Yarn experiment

This yarn is something that I have wanted to try for a few years. Now that my kids are all in school, I am getting to a lot of projects that have been waiting in the wings. I haven't been spinning much this year, and it is great to have some time to do it.

One ply of this handspun yarn is Bluefaced Leicester wool from Louet, the other ply is silk, from predrafted silk hankies. Both plies are softly spun, and a bit fuzzy, with the wool being much to loose in some places. The yarn is very soft. I have wanted to see the sheen of the silk next to the wool texture. It is a nice contrast in this yarn, but the silk has quite a bit of texture on its own, because of the preparation. I will have to try it again with a silk brick and more twist to maximize the difference.

I waited to dye the yarn until after it was plied. I wanted to see how the different fibers reacted in the same dye bath. I know that silk has a strong affinity for dye, but it was very interesting what happened. I was using a roasting pan (that I use only for dying) and I heated the water, vinegar, and yarn up to just below boiling. Then I poured the fuschia dye in- but only in certain spots. At that temp the dye usually strikes fairly quickly and you can get some great effects. After the fuschia, I added some blue in other spots. Instead of getting pink spots and blue spots, I got pink silk and blue wool. Very few areas look truely purple, which is surprising...

Here may or may not be a lovely picture of the dyed yarn. I have been having some trouble uploading the picture, and currently can only see the dreaded "x". I will try again tomorrow.