I have gotten a good amount of spinning done and washed up a bunch of fiber. I have some brown Icelandic wool. I have some Cormo wool that is white. There's still a bit of grease (lanolin) in it but I am going to try out spinning 'in the grease' to see how it works out for me. The third batch of fiber that I washed up is Dorset wool.
I am going to try flick carding again. It is my hope that this time will not be as irritating as last time. I think I've got tip and butt ends of the staples figured out. Next time I give flick carding a try, I am going to make sure that I have lots of good, strong light so that I can see fairly clearly what I am doing this time. I suspect that my difficulties last time were because I had the fiber unaligned to begin with and I couldn't really tell what I was doing because the light was dim.
The spinning I finished was the blue-green colorway that was produced in honor of the Genesee Valley Handspinner's Guild's 30th anniversary, it is called Finger Lakes. The greens ranged from the color of grass to the shades of moss to the color of seaweed. The blues alternated between a dark, almost indigo shade, to something the color of denim. I spun it with a Z twist on my largest spindle (an Ashford student spindle that is made from unfinished Silver Beech and weighs 2.75 oz.) and plied it on my True Creations kick spindle. I was going to ply it with silver sewing thread and then decided to use the last ball of denim blue singles that I had spun with a Z twist on my second largest spindle (a Zebrawood and Maple bottom whorl spindle, I'm not sure what the weight is.)
Upon consideration after plying (though I think technically what I've done may have been overspinning it because I worked in the Z direction in this process as well), I think I should have gone with my original idea of plying it with silver thread. All the blue washes out the lovely shades of green. The funny thing is, the end result is just about exactly the color of Conesus Lake (the Finger Lake that I live near). I'll be giving it to the gal in charge of collecting the yarns for the display at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival for the spinning guild this month. I'm curious how other people's samples have worked out.
I have been far behind in my efforts to make preemie hats for the Golisano Children's Hospital NICU for the last two months. This month, I've only made one. I am going to try to make at least one more before I go to spinning next weekend. Here, however, is my pattern. I would be posting a picture but for some reason I can't get pictures off the camera right now.
This pattern uses an 'H' crochet hook and acrylic baby yarn - sport weight (4).
Round 1: Make a ring (magic ring method), chain two stitches. Make 11 half double crochet stitches into the ring. Slip stitch final stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (12 st) Pull your ring snug.
Round 2: Chain 2, half double crochet into the base of chain. Two half double crochet into next stitch. Work your stitches with the length of yarn left over from starting the ring held at the bottom of the stitch, covering the yarn. Pull the yarn tight every three stitches or so until you run out of yarn to cover to keep the center of the project snug. Do the two half double crochets in each stitch for the whole round. When you return to the beginning, slip stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (24 st)
Round 3: Chain two. Half double crochet into the base of your chain. Do one half double crochet into the next stitch. *Work two half double crochet stitches into the next stitch. Work one half double crochet into next stitch.* Repeat * around. When end of the round is reached, slip stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (36 st)
Round 4: Chain two. Half double crochet into the base of your chain. Do one half double crochet into each of the next two stitches. *Work two half double crochet stitches into the next stitch. Work one half double crochet into next two stitches.* Repeat * around. When end of the round is reached, slip stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (48 st)
Round 5 - 13: Chain two. *Half double crochet into next stitch.* Repeat * around. When end of round is reached, slip stitch into second stitch of starting chain. (48 st)
Round 14: Chain two. Half double crochet into base of your chain. Do one half double crochet into each of the next three stitches. *Work two half double crochet stitches into the next stitch. Work one half double crochet into following three stitches.* Repeat * around. When end of the round is reached, slip stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (60 st)
Round 15: Chain two. Half double crochet into the base of your chain. Do one half double crochet into each of the next four stitches. *Work two half double crochet stitches into the next stitch. Work one half double crochet into following four stitches.* Repeat * around. When end of the round is reached, slip stitch into the second stitch of the starting chain. (72 st)
Round 16: Crab stitch into each stitch. Slip stitch into first stitch of the round. Fasten off. Break the yarn and weave in ends. (72 st)
End result should fit over a medium sized apple or small orange.
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