# Stone Soup



## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

Several weeks ago I ordered a chain maille spindle from Blue Moon Alpacas on Etsy. Received it a few days later, fell in love with it. Ordered a second one. We will not go there. At any rate, I began to spin with the spindle with the bit of fiber that it was test spun with by the spindlemaker. Hunted through my stash of fiber, well, some of what's upstairs, and found a bag of rolags from a color blending workshop going from the primaries through the secondaries to a color rainbow that I'd not finished spinning. A thought occurred to me, since I could spin thread on this spindle to do a laceweight "stone soup" yarn for a shawl (I'd also changed my photo on FB to a picture of the Firmament shawl I'd knit a couple of years ago for one of the family's brides and gotten all kinds of flacks from my spinning friends about not having entered it in fairs) to use up some of those odd bits of fleece left from other projects, a couple of spinning challenge packets and other odd bits from workshops. I'm trying to plan the colors out on the fly, but what to ply this with, since I don't want to chain ply it, nor do I want to ply it back on itself. I have several ounces of straight cashmere, some cashmere/silk blend, a couple of braids of yak/silk, and several natural colors of shetland, llama and some alpaca. I'm also tempted to get some silk roving and spin that to ply with. Thoughts, comments, opinions?


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## Alpaca Farmer (Jan 19, 2011)

Alpaca and silk make a lovely blend. Sounds like you are in for a lot of fun.


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## wordancer (May 4, 2011)

Cashmere as I'm thinking to use cashmere for plying on my next spin.


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## BirchPoint (Feb 12, 2016)

A solid color ply will slightly mute the different colors you are using, but by bringing one color through the whole skein, makes it appear organized.
The photo is a Noro Rainbox Roll (super bright colors) plied with a light brown Coopworth.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

I haven't been following the discussion lately, so I have totally missed what "stone soup" is. Would you mind explaining it--no doubt once again? Thank you!

I looked at the scailemaille spindles on Etsy--gorgeous!

Hazel


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## janetec (Jan 29, 2015)

what is a chain maille spindle?


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## MousePotatoKnits (Oct 23, 2013)

janetec said:


> what is a chain maille spindle?


I would like to know also as I am interested in learning to spin.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

See BlueMoonAlpacas on etsy.com. Mousepotato, who started this thread, mentioned where she'd purchased her spindle in her first posting. I looked at BlueMoonAlpacas, and they have some AMAZING-looking spindles!

Hazel


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## MousePotatoKnits (Oct 23, 2013)

Hazel Blumberg - McKee said:


> See BlueMoonAlpacas on etsy.com. Mousepotato, who started this thread, mentioned where she'd purchased her spindle in her first posting. I looked at BlueMoonAlpacas, and they have some AMAZING-looking spindles!
> 
> Hazel


Thank you.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

MousePotatoKnits said:


> Thank you.


You are so welcome! I'm so glad you told us about your spindle and where you purchased it. The spindles are unique; I have never ever seen anything that looks like them.

Hazel


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## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

janetec said:


> what is a chain maille spindle?


https://www.etsy.com/listing/488064316/rainbow-pride-scailmail-drop-spindle?ref=shop_home_feat_4

I have one that has blue and green scales and one that is red and silver with engraved Celtic knots like this one: https://www.etsy.com/listing/547841830/green-celtic-knot-scalemaille-drop?ref=related-3.

They are very light weight and spin like a dervish.


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## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

Hazel Blumberg - McKee said:


> I haven't been following the discussion lately, so I have totally missed what "stone soup" is. Would you mind explaining it--no doubt once again? Thank you!
> 
> I looked at the scailemaille spindles on Etsy--gorgeous!
> 
> Hazel


"Stone Soup" is a children's story about a troop of soldiers (18th century) who arrive in a village looking for food. The villagers are afraid to feed them in case the soldiers take everything so they claim to have nothing to give them. One soldier tells them he'll make stone soup to feed everyone. He builds a fire in the village square and sets up a cauldron of water and tosses in a large stone and sets it to boil. As it cooks the villagers become curious and go to see how the soup is coming one by one. He tells each one that it might taste so much better with this or that bit of vegetable or seasoning, but that it will be fine as it is. One by one the villagers come by again, each dropping a carrot or a potato or other tasty bit into the pot while his back is turned. In the end the pot of boiling water and stone becomes a lovely soup with enough to share dinner between the soldiers and the villagers, with no one admitting to helping it along.

I've been spinning for 20 years and along the way I've accumulated bits and pieces of fiber, some wool here (well, a lot of wool, I've raised my own sheep), mohair there, llama, alpaca, some cashmere, some silk, and have lots of bits and pieces from fiber challenges and workshops I've taken. Most are bits left over, some are projects I hadn't finished, or it the workshop was blending, hadn't spun up to see. I wanted to see how fine a yarn I could spin on the first spindle and found, without much trying, that I could spin a laceweight yarn. I recently changed my FB picture to the Firmament Shawl (free pattern on Ravelry and from Webs) that I knit for my daughter's friend for her wedding. Immediately all my spinning friends began to scold me for not having entered it in the Big E. This has propelled me to taking those odd bits and pieces, some less than an ounce, some considerably more, and spinning them into a Stone Soup yarn that when plied will be a laceweight yarn and then I'll play with knitting a Pi Shawl of my own design with it. The question has been what to ply it with. I have Polwarth, Shetland, alpaca, wool, straight cashmere, and cashmere/silk blend floating around and I've spun some of the straight cashmere on the other maille spindle to see. All of these are available in some neutral colors to let the "stones" in the soup shine, as well as unite them and tone them down a bit. I just have to decide what to use.


