Dyeing Day Part 3

Dyeing Day Part 3

Well here we go, I've just finished setting everything out.

Now to put the dye stock into the dye pot, heat it up, add the vinegar and then place the yarn, into the dye pot.  Today I'll be using my "Brown" Jacquard Acid dye, to dye up 2 more skeins of my handspun 3 ply whit alpaca yarn.  Well here goes!

Wow, the yarn absorbed this dye much faster.  Not that the other dyes didn't absorb fast, it just seems that this one absorbed faster.  It still has 15 more minutes left to soak in the very hot water, before I turn off the heat and let it cool down for 30 minutes.

Now I have 4 skeins to rewind and make labels for, while these 2 skeins hang to dry.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have pictures to share and listings to post.



Dyeing Day Part 2

Dyeing Day Part 2

This is definitely a process and one that I truly have fun with.  Today I have my Jacquard Acid dyes out again, but this time just the one color "Sky Blue".  I'll be dyeing 2 more skeins of my handspun 3 ply white alpaca yarn.  I just placed the first skein in the dye pot and have one more skein to dye after this.  I dye each skein separate, so that there's plenty of room for each skein in the dye pot.

I still have 2 more skeins to dye, but I'll have to dye them another day.

 



Dyeing Day

Dyeing Day

 

Its a process of me adding color to my handspun yarn.  Dyeing my yarn is done with Jacquard Acid Dyes.  Today, I made up 2 dye stocks of Sky Blue and Brown, then I set them aside to cool.  I'll use these to dye 4 other skeins of yarn another day.  Today though I'm combining 1 part violet and 1 part scarlet dye stock to make a red violet.

This is the first skein of my handspun white alpaca yarn in the dye pot, I have one more skein to dye after this one.  This is my first attempt at blending 2 dye stocks together and it really looks terrific.

 



Newly Listed Skeins and some knitting

Well, my newly dyed yarn is all dry, labels are made, and all 4 skeins are now listed.

Pink Handspun Alpaca Yarn 179 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=581&zenid=8079d0fae3669a79e2be02d90906e82a

Pink Handspun Alpaca Yarn 178 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=582

Kelly Green Handspun Alpaca Yarn 200 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=583

Kelly Green Handspun Alpaca Yarn 195 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=584

Once I had all these skeins listed, I sat down and did some knitting on the new Handspun Knitted Mountain Sunset Colonial Merino Half Circle Shawl.

I now have 103 1/2 rows completed.  I still have 56 1/2 more rows to go before I start on the border edge.



Its Dyeing Day once again

Its dyeing day again!  I've got my 2 different colors of dyes and my tools set out, so I think I'm ready to play.

The first 2 skeins that I'm going to dye, will be dyed pink.  My dye stock is all ready, I just need to pour it into my dye pot and add the first skein of yarn.  Here we go!

Oh boy!  I just get so excited when I see the yarn absorb the dye so fast.  This is going to be a really pretty pink skein of yarn.  I have 1 more skein to dye in this color, as I like to have at least 2 skeins of the same color.  So when this skein is finished I'll be dyeing up another skein in the same color.

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day! This skein of yarn is fast absorbing some Kelly green dye.  This is going to be a brilliant green skein of yarn.  I have 1 more skein to dye in this color and then all 4 skeins will be dyed up. 

 



Back upstairs plying and spinning.........New listing

So after spending my morning yesterday dyeing some handspun 3 ply white alpaca yarn, I headed upstairs to finish plying up another skein of yarn.

Then because my 3 bobbins were empty and needed to be refilled once again, I changed bobbins out and started in spinning again.

However, this morning was spent running errands, but once they were done I came home and rewound my newly dyed skeins, made labels, took pictures and then listed them.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=561

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=560



Tuesday morning spinning, and new listings

Good Morning Everyone!  It's Tuesday and time to get back to the Spinning Wheel, but first I want to share my 2 new listings.

Turquoise Handspun Alpaca Yarn 204 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=556

Turquoise Handspun Alpaca Yarn 227 yds.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=555

I was up bright and early this morning, spinning for 1 hour 29 minutes and 24 seconds, and this is what I accomplished so far.

I finished refilling the first bobbin and then started in refilling the second bobbin.

I'm heading back upstairs now to do some more spinning, hope you enjoy your day!

 



Dyeing, Labels

Yesterday, after dyeing up the Handspun 3 ply White Alpaca Yarn a lovely "Aztec Gold".  I just couldn't stop, so I pulled out the other 2 skeins of Handspun 3 ply White Alpaca.  I set up my dye pot, but this time with some lovely "Fire Red" dye and place the first skein into the dye bath.

Around 5:30 pm I had finished dyeing both skeins and had them hanging to dry with the 2 skeins of "Aztec Gold".

Today, though I'll be printing labels, taking pictures and listing these 4 new skeins on my website.  So stay tuned into my shop at:  http://www.spinningginny.com as these new skeins will be listed soon.



