Tag: yarn

Off the Loom & Wheel: Autumn Plaid Scarf + Custom Dyed Roving Handspun Yarn

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This week has been filled with dyeing, spinning, and weaving–as well as preparing for tomorrow’s Alabama Honey Festival in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama, where I’ll have a tent set up if it doesn’t rain us out.

Off the loom: Merino/Silk/Cashmere Autumn Plaid Scarf.

Off the wheel: “Carpo’s Sunset” custom colorway I’ve dyed for the upcoming North Alabama Yarn Skip (Oct 8-16th). Carpo was the goddess of Autumn, hence, the name. This is a Peruvian Highland wool roving dyed with professional acid fast dyes. It will be available in limited quantities at Hook a Frog Fiber & Fun during the event. This sample was spun from half of the 100g braid, so not much of the blue showed up in the finished 2-ply yarn.

Latest Off the Loom: Handspun Yarn From Lucca Dot Yarn & Cashmere/Merino/Silk Yarn in Autumnal Colors

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Two scarves have come off the loom since last week. The first was from some handpainted + handspun BFL in purples and oranges from Claire Cabe of Lucca Dot Yarn–used for both warp and weft.

The second scarf was woven from a merino/silk/cashmere blend in three different colors. I wasn’t pleased with the pattern and had something totally different in mind when I warped the loom, but the scarf sold almost immediately, so I can’t complain too much.

Off the Wheel: Art Batts & Rolags from ‘The Spinning Wren’ + more

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My spinning wheel (a double-treadle Lendrum) has been working overtime over the past two weeks, so I thought I’d post some of the recent handspun yarns that have come off the wheel. I’m only showing finished yarns here, but I’m currently spinning a Merino/Sparkle blend from Frabjous Fibers. Two of the fibers below were rolags and an art batt purchased from The Spinning Wren–a sweet lady named Melissa who I met at Worldwide Spin in Public Day at Hook a Frog Fiber & Fun (Madison, AL).

Side Note: My electric drum carder has malfunctioned, so I had to order a manual drum carder…and it arrived the middle of last week, along with a box picker from BAM Fiber Works.

The first yarn shown is from a set of four rolags called “Summer” from The Spinning Wren–for a total of 1.5 ounces which yielded about 84 yards of worsted weight yarn.

The second yarn is also from The Spinning Wren and was a 2.5 ounce art batt called “Spice”, yielding approx. 132 yards of 2-ply worsted weight yarn.

The third yarn is more Gulf Coast Native from raw fleece (Alchemy Farms in Huntsville, AL)–45g yielding approx. 149 yards of sport weight 2-ply.

The fourth yarn (actually the first that was spun) was some Finn/Cormo (raw fleece from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium) from “Popcorn”. I ended up naturally dyeing the yarn with turmeric, so I’ve post before and after pics.

I also spun more Manx Laoghtan roving from Hearthside Fibers the week before last (approx 100g) of single-ply, but it’s not pictured here.

  • BAM Fiber Works Box Picker
  • Brother Drum Carder

Off the Loom: Solar Dyed Osage Yarn Scarf

Emily Wallace Handwoven3 Comments

Solar Dyed Osage Scarf is off the loom using yarn from indie dyer/hand spinner Flamingmeatloaf Fibers: Fingering weight yarn (Colorado fiber/locally milled), solar dyed with Osage. Check her out at www.Flamingmeatloaffibers.com

From Flamingmeatloaf Fibers:

“Dyed during the hottest days of the summer using the heat from the sun and Osage to create a bright color with added depth by overdyeing grey.🐑 Merino/CVM with a touch of Wensleydale added for strength and luster. Yarn is from a small family farm in Colorado and milled locally in SLC”.

The scarf took exactly 2 ounces, leaving me enough yarn to do another identical scarf with the remaining yarn–which is good because I’m definitely keeping one of them for myself since this yarn is my favorite color.

Recent Projects finished + Stash additions: Woven Scarves, New Yarns & a Dog Sweater

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The last couple of weeks have been a bit wild, but now that I’m on the other side, I can post my latest finished projects + latest yarn additions to my stash. If you’d like more details on any of my projects, check out my portfolio on Ravelry. My username is ‘southernemma’.

Yesterday’s natural dyeing project: I decided to dye my ‘Raw Fleece to Finished Object’ Dorset Horn woven scarf using an avocado pit and onion skins (both red + yellow skins). The result is a peachy-pink color. All of the pictures were taken in natural light, but one looks darker because it was taken in a different part of the house.

  • Original, undyed scarf

August 10 weaving project: Cotton/Merino Scarf in Neutral Colors

August 6 weaving project: Noro Wool/Silk/Mohair blend in autumnal colors

August 6 knitting project:Juno Jumper for Chloe using Brown Sheep Lanaloft (100% wool)

I visited Thread in Florence, Alabama–a fabric/yarn shop–on August 13th and picked up some local handspun yarns (one of which contains dog hair in the blend), along with my favorite hand lotion bar from Love + Leche (cedarwood scent).

I also ordered some solar dyed Osage yarn from an emerging indie dyer/ hand spinner from Salt Lake City, Utah, Flamingmeatloaf Fibers. She has her own blend of Merino/CVM/Wensleydale yarns from Colorado sheep that she has milled locally. It arrived on Saturday (with a free mini-skein) and I’m anxious to get it on my loom.

I also picked up 6 more Gulf Coast Native raw fleeces on Friday from Alchemy Farms since I’ll be selling some of the GCN fiber I already have at the upcoming events I’m participating in.

Raw fleece sample from “Olwen” Icelandic/Balwen Welsh Mountain cross

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Handspun raw fleece sample from “Olwen” Icelandic/Balwen Welsh Mountain cross from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium (Kentucky). 47g; 82 yards of worsted/Aran 2-ply yarn. 🐑

This yarn is next-to-skin soft—something I wouldn’t have expected from an Icelandic cross fleece, but that just goes to show how different each fleece can be from the next.

Olwen is the daughter of Icelandic ram, Akoya, whose fleece I also bought from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium this year. Her mother was a Balwen Welsh Mountain ewe, a breed I hadn’t worked with before. (I have worked with Black Welsh Mountain before and didn’t enjoy it at all).)

July 26: Monday Weaving Project with Hand Spun Jacob Sheep Yarn

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Yesterday, I wanted to work up a quick weaving project using some of my handspun yarn from before the Tour de Fleece. Since I had plenty of yardage, I chose the Jacob humbug yarn that I spun in the spring. I bought the fiber from Hearthside Fibers along with several other wool breeds I hadn’t spun before. My yield for the Jacob wool was 228 yards of worsted/aran weight 2-ply from 118 grams of commercially prepared combed top.

I used a moderately spaced warp (4 ends, skip 2 ends) in order to get the flexibility and drape I wanted since this was a heavier weight yarn.

The finished scarf weighed around 90g and used about 174 yards of yarn.

Dorset Horn Handwoven Scarf: Handspun yarn from raw fleece

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Raw fleece to finished object: Dorset Horn scarf from Tour de Fleece handspun yarn off the loom this morning (68g; 160 yards (DK/Worsted). 🐑

I really enjoyed spinning Dorset Horn from the raw fleeces I bought from Fiber Curio. I’ve ordered more from another vendor and I’ll post pics upon arrival.

This scarf wove up quickly and I’m thinking about dyeing it with avocado pits in the near future.