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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

God's Eyes

These are God's eyes, or Ojo de Dios, and they are beautiful colorful little woven objects used in Ancestor worship/practice down in Mexico.  Here is where you can find more information on God's eyes,  However, for the most part, they are a lovely little keepsake or reminder for passed loved ones.  This is a great little craft to do to cheer yourself up.  The weave up quickly and you can make them out of scrap yarn or like I did with embroidery cotton.  You can add beads to them or make monuments out of them.  The weaving and winding of this craft is also great for meditation or putting yourself into a meditative state.  Ahh, and there the pagan side of my faith is showing.

I remember my father coming home from a trip to Mexico with handfuls of red and green ones that we put on the Christmas tree to remember our loved ones.  All of them have been shared around with family members, and I like to pull out the one that I have and remember him when I hang it on the tree. :D

The Economics of Clothing Part 2 (More reasons)

I keep thinking about clothing and how quickly we go through things, and it bothers me.  I look at the pajamas with the tears in the fabric that my son purchased less than a year ago... That should not be.  I look at where we get the majority of our clothing and our fabric from.  The affordable stuff, comes from India or China, and it leaves a huge carbon footprint on this old earth (and most likely is manufactured by children who are overworked and underpaid).  It just doesn't seem right when I know there is a forest full of fiber, as well as local sheep, alpaca and more.  It is not hard to spin, in fact, wouldn't it make more sense to spin something locally and dye it locally and weave it or knit it locally and wear it locally.  Wouldn't one logically assume that we grow what we need, and the warmth that we need to cover out bodies in is right here.  Everything we need.

For instance, I use a kick spindle when I spin.  What's a kick spindle.... below in that picture is my kick spindle.. you put it on the floor and kick the wheel and round it goes .  It was made from local cedar, by someone locally who crafted it so that I could spin.  It's a great little spindle and I love it.  Much faster than a drop spindle once you get used to it.  On there I spin wool so that I can make hats and mitts and things to keep you warm and dry.

You see, one of the great things about wool is it's ability to keep you both warm and dry, and should the wool get wet, you will still be warm.  It's amazing.  As long as the wool has some lanolin (sheep fat) it will keep things water proof.  It's rainy here where I live and wool  does well here.  As well wool breathes, which is better for your skin then clothes made out of synthetics, which don't breathe.  

At this point I've been thinking, with so many people out of work, why aren't we creating a cottage industry where you have home spinners who create textiles, and designers who make things from the fabric or wool,or textile creators who design and create clothing themselves.  Locally without that carbon footprint that is going to get bigger as gas prices keep going up.  

This is just a little food for thought, but I'm going to go back to spinning now and figuring out how to make a working textile industry in a stuck economy :D... 

The new Hood

So here I am in my new Hood.  She's a beaut, and she worked up quickly.  I used a double strand of wool, one dark green, one royal blue, so it was then like an chunky weight.  I had to unravel a bit when it came to taking off the ends, and fudge some things, but the back looks good now.  I made it as kind of a pixie hat, and it does have that air about it, but check it out.

I got my son to try on the hat, and He looks good in it as well.  I was thinking it was a more girly hat, but no... It looks good on both genders.  I had a lot of fun with this and will be making another shortly... I'm thinking maybe pink and orange.. or maybe just one color... I'm going to go through my balls of wool and see what I have that would look good.  Not so sure I want to do another two tone, just because I want to see it all in one color... Hrmmm maybe a natural...

As for how I feel, I'm getting better.  I might give the kick spindle a go tonight if I'm not knitting, but I'm thinking it's time for round two of the hat and to write down the pattern... :D

Learning Curve

So above is the first pair of socks I knitted.  Not perfect, but not bad, just basic little socks.  They fit well and I used an alright yarn I guess.  It's a mystery yarn, not sure of the weight, but it worked fine.  They seem to lack some shape, but I did want something simple for my first time, and that's exactly what I got.

