A Little Spinny

I recently received a pair of carders (that's those wooden spiky brush things in the picture), as well as a little wool, a wool winder and some inspiration.  I have spent my time learning to card and make rollags.  Rollags are what you get when you roll the carded fleece off the carders to make spinning that much easier.

It's all about the prep work and understanding what it takes to go from the freshly shorn sheep to the completed garment.  You wash it several times to get the fleece clean.  You pick it to get the various bits of grass, seed, wood, sawdust, moss, and other bits and pieces of stuff you wouldn't want to spin into your wool.  Then the wool is dyed or left in it's natural state depending on what you want to do with it.  After dyeing there is more picking... It seems you never get all the stuff in the fleece, you'll be looking at it and suddenly see something in the shadows... lo and behold it's more detritus.  Then you card it, which is taking two wire brushes and pulling them in opposite directions to get all the fibers in the same direction for better spinning results.  Once that is done, you spin it all up, and if you are so inclined you ply it, but you can leave it as a single.  Once that is done you have your yarn and it's up to you what you make, but you still have to make the item.  This is what I do.  From start to finish I can create a garment.  I love the work, there is something extraordinary about sitting there and peacefully picking through fleece, cleaning, carding, spinning and then knitting (my preferred method so far).

I just spent the better part of 4 days picking through some lovely dyed fleece that was given to me.  I was certain it wouldn't take more than a day, but by day two I knew just how compact  that fiber was.  I have enough for at least 7 full spindles which is 4 ounces each... That's just under 2 pounds of fleece.   There is more fleece in the offing and a bakers dozen of acid dyes for me to play with.  when I say more fleece, I mean it... I'm not sure how much there is, but it fills one of those clear garbage bags over halfway.  That's a lot considering it's in it's raw form.  It needs to be scoured, dyed, picked and cleaned, spun and turn into something glorious, but right now I'm catching up.

The same friend who brought me all that fleece also went to Fibrations, a place where fiber fanciers meet and sell their goods and have a wonderful time showing off and discussing their passion for what else... fiber.  Next year I'm going, nothing could keep me away.  While she was there, spinning on her wheel, she picked up some Romney dyed fleece in a gorgeous blue for me.  So I went to work and spun my finest and most even thread so far.

 I like the way it turned out, and it's so soft.  This needed something regal made from it.... so I started my search while I was picking and cleaning the delicious blue and purple mix, to find me a pattern I would like.  I checked out shawls, and cowls in abundance and finally have settled on a wimple.  Once it's done I"ll be posting the outcome, but for now all you get to see is the wool.

So this is what my last month has been filled with, woolly adventures in spinning, dyeing, cleaning and prepping.  And of course I chose to switch things up during a blue moon and return to my passion for knitting,  which is what started all this need for spinning in the first place.

A Day And Then Some Spent Dyeing

I have spent the last few days spinning and dyeing and fixing.  It's funny how that goes.  You see so many half finished projects that are just kicking around waiting for a free day to get them all done.  Of course though, it takes more than a day, but it's worth it in the long run.  So What did I do?  Well today is going to be more of a showcase than a talk.

I took this fine pile of mixed yarns that I have been spinning up over the last couple of months and decided it was time to do a little dying and decided to throw in some fleece and see what it was like to spin with coloured fiber instead of colouring it up after it's been spun.  I soaked it for a couple of hours instead of just the few minutes to half hour that it soaks while I gather my things and get them ready to plunge into the dye.

When I was done dyeing the yarn these little gems are what I ended up with.  They are much brighter than the camera shows.  As you can see I'm playing around with labels for my wool and was given inspiration to use brown paper, which is more natural looking than the stark white.  So that is going to be my next project, creating labels for my pretty babies.

This cloud of fluff is the fleece that I dyed up using turmeric for a brilliant yellow, as well as orange and cherry Koolaid. I used spot dying and  poured the crystals in several spots, after a while of letting it sink in and when the water was clear, i turned it over and did the same to the bottom.  This is what I wound up with.

This is much more vibrant but you can still the beauty of all the colours combined.  I spun up the wool to a sport weight for knitting up socks.  I now have a ball of red and this lovely ball of sunshine for my next knitting ventures.








So all in all I have plenty of yarn to knit and package up.  Guess I"m going to be busy for the next little while again. :D

A Fiber By Any Other Name, Would Not Smell As Sweet!

I"m still playing with fiber, but in a back handed kind of way.  Today I'm spending the day writing, another fairy-tale.  I have one in the works, it's perhaps, more of a folktale, but it should be interesting.  I always believe that if you are making a collection of tales, there should be something in common with all of them.  I like to write cautionary tales, or stories where you learn something, either about yourself, or others.  Or perhaps just opening up your mind to the fact that some people think differently than you, and that's not a bad thing, in fact it can be quite extraordinary.  So although I will be typing on my computer, hopefully these stories will eventually hit paper.  Why not work on one of my other hobbies... one of my crafts... well lets just say I go gung-ho on things... and then find I need to give something a rest.  At this point... all that combing and then the spinning and knitting from morning to night has left my hands sore, stiff, red and bruised.  I don't mind and it's not a complaint, but right now I can't give it my all, so I let my hands rest for the next few days.  Once that's done, I should have a number of things to post.

Today's story, well the one started last night... is about an old bookseller who finds a little orphan girl and takes her in to live in the shop with him... Not sure where it will go.  I never am, these things seem to write themselves.  I do know there will be a caution in there, and something about curiosity and acceptance.  Mostly it's about family, about how you make family around you and love without thinking.  I'll throw a few other things in there, but this should be good.  If you get a chance, read The Tale of Bovid , it will make you laugh, and think.  Hopefully, by the end of today, I'll have my little tale done.

