Sunday, August 13, 2006

Cotton and Crap!

OK, Sara, how much cotton did I get from that plant? Not freakin' enough, as you can see by the photo. Because it grew in a pot the bolls were a little stunted, plus this type of cotton has a higher seed-to-lint ratio. So I got that little bit of cotton and something like 30 seeds per boll.

I don't have a drum carder so I use hand cards. I've tried blending on the ones at school and I can't do crap with it, so I toddle on home and whip out the hand cards and spend a couple days meditatively blending wimpy little bits of color with other little bits. All the bolls weren't the same shade of brown so I got nice, streaky batts.

The little metal thingy is my takli spindle that I learned to spin on; it's 7 1/2 inches long. It's a brass support spindle used to spin cotton in India so you can get really thin singles. What's on there now is basically one-ply sewing thread. This is why I can't seem to handle drop spindles very well because I keep wanting to spin thread and thread won't hold up a drop spindle. If I want bulky I'll use my wheel, dammit.

I was going to crochet something itty-bitty but I haven't decided on anything suitably (psychotically) teeny yet. I could crochet a garter or something since I've got a handful of old patterns for those, but I could go completely off the deep end and ply about 12 strands and make rope.

Bluestocking wool/recycled denim blend. Makes a nice streaky yarn and it'll hopefully be warm enough for this lace undies set and be a lot less itchy that 100% wool. Nobody needs to be scratching their butt in public.

Maybe. I could still change my mind by the time I've spun it all up and make stockings or eight pairs of socks or something.

Maybe one freaky, ginormous, blue glove.

Silk brick, or what's left of one, for the Dainty Knickers I've for some reason decided would be just peachy keen to wear.

I'll have to order some dyes since no way in hell do I think fleshtoned undies are anything resembling hot stuff.