Here’s a fabulous work of knitting-with-sticks by Owen Sound Farmers’ Market shopper Joan, using my worsted weight Mule Spun yarn in colours Black, and Denim. (10 skeins each).
The jacket is from a book call Swing Swagger Drape – Knit the Colors of Australia by Jane Slicer-Smith.
Bravo!
I went on a merino knitting binge a while back, but still had a few balls wound, unknit, and taking up precious real estate. That’s now been taken care of and a tub is now reduced to a baggie of ends.
Here is a sampling of Size Mediums, knit with the 54 cylinder on the Legare 400. The yarn is my own home dyed 100% merino fingering weight and I reinforced all the heels and toes with Woolly Nylon.
From the left: Grasshopper with Twilight accents, Twilight with Grasshopper accents, Charcoal with Lobster Bisque accents, Pewter with Black accents.
There’s a small pile waiting for toes to be closed too. Maybe tonight.
And here’s a Wine Sock made with assorted left overs. The Lobster Bisque is 100% Merino fingering weight; mixed with 75/25 Wool/Nylon Grasshopper fingering weight, and a crocheted tie string in 100% worsted weight, Plum. The liner is heavy felt I had made at the defunct Lindenhoff Wool Mill.
This isn’t merino – it’s my own Columbia 2 ply Mule Spun (worsted weight) that I dyed in the same colours as the merino. DW crocheted this Tea Cosy from a book I gave her for Christmas – Wild Tea Cosies by Loani Prior. Base colour is Grasshopper, flowers in Lobster Bisque with one in Plum.
Scotty didn’t deliver any packages today.
But he did deliver a notice that there were packages too big for his SUV waiting for me at the post office.
Three big boxes to be exact.
This is my own worsted weight 2 ply mule spun yarn in denim.
I had this dyed In the Fleece at the mill – some in denim blue and some in a pale grey, all plied nicely together to get a heathery-style denim.
It looks good – I’ve only opened enough to get started – I’ve washed up a few dozen and they are now hanging to dry.
I wash wool when it arrives from the mill to get out the spinning oils. Its a little extra work but the yarn feels soooo much nicer after a post-milling wash!
This wool is from my final sac from last year’s shearing. I had the whole sac done in this heather denim (A sac is about 300 – 350 lbs of raw fleece.)
But I had only half of that shipped as yarn. The other half, well, you’ll have to wait and see 
)
Dying in the fleece gives the most even, level coloration in a yarn. The locks of wool are dyed after they are washed, and then any variations in colour are well blended together as the fleece is carded, spun, and plied.
Some might consider this boring compared to a nice skein painted or dyed in a pot – but – you know – some days its nice to not have any surprises!