Friday 27 July 2007

Tickled Pink

Finally my camera has batteries! Does anyone know the difference between a hank and a skein?
Here we have some more hanks from the spinning course, the one on the left is a combination of tussah silk, silk caps, cotton and camel. The brown bit is the camel, camel is very, very soft and lovely to spin. I had such small amounts, I just plied them all together and now I have no idea what to do with it. The one on the right is alpaca plied with merino tops, also a tiny amount.
This is a picture of my home made niddy noddy and lazy Kate. The wool is from a merino cross corriedale, it hasn't been washed in this photo. I have washed it and it comes up a beautiful creamy white, the transformation is amazing and very satisfying.
This is the wool tops I told you I had waiting to be dyed with food colours. The best thing about using food colours is that the monkeys can help. The finished garment is going to be for Middle Monkey, and she had lots of fun pouring the colours on. The tops are non-feltable superfine merino, and I now understand the meaning of 'buttery soft' when describing fibre. As I bought it from a shop that mainly supplies felters, this was a bargain. It is sold as stuffing. I had envisaged a bit more bleeding of the pink and yellow, and was hoping for more of a soft apricotty result. Oh well I thought I'll see how it spins up, and overdye if I don't like it.Here is the spun single:Here it is plied. I call this colourway 'tickled pink', because that's how I feel about it! I just love how it turned out, no overdying necessary. I sat and stared at it for a good 10 minutes. It is incredibly soft.


I have also had some luck at The Op Shop lately. (Any and all charity/secondhand goods shops are The Op Shop to me.) The burgundy jumper is 100% cashmere and brand new with tags (ebay or keep?) The blue jumper is 100% merino and looks new, the orangey red jumper is a bit worn but is also 100% cashmere. What else? Oh yes, four complete sets of knitting needles in different sizes and a bee costume!And here are the finished (almost) overalls.

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8 Comments:

Blogger Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

Tickled pink describes it perfectly! What are you planning to make for Middle Monkey?

29 July 2007 at 18:12  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oooh, that tickled pink yarn is sooo pretty!! I love it!

29 July 2007 at 18:24  
Blogger Stomper Girl said...

That bee costume is very fetching. I must come over and have a feel of all this soft fabric.

29 July 2007 at 20:31  
Blogger Stomper Girl said...

Ooh just saw the new profile pic, gorgeous! Well done Monkey 2.

29 July 2007 at 20:32  
Blogger Aunty Evil said...

well, to be honest, until you showed the finished product, I didn't understand a word you said.

But, it is gorgeous!!

Congrats on the good finds in the op shop, I'd be ebaying, I ebay everything, even things I want to keep! :)

29 July 2007 at 21:27  
Blogger meggie said...

Tickled pink is gorgeous! You are obviously having a lot of fun with those yarns & the spinning. Who would have thought camel would be so soft?
Overalls are lovely.

30 July 2007 at 08:29  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd be selling your beautifully spun wool on ebay too!

Delicious result.

30 July 2007 at 09:18  
Blogger crafty said...

Thankyou everyone!
I'm not totally sure what I'm making yet, either vest or cardi in a very basic style I'm thinking. There should be some left over for littlest monkey too.
Aunty Evil, I suppose you are right, after all I'll only felt it in the wash or something...
Meggie, yes I know, who would have thought? It is comparable to cashmere unfortunately it is also expensive!

30 July 2007 at 09:23  

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