The Rose Top fiber sample was nice to spin, and working up the swatch projects was satisfying. Even though this fiber is produced in a similar way to Tencel, only using rose stems and leaves rather than wood pulp, I found this easier to handle.
I spun this Egyptian cotton sample on an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel fitted with a high speed whorl. Egyptian cotton has a longer staple length so is less inclined to form pills. It was nice to spin and worked up into the swatches well.
I enjoy spinning cotton, but is definitely a sitting activity, either on a wheel, or with a tahkli spindle. I also avoid wearing black, as the small fibers accumulate everywhere.
The next completed fiber study page is for Tencel. Tencel is made from wood pulp and the combed fiber is shiny and silky looking, but it is not easy to draft consistently. I want to like it because it is made from waste product, but it fought me when I was spinning. Maybe it would be better if it were blended with something. Blending fibers is another whole rabbit hole.
Despite the difficulties spinning, my swatches are more rectangular and less skewed than with other fibers. I block most of my swatches, but the Tencel really benefitted from being wet and reshaped.
When we hide rocks for the Kindness Rocks project, we put some simple instructions on the back. I wanted to put something similar on my worry worms. I started with a scarf idea, with a simple slit for the attachment and words burned into man-made felt. After a couple tests, I thought the scarf looked more like wings, so changed my design in Adobe Illustrator, saved it as an SVG, and imported it in my laser cutter’s program.
I just love their little wings! I did find it interesting that the thin stencil font was easier to read than a bold stencil.
I took these to my regional chorus competition and my chorus had a great time “hiding” them for other competitors to find.
I had left over yarn from my glowing jellyfish hat, so I made glow worms! These are a glowing version of my worry worms.
I did enter them in the Lion brand Show us your Glow contest by tagging the picture in Instagram, but did not do a social push because I wanted my friends and family to vote for the jellyfish. Neither made the top 10, but there were some spectacular entries with serious time investment and large social backing. I do have my patterns available for free for the worry worm, and the jellyfish hat!
Critters and Craft 