Spring brings out my love of pastels and light neutrals. This trend is obvious in both my stash enhancement and my spinning of late. Remember the pretty Ginkgo Shawl I raved about for Inspiration Saturday? Well, last week, BMFA was having a crazy sale on Silkie STR (25% off!) and I saw these colors and how could I resist?
The first and second skeins (Single Cell Dating Pool and What’saabi) will become the Ginkgo Shawl. The third skein, Siren Song, is destined to become a summery scarf, perhaps the Montego Bay Scarf (which I’ve had queued for pretty much my entire knitting life). If you haven’t knit with it before, Silkie STR is a blend of 81% superwash merino and 19% silk, which gives the skeins that fun barberpole effect that knits up with a gently heathered look. It’s going to be difficult not to wind these up and cast them on immediately!
And then my dear friend and knitterly-partner-in-crime Katy informed me of a truly astounding sale on the Miss Babs website: undyed Merino/yak/silk DK weight yarn at a crazy destash price. Miss Babs was destashing them because she had decided the yarn base didn’t really fit into her inventory and I just couldn’t resist such a luxury yarn. Amazing. It’s all gone now, which is for the best because actually feeling it made me want to stash even more. It’s a really interesting shade of natural grey with a slight tan undertone. It will become a sweater sometime in August, which is when Katy and I decided we’d force each other to finally knit some sweaters. Yay!
I didn’t want the yak blend to get lonely so a braid of Merino/Tussah silk fiber came along for the ride, as well. I wanted some fine fiber to mess around with on my supported spindle after I finish the angora I’m spinning. What angora, you say?
After I finished a little test skein on my new spindle I began using it to spin up an ounce of prime plucked angora (bunny fur) that I had gotten at the New England Fiber Festival in the fall. Angora is… interesting to spin. It is very light and fluffy and not grippy at all. The ends stick out everywhere. It doesn’t draft particularly easily… yet, I’m still enjoying it. It’s new to me and it’s an excellent candidate for supported spinning. I think it would probably be hellish on a drop spindle or wheel. It definitely requires patience and lots of park-and-draft. Depending on how much yardage I get out of my little ounce, I’d like to ply it with a few plies of pretty purple Shetland fiber dyed by Porpoise Fur. I think it will make a lovely yarn.
I’ve been slowly savoring my Nunoco batt spinning for the Jenkins “Just Batty” challenge. The deadline for this is in June but I’m not in a hurry. I like spinning batts and I’m getting the hang of neatly winding on to a Turkish spindle. It takes more time than I’d like to wind on neatly but it sure looks pretty.
So those are all the pastels in my life right now. What about you? Do you go through color phases?
I might have indulged in a Babar themed pastel skein from Canon Hand Dyes. It isn’t often that pastels get to me but this skein was a pastel rainbow! I can’t wait for it to come so I can knit it up.
Beachglass is such a fantastic Babs color way. I have a pair of socks knit out of it and it looks like dappled sunlight in a forest.
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Ooooh, that sounds so pretty!
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That Nunoco is hypnotizing. And I love when sales just make it illogical *not* to add to your stash.
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I like the way you think! š
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It’s a good thing that I found out about the Miss Babs destash after it was over.
Lovely yarns, both purchased and spun!
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I think I typically stick to the same colors and don’t really go through phases, but sometimes I do feel like something different. I just started to work on winding on the Turkish neatly, it does take a little bit longer, but I love how it looks! I am also working on supported spindling … cotton right now.
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Cotton is one fiber I haven’t tried yet but would like to!
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