yarn extravaganza

I had a super yarnacious weekend. I went on a big dyeing binge, including sock yarn, some worsted weight yarn, and a little test roving. Here's a preview of one of the worsted skeins being rinsed.


So pleased. I hate trashing the kitchen and setting everything up, and I hate putting it all back in the garage, but I loooove dyeing, and even more than that, I love unwrapping it all the next morning, rinsing it off, spinning it out in the washer, and hanging it up to dry. It's like Christmas every time.
Also, I made a pilgrimage to Little Barn to return the problem child skein winder. While I was there I got some treats. This is what I love about Little Barn: incredible fiber.


That's 75% suri alpaca, 25% wool in color cafe au lait. It's super soft, even softer than the tencel/wool blend. It's completely fabulous.



This one is called Indian Summer. It's 100% dyed wool, Little Barn brand, no further information. I just love the colors. And finally, some yarn.



This is Sonetto FB Fashion. It looks more eyelashy in the picture than in person; in person it looks more like sari silk.
So Saturday was work day--ran errands, did the bills, did the laundry, and dyed and dyed and dyed. But Sunday is the day of rest--perfect for some relaxing spinning. I couldn't wait to try the alpaca blend roving. This is the first time I've tried spinning anything that wasn't at least half sheep's wool, and in fact, the 50/50 tencel/wool blend is the only other thing I've spun that wasn't at least 90% wool. Plus I just adore that fawn color. (They call it cafe au lait, but to me it's fawn.)
This roving came packed into a very small bag--it was really stuffed in there. I was a bit skeptical, thinking it was getting crushed in there, but as I started spinning it, I discovered that having it a little compressed actually makes it easier to spin. The fibers are extremely soft and fine, with no crimp I could detect. Thus they're very slippery and don't want to stick together.


As I was spinning the singles, I thought I was overtwisting, but every time I put in the tiniest bit less twist, the yarn broke. I was afraid I'd end up with hard, loftless yarn, but it came out pretty nice when plied.



Of course, now I'm eagerly pondering a use for this. It's super soft, so it could be anything--scarf, gloves, whatever. In fact, I think I may have just found a reason to buy some of the luscious alpaca yarn that I've been eyeing every time I go to Little Barn--a skein or two of blue or purple in the midst of this fawn color as narrow stripes here and there or something...the ghost of an idea is starting to form, and I'm liking it.