I am kinda on a scratchy wool kick right now. Is this something that typically happens in your evolution as a spinner? I mean I know there is that early stage where you spin big fat thick and thin, wishing you spin a fine yarn. Then you can spin a VERY fine yarn and yearn for the thick and thin days, and then you have to actually teach yourself what you are doing…. And stuggle back to thick yarn. Seems like with the fibers for a long time I was on a quest for something ever softer and finer, and more challenging to spin. The yak and silk and camel satiated that desire, and now I just want to try all manner of scratchy crazy wools.

The Welsh roving has big fat hairs that pop up every once in a while (not unlike the California red). It is kind of a challenge to not let it all fall out when I am spinning it. It is pretty suited to worsted spinning (shoving the fiber at the wheel), but I am a long draw addict and was determined to make it work. So we are getting along. While I am spinning test yarns to decide if I can get away with a single ply yarn for the mitten project, I started on the dyeing.

I did between 2 and 3 ounces of each color (the brown is natural), and I hope it is enough…. Now I am really excited.

I’ve done a little knitting

Ravelry Project Page

A little spinning

California Red locks from A Verb for Keeping Warm Raverly page

and…. i adopted a kitty! Introducing… Bean!

She’s mouthy (like me). This last picture is a video…. Click through to hear Bean!

insane number of kitty pics in my flickr stream.

I have been utterly and completely jealous over the things being spun up over at Trailing yarn. So I had to take my wheel out, dust it off and spend an hour spinning. I decided to spin up some roving that I dyed in shades of turquoise and orangey brown (thought I had a pic, but I can’t find one). I am pretty rusty, having not spun in many months but managed a pretty fine (yet uneven) single:

And then I navajo-plied it into some real yarn (check out how Elizabeth does it).

It’s kinda ugly, but I like it. Spinning thin singles on my lendrum is really a chore. I forgot to put on the fast flyer, so I was pedalling like a maniac. I am pretty proud that though my skill stagnated, none of the single came apart when plying. hooray!

EDIT: I forgot to remind you that today is the last day to sign up for the Scraptastic Granny Square swap!. Hurry!

The bottom one is inspired by dandelions. I am thinking of submitting it to the Yarn Museum Flora gallery if I get it spun in time.

Even though I have deprived you of the opportunity to shop for roving, if you really want to do some shopping, I have somewhere to send you. Threadless.
Hurry over there cause they are having a $10 sale.

You might like this sheepy one:

and my nerdy friends might like this one:

I like the subtle use of a unicorn…

And my students should like this one:

It would have helped them identify the 8 planets in the solar system for their midterm exam. Yes, college students in a class called “the Planets” missed that question.

Remember, if you buy something, be sure to mention that you read my blog and I’ll throw in some extras.

photo courtesy of teapotgirl

he is a little amigurumi droplet. we thought he looked like melted mochi so we put him in the mochi tray. I am also working on crocheting some bacon – you can see it in the foreground.

I also whipped up a prototype baby beanie that is supposed to look like a buckeye. The pattern needs some improving, so i will probably give it another try.

i will be sending it off to my cousin for his new baby that is due in a few weeks.

I have also made some progress on the the only big knitting project that I am working on right now, the clapotis. I have 3 dropped rows!

and finally, the results of my solar dyeing adventure

whew! That is some bright green.

I have an old roaster tray that I use for dying. i lined it with foil and made two foil trays to separate it into two parts. I soaked my yarn in some water and vinegar, rang it out a little bit, and put it in the trays. then i added the dye. next, I covered the roaster pan with saran wrap and sealed it with tape – the more like a greeenhouse, the better. I have collected several candy thermometers at garage sales, so I decided to dedicate one to to dyeing and I put that through the saran wrap so I could have an idea of how hot it would get inside.

I watched the temperature climb about 10 degrees every 15 minutes, and top off at about 120 F. i left it out there for several hours (maybe 3-4?) until the all the dye had been absorbed from the solution.

excuse the crappy camera-phone picture

I had a little dye leftover so I thought I would do one more skein to use up the dye. Only, the sun had moved to the other side of my apartment building and there was no more sun on my fire escape. you know how knit bloggers talk about how their neighbors must think they are crazy because they see them taking pictures of yarn outside… well, here is where I have them beat. I took my yarn to the hottest place I could think of. My car. Parked in the rock-star space right in front of my apartment building, i thought I could make a quick dash there without getting the neighbors attention. Wrong. i ran into two of them on my way to my car with a roaster full of yarn and then started taking pictures of it.

Wow! this really did the job. 2 hours later when I went to get the yarn out, the handles of the roaster were so hot i had to use oven mitts! the thermometer read 145 degrees. sweet.

I am pretty happy with how the yarn looks so far. Usually i use an immersion technique, not a paint on the dye technique, so there are some flaws in the first batch. I didn’t really work the dye through the yarn, and some of the yarn in the middle has white patches. i think will look nice in the end though. Look for dry, reskeined yarn photos soon!

And recently I made a few dye-o-rama stitch markers. they will look so cute when i am knitting up my dye-o-rama yarn! (I also stuck a few in my shop).

You can’t tell from the picture really, but I was trying to show you that the water really did turn clear. That yarn is from some fiber i bought from lanas de libelula (super-nice. go buy stuff from her). i navajo plied it into an awesome 3 ply bulky yarn. Not too shabby. there isn’t enough of it for me to want to keep it…. So i stuck it in my etsy shop . If it doesn’t go away i might make a hat out of it.

I also spun some yellow dyed merino roving into a yarn that I am a little bit in love with……Must make more…..

And at the top in this photo is some blue superwash merino sock yarn that will be finding its way into my
shop soon. It will be a great deal. i tell ya.

And in case you were wondering, the
roving that i photographed drying the tub has been turned into this:

]]> http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit/blog/2006/03/21/crockpot-dyeing/feed/ 0 http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit/blog/2005/04/25/one-baby-sock-complete/ http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit/blog/2005/04/25/one-baby-sock-complete/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2005 19:03:40 +0000 I finished one of the baby socks featured in this month’s Interweave
Knits. It is made out of Cherry Tree Hill supersock yarn. I think the cables are pretty noticeable, and it is pretty cute, but it will certainly look better with a baby foot in it. This was my first short row toe, and i think what they called a ‘decorative zig-zag’ seam was actually a 3 needle bind off (which would be my first). During the making of this innocent looking sock, i broke two #1 DPN’s. I have a few spares since i lost one a little while ago and had to buy another set. But, I have decided to try making socks on two circular needles. this pretty much guarantees that the second sock will be a different size, but hey,
it won’t be the first
time….

You might notice that the sock is sitting atop some delicious looking brown yarn. I made it! I think it is my best spinning yet. The roving was merino wool – mohair blend and the color was
called Kona. I got it at Carolina Homespun when i got my wheel. I have a selection of pretty rovings (I think 4 oz each) and i just don’t know what to make out of that much yarn. I spin too thick for socks, and i don’t want to make a hat…. maybe i
will put them all together in a scarf.

And finally, the top-down raglan is progressing nicely. I have already start to think seriously about something cool to do for the ribbing.