Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Hearts and Flowers: My First Hand-dyed Handspun Yarn


Back in the summer I took a fiber dyeing class. It was the first time I'd ever dyed wool and it was great... problem was I didn't have a spinning wheel so I didn't really have a way to make it into yarn.


Ok... technically I could have used my drop spindle but I found it really slow and frustrating after I had a weekend getting to know the wheel.

Once I got the wheel I really wanted to dive right into my hand-dyed fiber but I made myself wait to use any of it until I'd spun an entire bag of plain natural fiber for practice.


Once I was reasonably sure I could get a yarn-like product I dove into the bags of hand-dyed.
This is what I started with- pink, purple and natural solar dyed in a mason jar.


And this is what I ended up with-


77 yards of 2-ply (pink and white for 1 strand purple and white for the other). It was so much harder to spin worrying about color consistency as another variable but I'm really happy with the results!


One of the things I love about yarn is that lots of colorways have a name instead of a number. Although I'm very far away from being able to produce more than one skein of a particular colorway (if I ever even get to that point) I felt like I should name this.

The perfect name hit me while I was walking home- Hearts and Flowers.


Not only did I spin this on Valentine's Day (which was fitting given the colors) but it reminds me of my favorite ice cream (called hearts and flowers). It's lavender and rose water flavored, so delicate and creamy it almost tastes just as soft and lush as this yarn feels.


My spinning is definitely improving, this is the third skein I've done and it's definitely the most consistent.

8 comments:

  1. Meg this is beautiful! I really love the colors!

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  2. Beautiful Meg! It's so cool that you made it! Love the name too.

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  3. Meg,

    This turned out 'sweet'. I love it.

    with love,

    Olivia

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  4. Thanks for the comments ladies! Whatever I end up knitting with this I'll be posting so you'll get to see the yarn in "action" too.

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  5. Ohh - gorgeous! The colours are so subtle. What will you make with it?

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  6. Thanks Tracey I'm thinking either a pair of fingerless gloves or a neck warmer with a few buttons to keep it closed

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  7. Olivia (Olivia & Me) just introduced me to your blog. I say 'just' - that was well over an hour ago. I've spent quite a bit of time ooh'ing and aah'ing over all your crafts. As you can see you have a new follower.

    Thanks also for introducing me to Joanna at Ready, Set, Craft!

    Please drop by my blog anytime. You're always welcome.

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