After making my socks, I decided to make a pair for my grown son.  I used the same pattern, same math and got that monstrosity of a sock.  It is too lose at the top, fits all right at the foot, but it's so misshapen.  I was disappointed and frustrated the whole time I was knitting it.  I could see it was not doing what it should even though the bag of wool said that this was sport weight... yeah right, it was not sock weight, more worsted and it looks terrible.  I also used the wrong needles.  With the socks for me I guess I lucked out.  For both socks I used DPNs 3.5mm my favorites for knitting up a hat on the fly.  Yeah socks are not a knit on the fly type thing.  

  Now I'm working on a sock with a pattern, Skyp socks to be exact.  I have some very lightweight fluffy wool in a color I like.  I also have some DPNs 2mm this time around.  So far this looks much more like a sock and I'm feeling better about the thickness.  I'm going to find some grey or another dark colour (anything but black) so I can make my son some socks, and I'll see from there.  

Things I've learned:  *make sure you have the correct yarn and gauge

                               *make sure you have the correct needles to get the gauge correct.

                               *with socks size matters, triple check the gauge.

                               *when starting with socks, math is for mathematicians, use a pattern.

I'll be posting when the socks are done.

Finally completed the sock.

It has taken me a bit to grasp the making of this sock.  I suspect part of it is that I'm not up to par, everything is kinda achy and I'm feverish. However, a little flu will not get this knitter down.  I'm going to make it's match a little later, but it's good to see that math was true to the pattern.  What is interesting about this sock, is it was made without a real pattern, just an idea of what a sock is, with math for stitches to make it fit, and information on knitting the heel, the gusset, and the toe.  After that it's all easy. :D

The sock is a good fit, no tightness, but perfectly snug.  Also, the garment breathes well, and my foot is warm, but not overheating.  Who could ask for more.  I'm going to be working on some more different patterns as time goes on, but for now, I'll just settle on creating the mate over the next couple of days.

Adventures in Sockery

I have to admit, I have never made a sock.  I don't know why, but I always put it off.  Lately, my views on sock making have changed and I had some yarn.  I have no idea what it is, it's mottled and actually knits up prettier than I thought it would.  I've only started the ribbing, but I found a basic sock making pattern that just explains the math and how to make the heal and toes and all.  That's what I wanted.  I know that once I get the rhythm I will figure out a pattern.  For now, I'll be wearing bright socks because I have plenty of the mottled mystery yarn and the desire to really get it down to a fine art.

Yesterday, I finished the blue hat.  It's a pretty little thing, and I'm pleased it knit up so easily.  The pattern, as always came from my head based on what I wanted in the hat, which was a couple of cables, some ear flaps, a slightly loose fit and braided ties. And here it is in all it's simplicity.  It's actually a darker brighter blue, and the cable is so beautiful on it.  I wish the photo did it justice, but I'm working on creating a studio to better show my creations, and today was not the day to work on it... Today was for socks.

The Economics of Clothing Part 1 (The reason)

I watched this film today  Sacred Economics and it explains a lot about my belief in economics and life.  I have been on a journey to discover myself and during that journey, I found myself back to learning and embracing my childhood teachings and loves.  I have been to local wool shops and the cost of buying a ready made skein of wool, enough for a hat, is $18.00 for natural fibers (that's wool, nothing nearly so exotic as silk or angora).  Now add onto that the cost of time to create that hat, I'll set it at $10.00 an hour (my time is really worth way more than $10.00, but I'm learning to let go of that it's more about explaining what is going on in the world) and it would take me an evening to create it, so times that $10.00 by 6 and add that to the cost of the fibers.  Now you are looking at $78.00 for a basic hat, that you can buy at Walmart for about $10.00.  I know it's not wool, but hey, it's $10.00 and it's cheap, it is also perfect (because it's made by a machine) and it will last me the season and that's all I want it for, besides, I can get another one next year; and this is the thought that allows us to continue to fill our landfills with fibers that cannot biodegrade easily if at all.

