Spin, play dolls, try some shawls

I did spin some Orenburg goat down  for several projects.
And I also got a white dress for 18'' America girl and alike  like doll. Made in China, but surprisingly ok sewing job, seams are finished with the serger. It is bit tight fit on AG so, and I wonder if it will fit looser on a different 18'' doll, AG are somewhat wider.

So some of this yarn will become doll shawl sampler, and some will be Fleur de Grace series r another one... I'm still deciding, did not ply the yarn yet as you can see from the photos below.
so let us begin:

what do we have here from left to right... silk to ply with, plastic N6 container (not goot for cooking but good for spinning rig part), 2 holiday boxes, bottom row as 21cm Orenburg spindles with down singles, 2 30cm spindles have down single and silk (upper left corner) reeled, last spindle on the right also has Orenburg goat down single, but it spun thicker than the other fiber in the photos and the intention of this is thicker doll item, as you can see there is not a lot spun for this separate project. Lighter gray down - more than one project and I have more of this color to spin, so there is no shortage of yarn in the house if I need more, I'll spin more, that was my weekend work and some during the week.
Plying... one can ply directly single and silk on the wheel , there are tips and tricks to it to avoing the doawn single "runns" over silk and bacicaly creating not desirable art yarn type an effect, not desirable in the shawl that is, i would make not exactly desirable yarn for the particular application, for some other project that type of yarn is quite usable, but that's not what I'm making.
Rigs: want to avoid "running" over silk, reel the 2 together and make it nice and tight.
One can do it like so

that's wher first holiday container becomes useful. Another way of controlling the spindle with the singles is this

taller plastic container (or glass or ceramic)

if one decides to use wheel and ply of the spindle this way, positioning the spindle like so may help

that's where the second holiday container becomes useful, one can attach a small elastic band to keep the top from rolling around too much.

Now.. the yarn when it will become some shawls will add to this set. I did play with white dress and different shawls and different looks a little bit. Learning my doll model. I do not know what is this exact doll, but will find out some time, so she does not have a name yet

Doll shawls 2

So.. there was a question in one forum, do I have more doll shawls...
I suppose. Just can not decide which one do I like better at the moment...

or like this

Do I like it here

Or maybe this

Do I have doll shawls...  We used to call it 'пупсик" , this size doll, like mini american girl version.

Or maybe this is better

Nope, I can not decide :)

Do I have doll shawls? I suppose I do :). And I suppose I like it too :)

Golden fleece part 3

the part of the fleece, small part of the fleece that was in the basket

the yarn on the left is 20/2 nm wool I used as ST break

it's a soft spun yarn, I did not spin it to the point of dog hair thick, the fiber spins to that point fine, the length as one can see from the prepared locks shot allows to go 3-4 fibers thick. This yarn is spun thicker intentionally, good old gossamer yarn. Then it blooms, it will look thicker, that's the hope at least.


the distraction did grow some thanks to discount stores and craigslist. Thomas trains are sooooooo outrageously expensive retail, they should not cost that bad as $10 for a small train and $40 for some painted square building. Supply demand and hit entertainment fees I guess have to do something with it. The production of these in China can not justify such very high price alone (they are not hand painted or anything of that sort). But they keep some remaining value so when the kiddo is done with them another kiddo will get to play at the discounted price. Pass on the savings.

it turns out that couple sets from Ross pay off to start because it;s hard to believe that this layout was in $30 range new plus 15 on craigslist and lucky thrift store trip for plastic takealong

flexible collapsible bridge was from discount store, not super lucky purchase, but a lot better than $80 retail.

after couple of days of banging the bridge... not the best place to put it in the first place... and couple disconnected flex track pieces on a flexible track (thank you craigs list purchase... $18 retail is kind of steep for 2 pieces of track made of wood and metal wire, but flexibility seems to cost I guess).

the way the logistics work, mama get up earlier, makes a layout

so then I have time to do this kind of cooking which requires some attention

or this kind of silk winding that is not quite child friendly due to how fine the yarn is,..

the silk is same silk plied with white wool. turned out I could not buy this kind of silk coned, only hanks. I'd pay for connig, but they just would not cone that kind of silk... it;s not a 2-ply silk, it;s a filament single.

update: measured 2300m rounded to meter. 63gr. 2-ply yarn

Spin for speed and zero cost spindle rig

going though that carded fleece as fast as possible, having the time...
neps and noels doe not allow lace at, so it becomes 3-ply gradient yarn. it looks like this way I can hide good amount of the fleece issues and pick the nastiest neps/noels to.
Did not want to spend a lot of time on spindle reeling-plying ball etc. therefore the spindle rig... best part about it it costs 0. spindle spun single matches wheel spun, it was done this way. Spindle stuff is good to go where I need more of this or that color building my gradient yarn. 3 main shades, 9 color changes total, very long gradient

 so.. that left pile is all spun into cobweb singles, almost, there are 2.5 pieces left in darkest gray. maybe tomorrow it will be ll over, done with that ... not favorede fleece finally.

and some cobweb single, from alpaca fleece. 

PS: next day update:)  I'm done with the "non av" fiber. done

PPS: washer ready to knit