July 18, 2005
Sweating the small stuff
This weekend was one of those humid mid-Atlantic times when you can get soaked in sweat standing still in the middle of the floor. Even with my air conditioners running it was still pretty damp all around. We got a new refrigerator, and in between all the stressing over ice and coolers and what-the-hell-is-that-back-there, I managed to finish off some little things that have been hanging over me.
Emily's socks, from Fortissima Cotton.
I have to hide them on her, or she's going to want to wear them right away. She doesn't entirely have good sense yet about the necessary relationship between weather and what you put on.
I also plyed up the grey rambouillet that I had been combing. This is the first yarn that I made on my Mazurka, and the first yarn I made starting from fleece straight off the sheep.
I did make two skeins of yarn previously from handcombed top, but that fleece was already washed - this was most definitely in the grease. It was maybe a pound of fleece to start with, extremely dirty and heavily greasy. After 3 scours it still felt a little dirty, and it could have appeared in the spinner's dictionary under the entry for 'combing waste.' It seems unbelievable, but this is 5 ounces of yarn. I'd be unnerved by that figure (about a 70% loss in washing and combing) if it weren't for the fact that I only paid $6 for the wool.
The photo above shows the hanks before I washed them out. After washing, they didn't really change color any, but they bloomed even softer. I'm a big rambouillet fan now! I think I got about sport weight - it's somewhere around 450-475 yards. I'm pondering the idea of gloves - it would make the most lovely warm soft gloves. What else could I do with that amount of sport-weight yarn??
Update, Later
Here's what was in my mail today, a pound of bluefaced leicester dyed in Lisa's 'Elektra' colorway. All together, now: "OOOOOOOOH" Wonder if I can take a day off from work to spin...
I really like this yarn. Very pretty, and easy to imagine th squishy-ness.
Posted by: kim on July 18, 2005 05:36 PMThis has come out just beautifully! Rambo and Corrie were probably the first fibers that I really fell head over heels for, followed closely by Targhee and Cormo. The Rambo is just amazingly soft and springy - marvelous processing and spinning!
Posted by: Sam on July 18, 2005 09:29 PMoh MAN!! I just love those colors!
The yarn you spun up is beautiful, too. Maybe matching mittens/gloves or socks for you and your daughter?
Posted by: Kerry on July 18, 2005 09:30 PMYummy....you just gotta love that stuff.....*DROOOOOL*
Posted by: Helle From Denmark on July 19, 2005 04:48 AMThe spinning's gorgeous, the fibre is stunning. I vote for taking a day off.
Posted by: Angela on July 19, 2005 11:40 AMDid you wash all the rambo in the washing machine? I want to do it all at once because the little bit at a time is killing me. It looks so wonderful! Your spinning is so even and lovely. The elektra is going to be amazing. I definetly want to see that when it's done.
Posted by: elizabeth on July 19, 2005 02:21 PMthe rambo is gorgeous!! your emily comment reminded me of rebecca when she was little. when she was 4 we went to conn. in july. i had a hard time convincing her she didn't need to pack mittens. when the plane landed, she looked at me and said "you were right mom, no snow" :-)
Posted by: vanessa on July 21, 2005 07:30 AMI'm still reeling from the 70% loss. Do you think that's about right? I'm just starting with combs and it seems to me like there's a lot of loss...mind you, I'd be willing to suck it up if I meant that I would always get yarn like yours.
Beautiful.