Crafting updates

I made the Radiata shawl as a surprise gift for my grandmother, who used to constantly knit sweaters and scarves for the family. She had to stop due to arthritis.

As a silly project for myself, I made an amigurumi globe:

I finished spinning up and chain plying a merino/silk braid from Greenwood Fiberworks. This was my first chain plying project. It's not totally even but it's worth it to preserve the color changes of the original braid. The yarn came out about fingering weight and 290 yards.

I have a couple of big projects on the needles that will take a long time to finish (a fingering weight sweater and a double knit scarf). So I haven't done nearly as much crafting so far in 2019 as usual. (I've also been spending more of my free time reading.)

First real handspun yarn!

It took a few years, but I did it! I spun an entire 4 oz braid. It's sometimes under or over plied, and the weight varies between lace and super thin cobweb, but I did it! I'm super proud of myself. Here is what the roving looked like:

Here it is being spun up:

Wound onto the niddy noddy:

Setting:

And voila!

It's really hard to capture the colors just right on the finished yarn. It's so pretty in person. I plan to make a lacy shawl from it. (It's 763 yards.)

I had initially planned to do a 3 ply, but I didn't like the way that looked. You couldn't see the variation between yellow and pink and purple as well. So after a quick test, I ditched that plan and decided to leave it as a single.

My next spinning project will be a super fluffy targhee braid, which should actually be much easier for a beginner compared to merino and silk! I'm looking forward to it. I've blocked off time in my calendar for the monthly spinning circle at The Black Squirrel, so I'll get it done much more quickly this time.

Sustainably produced rambouillet roving

My friend Chase gave me a 4 oz ball of gray fine rambouillet roving from Lani's Lana as thanks for inviting her to chicken butchering day. She said that she remembered that I really like gray, which I found touching. It is locally produced in northern California and Nevada, by shepherds who practice regenerative agriculture. Perfect!

Washing raw wool #2

Time for the "cream" colored wool to go through soaking in detergent and rinsing:

The raw wool, gross but not nearly as bad as the gray one.

First sink full of wash water, again not as bad as before.

After first wash, it is... white!

Clean raw wool. Again there is a slightly greasy feel to it still, but less than the gray wool. It does still have little specks of black dirt here and there.

Washing raw wool

At one of the local yarn stores that Sherry and I stopped at after Fenzi Camp, we found raw wool for sale. It was only $1 per oz, so I grabbed a big bag of 10 ounces to experiment with washing and carding. Half was dark brown with lighter edges, and half was cream.

I decided to tackle the dark brown wool first. Per the instructions the store had given me, I filled the sink with hot water and a small amount of detergent, covered the sink to keep the heat in, and left it until the water was lukewarm.

This was the resulting water:

And this was the resulting... gray wool??

Soak it in plain hot water to rinse. This was the water:

And this was the wool:

Second round. Wash water:

Wool:

Rinsed, then third round of wash water:

And final rinse water, almost clear:

Final wool:

The brown tips are still there, but it's mostly gray. Wow. It still has a slightly greasy feel when I rub it between my fingers, and unfortunately that's what's going to happen when I spin it. The directions stated that washing soda would get rid of grease, though you have to be careful as it will damage the fiber if left in contact for too long. I don't have any on hand but I'll pick it up and do another soak/rinse eventually.

I'm curious to see how the "cream" colored wool will turn out.