Lofty Wool - Shoving it Up the Orifice

The making of a lofty yarn requires a little patience and a special procedure called Shoving it up the Oriface. I have been perfecting my strand of wool to get it down to a reasonable size for making socks, so making a big and lofty yarn well it would seem it should be a piece of cake.  After all, when you start spinning yarn, it's nice and thick and lofty.  But now my craft has been honed, and I can make a sport weight from my plies.  I am really proud of that.  I was thinking to myself, now that's something, look how thing that is, and fine and straight.  Awesome you can make socks with that now.  And then I wanted to make a coat, a nice big sweater coat for the winter, so it needs to be bulky wool, something the wind can't get through, that will keep me warm on cold days and that knits up relatively fast, because I'm a big girl and I've a big area to cover.

The thick yarn is the one I was made by the new technique, Shove It Up the Orifice, and the thin yarn is 2 ply sport weight, but light enough to make socks.

So I sit down at my spinning wheel and I start to spin.  Automatically I tense up and start to spin a thin thread... I face palm, and then I start again, and it's not so thing, but it's really twisty.  I am not getting this.  I am starting to curse and I'm facepalming once more.  I love spinning this is supposed to be fun... Why aren't I getting it.  I wasn't getting it because I forgot to relax.  I forgot to let the wheel do the work and draw in the thread.  That's why it's called shoving it up the orifice.  The secret is that you draft out the wool to the size that you want to go onto the spindle, well practically there should be a little bit of leeway in that draft, but pretty much that's what you want to do... stuff that fleece onto the wheel quickly.  Now don't turn that wheel too fast... No... You want to make sure the wheel is going nice and slow or  you'll overtwist the yarn.  So this fine balancing act is being learned by me.  I'm not very good at it, but I'll get there.


I was sent a  pair of carders by a dear friend, and I've been handcarding the wool into rollags.  That's a story for another day.  I have rolags to make a spindle to fill ... Then tomorrow I ply.  I'm hoping on Friday I'll get a chance to do some dying.  I should have enough wool by then.  I also wonder sometimes... to dye before or after spinning.  I have a friend that dyes her fleece... But I dye the spun yarn.  I wonder what the difference is?  And on that note, I'm going to go give that a ponder.

Here you can see the little helpers I was sent by my sensei.  I'm fortunate enough to have someone who mentors me in my spinning endeavors and lucky enough for her to call me friend.  Nestled in the  wool is a little frog, I love frogs, they are one of my favorite things to draw besides those aminita's with the big white polka dots. :D  As you can see there is also a wool winder and some other goodies.

The Tale of Bovid

Bovid was a handsome creature, part human, part bovine.  His pelt was always meticulously groomed and  his tail sleek and straight.  So vain was he, that he polished his horns to a high sheen, and regularly doted on the trimming of his hooves.  His noble stature was said to put many a young dryad to swooning.  In fact he was a regular at the weekly bacchanalia.  Puck often commented that he showed up with only the prettiest of the race of Fae, and this was in fact true.  The bovian faun often preened and plucked, and kept himself immaculate.  He was a peer amongst his kind, almost to the status of hero, his adventures so daring and amazing.  Even the Minotaurs were envious of his physique and prowess, not only on the field, but off it.

It was at one of Puck's weekly debaucheries, where Bovid met a young Fate named Stella.  Eyes bright as stars, hair the color of finely polished copper, and her long silky raiment's revealed hints of a shape that showed promising delights.  Truly lovely, she sat quietly working at a wheel.  He could not help himself, he had to speak with her.

Unbeknownst to Bovid, Stella had heard of the vain Faun and leant over towards her sister.  "There he is that arrogant Faun who broke Lily's heart.  Weave me a tale, sister, hurry now, he's coming."  Stella winked at her sister then put on her best come hither smile as the Faun closed in.

"What manner of game is that you play at pretty miss?" His true goal revealed in the intonation of his words.

Stella knew what he was really asking, but chose to ignore it.  "I do not play at anything... I follow my passion and my passion is spinning.  This is the thread of life and my sister, who is just there, dancing with the odd fellow in the purple turban, cuts it, whilst my other sister who sits beside me here weaves."  Bovid listened intently as the young maiden spoke, so entranced was he by her words and the spinning of that great wheel.

"I would like to get to you know better, Miss... er.. umm..."

"I am called Stella, and if you would like to get to know me, you must first spin me a thread as fine as this."  She showed him a thread so fine that even doubled up, it would still pass through a needle.

"I have no wheel to spin with my dear, but... "

and before he could finish, she rushed to her feet.  "Come with me Bovid, I have one here, just at the edge of the grove, you can sit there for as long as you like and spin."

Bovid followed Stella to the edge of the grove and there sat a fine old spinning wheel with a hearty shank of fleece sitting on the distaff.  He sat down and she showed him how to use the spindle.  To her relief he caught on quickly, and in no time was spinning a thick, but healthy thread.

"There, I've made a nice thread, now you must come with me and let me know you."  Stella was ready for this and knew he would not be able to spin so fine a thread in one evening, and she quickly replied "but dear Sir, perhaps you have forgotten, it must be fine enough to pass doubled through a needle, and that could not even pass through a keyhole.  Keep spinning and you shall soon see that it will be nice and thin.  Come and get me when it's done."

