Fiber Corner

Daily life of a knitting designer/publisher of handknitting patterns

Sunday, March 22, 2009

You Scream, We Scream,

We all scream for ice cream. This isn't about the edible variety, though. Last year about this time I purchased some Superwash Corrie from Spunky Eclectic in what was her colorway of the month--Neapolitan.

Since it looked like it was dyed so it would stripe, I decided to try something a little different than fractal spinning for keeping the colors flowing. I split the top down the center into two separate halves. One half I further split down into pieces about a fingers width to use for spindling. The other half was to be carded together to form, as Patsy says, a perfect neutral to use with the painted roving. Since the neutral single has all the colors of the roving blended together, it should allow the striping to continue in a somewhat heathery effect. That's the plan, at least.

This fiber was perfect for spindling. It was wonderfully soft without that super slippery feel of superwash Merino.
I actually managed to fit 1.7 oz of fiber on my 1.1 oz Orchard Forrester spindle.
This may be my most perfectly balanced spindle. It was a complete and utter joy to use. Go get yourself a Forrester, you won't be disappointed!

When it came down to blending the roving, I opted to use the drum carder and added in a bit of Tussah silk for added strength since I plan to use the yarn for socks. The batts turned out a shimmery fawn with just a hint of pink in them. Lovely.
The blended batts were spun on the Joy.
And then, plied on the Joy, too.
I love how this is coming out! The stripes still show through the candy stripe effect in the pink and dk brown areas. Can't wait to get it off the wheel and start knitting it.

4 Comments:

At 8:30 PM, Blogger A Fiber Frolic said...

What a great idea this is. Can't wait to see how it knits up.

 
At 12:24 PM, Blogger June said...

Wow! What a completely fabulous idea ! I love what you are coming up with, every week you inspire me more and more!

 
At 12:27 PM, Blogger June said...

Oh shoot, I forgot to ask what sock you will be knitting? Plain vanilla or an original pattern??

 
At 10:11 AM, Blogger Mary in VA said...

Wow, this is an idea I'd never heard of before. I'm going to have to remember this post and try it myself some time!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home