Fleece Love and Happiness

Hand Spun Romney Sweater

2012-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

So much for my "slow clothes" idea. This knitted up fast. I started on Monday and was done by Friday.

I used a pattern called Bulky Neck Down Cardigan for Women by Knitting Pure and Simple.

It's the warmest sweater I have ever put on. I'm ready for some snow now.

Lichen Dyeing

2012-01-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take the Lichen Dyeing class at Madrona, but I didn't get in. The class filled up in less that 45 minutes and I couldn't sit in front of the computer at work! Ugh. Well, who needs a fancy-schmancy class anyway? I've decided to teach myself how to dye with Lichen. My co-worker and friend, Marge, picked some Lichen for me last weekend when she was out by Cashmere, Washington.

I use just water and heat for the first go-around. The yarn was golden yellow within a half hour of being in the pot! I threw in a little alum with the somewhat depleted dye bath and got the softer yellow after an hour.

St. Distaff's Day- A real holiday

2012-01-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I attended the St. Distaff's Day Spin In, an event that made the news...

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Hundreds-of-yarn-spinners-gather--136886693.html

While happily bustling around the house to get ready in the morning, I found my husband smirking at me.
"What?" I asked.
"That's so cute, you think this is a real holiday."

Knit Romney

2012-01-05T23:46:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the concept of "slow clothes". Us knitters and spinners have been making slow clothes all along---definitely not a new concept. But just like the "slow food" movement, it's about slowing down and enjoying the process. It's about shunning Mc Donalds or "Mc Fashion". Last month I decided I needed a new sweater. On Dec. 10th I purchased 3 1/2 lbs of raw Romney at Weaving Works. There was a blue ribbon in the bag of fleece and the sales person said it's from Washington State. Other than that, I do not know the origins. It felt soft and lovely and the color was interesting, so I bought it. I washed it on Dec. 10th and 11th. I began spinning on Dec. 12th. I was done spinning on Jan 2nd.

The pattern was chosen on Jan 2nd and I began knitting. I'm on the second arm of the sweater...photos to come later. As you can see form the photo above, I separated the light, medium, and dark lock so I'd have a variety of shades to knit with. In the end, I ended up with a bulky weight three-ply yarn.

It's all in the bag.

2011-11-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

Vintage fabric, with a twist spun into it...

Cotton warp, hand spun yarn, leather, wool fabric, silk sari-scrap yarn, cotton fabric strips...

...a leather bottom and wool fabric straps. It's a mixed textile tote.

Busy Knitting

2011-10-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't been blogging, I have been busy knitting. First I made the Basket Weave Cowl out of a two ply hand spun.

Digging through my yarn stash I found a 3 ply yarn that I died with Cochineal. I made up a cable pattern and knitted a little hat.

This floppy hat is made from hand spun hand dyed merino. I used the basic beret pattern called One Day Beret Recipe and modified it with rounds of purls to make a little ridge every so often.

Using the same beret recipe, I've started another hat.

A few months ago I got this half-made hand knit sweater at the thrift store. It still had the knitting needles in it! I ripped it out with the intent of recycling the yarn.

I used the recycled yarn to make a hat and a pair of fingerless mitts.

Stinky Finian

2011-10-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Who's Finian and why does he stink? Finian is that little Shetland in the photo. I bought his fleece last summer. I washed it with really hot water and Dawn using the top loader method. Then I dyed little batched of the fleece on the stove with various dye stuff. And guess what! You can still smell his stink. I don't know why.

The yarn samples above are from Finian's fleece dyed with marigold with alum as a mordant. I ran the locks through my drum carder just once. The staple length is so long that it barely worked to card it that way. I was trying to decide between a 2 ply and a 3 ply yarn. I'm going with the 3 ply and plan spin a whole skein now.

Natural Dyeing - this time with iron

2011-10-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

For the next batch of natural dyeing I used iron as a mordant. I'm pretty sure that I used too much because the wool feels somewhat sticky. The purple-blue grays were achieved with logwood and the light khaki green is from marigolds. The wool is Shetland.