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## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

BirchPoint said:


> A solid color ply will slightly mute the different colors you are using, but by bringing one color through the whole skein, makes it appear organized.
> The photo is a Noro Rainbox Roll (super bright colors) plied with a light brown Coopworth.


This is what I'd like to end up with, but, you know, I don't think I have any Coop floating around here, but I have some lovely alpaca/silk in a maple sugar color.... And Rhinebeck is tomorrow and hubby is the one who suggested that since we were going overnight (neither of us wants to drive back through the Berkshires at night), that I shouldn't overtire myself (I've just finished PT on my knee), that we could go both days..... He lets me buy yarn, too, and didn't blink when I told him the equipment I was toying with buying, mainly that if I see a great wheel it's coming home with me <G>.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

mousepotato said:


> "Stone Soup" is a children's story about a troop of soldiers (18th century) who arrive in a village looking for food. The villagers are afraid to feed them in case the soldiers take everything so they claim to have nothing to give them. One soldier tells them he'll make stone soup to feed everyone. He builds a fire in the village square and sets up a cauldron of water and tosses in a large stone and sets it to boil. As it cooks the villagers become curious and go to see how the soup is coming one by one. He tells each one that it might taste so much better with this or that bit of vegetable or seasoning, but that it will be fine as it is. One by one the villagers come by again, each dropping a carrot or a potato or other tasty bit into the pot while his back is turned. In the end the pot of boiling water and stone becomes a lovely soup with enough to share dinner between the soldiers and the villagers, with no one admitting to helping it along.
> 
> I've been spinning for 20 years and along the way I've accumulated bits and pieces of fiber, some wool here (well, a lot of wool, I've raised my own sheep), mohair there, llama, alpaca, some cashmere, some silk, and have lots of bits and pieces from fiber challenges and workshops I've taken. Most are bits left over, some are projects I hadn't finished, or it the workshop was blending, hadn't spun up to see. I wanted to see how fine a yarn I could spin on the first spindle and found, without much trying, that I could spin a laceweight yarn. I recently changed my FB picture to the Firmament Shawl (free pattern on Ravelry and from Webs) that I knit for my daughter's friend for her wedding. Immediately all my spinning friends began to scold me for not having entered it in the Big E. This has propelled me to taking those odd bits and pieces, some less than an ounce, some considerably more, and spinning them into a Stone Soup yarn that when plied will be a laceweight yarn and then I'll play with knitting a Pi Shawl of my own design with it. The question has been what to ply it with. I have Polwarth, Shetland, alpaca, wool, straight cashmere, and cashmere/silk blend floating around and I've spun some of the straight cashmere on the other maille spindle to see. All of these are available in some neutral colors to let the "stones" in the soup shine, as well as unite them and tone them down a bit. I just have to decide what to use.


Thank you SO MUCH for telling me the origins of "stone soup." I can't wait to see what you come up with, and what you ply with.

I haven't spun in several years. When I did, I was using a Spindolyn, which I loved. I also purchased an Electric Eel secondhand. That was months ago, and I haven't even tried it out yet!

I'm a knitter, and I throw my odds and ends into a basket. If I have full balls of yarn, I send them off to a charity that knits and crochets blankets for animals in animal shelters. (I knit so loosely that my critter blankets would catch critters' paws and claws.) But if they're small bits, I hold onto them and wait for inspiration. They'll probably turn into a shawl at some point.

Hazel


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## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

Hazel Blumberg - McKee said:


> Thank you SO MUCH for telling me the origins of "stone soup." I can't wait to see what you come up with, and what you ply with.
> 
> I haven't spun in several years. When I did, I was using a Spindolyn, which I loved. I also purchased an Electric Eel secondhand. That was months ago, and I haven't even tried it out yet!
> 
> ...


I have a Spindolyn myself, along with a zillion other spindles--other people bring home tee shirts on vacations, I bring home spindles, and I have a Hansen e-spinner, that I love using. I suspect this will be a winter long project just to spin and ply enough yarn to knit a circular shawl with, but this one has caught my imagination.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

Great story and I hope you find something to bring home with you. Oh I know you will. I have my list but it might be left on the kitchen counter by mistake. lol lol Then anything is fair game. I have made a lot of yarns from bits and pcs. I also have single up stairs in a bin that I can do some plying with nothing goes to waste here either. Can't wait to meet up with every one and can't wait to see your stone soup yarn.


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## mousepotato (May 30, 2011)

Well, let’s see, out in the car (we are staying overnight so we don’t drive home in the dark) is a Woolee Winder and a couple of extra bobbins, a pair of leather handles to repair one of my African baskets,a quarter pound of silk roving, several books, a gorgeous little gnome spindle from Woodland Woolworks, and a tam kit from Buffalo Wool Co. Might be something else, but I’m tired.


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

Alpaca and silk are amazing. I am actually dyeing some of this blend yarn.


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## Cdambro (Dec 30, 2013)

Looking forward to seeing what you decide on. Love the stone soup story.


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