Handspun yarn

Early in May I saw a beautiful merino/silk rainbow hand spun yarn and bought my own to spin. The seller kindly gave me permission to use her pictures. The first picture is from the listing, the 2nd is the singles wound into yarn cakes/balls, the 3rd is the plied and washed yarn.


In September I bought some handpainted bfl called glacier from this etsy shop. This seller also kindly gave me permission to use her picture. I finished spinning the yarn the middle of May and wound a skein on Monday.

My pictures are just a bit darker than the actual colors, in both cases the seller's picture shows the final color better on my monitor.

Another hand dyed warp

This is a warp for a shawl. The yarn is Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread that is a light fingering weight. The dyeing was deliberately uneven after the successful with the tencel scarf. I wound the warp in 2 groups hoping that with only 2 groups I could get patterning across the entire warp. I will find out for sure when I beam it but I know I got some patterning. This afternoon was sunny so I spread some poly navy fabric I inherited on the driveway and spread the warp out.

More info about how I dyed the warp:

After winding the warp I soaked in for a while in water, rung out most of the water and dumped it the standard soda ash/water solution for surface application of dyes. I then rung out most of the soda ash solution and lined up the 2 warp bouts. I laid them on the upside down lid for a plastic container zig/zagging the yarn 3 or 4 times so it all fit on the lid. I mixed the dye with warm water in a container and used a syringe from the farm store to apply the dye to the yarn. I put the dye on one side and then flipped it over to make sure both sides got enough dye. After the dye was all applied, I added a bit more liquid since I was aiming for low water immersion kind of patterning. After a bit I folded the warp up and put it in a smaller container I could put a lid on and move easily.

More Scarves

I took 2 scarves off the loom in April and 1 in May. The first scarf off the loom was a birthday present for a friend. The first picture is the finished shawl. The warp and weft are natural 8/2 tencel that I hand dyed intending the dye to be uneven. The warp I dyed with turquoise after it was wound which resulted in some wonderful patterning. The 2nd picture is a section of the warp on the loom. The weft was unevenly dyed with less color differences. The weft was too narrow to easily get patterning. I used a light dilution of royal blue for the weft. I don't have a good picture of the weft. The draft is stripes of broken and advancing twill adapted from a scarf in 'Designing Woven Fabrics'.

I don't have pictures of the other 2 scarves. The first is 8/2 tencel for warp and a Noro cobweb weight yarn in blocks of false satin. I used false satin because it can be woven on 4 shafts so I had 2 blocks on my 8 shaft Mighty Wolf.

The 2nd scarf is sock yarn. The weft is red Happy Feet and the weft is cream/pink/purple Crock-O-Dye. The pattern is a 6 shaft draft from Handweaving.net with 1 side warp emphasis and the other weft emphasis.

I hope to finish both scarves this weekend. The first has all the fringe twisted, the 2nd is about half way fringe twisted.

More weaving

I haven't posted pictures, haven't taken many pictures but weaving has been occurring. Last month I wove 2 shadow weave alpaca scarves with Henry's Attic Prime Alpaca in the Silver and Misty Grey natural colors. The 2nd one went to a friend.

In January and February I wove a shawl with royal blue Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Weight 100% alpaca warp and Mini Mochi Baby Face (pastel rainbow) slow color change sock yarn for weft. This shawl came off the loom on February 8 and is finally finished. I don't have a finished pictures yet, this picture is on on-loom picture taken at the cloth beam to show both sides of the fabric.

I have 2 more scarves that have come off a loom. The first is red xie bamboo warp and black 8/2 tencel weft, the 2nd is a self striping sock yarn in black/grey/cream for both warp and weft. The red/black scarf fringe is twisted on 1 end. I think I will wash some of the sock yarn and see if I can avoid fringe twisting.

Mother Daughter Scarves

Yesterday I finished a mother daughter scarf set that I took off the loom Thanksgiving weekend. The scarves have stripes of 2/1 and 1/2 twill. The warp is Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply and the weft is Poems Sock. I added twist to the warp yarn and blocked it before winding the warp. The 2nd picture is a closeup to show detail.



These scarves are for friends who are from a warmer climate and experiencing the cold of a northern Utah winter for the first time. I thought a wool scarf would help them stay warm.

Completed red clothes

I finished the red print skirt, one of the knit tops and the knit skirt. All 3 are comfy and I enjoyed have more red clothes. The 2nd knit top is in time-out and in danger of becoming a wadder. The print skirt didn't need a slit as I cut it with a slight flare. I did use some bias hem facing because I wanted the skirt as long as the fabric was. I have a rayon or rayon/poly blend gabardine that is almost the same color as the knit. I may make a top and skirt from the gabardine.

Dyed rtw, dress form and new project

I am not sure the color is okay on the rayon blouse and skirt . I didn't get them out of the dryer until after dark so I will check the color in the morning. I think they may not be dark enough. If the top matches last month's skirt I may wear them to church tomorrow.

I need a break from finding a skirt I like with the cross-over empire bodice. Inverted box pleats do not work on my body. I undid part of the waist seam on the right side and played with the pleats until I think I have a better pleat. I have no desire to continue with the skirt right now so I decided to sew something else and let this muslin wait.

I have enough red knit to make 2 tops and a skirt. I have a coordinating stretch woven cotton print for a skirt. I am making the woven skirt first. This will be a straight skirt, long as usual. I cut the skirt out and have the pockets almost sewn. These are simple slash pockets like the ones in this post except there is no pump opening. With skirts I just clip the pump to the waistband.

I am going to use a narrow waistband on this skirt. I rarely put a zipper or pocket opening in this casual of a skirt but I might check the zipper stash for a matching zipper. I am going to sew a slit instead of a vent - I didn't remember to cut a vent.