"This spinning is thirsty work and I require nourishment.  I shall just go get a flagon of beer and then I shall be able to work even more quickly."

"So be it, dear Bovid, I shall be waiting, and looking forward to seeing your accomplishment." 

Stella returned to her sisters, who were now sitting all together with their friend Lily, and all watched as he walked towards the table laden with all sorts of magnificent fruits and cheeses , breads, sausage, and beer.  He did not get very far, when a rather shapley young nymph grabbed Bovid and encouraged him to dance and cavort with her.  Just as things were getting interesting he remembered Stella and his need to have her overwhelmed his senses.  "Oh pretty little nymph, I know we are having so much fun, but I just have a little spinning to do.  Really I will only be a few minutes, and then I will come back and finished what we started.  What was your  name again, so that I may seek you out?"

"Well!  I never..." she gasped.

"Wel Linever, I shall meet you here next week and we will cavort like there is no tomorrow." and Bovid continued onto the well laden table, where he gathered  a pretzel, a string of bratwurst which he put on a plate with a large star on it, and then filled the largest flagon he could find with honey beer.  As he trotted past the table where Stella sat he blew her a kiss, and she smiled back.  Then she leaned over to Lily "My dear friend, I see he has taken my plate, the one I had you enchant, I knew he would take it, it's the largest one there. And you see there, where he sits, outside of the party, where we can watch him, but he will be so engrossed in his spinning that he will not watch us.

For many weeks Bovid sat there, as the faeries came and went and the party never ceased, and after a couple of months, Stella decided to see how Bovid was doing.  She brought along her friend Lily and told her to tie his tail in a knot while she spoke to him.  At first Lily was worried that he would catch her, but Stella assured her that would not happen, that he would be so enchanted by her that he would not even notice.

"Hello Bovid, I have come to check your progress." Stella had brought with her a needle and quite easily passed the thread through the needle.

"Oh my Lady, now it is time to keep your bargain.  I have made the thread thin enough to pass through the needle."

"My dear Bovid, you have come close yes, but remember I need it smaller, it must be doubled and then pass through the needle and as you can see, I cannot yet do it.  Keep working and soon you shall have your wish."

Stella smiled at Bovid and blew him a kiss then taking her friend by the arm, they skipped off back to the revelry of Puck's bacchanalia.  Softly she whspered "He did not even flinch when you pulled it nice and tight. He is oblvious to all except the spinning."

"Did you see, he's getting fat, and did you see his hooves, all shabby and unpolished."

Stella smiled.  "It's almost done, sister is almost finished the pattern."

Again more weeks and months flew by and each week Stella, her sisters and her dear friend Lily, watched Bovid as his belly expanded and his hair greyed, and his whole appearance became shabby.

Then one day, Bovid walked over to the table, he was huffing and puffing when he arrived, yet there was a look of determination in his eyes.  "Look" he said as he doubled the thread and passed it through the eye of a needle.  "Now I get to cavort with my Stella.  Just give me a moment to rest up and catch my breath.  It's a long walk from the wheel to your table."

Without batting an eye Stella lifted her personal looking glass and aimed Bovid's reflection back at himself. "Look.  You are old and tired, and you have not the strength or stamina to dance with me, let alone cavort."

"What?  How can that be?  I do not age."  Fear filled the Faun's eyes as the realization of what he had become hit him with a vengeance, for vengeance it was.

"This is my friend Lily, you told her she was the loveliest girl in the room, you made her believe that you loved her, and the moment something better came along you disappeared without grace, courtesy or even a by your leave.  Then you told everyone that she meant nothing to you, and you moved onto the next girl and the next.  I bided my time and had Lily enchant that big star plate you so greedily chose, because you could pile food upon it.  That enchantment placed a spell upon the food that allowed you to age.  You have been sitting there spinning for over a hundred years."

"I will have you, Stella" and  he went to grab her by force, but his eyesight was not what it once was and he tripped over an unseen chair and fell hard to the ground.

"You will have no one, Bovid.  I am not an unkind Fate" Stella said as she pulled a pair of spectacles from within the folds of her gown. "Take these and know that your spinning is the finnest I've seen, almost as fine as mine."

Bovid put on the glasses and looked in the mirror and sighed.  "I suppose I brought this all on my self.  I am an impulsive beast, and now cannot even blame it on my youth.  Can't you please take me back to before when I was handsome and fine."

"No I cannot, it has already been woven into the fabric of time.  However, you may keep the wheel, it will teach you patience and perhaps, given time, and if you balance your life well between getting what you want, and getting what you need, and learn to be respectful of others some of the ravages of time may reverse.  After all the future is not yet written."

Bovid smiled shamefully, knowing that Stella was right, and headed off towards the wheel.  He sits there to this day, the knot still in his tail as a reminder, hoping beyond hope that the years will reverse as he learns to balance his life between work and play and find kindness in his heart.

It's been a while

It's true, it has, and I've been unable to spin and to knit or do much in the way of crafting for close to a month.  I had a little slip, turned my ankle, but it was not my ankle that got hurt.  I did some pretty intense damage to my hand.  I suspect that I bruised or tore a ligament or a tendon, or something along that line.  Every-time I did something with my hand it would feel like something was being pulled, as well as burning like a ... well you know.  Anyways, using my hand until it was completely healed was out of the question.

