I get it now - spinning again

>> Friday, October 30, 2009

My fascination with spinning continues... and as you can see I have a beautiful new spindle. I'm going to post about those soon.

One last note about the Kool-Aid dyeing. Afterwards your roving will look a bit sad, you may have squeezed it to get the water out and then hung it up and it will have that drenched kitten look. All the fluffiness will be gone and you may worry that you accidentally felted it.
You may pick at it and stretch it in an effort to see if you turned that lovely fluffy merino roving into a big fat piece of rope. My advice to you is to wait. Let it dry and it will be all fluffy again in the morning.
I even learned how to braid the roving (this funny tutorial) and now it's looking its best again. Well a wee bit fuzzy but it seems to still draft easily. I'm calling this colourway Apple Tree because it has a range of apple red, pale pink and green. My other strand of roving has the same colours plus a tiny hint of blue which makes me think of picking apples on a sunny day with a bright blue sky.
For ages I've seen dyed roving in yarn stores and not really seen the appeal. But what I know now after learning to spin is that it's so amazing how those patchy colours turn into pretty strands of colour that change again when you ply them. I'm not sure what I'll be left with in the end, but I love the process.

4 comments:

Quinn,  October 30, 2009  

Wow, Claire! Beautiful work. I really love reading about your adventures in spinning!

karyn November 01, 2009  

I agree with Quinn. It's so fun to read about everything you're learning about spinning. I tried it once, but didn't really get the 'hang' of it. i really love your pretty kool aid coloured roving!

Gina November 01, 2009  

I've never tried spinning before..you make it all look so beautiful with those colors!

Natalie November 01, 2009  

Your kool-aid dyeing is inspiring. The roving spins up beautifully. I just finished my first spinning class and have been thinking about trying some dyeing. I don't have a microwave, but they must have dyed fibers without them for hundreds of years so I will figure it out when I get there until then I will watch what you spin up.

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