On the wheel now........

This is what I've just started spinning, it's a 50/50 merino/bamboo blend I bought at OFFF a few years back, it's lovely, it has a beautiful sheen to it. I'll be anxious to see the resulting yarn once plied.  I've got a pound of it and am spinning very thin so it will be a while before I finish this.....especially since I spin here and there.

Back to the saga of Windows 10 on my laptop. According to the IT guy at Sam's office others also lost their bookmarks in a MS update. Luckily for me I don't have many bookmarks on my laptop so I could put them back in not too much time.........but will it happen again in the future???  So, here's the latest. I was trying to download photos off my camera to the laptop and it wouldn't work - the Photo app in Windows 10 disappeared in that same MS update - argh!  And this has happened to others too this week. Correct place on MS website found to download app again but it's not working at the moment. I wonder what's next with Windows 10........

Spindle Spun Yarn

Boy, I can really tell this spindle spun handspun was spun over a long period of time. Look at the difference I my spinning/plying - yikes. Other than the difference in spinning look at the color - I really should have paid more attention to the color variations in the pin-drafted roving, if I had I would have mixed the colors better. This roving was something I picked up at BelTine Farms booth last year at OFFF, 60% Merino/40% Bamboo. I have 200 yards in the top skein, 92 yards in the bottom skein. Not my best spinning effort but it was portable and worked for a number of demonstrations. Knit up it will look just fine......once I figure out what it will become......it will sit and marinate on the shelf for a bit.

Had a start heart attack this afternoon on my way home from the post office - looking in the direction, but past our house, there are huge plumes of smoke. The heart started beating fast and all I was thinking was "oh no, where is that fire". Thank goodness the forest service put an update on the blog today saying they would be burning out some of the west side of the Big Windy Fire when they can keep it under control and have lots of support remaining on the fire - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that what I saw is under control. The blog did state there would be a lot of smoke. We're back to temps in the upper 90's, possibly reaching 100 and it's windy - perfect fire conditions - yikes.

More dyeing.......

I spent more time at the dye table and steamers today.  Unfortunately my photo isn't showing true color, much prettier in person. One of these days I should take a picture of the roving on the drying racks after it's dried, it's much prettier all fluffy and big. The 4 rovings on the right two racks are merino/bamboo - the 2 on the left tall rack are alpaca/merino/silk - 11 pounds today.  I've got 10 pounds of merino/tussah roving on the schedule for Thursday......need a day off from dyeing tomorrow, it's hard on the feet and back working on the concrete and asphalt.

Merino Bamboo Roving

For those of you who asked to know - a quick note to say the Hand-dyed Merino-Bamboo Roving is up in my etsy shop now.....

Back to the heat from the cool coast over the weekend, I heard it was anywhere from 104-107 here in the valley while I was in the 60's to low 70's just over the coastal range. Today's temps will be in the upper 90's - still too hot for me to be outside dyeing so maybe a warp will get on one of the looms today.....

Newly dyed roving ready to sell

Much of today was spent braiding, weighing, tagging and photographing the newly dyed roving. I love all the colorways......sure wish I could spin them all but next best thing is to spin a sample of each to help sell them. I am eyeballing a couple that may be snuck out of the bin into my own stash.

This is the 50% merino/50% tencel blend - the sheen on this is incredible.

And this is the 60% merino/40% bamboo - equal in sheen and just as lovely.

These will all be showing up in my etsy shop eventually, tired of looking at the monitor now after spending so much time editing these pictures plus others of scarves and towels that I have to get away from the computer.......and go spin some samples. If anyone is interested in any of these colorways before they get in the etsy shop or go to my spinning group next week just put a comment below with your email contact info and I'll get back to you.

Another dye day.....

 It was another good dye day, this time merino/bamboo.......Bailey is always a big help

This is where he spends quite a bit of time on dye day laying under the mini japanese maple squishing down flat the hostas and vincas........it's nice and cool in there.......but Bailey look at the camera.....