During that time I looked for work, it's nasty business out there right now trying to find something and being middle aged, and female at that.  I did not at first believe that businesses were hiring younger and avoiding middle-aged women like the plague, but it's true.  I had it confirmed on my last interview, which was so degrading and cut off after 2 minutes and told I was old.  Yep, I got that confirmation and dove deep into a spiraling depression.  This is never good for woolly works and goes right to the crux of the matter.  One cannot be creative when they are blue.

I have, however found something that does lift my spirits somewhat... the Lantzville Market.  I'm going to be finding out more about it and with luck will be bringing my things up there.   It's not a guarantee of happiness, nothing is, but it does give me hope, which has been sorely lacking of late.  I'm thinking, spinning tonight might be just the thing I need to get the ball rolling.

Prepping A Fleece From Start To Finish - day 1, washing

I have some fleeces in my clostand today I'm working with Prime Lincoln sheep.  This has been untouched from the time it was shorn so of course it's full of bits and bobs of grass and dirt and other things that sheep roll in or walk through.  It still has its curl in it, and looks a right mess, but in its own way there is beauty.

As you can see it looks like there are some grey locks.  This is a white fleece, so that's not the color of the fleece that's dirt. Small sticks, bits of bracken, and grass and seed, lay tangled in the fleece, as well. All of that needs to be gotten rid of before I can go on to the next step of the process.
The next step is to fill the sink full with soapy water, I use cheap dollar store dish soap, it works well at lifting out the dirt, because I'm not going to agitate it at all.  Agitating will cause the wool to felt, and I don't want that. I'm going to be spinning this up.  I keep the water warm and then gently plunge the locks in and leave to soak, I ensure that all the locks are covered in water.

Almost immediately there is a brown tinge to the water as the fleece soaks.    After about half an hour I remove the locks to a large bowl.  I carefull pick them up and allow the water to drain out.  I avoid the desire to ring to squeeze, to otherwise felt the wool.  The water now looks like this:

It's pretty gross, and the wool is still dirty,  I give it a rinse soak, this one is short, about 5 minutes or so.  And then it's time to remove the wool, very carefully again, like I did the last time and it's going to soak in suds again, for another half hour.

As you can see the water is less brown, and only a bit of detritus remains, but it's still pretty murky, so I fill the sink with more suds.  The wool isn't clean yet, by a long shot; however, it is looking better. More white, less grey.  We're getting close and now onto the third rinse.

I keep the water roughly the same temperature for each rinse.  It's important not to shock the wool and could possibly mat it and felt it.  This could take a while, but it's worth it in the end.  My last fleece, Angora Goat, which is also known as mohair, took 5 soaks in the kitchen sink.  I like to use the kitchen sink as it's just the right size for the amount I'm washing and it's easy to scour it up and disinfect it after.  I don't like to  use plastic because it is porous.  Hard to clean, hard to keep clean and I don't want to cross contaminate fleeces when I wash them.  Now it's time to let the soak do it's job and remove more dirt.  Another half hour wait.

As you can see each wash becomes less murky.

The fleece becomes more clean.
It's a slow process and my batteries have just died on my camera, so I'll keep you up to date on how many soaks and rinses there has been.  I'm putting it in the last soapy rinse.  I don't want to remove every last shred of lanolin in the wool.  I just want it clean.  It's soaking for another half hour and then it will be clear water rinses until the water runs clear.  I'm not worried about getting all the detritus out of the fleece, that will come later in the picking and fluffing/teasing part.  Ah but I get ahead of myself.
The water is not nearly so murky after the third soapy rinse, and the next 3clear rinses were much quicker.  The water is much more clear, not murky, just a little dirty.  I let each of these successive rinse sit for about 5 minutes.

The next step is something I do to get the water out.  I put it in a mesh laundrey bag, like you would use for washing nylons, or fine washables. and I hang it over the faucet in the bathtub until no more water is runing out.  I don't like to squeeze, I can't emphasize that enough.

After the water stops running out of the bottom, I give a very light squeeze to the bag, yes now you squeeze, just to make sure the water, which will have pooled at the bottom of the bag, is removed.  Now for the towel.  Like when you hand wash a wool sweater, you put the fleece in a towel.  And then you press down on the towel to soak up as much residual water as possible.

The next step is the final one for the wash aspect.  You hang to dry.  I find a nice shady spot and hope for clouds.  I like it to air dry as much as possible, outside.  It still has a lot of stuff in it, but that's ok, because you will be picking that stuff out later. Tthis way works best for me.  I hang the towel as well.  It's the one I always use for wool and I keep it separate.  As you can see, the wool is much cleaner than when we started and it can be dyed or spun then dyed or kept pristine.
I put a day aside for washing.  In total there were 3 soapy washes, 5 clear rinses.  What I have discovered is that working with fleece is a slow process from getting the fleece to the finished product.  You slowly and carefully wash wool, clean it, spin or felt it, dye it, turn it into an item whether you knit, weave, crochet.  You take your time and are rewarded with something that will last a long time, keep you warm and you can proudly say you made it from start to finish.  It is especially exciting when the product you are processing is locally sourced, as mine was.
I like this process, it just takes a little planning and knowing you will be home for the day.

