Some behind the scenes of the dyeing of the advent for @koniknits ! Including my inspiration board above^^
1: The biggest part of the "how" question: lots of cold processing in different cups! Depending on what I wanted the yarn to look like, I dyed them evenly, in a gradient, while tied, again after untying, speckled with either dye solution or dye powder, etc. Some went through multiple rounds of dyeing, one or two I completely redyed since I wasn't happy with them. They got steamed after cold processing to set the dye.
Fun fact: I only have magenta, yellow, turqoise and coal dye powders, plus I recently bought a copery colour. This is all done by mixing from those primaries!
This is also the only picture I took while dyeing, which reminds me that I need to get better at taking pictures...
2&3: Trying to settle on an order, went with the second one! Very satisfying to see them all in order.
4: In their houses/boxes! Such cute little bundles!
6: And everything packaged up!
I love experimenting with dyeing minis, so this was a really fun swap to do. Looking forward to doing more dyeing this year, hopefully a couple of warps as well as yarn!
My parents brought this back with them from their trip to alaska. It was rolled up and I thought it was going to be roving, so I opened it up and much to my surprise, it was a batt! I've never spun one of those before. I thought the stormy purple and pink and blues were super pretty, so I was also surprised to flip it over and find a trans flag!
I made rolags out of the batt (I guess they're more "fauxlags" as I used dowel rods). It was definitely rough going and I don't think I made them very even. But it was my first try and the fiber wasn't breaking evenly across the batt- I think the staple length between bits may have been different. Some of the fiber didn't draft well, namely the pink. It felt different, more like cotton, but the label only listed wool so idk.
I spun it long draw style so the single ended up suuuuper textured. I'm really into it! I don't know how to finish the yarn or what to use it for though. I was thinking of maybe using it as the weft for some weaving?
This was super fun though 😊 can't wait to try another batt in the future.
Fiber: 1.4 oz of cormo/polypay cross sheep from Harmony Fibers (milled by Spinderella Creations Mill)
Learn To Crochet was a GREAT new year’s resolution. easy! done! it’s only january 10th! 💪
“oh but it’s wonky and not very good” correct!! but ☝️the resolution was not to learn to crochet well, you fool. you absolute rube. i have produced profoundly shit crochet and nonetheless I Have Won.
i think some people are taking this caption as self-deprecating, but i mean it quite genuinely. i said i’d learn to crochet, and i did! getting good can wait a bit. it’ll come naturally.
look:
granny square!
i’d never done a stitch of crochet before about 6 hours ago. it’s unblocked, so a bit crinkly, but i think it’s rather good. i’m going to do several more and make a blanket. :3
i love seeing the catyarn posts and pictures of bean! my family has had two himalayan cats and we've joked about spinning their fur into yarn.
you definitely should!! bean is (allegedly) a himalayan, though she's a rescue from egypt so i suspect instead she is generic Snub Nosed Weepy Eyed Long Haired Bastard Creature Extraordinnare rather than any particular purebreed (though apparently she was handed in from a breeding setup, so? who knows).
(...i realise now this information may lead to many other questions from people. pre-emptively i am going to say that i was Not the original importer of a rescue cat from egypt. (don't do this btw. it's a bad idea.) i just ended up with her through a string of bizarre events.)
but, anyway, i think everyone with long haired cats should try and spin their yarn! i'm still on the fence about whether it makes particularly good yarn (i have a few more experiments to do, re: spindle versus wheel spinning, singles versus plied, blending it with maybe alpaca or silk or superfine merino), but it's an interesting little fiber to work with. certainly if you spin thin-medium singles, and knit them, and then handle the swatch a lot, it develops this remarkable cashmere-like halo felting effect that i'm obsessed with. and, if nothing else, it's always fun to show people a tiny bit of fabric and go: that used to be on my cat!
A fellow craftsperson! Hello!
First I have to say I really enjoy your content and all of the pretty things you post. They make me happy. But also I wanted to ask if you have any pattern recs.
I have a hank and some change of fingering weight cotton thread and I am not quite sure what to do with it. I crochet and knit (although I've crocheted for about 15 years and only started knitting last year). I made a pair of practice socks (cotton does not stretch well but I learned how to make a sock!) and some soap socks but there's so much left! I've been slowly using it as tatting practice as well but there's still a whole hank. What can fine cotton yarn be used for?
