Sweater progress, or not?

I have been working on my sweater, but it has become evident that there will not be enough yarn.  In my stash of fibers was this purple carded Romney, same fleece, prepared differently.  I had dyed it and then carded it on a drum carder.  Last fall I bought some wool combs and  pulling the carded wool through the combs removed most of the yucky bits that the drum carder doesn't remove. 

I like the two colors together so adding some asymetrical stripes to the front of the sweater may be a successful plan B.  The pattern is a cardigan done in one piece, starting at lower back, so I won't have to tink or frog, just start knitting stripes. 

Since  originally purchasing the Romney fleece several years ago, I have learned so much about preparing fiber.  If I had flicked the ends of the staples before putting them through the carder, it would have removed all the short bits and bobs that make pills and slubs in your handspun yarn.  While spinning the purple I kept plucking out anything bumpy so the singles are looking good.  I am almost done spinning, hopefully there will be enough yardage to finish the sweater without having to add another color.

Spin Dye Knit!

A few years ago I bought a beautiful Romney fleece to use in felting projects.  I washed it and rented a drum carder from the weavers guild and started to process it.  The fiber was so long that I really had a difficult time with the carder.  I finally gave most of it to Lisa Skillman of Troll Bridge Farm to process at a mill.  I ended up with two beautiful rolls of pencil roving.  Fast forward a couple of years and I finally learned how to spin.  I found a Kiwi wheel at the flea market for $45 and stared at it for a year or so then finally decided to take a class.  After some practice I spun up about 7or 8 hundred yards of that romney so that I could knit a sweater.    Here is a picture of the yarn after I scoured it for dyeing.  I couldn't believe how white it was after a soak in synthrapol.  It was quite gray before, probably oil from the mill.

 

I planned to dye it a celery green color, but it came out a lot darker than I planned.  I started with a gold dye and added some gunmetal, then black, then  brown. 

 

Anyway,  it looked about right here in the dyepot, that was before it was heated to 180 degrees and the vinegar was added.  It just kept getting darker, but the commitment was made.  I left it in the dye bath about 30 minutes, took it out, cooled and rinsed it.  The light in the basement is a bare bulb and it just doesn't give a true indication of  color.  It looked kind of mossy brown, but I could live with it.  When I brought it upstairs into the natural light it looked completely different.  It is such a lovely shade of green, sort of like freshly cooked mustard greens. 

I am going to knit myself a sweater.

Loom Controlled Shibori Chenille Scarf with Heat Set Pleats

In the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of Handwoven Magazine there is a draft for a dress woven with chenille with heat set pleats.  I have never woven with chenille (it intimidates me)  but in my stash was a skein that was perfect for making this project.  I used the draft to make a scarf, not the whole dress.  The scarf is woven in plain weave, but the gathering threads follow an eight shaft twill pattern.  Four picks plain weave, one pick gathering thread.  The warp is a rayon chenille, the weft is poly machine embroidery thread.  Pretty slow weaving.

These pictures show the scarf after I took it off the loom, and the pleating and tying.

After all the threads were gathered and tied, the scarf was steamed for 30 minutes.

I let it dry, which took forever, and then started removing the supplemental threads.  One of the threads had broken when I was knotting the threads and although it didn't look like it would cause a problem, there was a definite flat spot in the scarf.  ARGHH

                                                                                                                                                                                 

repair gathers.

 I thought about it for a few weeks, and then decided to try to repleat the flat spot.  Using a needle and thread I regathered the flat area and the space around it, pulled it all tight, then steamed the spot over a tea kettle.



  It worked!  The flat spot is gone, the scarf is soft and lush.  You can't put this scarf in the dryer as you would with a flat chenille scarf or your pleats would relax, so it doesn't have quite the same surface that most chenille scarves have.   I am  also worried that the tails will worm over time.  There was enough warp for two scarves on the loom and the second one is just a plain weave chenille scarf.  I twisted the tails 30 times in one direction with 3 strands in each side and they still wormed.  I have been told to only use 4 strands total and twist 50 times.  Sooooo,  I will untie and retwist, again.  I have already done it twice and it is still wrong.


Collaged Nuno Felt Scarf

I haven't posted in a while, but have been keeping busy.  I did a weaving demo at the Farmers Market in Perry, and did a sale at the Chalk Art Festival.  The weather has been brutally hot and humid for a while now which tends to rob you of your ambition.  I finally went down into the damp, musty, but cool basement and worked on a nuno felt piece.  When you have too many ideas and limited time it can be so difficult to decide where to start.  My usual process is to dump everything out of its bin onto the work table and start putting this with that.  After wasting an hour or two doing some planning, it is usually time to leave the basement and make dinner.  This scarf was laid out for several days before I was able to get back down and felt it.  It took quite a while to get it all to stay together and full.  The fabric started out as a silk chiffon skirt, cut on the bias, with a bias ruffle at the bottom in a coordinating color.  I cut it up, added some other bits and pieces and then started adding the wool.

 I added some silk roving and then put the wool over it.  The side facing down will be the front side of the scarf.

 All laid out and ready to felt.  I left the silk ruffle from the bottom of the skirt intact and used it to put a ruffled edge on the scarf.

 Finished product with an awesome vintage button and felted spiral loop fastener.

My First Handspun Yarn

I bought a spinning wheel, a single treadle Kiwi, at the flea market a few years ago.  It was only $45 and didn't need anything but a new belt.  Well, it sat for a long time until I finally decided to take a beginning spinning class.  It was only one session, but I learned enough to give it a try at home, with the help of a beginners book.  I practiced with a lot of crummy roving and batts that I had picked up here and there to use for felting, and I could spin it, but it made some ugly singles.  Then I worked with some gorgeous Romney batts, from a fleece I bought several years ago, that went much better.  At the Shepards Market in Rush a few weeks ago, I finally bought six ounces of  good spinning wool. Here is my final result.  It isn't perfect, but it stays together and is knit-able.  I am going to make something for myself for a change, it isn't good enough to sell! The spinning process is enjoyable and I have always admired the spinners who make it all look so easy, so I will keep working on it. Some hand dyed roving is my next project, but it handles so much differently than the batt...