Natural Dyeing

2011-10-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got out the old dyeing pots and some natural dye stuff that I've been storing. I used the Shetland that I washed in a washing machine a few months back. It's still stinky so I figured dyeing it will at least change the smell---hopefully for the better. I used Alum for the mordant for all of the colors above. The dye materials consist of logwood, madder, marigold, cutch, and red onion skins. As I spin this fiber I will label it so you can see which dye stuff I used for the individual color. For now it's all drying on the deck while the next batch is on the stove.

This one skein took all week to spin. It's the Polypay I mentioned in a previous post. I flick-carded the locks then spun right off the little individual pieces. It's a two-ply. I want to dye it and make something lacy, but I really don't have a project in mind.

FO - Cold Mountain

2011-09-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Last spring I started Cold Mountain, a Knitty pattern. It was my first real lace project. I used baby alpaca yarn--two skeins that I bought at Weaving Works--I didn't keep the label. It took 5 months to knit. Then it sat in a box during the move to the new house. I finally blocked it and took a few photographs. Here it is...

Polypay

2011-09-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas my husband gave me a whole Polypay fleece. I finally got it out and washed it. Now I'm flick carding the locks and spinning a worsted yarn. If you are not familiar with Polypay, let me tell you it's really nice to spin. It's soft and durable at the same time. Apparently it's a breed created in the US in the 1970's. It's a cross breed of Dorset and Targhee with Rambouillet and Finnsheep. My husband bought this one from Maplewood North. I have purchased several fleece from these folks and I've been pleased with the product every time.

I'm spinning without a planned project. I love spinning that way because as I spin I can contemplate what exactly I'll do with the yarn. This time I'm thinking "socks...no, mittens...no, something lacy...no, socks". I have to admit, I don't even know if this is going to be a 2-ply or a 3 ply yet...

The Barn

2011-09-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

The land lord called it the "Cottage". My husband called it the "Yarn Barn". I tried to call it the "Studio". What is it? It's the free-standing shack connected to my house by a deck. There's no running water, but there is electricity. There's two rooms--one for sewing, carding, and spinning and the other for weaving. There's enough room for all of my stuff. I've had it for a month now and I'm just settling in. I tried to call it something cool, but in the end the words "The Barn" just come out of my mouth when I tell my family where I'll be. "I'll be in the barn." This is ironic, because in my neighborhood there are no real barns to be seen. For those who live in Seattle, and know my area--Judkins Park/Rainier---you will know that this is not "barn" territory. None the less, it's my (yarn) barn.

I moved to a new house.

2011-09-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

So why the long break from Fleece Love and Happiness? Well, I moved again. The packing and unpacking threw a wrench in my crafting time....but it's well worth it because now I have my own room---a shed really---for all my equipment. Yahoo! No more keeping the loom in the dining room.
I've set up my work table , sewing machine, and looms. I've stored all my fiber, yarn and fabric. Now I get to start some projects. Going through some bins of fiber, I found some "dyeing projects gone bad". I carded them into some multi-fiber, multicolored batts and began spinning.
The new house also has a deck so I can work outside. Today I'm washing fleece and soaking recently spun skeins to dry in the sun. It's the hottest day of summer in Seattle this year.

Life is good.

Catching Up

2011-06-20T19:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've checked in. I have been busy with all kinds of fiber related projects. I finished knitting the Cold Mountain shawl, but since it's not blocked yet, I have not photographed it to share with you. During that long and tedious project, I made this scarf as a "side project". It was a mindless project that kept my hands busy and I used it as a "break" form the lace shawl.
I started with some BFL roving and spaced dyed it. Then I spun singles and I left it as a single. That's right. It's my first attempt of making a single (non-plied) yarn. And I really liked it. Below is my daughter's friend Maddie who modeled for me on the fly.
Recently I finished spinning all of the Jacob fleece. Some is combed and some is carded. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet...maybe a blanket of natural colored yarns.

Washing Fleece

2011-06-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

While I was down in Salem, Oregon, at the Northwest Regional Spinner's conference, I purchased this Shetland fleece. "Finian" produced 5 1/2 lbs on his 2nd sheering, according Terry from Windy Valley Fiber Arts who sold me the fleece. This was a super stinky fleece. I decided to wash it in the top-loader washing machine. Since the fleece was so big, I wash it in two different sections. I ran hot water into the washing machine, soaked the fleece for several hours using Dawn as the cleaning agent, then I spun out the water. No agitation was used, of course. Then I ran some warm water in, soaked it again, and spun out the water again. I must say that it's still a wee bit stinky, but I 'm not willing to mess with it any more. I dried it out on the picnic table on a nice warm day.