I have a wool toque my mother made me about 15 years ago.  It still holds it shape, and is a timeless classic.  I also have the sweater I made in my teens.  It had a hole in it where I snagged it on a tree branch when I was walking in the woods, but it has been repaired, because it was worth it... Wool lasts you see I've had that sweater 35 years and aside from the little hole, it's still in good condition.

Now, I also have a pair of pants that I purchased just before Christmas, they were $20.00, and were what I could afford at the time.  I've been wearing them a lot, but not every day, and they are almost ready for the rag bin.  They are thin and are starting to get holes  in some places.  I don't use bleach when I wash and I've had to start babying them and washing them by hand because it would seem the pants don't do so well in our washer and dryer (none of my other clothes have this issue).  Ouch... this is the harsh reality of many of the clothes today.  They last until the fad of them is over.

In reality, with today's standards for earning a living, by applying regular wage practices to Textiles, clothing becomes unaffordable, unless you shop at Walmart and smack down the $20 bucks for the pants, which you will have to keep replacing every few months, because there is no integrity in the fiber or the quality of the goods.  I know if I can get a good pair of wool pants, they will last me for years, and years and are worth repairing.  The issue becomes, in this economy how do you get clothes you need to rarely repair.  How do you afford to dress yourself in clothes that will actually keep you warm and comfortable.  Shoes fall into the same boat.

So here it is in a nutshell.  I want to start making a difference.  My desire is that when I have free time, and I am not working on my business, I am going to  make my own clothing from scratch.  I will spin it, weave it, knit and crochet it.  I will figure out how to make my own shoes (ones worth fixing).  I will only wear what I have made.  I will replace all my cheap, crappy old pieces with new more exciting, original pieces that will keep me warm and classically fashionable and have lasting sustainability.

We need to start wearing natural fibers again, and learning to purchase clothes that will last, making that investment in ourselves, because we are worth it.  It is not just the high cost of textiles that are a problem for us.  In our society, prices keep going up on basic necessities, such as food, rent, gasoline, electiricity, but our worth, has gone down, we are downsizing, lowering paychecks, loosing hours, and our reward for all this is that prices skyrocket.  I was reading an article the other day and it mentioned that food prices have gone up 5% in the last year and how hard that was.  I bought milk the other day, 2 liters for just under $4.00 ($3.99) last year it was just over $2.00 ($2.19 at the beginning and then it rose rapidly).  That is a lot more than a 5% increase, that is almost doubling the cost of the same product.  Look around your grocery store and double check those prices for yourself and remember when last year you paid $3.00 less a kilogram for beef.

This all looks pretty grim, but I'm working on some solutions, one is to offer lessons on creating your own clothing out of fiber that you create yourself, how to dye it and process it.  How to Make a few luxury items (that should not be luxuries, but staples) that last.

Finally, when all is said and done, how long do these clothes take to break down, these clothes made from synthetics.  How long do they sit on our landfills, completely useless.  Natural fibers do not have that issue. 

Arabian Knit Dreams

I have been working on these mitts, and a hat to match the last few days.  I sometimes get interrupted while I'm in the zone and I loose my concentration, there is a knock on the door, or someone wants something.  I depart my world of knitting and give a hand, I come back to my work and start up again, but I'm not yet in the zone and I find it hard to get back there.  Luckily I don't get so deep in that  getting back to where my head space at is a problem, but when it does occur, I unravel and start again, that is what happened with these.  I was counting cable stitches and just well my counter was adjusted, it was just one of those things, but I could really see the cable was off.  I tried to just go back a little, but no, the unfinished glove was telling me to unravel all and start from the beginning.  It was worth it... These knit up quickly after that and I am learning to say, I'll be with you when I'm done.  I'm working on a hat to match, when that's done I'll post.  this pair of fingerless mitts was fun to make and they are nice and warm.... I love the color; I call it Arabian Knight Blue, it reminds me of the deeply star speckled starlit skies in all those movies about the Arabian knights.

