I'm making crazy TsockTsarina socks....and I'm knitting a moebius cowl out of my own handspun, and I'm making new stays, and I'm trying to learn to spin more efficiently.

Pretty much all at once.

So, here are the mock up stays:

They have been cut out in their entirety, twice, then version 2 had a partial recut, then several tweaks, so it took 2.75 versions to get a pattern worthy of making up! So, now my fabrics are cut, new, heavy duty zipties purchased, and the next step is to make swatches to decide on the best channel width for these zip ties. The best boning, currently, seems to be hand pounded ash which is 1) expensive and 2) hard to get. SO, since we aren't sure that these stays will work well (we are hopeful, though) and aren't sure that I won't need new ones in a year, anyway (hopeful about that, too!), zip ties are a good, interim choice. Once I decide on a pattern likely to last 5 years, I will get the good stuff and make them completely by hand, channels and all. This pair, machine channels and everything else by hand.


The new, real, pair are cut out. I have heavy duty (thicker, wider, longer) zip ties that need testing, so I will stitch some sample channels, to find out the right channel width, and then I can start sewing my new stays!!!



Yes, they are going to be pink!

Yarn

More photos of this yarn before I start winding it...








It's amazing, to me, how much like yarn this yarn looks like! I mean, really, if I spun it, it shouldn't really be yarn, right? I'm just plain amazed that spinning really does produce yarn!!!

Spinning spinning spinning

We had a challenge, at the local spinning guild. One person had been dying (been to a dying workshop, maybe, I think). She brought in a whole bunch of bags, two color ways, one greens and earth tones, the other circus colors. She suggested that everyone each take a bag home, spin it up, and bring it back, and we can compare. I'm just a beginner spinner, but I wanted to play, too!

This pink is much closer than the top finished skein's color.

I took a bag of circus colors, I think it was about 4 oz of bright blue, brilliant yellow, and fuchia. After much debate, I decided to use Fractal Spinning. I divided each color in half, and one bobbin got all the blue, then all the yellow, then the pink. The other bobbin used the same sequence, but I divided each color into 4. Hindsight suggests that I should have taken the first bobbin's half and divided it in 4ths, and the second bobbin into 16. Next time!

Then I plied them together, starting with both pink ends. I plan on making a simple feather and fan, garter, or modified garter, moebius cowl. I think that the mirroring will show off the colors nicely.



I made yarn!