Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

Woolen Spinning from Rolags... I am working on the second set of batts I prepped for the SCF and Friends spin along , the blue/brown set. I carded the blue and brown batts together and prepped them into rolags (well, fauxlags... more on this, later). I wanted to spin with a very "woolen" process, to get a lofty, airy yarn. I worked on my English long draw technique, a process of pulling out a long width of the rolag and letting the "spin" into the drafted fiber while pulling out the yarn to the desired thinness. This is quite different to all the "worsted" spinning I've done, where fibers are drafted straight to the desired thickness and only then allowed to spin. A video would be better, but here are some shots showing the basic process. Note that my hand placement isn't correct in the photos because I'm stopping to take pictures with my right hand... 1. After attaching a new rolag to the spinning, pull out and let a big wad of fib...

I plied the pink merino using the Ashford Traditional, with the bulky flyer/bobbin. I also finished up 20 ounces of Merino Milk and four ounces of Wensleydale in a spin-along of Spunky Eclectic fiber. The pale blue is "Glacial" on Merino Silk, and the multi-color is "Mystic Springs" on Wensleydale, part of the April-June SAL on the " Completely Twisted and Arbitrary " group on Ravelry. Fun! That brings me back to bare wheels (two of them, now!), and ready for the annual "Tour de Fleece," which starts this Friday! Added June 28: I came back to this post because I got kind of hurried when I was posting, before, and I didn't include my fiber prep... The Wensleydale, being a longwool, such as it is, does not work well as a woolen prep (my normal prep of choice). I pre-drafted pieces which were one sixth of the length and one quarter of the width, just simply pulling the fibers along the length until they felt loose and silky. I...

I finished the fauxlag spinning of the brown and blue mixed batts. Here is my yarn, almost 1500 yards (before washing). And a close-up... I'm thinking of making the Harvest Moo n sweater by Heidi Kirrmaier. There is a handspun example that is how I'm envisioning it... I've also started another fauxlag spinning project. This one is not from batts, though. I made the fauxlags stright from the roving. It is Spunky Eclectic "Corriepaca" in the colorway "Leaf Peep." The Corriepaca is 80% Corriedale and 20% Alapaca. It is soft yet crunchy. Wonderful! Here's the Leaf Peep as it came: And here is the two pounds of fauxlags, ready to spin: I really like the way the colors transition. I'm sure it will make a beautiful sweater. Another Raveler is making a sweater with handspun Leaf Peep and white alternating rows, here . That's what had me ordering some Leaf Peep of my own... You can order Leaf Peep and many other colorways on a variet...

I spun a quick four-ounce dose of Pigeonroof Studios , "Incidental Orchid" on Merino. The Pigeonroof Studios Ravelry group is doing a spin-along of this colorway. I prepped fauxlags, to start, and then made a simple 2-ply. It is a bit uneven... my next spin is another Merino, and I'm going to make it a thinner yarn. It is 232 yards. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I prepped Southern Cross Fibre's " Brotherhood " and " Adrenaline Rush " on Spelsau, along with a few bits and bobs of extras that came with my weaving handtowel swap, 24+ ounces, three bumps of each. I finished spinning five bobbins of singles and plied the first two, about 80 yards of aran. The whole set is going to be one big gradient. The darkest purple is on the far right bobbin. The other two bobbins are the next color lighter, and the plied yarn is the third purple in the gradient. The gradient goes all the way through pink and then to an orange color, but the lighter colors are much less in quantity (and contained in the bottom of one of the baskets of fauxlags). Because the bright colors are a small fraction of the fibre, I'm thinking of using those in a fair isle yoke, and the rest of the sweater a "solid" purple gradient, darkest at the bottom. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

In one of the shop updates on Southern Cross Fibre, I purchased a color set called "Accent Pack #14" on Polwarth Silk. It is eight ounces of "Deep Purple," and one ounce each of the coordinating colors, "Silver Lining," "Moon Rock," "India Ink," and "Aster." I also managed to snag another eight ounces of the lightest grey, "Silver Lining." I have it in mind to make a Boreal , which would ideally just use the "Deep Purple" and "Silver Lining." However, I will almost certainly run short on yarn. Aside from making it a bit cropped, I may do the bottom hem in a bit of a gradient of the darker greys and the "Aster," in order to get more yards of yarn into play. The Boreal pattern includes instructions for both worsted weight and aran weight yarn. I spun for worsted, thinking I could make the yarn go farther that way. Of course, it takes more yarn for the worsted instructions, too... but...

I prepped my fiber for my combo spins. The baskets are arranged in the same order as listed in the " Planning Some Combos " post... These are the next fibers on the wheel! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

My "White Pepper" singles are done, all eight ounces. I wouldn't have finished them, today, except it is a snow day. My office, Chris' office, and Mitchell's school are all closed. The "Amphora" and "Java" fauxlags are ready to spin... Each sheet of tissue separates one ounce of fiber, just so that I can keep track of how much is done, and also to put about the same amount on each bobbin (two ounces each). Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I finished plying "Insomnia," a Merino Yak Silk blend from Corgi Hill Farm . I had two four-ounce braids. The fiber is nice and shiny and oh-so-soft. It was a real treat to spin. I made fauxlags from the roving and spun it up long-draw. I was shooting for sport weight and ended up with more like fingering. I am planning to alternate it with a solid yarn to make it go farther. I'm thinking about making a Margot , with striping a bit like RaspberryAspalt . The color runs are fairly long, so I think the stripes will shade gradually, though not as gradually as the Effektgarn in RaspberryAsphalt. I think it will work, though! Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Even though I traveled this week, I still managed to spin one bump. It is Southern Cross Fibre's "Crossroad Blues" on Corriedale. I prepped it with fauxlags and spun it long-draw, for a fluffy two=ply worsted yarn. It is about 200 yards. I prepped fiber for next week, too. It is five bumps of Southern Cross Fibre's "Cavern" on Falkland/Silk/Alpaca, April's club fiber. The blend is already one of my favorites! The colors in "Cavern" are very similar to "Crossroad Blues," which is a club fiber also, from November 2013. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I started spinning eight ounces (two bumps) of Southern Cross Fibre Club, "Hunter" on Southdown. I just got a bit onto the bobbin before I headed out to work... I made the fauxlags, yesterday. I'm using a longdraw and getting about 35 wpi. I also washed my Longest Night. It is much more relaxed after its spa treatment. Happy Spinning, Lisa Kay

Tour de Fleece kicks off, today. Here are the fibers I prepped over the last couple of days: At the lower left: SCF “Seraglio” fauxlags (one bump). Top: The darker half of five bumps of HY “Mochi” (SW BFL). Bottom center/right: The lighter half of five bumps of HY “Mochi.” Under the “Seraglio” (not visible in picture above), is one bump of “Tempest.” And day one spinning: Seraglio Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I haven't spun since September, when things got really hectic at work. I also haven't posted my latest yarn, finished in September. It is eight ounces of Falkland, Hello Yarn's " Mignardises " colorway. From what I could Google, the word means, "Small sweet tid-bits served at the end of the meal (after dessert), usually with coffee." I ended up with about 700 yards of worsted, spun woolen from fauxlags . Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

We're going to Six Flags, today, so I got up early to do my daily TdF spin and documentation. This is about three hours of spinning. It is the first of six bumps of the Southern Cross Fibre Cheviot, "Longest Night." I showed the roving and fauxlags in this post . Today was the first of six bobbins. I'll ply three bobbins at a time together to get a three-ply... I'm going for a result that looks like this , which is the sample of the same fibre, spun by David, the dyer. Happy Spinning, Lisa Kay