Rainbow 660 - weekly spinning

Dyeing is underway, but until something gets dry enough to take a photo, I will show you some handspun rainbow...

This has a long story, long, as the time it took me to finish it. This was the wool I was spinning on the craft fair a year and some months ago at the big August festival of folk arts, I even have a picture of it... (I have no idea why I never posted about that event..).

 I finished the 100 gramms braid, in four days in four part, I put the singles on paper rolls... three of them as it turned out later.

 When I wanted to ply I could not find the fourth one. I looked everywhere, in every bag I had with me, under and behid the shelf where the other three was, I could not imagine where it went...

 Until in this years festival I needed to free up a spindle, that had pinkish yarn on it. It totally looked like the merino/silk I am working on and off whenever I am demonstrating spindling, but now as I was transferring the yarn yet on another paper roll, under the pink a purple a blue and a green part revealed itself, and I was ready to have a headdesk moment, as it was there all along, I just did not look hard enough.

 From that moment it didn't take me long to ply it and here you are 660 meters of two ply merino, Enough for a sizeable shawl knitted, a smallish one (or if you add something else to it a normal sized) woven scarf.

Sunday, knee deep in wool, up to my elbows in dye

Next saturday the day of wool will be here again.
I was there at the very first one, and ever since I am waiting for it, like childrens wait for Christmas.
If you thought you get out of looking at retine-burning colored wool and yarn well... look for another blog. If you stay I will be the most happy, but sunglasses are recommended.

These for example, were dyed for the other festival a month ago, but refused to dye in time,

The next batches are in the dye already, in fact some of them are even drying as we speak, so stay tuned. To be continiued.

The dark side

Zsófi asked me yesterday if I have time today to hang out.. well, not really, but since I work at home, sometimes there are days I don't see any human, except my son, so I gladly take an opportunity get out, what did you had in mind?
Well she would take me up on my offer to teach her to knit... we had to cancel it two (or was it three?) weeks ago, because I was don with some nastí cold and feeling miserable, but I am always ready to take anyone over to the dark side of the fiber world.
Since Barka is closed, w decided, well ok, I did, to started out visiting the new yarnshop by yarnnet, anything to encourage any new yarn shop, not to mention I've met the girls before and they are lovely.
Picked up some yarn Zsófi liked, and here she is... knitting her first rows:

A tale for each day?

Well, my big world-changing plans, otherwise known as "a tale for each day" run into a wall about the second day, as my well thought out plans and schedules for the next two weeks were kicked in the ass by a ponecall from Crhis's sugeon, that there was a cancellation, and the surgery that was planned for december, could be rescheduled... for the next wednesday. It is not a big deal, a routine actually, he does not even have to stay for the night, however... replanning, replanning-

The most annoying was that I had to cancel my weaving day at Judit's, for which I've been preparing for week, and a few of us booked the day together, I spun he yarn, and everything. I know that the child is most important and I phoned without thinking, but being sad about it would no make me a (much more) bad mother, now does it?

I also wanted to take pictures, but my phone decided otherwise, and told me to clean teh ehck out some memory. Well then.

But you know, what? you will still get a picture, I found it while copying from my phone... It was shot at Brussels at the summer. I am whining for a long time that I want to get back to sewing, I would be a dressmaker originally or what. (It is still rather unvelievable that I got two degrees and other three vocation since, even if the three is rather close to each other...)... however it is so difficult to start after such a long time. Christopher was also chewing my ears off, about being 15 and never leaving the country, how dare we, what a shame is that. Well it was not once with my friend, Kim, that she invites, gives me a place to stay, and all, and I will help her with household textiles, namely curtains. Yet again we combined the nice with teh useful, and we spent five days in Brussels.
Ad yes, I did sew. I can prove it to.

Somebody said...

That, now as I finished the university, I should blog more often...
"But even if, I have no new stuff finished, and I can onl write three sentence?"
"Even then."
"Even if I don't have any pictures, and can't shoot one, because it is already dark?"
"Even then."
"Even if...."
"Even then. For god sake shut up, don't whine, blog."

Well, OK... I was thinking of it anyway, those 100 happydays, 100 days-100pictures, or the 100 creativedays type of blogs inspired me, not to mention a certain dressing up blog (oh, you will not get out of it, I will more than mention it, but not this day).