A Few Thoughts About Jumping Right In There

I've been busy, really busy, doing things I was not quite prepared for because I have a tendency to jump right in with both feet.  Well I did it this time.  I got so far ahead of myself that I spread myself too thin.  I looked around the room and saw all the things that needed to be done and several projects that I had started because it seemed like a good idea at the time and I ended up overwhelmed.  So today has been spent tidying up a bit and I see my dpn's all over the place not nicely together so they don't get lost.  I managed to get the loom put away and the spinning wheel stowed in the corner until I"m reogranized again.  It was fun playing with toys and new items and seeing what I knew and what I didn't, but now it's time to put things away so I can use them when I need them.  I am facing the fact that if I don't do this now, things will start getting lost.  You see I suspect one of my knitting needles has slipped down into the bottom of the couch... eeep, and there are balls of wool everywhere.  I'm also feeling confused and have no focus.  I suspect that I stopped myself just in time, before I was faced with someone else stepping in and taking over, which would be horrible and unfair for them, as well as myself.

I think it's time to do some writing.  I want to get all my patterns down on paper.  I want to know what I have and what I need.  I want to get some studying done.  I pulled out my loom and having to put it away because I'm just not that sure of what I"m doing yet was a real eye opener.  I'm also looking at the table loom and seeing it needs me to do a thorough going over and a clean.  Next couple of days are going to see a rash of re-organizing and stowing things back into the cupboard.  One of these days I'll have a studio with a kitchenette and a daybed, but until then I share a small space with my son.

All in all, I'm feeling overwhelmed, and  not knowing which direction to go in or what project to handle next (usually not a problem).  I feel stuck, so I'm reading a wonderful book all about spinning, dyeing and weaving.  There is information on the tools I need and how everything works.  I think taking a step back and getting reorganized will get my brain flowing and if not.. well there was one good thing that came out of this... while my mind was getting all scatter brained, I was gifted with a wonderful idea for a story.  I've not written any fiction in quite a while and I have a wonderful premise in mind.  Maybe I'll take a small hiatus and work on some writing.  At least the creative flow is working. :D

A Spinning Wheel

Lately, I've been working on socks.  The same pattern, but different yarns.  As I venture deeper into the realms of textiles, knitting and spinning, I discover nuances I never knew existed.  The green pair of socks are knit up from the wool that I dyed in the green koolaid.  They came out beautifully and I love the softness of this pair. The blue pair I knit up next.  This wool was spun and dyed by a friend of mine and it was done "in the grease" which means the wool was picked clean, but spun with the lanolin still in the wool, and not washed out.  There was a bit of a stickiness to it, which I compensated for by keeping talcolm powder close by and each time my hands became sticky, I put a small amount of the powder in my hand and rubbed it in to my hands to absorb the surplus and knit more freely.

From this project I learned that you have to keep track of every stitch and take your time when you knit socks up.  I also perfected my kitchener stitch, and as you can see the toes have a lovely professional look about them.  It was worth the extra effort to really take my time and learn it well.  For all the previous mistakes I've made making socks, I have to say I've learnt so much.  As well noting down every single row and what it was, keeps you on track and I even develloped my own code so I would know each step that was coming up, how far along I was and that just kept things easy and fun.  Instead of sitting down and trying to get the project all done at once, I divide it up into jobs.  The cuff, the leg, the heel flap, turning the heel, the foot, and the toe, each become a seperate section and after completion of each section I take a break.  I go slowly and don't think about what I've already done and how much more I have to go, and what comes next.  It just takes away from the enjoyment of it and tends to create mistakes.  I just focus on the section I'm working on and it all works well.  I ended up unraveling my lovely lavender socks and have already started making a new pair out of them with the correct tension, (Hint: keep things tight) and the correct size.  I'm almost finished the first one and already it looks so much better.

I had some excitement yesterday, when a dear friend came over with some goodies for me.  A few rubber stamps to make cards with, some spool knitters, a little vintage fabric some other things, including nom-noms, but most importantly and happily a spinning wheel.  It's tiny, which suits this place perfectly This is the side of it, so you can't see the wheel, but you can see the arm that goes up and down turning the wheel, and you can see the bobbin and flywheel on the spinner.  As you can tell it has a triangular shape to it and is very compact.

Here you can see the wheel and the treadle, which you pump up and down to make the wheel go round and round, twisting up the fiber and drawing in the yarn and winding it on the bobbin.  It's pretty amazing the way it works.

It took me a while to get how it all worked.  My foot did not quite grasp how to get the wheel to go in the right direction at first.  As well the early tension was difficult and all over the place. Thick and thin, and it looked unwieldy.  I also suffer from performance anxiety, which manifests itself whenever I'm watched doing something, no matter how well I know someone, I just don't perform well.  Oddly enough as soon as my teacher and dear friend left, I decided to give it one more try instead of waiting until today to play with it, and low and behold it came to me, easily.  In fact, in no time I was spinning away and loving every second of it.  It's so peaceful and mesmerizing when you can just get into sitting at the wheel and working on creating pretty little bobbins full of fiber. :D

So yesterday was the best day I've had in a long time.  While my friend was here, we went for a walk in the park and had a yummy meal together, we talked and laughed, we spent time spinning... ok ok I was learning ... but we did get to spin together, which is something we both had wanted to do for a long time... Next time I think we're taking the wheels to the park... I should mention, I have the same wheel as my friend and they are sisters, much like my kick spindle has a sister.  I feel blessed to have such good friends and the opportunity to spend time with them.

The Busy Bee

Over the last few days, I have been working on creating more wool for me to create items from.  I've done some dyeing, which I outlined in my last blog, and then I did some spinning on my kick spindle and have designed and completed a pair of summery fingerless mitts.

