Same, but totally different

"Its like the same, but totally different" was a saying of my dad in my childhood, when I was desparately trying to explain something and started to say, "you know, like thisorthat, except..." and give a long list of differences...

Now this yarn was spun from a braid that was the same dye job, as the one I spun the artsy yarn from in the previous post...

Except that instead of thick and thin I spun this to a thin (but not as thin as my usual) singles, and instead of doing coils I was working on my navajo plying skills...
100 gramms, handdyed corriedale
220 meters of thre ply (navajo plied).

Fancy Smancy

A few years ago when I started spinning I went for thin laceyarns. The reason was that I did not used art yarn in my knitting, why the heck would I want to spin them? Plus, handdyed rowing is so expensive as it is, what good would it do to me if I spin a 20-30 dollar braid into a 80-100 meters of whatever yarn?
I wanted my yarn to be enough for something, for something that I can use, or wear.
If I spin 5-800 meters of laceyarn from the same expensive braid that would make a shawl, a lacey shrug, or even a light sweater, wouldn't it?

But as time progressed, doing the same thing over and over again is just not enough. I dye my own wool these days, which cuts the cost considerably, besides, a friend specifically asked me if I could do some fancy-smancy-artsy-fartsy yarn for her... "I can try", I said to her...

So I dived into my box of handdyed wool (which in this heat was a real self sacrifice...everything for our craft, isn't that right?), and here is the result of my trials...
Edited to add the details: 95 or so grams of corriedale wool. Spun thick and thin, plied with pure silk thread.
about 60 meters of coiled yarn.

Playing with yarn

In the name of the Tour de Fiber, I've not only spun a lot more than usual...

I also played with techniques other than my usual favorites,,,

Among others, I've been playing with the thick and thin technique...

 

90 gramms of corriedale, 110 meters of yarm

Not only fibers

When I started this blog the plan was to include all kinds of crafts not only fiber related...
Life decided that I should focus more and more on fiber related things, but in the last few weeks I decided to open up to other crafts as well... sterting with beads.
Beads tempted me before, I've done a few simple things before, but I keep the boxes full of beads more for incorporating them into my knitting and crochet.

Still, the more complicated beading techniques fascinated me, so I gave in and started a beading course in the store that is almost right across Barkafonal. We made this bracelet at the first time -for me it was the frst time at least.

rainbow

I am still drowning my sorrows into spinning...

rainbow colored corriedale this time.

100 gramm, 480 meter,  two ply.

 long colorchanges, from yellow orange, purple, blue, turqoise, ending with green...

I've got no plans for it, though it would make a great daybreak or spectra with some natural beige or light grey.

I said crochet, right?

As I told you, in summer I have this strange urge to croceht instead of knitting...

I found the pattern in my roamings of the lates Net-related time sucker-Pinterest. I loved the shape, though from the japanese directions I could only make sense of the chart, there were a couple of photographs to guide me along the way.

A quick digging in my cotton yarn stash came up with the right yarn. Lets just  mention the advantages of a gigantic stash...namely I can come up with the appropriate yarn to almost any knitting or crocheting I can come up with. OK, as the result I had to walk over a bunch of cotton yarn balls in my living room in the middle of teh exam period, but that is a story for a different post.The three skein of cotton crochet yarn was a second hand shop find. Who knows how many years it spent in the bottom of that box.

I've run out of the yarn just before the very edge, but then again, I rather like the idea of a different colored edging.

TDF- threesome

The third installation of the TDF spinning is here

This lovely fiber was hiding in my drawer for years.

100 gramms merino/bamboo...

Slightly more rustic and thicker than my usual.

510 meter, two ply.

TDF-Easter meadow

In the last knitting meeting a knitting friend hugged this fiber, and would not let go...

But, she is not spinning. I did tell her that I would be more than happy to teach her, she resisted.

On the other hand, she asked me to spin it for her.

 

100 gramm falkland wool

780 meters of two ply lace yarn

TDF- Golden sand

I think this week, in the name of the TDF, I will show some recently finished (and recently worked on) spinning.
Firstly, here is the oneI showed last week...

It is merino/tencel mixture in colors of soft yellow, some borwn, bronze, peach.

100 gramms, and the finished yarn is about 900 meters, two ply. 

Summer and crochet

I don't know what is with me and summer and crochet...

I spin and knit for the winter months like crazy, but once warmer days are coming I have this unrepressable urge to crochet.

I found the round motif in a German crochet magazin.

The yarn is Drops Fabel (3 skeins), bought at Barkafonal 3.5 crochet hooks.

Because of the airiness of the pattern it was fast to crochet and the result is a rather bit stole.

Being me, I could not resist to put some beads in the outer edging.

It was kind of funny how I searched about five different stores for the right colored beads, buying some rather expensive japanese things at the end, only to find the perfect ones at home at the edge of my bookself.

(Yes, among the books I have beads, and yarn, even knitting needles and crochet hooks on my bookshelf, and who knows what else :-))

Pictures by Christopher Laurent Deli... the boy is getting good, isn't he?

Tour the fleece

Earlier this year I was thinking about doing a Tour de Fleece, but (mostly) do to recent events (and non events) I kind of cancelled it in my mind...
But then it turns that these days I find myself at the spinning wheel more than doing any knitting or crochet...
Here is a proof...