avaylee

[avaylee]

Berry Baby Down Alpaca

Holy moly, the spring on this. Hoping my slight overtwist loosens up in the wash, but its still pretty soft. Less bright than the picture with flash shows.

248 yds. Two ply. S singles, Z ply.

50% alpaca, 50% baby doll sothdown.

Likely becoming some sort of accessory(ies?) for Mom for Solstice. Maybe another contender for Fair entry this year.

[avaylee]

Well this turned out some kind of wonderful.

My friend gifted me these gorgeous rolags for Solstice, inspired by a trip to a conservatory in Glasgow that we visited in 2019.

Spun it up, but wasn't really sure what to ply it with. I didn't want to self ply to avoid muddling. Sifted through the whole fiber stash and found this brown/teal that my kiddo said would make the green pop.

Kid gets a gold star for color theory.

Brown/teal is 80 alpaca, 20 Merino. Rolags are various wools and firestar. 228 yds, Z singles, S ply.

[avaylee]

When you go to the thrift store for secondhand electronics and accidentally wander the craft aisle....

48oz of roving from a vendor named as "Lavender Sheep". Some braids are 100% Shetland, the others are Merino, Yak, Silk.

I feel like I just saved kittens or something.

Of course this means I will now be at that store weekly hoping to find out of this is literally the best thrift store ever, or a total fluke.

Also, I didn't even buy it all so I still have some self control, apparently.

[avaylee]

When life is being fucky, we spin.

I had this purple BFL from Greenwood Fiberworks. I thought I was going to ply it with this gorgeous Merino silk llama that a friend gifted me, but it just got lost against the deep purple.

Went through the stash -- there is plenty -- and found this lovely Polwarth braid from the May 2024 Greenwood Fiberworks fiber of the month.

Spun the braid and decided to do a bulkier three ply. Not my usual, but I do have some knitting that prefers some heft.

I really love how the colors pop against the purple, but it still has the full purple vibe to it.

288 yds, S singles, Z ply.

[avaylee]

Found out that one family member had permanently borrowed mitts from another. Looking to rectify that by making a few pairs to gift next time I see them.

Usual Malabrigo Mecha, in colorway Aniversario, Scrap Yarn Gloves pattern.

[avaylee]

Per usual, it has been a minute.

8oz of Greenwood Fiberworks BFL in purple, split on two bobbins.

8oz of a gifted fiber that is fine Merino, llama, silk. It has a ton of color, some of which gets lost in my thin spins, but I can still see the pops of blue in the second picture.

Planning to ply these together, with no specific project in mind. I think purple things are pretty, and that is enough.

[avaylee]

I do not need another fiber art activity....

Also, this is beautiful and apparently I do need another fiber art activity.

I recently started tablet weaving with a kit I got from Etsy and now I'm addicted. It's only been a week and I can't stop!!!

[avaylee]

Beautiful braid and gorgeous spinning!

Decided to make a separate post for my hand spinning WIP.

I said I was going to spin up a different braid, but when I picked up my spindle I randomly grabbed this one instead. It was one I bought from an etsy seller a few years ago, and the fiber content wasn't written on the bag. I thought it was wool before I opened it, and I'm still learning my fibers, but soon as I touched it I knew it wasn't 100% wool. I guessed there's was some silk in it too and I dug through my etsy purchase history to see it was a merino/silk/bamboo blend, which probably explains why it drafts like butter compared to the 100% wool I spun for my first yarn. I was worried I would muddy up the colors with how I usually hold and draft my fiber, but I'm not hating how it's turning out so far. And I'm really happy with how consistent I've been spinning my singles so far, so much improvement from just a few weeks ago. I'm also spinning the opposite direction of my first yarn. My first yarn I spun the single Z twist and plyed S, this time my singles are S and I'll ply Z. I wanted to see how each play with my knitting style. I think I know how it will play out, but I want to try it out and see.

[avaylee]

Started something new last night.

Debating putting these two together, both from @sycamorefibers . Spinning up winterberry first (teal and cranberry) and so in love. It's so soft, drafts so nice.. I split the roving into fourths, so still a possibility it gets plied with itself as a 2 ply. Options....

Good way to spend another day in the apocalypse.

[avaylee]

It's so fluffy!!

Aforementioned 4oz Polwarth, dyed with a friend as a learning lesson last year. Has the teal going for it.

