I have been spinning, about an hour a day over the past few weeks.

I spun this beauty from a hand painted roving purchased from the Western Australia guild yarn cupboard and created by “woolgatherings”.  I had been hoping to work with local Australian products, but I found out later, that this is an American company that does small batch dyeing.   Kind of ironic to come this far and still be purchasing American.  Still it was a lovely roving to spin from.  The fibre is 50% Merino wool, 25% Bamboo, 25% Silk.  I wanted a challenging colour-way and this was definitely it.  The colours ranged from a dark red-brown, through light brown to pale yellow to pale green to turquoise.  Colours that may not exactly go together.  I split the roving lengthwise, spun two bobbins of singles, and then plyed them together for a medium weight 2 ply.  The colours matched up pretty well, with very little barber-pole effect.  The next challenge will be what to create with the yarn – knit or weave?  Any suggestions?

Next I worked with some Tussah Silk roving, and dyed small handfuls in bright vibrant colours – blue, green, and red-purple.  I spun each colour separately, except the blue-green, which has very long colour runs.  The purple was a half-brick and has some subtle colour variations.  The resulting yarn is a fine 2-ply.  My plan for the silk is to weave an interesting fabric and then sew something three-dimensional from it, maybe a treasure box, or a fabric vase.  Fallback would be to make a scarf.