This week:
- I dyed yarn. It was Knitpicks “Bare” superwash+nylon fingering/sock yarn. I dyed a third of the hank with Jacquard acid dyes “Gunmetal” and a third with food coloring (in a warm red+pink range). Despite having tried for solid colors, I ended up with a variegated monochrome for each. I think the idea of mixing the dye in a zip-top bag, then adding the yarn made for some really uneven dye transfer.
Since the dye is heat-set, possibly the painting method could be used— then the painted skein could be placed in the bag and sealed for its boil-in-bag setting. I was not disappointed in the results despite them being unanticipated. Serendipity. Plus it was a great learning experience for something I had never tried. I will say that the citric acid powder was significantly nicer to use than vinegar and the resultant yarn was a lot less reeky. - I have been hard at work on a felted oven mitt that I cross-bred with the Norwegian mitten in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac. The oven mitt pattern came from Knitpicks, sort of. Their 36 stitches of bulky-weight yarn required 2 circular needles or double-points. By adding another dozen stitches, I could freely use a single 16″ circ. I will felt it a bit more and that will be all to the good for an oven mitt which is trying to save someone’s fingers from pain.
- I spun the Pinedale merino heather fiber I bought from Carolina Homespun at a show, it came out well, but could have been nicer if I had waited until I had more experience. Of course one cannot get experience without trying new things. That fiber drafted very differently than anything else I had tried.
- My new fiber from Spunky Eclectic arrived! My black alpaca is here! I also got my first installment of the Spunky Fiber Club. It was an eyebrow-raising color.
- I spun thick singles and super-bulky weight yarn!
This is 4 ounces of Spunky Eclectic superwash merino in “Hotrod”. 
You cannot feel it from there, but it is some of the softest yarn I have ever touched. I should probably have a whole post about this. - I also made a small amount of triple-ply white yarn. It is lightweight, a sport-weight maybe, so you know how thin the singles must have been. I am impressed by how much rounder the cross section appears compared to the two-ply yarn. I also made more two-ply white. I am starting to need something to do with this stuff.
- I started the Eunny Jang “Endpaper Mitt” and frogged it immediately. I will need different needles.
Social accomplishments.
- This week I contacted my local spinning guild. They replied and seem accepting of those newly come to the spinning world.
- I contacted a knitting group which has the hope of being populated by creative people instead of the “overly sweetened coffee and cashmere” crowd which take over the “Stitch and B*tch” kinds of knitting groups. (I do not personally mind cursing, but other people have more sensibilities.)
- One of the people I sent wheel advice to wrote back and we are supposed to be doing a knit-along for one of those insanely complex Eunny Jang mitten patterns.
- Someone I wrote out of the blue was very friendly and invited me to spin with her.