My Stash

This is my stash, some of it is hand spun by a friend, and some is from Brigs and Little as well from the friend who did the hand spinning.  All of this is wool, I believe sheeps wool.  All of it is Canadian and it's beautiful.  I have more yarn than this, however, it's acrylic and I'm quickly veering away from unnatural fibers.  I have plenty here for making some lovely items.  My favorite thing to do is scatter all the bits and pieces beside me and start  pondering all the different things I could make from this lovely stash.   When inspiration hits, it usually strikes quickly and I'm reaching for one of my hooks or my knitting needles and I'm off.  I love the bright bold colors and in all honesty, the photo does not do it justice.  

I have learned to spin myself and have gone from using a drop spindle made from a pencil, to what is called a kick spindle.  Above is the kick spindle, you kick the large round wheel to spin the spindle and it twists, leaving your hands free.  To wind the wool on you just kick the spindle and it's done... so easy so quick.   I love this and it was made for me by the same friend who helped me with the wool, and got me involved in spinning and such.  The next adventure, is going to be dying some wool.  I have some dyes, but still need to do some reading.  Little things, like life, are getting in the way, but there comes a time when you just say enough and disappear into the wooly blue yonder.

In the beginning:

In the beginning, man, or should I say woman, was wandering around gathering things, one was the fleece of some of the animals the hunters brought back, and the women noticed that when twisted together these pieces of fiber of fleece clung together, and you could wrap those long strings around a stick... That's it in a nutshell.  Fiber's are twisted into long strands, which can be used to tie things together, weave into fabric, knit, crochet, weave, and even mat with needles or water into felt.  From here, we can create so many things. Clothing, blankets, shelters, shoes, art and so much more.

It is my hope to take this simple little craft and discover what can truly be created if you really really want it.  When I lived in my mother's home, the sewing machine was pulled out and she would make lovely dresses for my sister and I to wear, as well she knit us sweaters, and I still can hear the plink plink of the needles as they crossed.  She did not always work on things and I do recall a loom with lots of string and some long  pieces of thick doweling that she would swear at in German as she tried to untangle the inevitable mess of strings that were hanging from the main dowel.  My sister and I were not allowed to touch her things... but I wanted to learn to knit.  The answer was no... However, my father saw me and grabbed me and he showed me to knit very simply and from there I learned to knit, and knit well.  I watched my mother and my little German Aunts that came to visit and exciting things would happen, in glorious natural colors made from mustard and onion skins and other strange exotic things.  These ventures into dying, I suspect ended in disaster, because one day it was all abandoned, to be worked on later (which came to never).

Life goes on and I would knit and sew from time to time and was always comfortable around textiles, loving the artsy feel of it all.  I had wanted to spin and knew no one who spin, there was no YouTube, so no kind of tutorial or lessons.  For, as luck would have it, spinning fell out of vogue and items for spinning were impossible to find.  Then one day I met someone in a group that was not even remotely involved in my desire to explore textile arts.  She brought me wool, and looms, and we continued to talk and built up a friendship.  I began to pour over YouTube and discovered ideas on how to make my own little drop spindle.  It was created from a pencil, I put in a little teacup hook into the eraser end.  I then sandwiched an old CD between two square pieces of cardboard with a hole in the center and two rubber bands... those are to set the place for the spooly end.  I just put the rubber band near the end by the eraser, and wrapped it around tight, then it's a piece of the cardboard, the CD and the last piece of cardboard, hold tightly in place and put the last rubber band around the pencil and inch everything up tightly together, now you have a drop spindle to spin with. 

This is a picture of my spindle, the fleece I used and the ball of wool I created.  That was my first ever attempt and it actually knit up quite well into these:

These mitts are finger-less and are actually quite warm.  I've made a pair of these in heather for myself, and these are more of a masculine style, which I call Bad-Ass Biker Mitts. :D