from bobbin to yarn.

i took this the other day as i was spinning up some stash fiber that i have always thought was lovely, but not particularly exciting. i'm crazy for rovings and tops that seem like they'll have unexpected results when spun. this ... it seemed one-note to me, so i let it languish in my "to spin" basket.

knowing that i could get in both fine spinning and navajo plying practice before starting a project that i don't want to mess up, i pulled out the 8oz braid of this unnamed fiber and split it in half. i figured i'd do 4oz of practice now, and either save the rest for later or list it on etsy or whatever if i didn't like the way it came out.

so i had only that much of the bobbin filled when i felt compelled to take a picture, because the shimmer of the seacell really enhanced the soft, gradual color shifts, and actually ...? i was starting to like it!

i'm always such a poo-poo doubter. what can i say? at least i will readily admit when i was totally wrong about something, and that i am, in fact, impressed. like right now. ready for the finished yarn?

i admit it! i was soooo wrong about this fiber, and am a total jackass. it turned out beautiful!!

i'm also not one to toot my own horn, but how can i not right now? when i first started spinning, i never thought that i would be able to achieve such a level of spinning proficiency. but my evenness, consistency, balance, and navajo ply have become something to write home (or blog?) about. i'm pretty good! and pretty proud of myself. thumbs up, self.

enjoy one more photo of this gorgeous yarn. 70/30 merino/seacell. navajo plied, 240 yards, 13wpi.

finished yarn from yesterday.

this is the finished yarn from yesterday! isn't it amazing?

while i was spinning it, i was sitting there worrying that it was going to be uneven the whole time. i was trying really hard to spin a little thicker than i have been, but that didn't happen for me. usually i kind of just settle into whatever the fiber feels like it wants, and this merino/seacell blend always feels to me like it wants to be thin, so i was trying to break away from that for once. not this time! but anyway, there were several weird chunky, neppy kinds of spots in the roving that were causing all of these slubs. it was my fault for not pulling them out beforehand, because i came across them while i (uncharacteristically) pre-drafted before i started spinning. they totally looked like they would smooth out, but like 90% of them wouldn't, ugh! so it was kind of annoying but i got it all under control while spinning the singles, and when it came time to ply, it was easy going.

the finished yarn ended up being 4oz/294 yards, 2-ply, 14wpi. i love it!

also, what's the deal with my phone taking such great photos? it's like phone cameras suddenly had this exponential improvement in quality over the past couple of years. i might get lazy and start taking my etsy pics with my phone camera on this nice table in the dining room... at least i won't have to wait until a special 2 hour window of time when the sun is on the correct side of the house, like i do when i shoot in my office!

more finished yarn.

so i don't remember if i mentioned last time, but i was making room on my bobbins for that amazing yarnwench merino (which i cannot decide if i am going to 2-ply or 3-ply!), but i also wanted to get in a little practice before spinning it since i haven't spun in quite a while, so i am just spinning up all of this old stash i've had sitting around forever. first, i spun up this huge bobbin of rusty/gold/orange merino/seacell that i later intend to navajo ply. i wanted to regain my feel for consistency.

next, i chose a big ball of fiber that i had navajo plied half of a year or so ago, which ended up looking like this:

i felt kind of meh about the fiber at the time, so i used it for navajo practice, but the finished yarn came out really nice! so i figured i would 2-ply the other half to see what happened with the colors. watching that transformation from fiber to yarn is so delightful to me!

since i needed some practice spinning an even 2-ply after being a little rusty, i went back to that fiber since seacell/merino is my all-time favorite blend. honestly, when i first saw the full bobbins, i was feeling REALLY meh.

