🌎 Mother Earth ~ version 2

 It might seem that all I have been doing lately is spinning but it's more a case of tidying up and getting projects wrapped and done.    To clear my desk off !  😁🧶

A few years ago now I bought some lovely spinning top from an Etsy shop called Beesybee  and loved the fibre blend of merino and mulberry silk and the vibrant blue / green shades in the top.    I ordered a second batch and then found I had to keep the two batches separate as there was a real colour variation between them.    Disappointing but taught me that I need to order what I want versus going 'economical'   😉

So Mother Earth version 2 gave me, between the 4 skeins,  a total of 324 grams or 11.4 ounces of 2 ply yarn. There is  644.5 metres or 709 yards total.   I have never been a knitter and so unfamiliar with the various knitting weights but I would call this a heavy lace weight.    

Then again, I could be all wrong! 

Okay.... all my spinning is caught up and I promise the next posts will be weaving related.   I have four scarves waiting for their time in front of a camera and a debut here.   📸 

Barn Owl ~ Nightstalker 2

Another spinning project completed but this time it was a commission job.   It will be mailed out after this weekend  to a customer in Victoria, BC. 

Night Stalker is based on a barn owl's colouring and so features the red of eri silk, sooty grey of peduncle silk,  beige of baby camel,  pale gold of muga silk and a creamy white superfine merino.    I bought the rolags from  Fellview Fibers in the UK.    Always a quality product and a joy to spin up!  

My customer bought one of my earlier Night Stalker spins and asked me to spin up more for him.   I slowly worked away all over winter and early spring. 

Freshly washed and dried and skein into satisfying braids.

close up view

Its buttery soft and light as a feather.

Weights in grams and ounces

I put them through the yardage counter as I wound into cakes. Totals for all four are: 980.5 metres or 1078.5 yards. 388 grams or 13.6 ounces.   I'm kinda sad its all done now!

But as you can see, I have moved on already.....

Simply True 🐸

I thought this stated my relationship with my loom quite accurately!    😁

Grape Arbour

 So while we're doing green hand spun yarn, here's another I completed recently.   I have had this fibre for many years and it was long overdue to be spun up.   It's Corriedale that I bought from Aurelia Fibres (of Merritt, BC). I think the fleece was dyed in and came from New Zealand if I trust my memories.   Bought at a spin in in the Okanagan many years ago.

Drafting up the floof went very well.  It didn't behave badly at all and was a very pleasant spin. Made me wonder why I took so long to do it!

I divided the fibre into two equal portions and later when plying, I purposely  plied them from opposites to get some 'barber poling' effect.

Just the one skein.

Dime for showing the grist better. 

The skein went from a puddle...... to a cake. 

It reminded me of a pleasant afternoon sitting in a grape arbour in 2009, in the Okanagan Valley.

Shades of Scotland

Finished up on April 6th, otherwise known as "Tartan Day".... this fiber colour way by Beesy Bee Fibers (on Etsy)  called  "Scotland". It's a blend of merino and tussah silk and yummy soft.

Wouldn't you fall for this too?  💕😁

So I ordered 450 grams  and have been spinning this off and on for 18 months.   Seems there are some 'thorns' in the Scottish heather. The two fibers of silk and merino don't mingle all that well and both have different length staples.  So it was more of a grudge match and one I was determined to win.     So I'd weave a bobbin of this 'highland heathen' and then spin up something that wanted to play nice.    And repeat until it was all done.     Sort of a carrot and stick approach  (to me 😳🥕 )

I was able to keep it consistently fine, with cussing as a sauce.    I had some nice compliments on it at the recent guild meeting and one member was sympathetic when he heard the fiber mix and said it must have been a long road...

So spun up on my Hansen Mini Pro as a lace weight  2 ply yarn. Washed in scent free soap and then skeined up when dry.

The 🇨🇦 dime for  context.

Then I used my swift, ball winder and yardage meter  to run it through into cakes and get the mileage.

The totals are:  (for all)  412 grams or 14.4 ounces.    991.42 yards or 901.2 meters

.... and for sale in my Etsy shop as one batch.    😊