Thank you, much love
oh gosh, you sent this back in may and i missed it somehow! i'm so sorry ;0;
that said: if you still have your hank of cotton yarn, i think my primary recommendation would be dishcloths or dusting cloths. i've not knit them myself (a friend knit some for me), but i think cotton is supposed to be good for them. they're practical, and they also make good little gifts if you don't want dozens of washcloths around your home.
my only other suggestion would be something lace-adjacent: lacy little gloves, wrist- or neck-frills, or something like that. i think because cotton is cool-ish and good to wear in summer, something like that would be good. there's several patterns for those sorts of things on ravelry, some of them free. depending on the meterage of the hank, the pattern, and your clothing size/preference, you might also be able to make a crop top, or a mesh bolero/tank top/etc., or something like that?
i don't crochet (yet! new year's resolution) so i'm not sure what you could do with it there, but possibly some of the same things as above?
cotton is a tricky one. i accidentally made some gloves out of cotton yarn a while back, and tbh i don't love them. i'm not really sure i'd buy cotton yarn again, as i'm not obsessed with how it handles or with the texture of fabric it makes.
but if you've already come up with some things to knit with your cotton, do let me know! i'm interested to see what other people use it for. (and, other followers, if you fancy leaving your own recs in the notes or replies, please do.)
Hi, I admire your handspinning skills. I've only just started my handspinning journey and finished plying my skein. I'm unsure on how to finish my wool and I really like how your end results look. What method do you use for finishing? Any tips would be appreciated. Ilove your work xxKilian
hi! very flattered that you admire my stuff - i feel as if i'm also only just starting, though i suppose i've been spinning for over two years now so maybe not a beginner any more really. but there's always so much more to learn, it's hard not to feel like one!
but, advice:
a lot of how your yarn turns out will depend on how you spin it, whatever finishing method you use. whether it's woolen or worsted spun; how much twist you put in the singles; how much (and what direction of!) twist you put in the ply; how many singles you plied; how thick the singles were; what fibres you're spinning with; etc. etc.
something with very soft and springy wool, like bfl, with a very balanced single/ply twist combo, spun thick-ish and woolen and two-plied, will finish very, very differently to a silk/bamboo blend with a weirder wool (like gotland) spun fine-ish and not particularly balanced. the first will be soft and fluffy and bouncy; the latter will be smoother, maybe with a bit of a halo, a bit coarser to the touch, and a lot less bouncy (both wrt squishing it between your fingers, or gently pulling on the yarn lengthways).
so some of this is about experimenting! i have spun a Lot now, and a lot of different fibers, and it means i can (often) touch a prepared fiber and tell a bit about how it will finish up - at least in terms of how thick/thin i want the singles to be, how much twist, and how many plies, based on how springy or silky or rough or whatever i think the end result will be.
as with anything fibercraft related, my very unhelpful advice is: practice, experiment, try different things (fibers, spinning, finishing), and you'll learn as you go.
with that said, though, here's a rough outline of my finishing process under the cut:
What hobby have you always wanted to pick up?
i have gone into my inbox and realised i have half-a-dozen asks in here that i... did not know existed... oops!! so maybe there will be several asks being answered shortly.
but! i have always wanted to pick up Lots of things. my new year's resolution this year is to learn to crochet (and i have bought some ergonomic hooks!). i'd also like to learn bobbin lace at some point, and weaving, but those will have to wait for when i have a bit more space. and i'd like to improve my clothes-making skills...
outside fiber crafts, i'm not sure there's anything New i want to get into. i'd love to get back into horse riding and hema (historical swordfighting) though. i used to do those and i miss them...
chat, I have fucked up. rare that I truly wish I had not done something when it comes to spinning, but this one was dumb.
got something in the realm of antique rosevine wallpaper or upholstery in the colorway of a shropshire mop spun up into a singles...but not even a full bobbin, and that's all of it.
to stretch it out, I whacked out a quick batt of some yellow green wool from stash (merino and corriedale)... under regrettably yellow lighting that threw off my whether I think these go together sense.
plied them together and got a yarn I do not love. had to take a minute to really wish past me had just gone with a neutral second ply.
HOWEVER. in the spirit of not regretting silly things...gonna blend up something equally obnoxious from some orange/pink/purple/yellow and then assume they will cancel out in a plainweave. 😂
and tomorrow I will spin some hand-dyed merino I had always planned from the beginning that will turn out magnificently.
Little experiment. I wanted to see If I could make this drop stitch technique get larger and smaller. It has potential but the proportions are off and won't have much practical use unless I can tighten it up because there are pretty significant holes when any tension is on it.
Knitting a vest for myself 😊
And here is the gauge, sketch and the inspo. I had way too much yarn from the last project I have no idea how that happened
It's doing numbers so there is an update for you all!
Making the front already!
And I'm using this pattern but I modified it a lot for the inspo! So I can't really share how I make it work as it's a lot of figuring out on the spot
Another update!
Only the ribbing left! I will write a summary explaining everything with all the tips when I finish!
GUYS SHE IS DONE
I feel like a hobbit like a grandpa, my brother asked me if I'm getting ready for a chess competition, I don't even play chess!!! ‼️‼️
Some more thoughts under the cut