# Spinning. Update on my fade project



## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

Good morning all. I have been busy. Meant to be working on knitting commissions but I am so not in the mood right now. Thank goodness there is no deadline. 

My spinning fade project (still with no clear project in mind) is nearly done. I added a 6th which I'm working on at the moment. I dyed some more fibre to add between two colours to improve the gradient

I have learned so much with this project. I will definitely be doing more and possibly sell fade kits at some point.


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## JeanneW (Feb 9, 2013)

Looks like fun!


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

Oh my goodness, your yarns and your fiber are exquisite!!!!!! Great job!

Hazel


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## Ladyj960 (May 22, 2013)

Great job! Pretty


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## BirchPoint (Feb 12, 2016)

It is so interesting to see how your speckled roving looks spun up! I look forward to seeing your knit project!


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## FiberQueen (Aug 23, 2012)

So beautiful!


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Your gradient color change is very pretty!


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## Cdambro (Dec 30, 2013)

Wow....so pretty! I love seeing your progress.


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## Alpaca Farmer (Jan 19, 2011)

I like your results.


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

How pretty. I can't wait to see your shawl when it is done. So you learned a couple of this. Can you tell us a bit about what you learned. Were there some mistakes of easy peasier way to do something. You are a dyeing wizard and we want to learn to.


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## spins2knit (Jul 29, 2013)

Beautiful!


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## gardenpoet (Jun 24, 2016)

You did really a great job. It hits home to me, for currently I am preparing five boards for paintings and trying to get a gradient background--really tough to do and that's just with paint. I can't imagine doing it with dye on fiber and then spinning to get the effect. It will be fun to watch your progress.


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

mama879 said:


> How pretty. I can't wait to see your shawl when it is done. So you learned a couple of this. Can you tell us a bit about what you learned. Were there some mistakes of easy peasier way to do something. You are a dyeing wizard and we want to learn to.


No shawl. I'm thinking of knitting the Hitofude cardigan.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitofude-cardigan

Ooh what did I learn? I spun these 6 (not completed the 6th, it still needs plying) over about a week. And it helped me with my consistency. The faster I went the more consistent I became. I have not spun in about 6 months and felt rusty. As I am using an espinner I was working with speed controls during the spinning and plying. So it is not quite the same as spinning on a regular wheel. I photographed my progress and made notes where I could improve I.e. which colours look good when plied together and which to avoid to prevent mud, as well as what caused certain issues. I measure my thickness every couple of yards and if it is too thin I break the fibre and rejoin it. I have a WPI guide on my lap so I can compare all the time. I so wish someone would put a good espinner course together. The one I have does not touch on much.

With the dyeing I decided random application worked better in this instance than placing colours more exactly. I dyed all the fibre at the same time and adjusted the amount of dyes used for each braid. I purposely left a lot of white spots, something I do not usually do. It created more shades of the colour instead of solid sections. I have found that a yarn often looks darker once spun than it is in the braid and I wanted to avoid that.
Each braid was assessed before I spun it by looking at the previous skein to see what I wanted to achieve ie smaller vs larger sections of a colour.

It has been a terrific learning experience and I have several pounds of merino left and am planning what I will do next.

Only time will tell if I have succeeded but it has been a fun journey and I will keep you posted. I would love to know from spinners who do this full time just how long it takes them to spin 100 g sport weight which is what I have ended up with.


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

gardenpoet said:


> You did really a great job. It hits home to me, for currently I am preparing five boards for paintings and trying to get a gradient background--really tough to do and that's just with paint. I can't imagine doing it with dye on fiber and then spinning to get the effect. It will be fun to watch your progress.


I'm a painter as well and getting a gradient in fibre is way easier ! I used to paint in oils and alkyds and lots of wet on wet techniques but it was hard


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## BirchPoint (Feb 12, 2016)

desireeross said:


> No shawl. I'm thinking of knitting the Hitofude cardigan.
> 
> https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitofude-cardigan
> 
> ...


Wow, what a reply!! And just what we needed to see to show how hard and what work it takes to try to plan it out!!
That will be one LOVELY sweater! Show us as you progress!
:sm24:


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## spinninggill (Apr 9, 2011)

Love those colours


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