue-grey in the middle. Repeated for the second single. I hoped the colors would mostly match up when I plied, so I could divide the yarn in half and start a sock from each orignal end…both socks would start with the reds.

Unfortunately, my division of the fiber wasn’t all that equal. The last 1/4 was way thicker than the other three and I ended up having to divide the excess between the two bobbins (lengths of capped PVC) I had going. I still ended up with quite a bit of match-up on the colors but I’d really like to try again with my original plan.

This was supposed to be jewel tones. It didn't end up that way but I love it anyway. It will eventually become socks.

I'm not sure what the 3 or so pounds of raw (unprocessed?) black-brown shetland fleece still in my trunk will become. Since I don't have any fiber processing equipment beyond a sink and couple of dog brushes, probably a huge pain in the ass.