Peach Fuzz/ Orange Fizz

So I couldn't decide what to call this yarn. It was supposed to be orange, but turned out a bit peachy. I spun a single strand, and plied it with silvery, thin embroidery thread; the kind intended for an embroidery machine. It's quite pretty, and will knit up beautifully. Also, it's my longest skein, clocking in at 114 yards. It has its thick and thin moments, but, overall, is pretty consistent.

Alien Vomit- the sequel

So I got a chance to ply the alien vomit singles last night, and it turned out looking cooler than vomit, definitely. I also added some of the red single that was left over from the wicked overtwisted sister yarn from below. That is where the red streaks come from.

Cinderella and the Wicked Overtwisted Sister yarn

Here are the first 2 yarns I spun on my new wheel.
This is Cinderella:





Cinderella was the result of trying to compensate for the Wicked Overtwisted Sister yarn below. It turned out really soft and puffy, but balanced. It is plied with white crochet thread, and dyed after spinning and plying.

and this is the Wicked Overtwisted Sister yarn:





This yarn came out so overtwisted because I needed to slow the treadling down, and tighten the brake a bit. The fiber I used was dyed in chunks of yellow, orange and red kool-aid, and was plied with a red strand (dyed with red kool-aid).

Alien Vomit

Last night I spun up 2 singles, each at about 2 oz. The first used the last of my Kool-aid dyed roving, a mixture of green, yellow, and blue. The second used the results of my first experiment with food coloring dyed roving, alternating long sections of reddish/purple and chartreuse. The thing about dyeing with food coloring is that although you have more control over the colors, the amount of drops to add to each batch varies, and it is harder to fully saturate the fiber uniformly.

The chartreuse used
2 1/2 C warm water
1/4 C vinegar
15 drops yellow
5 grops green
1 oz fiber

The purple (which was not the coolest color...)
2 1/2 C water
1/4 C vinegar
15 drops red
5 drops blue
1 oz fiber


I plan on plying them together to create alien vomit. But, when I look at the singles, I really like the look of the swirls in the blue and green yarn. I want to make a note that the roving looked like very small splotches after the dyeing process. I used a spoon to carefully apply the kool-aid.

Second Yarn

This is a yarn I made a while ago. In fact, in was my second yarn ever. I spun it on an Ashford traditional wheel at school. It was all white at the beginning:


after which I dyed in in green and yellow kool-aid.


I think it turned out rather nice for my second yarn.

America

This yarn was spun on a Louet wheel. It was my first and only encounter with such a wheel. The wool was dyed using kool-aid link to instructions written by ME!. Each strip of roving was dyed in half red, half blue, and was then plied with a sparkly crochet thread. I thought the name "America" was appropriate not only because of the red, white, and blue, but also because of the sparkles, which in real life can be found in every Wal-Mart, and on the chrome hubcaps of every needlessly oversized SUV. There is a house near mine that has 4 Jeep Cherokees parked outside. There is another house with 3 SUVs of a wider variety. No matter how you slice it, we can definately do without all the sparkles.

Welcome

So, I took a spinning class at my school's craft center (I didn't know that colleges had craft centers. The school where I did my undergrad work was very small and without a craft center.) and immmediately became hooked on spinning. Last weekend, I bought a used spinning wheel (a Lendrum double treadle) and have been happily spinning and dyeing fiber ever since. I hope to use this journal to keep a log of different color combinations and things I find out, so that I can learn from all of my experiences, and later, remember what I have learned.
Here's a picture of my wheel:


closeup of flyer