So, when I couldn’t get to a yarn store, I was trying to think about what I might have on hand to use for a hat for my mother-in-law. She requested a pink hat, in the hopes that it will give her face some color. I have a big ball of pink merino top that I’ve had for several years and haven’t known what to do with. It’s not my favorite shade of pink. It’s a cool pink, and if I may say, rather obnoxious. But it’s what I had, so I brought it up from the basement and stared at it for awhile, trying to think of what I could do with it that would be nice for my mother-in-law. As it happens, I’d cleaned out my knitting basket recently, and had a pile of bombyx and tussah silk top that I’d dyed mahogany still piled on the living room floor. I don’t remember what I dyed it for, sampling for something I’m sure. I decided to try to spin the merino into a slubbed single (lumpy thick and thin bits) and ply it with the silk, spun into a thin, even single.

It’s neat! I like it!

I plied it a bit weird, going back and forth to encase portions of the pink merino wool, and making “bumps” here and there of the silk. It reminds me of a medieval dress. Since my mother-in-law was on my mind, it made me think of Gueneviere, which is one of her favorite stories.

I ended up having to run the merino back through the spinning wheel to add more twist before I could ply it and it still could have used more twist. I used all three of my spinning wheels for this yarn. I made the slub on my Clemes, spun the silk on my Ashford Traditional, and plied them together with the wild flyer and big bobbin on my Majacraft Suzie. Clark “helped” by treadling the Clemes for me while I drafted the fibers out.

I’ve knit a swatch to get gauge and see how it feels.

Cool, huh?

It’s really, really soft and will be quite warm, but I’d imagine it’d be a bit breezy outdoors because of the inconsistency in the yarn thickness. It’s a bit wild and crazy for my mother-in-law, but I think she’ll like it. And if she doesn’t, I know someone who does… :-).

My brother met us at the yarn store on Saturday and bought two balls of Cashmerino Aran in different shades of pink for hats for my mother-in-law which is quite sweet of him, as he’s perpetually broke. But he likes her a lot and was happy to be able to do something for her.

My brother, Nate, and Veronica helped pick colors for that Log Cabin blanket I wrote about last week.

After drawing out about a dozen ways to arrange the colors, using colored pencils and paper, I’ve decided on one. I’m excited. It’s going to be really pretty. The girls are out of school the next two days, and I hope to get a good start on it, having them knit.

Liv finally finished her hat, knit with the yarn she spun from the wool she dyed way back whenever that was. Summer break, I think. It’s fabulous.

That’s it for today. I’m anxious to spin more slub yarn. It’s fast, fun, and gorgeous. I have two hand dyed fibers already that I think would look great spun up that way. Have no idea when I’ll get to it though…