Yesterday I dyed roving. Mmmmmmmm.
I ordered Blue Faced Leicester and Merino from Wool2Dye4. Sheila included a sample of her Merino Superwash roving in the package. They all took the Jacquard acid dyes beautifully. I was really nervous about felting the roving, so I handled it very carefully. I had read somewhere that if you bring the temperature back down very slowly that it is less likely to felt. It seems to have worked, no felting. Now I want to learn how to make those pretty braids that I see some dyers do.
This is the Merino Superwash that Sheila from Wool2Dye4 added to my package. I would definitely get this roving again. It is soft and luscious, and fluffed up very nicely as it dried. This is the first one I'm going to try to spin, since I only have a few ounces of it.
Merino. I have a pound of this lovely. I may wait until I get my hands on a wheel, and perfect my technique before I spin this up. My goal is to spin enough yarn for a shawl. This would do very nicely for that. Like the superwash, it is soft and scrumptious. The merino fluffed up nicely as it dried, but not quite as well as the superwash.
Blue Faced Leicester. I love this colorway. It came out pretty closely to the way I had pictured it. I guess I'm feeling inspired by the beautiful orange Sunrise Circle Jacket over at Neither Hip Nor Funky.
The blue faced leicester didn't fluff back up quite as well as the other two rovings, but it didn't felt and will be easy enough to draft.
I know it has been all spinning around here lately, I promise you I have been knitting. There is just nothing new to show you. I'm taking the Train down to DC in a few days, so I'll get some nice uninterrupted knitting time, that should produce a finished object or two.
Can anyone recommend any good yarn stores in DC? I don't know if I'll actually have any time to go, but just incase, I want to be prepared. I know Knit Happens is in Alexandria, but I'm going to be over in the Chevy Chase area, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that Alexandria is a bit out of the way. Thanks.
