Spinzilla Day 6

When I signed up to participate in Spinzilla, I knew it would be hard to find time to spin for a contest.  But I also relished the challenge.  Today was one of those days when spinning didn't get it's turn.

I got up this morning and immediately started sewing halloween costumes for a party at our church tonight.  I don't know why I still, after fifteen years of having children, think that I have until October 31st to finish costumes.  I ALWAYS have to finish them early for some event or another.  This one was particularly early though, and since we'd planned to be gone on a camping trip, I hadn't planned to go.

With the spirit of last minute panic egging me on, we finished costumes just in time to be 15 minutes late.  We had a great time, and I think the kids looked great!

Little Bo Peep, The Black Knight, Tasselhof Burrfoot (from the Dragonlance Books), and Merida (from Brave)

After the party, we went grocery shopping for the camping trip, made meals to freeze, cleaned up a bit, and then I finally sat down to spin for a couple of minutes before bed.  We had to change our camping plans because our first choice plan was full, so we're going to strap on the canoe and go to the James River.  That means car camping, not backpacking, so I'm back to hoping my wheel will fit in the car for the last day of Spinzilla tomorrow.

Here's my little bit of spinning:  Its merino/silk purchase at the Shenandoah fiber festival.  The picture is bad because it's midnight, and I have no good light.  I dyed the roving last week, and have been surprised and pleased by the variation in color.  I expected the silk and merino to take the dye differently, but there's much more variation that I can't explain.

[#spinzilla, #teamspinoff]

Spinzilla Day 4... already?!

As they always do, the days are flying by.  I thought the week of Spinzilla would last so long!  I've been feeling frustrated all day, because I barely got to touch my wheel.  The truth is, the past red days when I did get to use it were the unusual ones.

It's a good thing I did spin a bit this evening, or I might have torn someone's head off.  My husband keeps telling me that C-SPAN radio and driving in traffic don't mix, but I'm too dumb to listen to his wise counsel!  Traffic is bad enough without listening to politicians all day.  If I hear one more person say, "The American People want..." I think I'll scream.  If all the American people wanted the same thing, this wouldn't be complicated.  Hmpf.  Spinning...calm...yes....

So today I finished the bobbin full of merino (4 oz) in Colorway "Granite".  I had kind of a problem, because I'd decided to spin the two colorways separately, then ply them with each other as a marled yarn.  But when I spun up the denim, it was as one of my Spin Off teammates suggested; you don't know which the characteristics of the singles you'll love will be until you see them.  I loved the Denim as it was, so I had to figure out how to split the bobbin in two to ply it.  I transferred what looked like half to another bobbin (same type, so I assumed their weight was the same), then kept weighing until they were the same.  Now I have to do the same again with the Granite so that I can free up the bobbins for the rest of my white wool for the Color Affection Shawl.

If I'm really fast with the white wool I'm spinning up for a color affection shawl, I'm hoping to get to this merino/silk I dyed last week:

I hope I have more to show for tomorrow, because we just decided to go camping this weekend, and that's going to cramp my spinning style.  It's looking like a short backpacking hike, so I guess I'll have to revert to a spindle!

[#spinzilla, #teamspinoff]

Spinning for Color Affection

If you follow Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, theYarn Harlot, you might have read her posts about the Color Affection shawl.  The desire to knit it became so great at one retreat that they started calling the Color Infection, which seems true because the infection was so strong it reached over the internet.  I've been dying to make this shawl ever since.  

I'm on a yarn diet, however, and despite many looks through the stash, I found nothing right to knit it with.  I even managed to resist a sale at Knit Picks on the right yarn.  I kept telling myself I had many too many other projects to finish first.  

Happily, I finally remembered that I have fiber in my stash too.  

This is some wool-ish roving I've had for a year or two.  I say wool-ish because it is mill ends guaranteed to be at least 80% wool.  There is something else really shiny and fluffy in there every now and then.  I tried a burn test, and I don't think it's synthetic, so I'm hoping it's tussah.  It sure feels silky.

I read a lot of people's finished projects on Ravelry, to try to decide how much to spin.  I finally split off segments of 50 g, 45 g, and 40 g for each of the three colors.  I decided to spin first and dye after, though that decision alone took me a few days.

I just finished plying up the 50 gram bit.  It has just a touch of brown in it, but is mostly creamy white right now.  I still have to decide on colors for the finished shawl!