Woolly Rug - Take Two

2011-05-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

In my quest for a thick woolly rug design, I have made a second attempt. This time I wove 6 rows of Cotswold locks then 3 rows of Shetland yarn. The warp is black cotton rug warp set at 10 e.p.i. The rows with thick locks made the warp all wonky and crooked, then the yarn rows straightened out the warp--sort of re-setting it to be even again. This is a very heavy rug.
My first rug is on the right. I used thin locks and more yarn. For second rug, on the left, I used big lumps of wool to make it thick and squishy.
Oh Cold Mountain, you are so much work. I will finish you someday.

More Yarn Made of Scraps

2011-05-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

This time I went for the purple shades---and a drum carder, which I like using much more than hand cards. The lavender wool on the tray is Targhee. There's some lavender mohair there too. The wine-colored wool is Columbia. Not shown in this photo is the little bits of wine-colored mohair that was carded in.
It was fun to spin up my wild batt.

Handcarding scraps

2011-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

My storage spaces are overflowing with fiber. Several whole fleece are stored in plastic bags. Lumps of dyed locks are stashed away in paper bags. My dyed roving mishaps are shoved into the bottom of bins. I need to spin some of this stuff or pass it on to someone who will. I've started with a little project of blending scraps. Here I have some dyed Targhee, dyed mohair locks, and some scraps of merino roving. I carded them together to make a nice fluffy lump of spin-able fiber. Hand carding in NOT MY THING, but these fibers will not pass through the drum carder well. So it's hand carding or nothing. I'm looking forward to the Northwest Regional Spinner's conference in Salem because I'm taking a class on hand carding. I'd like some more instruction---I'd like to learn to enjoy it.

SUNday

2011-04-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend our family stayed on Whidbey Island. Many thanks to my In-laws who rented a beach house.
I got to spin outside in the sun. We all got a little pink in the cheeks by the end of the day.
Sunglasses were necessary.
The finished product: 4oz of merino, hand dyed by me, spun into a 2-ply.

Spinning my dyed roving

2011-04-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've been spinning like crazy. Here's a few yarns that I have made...

Lace Weight Handspun

2011-04-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Rambouillet-Polypay spun up nicely into a 2-ply lace weight yarn. The prep was mentioned before in a previous post. It is so enjoyable to spin off of locks that have been opened up with the flick carder. It makes a nice smooth worsted yarn. Now I have to decide what to knit with it.

Tired Hands

2011-04-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

My hands are tired from combing and spinning. On Saturday I went to the 40th Anniversary of the Whidbey Island Weaver's Spin-in. It was in Oak Harbor. What a wonderful event! Judith MacKensie McCuin spoke to the group about spinning wheels. This was very interesting because I had never heard her speak before. I'm not sure of the head count, but there was over 200 spinners there. That day I worked on the Jacob fleece (see photo below). On Sunday I started spinning some roving that I dyed (see photo above).

Jacob Fleece

2011-04-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last week while attending our local Northwest Spinner's Association Spin-in at the Ballard Library, I sat next to a very nice woman. I told her about the fleece rugs I'm trying to make, she said she had a fleece that she wanted to give me. This woman left the spin-in to run home and get it. I took one look at the Jacob fleece and told her I wouldn't want to put it in rug, I'd want to spin it! And that's exactly what I've undertaken this week...
After sorting colored sections, I began to wash the locks. I decided that I'd comb this fleece, so I carefully washed the locks between two cooling racks so they would stay aligned. This system worked well. I sandwiched the locks between the wires and then submerged them in hot soapy (Dawn) water. After they soaked for a while I submerged them in a rinse bath and Voila!--clean locks.
Here's a comb loaded with one of the "mixed" color sections.
After two passes...
The waste is on the left and the fiber, ready to spin, is on the right. I used a total of 3 passes on the combs. This is my first time working with a Jacob fleece. I can't wait to spin it!

