Exchanges and Swaps

This is the first formal exchange that I ever participated in. Called "Blue Funk," it is part of an ongoing swap on the Spin2KnitSocks list at Yahoogroups.com. The exchange took place February 2003 and was supposed to be a hand spun, hand dyed interpretation of a blue funk. I dyed the Corridale roving for this skein in a canning kettle on my stove and then spun and Navajo plied the yarn. About 1 ounce.

Above is the dyed fiber and finished skein from the second S2KS exchange entitled "March Madness." I dyed more of the Corridale rovings and then spun and Navajo plied. Shades of green, of course. These experiments in dyeing really taught me to love the unpredictable results that I get from the "seat-of-the-pants" method that I prefer.

This is my first book mark exchange with the Knitted-Lace list (knittedlace.com). I spun the silk for this book mark on a cherry spindle from Caroline at atwistonwood.com. It came out thicker than I wanted it to, but I've been practicing and the next one is coming out just the way I like it! I got the pattern at heartstringsfiber.com in the free pattern section. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

This is the book mark I received in exchange from Cherilyn in Canada. She bought the cotton thread on a trip she made to Turkey. Never having been anywhere in my life, this just makes it extra special to me! Thanks, Cherilyn.

I dyed this purple and orange fabric using the cup method from "Dyeing to Quilt." I discovered that I love to dye fabric! In fact, a couple of the orange pieces are actually old, stained dishtowels that I couldn't resist perking up <G> I see a lot more dyeing in my near future.

And here are the FQs I got back in this exchange! Aren't they great? The darker colors will eventually find their way into a large quilt project that is still in the planning stages and the lighter ones will be turned into small, zippered bags to carry all of my little knitting things with their projects - you know, those things that are always getting lost, like scissors, tape measure, tapestry needle, etc. I'll post pics when I get them finished.

Here's J.C. posing with the yarn I sent into another Sheep Thrills exchange - a Welsh, worsted weight, very dark brown yarn. This yarn is a little on the rough side, but since the exchange was for sock yarn, I thought that this would make some really great "rustic" socks for hiking or for a "manly-man".

This is the yarn I got back from Angi in Ohio. It's spun from Beast roving and will soon (I hope!) be knit up into some great winter socks for me, me, me!

My second bookmark exchange. More handspun blue silk yarn, the pattern is Pearl-Barred Scallop. This is the finest silk yarn that I've spun to date, but I'm going for even finer!

This wool bookmark from Liz in CA is an edging pattern that she added a nice triangle onto the end of to make it symmetrical. What a great idea! I'll be "borrowing" this one in the near future!