As the Spindle Turns . . .

Part of the process in dyeing yarn is to wash it afterwards to remove the excess dye. I like doing it on a sunny day so the yarn dries nicely afterwards. I have a wire rack I drape it over. It gets put in a nice sunny spot. If the dye is fugitive, I will know very quickly. In the case of the logwood, it did not fade one bit, not even going from wet to dry. Sometimes wet yarn looks a deeper shade.

The rack was outside the kitchen window. Honestly I'd forgotten it was there. As I was going about making lunch, I had to go into the fridge next to that window. Out of the corner of my eye, you know the spot if you wear glasses, where the lens isn't, I caught what looked like a black poodle. I jumped then looked again. It was the wool. Startled me to no end. No one in the neighborhood has a black poodle. The second time it did this, I went out and moved the rack.

I started on logwood and cotton. Some friends had been experimenting with logwood and linen. I love the shade they got. I thought I'd give it a go.The saturation looks good. I'll know more after it's washed and dried. Right now it is the color of denim from decades ago. You know, that dark, deep navy blue that slowly fades. I expect the cotton will turn out a bit heathery, at least I hope so. More pictures when it dries. Storms coming in today with lightning so I'll be offline the rest of the day. I have a lot of yarn to wind.

Have a good weekend!

Ursula Central is my dining room. This is where the magic occurs. I take bulky cones of yarn and turn them into colorful jewels of wonder. Some of you may have seen the shelves of cones at Gulf Wars. They arrived late, much to late to become the 2 oz. ball you've come to know and hopefully love. Today is a day for making magic.

It starts with the cones. My favorate supplier makes Astra, in way more colors than the rainbow. Today I'm playing with 3/2 cotton. Many people ask what does that 3/2 mean? The simple answer is that 3 is a thickness and 2 is the ply. It's also refered to as lea or line. For cotton, it means that a constant of 840 is multiplied times 3 and divided by 2 to give a standard number of yards in a pound. In this case, it's 1260 yards in one pound. All 3/2 cotton should have the same number of yards in a pound no matter who makes it.

Confusion steps in (All hail Eris) when I sell 10/2 cotton. The box stores (JoAnn's, Michael's, etc) sell #10 cotton. It's not the same. It took some digging. #10 Cotton is really a three ply or a 10/3, not a 10/2. Different yardage. 10/2 cotton is much thinner than 10/3. My 5/2 cotton is closer if you are trying out a crochet pattern.

Back to the magic. I have a certified, very expensive scale. The cone goes on. The yarn gets wound to an exact weight. If there is a knot, sometimes I stop and cut it (this is where yarn samples come from) and other times I let it go but give you a bit more yarn. Federal law allows manufacturers to leave up to three knots per pound. Even modern machinery gets cranky sometimes. I have had whole cones be bad. I pull that yarn for my own projects if its salvagable. I wait until the manufacturer is on a different batch, maybe three months down the road, and then reorder. I can't begin to tell you how sad it is to throw away 8 ounces or more of chopped up and tied yarn. It happens. Think of combing your hair when humidity is low in the winter versus untangling it in high humidity. Those poor machines deal with raw fibers under both conditions. (A moment of silence will be observed for the dead but not forgotten yarn)

Today I have not encountered any problems. (Knock on wood) After winding a center-pull ball of yarn, I chose to secure it so it doesn't become tangled or unwind in transit. I take old envelopes and cut them up into strips and tape them into place. After I finish quite a few balls, I argue with a cantankerous old printer to spit out labels. It will only spit out two sheets of labels before they are illegible. Then the printer must cool down before being used again. I write down pertinent information, such as color and dyelot. Part of the yarn gets set aside for etsy and part goes into my display for shows. And thus magic is made! Now its up to you to make more magic by turning the yarn into something else.