unicornduke | November Crafting Update and December Goals

November crafting goals

spin alpaca, skein, wash and label yarns - spun another bobbin of alpaca, ~10 of 24oz spun. Didn't do the other stuff. Did finish the singles of my traveling spindle project which has been on the spindle for at least two years now. Almost forgot about the merino roving whoops. I spun up and plyed about 8 oz of merino blend roving to make mittens for my sister for Christmas, details below
knit on sweater - knitted some
crochet mittens - finished one mitten, working on the second. I need to figure out how I'm going to add the fleece lining
chart tablet woven bands for gifts, finish current band and start gift bands - I think I worked on it a bit but haven't finished the current band or done the other stuff
warp new weaving project - warped, threaded, sleyed and weaving! I'm about halfway done the actual weaving and it looks cool as hell but I'm going to wait to post pictures until I finish
process fleece - worked on the mohair which is now at the top of the line
wash one sheep fleece and the mohair fleece - done! I washed a merino fleece without felting it at all and the mohair fleece (mohair fleece needed so many rinses)
Work on jacket - quilted the jacket pieces but stalled out when I realized I don't own sewing scissors and need to get some to cut through the three layers.

Only one photo this time since I didn't really finish much.
This is the merino blend roving. I got it as a gift from my mom two or so years ago. I don't actually know where she got it but it's very commercial top blend of merino and like, bamboo or silk or something. Not my taste. I spun another similar blend that she got me into yarn that I gave away to a friend. But Z liked the color and I like a challenge so I spun it up. The mittens are going to be fingerless mitts so Z can use them at work, so they also need to be durable, unlike merino blends which are soft and pill and make a mess. So I took the two ply Coopworth that I spun up extremely fine and hard, and spun it into the singles with a lot of twist to give it strength and structure. I knitted a couple of rows to make sure it would retain enough elasticity (it did) and then spun the rest and have started knitting already. The merino blend mostly had the coopworth embedded in it, not like a corespun or coiled yarn. It's basically impossible to see because it's black and the blend is so dark. You also can't feel it in the plyed yarn which is super cool. The yarn is slightly thicker than worsted so I'm making a lot of progress on the mittens very quickly (for me). Lots of ply twist and I narrowly won bobbin chicken. If the mittens start to have wear, it should just be the merino blend that wears off but the structural integrity of the mittens should be fine because of the coopworth inside, so it should be easily re-lined if it all wears away.

A super squishy squashy bobbin of yarn. It is a dark, shimmery purple black color.