Merino/Tencel, Cotton/Silk, and a Few Old Friends

I want my whole life to be this color! I hate to use the term "yummy" to describe fiber, but...well...it looks like sherbet! This fabulous stuff is Merino/Tencel, and the thing is that the tencel doesn't dye in the acid dyes I used, so there is this glossy, silvery sheen to the whole thing. Its really excellent. Besides being strong enough to make socks, due to that tencel. But the color...yum. I'm so excited about this color that I'm thinking of NOT making socks...maybe a lace something? But what?? Any ideas? I've got about 5 ounces of it. I could get more, and dye it similarly but of course the match wouldn't be exact.

In other fibery news, here is some cotton/silk blend. This is the softest, most wonderful thing ever born, and I want to make a drapey tank top out of it. But first I wanted to try dyeing a bit of it to figure out whether to use acid dyes for the silk, or procion for the cotton, or what. For this sample, I dyed right along with the merino/tencel in acid dye, and it turned out way way better than I expected.

Now I can test out methods of spinning the stuff. I need a cohesive plan before I embark on The Big Project with it. Granted a tank top needn't be a Big Project, but I'm a big girl, and I want it to be flowey and drapey, bigger at the (already sizeable) hip. So its a Project. Haven't decided on color yet, but I'm liking the way it dyed in the acid dyes. What a surprise!


And here's the llama update: carding. Spinning.


I'm undecided whether to ply it with dark brown yak, or just to itself. Its a gift, probably, if it turns out really really well. I'm thinking mittens, with the red and brown marled yarn for the body of the mitts and plain red or plain brown for the cuffs. Advice welcome. Would it be better to keep the red un-marled?

I'm not always in this kind of undecided mood, so have at it. Advise away.

And if you think I've forgotten about the sunrise-over-frosty-fields socks, I haven't. I had to try about four different toes before settling on the patch toe; and this is the progress so far.

That's the news from Wisconsin this weekend; over and out!