Handspun!

Tactile Fiber Arts is having a contest, where you enter by sending them photos of something you knit with their yarn, or yarn you spun from their fiber. Recently I finished a bit of spinning (yeah, I need to blog that too), was trying to decide what to spin next, and figured that something that could enter me in a contest was cool. :) (And more time sensitive than my other spinning projects.) I had three blends to choose from:

50-50 merino silk, 50-50 merino tencel, and 50-50 merino yak, all in the colourway "Thunderstorm". I decided to start with the merino silk blend. Here's the singles in progress:

I had been warned about "crocking" (excess dye coming off on my hands), and boy, did it ever! Hee hee:

I felt like Violet Beauregard, or perhaps Smurfette. Thankfully, a bit of soap and water took care of the blue, and no pressing was necessary. ;) When I chain-plied the yarn, it also crocked on my pants where it rubbed:

but a trip through the laundry cleaned up that too.

Here's the finished yarn with flash:

and in daylight: