Combing the darker Jacob fibres

I've combed some of the darker fibres from the same Jacob fleece that I've been working on lately.  I've made a couple of yarns already from the lighter coloured fibres that I dyed using Logwood and Carrot tops dyes.  I'm trying to reduce the space that my fleece takes up so that I have more space for yarns and fibre.  I'm not sure its working that well so far but it has to reduce the overall bulk and weight eventually.

Anyway, I'm waffling so I grabbed a bag of 372g of fleece and got combing it.  At the end I was left with 180g of hand combed top ready to spin or blend with other stuff.  I'm not 100% sure what I will do with this yet.  It may well become a gradient but not necessarily left as a natural coloured gradient, I may decide to dye it and, because of the coloured fibres, it should produce a gradient in whatever shade I decide to dye it.  There are also other options too like blending the lightest and darkest nests together to even out the colours to produce a more even coloured grey yarn.  I will most likely go with the dyed gradient option.

Spinning up Gold

I'm getting on spinning my way through some of the mass of spinning fibre that I have building up around me.  This time I have chosen one from last year, the February 2019 monthly fibre called "Gold".  I really like this one as its pretty much a single colour, with varying shades, and sparkle.  I do like a bit of sparkle as it adds interest and makes for pretty lace shawls.

There's not a lot to say about how this spun up really as I didn't encounter any problems with it so I'll just get on and show it off.  I spun it to fingering weight and I got 364m out of it.  To re-cap the fibre content from the linked post about the fibre it is 58.% Merino, 25% BFL, 12.5% Mulberry Silk, 4% Stellina.

March's Club Fibre is here!

Happy little squeals could be heard from me this morning as I opened my little parcel from the fibre club.  Just as I expected after reading the letter and little bit of research, this fibre is all shades of blue with a hint of green.  I was having a little problem with light when taking the photos but the true colour is more like the larger photo.  Its 70% Merino, 30% Viscose, with the Merino being naturally dyed in Italy using Indigo and Woad.

Spinning up The Thin Blue Line

I'm working on getting some of the fibre club braids spun up, working from the oldest that I have and working forwards.  This one is from just over a year ago called The Thin Blue Line.

This is another one that I managed to get another 300g of recently, this time from someone else's destash.  I spun it from the end, worsted style but spun it fairly thickly, to worsted weight and I have four skeins which total 381g/424m. Washing and rinsing this took forever as it kept bleeding dye into the water, as is often the case with blue fibres, but I kept rinsing until it bled no more else I will have dye leak onto my knitting needles and hands when I knit with this.

Its 62.5% Merino, 25% Sari Silk, 12.5% Bamboo Rayon and is soft and squishy and you just want to cuddle up with this.

March's Fibre Club Letter

March's Fibre club letter has arrived and I have to be honest, I have never watched the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, so I have no idea of what shades or tones to expect.  I am just not into sport at all.

The letter reads:

This year will be the 5th anniversary of the combining of the men's and women’s Boat Race. Now if you’re in the UK you’ll know exactly which Boat Race I mean, but for those outside the UK here’s a little background information. 

The Boat Race is an annual rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The men's race first took place in 1829 in Henley on Thames, and then in 1836 moved to its current course in London on the Thames. Excluding the time periods of the World Wars the men's race has been held every year since. The women’s race first began in 1927, though it took until 1935 for it to be a true race instead of a judged competition based on rowing style. In the early years Cambridge didn’t have a University Women’s Boat Club, as only Newnham College (an all girls college) offered rowing. In 1941 the Cambridge University Boat Club was established when Girton College also offered rowing. The race was then held annually until 1952, when a lack of funding for the Women’s Boat Clubs meant that neither team was able to compete. The race begun again in 1964, boosted by the number of women who were now admitted to many of the colleges of both universities.

For much of its history the race had been held separate from the men's with the venue alternating between the River Cam in Cambridge and the Isis (the name for the stretch of the River Thames by Oxford). In 1977 the race moved to Henley on Thames, as part of the Henley Boat Race, where the men's lightweight teams also compete. Finally in 2015 the women’s race was moved to the same 4.2 mile (6.8km) course as the men's race. That year the television audience for the women’s race reached 4.8 million viewers. The race is held around Easter every year, though has no set date in the calendar as the River Thames is tidal, and at certain points in the month the tides don’t allow the boats to race. This year it’s scheduled for 29th March. 

The boats themselves are rowed by 8 competitors with a cox who can be of either sex. It’s a gruelling year of work to get ready for the race as all the rowers are current students of both universities. The team members are traditionally known as blues, and both team colours are blue. Oxford row in dark blue, and Cambridge in light blue (with a hefty hint of green if you look at it with a colourists eyes!).

We’ve therefore got an extravaganza of blue in your fibre this month. The merino has been naturally dyed in Italy using Indigo and Weld. It’s softer than the usual merino at just 19 microns, and the sheep are non-mulsed. The Viscose is processed in Germany before being dyed in Italy.

Blue is one of my favourite colours, so I am happy already, and it seems like it will be a mixture of different shades of blue with some green thrown in.  I can't wait for this one to arrive.

Spinning the yellow Jacob Wool

I don't know why I have sat on this blended fibre for a couple of weeks before spinning it but I've spun it now and I'm really happy with the results.  The final fibre content figures are: 48% Jacob Wool, 41% Merino Wool, 6% Hemp, 4% Trilobal Nylon, 1% Angelina.  Adding the Merino has given it a much softer hand and its is gorgeously soft and shimmery, although my photography is struggling to show off the shimmers and glitters.  There is 147g of double knit weight yarn here but I've yet to decide what it will end up being knitted into exactly.