Spinning and a winner

When I was last at the beach, I toyed with the idea of bringing along my sewing machine. I decided against it, even though I don't get nearly enough time playing with fabric, because I thought it would be too hard to know what to bring with me in terms of fabric and thread. Instead, I opted for my handy-dandy spinning wheel, an Ashford Traveler, which is really designed for portability.  I popped a few extra bobbins and some roving in a bag, and I was good to go.


I haven't been spinning much lately and I really enjoyed getting in the groove of making yarn. One of the rovings I played with happened to be a roving that I dyed a few weeks ago. It was a gray-brown fleece and I played with adding some color to it, while preserving a good bit of the natural color.

I was pleased with the way it came out, and am trying to figure out what it wants to be knit into. I suspect it will knit at around aran-to-chunky gauge, so scarf or hat or mittens, maybe.

If you're interested in playing around with some similar rovings, with some of the natural color peeking through the dyed colors, I've got four batches up in my Art Fire Studio.

Two are shetland wool; two are coopworth. And for the next four days, use the code "FRIDAY10" for ten percent off your order (one time per customer).

WINNER

My last post was a review and giveaway of Hunter Hammersen's new book, The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet. The random number generator selected Bonnie C., of Indiana, as the winner.  I've sent you an email, Bonnie, so make sure it doesn't get caught in your spam filter.)  Congrats to Bonnie and thanks to Hunter for making the giveaway possible!

New roving blend: 75% BFL/25% silk

On Friday morning, I updated the BBF shop with a spectacular new roving blend: 75% blue-faced leicester wool/25% silk.

Lotus: soft dreamy sages and pale blue-green

The batches are around 4 oz. and believe me, when I say that they are so soft and luscious, I am trying really, really hard not to grab one and start spinning it myself.

Firecracker: red, gold, orange and a hint of olive

This week, I'm hoping to dye some more of the Stella Sock, which by accounts is a lovely and soft yarn to work with... and there are some more new bases on the horizon, just to keep things interesting!

Plum Blossom: mauve-wine with some sage

BFL-apalooza at BBF

Today I've updated the Black Bunny Fibers shop with some great blue-faced leicester yarns and rovings. You'll find 100% superwash BFL sock yarn:

Red Light

Electric Navy

a terrific, tightly-twisted blend of 75% BFL and 25% nylon:

Patina

Cabbage Rose

some batches of superwash BFL roving:

Ribbon

and some non-superwash BFL roving:


Go get 'em while they last! (It's the last update before my big studio sale on Nov. 22d...)

A little spinning, anyone?

I blew the dust off my wheel, inspired by Rhinebeck, and have been playing with this:


It's a sample of a limited-edition roving, called Border Blend, up for sale on the BBF website. I just listed something like sixteen different 4-ounce batches; each is a blend of 40% border leicester/40% mohair/20% silk. The different fibers give the colors complexity and I can vouch for the fact that it's lovely and easy to spin, too. There's a little something for everyone, colorwise, whether you like blue/grays


or deep greens



or even a pumpkin-y orange.