I finally finished my lace toe-up-socks project. It took quite some time. I am a slow knitter, but with this one, I also carded the raw cotton fiber and spun all the yarn using the drop spindle and charkha which I also constructed. Though, I could really use some help with my bind-off. Anyways, I did not have enough yarn when I started the project, so I carded, spun, and knitted as the project progresses. Thus, you might notice the three tones. The change in color tone indicates where I ran out of yarn. I dyed the yarn before spinning. I used avocado skin to make the natural dye. I really like the color. I did not use any mordant to really bind the dye to the fiber. But I think I read somewhere that I do not need to use a mordant since I am using a natural dye on a plant fiber. I just boiled the skin from one avocado and when the water was quite dark, I soaked my yarn for about two hours and hung it to dry overnight.
My cotton spinning has become finer, particularly when I used the charkha. Learning to spin at consistent thickness will probably take quite some time to master. I initially built a spinning wheel with a treadle, but it was not working smoothly, and I really needed more yarn, so I decided to make a charkha, and work my technology from the ground up. The charkha was really easy to construct and use. I can actually make a long draw with only one hand, which I can not do with my spinning wheel. Probably because I can not properly adjust the feed of the spool. Since I will be working mostly with cotton fiber, I will stick with the charkha for a while. The high speed charkha is ideal with spinning fine cotton thread or yarn.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.
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