As you can see, I've spun up 3 balls of wool the pale lavender, which I created by diluting the Grape Koolaid.  The ball on the mitts, still needs to be plyed, but it is the palest of the lot, and will create some beautiful plyed yarn, once I get to that.  I spun the blue wool and it came out quite lovely with a lot of variance in the colors.  I have a lovely selection of colors to choose from and now just have to figure out what to make.  I have to also figure out the weight of the wool, whether it`s worsted, Aran, fingerling and so on, and for that I use a little guide I make out of a card and notching out a one inch space. I don`t know if there is a name for this kind of measure, so I`ll just resort to my favorite word and call it a doohickey for today.  

The writing on the left hand side has the wraps per inch and what it stands for.  To make the doohickey, I just used a recipe card and cut a 3 inch rectangle off it.  Then to make it a little more sturdy I fold it in half.  I mark out an inch in the center and using a pair of scissors cut about 1/4 of an inch down, and fold the ends over.  This I do on the cut end, I now have a 1 inch notch with which to wrap my wool.  To make things quick and easy I always put down the table that converts the W-raps P-er I-nch or WPI to the wool weights we know so well like worsted or Aran.  

Now for the table of weights:

Wool Weight Name                            Wraps Per Inch

Lace *************************18

Fingerling-----------------------------16

Sport*************************14

Double Knit---------------------------13

Worsted***********************12

Aran----------------------------------11

Bulky*************************10

When using the doohickey, you have to push the wool up together on the inch end and make sure there are no spaces.  In the picture it's wrapped loosely to show how it works, however, carefully moving the wool over takes this to 12 WPI, meaning it's a worsted weight, a standard and popular weight.  

I also designed a pair of finger-less mitts, they are quite lovely and summery in a fingerling weight yarn in green.  I had a lot of fun making them and they go part way up the arm,  perfect for those nights when a gets a wee bit chilly and all you have on is a t-shirt.  Their lacy pattern also makes a lovely fashion statement. 

I'm including a close up of the pattern.  I found it difficult to take a picture with one hand so it's a little blurry. This closeup should help.  It's called a fan pattern and it's really lovely on.  It stretches nicely and they are airy, so they don't get to warm when you wear them, yet they do provide a little warmth should it get cool.

Now after all I've been working on, I need to tidy up.  Although productive, it's been a messy few days and it's time for me to get some things ready.  Packages to wrap up, wool to label and put away for another day, A few things to price and perhaps if I can get things done quickly enough I can even have some time to make another pair of tiny little Mary-Janes.

Adventures in Koolaid Dyeing

So there is the culmination of a good mornings work.  I used 4 Koolaid packets to make this rainbow of color.  The colors on the dryer are more vibrant than they appear, it's grey out and warmish, and perfect for drying the wool away from the sun.  It's actually a simple process, so if you're just starting out it's an easy way to go.  

The procedure is basically the same for all the different dyeing's I did.  First I washed the wool/fleece in a little dish soap, and rinsed it carefully, squeezing it out gently because I didn't want to felt the wool.  Then I soaked it in some water for about 10 minutes.  I didn't want it too saturated, I was going for a mottled look.  The next step was to dissolve the Koolaid in a liter of water inside a large pot that I knew I would only use for dyeing.  The Koolaid doesn't need anything since it has enough citric acid in the packet, which acts as the mordant which helps it set so the color doesn't leach out.  Once the Koolaid has been stirred enough so that the crystals are fully dissolved, you can add the wool if it has had a good enough soak and enough water to cover the materials being dyed.  Now put the big ole pot on the stove and crank the heat up on your burner.   Check it every once in a while, you don't want to boil it, but you do want to get it close to a boil.  Now put on the lid and check your dye every 10 minutes or so.  Once the color has leached from the water into the yarn or fleece and is left clear, you can pull it out of the water and into a container for rinsing.  I do this in my kitchen sink matching the water temperature of the tap water to the temperature of the yarn/fleece being rinced so I don't felt the wool, and once the water runs clear you are done dyeing.  Time for drying.  I use a small little round about with pegs attached to hang my items.  I place them in a shady place and allow to dry, squeezing the water out gently as it hits the bottom of the dyed item.

So now that the basics are out of the way, here are the variances I applied to the dyeing.  The first color I used was Koolaid Cherry.  I wanted a full bodied color and so I used only one skein of wool.  I followed the procedure outlined above and then hung to dry.  The color is a nice soft red, not quite pink.

The next color was Koolaid Ice Blue, which I followed the procedure for as stated above, but instead of using prespun yarn I used unspun fleece.  I used a lot of fleece, enough to make about two skeins of yarn, and after the final rinse, I put it in a net bag, then hung the bag of fleece to dry.  I achieved a variety of colors on the fleece from a whisper of blue, almost soft white, carrying through to soft palest blue, to a very pale blue, to blue.  There is a lovely mottled affect on the fleece and when it spins up it should have quite a lot of variance in color.

I then followed up with Lemon-Lime Koolaid, which is a bright green.  However that is not the color I wanted to create.  I wanted a pale grass green.  So I grabbed 3 skeins of wool, 2 of them were wool blends, and the third was 100% wool.  I soaked them for about 5 minutes before I added them to the pot with the dissolved Koolaid.  There is not much dye in there so it does not take long to soak up all the color.  I was rewarded with one skin of pale green wool, and two skeins of mottled very pale green wool blends.

My final batch was with Grape Koolaid.  I did not want bright purple, I wanted lavender, so I went again with using 3 skeins of wool and wool blends and followed the same procedure as for the Lemon-Lime Koolaid.  I was happy with the results and received one offwhite and lavender skein, and one greyish lavender skein of wool blends, and one lovely very colorful mottled lavender skein of wool.

