Spinning and Dyeing in the Sun

This weekend was great from a spinning perspective. I finished spinning most of the Magic Carpet Ride. I spun Friday night and finished it off on Saturday morning. I cannot wait to see how it looks after I ply it but I wanted to let it rest a little before that. Do you let the singles rest before plying? How long?

See the guy in the picture looking over the full bobbins? That's Edgardo the watch-turtle. Apparently we're developing a real turtle "thing" around the house. The girls and I saw him at the nursery during our recent plant aquisitions and had to bring him home. They were the ones to suggest the name. I like it, don't you?

Anyway, this isn't quite all the Magic Carpet Ride. I still have a little bit left to spin. I'll do it later this week. I'm thinking of doing it all on one bobbin and Navajo Plying it. Then I can use it as a neat accent on a pair of socks. Most of the socks will be barber poled and then there will be long runs of color to accent. It that gonna be hideous or cool? I suppose it could be either.

Anyway, I did a little dying this weekend too. I've really gotten into dyeing lately. Right now I'm just experimenting with techniques and colors but some of it is coming out pretty cool.

This is Blue Faced Leicester that I bought at Hunt Country Yarns. I dyed it on my stove in a free-form kind of way. I just sprinkled the dye in the pot and let it do it's thing. Aside from being really pretty, it's also yet another new-to-me fiber so it will definitely be the next thing I play with. There are just 4 weeks till Maryland Sheep & Wool now so I need to be sure I'm prepared. There is so much research to do before we go.

I may even bring my wheel with me. Until last Monday I couldn't do it easily but then my Take Along bag arrived. It was a bonus for ordering my wheel and I've been watching the mail for it. I just love the color. Now I just need to free up a little time so I can go spin at Springwater on spinning group night. I missed last month because I was busy, this month fell on a holiday and next month falls on Stinkerbelle's birthday. I'll get there some day.

By the way, we released the 3rd Sock Madness pattern yesterday and it was really well-received. I continue to be amazed by the spirit of community in this little competition. I just checked the SM group this morning and there is already one finisher. That's super-quick.