Journey Down The Flax Road

My Journey Down The Flax Road 

Merino, tussah silk & flax (MSF); Could this fiber combination make for something delicious as a WARM weather accessory? Lets start at the beginning:

My own special blend of Blue Faced Leicester (25%)/Bombyx silk (25%)/Flax (50%) has been sitting in time out due to my indecision as to how to spin it & what to make with it for over one year. This roving just feels so different than just a pure wool roving. I did myself a favor though by requesting this combination of fibers be blended through the carder 4x’s...



A slightly different blend of roving came along & I didn’t make it wait too long before I dyed and spun it. Here is the short version of my lessons learned:

The blend is merino wool, tussah silk & flax though I’m not sure of the %’s of each fiber. The 3 fiber roving is not blended much so each fiber type is easily defined apart from the others. Each fiber type will also capture the dye differently, giving the final dyed roving the appearance of multiple color tones.

The dye bath prep consisted of time allowed for the undyed roving to soak in a plain water bath for  at least 24 hours. I know this time in a bath is required for the silk to take dye. In the end I believe I got a bonus with the flax (cellulose fiber) as it also took the acid (for protien fiber) dye. I dyed the roving by handpainting multiple colors in a color repeat sequence, plastic wrapped then placed all in a pot to steam. 

Loving the results after the dye bath.

Now for the spinning. Ravelry quickly answered my distress call; only 1 entry in the yarn tab matched this fiber blend content and was by far the best help that any search could have offered. Sarcazm is an amazing note taker, incredibly organized and very thorough. She had spun this same blend. Through Ravelry’s message system she answered my multiple questions in exquisite detail. She helped make this spinning journey an enjoyable one. I love her description of ‘dried snot’ for the flax part of this roving becuase, yah, it totally looks like it (see the undyed photo above). 

 Pre-drafted roving

I managed to spin over 400 yards.

Based on Sarcazm’s info I chose to pre-draft the fibers a lot. I spread the fibers out so much that my beautiful coloring was now diluted. But I figured I would gain most of the color back once the spinning began and the fibers wrapped tighter against each other. The projects that I envision to be knitted or crocheted with this yarn are to be light in weight. Perhaps tiny crochet pieces joined together like a Sophie Digard design or, a simple large needle knitted scarf?

Backing up in time, I happily shared my results of the dyed roving with my dear neighbors. She declared that I was finished, the scarf was hanging in front of us drying on the clotheslinesaw the dyed roving, unspun, should be the finished scarf. I think she’s on to something, something that I’m going to attempt in the next few days that involves a sewing machine and silk organza. 

Let’s watch for watch for what happens next.