Syncopated Cap and Silk Hankies

Off to a good start with the Syncopated Cap.  I am using #1’s instead of the suggested #2s.  The Blue Moon Fiber Art yarns that I am using are hand painted and have wonderful subtle variations.

During my Mom’s stay, we have few visits to the local yarn stores.  She came across a pretty pink silk yarn.  She mentioned that would make a nice scarf for a blue coat of hers except for the yarn was too fine.

Well, I had purchased undyed silk hankies from Treenway and thought I’d give it a try and dye and spin up 2 oz of the the hankies in pink.  I had recently spun up some hand dyed silk hankies (reds) by Nancy Finn for the first time and knew I would be doing this again.

 

I used Jacquard “pink.”  I seperated the hankies into 2 each 1 oz stacks.  One of the stackes I dyed a uniform pink and the other with different values of pink.

(Sorry, the light wasn’t the best for the pic, the color is a true pink)

I will spin the uniformed hankies on one bobbin and the other on another bobbin and then ply them.  I am hoping for something between a fingerling and dk weight.  Pink is not a color I would have normally pick for myself but I did like how they turned out.  The hankies have a beautiful sheen that is not unfortunately captured by the pics.

Qiviut Plied and Bathed

I took a break from the Mystery Stole and finished spinning the remaining half ounce of the Qiviut blend.

The bobbins are on my lazy kate (tensioned) ready to be plied.

Yes, those are fishing rod eyelets on the center post of the lazy kate.

Huh?  you say.  Well… this is my little brain storm on how to guide the singles from the bobbins to travel straight up.

Why?  you say.  Well… I wanted to ply the singles with the lazy kate on the floor between my legs.  This way I wouldn’t have to keep turning each time I grasp the singles from the bobbins, I just have to reach down only using my arm (it is easier on my back).  I have seen lazy kates made by Willard Taylor that also had the singles travel straight up and wanted a simular design.  He used something that looks like a small wooden vase with holes in the sides at the bottom for the singles to enter the “vase” and travel straight up and exit at the mouth (top) of the”vase.”  I do not have a lath/tool to make the “vase” but I do know how to build fishing rods (I prefer fly rods).  Up here in Alaska, we probably have more fishing rods per capita than anywhere else in the US.

The plying went well, there were no tangles or breaks.

I use a skein winder that is made for my wheel (majacraft alpaca).  I fold the wheel and put it on the table, this is more comfortable for me to do it this way.

 

Way faster than when I used a niddy noddy.  The skein had a slight twist, so the yarn was pretty well balanced.

My usually process to “bath” a skein of wool is place it in hot water (half boiling water, half hot tap water) with a small amount of Kookaburra Woolwash for at least 15 minutes.

Twice during this time I will “mash” it briefly.  Then I will soak/rinse the skein in cold water for 5 minutes.  Gently squeeze out water, then roll up loosely in a towel to remove more water.  Then hang it up to dry.  I usually don’t put any weight on the skein while drying.  The yarn seems to “bloom” because of its “bath.”

I have 290 yards of lace from 1 ounce of Qiviut/Merino/Silk blend.  It is very soft and airey.  I think I will make a Cat Bordhi moebius neck scarf with this yarn.

Mystery Stole by the Light of the Midnight Sun

I’m finally caught up with Mystery Stole 3.  Today I downloaded the 4th Clue, but it wasn’t until 11:20pm that I finished the 3rd Clue.  I wanted to record the progress and there was still enough light outside to take a pic… so I did.

Still having fun knitting it.