Sunday, June 03, 2007

Spinning & "Ripples" Reading Afghan

I spent the better part of Saturday dying some more yarn. I let the spinning wool soak for a good hour, before I cooked it in a large steel pot full of various shades of pink and some purple. It's such a pretty color! I nicknamed it "Cranberry Apple."

I started to spin the wool using my brand-new drop spindle. My only concern is that to get it looking normal, you have to overspin, thus making it twist up on itself. Otherwise, the fibers aren't spun enough, for a strong finish. Oh well. Maybe i'm just used to double or more ply, and this is just a single ply.

I also dyed my FH (Joe)'s wool. He's a sucker for green, so I dyed him various shades of green. The food coloring company now sells "neon" colors for food dyes! I was thrilled. I used the "neon green" to get that yellowish-green color in his skein. The other 2 shades were mixes of food dyes. I'm calling this one "Woodland." He'll be checking up on this blog now and then, so I can't tell you what i'm doing with it yet. Sucka!! :-P Yeah, I love you more. It's even published!


Today, I designed my own afghan, since I've been itching to make some sort of afghan for months. It was going to be called "flowering out," since the texture looked like petals. Now, with my favorite colors, I had another look at it, and was like, "gee... you look like ripples in a pond." Ok, well, I don't talk to myself that weirdly all the time, but I did come to that realization somewhat like that. So, it's now called my "Ripples" Reading Afghan.

Doesn't it look like someone threw pebbles in a pond?

And no, you're not hallucinating. It is semi-triangular. The colors are darker in real life. That teal is a lot lighter in the camera! yuck. I'm still debating whether or not to add white after I do somemore stockinette & garter rep's. I'm a plain jane, and two striping colors seemed appealing to me. However, I think another color, white, would maybe enhance it. What do you all think? 2 colors? 3 colors? EDIT: I've already decided to just stick with those two colors. :)

The pattern will be out when I finish. It's already written up, but it would be weird if I release it, but didn't finish it myself.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

O.o What r u making me? Grrr... The Afghan looks great! i dunno if it looks more like a flower or ripples from the picture's point of view.
-Joe

CassieMarie said...

Congrats on starting to spin! I am just about to make my second bulk order on roving - I've got problems!! Hah! If you are ever looking for some cheap wool, check out www.rhlindsaywool.com
That is where I get mine! :)
Cheers!
--Cassie

CassieMarie said...

I started on a spindle, and yes, that is normal. You have two options, you can either ply the yarn onto itself to neutralize the twist, or you can "set the twist" by soaking it, ringing it out, and then drying it with a light weight pulling the skein straight. If you don't do this, the knitted yarn will slant totally in the direction of the twist. But yes, it is totally normal. As you start spinning more and more, you will eventually catch on to what a "good" amount of spin is. Hope this helps!
Also, thanks for the compliments, I also wanted to say that I LOVE your designer bag, and have lusted after it for a while now! haha!
--Cassie

Ilix said...

way to go spinning girl! :)

The Anarchist Who Also Happens To Knit said...

i think i'm in love with that yarn.