Spinning for Lace

2011-03-16T17:48:00.001-07:00

I've been working on the Cold Mountain lace shawl and it has inspired me to spin some lace weight yarn. Above is a little sample. I started with raw locks from a Rambouillet-Polypay fleece that came from Maplewood North. I washed the locks by holding them in hot water with Dawn and then gentle swishing them in clean water. After they dried, I flick carded the individual locks. Then I spun them up into a two-ply yarn.

Since I'm pleased with the sample, I began washing enough locks to make a skein.

Now I'm on my third try for the Cold Mountain pattern. This time it's working out. I'm using a commercial yarn: Cascade Alpaca Lace. It much better than the soy silk that drove me bonkers.

New Color Combintion

2011-03-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

Back when I was dyeing a lot of roving, I attempted to do a black/turquoise combination. The black turned out gray, but I still like the effect. This is merino. Here it is spun up into a 2-ply yarn.

I've been working on a few things, but...

2011-02-27T11:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't made a blog entry lately because I have nothing worth showing. The blue skein of 2-ply merino turned out okay. However, my recent knitting projects are big flops.
I got the bright idea that I'd add a thumb gusset to a mitten pattern. The thumb didn't turn out so I cast off to make a fingerless mitt. Boo.
The biggest defeat of all is the Cold Mountain pattern I swore I'd conquer. Well, it kicked my butt. I got to 2 1/2 repeats and gave up. I cast off instead of frogging it because I have a ton of this soy silk and I wont miss the little bit I used. My plan is to try it again with WOOL. That soy silk stuff was slippery and it wasn't enjoyable to knit with.

The Woolly Rug

2011-02-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

The woolly rug is done. I thought I'd use a crochet hook and pull the odd long pieces through to the back but I actually like the wild woolly look as is. Now I just need a house with wood floors to put it in.

Cotswold Rug

2011-01-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

This is a project for those who like to play with wool. I've been pulling apart locks and sliding them into the warp on my loom. It's so much fun. First I warped my loom with a black cotton rug warp, 8 epi. I'm using two shades of gray hand spun yarn in the weft also. I started with a 1" plain weave boarder then I went in to a pattern of 1 row of locks, 2 rows of yarn. As you can see from the small sample of locks above, the texture and color range greatly. The fabric is turning out to be random and wild. I've conscientiously tried to not do too many darks or lights in a row, but in general I'm just grabbing the locks and weaving them in.
When I started this rug, I wasn't sure how to make the edge look good. I'm improving my technique I as go, so this will turn out to be a "learning rug". The good news is that I'll still have enough of the Cotswold fleece to do 1-2 more rugs after this.

The Cowl

2011-01-23T19:18:00.001-08:00

I'm liking the new cowl.

Hand Spun Cowl

2011-01-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

I'm jumpin' on the cowl bandwagon. It seems like a good way to use up some hand spun yarn. This particular yarn is my favorite color so I might actually wear this. I'm just making up the pattern --simple, knit in the round, no special edge so I suppose it will curl a little, but that's what I'm going for.

This photo was taken with my new smart phone. This is test run for quality. Once it's loaded on I'll see how it looks on various computers. I never did get the etsy shop up--couldn't figure out how to get good photos of the products. I'll eventually put more time and effort in to figuring that out. Messing with computers and cameras and smart phones takes time away from making yarn.

Cotswold

2011-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a rug someday. It's 7 lbs of Cotswold from The Lady of the Rock Monastery on Shaw Island in Washington State. My friend Marge gave it to me. I had gone to a spin-in about 5 years ago somewhere in North Seattle and I saw a woman with a loom, weaving a rug with Cotswold fleece. She was using the raw, un-spun locks as the weft so it looked like a natural shaggy fleece rug. I loved how primitive it looked. This idea was than banked in the back of my brain as something I'd like to make someday. After I took the weaving class last summer and after I made a few rag rugs, I felt like I was ready to attempt this project. I have no instructions or photos to go by, just a very old memory. If anyone has ever seen a rug like this, please tell me or send me a photo.