This was a great project and I'm going to do some more dyeing soon, but this should keep me busy for the next few weeks. I have the spring colors I want, well almost... tomorrow I may be delving into yellows with some onion skins and vinegar. :D  We see how the day goes.  For now, I'll have to wait for my beautiful rainbow to dry.

The Economics of Clothing Part 3 (Something to think about)

Here's a little food for thought, we're throwing away clothes, lots of them.  And where are they ending up?  In our landfills.  Now the majority of clothing we wear is not natural fiber, in fact it's synthetic, and those kind of clothes don't biodegrade well.  It's such a shame really.  However, I'm not opposed to synthetics completely; they do have a place.  Where would we be without wash and wear that makes our clothes so wonderfully wrinkle free, or the fabrics that keep us dry from the rain that falls so prolifically in the Pacific Northwest, where I live?

There are so many things we can do with clothing once we are ready to discard it.  If it's in good condition, you can donate it a local thrift store.  In fact, some of those places arrange pick up so you can just put it out on your door step and let them take care of carting it off for you.

Another thing you can do with them is reuse them for rags.  If the clothes are really beaten up and have good absorbability, you can use them to dry floors after washing, create mops out of them, dust your house, wash your car.

As well, textile artists often use them in creating new clothing.  Old sweaters can be unraveled and used to make new, more fashionable items.  Buttons and zippers can be removed from old garments and used in the making of new clothing.  You can re-fashion old clothes into new ones with a little more flair or add your own style.  Rag rugs, whether you braid them or hook them can also be made.  I often use old scraps of fabric and up-cycle old items into new useful articles that can be worn, or used for other purposes.

So the next time you are thinking about clearing out your closet of old clothing, remember the garbage can should be your last resort, not the first stop. :D

The Spring Fling

 This is a picture of the square where the event took place.  The people at CHLY were very nice and they put up tents and tables for us to put our things out on.  It was all very laid back and there was a band as well, playing music that took me back to the good old DOA days.  I found my head nodding to a few of the tunes.

 I set up my goods on the table , in my big round box I put in my fingerless mitts, and a few of my favorite hats.  To the right are my bags and then I put out a few more hats and the God's eyes.

Most importantly, I put out my business cards.  I'm really glad I brought those with me and I found that those were the things that people grabbed.  There was a lot of interest in the gloves and some of the hats, especially the blue and green hood.

I had a great time, but did not sell a thing.  However, I made some important contacts and I'm sure I'll be hearing from some of the people who took a card.  The crowd was mostly students and a few people I knew locally.  I had no idea that there was a small square in behind the buildings by the China Steps  I"m glad I had this opportunity to show my wares.

In the next few days I'm going to be working on some new items, more summery in nature, and I'll also be making sure to include some woolens in more somber, natural colors for the menfolk.

The Trials and Tribulations of the Little Black Bag

I have finally finished the bag.  It took a little bit but then it allowed me some rest time, so the issues that came up were well worth it.  I'm pleased with the outcome of the bag.  With it being freeform, it was an interesting project, but caused slowdowns as I was deciding what to do next.  This did cause a lack of interest at times, so it is doubtful I will be doing that too often.  I chose to make a strap for the bag out of black wool on a spool knitter.  I was rusty, so that took a little time, but I soon got into the swing of things.  It also had nails in the top and all I have to say to that is - OUCH!  My fingertips are a little sore and raw.  I'm sure that won't be an issue if I keep at it and build up some calluses.

This was a serious glutton of time, but a good use of up-cycled resources from my collections of many things. I have decided at this time, to make some much smaller bags, more like little make-up bags, with the rest of the material.

The one thing I was glad about, was since I was home, I was there for my son when he found he needed to go to the dentist.  He had bad toothache and needed to see someone about the pain, which kept him up all night for the last few nights.  He was in no fit state and being able to help him, made me feel good and reignited my passion in the bag again.

Slowly but Surely

I keep hitting obstacles, little things that make me stop and smell the roses, or attend to real life in general.  I was not happy about having my day split up today.  I'm heading out today with a friend.  I need this and new it was coming.  Getting away and spending time with someone out in the country rejuvenates me and sparks my creative endeavors.  However, I did not take into consideration just how bad my son's tooth was, and so in the wee small hours of the monrning his pain was no longer a dull ache, but a delluge of pain, agony and suffering.   His face puffed up around the infection and he was in obvious need of assistance.  So as soon as it was open it was off to find a doctor and get that face dealt with.  The dentist is not available until the 27th of April, and that is not an option for him to wait that long to get help.  So we spent the entire morning waiting for Lloyd to get his meds and he's a happier camper now and resting.

I on the other hand will be heading out the door in an hour or so to go do some more stuff.  I had wanted to just relax this morning, but today is one of those days, much like the migraine day I had a couple of days ago.  I'm putting my foot down.  No more internet until after I've got the things I want completed.  I did have an interesting day with working on this yesterday:

The thread is gold, metallic gold, not the color, but actually looks like gold.  There are some small amethyst beads and the heart is red velvet, and the bag is lined with the same red velvet.  I did the little squiggles just free form, and am looking for more to add, I think I have something in my jewelry box.  I'm getting out into the country today... I'm going to get inspired and then I"m holing up in my hidey hole and working really hard on getting things ready for the CHLY Spring Event on the 28th of April.  I'm very excited about this.

