Spinning some BFL/Mulberry Silk in green-blue

I bought this yarn in April 2020, so about 4 and a half years ago-ish and at a time when I was looking around for alternative fibre suppliers.  It is from an independent spinning fibre retailer who buys in undyed fibre and dyes it themselves and then sells it.  There are a lot of small businesses that do this and whilst they can be pretty they are also quite limited in terms of fibre content as they wouldn't contain any sparkle element or they wouldn't be a solid shade with different colours of texture etc and sometimes the dyer accidentally felts the fibre a little, which is easily done and I've done it a few times myself over the years.  Thankfully that is not the case in this instance, it's so soft.  The original fibre is from John Arbon Textiles.

I wanted to try and keep the variation of colours in the finished yarn as much as possible but I also didn't want it to form splodges of colour so I split it down the length, one for each ply, and spun it over the fold.

For the second single I started spinning from the other end, again over the fold, and this way when I plied the two singles together there was less chance of the same colours coming together all the way through the yarn.  Of course the colours probably do come together at times but hopefully, for the most part, it has barber-pole the colours.

This measures up to 16wpi - Light Fingering Weight and there is 110g/478m.  The fibre content is 80% Bluefaced Leicester, 20% Mulberry Silk

Spinning up "Boat Race" from March 2020

Not letting the grass grow under my feet I am straight on with the next braid of fibre which is from the fibre club back in March 2020.  It is called Boat Race and is 70% Merino, 30% Viscose and is lots of shades of blues and a bit of green, watery colours, but it is put together in such a way that is near impossible to pull all the colours out separately.  I could have perhaps managed to pull a few colours out but I would need really good natural light to do that and at this time of year that just isn't really available so I have had to try to keep the different colours as visible as possible in a different way.

What I actually did was to split it in half and then I just spun from the end without any pre-drafting, as that would encourage the colours to blend, and I tried to follow the strips of colour as it entered the draft zone, so if some dark blue entered the draft zone I would try to follow the thin strip of dark blue fibres for several inches and then latch on to another shade and follow that.  My intention was to make as variegated a yarn as I could and not to allow the colours to blend too much.  I'm not sure I actually managed to achieve that but I tried.

It has spun up to sport weight and there is 100g/300m.

Spinning up "Khadi" from October 2019

This is another of the monthly fibres that I used to subscribe to and I have almost spun up all of the ready-to-spin braids that I have left from this supplier, just a few more to go.  I still have bits and bobs in my "ingredients cupboard" for when I make my own blends, but that is a different matter.

This one is from October 2019 and was based on some Indian cloth called Khadi that was championed by Mahatma Ghandi. 

The fibre looks like its got some different neutral colours in there but this doesn't seem to show in the finished yarn.  It was a very simple, straight-forward spin of splitting it in half, pre-draft the fibre and spin it and then ply the two singles together. 

I had intended to spin this to a thickness that would work with another yarn in my stash but I seem to have missed this by a mile and it has bloomed on washing as well. Oh, well, plenty more wool on the sheep in the field.  This one has spun up to double-knit weight and I have 102g/274m and the fibre content is 50% Merino, 25% Polwarth, 25% Tussah Silk.

Spinning up two braids of "Singer"

I am continuing to spin up some of the oldest fibres in my stash and this next one is from the monthly fibre club that I used to subscribe to.  It is from July 2019 and is called "Singer" and was based on the colours of the Singer sewing machines.  I had two braids of this, one that arrived at the time from the club and then I managed to get another at a later date via a fellow spinner who was downsizing and selling off some of their fibres.

I did consider ways in which to handle the colours which would include separating the colours out for a more interesting yarn but the problem with that is that the yellowy-gold colour is the Eri Silk and so by separating the colours this would isolate the Eri Silk away from the wool content and I didn't really want to do that.  What I decided to do was to split it in half along the length, pre-draft the fibre and just spin it as it comes and I done this for both braids.

Given that this fibre was from a monthly subscription and we were told that there was only ever one batch made at the wool mill that she used it surprised the hell out of me to discover that the two skeins made are different colours.

The braid that I had as part of the monthly subscription has spun up much darker and leaning more toward the green and black content than the braid that I got from a fellow spinner who was selling off stuff to downsize which leans more towards the red and gold content.

With this colour difference between the two skeins there is no way that I could work them together on the same project in a bid to blend them and neutralise any colour variation as it would just cause stripes and on the kind of things that I make stripes rarely work.  They will have to be worked on separate projects.

