soysilk

Did some experimenting with soysilk today, carefully painted on the colors and tried steam setting. So much of the color ran out! went from much bolder coloring to a pastel. Pretty, but not what I was aiming for!
This is what I was aiming for : (this lovely lilac-breasted roller was photographed by hvhe1 here)
And I managed a very nice approximation, but unfortunately the dye didn't set properly. I seem to have this problem with soysilk, it require abnormal amounts of vinegar to set colors! Now I have a pretty pastel top that doesn't have quite the same coloration as the bird. I'm debating touching up the blues; its lovely as a pastel, but I think bolder blues might make it really pop. This is it in the pot, resetting. I really do love how soysilk looks, its just such a pain to dye.

My recent spinning

I've been doing some spinning the last little while, trying to go back to making a thicker single. Working with two materials, East Friesian, a coarser downy type wool, which I'm plying and making into a foot rug, and merino - I don't know what I'm doing with those singles yet.

The first yarn I made for the rug was a bunch of colors, with a predominance of green and browns that was then plied back on itself
after a few more yarns were spun, this is the rug so far
a bit lopsided in this shot, but it tugs out to a more normal shape well, so blocking should help :)
The two green balls here are the next yarns to be plied and crochet into this rug - but I still haven't decided If I should overdye before or after plying. overdying will set the twist, so dying after plying should be better that way, but aesthetically I think I'd like a higher contrast between the plies.
The pink and blue is a merino roving that was originally supposed to be a bluebird colorway, but I just couldn't wait to pour the dye on. sigh. so instead of a bit of red, there is a lot of pink, however I'm quite happy with the spinning, 6oz of a lovely thick and thin using longdraw teqniques, testing out the spindle I sent to my8kidsmom, of course.Prior to this pink and blue, I also spun up some other merino in the same fashion, on a slightly heavier spindle, and I like the colors much more! and its oh so smooshy! <3
lastly, heres some of the merino/cashmere/nylon top (the same material I sent to my swap partners) I grabbed, It was an absolute dream. I also spun this on the spindle I sent to my swap partner. You know, see if it was half decent for a thiner yarn as well as a thicker one :3 Its less than an ounce, but I didn't want to stop spinning this lovely material. I'll have 2oz of this same colorway up in my store soon, along with a coordinating color soon.

I'm also currently crocheting a cardigan that is gorgeous, but I'm finding the pattern could use a lot of work unfortunately, so I have to keep redoing and altering parts. I should take a photo soon!