World's Ugliest Yarn Contest!

Another weekend "find" that I wish had remained hidden. Forever.

I have quite possibly created the World's Ugliest Yarn. Yes, it is, don't argue with me (if you're actually trying to). No, no; don't try to make me feel better about it: I absolutely HATE this Yarn Barf. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought the roving - and I certainly won't say from whom I purchased it. It's not HER fault that I wasn't a good spinner (or planner) at the time. It wasn't her fault, either, that I was just sure that the 3 colors actually went together in anything that would resemble 'good taste'. Maybe she thought they did! Sadly, any of the 2 colors together might have turned out okay. Maybe. But the "Mardi Gras" (that was the colorway's name) colors are ALL wrong for Mardi Gras. The gold is actually baby-poop yellow (ask me how I know this). The purple, while rather pretty, is mostly too greyed out. Nothing "royal" about it. The teal is...um...not green. At all. It is a vivid, intense TEAL that hurts the eyes to behold it. Teal is not, the last I checked, a Mardi Gras color.

A real kicker to all this is that it feels Heavenly and has a great drape to it (thanks to the overly-loose plying I decided on). *sigh* I was only wanting to get it over with.

Let me show you the hideous stuff in all its, er..."glory":

What a long weekend!

Well, I'm finally done plying the Apple Blossom and there are 422 yards - whoot! Plenty of yarn to knit up socks, and it looks like the yarn is a fairly consistent fingering weight. Wow. I have to say, it turned out better than I thought it would. It's almost as consistent as my 2-ply Cormo. I'm no big fan of Navajo-plying, even though it's great fun to do, but I really dislike the way a Navajo-plied yarn does not like to ply nicely right up against the next loop. It's gets loose and "ugly" (imo), even though it won't show up in the actual knitting. I added in quite a bit of extra twist just for that reason, hoping there wouldn't be too much. Will wonders never cease?...there isn't. Another reason to celebrate! Here's the finished product:

I also discovered a woolen-spun, 3-ply (not Navajo-ply, but the 'real McCoy') worsted weight skein I'd spun up early this year (January, I think), squirreled away in one of my fiber drawers. Good Heavens. I remember being so impressed with myself that I'd gotten a whole 425 yards (before fulling). I ended up with 397 yards after fulling. Not bad, but I'm going to quit fulling my yarn :-) Everything but the kitchen sink went into this one, but all the fibers were soft - even the Shetland.
I was going for a next-to-the-skin, if i could manage it. I stuck with all natural colors, using black Merino, brown/grey Shetland, cream and brown Finn-Lincoln (VERY soft and fluffy) fleeces, and (I think!) some of my oatmeal-creamy Bluefaced Leicester. Heaven only knows what else I found to throw in there!

It all turned out quite nicely, much to my amazement. At the time, I was a new spinner of only 2 months, and felt that everything I did looked crummy and had a 'why would anyone want to buy that junk'? mentality.

All hail the Blog Queen!

Just in case anyone else feels like banging their head on their computer desk, before you do, go here and learn how to do cool stuff with your blog! In desperation, I contacted Sherrykins (found her on a help search in Blogger). She answered right away and helped me to put some "buttons" in my sidebar. Simple for most people...maybe. But not for this dummy! Thank you, Sherry, a thousand 'thank yous' for all your help!

A LESSON LEARNED...

NEVER - but never! - Navajo-ply delicate Merino singles. harrumph.

I'm nearly done plying the Apple Blossom. I sure hope it fits on my one bobbin! I think I'm going to have to swear off using only Merino to spin with, as it just really wants to float apart during plying, even if I use a high twist to spin the singles. It's SO frustrating to have it break during plying, but it's ten times worse if you're Navajo plying - augh! One needs a minimum of 3 hands to fix it, and 4 would be better! When I'm doing this, I make SURE one of the kids is home to help provide the needed extra fingers.

Apologies for the blurry photo of the 2 bobbins. I DO wish I could figure out how to take good closeups!

Apple Blossom - a Reprise

Okkkaaaay ... remember those photos of my current work-in-progress (Apple Blossom merino roving) that just 'disappeared' into the aether the other day? Well...! There they were. Big as life. Right on my camera.

Even though we'd deleted them. Even though the camera swore up and down that its card was empty. Even though they were downloaded onto my computer, never to be seen again...

There they were! Sheesh. SO...for an update and a photo upload of what I had gotten done:


Yes, I know. They're blurry and the photo-coloring seems (to me) to be slightly on the 'yellowish' side. I don't know what's wrong with this Canon S5IS, but probably nothing; ten-to-one, it's operator error...or just bad lighting. The bobbin is now full to capacity as I've only 2 feet left of roving. I'll try to post a completed pic as soon as I can (after I've plied it).

My 'Baby' from Babe's Fiber Garden

Just thought I'd bring out my 'brag book' photos so you could all admire :-) Go here to see the tons of stuff Babe's Fiber Garden has.

I don't understand why more of my spinning buddies haven't gotten themselves one of these wheels. These 'Babes' are total work-horses! Nils Wiberg (the manufacturer) wasn't kidding when he called them 'Production Wheels'. They work extremely well, are VERY easy to use and maintain, and very affordable. For those on a tight budget, what a Godsend! I only paid $204 - including shipping - for this model. Granted, it isn't gorgeous, but that's fine by me. I'd rather pay 200 dollars for a good wheel, and use the rest of what I'd have spent on a wooden one, on a big pile of fiber! It's also highly portable, being light-weight. Yet the base is nice and wide, thus eliminating the 'walk' or 'creep' that so many other Castle-style wheels have. My Babe doesn't try to walk away from me as I'm treadling.

Me and my Babe have treadled thousands of miles since we first met last November - and we're both still going strong with nary a problem.

Did I mention how much I love my Babe...?

THIS...is NOT WORKING! HELP!

Arrrrgh! I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out WHY the button graphics on my sidebar are not showing! I know I'm not the first person - nor the last - to have this problem, BUT...! I've been all over the web at many 'help' spots, looking at 'how to add buttons to your blog'...no sweat! I got the buttons themselves, but the graphics are just a box with a little red 'x' in the corner :-(.

Does ANYONE out there know what the heck I've done wrong???