Abundance

2010-12-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

As 2010 comes to a close I am feeling thankful. Our family has settled back into Seattle smoothly. My husband and I are both employed. (That's something to be thankful for these days.) Although I am exhausted from my job, I love it very much and I'm ready for what 2011 brings my way. After my birthday and Christmas this month I have an abundance of fiber and fiber supplies to work with in the coming year. This inventory consists of the two whole fleece above (Christmas present from my husband) plus a Cotswold fleece (birthday present from my co-worker). I have mounds of roving to spin. I have a long list of knitting projects that I'd love to do. Now I just need some free time to dive into all of this fiber.

Happy New Year!

Dyed Roving

2010-12-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of dyeing going on at my place. I've dyed about 4 lbs of various roving with the intent to open up an Etsy shop. Yes, I'm jumping on the Etsy band wagon. I'm working on photographing the roving in a way that reflect the actual colors. I've tried taking the photos inside, outside, with a flash, and without. So far I haven't gotten it quite right, but I'll try again tomorrow. Above is a photo of one of the piles of roving. I have to decide what to sell and what to spin myself.

A Brown, Yellow, and White Skein

2010-12-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

The Thanksgiving roving has been spun up. I doubt if I'd ever use this color combo again. A little too dull for me.

Woo-hoo! Free Time

2010-11-28T23:13:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! I've had so much free time for fiber projects. I finished spinning the purple batts. I began spinning the Thanksgiving-Colored roving. (Yes, Thanksgiving has a color.) For a knitting project I started Cold Mountain, but frogged it after 13 rows. Tonight I started it again and finished 4 rows with no mistakes. And last but not least, I started warping my table loom for my mother-in-law's Christmas present. It was great to be a homebody this weekend!

Cold Mountain, I will conquer you!

Just Photos Today

2010-11-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Look What's Cookin'

2010-11-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Thanksgiving. Fixin' something in the kitchen...
Mmmmm....
Happy Thanksgiving!

Yarn Make-Overs

2010-11-23T17:20:00.001-08:00

BEFORE 100% Soysilk. Problem: color too close to "dusty rose".
AFTER Solution: Over-dyed with purple. Now that's a color that I'll enjoy!
BEFORE Hand spun wool yarn. Problem: It's orange.
AFTER Solution: Over-dyed with red. Ooh La La. Much better.

Making yarn on this cold cold day

2010-11-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

Mon

27° / 14°

Snow showers

There's several inches on snow on my picnic table. That's where I usually lay my skeins when I take a photo, so today I took the photo in the snow. This yarn was spun from a roving that I dyed. It's 50% wool/50% silk.
Now I'm spinning some wool that I prepped a long time ago. It's Corriedale that I cleaned, dyed, and carded into some fluffy batts.

Your Cup of Tea?

2010-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

My daughter and her friend, Bina, were hanging out in my room when I said I needed to get my computer to update my blog. Bina ask, "You have a blog?" My daughter told her I've had it for over a year. (It actually been over 2 years now.) I told Bina that it's "not your cup of tea" and that it's about wool. She said, "I love wool" and promptly took out her knitting. Very cool!
I attempted to use some hand spun yarn to weave. The warp is a variety of random strands. I used a dyed gray for the weft. My yarn was much weaker than commercial yarn and some of the warp broke and I had to fix it. I had planned for a scarf but it's too dense to actually wear as one. I didn't take the time to make a sample, of course.
Now I'm spinning the gray-blue wool silk blend that I dyed last time I did a "dying day".

Pain-free Warping

2010-11-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've returned to the loom with a new attitude: easy does it. No more long hours of warping. I'll just do an hour here and an hour there and eventually get it done. This way I won't kill my back slumping over trying to tread the heddles. The last rag rug was a good learning experience. It's stiffer because I used 12 epi and a wider strip of fabric. It has lumps because I used the existing seems in the cotton pajama pants I cut up.

Not only does craftypuppylover make awesome rally signs (see last post), she also makes beautiful Batts! Check her out on etsy.

Enjoying the Sanity

2010-10-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Rally to Restore Sanity was lots of fun this morning. I enjoyed most of the home-made signs that people brought. My favorite was, of course, "Keep Calm and Carry Yarn".

