On the fringes

The shawl is off the loom.  Because the handspun really wasn't stable enough to leave the fringe without twisting, I dragged out my beloved fringe twister and had a long fringe twisting session.  It took me about 3 hours to twist the fringes.  While I cannot in anyway say I really like the process, I love how much easier the little fringe twister makes the job.  318 ends, x 2 (because there were 2 shawl ends) 6 threads in each fringe - made for a long evening.    The next morning I was up insanely early, so I popped it in the washer and wet finished it, spun it out and set it in front of the fire to dry.   The shawl turned out very soft, with the patterning slightly more subtle than I'd anticipated.  When held together, the grey and the white showed a fair bit of contrast, although when woven, obviously not quite so much.  It's still pretty.  Finished size, without fringes, is 28 wide by 80 long.

Then, with the possibility of the Olds College Level 3 Master Spinner course coming up this spring, I dragged out my carders, whipped up a bunch of rolags and practiced my long draw.  I figure now is the time to practice a few of the skills I don't use as often.   The roving is still from that huge batch of Dyer's Knotweed dyed up ages ago.  These bits were from the Merino roving, guessing from the staple length on the carders.  The blue is really almost that deep and gorgeous.  I'm finally getting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the blue roving, but I don't think any more of it is close to this shade of blue.

Now to decide on the next project for the loom.  I have some fine merino wool, some silk/wool blend which is a little thicker, some heavier blanket weight wool and a bunch of 2/8 cotton.    Then of course is the 25, 10 yard skeins of white yarn needed for the master spinner dye class.  I should probably get started on that too!