I'm not going to bother with the particulars of how I figured the length of the color sequence at this point. IF it works out OK then I will go ahead and explain it, but if it doesn't work then it'd just be a waste of time to document it here. I have taken pretty decent notes so if it does work, then I'll be able to do it again. (sometimes I am smarter than I pretend to be I actually took notes!!!) :o)
Even though I was in town Thursday, Friday and Saturday, (more times I've been in town in the previous month!) I didn't even think about buying more dyestuff, thus I had to use what I had on hand today. Obviously my intelligence is fleeting.
The color sequence begins with yellow then green, blue, violet, purple, red, orange, and repeats itself for 3 full sequences and ends with another yellow. None of the colors are exactly the same. The first sequence was dyed with Easter egg dye, the second and third sequence were dyed with food color (some regular some neon) and the last orange and yellow were dyed with Koolaid. Each color is approximately 13 grams or 11 ft of pencil roving.
I applied the dye with an eyedropper and/or paintbrush. Each color was wrapped in plastic wrap. When it was all dyed I wound it into a huge Tupperware container.
The first layer.
the next...
Another layer.
One more layer.
And a little bit more.
It was an awfully tight fit, both in the container and the microwave.
I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with this yarn yet. I'm only spinning it for the Handspun Heptathalon. I might squeeze two sweaters out of this by working it along with a another solid rather than using it all in one sweater like the typical Rainbow Kauni Cardigan. (the link is to the pattern pdf) The colors here are a little much for me and I think they will only get brighter when spun, but maybe toned down nicely by working it with a solid.
The yarn is still cooling. I'm being extra careful not to handle it too much. Hot, wet, roving, might felt just by looking at it! LOL Tomorrow is supposed to be warm, hot actually. There's a heat advisory already posted for the area, we're expecting temps of 100+. Everything should dry nicely outside tomorrow.
Whirling Dervish II, my second project for the Ravelympics, is merely to spin this stuff up. There is 449 gr of the natural cream color, 446 gr of the natural lt grey, and 483 gr of the natural dk grey. Total grams 1378.
I know 1378 gr sounds like a lot to spin, especially if it is the 2nd of 4 projects I have planned, but I still think it is doable. Take a closer look at how this fiber is prepared.
Honestly I could knit with this as it is, but I want to add a bit more twist to it and make a 2 ply. I'm not keen on unspun type yarns. I'm guessing this was prepared on some Viking combs and then drawn through a very tiny diz. This too is from the Motherload, it's natural and still pretty sheepy, lots of lanolin.
Whirling Dervish III is this batch.
It is 647 gr of a variety of browns. It too is from the Motherload and was originally pencil roving like that of the first picture above but had been dyed already. Last Summer I washed, predrafted it and rolled it into the balls you see here.
The fourth Ravelympic project is "Hmmmmm" For that one I'm going to make a cardi out of the handspun I just did. (I think I told you that already) I still don't have the pattern picked out but there are several in the running. I know it's prob'ly crazy to have this project on top of all the others, but I've got to have something for bedtime knitting, it's not like I can spin while I'm lounging in bed!
Maybe you should give it a try, spinning from the bed. Maybe with just one leg tangling out to peddle?
ReplyDeleteYou've got lots lined up. I wish you a lot of fun and good luck!