Last week I received a beautiful Cormo fleece from Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm. The fleece is a beautiful variegated grey, and almost completely free of VM. IT is just a joy to work with! I really wanted to use this fleece for my Journey to a Shawl project. I spun the sample below and it was a bit heavier than I wanted. Then I broke out the dyes for more sampling! 
I had some Romney/Dorset wool from Ewe and I Farm on hand, so I pulled that out to dye with the silk and angora for my shawl blend. I really like the way the blues and purples came out, and I know that I want a lot less green! But that's what sampling is for!
Here are the two batts that I carded, a base of grey Cormo, and a handful each of dyed silk and angora (I know, very exact measurements!). I didn't want to over card the blend because I really want some streaks of color in a mostly grey yarn, and it worked really well!
I spun one batt into a heavy laceweight, and the other into a light fingering weight. The Cormo makes a fantastic lace yarn, but I felt that the colors were a bit too muted, so I'll spin some plain laceweight at a later date! The fingering weight is springy and soft, and there were nice streaks of color too. Unfortunately we are having some computer issues, so I can't upload the photos of my samples! So now I need to dye the rest of my silk and angora, and wash up the rest of the fleece so that I can spin up 1200 or so yards of yarn that I'll need for my shawl. I don't have a pattern yet, but I'm sure that I'll devise one before I finish my spinning.
I've finally blocked my Adonienieroschen shawl. I adapted the pattern from Gloria Penning's Old World Treasures. I am really happy with the way it turned out. It was an easy knit, and I actually used stitch markers, which I rarely do (I only used 1 on the whole Maple Garland shawl, and that was for the beginning of the round!). I unraveled the front of a sweater that I was never going to finish or wear, and then used two of the remaining three balls. I think I'll send whatever I have left to my friend. She is having some health problems, and I hope that this will be a long distance hug. When I told B that it was for a friend who was sick, she wanted to get into our car and drive to see her to give her a hug to make her feel better! She is such a sympathetic little girlie! So I hope that the shawl is well received!
Pattern: Adonienieroschen from Gloria Penning's Old World Treasures
Yarn: between 600 - 650 yards Adriafil Sound, a mohair/acrylic blend in eggplant purple
Needles: US 9 and 10 circulars
Size: 50" diameter
Here are the two batts that I carded, a base of grey Cormo, and a handful each of dyed silk and angora (I know, very exact measurements!). I didn't want to over card the blend because I really want some streaks of color in a mostly grey yarn, and it worked really well!
I spun one batt into a heavy laceweight, and the other into a light fingering weight. The Cormo makes a fantastic lace yarn, but I felt that the colors were a bit too muted, so I'll spin some plain laceweight at a later date! The fingering weight is springy and soft, and there were nice streaks of color too. Unfortunately we are having some computer issues, so I can't upload the photos of my samples! So now I need to dye the rest of my silk and angora, and wash up the rest of the fleece so that I can spin up 1200 or so yards of yarn that I'll need for my shawl. I don't have a pattern yet, but I'm sure that I'll devise one before I finish my spinning.
