New Roving! August 20, 2007

Wow, I haven’t actually written a real post in a while! I’ve been super busy packing up all my stuff and moving back to school. But now I’m all moved in and settled and I actually have fiber-related stuff to show you! Over the past few days I dyed a bunch of fiber so I would have stuff to spin at school, including a whole pound of the superwash merino mill ends, which unfortunately I don’t have a picture of. I really like the way the colors came out, but I’m worried about spinning it, since it’s just a big pile of wool and I’ve never spun from anything but prepared roving. I’m sure I’ll be able to spin it, I’m just afraid it will be such a hassle that I’ll end up giving up. Too bad I don’t have carders.

I also dyed about 5 ounces of mill end roving from Sheep Shed Studio. I used every color of dye I have, the same way I did for the Everlasting Gobstopper yarn, but this time I mixed them stronger, so the colors came out really vibrant and gorgeous. I think it’s my favorite roving I’ve dyed so far.

I also dyed 8 ounces of merino roving that I got for a really good price from an etsy seller. Oh. My. Goodness. This stuff is so soft it’s unbelievable. I mean, the regular mill ends I get are soft, but this stuff is just unreal. And the roving is so light and airy – not compacted the way mill ends are. I can tell it’s going to be really easy to draft, and just really fantastic to spin. I’m saving it for a treat once I get through all the superwash stuff.

I meant for this one to come out a little more pastel, but I still like it.

I can’t decide if this one reminds me more of roses or watermelon.

I’m excited to get working on all of these. I’m spinning up some pink roving I dyed a while ago, and it’s pretty, but spinnng roving that’s all the same color is just so boring to me. These multi-color ones will be much more fun.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

teensy tiny bit of news. August 17, 2007

I just wanted to let y’all know that I’ve finally taken the plunge and opened my own shop on Etsy! I’m pretty excited about it, there’s not much there now but I’ve got big plans for it. So check it out! Sarahbirdspins.etsy.com.

I’ve been doing a bunch of dyeing the past couple of days so I’ll have plenty of roving to take back to school with me. So look for pictures from that in the next day or so!

Have a wonderful Friday!

yummy. August 14, 2007

This post is just full of delicious things. First off, here’s some very yummy handspun. “Everlasting Gobstopper”, 70 yards, mill ends dyed with Wilton’s. I really like the way this one came out! I love the colors, and in some places the roving had two colors right next to each other so that they swirled together when I spun it, giving that sort of candy-stripe effect, which looks really cool. I’m going to try to dye some roving that will do that on purpose this week. I also like this picture, I took it on a table in our backyard. At first I thought maybe the background was too distracting, but I decided that it’s cool.

Mmmm.

And more delicious things! Nathan and I went to the Farmer’s Market for the first time on Saturday, which was super exciting. I loved it, and we probably bought more things than was reasonable. But how can you resist? Blueberries, raspberries, peaches, watermelon and potatoes. Yum.

Our farmer’s market trip led directly to this fantastic dinner being created.

I’m pretty sure it was the first time either of us had actually made a real meal that didn’t involve mac and cheese or pb&j. We made orange roughy parmesan, which actually was fast, easy and delicious despite our total lack of experience. I don’t eat red or white meat (beef, chicken, pork etc.), but I do love seafood, so this is definitely something we’ll make again. We had it with farmer’s market potatoes with butter and parsley, and farmer’s market fruit salad. Seriously the best dinner that I’ve had in a long, long time.

I’m going to the Museum of Contemporary Art today! I’m excited. Have a fantastic Tuesday!

knitting! finally! August 9, 2007

I’ve just been out of town for six days visiting friends, which was quite a lot of fun but very tiring. I did have a lot of time in the car for knitting which was nice, especially since I haven’t really done any knitting in like a bajillion years. Or a couple months, whatever. Ever since I learned to spin I hardly ever knit. Anyway, I did actually get a lot done. I’m working on a blanket for my mom, which was supposed to be her Christmas present, which I’ll hopefully finish pretty soon. I also started a scarf from the Patons SWS that I bought a while back. I really like how it’s coming out, the colors are so pretty and the yarn has a really pretty sheen to it. Here’s the scarf all stretched out.

And a close-up, which for once actually came out looking pretty nice.

Now that I’m back home, I should have plenty of time for crafty activities, especially since today is my last day of work! And that’s a good thing, since I’ve got a ton of fiber I need to dye before I go back to school in a few weeks. Speaking of school, check out these super cute boxes I got at Ikea the other day. Only $12 for all four! I love Ikea. They’re totally going in my room this fall.

Have a happy Thursday!

success! August 2, 2007

I’ve already finished unraveling, skeining, measuring and washing the yarn from the sweater I bought the other day (which is working pretty fast for me). I’m really really really happy with this project. I love the yarn, it’s super soft and the colors are gorgeous. And unraveling the sweater actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Undoing the first seam took the longest, since I was using scissors to snip the little thread between the two sections. I had a stroke of genius after that though, when I realized that the best thing to use to rip out seams might be, well, a seam ripper. Duh. That made it a lot faster. The only really tedious part was winding the yarn into skeins, but even that was quicker than I was expecting. The sweater ended up as 5 skeins (back, front, sleeve, sleeve, collar) adding up to 345 yards!! Woo hoo. I’m totally going to do this again.

Here’s a shot of all 5 finished skeins. Gorgeous, no?

I also took a few pictures of a yarn that I spun pre-blog. It’s mill ends, dyed with Wilton’s (of course). It was one of the first singles I spun. I spun it with very low twist, so it’s very soft and lofty. I’m calling it Sea Glass, because the light blues and greens remind me of those little shards you find on the beach sometimes.

And here’s my attempt at a yarn close-up. I don’t think it worked that well. Either I need a better camera, or there’s some way to take good close-ups that I’m just not aware of. I still think it looks pretty cool though.

I also got my new ball winder in the mail yesterday! I was really excited. It came really fast, I think it was four days from when I ordered it. It’s this one, on sale for $25 from JoAnn. I kind of agree with the mixed reviews, the main problem I’ve found is that the little vise/clamp thing that’s supposed to keep it attached to the table isn’t very secure. It kept coming loose from the table, even when I had it as tight as it would go. I’m going to have to figure out a better way to attach it. Also, the first ball of yarn I wound was way too loose, but I found that if I sort of pinch the strand of yarn with my left hand as I wind with my right, it winds into a much tighter, more compact ball. So basically, it’s not perfect, but I knew when I bought it that I was willing to sacrifice a little quality to save money. And even though it does have it’s flaws, it does wind adorable little cakes of yarn. See?