Knitting, dying, and fuzz processing

It's been about two weeks since I last posted (sorry). Life often gets in the way of fun. My most recent “life in the way” thing is that my refrigerator is holding steady a little above room temperature. Items in the freezer are still rock solid, so I’m guessing it’s a fan or flapper valve issue. Monday the repair guy will tell me.

I've had time to work on my circular shawl, and I’m just about at the half way point as far as length goes. This does not mean I’m halfway as far as total number of stitches. It’s gonna take forever from here – it’s 56 stitches per section x 12 sections. And then I still have to do the lace edging. Nice progress though.

I have some examples of what mohair looks like during the scouring process.

First some raw mohair:
Actually prettier and easier to work with than raw fleece. Sheep have fluffier fuzz, and it seems to attract filth and VM (veggie material). The mohair is slick like silk and the locks are very well defined, so maybe that allows the filth to fall off.

Now scouring:
I go through the raw mohair to remove second cuts, obvious VM, and any filthy locks that would be annoying to scour. Then I heat water in my dye pot on the stove to between 60° C (140° F) and 77° C (170° F). I dump the water into the sink and add Dawn dishwashing liquid until very blue (I know, I should do a water to detergent ratio, but I’m lazy). I sprinkle the locks over the surface and watch that it sinks. I put another pot of water on the stove and entertain myself for a while (at least 30 mins).

When I’m no longer entertained, I dump the second pot of hot water in the other side of the sink, don my nitrile gloves and cotton liners, and squish the locks a bit under the water – just a bit! My limited observation has shown that the less crimp/coil in the locks, the more likely they’ll entangle and yield a huge fuzz ball. When done squishing, I pull out some locks, squeeze them free of water, and drop them in the fresh water. Repeat until all mohair is removed (this gets kinda complex because the scour water becomes opaque and I have to dredge for fuzz).

After the mohair soaks in the fresh water for about 30 mins, I take it out and squeeze out the excess water, put it in mesh bags, and let it soak in the washer a la the “scouring in the washer” method. Another 30 mins later, I hit the spin cycle, retrieve my bags, and fluff up the mohair on a towel to dry. (This is some I dyed in the wool as well as the new kid mohair I got this past Monday!)

Since the drying photos were so grainy (my camera didn’t do the flash thing, but there wasn’t really enough light in the laundry room), I took some of the Jacquard dyed locks outside so you can see just how bright the color is and what a crazy sheen the mohair has.

I’m planning to dye a few more lots and blend it with another color to spin. I spun some of the more coarse mohair with a definite overspin so that when I ply it, it won’t disintegrate. I really like the fine singles I’m getting, but I think it might be more stable/strong if it were plied.

I’d like to make another item out of Victorian Lace Today – the Cap Shawl. It takes 1700 m of yarn, so I’ll be spinning for quite a while. I might cheat and go to the yarn shop in Encinitas and get a couple hanks of their mohair, but it might be too fuzzy and quite pricy (I’ve said it before, they’re really proud of their stuff). Then again, Rowan Kidsilk Haze isn’t cheap.

Remember how I got some seacell from eBay? It came in the other day, and is very similar to the other non-protein “silks” (Ingeo, bamboo) only it smells a bit like low tide. I’m gonna pretend that will wash out at some point. And the other fiber I forgot to mention is flax (linen). I assume that ramie and hemp would feel about the same, and cotton would be kinda difficult with its short staple.

Non Fiber Stuff
So I might be getting a cold, or maybe the first hints of bronchitis again – a sore throat for a week, an earache for a few days, and some coughing. I really want to take a nap, but the mohair and knitting are such fun. There are a variety of stressers at work, and a few at home, plus I’m trying to lose weight (dieting for a week, but too lazy to exercise), so I have no idea why I would be getting sick all the time.

My passport finally came in! Everyone says it doesn’t look like me – of course not! I actually did my hair and wore makeup for the picture! Figured if I were going to be trapped with that for a decade, it might as well look nice.

And here's Kona:

She's not dead, she's just baking in the sun. Right now, she's savoring the air conditioned bliss of the couch, but I'm sure she'll wake soon and want to bake again.