The Difference a Dye Job Can Make

A few years ago at Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR, I came across a 4 ounce strip of dyed Merino/silk top from Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks. It was dark blue (black in places), indigo blue, brown gold, greens with undyed white sections. The colors were so appealing to me, I bought 8 ounces. I spun it up, took pictures of it, and tried to sell it on Etsy. Instead a member of the spinning/knitting group I belong to in Elko bought it and made a beautiful Baktus Scarf! I wish I had a picture of it, I would share. But this is the yarn.

I have decided that Navajo plying is my preferred method of finishing hand painted yarns. You get much better color changes and not as much striping as if you two ply it, and a stronger yarn.
I bought the same colorway the next year, don't remember what happened to the yarn, I guess I sold it on Etsy.
Last month I thought about it again and ordered more. When I got it I wasn't sure I would like it. The colors weren't as heavy this time, instead of broad splashes of bold color, it's more like it was spattered with color.

So I wasn't sure what would happen with it, and I remembered that I had liked the last few batches I'd had so much! 

 So here it is, and I love it! It really is that light, although its washed out a little by the sun shine through the window...

In other news, my daughter started working at a local restaurant, nights, so I have Joy all day while she sleeps, and all night while she works. I tell ya, I haven't been this tired in a very long time :)

We Have an Accord!

There were a couple of things that were making spinning on Maxwell (thank you Laura :) difficult. First, I'm used to sitting in my easy chair to spin on my Joy, the orifice is at the perfect height, but Max is almost a foot taller than the Joy, so I grabbed two small pillows and plopped my butt down. Just right! Second, Max has, as I said earlier, a draw like a mule team.

The little ball on the string is the tensioner. Its supposed to go over the end of the maiden and tighten there on the right. I took it out of the equation. Even without tightening the string with the knob, just the weight of that little bitty ball caused friction.

I am pretty sure I wasn't supposed to do this, but I did it anyway. I oiled the metal whatchamacallit. The piece below it is plastic, just like a Louette (I think), and I've seen people with these put that grey powder on this spot, not oil, but I don't have the grey powder, so oil it was! It worked.

This is mohair roving, I have no idea where it came from, but it was handy when I went looking for something strong to put on this bad boy. I will never spin lace weight on this wheel, its all about chunky! And it bobs and weaves a bit when I'm spinning, makes a fairly loud 'thunk' at the top of the treadle path, but I think we're going to get along just fine.

My Lil' Angel?

In't she cute!?

This was Joy's first real Halloween, she was too young last year to really get into it, but boy she was plying that basket this year! She knows what candy is now!

I swear I can sit across the room from her and rattle a candy wrapper, it doesn't matter what she's doing, she will bee-line to me to find out what I've got. Oh, she is a 'Bat-arrina' by the way :) It even had little gloves, but she wouldn't wear them.

Nana and Joy at Nana's house. We always go there for Halloween. Living out in the sticks we have never gotten any trick or treaters, so we don't decorate, and the pumpkin we carve always goes on Mom's porch. She is a holiday Hero, always has her house decorated for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Oh, can't forget Easter!

We had kilbasa, fried cabbage and home made mashed potatoes for dinner.

Goodies!

I've been plying my trade, which could be the reason I'm growing again. I can't believe how fast I put on weight in the winter!
The fiber above is the alpaca bond blend I talked about a couple of posts ago, the yarn below is a better color of the yarn also from that previous post, I like this one better, shows the truer color.

And I finally finished spinning and plying the alpaca blend (thank you Eli the puppy)

New Goodies!

Have you ever heard of Stansborough Grey? Stansborough Grey is a breed of sheep, only found in New Zealand, there are only about 1000 of them and they all belong to the same farm. If you haven't looked up, you should (or just click on the name :)

 I regret to say that I let my uncontrollable urge to have some of this fiber get in the way of my better sense that told me it was too expensive. But, I bought it, its here and it is delectable! I can honestly say this wool is like nothing I have ever put my hands in. It is silky soft, to the point where you're really not sure you're touching anything at all. There are a couple of negative points (though I wont let them stop me from processing this fiber), there are second cuts all through what I've handled so far. If you read the website, you'll know that all of this wool is actually meant to be commercially processed. So what I don't understand, is what do the commercial processors do with all those second cuts? From what I've played in so far (and I just got it today, so I haven't gone through very much of it) I will lose a good 40% of this wool, if not more, because where there are second cuts, the staple length is often cut in half (at 3 to 4 inches, that don't leave much!) so I lose the lock too. Ah, well, such is life! I can see why they chose it to grace the backs of movie stars though. Oh my my!

Yesterday, this arrived from the Netherlands!

I am now a two-wheel spinner! Although I haven't quite gotten the hang of the Moswolt Hammer Wheel yet, I feel confident that we will be able to come to an understanding soon. Where I have always thought of my Joy as a girl (the name not withstanding, she is rather petite), the Hammer is definitely masculine. He pulls like a mule team on the draw, so we have some issues to 'hammer' out hehe.

This is one of the reasons I wanted this wheel; see the size of that bobbin??? My Joy is supposed to hold 4 ounces; I'm lucky if I get 2.5 on it, and even then I have to split it because it wont all fit back on the bobbin plied. But this baby! He holds 12 ounces! I can see why some people have bought this wheel just for plying, but I would love to be able to spin that much at one time!
If anyone anywhere sees this sometime in the future and knows anything at all about the Moswolt Hammer Wheel, please leave a comment so we can chat. There is precious little on the internet about these wheels (in English or Dutch) and it would be wonderful to find out more about them. Near as I can tell, the company quit making them in the '80s. To be honest, I am not entirely convinced this one is completely genuine. The flyer is new, that is for sure and made (even though it is well made) from ply wood and I am positive  the bobbins are replicas. The body seems to me to be original, but what would I know? The whole thing could be a replica and no one this side of Deutschland and 1980-something would know the difference!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Cheers!