Spinning the Burgundy-blue-green-white braid of merino

Following straight on with the next braid of fibre from the trio pack, this is the middle braid of the three.

I done the same to this braid as I did the first, and that is to split it down the entire length, pre-draft and spin both singles starting from the same end of the fibre.

I'm trying really hard to spin this better than the first braid.  I'm sorry that these photos aren't the best, the clearest, I am a poor spinner, knitter and crocheter who is currently using an Huawei phone, need I say more?  Maybe I should keep my proper camera to hand for W.I.P photos, but then that makes it difficult/time consuming to upload them to Instagram.  Hmmmm, maybe one day I will be able to afford a decent phone, in my dreams.

This one also measures to be of Fingering weight thickness but this time I got a little more on the meterage out of it.  Its 103g/562m.  I am thinking that I might not use the braids together in the same project but to use them in separate projects.

Spinning the Blue-green-white braid of Merino

Back in November 2018 I bought myself a trio pack of 14.5 micron Merino fibre.  I have finally now started to spin this pack of fibre.

I am starting with the fibre braid on the left hand side.

I split the fibre in half down the entire length, see the middle photo, and pre-drafted it into my specially adapted basket.  I done the same thing for the second half, spinning from the same end for both singles.  Because of how it was dyed the colours didn't match up all that often, if you look closely at the fibre braid you can see that there are "splodges" of colour that don't go all the way through the thickness of the braid.

The photo above just shows the spun singles at different times during the spinning process and is not necessarily a photo of each single, I can't actually remember if the photos were taken of the same bobbin or if they are photos of each of the bobbins.

The finished yarn is really really soft and squishy.  It's not my best spinning as I've not spun anything in the last 8 months or so and therefore I am a little out of practice.  There is about 470m in this 105g skein and its measuring at about a Fingering weight yarn.

Design A447 - Pinks, Blues and Black

For my final shawl using the Aran weight cotton I have chosen to use a range of pinks, a range of blues and all tied together with black, which is why I didn't want very dark blues in this shawl, as I doubt navy blue motifs would show up very well against the black.

In terms of how many motifs of each colour I was able to make from the leftovers and how many I made from the slightly larger amounts are as follows, in order from top left to the bottom right: 

Light wash = 4 motifs, Candyfloss pink = 4 motifs,  Light Ice Blue = 6 motifs

Medium pink = 12 motifs, Black = main, Rose = 11 motifs 

Light Jeans = 6 motifs, Petrol = 8 motifs, Plum = 13 motifs

Where possible I tried to match a similar shade/tone of blue to that in the pink range.

Its starting to look really effective but with the additional of the central motifs it is even more striking.

It reminds me a little like stained glass windows.

So now that I have made this one, I have just very very small oddments leftover, not even enough of anything to make a flower and so my kids have had what is leftover so they can add stripes or something to whatever they knit.

Design A447 - Blues and White

Another of these shawls made to an updated vintage pattern and this time I have chosen blue and white.  All of the darkest blues will go into this shawl along with a mix of medium and light blue as I have already planned my next shawl as well so I know what colours I need.

In terms of how many motifs of each colour I was able to make from the leftovers and how many I made from the slightly larger amounts are as follows, in order from top right to the bottom left: 

Spray Blue = 11 motifs, Light wash = 5 motifs, Light jeans = 3 motifs

                                     Jeans blue = 8 motifs, Navy blue = 4 motifs

White =  main, Light Ice Blue = 7 motifs, Light Blue = 10 motifs 

Petrol = 4 motifs, Navy = 12 motifs                                               

I have reverted back to having a central strip with mirrored layout on either side as I think it works better than totally random and then having to try and make sure the colours don't pool too much in one place.

I like this one, a lot, but then I do like blue, not that you can tell with the blue rug in the lounge and the fences outside are all painted blue...

Design A447 - Grey and White

For this one, I am doing it more simply.  There really are only two shades of grey cotton available but that is OK because I will checkerboard the motifs across the shawl and use white as the main colour to make a classic looking shawl.  I had to buy the light grey to go with the larger amount of darker grey that I already had.

In terms of how many motifs of each colour I was able to make from the leftovers and how many I made from the slightly larger amounts are as follows, in order from left to right: 

White = main, Light Grey = 36 motifs,  Dark grey = 28 motifs

I did make a little mistake that I didn't notice until after I took this photograph and I quickly rectified the mistake and carried on.

Not colourful but still pretty.

Design A447 - Autumn Leaves with ecru

For the next one I focused on working on motifs made using the yellows, oranges, reds and brown colours.

Two of the orange shades are very close in colour with the one bottom right being lighter and a different tone.  In terms of how many motifs of each colour I was able to make from the leftovers are as follows, in order from top left to the bottom right:

Brown = 5 motifs, Blood Orange = 11 motifs, Buttercup yellow = 8 motifs

Daffodil yellow = 1 motif, Ecru = main, Cherry red = 14 motifs

Orange = 5 motifs, Vanilla = 11 motifs, Papaya = 9 motifs 

I again positioned the motifs so that they would mirror the left side to the right side with a central strip made up of the what was left.  

I really love the colours in this one.

Design A447 - Various shades of green with off-white

On my continuation of using up the Aran weight cotton yarn I have made a second of the vintage shawl design that I finished in early December.  I started focusing on working on motifs made using the green cotton just before Christmas and then stopped so that I could make the moss green shawl but then I got back onto it after Christmas.

Some of the green shades are very close in colour and one of them is the left overs of another shawl that I made where I overdyed some bright yellow cotton to make green.

In terms of how many motifs of each colour I was able to make from the leftovers and how many I made from the slightly larger amounts are as follows, in order from top left to the bottom right: 

Light Mint Green = 12 motifs, Moss Green = 1 motif,  Off White = main

Spearmint = 12 motifs, Green = 3 motifs, Forest = 9 motifs 

Lemon overdyed Green = 10 motifs, Green Beryl = 12 motifs, Bottle = 5 motifs

 

When I worked out the positioning of each of the colours I decided that I would mirror the left side to the right side and this left me with a central strip made up of the what was left.  It's a little bit like a butterfly - the central strip would be the body with the mirrored wings on either side.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out, even better than the first one.