My latest yarn has been spun, plied and washed and is now waiting for me to decide what colour to dye it. It is a 50/50 blend of cashmere and tussah silk bought from Adelaide Walker of Otley. I was lucky enough to have been given a voucher to spend there as a present from The Bradford Guild following my year as chairman. The fibre is lovely and has a wonderful sheen, but is not all that easy to spin evenly. I decided to spin before dyeing as I feared it might felt. I chose to spin it on my Timbertops Leicester wheel using the slowest ratio (8:1) as I was aiming for a soft yarn that would drape well.
The yarn has turned out to be a bit uneven. I was aiming for a laceweight, but I have ended up with something nearer a 4 ply. Even so it does seem to drape well and isn't over twisted and the beautiful sheen seems to have been preserved. I have found a lovely pattern for a shawl and I think it will do very well although I'm not sure it will be good enough to have the "Wow Factor".
The next step will be to dye it and I have decided to use the Kemtex easy dyes as they are very easy to use and there are some lovely colours.
I still have another 150 g to spin, but I think I will use a higher ratio to make a thinner and hopefully more even yarn. I doubt that it will be strong enough to use as a warp, you never know! The sheen would show off beautifully in a twill weaved scarf.Yum!
Sadly I missed the guild meeting on Satuday, so didn't get an opportunity to make my piece of half felt to use at the Jackie Lunn workshop next month. So I got out my drum carder and had a go at some batts. I have a huge bagful of Merino tops in all sorts of colours and ended up with some really lovely colour blends.
So, my next job will be to get out the bubble wrap, bamboo mat, rolling pin and soapy water and get the elbow grease going! Watch this space!
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