 "I'm looking now mom but that sun is too bright"

"Did I hear you say we're done mom, we're really really done for the day and I can go inside and sleep on the bed under the ceiling fan with the air conditioning going? Whoo Hoo"

New year....new spinning......

Today was spinning get together and since I had finished up my previous roving it was time to find something new. Now I could have gone to my own stash that I've been trying to work on but heck, I've got hundreds of pounds of roving in stock for sale in my etsy shops so I went to that instead! I pulled out this merino/bamboo in my Baltic colorway, totally not colors I'd normally wear but I like them. I'm enjoying spinning it on my Hansen mini-spinner, enjoying it so much I think I'll keep spinning on it this evening. There is more of this for sale in my etsy shop......unless I decide I need to put the rest aside for myself! (am thinking I have plenty set aside already for a scarf)

Dyeing......now dead tired.......

You'd think dyeing only 3 pounds of merino/tencel and a pound of silk hankies would be an easier dye day. Not so, it took just as long as if I had dyed 10 pounds of roving. Love all the color today.

Here's what yesterday's dyeing of the merino/tussah silk looks like dried, braided and ready for sale. I love the sheen in this roving and these colorways, approximately 2 pounds of each color that will be showing up over the next several days in my etsy shop.

Was originially thinking I'd dye again tomorrow, think I need to take the day off, it's still supposed to be on the cooler side Monday so will get back to dyeing then. Tomorrow will get the merino/bamboo braided and weighed and all the silk hankies packaged and weighed.......and weigh out the next 10 pounds of fiber to be dyed.

Another colorful day....

Another beautiful day here in Southern Oregon, low 70's, sunshine and a lovely breeze. Good day to be dyeing........6 pounds of merino/bamboo and a pound of firestar sparkley blending nylon I dyed in 7 different colors. And it felt so cool out there having had many inches cut off my hair yesterday. I have this love/hate relationship with my hair - basically I love it but then I love it so much I let it grow too long, than I hate it, it's heavy, takes forever to dry and had started giving me headaches when I pulled it up. Oh, but it's so pretty, long wavy auburn hair (with a few grays)......but much easier to care for shorter. Off to the salon yesterday to get many inches cut off.......most of you would still think it was long but it's not, it's really a nice length now, collar bone length as the cute, little, young, very tan, perky, bleached blonde hairdresser called it. Note to myself - don't let it grow really long again (I say this all the time but this time I mean it).

One too many dye days..........

So three dye days in a row is too much for me these days. I bought some great pads to stand on in front of the dye table and roving painting table but it's just not enough......and then there's all the time spent off those pads on the asphalt and concrete, my feet and back are feeling it. I was so glad when I saw there was only 6 pounds of merino/bamboo to dye today. Three days ago I had also planned on dyeing around 100 silk hankies (for spinning) today but last night quickly shelved that idea....will get back to those another time. Temps are going back up to triple digits so dye supplies will be put away until they come back down again.

Learn something new everyday. I put my surgical gloves on getting ready to soak roving in vinegar water when I realized I had forgotten to put on sunblock. What a pain, it would mean taking off the gloves, applying it and then washing the greasy stuff back off my hands which would make getting gloves back on difficult. Then I thought why not apply the lotion with gloves on - no greasy hands - then just pull those greasy gloves off and put new on. Some days I'm brilliant.....other days, not so.......

Merino, bamboo, tencel, oh my

Here are the fruits of yesterday's dye day. Above is merino/tencel roving that I dyed in the Harvest colorway. It is so beautiful - lovely colors with the sheen of the tencel. I have a small sample to spin up but I may have to squirrel away a bit of this for a scarf - I've got just under 3 pounds of it that is for sale. Below is a merino/bamboo blend in the Bering Sea colorway - it's also a to "dye" for colorway - it will be hard to resist keeping some of this 3 pounds. Since the weather is obliging for a couple more days I will definitely be dyeing tomorrow - corriedale cross roving this time.