I'm not going to let anything more get in the way. :D

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

So  I hit a couple of snags yesterday when I was working on my project.  I'm all out of black thread, but I used a dark charcoal until that was all gone too.  I  know I had a big spool of black thread, but it has vanished.  As well all my fancy buttons have disappeared and I just have the pearly ones.  I know they'll turn up again... Just seems weird that they suddenly aren't here.  There are days I swear I"m plagued by gremlins.  As well, my sewing machine was acting up and I just start using it and the presser foot comes off and does not want to go on, It took me hours to figure out someone had taken off a piece and put it back on incorrectly.  I start to sew again and my tension is all a mess.  I need to get in there and clean it... I suspect it's sat too long and needs a tune up.  I can be patient.  Instead of getting all frustrated, I have put the machine aside until I am ready to clean her up and see about a tune up.  I did however hand sew the bag, the one below.  It's hard to see, but I did some applique on there and stuffed it with a little batting and sewed it down in strategic places so it has a 3D affect, and the applique looks like a medallion.  I should be picking up some thread in the next couple of days and then I"ll get the bags complete.  This is just the first one, and where I am so far.

I added some embellishments to the hat I dyed up the other day.  I was going for a whimsical look, like bubbles floating across the hat, reminiscent perhaps of champagne.  I'm considering taking them off and putting more of a pattern on it.  I'm still unsure, I just k  now that it's not quite what I wanted, yet.

So, I'm considering what I can work on that will keep me busy and help add to my stock until I can get those pouches finished.  I did want to make a pair of Mary-Jane slippers again, and perhaps another pair of the finger-less mitts.  I get asked about those the most. I could work on my sewing machine too, but I'm still too frustrated even though I should be realizing it's just a life lesson, already learned and it's the tail end of the lesson and I'm discovering just how deep it went and how right my decisions have been since learning it. :D  Now i'ts just learning to take that deep breath, so that rather than moving on from the old, I'm moving forward towards the new without regrets.

UPDATE:
I don't know how, I don't know why, but I looked around one last time for a few things and low and behold, my spool of thread appeared, as well as my special buttons, and some items I thought I had left behind and would never see again.  I'm jumping for joy.  In all honesty, these items could not have reappeared at a better time.  I was just about to go and get my wool and put my fabric away for the next few days, when I decided to look in my sewers box one more time.  There they were, I had checked an hour previously and they weren't there.  Gotta love the Universe, I put it out there and then they show up.  That is awesome so without further adieu, I bring you a photo of my latest item... A lovely little bag, filled with hope and good intentions.

I'm riding the Up-cycle

Today's project is an interesting use of what was once a pair of pants.  I love to up-cycle things.  That is take something that has lost the ability to be of any use in it's current state, and recreate it in another way.  I had a pair of pants, that got ripped in an unfortunate place.  I could have fixed them, but it would have been obvious, and made the garment look worse not better, so I cut of the legs and created a bag out of it, that I still use today.  It's great, and has pockets just where I want them and it's really sturdy.

Today's project is to make some small pouch bags out of the legs.  I kept them just in case.  I also have an old jacket, the zippers broken and it's misshapen in parts.  However most the pattern on it is beautiful and I'll be using it to embellish the bag.  As well I have an old velvet pillow case that someone had used as a table cloth.  There is candle-wax all over it, and taking it off the fabric is difficult at best because of the nap, however I can cut around the wax and have enough to line the little bags.  I'll be making each one differently, but there will be similar elements to all.

In the above photo you can see a little of the damage on the pillow slip where I tried to remove the wax.  There is still plenty of fabric.

This is a closeup of the pattern on my old jacket, it's got a lot of potential, and is dark black.  I lightened up the picture so the pattern would be clear.  

And as you can tell here, these are my old corduroy's.  They were lovely once and will be lovely again.

So this is my project over the next few days... I've got my sewing machine out and I'm ready to use  my threads... :D

I Dyed and Went to Heaven!

I finally did it, I dyed something, albeit small and fairly easy I was looking for a certain look.  I have always loved the color ecru and find it hard to find when I"m ready to work with it.  I had heard that by dying with tea you could create that colour.  As you see it's a soft pinkish brown, that is so warm and natural, and it's not white.

So I had just knitted up this hat, real quick, a basic really, just a roll brim beanie, and I was not sure what I was going to do with it. As you can see it's creamy white with nothing really much to say, fine as it is, but I wanted something more.

It needs something more I thought, so I decided to give it a tea bath and try out that whole Ecru thing, after all what's the worst that could happen.  So I started to get prepared.  I wanted to avoid that mottled look that can happen if you just plunk it wet into the tea water, so first things first.  I soaked the hat in cold water for half an hour to get it nice and saturated.

The next step was to make a double on the tea.  I boiled 2 cups of water and poured them over 2 teabags in a large enamel pot.

The enamel pot is dark blue in there so it looks a little murky, but it's all good.  I then pulled the hat out of the water, gently squeezed out the excess and then plunked it into what looks like murky depths.  But see, not so murky, in fact it's a lovely color, all orangy brown.  Every little while I gave it a stir, over the next couple of hours.  I was patient and kept checking for color.

Once it was done, I squeezed out all the tea and then I rinsed it until the water ran clear.  Then gently squeezed out the water again.  So far this is what I have:

I know it still looks creamy, but the lighting was not that great, however, the color is pretty, very faded browny pink.  Besides it's still wet in that picture.  At this point I'm waiting for the hat to dry to see the true color, and then it's getting some further embellishment.  Once it's done I'll post.

I had a great time doing this little project.  I love the way the hat looks so far, and can't wait for it to be done.