 

i don't know, i just wasn't feeling it. i couldn't see the vision. until ...

ah! as it spun up, the colors started mixing in interesting ways and actually ended up producing a really beautiful hank of yarn. here it is finished, on the niddy:

 

and the finale:

beautiful, right? like a subtle rainbow. 294 yards! i was really surprised by this one. i'll post some more photos once it has dried and bloomed. i'm especially excited to see the 2-ply and the navajo next to each other. 

ok bye!

soap test photos.

for me, the hardest part of making anything for sale is the photography part. i love taking pictures, but what i find aesthetically pleasing is not everyone else's cup of tea, and i'm always worried that i pick the weirdest shots of my stuff. i love the above shot, though. it reminds me of some kind of abstract modern art.

i always insist upon taking my photos in direct sunlight even though the universe seemed to agree at some point that it is ill-advised. i just love the bright whites and the deep shadows, and in the case of these "clear" soaps, the beautiful stained glass effect! (foreground to background: strawberry with strawberry seeds, watermelon, blood orange.)

while i was taking my photos, old lady came in to assist. she had been sleeping all day in my bed, which is in the back of the house, away from the sun. to wake herself up, she looked at me hatefully, then stretched her old tabby boots. she needs a little work before she'll be as great of an assistant as nick was, but she seems to enjoy the job.

back to my roots: a short history of my soaping adventures.

i started making soap again. i used to make and sell melt and pour a long time ago, and it was super fun and easy, but i stopped for whatever reason and never really picked it up again until very recently. it may not look like it, but i have the WORST skin!! so for the past 5-7 years probably, i've been going to this small soap shop about an hour or so from my house that sells really nice cold process soap in tons of different scents. their soap was great for me - nice, gentle, and creamy - but it was kind of annoying to have to drive down there to the shop all the time and spend a lot of money on something i was sure i could make for myself if i tried. so ... i did.

i toyed around with hot and cold process soapmaking this time last year and found a really great recipe for a nice, moisturizing bar full of cocoa and shea butter. a super moisturizing bar like that made in the cold process tends to be soft (melts quickly in the shower), so you have to wait forever for it to harden up suitably. life started happening to me then, so i put aside my soaping stuff to deal with it, accidentally boxing up and putting away my curing bars with the rest of my supplies. when i came back to soaping THIS year, i found that those forgotten bars were amazing! i swear, after using that soap for only 4 days i felt more of a textural difference in my skin than i had in a lifetime of buying expensive bath products. i knew i had to make more: some for myself, and the rest for my shop. other people really need to try this soap!

but oops ... forgot it takes friggin months for it to cure! shit. i felt totally pumped that the soap came out so nicely, but wanted something to fill my need for immediate gratification. that's when i remembered melt and pour! you make it and it's done and ready to package and use about 8 hours later. i liked that.

i thought since the cold process bars were so creamy and dense, it would be a neat contrast to make the melt and pour bars clear and light. the melt and pour base i chose was a clear one that performs like cold process. originally, i wanted to use the ultra clear base so that the bars would have glasslike quality, but i ended up choosing the one that performs like cold process for several reasons: one, the bars should last longer, two, reviews stated that this soap is creamier, softer, and more moisturizing than the ultra clear base, and three (most important of all, in my opinion), the ingredients in this base are simple and few. if a customer asked me what exactly the ingredients in the ultra clear base were, i didn't feel confident that i could explain what they were or if/why/how they would benefit their skin.

my cold process soaps are all bakery scented, so when i was choosing my fragrances for the melt and pour soaps, i picked scents that were more ... bright and refreshing. how did i choose which fragrances exactly i wanted to use? well, i love color. and then of course, the soap had to smell delicious! so i picked a rainbow of the freshest, brightest smelling fruit fragrances (for the most part) and clear soap dyes and got to work.

soap fragrances, by row:

strawberry, watermelon, blood orange

meyer lemon, pineapple cilantro, spring mix (smells like lettuce!)

bamboo teak, raspberry lemonade, grape soda

mid summer's night, coconut, dirt

about two weeks later, after everything is done, cured, and wrapped, here are my final melt and pour bars! most of them are already wrapped up and boxed, waiting for labels. these are just the ones i kept out to be cut into samples, for personal use, and for etsy photos. i'm pretty excited about them! some of the bars aren't fruit scents because when i ordered, i received some free fragrance samples that i ended up loving so much i just included them in the lineup. 

yay! now i'm off to design my wrappers and maybe spin some yarn.