Busy spinng the last 2 days, dyeing today #dyeing #skeins #white #alpaca #yarn

Sorry for not posting!  I just got so into my spinning the last 2 days, that I just decided to post pictures instead.  So for those of you, that don't follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, here's some pictures from the last 2 days.

 

 

Today I'll be dyeing up 2 of the skeins that I plied up on Tuesday.  These skeins will be dyed "Aztec Gold",  Here's what one of the skeins looks like in the dye pot.

I'm typing this blog, while I'm dyeing my yarn.  Tomorrow after these skeins are dry and I make labels, I'll take some more pictures and then get them listed.  I might even be dyeing 2 more skeins tomorrow, so stay tuned to see what color I choose to dye tomorrow.

 

A new day and 2 new listing with a little bit of spinning

Yesterday after dyeing up 2 new skeins of Handspun Dyed Scarlet Alpaca Yarn

I headed upstairs to the spinning room to start refilling the 1st bobbin again.

I almost had the bobbin refilled by the end of the work day.

Today I spent the morning rewinding skeins, printing labels and taking pictures (including the one above) and listing them in my store.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=570

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=569

Now that I have these 2 skeins listed, I'm ready to head up to the spinning room and start spinning where I left off.  I hope to have the 1st bobbin filled and the 2nd one started in being refilled.

 



First Sale of the Year #knitting #spinning #JANSALE

Yesterday morning I was busy packaging up my first sale of the year!  A wonderful friend bought these 4 skeins of Handspun - Dyed - Alpaca - Yarn

After I came back from the post office from mailing off her package, I took pictures of the Handspun - Knitted - Wild Berry - Colonial Wool Blend - Boot Cuffs

sewed in the labels, printed out a label and then listed them on my website.  Then I started in knitting on another pair with the remaining yarn.

After getting this new pair started, I put it aside and headed upstairs to the spinning room to start spinning up more White Alpaca

I pretty close to refilling this first bobbin again, but needed to get back to my knitting.  So I stopped spinning and picked up my knitting needles again.  I finished the gusset on my mom's socks

and knitted quite a bit on the instep.  Then I put it down to start in knitting on my brother's socks.

When I started knitting on my brother's socks, I was at the beginning on the gusset (just starting).  Now the gusset is half way finished.

 

Save 20% on purchases at

 

https://www.spinningginny.com (expires Tuesday at 2:00 am EST).

#socks #knitting #new #listing #dyed #alpaca #yarn #JANSALE

Well, I'm late getting here again.  Sorry, but I think you'll understand once you see, what I've been doing.  I finished up the leg, heel flap and heel turn on my brother's socks.

Then I rewound the 2 skeins that I dyed yesterday and listed them on my website.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=566

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=567

 

Spinning Ginny is taking 20% off her entire inventory.

  Sale starts 1/16/16 ends 1/19/16!http://www.spinningginny.com



Felting Alpaca is like doing a science experiement #knitting #spinning #New #Listing

On Wednesday, I finally finished a project I started for my mom back in the fall.  I was working on trying to felt it and since I've never felted alpaca before, it was going to be a science experiment for me.  I know that you can felt things in the washer and I've tried that, before with my old washer and found that the water doesn't get hot enough (it was one of those energy efficient washers).  I've felted thing in boiling hot water before and found that it works, only it takes a long time and you have to keep stirring and lifting up your item to see if its showing signs of felting.

Well, I thought that I'd trying the boiling technique first.  So I brought some water to boil with a little bit of detergent in it.  Then I put this Handspun - Dyed - Knitted - Alpaca - Bag into the boiling water.  I stirred and lifted for 30 minutes, I saw what looked like something was starting to happen, but the bag was still huge.  I added another 30 minutes and continued stirring and lifting, not much more was happening.  I continued repeating the process, for 3 more hours, some felting was happening but not enough to really make difference.

Then I thought, hey why not try putting it into the dryer (oh I know what your probably thinking), but it didn't do much of anything to it at all.  I was beginning to get discouraged!  So I took to https://www.youtube.com/ and looked up felting bags.  The only thing I found was something that talked about using the washing machine again.  I was very skeptical about giving this a try, but did and was very impressed that it was starting to work.  Then on Thursday morning I tried again and finally it to felt up, just the way I was wanting it too!  Well, here it is all dry and having its debut!

I hope/think my mom will like it!

With this project finished, I added a new one to my knitting queue.

I knitting from my last skein of Handspun Colonial Wool Blend (Wildberry) and I'm making Boot Cuffs using size 5 dpn's.

I'm getting closer now to having the third bobbin refilled,

It won't be long now and I'll be plying up the thirteenth skein of yarn from Bellagio's creamy white alpaca fleece.

I'm even starting to make progress on my mom's and brother's very late Christmas presents.

The leg on the mate is starting to get longer of my mom's socks, even the mate on my brother's socks is getting longer too!

Want to see my new listing?

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31_149&products_id=565