Rachel called her colorway "American Maid," but "political" seemed a better fit once spun up.
Handspun 2-ply superwash Blue Faced Leicester, "political"
singles spun long draw
16 wpi, 4 oz-- heavy fingering weight
roving dyed by DyeabolicalYarns.etsy.com
I couldn't help but be reminded of American political symbols, blue and red states, a violent US flag with this yarn. There was little white/light spots in the roving that lightened the depth of color, but most of the color came from a very deep true red and the same in blue... I had wondered if it would draft purple, and it did very occasionally, but for the most the colors stayed true to themselves. I see less Uncle Sam and more houses divided and united-- same and different, building blocks of each.
One skein is heavier on the blue, one on the red but both have plenty of each within. I almost want to make a specifically left and right sock with seams on the inner ankle... but that's too self-fulfilling even for me :)
Lots of this excitement I have has to do with Rachel's super super dense dyeing-- the color of each is so deep, and when they ply together they remain just as strong as the single (surprising, but true). Even with all of the color there was NO red bleed in the hot rinse set, which is a shock since every red yarn I've ever knit with has given up at least a taste of red to the water if not much, much more.
(My photos are way washed out with direct light... drizzling outside and a sick kid in means no real light photos for now.)
I also think that I can see a huge jump in my spinning over these skeins-- I now prefer to spin long draw, and going for a very deliberate, tight ply has firmed up the soft singles and made them just bounce out of their ply...
I had thought I was going to list this yarn for sale in my etsy store since I've since sold out of the handspun/roving category there-- but these may be some awesome socks soon instead... can't decide. (Maybe I just need to dye some superwash merino roving this weekend instead.) I've lost my sock knitting mojo... well, let's just say it's on an extended vacation and I can't wait for it to return. For now, I can still spin (and buy more of Rachel's roving!!) :)
***
I've been meaning to write about this for ages, but do you know re:knit? Re:Knit is a (knitting) weblog reblog-- Brenda takes posts from all over the knitting blogosphere and "reblogs" them all in one feed. It's one of my favorite feeds to read, like a little daily newsprint of knitting.
You probably know re:knit, but did you know Brenda is also a finalist in the Apartments.com "Possession Obsession" contest? That has a grand prize of $20,000?!! She has a WICKED pinup collection that she has shared a video of and is neck and neck with another contender-- and she needs your help. You can view her video and vote here (you need to register to vote, but I've voted several times and haven't received any spam from Apartments.com at all, nothing except registration confirmation)... and you can vote every day. I truly believe her collection is the best of the bunch, and so did bOINGbOING (yall know what a BB fangrrl I am!)
As a *sweet* daily reminder, she has started a pinup blog sharing a piece of her collection every day-- a good way to remind you to vote if you add it to your feedreader (and it's just a really good blog full of daily eyecandy :)) Now, its pinup so some of it may be NSFW (not safe for work, some nudity etc), but really, I find it all tasteful and well done and also exciting-- you can see how much she loves this stuff and we all know about really loving stuff around here :)
Vote early and often!
Handspun 2-ply superwash Blue Faced Leicester, "political"
singles spun long draw
16 wpi, 4 oz-- heavy fingering weight
roving dyed by DyeabolicalYarns.etsy.com
I couldn't help but be reminded of American political symbols, blue and red states, a violent US flag with this yarn. There was little white/light spots in the roving that lightened the depth of color, but most of the color came from a very deep true red and the same in blue... I had wondered if it would draft purple, and it did very occasionally, but for the most the colors stayed true to themselves. I see less Uncle Sam and more houses divided and united-- same and different, building blocks of each.
One skein is heavier on the blue, one on the red but both have plenty of each within. I almost want to make a specifically left and right sock with seams on the inner ankle... but that's too self-fulfilling even for me :)
Lots of this excitement I have has to do with Rachel's super super dense dyeing-- the color of each is so deep, and when they ply together they remain just as strong as the single (surprising, but true). Even with all of the color there was NO red bleed in the hot rinse set, which is a shock since every red yarn I've ever knit with has given up at least a taste of red to the water if not much, much more.
(My photos are way washed out with direct light... drizzling outside and a sick kid in means no real light photos for now.)
I also think that I can see a huge jump in my spinning over these skeins-- I now prefer to spin long draw, and going for a very deliberate, tight ply has firmed up the soft singles and made them just bounce out of their ply...
I had thought I was going to list this yarn for sale in my etsy store since I've since sold out of the handspun/roving category there-- but these may be some awesome socks soon instead... can't decide. (Maybe I just need to dye some superwash merino roving this weekend instead.) I've lost my sock knitting mojo... well, let's just say it's on an extended vacation and I can't wait for it to return. For now, I can still spin (and buy more of Rachel's roving!!) :)
***
I've been meaning to write about this for ages, but do you know re:knit? Re:Knit is a (knitting) weblog reblog-- Brenda takes posts from all over the knitting blogosphere and "reblogs" them all in one feed. It's one of my favorite feeds to read, like a little daily newsprint of knitting.
You probably know re:knit, but did you know Brenda is also a finalist in the Apartments.com "Possession Obsession" contest? That has a grand prize of $20,000?!! She has a WICKED pinup collection that she has shared a video of and is neck and neck with another contender-- and she needs your help. You can view her video and vote here (you need to register to vote, but I've voted several times and haven't received any spam from Apartments.com at all, nothing except registration confirmation)... and you can vote every day. I truly believe her collection is the best of the bunch, and so did bOINGbOING (yall know what a BB fangrrl I am!)
As a *sweet* daily reminder, she has started a pinup blog sharing a piece of her collection every day-- a good way to remind you to vote if you add it to your feedreader (and it's just a really good blog full of daily eyecandy :)) Now, its pinup so some of it may be NSFW (not safe for work, some nudity etc), but really, I find it all tasteful and well done and also exciting-- you can see how much she loves this stuff and we all know about really loving stuff around here :)
Vote early and often!
10 comments:
pretty pretty... I had never thought of the US flag as "violent" but as someone who isn't too keen on our president as of late, I can see that term as an appropriate descriptor...
yummy spinning though - very cool!
Fantastic yarn! I love the turbulent nature of the colors.
Gorgeous yarn--very inspirational for a new spinner like me.
Oh, Aija. I love what your wonderful spinning hands have done to that roving. I liked it before, obviously, but oh. Just wonderful. It is so joyful to see your spinning progressing the way it has been. It gives me hope for my own. *grin*
The yarn looks great! (I'm still afraid of long draw...)
And I LOVE the pinup blog! Thanks for sharing the link :)
That is some gorgeous new handspun! Will make awesome socks...
awww but american maid was one of my favorites on the tick. I even have an action figure of her with her vacuum!
Seems like the sock mojo has drifted from both of us. Overload maybe? I'm waiting patiently for it to come back....
That yarn is beautiful - the reds look so deep!
That is awesome yarn. I just started plying some of my yarns again...I still prefer a good, soft single but I had a sort of experience plying a couple of days ago, too. Funny, how you can spin or knit for years and still learn new things - that may be why we love it so. I found my plying improved greatly when I 'smoothed' each section and drew it back slightly before feeding it into the orifice. All steps pretty much done at the same speed instead of feeding it furiously (like a hungry dragon was the orifice) as I have been known to do before. The result was an even softer, squishier yarn.
That's some really beautiful spinning there! I love the colors. Isn't spinning painted fiber so much fun?!
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