Maia Spins

Getting Closer

I'm still trying to get to my Latvian mittens. I want to Knit Like A Latvian.  I didn't exactly make it easy on myself (a common theme in my life I'm afraid).  I decided to spin the yarn from some delightful roving (see below for more info.)  I asked the seller to kindly dye some in a steel blue color (Project Spectrum colors - I was thinking two birds with one stone.).  Then I tried to find the book Latvian Mittens.  After 5 weeks I finally found a used copy.  I feel like I have been all talk and no knitting.

I think I have picked out my pattern.  I love the geometric floral design.  We shall see if it sticks once I start swatching (soon I hope, time is running out on these Project Spectrum colors).

I have half of the blue roving spun up and the white on the wheel.  While looking through the book, I realized most Latvian mittens have a contrast color at the cuff.  I decided to make a bit of black and charcoal gray.  I want a semi-monochromatic look.

But let me tell you about the fiber.  It is 60% wool, 40% alpaca roving from Jessie at A Piece Of Vermont.  Here is the white on my wheel.  It spins like a dream!  I think it must have been combed because there aren't any neps, just free-flowing soft fibers.  I am spinning it long draw and it feels like it is flying out of my hand and onto the wheel.  There is a little bit of veggie matter, but most falls out while spinning.  I don't mind a bit of VM.  It is somehow reassuring, like there really was a happy critter romping in a field.

Jessie sourced all the fibers from local (to her) Vermont.  I love that she works with local farms.  I expect the 40% alpaca to make nice warm comfy mittens.  Perfect for the early spring we have this year.  Oh well, there is always next year.

Mitten List
A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my mother.  A few minutes into the conversation this is what she said:
MOM: I want you to put me on the mitten list.
ME: Mitten list?  What mitten list is that?
MOM: You know, the list of mittens you are going to make.

The sneak plied me with talk about how everything I make is so lovely and that I am so talented.  I suspect she may be biased.  I did learn to knit from her and well, she IS my mother.  She hooked me.  Before she was done, I was committed to a pair of mittens and a matching head band to keep her ears warm. 

My mother has gorgeous silver hair; I hope I inherit her hair color.    She is leaving the color and pattern up to me "because I have such great taste" (see how she suckered convinced me?).  While I was making batts for my Latvian mitten contrast color, I ended up with a couple of colors that were too close to the blue.  I decide to make a series of grays in a 60/40 blend of merino and alpaca (similar to the roving from Jessie).  Each one is made only from white and black wool and some naturally black alpaca fleece from my stash. 

I should have enough of the white and blue left over, combined with these grays to make her set.  I think I will use Norwegian patterns.  She learned to knit in Norway as a girl.  It seems fitting; all during my childhood, my sister and I had beautiful handmade Norwegian sweaters.  The least I can do is to put my mother on the mitten list.

Spinning Fiber Review

Recently, I have acquired some beautiful hand-dyed roving.  I thought it would be fun to show you what I did with it and to write reviews on the vendors.  Warning, this is a picture heavy post.

Inspirations Yarns
Romney wool from Inspirations Yarn.  I forgot to take a picture of the roving before spinning it so I snagged a picture from their website (I hope that is okay).  This is their Mean Reds colorway.  My label says I got colorway #1004, lot #9.  Mine seems more on the red/pink side but in the same colors.  I think it is the same though; it is very hard to compare spun fiber to unspun.

It is local fiber (to them that is - New England) that they have processed especially for them.  The wool is soft for a Romney wool and the fibers are long.  The colorway is beautiful.  The colors are rich and saturated.  The individual lengths of color in the roving were fairly short (3-6 inches or so).  The fiber was $10 for 2oz which I think is reasonable for locally processed wool.  On my scale it weighed 58g or just slightly over 2oz.  There was a tiny bit of veggie matter that came out in the spinning.  No problem, I don't mind a bit of VM.  It did not bleed in a tub of tepid water.  My only problem was that the roving felted some during their dyeing process.  I had to tease the fibers apart and pre-draft them a fair amount.

