My Daily Spin – The Silk Hankies

Posted on April 29, 2015 by silvergrrl

I was home sick from work today, and spent most of the day sleeping. But I did ply the art batt – it came out very floofy from the soak. It’s very pretty, and It will be fun figuring out what I want to do with it. I have a book about knitting from smaller quantities of yarn and putting garments together, I have to dig that out again.

I started on the hankies. These are created from a cocoon that is stretched out on a frame and dried to hold that shape. These ones that I have are dyed, I’m not sure where in the process that happens. To spin them, you take one layer, poke a hole in it, and then s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out from there into a big circle. When it’s stretched enough, you break it at one point and spin from that. I’m surprised at how long it gets when you do that, at least 5 or 6 feet. There was sort of an extra little wad of fiber in the package that I spun first, just to see what it was like. This is going to be fun.

Until tomorrow.

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The art batt

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Stretched out silk hankie

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My Daily Spin – Finishing the Art Batt

Posted on April 28, 2015 by silvergrrl

I finished spinning the art batt tonight. Amazingly, it all fit on one bobbin, which is great. Tomorrow I’ll wind it off into a center pull ball and ply it that way.

Until then.

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My Daily Spin – the Art Batt

Posted on April 27, 2015 by silvergrrl

I decided to take a little break from silk and spin one of the art batts I got at the fiber fair in Dallas-Fort Worth when I was there a few weeks ago. This is yet another new type of spinning for me! An art batt is basically a constructed chunk of various fibers in complementary colors.

It’s REALLY different than what I’ve been working with. Different fibers, different preps, different textures, all mixed together – spins VERY slubby but pretty.

It’s basically a big rectangle, and you tear off strips and spin them. The pictures show the batt as I bought it, then unrolled, and then as I’m spinning it.

Until tomorrow.

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My Daily Spin – the Last of the Tussah Silk

Posted on April 26, 2015 by silvergrrl

I finished spinning the last of the Tussah silk today, and plied it. Once it’s soaked and hung to dry I’ll measure it to see the yardage.

Next I’ll start on the silk hankies, the purple and gold ones. That will be interesting, and be sure I will fill you in as I go along.

Today’s picture is of the Callicarpa scarf that I’m knitting from the Falklands wool that I did a while ago. You can see it’s coming along nicely.

Until tomorrow.

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Real Food Sunday – Getting a Head Start

Posted on April 25, 2015 by silvergrrl

The CSA deliveries from Pinckney’s Produce have FINALLY started up again, hooray!

Which means lots of yummy options for this week’s meals. The first delivery included arugula, bok choy, collard greens, spring onions, and strawberries. The strawberries, of course, only lasted about a day. They were delicious!

My menu for the week includes

* Collard Greens with Tomatoes (you can get the recipe on the Pinckney’s site)
* Sautéed Bok Choy and Arugula
* Zoodles with Garlic and Mushrooms

I’ll also roast a whole chicken stuffed with lemon and rosemary. And I’m baking bread with almonds and apricots.

The bread is dead simple. Flour, salt, yeast, and water with whatever mix-ins you care to try. You let it rise overnight then bake it in a cast iron dutch oven.

You can find the recipe here.

So far I’ve made it with lemon and gruyere, and with roasted garlic and Parrano.

To get a head start, so tomorrow’s not so busy, I cooked the collards dish and packed that part of my lunches. Tomorrow I’ll do the rest.

Until next time.

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Apricot Almond bread ready to rise

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My Daily Spin – What Will I Do with This Silk Yarn?

Posted on April 19, 2015 by silvergrrl

While spinning today, I started thinking about what I want to do with this silk yarn that I’m making. If I am right in my calculations, I will end up with a little over 200 yards of this as a three ply. Since this Tussah is my first silk fiber, I’d like to make something with it.

I used the first two spun silk skeins for swatching, just to see how they came out. The first was on size 3 needles, the second on size 8. As I hoped, the larger needle produced a lovely drapey result, where the smaller needles produced a lovely firm fabric.

I have some silk “hankies” that are primarily purple and gold. I think I will spin those next. Then I can use the undyed Tussah and the purple and gold hankie silk to make something lovely.

Until tomorrow.

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My Daily Spin – Confessions of a Tactile Junkie

Posted on April 17, 2015 by silvergrrl

I love texture. The look, the feel, of THINGS. Soft, rough, slick, nubbly, velvety, tweedy color mixes & stripes, sheen, all of it. When I first contemplated spinning, I was not thinking about the fact that I get to touch all these fibers.

Serendipity is the accidental encounter with something wonderful while seeking something else. In learning to spin, I’m not even sure what I was looking for. I just knew that I needed to do it. That creative impulse, to make something beautiful. And in this case, practical, because I can make things out of the result.

Who knew that I would love the solid yet velvety feel of Falklands? Enjoy the fine texture of merino, and the drapey sweetness of Blue-faced Leicester? Get to experience, up close, how blending silk with merino, and with Blue-faced Leicester, change them into something totally new? And of course, I’ve been going on about silk, all by itself, all week.

In today’s picture, I used the flash to highlight the beautiful sheen of the silk.

Until next time.

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My Daily Spin – Sweet Meditation

Posted on April 16, 2015 by silvergrrl

My spinning tonight was very sweet. No particular goal in mind, beyond the fiber slipping silkily through my fingers. I noticed the rhythm of my breathing was syncing with my movements. I’m nearly done with this first bobbin of the silk 3-ply I’m creating.

Until tomorrow.

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My Daily Spin – The Rest of the Silk

Posted on April 13, 2015 by silvergrrl

Now that I’ve figured out the ratios I want to use with this Tussah silk, I’ve decided to go ahead and spin the rest of it (just under 3 ounces) into three more-or-less-equal bobbins and ply them together as one long skein. That will keep me busy for a while.

I enjoy the process of figuring out a new fiber – how to spin it, how to ply it, swatching to see what it knits like – BUT those things don’t leave me a lot of other time for my other projects. Like the red “I will never knit a sport-weight sweater again” sweater. And the Callicarpa scarf that I am knitting with that lovely Falklands I spun a while back. And the at least 2 or 3 swatches of other spun fibers that are waiting for me to get to them.

So I’m looking forward to some time where I can just come in and spin for a while with a familiar fiber, then go do something else.

Until tomorrow.

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My Daily Spin – Swatching

Posted on April 10, 2015 by silvergrrl

I spun some more Tussah silk tonight, then swatched the silk yarn I plied a couple of days ago. Swatching simply means knitting a sample, which is called a swatch. It gives me more information about the yarn I created.

What size needles work best? What kinds of stitches look best? What’s the texture? Is it drapey? Stiff? What does the knitted fabric look like?

For this sample, I used size 3 needles, and really it felt lovely as I knitted. I’m pretty happy with the way it looks, which confirms my thoughts about the amount of twist for both the spinning & the plying. I think for the next sample, I’ll use a larger needle and see how that works. This fabric is fairly firm – I think a larger needle will yield a drapier result.

Until tomorrow.

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