Fabric and Wool Combination

When I first learned to spin, I wanted to incorporate fabric into the wool which would allow me to make matching garments. If I made a yellow cardigan sweater with a yellow fabric print, I could make a fabric print shirt with the same material and it would match. I tried spinning with fabric and wool, the fabric swallowed the wool so all one could see was fabric. I have knitted and crocheted with wool and fabric using 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch fabric along with a strand of homespun or novelty yarn. This works very well. It took a little practice to find out what dimensions worked best for me. I also found that gluing the ends with washable glue worked very well. Tieing the ends is also fine, but the garment will not lay smoothly.

I have seen fabric spun with wool , but it is usually lumped here and there on the wool. I do not like that look. I have also seen fabric spun alone and it needs a lot of twist and it is hard to use without catching on the hooks in the spinning wheel. I finally found a method of spinning with fabric and wool that isn't too lumpy. What I found that works, is to spin a 1/2" piece of fabric for about 10-12 inches, using a lot of twist. Then add some wool and it catches onto the fabric. If you can keep this momentum going, you will have fabric and wool spun at the same time. The end product does not go into my orifice very well, so I was hand winding it onto the bobbin. I also had to set the twist with water and a water bottle weight. Pictures of the yarn are in this post. What do you think?

Comparison pictures:

The knitting with the fabric and yarn together looks more uniform. In the other sample, the spinning takes more time to spin and is a little lumpier, but my sparkles from the Angelina fibers show up more.

I want to show you some more experimenting with plying. One single ply yarn can look so different, depending on the second ply.

I first spin a single yarn with a lavender batt containing Shetland, Merino, Mystery Wool, and Kid Mohair. There are some lumps and bumps designed in the batt. The first sample is a single ply, with the twist sent. The second sample is a 2 ply yarn using the same fiber for both plies. The third sample has a second ply of cream colored Merino/Montdale. The fourth has a second ply of Athena yarn. The 5th sample is Fiesta yarn as the second ply. Finally the 6th sample is a ply of Colorlash yarn.

Above is a sample of the batt and a single ply yarn.

This is the two ply yarn.

Sample 3 shows the second ply as white Merino/Montdale

Sample 4 shows a novelty commercially spun yarn as the second ply.

Sample 5 shows another commercially spun yarn as the second ply.

Sample 6 shows yet another commercially prepared yarn as a second ply.

Which do you prefer? I like them all, but I think I like the Colorlash yarn the best. I went to Yarns in Salina on the way to a visit with family this weekend. I picked up a $5.00 grab bag. In that bag, I used two of the 3 balls of yarn in the samples above. The 3rd ball of yarn was used for a new scarf.

You can't forget about my new mug. Isn't it cute! On the handle and inside, it says," Knit One Sip One." The best thing of all is the color. Pink!

Colors

What colors do you like to spin or knit with??? I was my 20th batt for May and I wondering what colors others like. I like pinks, blues, and purples mostly. Other colors are OK to, but I usually go to the 3 above mentioned colors first. What are your choices?

I went to a sheep shearing Saturday. I forgot the camera, but I did wash some of the wool last evening. I am attaching a visual of Montdale wool. This wool has been cleaned, but you see that pasture pieces, (vegetable matter or VM), is still in the wool. Some will fall out when I comb the wool and some may come out when I spin the wool. I have even knitted with yarn that had little pasture pieces in it. Most is easily picked out when spun and/or knitted. Many little pieces of straw, grass, and hay are not even noticed until the wool has been picked open and combed.

Weekend Work

I made several wool batts this week and delivered them to Twist Yarn Shop. Several more will get there later this week. I also washed wool and spun some green/blue merino yarn. This yarn was home dyed, but processed in the mill. 1/2 that I spun were normally done and the other 1/2 was novelty spun with little twists left here and there, randomly.

The Scarf is Growing!

The scarf is finally growing a little. It is almosts done!

We took a trip to the country this last week end. Here is our country pictures.

Isn't this house beautiful!