Post turkey laziness...

it's what I blame for not showing up here at 6am. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate it where you live. Ours was awesome and I have pictures to prove it...

I even got a little knitting in after dinner.

I've been busy spinning up a pretty single for Andrea. It's taking a bit of time as I'm pulling the fiber out of a Spin Madness bag (made from odds and ends of everything Rita's been dying for the past few weeks) that I got from Yarn Hollow and have to sort through it to get the colors I want. Hopefully it will be worthy of our fabulous FAF hostess when I'm done.

I finished the super soft hat for my friend and gave it to her last Saturday at breakfast. Hopefully I'll get to see it in action tomorrow. Here's a preview...

LittleDog says...

Have a great weekend everyone. Don't forget to check out the other creative folks that participate in Fiber Arts Friday over on Andrea's blog.

And if you'd like to enter a contest for some fabulous prizes, go here.

FAF 11/18/11

This post is part of Fiber Arts Friday, kindly organized by Andrea. When you leave here be sure to stop in and be amazed by the creativity gathered there.

Hello! Hope you've had a great week. I have thoroughly enjoyed my staycation. There have been lots of appointments and lots of knitting/spinning.

I spent most of yesterday organizing the stash. I've been winding all the remnants into balls or skeins and it's so much fun having all that yarn run through my hands.

All the skeins of handspun are piled into one section of the cube...

(all have been spun by me except the blue/grey in the upper right)and moved a few things around to put more of the fiber away...

Today I'll continue with the reorganization. The hope is to have all the fiber in this 9 section cube so I can see everything at a glance...of course this doesn't take into account all the Jacob that I've processed in the past few months...that's hidden in pillow cases in the armoire in the corner. I like to look at the pretty hand dyed roving that I've purchased from friends. It makes the room look so colorful.

Update on the marigold dyed Polypay...

I'm doing a bit of emergency knitting. A friend who is in need of a hat at all times needs a new one. Every time I see her lately she's wearing one of the two hats that I knit for her in the past couple years. I have to do something about that so this is the beginning of a super soft chunky hat and I'm hoping to get it finished today so I can deliver it Saturday morning when I go to breakfast.

The GR Yarnies group had to change locations for our Sunday meetings. We fortunately found a nice shop just a few blocks from where we were meeting. It's bright and cheery and the coffee is oh-so-tasty...

Here's the pretty batt I got from Andrea at the Ann Arbor Fiber Expo. Can't wait to see how it spins up. It was lost for a minute but thankfully found it's way to me which makes it even more special.

Thank you for coming and please remember to leave a comment to at least say hello.

This week's question: Which skein of handspun in the cube is your favorite?

The last rose of winter in my garden this week...

Marigold Dye-ing

Today's post is part of Fiber Arts Friday over on Andrea's blog.  Check out the other creative folks that contribute fun and informative blog posts each week.

Since I only had time for a drive-by blog last week I thought I'd do an expanded version of the experiment with marigold dye. (all photos can be biggie-sized by clicking on them)

4oz Polypay combed top

 mordant the fiber with cream of tartar and alum

 put the heat to the mordant pot and the dye pot

 I put the marigold blossoms into a small sweater bag so I didn't have to do so much straining later (still had to run it through 6 layers of cheese cloth though)

 kept my books handy in case I forgot what I was doing at some point

 after a good rinse the fiber went into the dye pot

 next day it was time for a rinse

 and the next day it was dry and ready to spin

 the fiber color is different under each kind of light you view it under, I believe I'll call it Sam's Feet since it's just about the same color

I believe the experiment was a success.  I was hoping for more of an orange color like it looked when wet but I probably would have had to use some type of after bath to get an orange that would stay orange.  Now to give some of it a spin and see what the yarn will look like...stay tuned.

And for all of you who love LittleDog...

don't you think we should get busy on that holiday knitting?  (please ignore my devil eyes, I'm not a fan of the flash)

FAF 11 07 11

I'm running late today but here's my Fiber Arts Friday blog for this week.  Remember to hop over to Andrea's blog and check out all the other creative folks that participate.

There was an alpaca show...

then there was fiber dying with marigolds...

and then I finished this cute hat...

Thanks for coming!  Have a great weekend.