Onwards

It's been a tough old time this last couple of weeks, but thankfully that all seems to be behind me now.  Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date much - especially with the Fleece to FO project - but I'm sure many of you know how often "real life" creeps in to interfere with the things we'd rather be doing!!

But let's stay positive!  I thought I would share with you some of the things I have been up to wool-wise recently :)

I've very much been getting into dyeing.  My fibre of choice is - no surprises here! - merino.  I really love LOVE how easy it is to work with and how well it takes up the dyes.  This one was dyed using a mixture of food colouring pastes and powdered drink mixes (a Portuguese version of Kool-Aid).

You can see that I just went mad tipping a bit of everything into the dye bath!!

This is a slightly more subdued version (although I can't remember now whether this is merino or corriedale...).  Again it was dyed using food colourings.  I've been aiming to get some reds, but man that's a hard thing to do!!

As well as dyeing my own fibre ready for spinning, I've also been using my hand carders to blend ready-dyed fibres together.  My website of the moment is Adelaide Walker - who could possibly resist a colour range as good as this one??!

This morning I've made a start on plying the blues and pinks above...

I'm getting better at 2-ply I think :)

But what I really want to crack is the notorious N-ply!

This was my first attempt, which I'm rather happy with :)  I must remember to allow for the fact that the singles will become a 3-ply though!  This one is now far too thick for the socks I had planned!!

This afternoon I'm going to carry on plying, and - since it's so sunny outside! - make a start on washing that Romney fleece ready for another dyeing sesh ;)

What are you guys up to this weekend?  Would love to hear your woolly tales!!

Kim x