So, both come under the umbrella of "sport weight" and the darker/duller one (on the right) is 100g/331m and the other one is 106g/381m and the fibre content is 50% Shetland, 25% Corriedale, 25% Eri Silk.

My Advent Calendar has arrived!

I knew this had been dispatched but then it appeared to be stuck and tracking wasn't updating for a couple of days but its fine, its here now.

Two layers of packages, 25 in all.

I now have to be a good girl and not go looking at anything, especially the book!

Spinning some Romney, Silk & Linen fibre

I bought this fibre nearly 5 years ago and have finally gotten around to spinning it up.  

There are two braids and due to how it has been dyed, in a kind of splodgy fashion, I decided to Fractal spin it, which is a way to split the fibre braid up to manage the colours and amount of times that you split the braid can be adjusted if required.  

A basic Fractal spin is achieved by splitting the braid in half down the entire length and spinning one ply from one of those halves and then for the second ply you would normally split it 4 ways and spin them one after the other, starting from the same end as the 1st ply every time.  

For these braids, due to the colour distribution, I decided to split the first half into two lengths equally down the entire length and then spun them A-B and A-B.  For the second half I split it down the length 6 times and spun A-B, A-B, A-B, A-B, A-B, A-B in a bid to distribute the colours more evenly along the length of the finished yarn.  I worked both braids in this way.

The top bobbin is the second ply, with shorter colour changes.  The bottom bobbin is the first ply with the longer colour changes.

There is some visible colour differences between the two braids but if I use them together in one project I will alternate their use every 2 rows to blend and neutralise those differences.

It has come out to sport weight (12 wpi) with a combined total of 195g/546m and it is 50% Romney, 25% Silk, 25% Linen.

Three shades of Grey Lacy Crochet Scarf

This is the last scarf that I have planned for the time being as I will be returning to doing some spinning, as the next Fibre Advent Calendar will be arriving next week in readiness for opening throughout December.  I am using some Stylecraft Special DK in three shades of grey that I have had since last 2011, 13 years!  All yarns are 100% Acrylic and will be held double.

1063 - Graphite for the centre

1203 - Silver for the stripe

1099 - Grey for the outer parts

Peach and Watermelon Lacy Crochet Scarf

I have once again been stash diving deep into the past and come out with the left overs of a huge ball of Peach double knit acrylic yarn that I remember buying either just before or just after my first child was born and the little shopping precinct I got it from was demolished a few years ago.  The yarn is at least 20 years old and not such a bright peach as the previous one, this one is a bit warmer in tone and I have paired it with the Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Watermelon that I bought on my return from Blackpool.  

Having not enough of the Peach to complete the three rows either side of the stripe, I decided to work the last row in the Watermelon too to give a whole new effect.  Both yarns are 100% acrylic.

Peach and Cream Lacy Crochet Scarf

I have dug deep into my yarn stash and pulled out something that is potentially vintage that I got off Ebay years ago.  Its called Foxy DK by Charles Fox.  I am pairing this with the new Stylecraft Special Aran in shade cream that I bought last week.  I have to use the Foxy DK held double and the Aran as it is and because I won't have the meterage that I need for the main colour from the Peach, this will be the stripe on the mainly cream scarf.  

This scarf used 69g of the 104g of Peach and 105g of the cream Aran. Both yarns are 100% Acrylic.

Aspen, Cream and Aqua Lacy Crochet Scarf

My original plan was to make a scarf using Nil and Cream but given the fact that the last scarf used up some of the second ball of Nil this is no longer an option so Plan B is to use what I have of the Nil, add some cream and also use some of the left over Aspen as well. 

So the yarns used in this one are King Cold Big Value Baby 4ply in shade Nil, worked using 2 strands.

Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Aspen, worked just as it comes.

Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Cream, worked just as it comes

I decided to use the darkest yarn in the centre, flanked by cream and finished off with the Nil.  I done it this way as it takes up less of the cream so that I can then use the left overs in conjunction with the second ball of cream on the next scarf and also it uses up as much of the Nil as possible.

I used the Nil held double and used 81g of the 90g that I had left, 50g of cream and 23g of Aspen and they are all 100% Acrylic.

It is only when I took the scarf outside into proper daylight, if you can call November in the Northern Hemisphere "proper daylight", that it became apparent that the pale blue-green aqua kind of colour yarn in the house is actually leaning more towards pale blue and away from any kind of green tinge. Whoopsy! Silly school girl error and I've been doing this far too long to have made such a silly error as checking colour combinations in natural night.  Still makes an interesting scarf, just not quite as I had expected.

