Merino/Silk/Angora Roving and Handspun Coasters

It is been a busy couple of weeks around the Blarney Yarn household. We celebrated my birthday just over two weeks ago. I had a really great day! This was due, in part, to the thoughfulness of my sweetie. He took me to dinner and made me a cake (yellow cake with milk chocolate and dark chololate frosting!). He also gave me some wonderful fiber-related gifts, including one set of ebony Lantern Moon size 1 sock needles, an ebony Lantern Moon size 5, 24 inch circular needle, and "Luxury Knitting, The Ultimate Guide to Exquisite Yarns: Cashmere, Merino, Silk" by Linda Morse of String Yarns.

During the early part of October, a friend of mine from Washington, D.C. came to town for a few days during which she defended her dissertation. She passed with flying colors, and is now a Ph.D.! Her birthday is also in October, and I wanted to make her something using my handspun yarns. She works in an office with cubicles, and I thought it might be nice is she had some color to brighten her days. I decided to make two coasters, one using knitting and a fair isle pattern from "Beautiful Knitting Patterns" by Gisela Klopper, and one using a crocheted granny square pattern. The resulting coasters are pictured below. I will be sending these off to her this week.



Last week, I played around with dyeing some of my favorite fibers, including a delicious blend of 50% superfine merino / 30% bombyx silk / 20% angora. When you look at this fiber in the sunlight the silk sparkles like little diamonds. The merino gives loft to the spun yarn, and the angora gives your knitted or crocheted object a gentle halo. I dyed the fiber in my "Marbled Blush and Burgundy" colorway, which includes shades of red and brown. I left sections of the rovings undyed, which I feel results in handspun yarn that is gentle, yet sophisticated. These rovings are available online exclusively at La Petite Knitterie.



In other news, I am almost to the front of the line to be a beta-tester on Ravely.com (only 100 people in front of me now)! I might even receive my invitation today! I am really excited to join this community of knitters and crocheters around the world.