I am enjoying a colorful day of blending wool fibers for a crochet project.
This stash is from Opulentfibers.com and is a blending of merino and silk. I love this combination and use it for making yarns that I wear next to my skin. As you can see I have a nice selection of colors. This makes it easy to create new colors as well as make my own colorways for spinning.
The inspiration for my new yarns is taken from my vintage candy tins. I was immediately taken with the lovely colors on the boxes and could see that they would go with my wardrobe. I found a crochet scarf/shawlette pattern that I wanted to use for this project. Since it was a variation on the granny square, it meant that I would need small amounts of a variety of colors in a laceweight yarn. This meant I would be spinning less than an ounce of many colors. To blend wool I decided to use a hand carder.
Using one hand carder, I pulled the fibers down the teeth, holding the tips at the top as I pulled and distributed the wool.
The next color was done on top of the yellow. Any successive colors were done in the same way.
Then I released the fiber by pulling up from the bottom. The wool lifts off in one piece.
Then I roll it up and decide if I want to blend it over again, or just pull or attenuate it to make it into a roving to spin.
Here it is attenuated, reading for spinning.
For a bit larger amounts, I can blend the fiber on the larger drum of my drum carder, using just a small footprint to blend the wool colors. Here I am only using about a 2″ width. I feed the wool right onto the drum, and pull it off as usual.
These fibers will all be spun into a 2 ply yarn that will be a bronzed brown color.
Here is the finished yarn. I was trying to emulate the metallic edging color on my candy box, and this wool had to capture the highlights and the shadows.
Here are more of the wools that I have finished for my crochet scarf. More to show you on the crochet part soon.
Thanks for stopping by ~ Karen
ohhhh! how lovely, lovely, lovely! each step of your process is like a tiny fairy tale ~ magic! thank you for sharing ~ looking forward to the rest of the story!
rebecca
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Oh wow, I really appreciate hand spun yarn even more now. I had no idea there were so many steps in creating beauty. Can’t wait to see more of your project. Thanks for sharing and educating.
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I’m learning so much. Love the colours. When do you find time to do everything? With working fulltime I’m tired when I get home and not motivated to do much!
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hmmm… i don’t do as much housecleaning. my windows really do need washing! but if i went off to work a full time job, i am sure there would be much less creating done.
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Karen, thanks. I don’t feel so bad now.
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Thank you so much for sharing that. I truly enjoyed seeing the process. You make it look so simple.
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How very beautiful !
You are a very talented Lady. 😉
Rose
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Fabulous! What a way to wake up and see such inspirational beauty, thank you for starting my day off with color and wonder!
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I admire your skill in blending the colors. It’s such a joy to read your blog.
Laura
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Beautiful! Hope you can bring to Tipp City to see what you’ve done in person.
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i will try to remember to pack some of my latest work for the tipp city workshop!
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Wonderful idea to match up with the boxes. The colours are superb!
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Karen, I love to read your posts. I don’t spin, but am mesmerized by your work. Where did you learn to spin? Your yarn matches your tin box perfectly. I can’t wait to see what you crochet.
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i found a local group of spinners. there is a big spinning community here. and lots of wonderful fiber!
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Carole
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I think you match your antique boxes dead on. You never cease to amaze me.
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What a beautiful color inspiration. It’s so amazing to see this form of color blending. I don’t crochet,( except around rugs, not even that well). But you make me want to learn. And now I want to start at the beginning with the carding and spinning. Thanks for sharing. Mo
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I agree with you Maureen about carding and spinning.
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spinning, like many other fiber arts, means touching wool and enjoying the beauty of it color, either natural or hand dyed. carding is an art in itself, and gives you a chance to blend and create colors and wool batts that are fun to spin. i bet that you have a spinner’s community in your area in which to learn. otherwise, here in eugene we have ETC, the eugene textile center where there are lots of classes and supplies! dive in!
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Attenuate?
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yes, that means to pull and elongate the fiber into a roving so that it is easier to spin from.
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It must be so nice to blend your own colours to make your garments.
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