Olds Level 5

Today is the middle day of the week of Olds Master Spinner Level 5 program. Luckily for us it's being held very close to home this year - just a few minutes away for me. Our teacher is Donna Rudd who flew in from Alberta for us. She has a lot of experience judging fibre animals and teaching.

The first day we spun a few samples of new to us fibres. To name but a few: nylon, tencel, lyocell, seacell, polyester, hemp and more that I can remember at the moment.
We prepared for dye day and covered all the information needed to start on our fibre reactive dye adventure.
It's been a great week so far and yesterday was 'dye day'. These days always seem a little hectic, only because we have to do all the dye projects in one day in the dye room. Typical for weather for S. Ontario, it was humid and very warm. When it came time for our fibres to cure in a warm place, we wrapped them up and put them in the greenhouse where they 'cooked' quite nicely.
Here are some interesting rainbow colours I made. The first one is a ramie roving. The small sample skeins are 2 ply linen.

Ramie roving sample. Rainbow. Fibre Reactive.

 

Linen sample skeins. Variegated. Fibre Reactive.

A Cowl

The project right now is a knitted cowl using a fingering weight yarn I have used for socks. A simple pattern that uses yarn overs, straight knitting & knit two together. The result is a pattern where the stitches appear to change direction. 

When finished it will easily be worn around my neck or pulled to cover my head in cold winter weather. 

True - it's spring but it's a nice little project anytime for a gift. 

It also has a pretty picot edge. 

Enjoying my time

Just what I need - another pair of sox!

Level 5 of the Master Spinner program is slated for May 2014 so as soon as it starts there will be no spare time. I am so looking forward to beginning again. Teacher will be Donna Rudd for Olds College, Alberta.