Then 4oz Targhee from Greenwood Fiberworks in color Aquamarine, in their gemstone series.

Singles are S twist, two ply is Z twist. 378 yds, about 18wpi, which puts this firmly in sock yarn territory.

I don't know yet what it will be. I definitely have some areas overspun (sigh) so not something direct on skin, unless it softens up a bit in the wash... Maybe weave up some fabric for future project?

What do people with all their handspun? I still treat it as so precious....

Yarn in the first month of the year! Woo!

[avaylee]

picking up an old spinning project that I divided for fractal & spun the very start of back in uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh2018. 🫣 it was only about 10% done with singles by weight, so hopefully it'll come out as one even yarn in the end. it does feel really good to be spinning something solely for fun for the first time since maybe October...

BFL dyed by Frabjous Fibers, colorway "Deep Space," split for 2-ply fractal and spun worstedish on my Ashford Traveller 🌌

[avaylee]

The e-spinner is definitely doing its thing of being convenient... and consistent.

4oz of a polwarth dyed last year. Being able to spin and only focus on my hands made for a more consistent single, as did the regulated speed.

I have a Targhee from Greenwood Fiberworks that I will spin up to ply with this. At the current rate, I may actually have functional yarn sometime in January. Unheard of!

(S spin for reference, speed medium low)

[avaylee]

The all-the-solstice-presents post.

Five of the seven pairs of fingerless mitts (knit) (all Malabrigo Rios, multiple colors, will make a "scraps" pair or two with the remnants.

Highland cow close-up and highland cows scene (needlefelt) (framed together before gifting). Pattern from Etsy

Scarf rectangle (knit) - posted before

Scarf triangle (knit) - posted before

There were also two knit bags made and gifted as well.

Busy holiday season!

Last picture is the e-spinner (Ashford!!) that I was gifted by the spouse with some practice fiber spun today. I think I'm going to like the flexibility of having a choice of tools for spinning.

[avaylee]

Love how accessible this craft is!

10 spindles for ~$10?

I've been wondering how easy it would be to DIY spindles for a while, & last time I was at Joaan fabrics I picked up a pack of dowels and polymer clay.

I skimmed through the artifact search on the Met museum's website and found whorl shapes I liked, then tried to replicate them with the clay. I've never worked with polymer clay before but I'm liking the results I'm getting;

Top in this picture was the first I made. I was swapping the whorls to check sizing on the spindle shafts, but I have spun with the top whorl and was surprised at how well it worked:

So far I've only got two spindle shafts shaped, and three whorls. I still have eight dowels to make more shafts, and another pack of clay to make at least three more whorls with.

For a goal to try and get more spindles, I'd say this was a massive success! It's also been an interesting experiment in trying out the physics of different whorl shapes.

I'll probably do this again. I love the idea of having pre-made spindles ready to hand out to anyone who expresses interest in learning to spin. These guys work both as supported spindles and with the semi-suspended/clasped in hand technique!

[avaylee]

Not many posts as I'm keeping some holiday stuff under wraps.

But... socially appropriate stabbing yielded this stress reliever. Room for improvement, of course, but I can see what I intended to do. That's nice.

Inspiration photo included, from South Goa.

[avaylee]

✨️Fibre ✨️ Bruja✨️

🧶Blended Batts🐑

Dyers & blending artists are, in my opinion, touched by the Magick-folk. Wool, alpaca, yak, angora bunny, mohair goat, cashmere -- cotton, linen, hemp -- it makes no difference. The dying & blending artists out there will trap me everytime with their puffy bags of mysterious colors named things like: "Midnight Bonfire" & "Wayward Wind" & "Tumbling Teak". Turning this:

When blended, into this:

Which, after some meditation on a drop spindle twists into this:

And plys into this:

An animal that is loved and cared for - turned grass, water, and sunshine into an Artists palette that became this:

If that's not Magick. I don't know what is.

Artists of fiber and vision,

Thank you.

A Spindler

[avaylee]

Another Solstice gift completed! This is likely for the sister-in-law. I was not paying attention and it's the same colorway as the shawl thing I just did, but since I don't love that and I'm not sure if I'm gifting it, no idea if it matters.

This is another Island Fibers sock yarn , the Lopez Island special (mostly Romney), yak, and silk.

Seven feet out of one skein of sock yarn? I'll take it! Also, mindless pattern I was able to work on at DnD, so bonus there.