Back to Knitting

2010-10-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm back to knitting due to the incredibly sore lower back that I've acquired. It started at work, but has worsened from weaving. The giant loom is sitting there half-warped and taking up space. It's so frustrating that I can't weave, but bending down to tread the heddles will send me over the edge.

The last chance I have to go to a Sounder's game is on Oct. 31st. Since I'm a fan without "gear" I've decided to knit up some Sounder's colored accessories. I've started a hat then some type of glove or mitten will follow. I'm pretty much making it up as I go.
My other knitting project involves a yarn that I made several years ago. I had bought a whole colored fleece and washed and spun it into a 2-ply. I actually didn't get all the grease out but it feels okay. The strands are too thin so I'm knitting with a double strand. The sweater is definitely home-made looking. More photos to follow...

Danish Shawl

2010-10-08T07:59:00.001-07:00

A while back I saw a pattern in Spin-Off for a traditional Danish Shawl. I finally got around to knitting it. I used hand-spun yarn from my stash and chose non-traditional (not Danish traditional) colors. The edging took the good part of a day to crochet.

Meet My New Loom

2010-09-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ah, here she is--my new loom! She takes up a lot of space, but I love her. My work-space is the dining area--it has good light, but it's a tight fit to squeeze behind the loom when I'm warping.
This time I made 2 rugs from the same warp.
The warping goes slow, but the weaving goes fast. After I knotted the ends, I had 2 rugs...
...one out of cotton scraps...
...and one out of wool. Now I'm ready to put on the next warp and make more!

My First Rag Rug

2010-09-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't put any photos of it up yet, but I got a floor loom a few weeks back. My first project on it was this rag rug. I'm going to give it to my mom when I see her at Thanksgiving (hi mom, if you are reading this). As soon as I starting thinking about rag rugs, I became obsessed with them. I have purchased 3 books and have started following a few blogs of rag rug makers. The piles of fabric scraps are growing! To me rag rugs are a combination of weaving and quilting. The thing that I love about quilting is using up scraps of fabric. It appeals to the recycle-er in me. I'm going to start warping for my next project: a wool rag rug.

Sweetgrass the Movie

2010-08-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

Sweetgrass is a documentary without narration. The sounds from the natural surroundings and the occasional voices of men and women make up the soundtrack for this film. Amazingly, I was hook-in to this story by just the visual footage. The pace is beautifully slow. If you are watching it with young kids, be aware that about 3/4 the way through the film you will hear a string of obscenities lasting several minutes that would be beyond a "R" rating. Personally I think using the tortured sounding cuss-fest of the herder is brilliant, patched into this quiet film. Furthermore, it's shot in Montana so there's a special sentimentality for me.

While watching this film, I kept thinking that people need to see where their wool comes from. For those who are appalled by the harsh treatment of these animals, just know that this kind of ranching is considered more humane than what's happening in Australia.

I found Sweetgrass on Netflix and it's a "watch instantly" movie.

Remember the '70s?

2010-08-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Someone recently said that orange is liked only by those young enough not to remember the '70s. I remember the '70s and that's why I'm thinking about over-dyeing this 3 ply yarn that I made.

Shallot Skin Dye

2010-08-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I was in the Asian Grocery and I saw a giant bin of shallots. The outer papery skins had all fallen off. I scooped up handfuls of the skins and put them in a bag and paid for them by the pound. I have no idea how much they cost--I wasn't paying attention because I was buying other produce. I told the lady at the check-out that I was going to try to make a dye out of the shallot skins. She told be that in China they made a dye out of onion skins to color eggs that were then given to women to eat when they were post partum. Interesting!

At home I poured hot water over the skins and let them soak for over a week (because I got busy). Then I added some Alum and a sample skein to the dye and left it in the sun for another week or so.
Here is the color I obtained. I'd never heard of anyone using shallot skins for dye. I'm pleased with the outcome of this experiment.
This is the second weaving project for my class. The yarn is silk/seacell and again I used mostly a plain weave.

First Project from Weaving Class

2010-08-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here is my first actual completed piece from the weaving class that I'm taking this summer. It only took a few hours warp, weave, and finish. The yarn is from my stash---the thrift store score of Silk/Seacell. I did a simple plain weave to show the variegated yarn. After this one, I warped the loom today so I could start another scarf. The next one is similar, but longer. I'll put a photo up on the blog tomorrow.

