I was silent on the blog for a while because I was building up a buffer of posts so that if something happened, like that I got sick or had something come up in my everyday life, posts could still go on, and I'm glad that I did because I immediately got sick and wasn't working on anything for more than a week. The first of those posts went live this week and I was so grateful it was there. Plus, now I've got time to read some longer books to review, so look forward to that in a few weeks. Anyway, here's what I've been working on.
Crochet
The MAL that I'm a part of is going strong. I finished my first head wrap, the Diamond Lace Bandana by Viv Crochets:
I thought the increases at the beginning of each row to keep in pattern were a nice touch, but I have never been a fan of this kind of shaping. I'm not really sure why, I think it's just a personal preference. There's really no other way to achieve this kind of shape with filet lace though, so that's not a ding against it, I just found it unsatisfying it work on. The lace is easily memorized and works up really quickly, especially if you use worsted weight, but I used some Premiere Serenity Sock I had in deep stash, and it still worked up decently fast. I also modified the edging to use the first two rows of the Star Edging by Katandia. I would have done all of it, but it felt a bit heavy. I frogged back row by row and found that the two rows looked good, so I left it at that.
The other pattern we're working on is Picot Bandana by The Turtle Trunk and I decided to add a little bit more color to it:
Modified the edging of this one too, with just a simple single crochet, chain 3, skip 1 edging. It's hard to see in this photo because it curls under easily, but once I've given both of these their baths, I'll take some better photos and post them in the next project round up. I'm really pleased with how well the colors worked out, because I was kind of winging it, but I think it looks pretty good. It will definitely be nice in the winter, as this is more of the Serenity Sock and also some Hobbii Winter Glow left over from a commission.
Dyeing
I washed up some more of the fawn alpaca fiber, and was curious how it would take dye, so I used two colors to represent the whole rainbow: red, which usually takes up quickly and is an overpowering color, and green, which takes up slowly, and is easily overpowered. I would have preferred to use yellow, as it's the most easily overpowered of all the dyes I have, but I was worried it would be difficult to see on the fawn, so I opted for green instead.
The red mostly took well, but some portions look undyed still. I'm uncertain whether it's because the dye takes up so quickly that it wasn't able to penetrate to some of the fiber, or if I didn't use enough dye for the weight, or if some of the fiber wasn't able to effectively take up the dye. Maybe even a combination of the three.
The green took up in the fiber much better overall, which leads me to believe the issues with the red is likely a combination of taking up too quickly and not enough dye for the weight. It seems like alpaca perhaps needs more dye than wool in order to get comparable colors. I have already carded these into punis, as well as setting aside a third of each and blending it together to see what a blended fiber looks like once it's spun up. I'm not expecting any surprises on that front, but having it to hand will be nice. Once I have a handle on how the fiber dyes up, I'll be dyeing some to make a sweater dress one of my children requested.
Spinning
I started on the red, though I haven't gotten very far yet
That's maybe 5 or 10 grams out of a total of 36 grams to be spun. I'll be plying this yarn back on itself to make a two ply. I didn't bother dividing up the fiber because there won't be all that much in the end, so I can ply it from my hand into a 2-ply ball once it's gotten plenty of rest, but if it was going to be closer to a full sized ball (50 grams or more, for me) then I would have divided it in half and spun two separate copps. There's no yarn-related reason for that, it's just about what I can hold on my hand easily. I know some people use tools to create a facsimile of Andean plying but I have never got on with those, so I don't bother with it. Hopefully I'll have this one done so I can move on to the green by next week. The one I'm most wanting to spin is the blend, but that's why I'm saving it for last; otherwise, the other two are in danger of languishing forever!
Hope you have a pleasant Memorial Day weekend, if you're celebrating. Sound off in the comments about what you're working on this week.
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