Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Silk Carrier Rod Yarn

The carrier rods: picture here

How I dyed them: click here

The rolags:

Rolags from silk carrier rod fiber.





















The yarn:

Yarn from dyed silk carrier rods.












This was a lot of fun to spin. The fiber length for the rods was about an inch, but I had about a dozen cocoons stuck in the rods, for which the fiber length can be more than an arm’s length! I cut this as I could and spun mostly long draw, but had to work the long cocoon fibers in the inch worm fashion. The hand and luster of the finished yarn are lovely.

My problem is that I am compiling quite a collection of yarns from the various forms of silk, each yarn only about an ounce. Not that the collection of itself is a problem, but I am wondering what to do with it all. I would like to not see these yarns end up in a tub or a drawer, I want to use them for something!

Related Posts:
Guess the Objects
Silk Carrier Rods

5 comments:

m said...

I know that problem. Put them on display somewhere and one day the ideal project will come to mind. At least you will have fun puzzling it out while getting to sleep at nights.

Valerie said...

How about small tapestries like Kathy Wishnie's at http://www.mountainweaver.com/blog/ ?
Or there's Sara Lamb's cut pile weavings w/ silk.

Or weave a bunch of squares on a Weave-it loom and use the squares to make something (a bag, a vest, a wall hanging?)

With yarns, the possiblities are endless!

Very nice spinning, Leigh.

Sheila said...

For me, the planning of a project is the most exciting part, so I think you are in the best position right now...oh, the possibilities. I love all parts of fiber projects, but I seem to have the most energy when I'm in the planning stage, and don't usually sleep much at the time.
I like Valerie's idea of weaving small squares and them assembling them into something larger.
As far as the hand-cranked circular knitting machine goes, you can Google "sock knitting machine" and get links to all the big restorers, and Ebay has a constant stream of them on auction. There are yahoo groups for them, too, and these are a great resource for learning about the machines. There are also 2 people making new machines (as of this month), and you can read about them on the yahoo groups. One is "sockknittingmachinefriends", and the other is "sockknittingmachines". The files on these 2 lists are invaluable, so if you get serious about buying one, read through them and you'll learn a ton of good stuff. The machines are expensive if restored, so I bought mine un-restored and cleaned it up myself. You have to be careful though, as if you do it that way you may get a machine that is missing a part or has incompatible parts.
Good luck- I love mine!!

Jackie said...

How about weaving scarves? You can find yarns of comparable size in a colour that compliments your yarns. Use your beautiful silks in stripes in the warp and use a neutral coloured weft. I do this quite a bit when I have precious yarns that I want to use.

Laritza said...

Woven scarves or a hap shawl you have more than enough for one for sure.