Aqua and Aspen Lacy Crochet Scarf

For the next scarf I have picked out two more balls of King Cole Big Value Baby 4ply but this time it is in shade Nil, which is a pale blue-green aqua colour and this was bought at the same time as the lilac that I've already used to make scarves and was bought new from our local craft shop 7 years ago.  This yarn has had to be worked holding two strands at the same time.

100% Acrylic

The other yarn is Stylecraft Special Aran in shade Aspen, also 100% Acrylic, which I bought on my last visit to the same local craft shop and is thick enough to be worked as it is.  

100% Acrylic

I ended up using more than one ball of the Nil, it took 10g of the second ball that I had of this which means I now have to figure out something different for the next scarf as I no longer have enough left in the remaining ball.  This is strange because the other two balls of this yarn in the lilac made one scarf each.

Sparkly Teal and Sparkly White Lacy Crochet Scarf

Following my unsuccessful yarn shopping whilst in Blackpool myself and my two kids have been shopping at our local craft shop again.  It would have been nice to see what different yarns the other shops stocked but hey-ho, for now at least.  I have bought us tickets for a big yarn and wool event that is being held locally in December that has something like 85 different vendors but right now I need a few balls of yarns that will work with some of things that I have pulled out of my yarn stash so I have shopped locally. I only bought 5 balls of yarn, and two of those are the same colour!  My youngest bought a few balls and my eldest bought a big bag full.

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

My next scarf is made using the same 12 year old King Cole Haze Glitter in Teal as the last scarf but this time I have pair it with something new that I have just bought which is King Cole Baby Glitz in white, which is shade 483 and on the ball band this states "Dinamo White" but on both Ravelry and on the actual King Cole website 483 is Diamond White.  Most of the same letters but not in the same order.  Odd!

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

To make this scarf I have had to work both yarns with 2 strands and because they both have the exact same fibre content there is no change to that this time.

Sparkly Teal and Storm Lacy Crochet Scarf

Diving down into my yarn stash again and surfaced with some King Cole Haze Glitter in shade 124 - Teal that has been in my stash for just over 12 years since I bought it new from a local yarn shop that opened but didn't survive very long, maybe 12 months at best.  It was poorly located but the main problem was the woman that had decided to open a yarn shop upon retiring from her main job at the age of 65.  She was neurotic, watched customers like a hawk with a look of disdain on her face as if everyone was out to pinch stuff and made everyone feel uncomfortable when she glared at them.  I only went in that one time and tried to strike up a friendly conversation/chit-chat only to be met with a tongue that could skin a man alive at 50 paces. 

Anyway, let's get back to the yarn itself.  King Cole Haze Glitter has been discontinued for a number of years now.  It is in the double knit category and yet is 100g/466m (double knit is usually around 100g/300m, give or take).  I had two balls of this yarn and it had to be worked holding two strands together for this design.

97% Acrylic, 3% Polyester

I'm pairing this yarn with the 57g of left overs of the Stylecraft Special Aran in Storm Blue that I had bought specifically to got with the Jarol Rambler Aran that I had used to make the first scarf in this design.  As this yarn is thicker, I only had to use a single strand.

100% Acrylic

The sparkly thread on the Haze is loosely wound around the plied yarn and has a tendency to pucker-up the yarn so I had to keep pulling it out straight and then other times the sparkly thread would just break, which relieved the puckering.  I've never had this happen before, ever, and it's not as though I had any kind of tight tension on the yarn or anything that would cause the thread to be pushed along the surface of the yarn in any way, shape or form

I made a start on this and then we had a couple of days mid-week break in Blackpool to see the illuminations and do a bit of shopping but unfortunately the one yarn shop I had intended to visit was closed due to her being on holiday and the market wasn't open on the days we were there but I did buy come scented candles and a new winter coat. We hadn't been to Blackpool since I was pregnant with our youngest child 18 years ago and our other child was only 3 years old back then so neither of them had seen or had any memories of Blackpool and the illuminations.  On our last visit I had met Geoff Capes, of World's Strongest Man fame, who was waiting for my father-in-law to be ready to go with him and a couple of other guys on an aviary visit to another Budgerigar breeder as both Geoff and my father-in-law bred and showed Budgerigars and strangely, despite the age difference, both of them have passed away this year, with Geoff only passing away about a week ago and my father-in-law passed away back in May of this year. 

I didn't take any craft projects with me and so I completed this on my return home and the overall fibre content is now 98% Acrylic, 2% Polyester.