Like a kid on crack in a world of colour

When I was was younger, I developed a fascination for glitter pens, high lighter pens , gel pens, sparkle pens, all those fancy pens that cost upward of $3.00 a pop.

As a teenager coming from an asian family, my parents would never question me when I told them I "needed" something for school. To them, it was all an investment towards a brighter future, and anything that I required, they were happy to pay for.

My dad used to pick me up from school most days as we lived three bus rides away from the central private school that I attended (It wasn't always the case.. it was only after we moved houses that it turned into such a distance), and once a week, we used to stop by at Bookland to purchase new school items.

I was clever in those days. I knew that if I picked out 20 glitter pens at $3.00 a pop, my dad would surely question my "need" for them. So, I would pick out about 3 pens each week and hide them amongst the awesome spiral notebooks and wicked unnecessary tape dispensers and sharpeners I would also covet and never was I questioned about these purchases.

At the end of term 2 in year 8, I remember looking at my vast pen collection and realising that I had amassed approximately 70 gel/glitter/sparkle pens over the 6 month period. I must admit, I did feel a tad bit guilty after tallying up the expense in my head, but the colours and the sparkles just won me over. I was like a kid on crack.

Many years on, I no longer buy sparkle pens. I discovered the gel in them would often freeze up after non-use over several months. But I do still love colours.

So, like a kid on crack, and regardless of my lack of "end product" for them, I just love playing with the world of colour and dyes that I have found myself in...

(My other half calls this one: Buzzing through the lilies)

(Swimming in fruit punch!)

(Some more strawberry jam)

New play toys

I love receiving parcels - even if it's me paying for them and expecting them! There's something exciting about opening up the package to see if what you've purchased is exactly what you thought it would be .

I came home the other night to a whole lotta new things to play with :

3 new books: "Start Spinning" by Maggie Casey, "Teach yourself visually Hand-Dyeing" by Barbara Parry, and "The intentional Spinner" by Judith McCuin-MacKenzie

Inwood - Smith Handcarders, 90ppsi

Ashford Competition Lazy Kate - I found out that the Ashford LK was able to fit the Majacraft bobbins (normal and jumbo) , was tensioned, and was a lot cheaper too!

1kg of Chocolate Coloured Finnx fleece from a hobby spinning farm in Adelaide

And this is what I did with my handcarders .. turned roving into rolags..

Handdyed fibre

This dyeing gig is strangely addictive.

I could spend a day just dyeing and fluffing around in the kitchen making a mess.. washing.. drying.. and then fluffing them out into soft little roving braids. I don't have to make anything out of them, i just enjoy playing with the colours!

This is what I did yesterday :

Both are 100% pure merino, 21 micron.

The first one is what I call "Terracotta" because it looks like the wall of my house. 95 grams.

The second is simply called Blues and Mauves , because i'm not very creative, and because it's obvious what they are ;)

Sneak peaks

(Not going to type up a long post because my internet connection keeps dropping in and out for some reason)...

I've finally managed to have my first proper play with my new spinning wheel. I spun up a bobbin worth of pure merino and it's currently outside setting its twist. In the meantime, I decided to spin up my horridly (muted) hot pink hand dyed roving and from this..

I got this...

And on the knitting front... I've finished both sleeves of Thao's Central Park Hoodie and am now starting on the back piece. (Promise I'll finish before winter is over Thao! hehe).

A wee bit of dyeing

The other day, i looked at the 1kg of white merino sitting patiently and eagerly waiting to be spun up and thought to myself "gee thats a bit dull, reminds me of an uncoated krispy kreme - full of promise but not quite as yummy". So i did a little bit of research on dyeing, and decided to try my hand at kettle dyeing with food colouring (spotted at the local woollies for a measly 80c a bottle - cheap stuff up if it need be!).


So i started by mixing 2/3 cup of water with half a cap of Rose Pink and poured it into the vinegar infused simmering hot water..

The 100gm of fine merino fibre and surrounding water turned a reddish pink, and slowly turned clear. I then added in 1/3 cup of water mixed with 1/2 cap of red to try and give the pink a bit of "depth" . (teehee, loving that word).

Once done, I then gently lifted it out of its pot and drained it in a colander. Then i rinsed it with wool wash.

And then i put it out to dry. It's not as red as I hoped it was. Actually its a bit too hot pink for my liking. But 100gm might just do me for a pair of mittens or a beanie so it wasn't too much lost.

Lessons learnt?

• learn more about colour theory next time
• add less water so the colour is more saturated
• investigate acid dyes

Fluff here there and everywhere

Much to the dismay of my other half, I have transformed the living room into a mini craft room of sorts.There are balls of wool everywhere (Ps. i found it cute that Webs sent their yarn to me in a Jamaican Coffee carton), yarn cakes to be wound, spinning wheel and spindles here and there and kgs of fibre waiting to be weighed.

You may recall that I had previous plans to turn one of our two spare rooms into my craft room. Well, those plans have been put on hold for at least the forseeable future. Looks like im uprooting from this life, and returning to a former one. More on that next time...

Spindling

On my recent trip to Perth for work purposes, I was able to pop into BilbyYarns, a little store in Myaree and have a wonderfully long chat to the proprietor, June Lynn. From my understanding, Bilby Yarns is the storefront for the Melanian Sheep Society, and all the fleece, fibres and yarns in there are locally produced and made. June was a delight, extremely helpful and obliging in my millions of questions about spinning, roving, fleece, everything - something that all LYS should have ;)


The main purpose for me popping into Bilby Yarns was to talk / research / buy a spinning wheel. Bilby Yarns stocks Ashford spinning wheels and associated accessories, and also has on consignment, several second hand wheels. At the time I was there, there was a Dutch Flax (i think?) and a locally WA handmade wheel. June let me treadle on these (as well as the Ashford Joy and Ashford Kiwi) while I got the feel for it.


In the end, I didnt buy a wheel. The kiwi was fairly limited in what it could do for me, and the Joy, while portable and therefore fantastic for my lifestyle (perth to kalgoorlie to leinster and anywhere in between), was also very limited in what it could do. I have however, ordered a new Majacraft Pioneer wheel, which I'm hoping to get today or tomorrow via the courier.




I did however come out with an Ashford spindle, some roving / tops (i dont know the difference yet) and a brand new wool winder. My last wool winder was not aligning properly so i figured it was time for a new one.


Taking it home, my first day of spindling was disastrous. I had high hopes of being a natural spinner (teehee) but alas, all i could produce was horribly overspun, undrafted, yarn barf. The next day however , something clicked and the drafting seemed effortless, and the results much better. Still overspun, and a long way to go but i'm rather pleased with my first efforts !