For today I just have to say, that now, as I had to cancel my weaving day at Judit's studio, a parcel of silk yarn arrived from India with record speed. Like three days instead of the usual three weeks. I paid it at the same day as I did for the boots that arrived (also today) from the neighbouring district. Go figure.

weaving... something mystical...

As I mentioned before there are things, even crafty things that for some reason does not make to the blog... and that is not becaus they are not "blogworthy" (to use the expression the Yarn Harlot used), because they are. Sometimes more than that. However life is just constant rushing and I am still playing catch up...
One such a thing is weaving. Knitting and crocheting are things I always had in my life. My mom knitted, my (paternal) grandmother knitted and crocheted, it would have been really difficult to avoid their influence in my life. I grew up with it, it was natural that I learned them early, and kept doing it. Spinning however drawn me in like an invisible magical force, however I tried, I could not resist the siren song of fibers twisted into thread.
I felt similar draft toward weaving, all my life. There is some reason, that keeps me at an arm's distance, like I had to wait many many years to get to actually weaving my first shawl.
Then more years to get back to the looms...
I did not know Judit personall, only from Facebook, weavers and yarnistas are somehow drawn to the same circles, and without ever meeting me personally from two comments she realized I am in a deep trouble. She offered me help, without asking anything in return, and I am certain, that her help did turn my life around. I knew she weaves, I've seen her looms, and I wanted to go and work in her place, hoewer I knew that I want to do it with a clean soul. I did not wanted, but I knew I needed to wait, until I am prepared emotionally and physically... meaning that (as the fox in The Little Prince say: dress up my soul, prepare my heart) I can't do it hurriedly, fitting into two deadline and an exam.
Physically also meant that I wanted to take my own yarn, the one that I dyed the fiber for and spun... the process being part of getting my sould ready...
When I finished the university this January, a garduation present to me was finally getting to spend a day at Judit's workshop (and a few since)... Hopefully slowly I can show you what I was up to there...

This was the first...
The yarn I spun from 100 grams of BFL and silk

To which we added some alpaca and silk I had in my stash (also handspun by me,

 And the finished scarf before the final fixing of the fringes and washing.

Weekly spinning

A week or so ago I had a discussion with someone about "original" ideas... Is there such a thing still exist in the fiber arts? Its been four years ago, when I dyed some fiber (alpaca) with a long changing colorways (of ranbow), spun the yarn and the wove it into a stole. The whole story is here. No I did not invent long colorchange yarns. I am sure I wasn't the first to dye fiber and spun yarn this way. I don't know if I were thr first one weave these yarns into one fabric, gradiently changing colors... but I certainly didn't see it elsewhere before...
Long, gradiently changing color yarns, kints, fabrics still fascinate me, and here is just one addition to that fascination. I dyed the yarn in late spring and finally got around to spin it.

I wanted to experiment with weaving with single ply yarns, as I am wondering how it affects the resulting fabric, will it be biased? Will it be softer?  will it be...? 

So this is (uncaracteristically for me) is single ply, chubut merino. Chubut is a province in South Argentina. It seems I am drawn to this area, as my favorite fibers to spin are the falkland and the south-american, and now this chubut).

1000 gramms and 1200 meters.

Before it dissapears into the dim field of forgetting...

Well, this sounds somewhat better in Hungarian... but what the heck.

Sometimes there are some things I think would be worth posting, but I don't get around to it right away, then it is to late, the moment is passed, it no longer has any relevance, etc...

So, before it gets to that point I just have to make a note of the yarn festival of last weekend... Kacskaringó. I have my own reserves about it, however I was still going...
It wasn't easy to prepare, as a major whining phase of I can't get out and do anything hit me, and I would have gone with whatever was left after the summer craft fair, if my friend Tilda would not come over and literally drag me out of my rom, and push me into the kitchen to between the dyepots.
So I we managed to come up with some new colorways and new variations of the old ones. Like these...

I also almost had to resign myself dragging about four gigantig bag full of stuff through the city on the public transport, if rescue would not comefrom the most unexpected place, at the last minute. Thanks Timea.
So we were there, set up shop, and had fun, while spinning for two days, talking to friends.

On the way we've been rescued from public transport again, this time by another friend.
So that is it. Even if financially it was not a blowout success, I enjoyed it, found some new friends and seen some old ones I really missed, and once again I learned a ton... about myself, others, friendships, helping and the likes.
The day of wool is coming up fast, and I can't wait as it is really the love of my heart as I was there even at the minus first one... so ..so.