Saturday, July 04, 2009

Recent Spinning

From Portland Fiber Gallery and Weaving Studio. This was a gorgeous, soft, superwash merino and seacell blend roving, hand-dyed in a coorway called "Ocean Breeze." 8.55 ounces of roving yielded 748 yards of 2-ply yarn. It's kind of a heavy fingering weight, about 2 wraps per inch. I had never tried seacell before. Fabulous stuff!
This one came from my friend Sue at RI Handspun. Alpaca, mohair, silk and a bit of angelina for sparkle. It spun up like a dream. 4.85 ounces yielded 286 yards of 2-ply, again in a sort of thick fingering weight. I love the woodsy colors in this!
Last but not least is the yarn I made up from about half of the samples from my June Phat Fiber box, mixed with some black roving I had on hand. I think it will end up being a hat. I think I want to try doing the heavier version of Boho Knitter Chic's wonderful slouch beret, Sweet Georgia. (I featured my lighter weight version in my last blog post.)I did end up washing and blocking my Sweet Georgia snood after all, and it fits and drapes even better than it did before its bath.

And I have to let any snood fans know about Distinctive Hair Coverings! This lady does beautiful work. My favorite thing purchased from her so far is something she calls a "scarf gripper." It is a simple, elasticized velvet band which, when applied with the nap facing in the proper direction, holds your hair back without slipping, AND keeps your snood/hat/scarf in place ALL DAY LONG! No barrettes or clips needed. I put the band on, then my head covering du jour, and I don't have to even think about it again until I am ready to remove my head covering for sleeping.

The passion for head coverings is partially spiritual, but mostly due to the fact that I have Big Hair and don't like to braid it or bun it or ponytail it. I like it to hang somewhat loose, so it doesn't give me headaches. I know, I could cut it, but I really don't want short hair at this point in my life. Not sure why. I have had very short hair in the past and liked it, but...I just don't want it that way now. I also do not want my longer, fuller, wilder hair in my eyes, up my nose, in my mouth while I'm eating dinner...you get the idea.

Oh, and it's also a nuisance flying around when I'm drumming. I can't drum and itch my nose at the same time. I'm just not that co-ordinated.

So, I'm experimenting with head coverings. And I like the way they look, and the way they make me feel.

Sweet Georgia is my favorite pattern of all so far. Watch this space for the next editions thereof!

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