Look what I found in my phone!

Swap yarns

I like swaps, you never know what your partner will send you. Two days ago I spun two singles and yesterday I plied, skeined and washed the yarn. I'm so pleased with this yarn! I spun the hand dizzed tops with merino, alpaca and silk uneven, and the commercial merino top even, and got a yarn with character and structure.

The merino-alpaca-silk tops to the left, sorry I don't have a better picture

Merino top

Singles

The finished yarn shows the different fibers in a nice way

I also spun the pink Shetland-Merino-Nylon batt in the photo above:

Now I'm thinking of what to spin to ply it with. Gray would be nice, but I can also imagine other pink shades in a 3-ply and another gray 3-ply for a warm Fair Isle hat.

The swans have been grazing in the fields for a couple of weeks. Soon they will be gone.

In the garden the plants show colors you didn't know they had:

This is a cactus I got from a friend a couple of years ago. She sent it to me in a milk package, I put it in a pot, it grew roots and started growing bigger and bigger. Last summer it was hanging in a rowan for a couple of months. A few weeks ago I got the sad news that my friend had passed away. I call my cactus "Marie" in remembrance of her. Marie has four flowers now.

Vår! Spring!

English in between today!

Nu är det vår! Jag har tagit fram kardmaskinen! Posten, denna fortfarande fungerande institution (men hur länge till månne den gör det?), har hämtat min nya palett från Danmark. Jag köpte fibrerna av Renee Darley.

It's spring! I have taken the drumcarder from the closet! The postal service is still working (but for how long, I wonder?), so I got my new palette from Denmark. I bought the fibers from Renee Darley.

Ullen är longwool, och det vita är Tencel. Jag fick ju lite Tencel av Marie för några månader sedan, och blev glatt överraskad av hur lätt det är att blanda den i ull, och hur mjuk t.o.m. grov ull känns när den blandas med Tencel.
The wool is longwool, and the white fibers are Tencel. I got some Tencel from Marie a few months ago, and was happily supriced by how easily it blends with wool, and how soft even coarse wool feels when mixed with Tencel.

Det här är min gamla trotjänare, köpt i slutet på 90-talet. Åh så mycket ull, angora, hundhår och alpacka jag har kardat med denna Louet elkardmaskin! Den är lite trött, men fungerar fortfarande utmärkt. Trimbordet har också varit i yrkesbruk. Jag var hundfrisör på "fritiden" i tjugo år.
This is my faithful old servant, bought at the end of the '90s. I have carded so much wool, angora, dog hair and alpaca with this Louet electric drumcarder! It's a bit tired, but still works very well. The grooming table has also been in professional use. I was a dog groomer for twenty years in my "spare time".

Och detta är Epiphyllum, en blomsterkaktus som också kom med posten en dag i fjol. Damen har duschat i dag. Hon gör nya grenar åt alla håll. Det är så spännande att se om hon tänker blomma också? Marie, kan hon stå i ett litet fönster mot öster och gilla det? Morgon- och förmiddagssol.
And this is Epiphyllum, a cactus that also came with the postal service one day last year. The lady has taken a shower today. She's making new branches in all directions. I'm so excited, when will she bloom? Marie will know whether she likes standing in a window that faces the east, with sun in the morning.

Och titta vad posten kom med i går! Fibrer från Ingrid! De här ska få sällskap av något från min palett. Start efter påsk.
And look what the postman brought yesterday! Fibers from Ingrid! These will get company from something from my palette, to be started after Easter.