I split the roving lengthwise and spun it worsted, joining end A of the second strip to end B of the first strip.  I plied it from a center-pull ball.  Before washing, my 2-ply yarn is 138 yards of sport weight.  The colors in real life are brighter than this picture shows them.

Overall, I like the fiber, but I would probably not buy it again.

Pippi Knee Socks
First, I will admit that I consider Symeon (the genius behind Pippi) to be a cyber friend.  I have never met her in person though I would love to.  My review is not influenced by personal feelings, just my admiration of her work. 

Falklands wool from Pippi Knee Socks.  This is my first experience with Flaklands wool.  I believe Falklands wool is a blend of wool fibers.  I would love to hear more about it.  My google-fu didn't turn up what I wanted to know.  This is her Amelia colorway.  The wool is soft and extremely lofty.  Huge sproing factor with this wool.  The colorway is beautiful.  The colors are rich and saturated.  The individual lengths of color in the roving were fairly long (6-12 inches maybe).  The fiber was $12 for 3oz which actually weighed close to 4 oz on my scale.  There was no veggie matter at all and it spins like a dream.  I really enjoyed this wool a lot.  I didn't need to do much prep except for a wee bit of pre-drafting to loosen it up.  It did not bleed in a tub of tepid water.  My only problem was that the wool has so much loft that it ws very dificult to fit it onto one bobbin.  Yeah, not really a problem at all is it.

I split the roving lengthwise into 3 strips and spun the worsted, placing end A of the new strip on end B like above.  I plied it from a center-pull ball.  Before washing, my 2-ply yarn is 268 yards of worsted to DK weight.  The colors in real life are a little darker than this picture shows them.  I think it will become a scarf.

I would definitely spin this wool again and I would definitely spin roving from Pippi again.  I love her color sense and style.  I wonder if she could be persuaded to make roving in the Strange Days colorway.  Hint, hint, hint.

Spunky Eclectic
Romney wool in the Tundra colorway (trimmed from a group shot) from Spunky Eclectic.  The wool is quite soft.  I was really surprised as it is considered to be a mid-grade wool.   The colors are rich and saturated mixed with undyed areas.  The individual lengths of color in the roving were mixed but on the shorter side.  The fiber was $9 for a generous 4oz.   A great bargain!  The colorway is gorgeous.  I looks like blue, turquoise, and tan, but there are bits of green and burnt orange in there too. There was no veggie matter at all and it spins like a dream.  I really enjoyed this wool a lot.  I didn't need to do any prep at all.  Amy did a wonderful job of dyeing it without felting the fibers.  It did not bleed in a tub of tepid water.  I have no complaints.  Romney is a fairly dense wool and I managed to cram the finished yarn onto one bobbin, just barely.

I split the roving lengthwise into 4 strips and spun it worsted, placing end A of the new strip on end B like above.  As I was spinning I noticed how the white sections gave a delightful tweediness to the singles.  So this time I decide to try a 3-ply to enhance tweediness and downplay the barberpole effect.  I took the 4 strips and used one and a third strips per ply.  I used my scale to try to get better accuracy.  The added benefit is that each ply starts at a different point on the roving (ply A at the beginning, ply B at the first third point, and ply 3 at the two-thirds point).

I was too lazy to make find 4 empty bobbins.  I used 3 center-pull balls instead.  Before washing, my 3-ply yarn is 203 yards of worsted weight.  The colors in real life are darker than this picture shows them. 

I am now a big fan of roving with white areas.  All the rovings I've dyed have been thoroughly colored by my anal-compulsive self.  Little did I know the joys of the tweediness.  I especially liked the areas where a dark color and white blended.

I would definitely spin roving from Spunky Eclectic again.  I love her color sense and style.  Luckily I have two more rovings from her, a superwash merino and some BFL.

Please let me know if you have a favorite painted roving vendor.  I am thinking about doing a quasi-regular review of hand-dyed roving.