Orange you glad I got rid of the Teal

2010-08-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

News flash: teal does not go with orange. When I dyed this roving in the oven the teal dye seeped out of the plastic wrap and leaked into the orange---yuck. After it was dry I pulled the teal parts out.
I have decided to spin the orange Blue Face Leicester into a 3-ply yarn---and then knit it into a sweater of some sort. I have spent more time looking for a pattern on Ravelry than actually spinning this yarn. Speaking of Ravelry, one might think that I have an Orange/Teal fascination.
The knitting part of the Danish Shawl is done and now I have to weave in all of these ends!

Enjoying Hand Knits

2010-07-30T13:43:00.001-07:00

Here's Baby Cora enjoying her new hat by putting it her mouth. Yummy!
The wine-colored batts are all spun up. This is quite a bit of yarn so I'll be able to make something like a vest or use it as a base color in a sweater. One more week left of vacation...

what I'm doing on my summer vacation

2010-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from work and enjoying the summer. I took a trip up to Vancouver Island and Vancouver (the city) last week. I figured I'd be blogging more, but I haven't actually sat down to focus on this yet. I've been doing a little bit of everything in regards to crafts. My knitting project is a Danish Shawl. This project seemed like a good one for using up my vast collection of hand spun yarn.
My spinning project is the wine-colored batts that I dyed and carded last summer.
When I went back and looked at my blog to see what the fiber was (I didn't record it), I noticed that it was exactly one year since I made these batts. I started spinning them on July 25th. They are spinning up nicely even though the fiber only had one pass through the drum carder and then it was stored in a plastic bag in the closet for a year.
Of course my weaving class has been keeping me busy. Soon I will have to produce projects for the class and I'm thinking that I'll have to give all my free time to that. For now we are just trying out different patterns for our homework.

Live to Dye

2010-07-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another one of my crazy dyeing days.
I got up bright and early and began with the cool tones first.
The silvery blue roving is a wool-silk blend.
The teal-blue mass is a giant lump of silk scraps apparently left over bits from a mattress factory. Who makes silk mattresses? I'm not so sure about the story, but it's definitely silk and definitely scrappy. It's really soft and I like the colors.
Lastly, I dyed about 2 lbs of BFL top. Sadly some of the teal dye seeped out of the pan in the oven and left big spots on the orange top. I plan to pull out all the teal spots before spinning this.

Dyeing is one of my favorite things to do. It makes me so happy. Seeing this, my husband said that in our next house (we can't live in this rented apartment forever) he'd help me make a dye studio! My husband is really into multiplexes and he had the idea of using one of the apartments in this future house of ours to make more bedrooms for the kids and a kitchen could be easily turned into a dye studio for me! He is brilliant!

From Raw Fleece to Finished Yarn

2010-07-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

I started with 8 oz of raw Romney.
I washed it carefully with Dawn to get the as clean as I could. Then I used my Fricke flick carder to prep the fibers.
Spun some singles...
Plied it onto my big bobbin... Soaked it, dried it, twisted into a skein.
In the end I had a 5 oz skein of yarn. So that's 3 oz of grime and dirt and seconds flicked out during the prep process.

Hey, if you're not going to use that, would you mind...

2010-07-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

When I was in my 20's I was given 5 huge boxes of fabric. It was the most thoughtful gift. The person who gave me the fabric spent months going to thrift stores and fabric stores when there were sales and buying chunks of fabric. She kept them until my birthday and gave it all to me at once. Needless to say, that's when I took up quilting.

I didn't have much money then. I had chosen to stay home with my babies and not work. When I sewed baby clothes or made quilts, I pulled from this huge collection of fabric. I combined colors and fabrics from my large, yet limited supply.

My high school art teacher once explained that creativity comes when resources are limited. If you could buy any material/art supplies at any time and had no restrictions on resources, you could of course make beautiful (or "profound", if beauty isn't your thing) art. However, if you are restricted to what you have now you will be challenged creatively in a more complex way--thus creating something more profound. I'm not sure if I believe this because it's true or if I believe this to make my self feel better about my finances.

A few years back I was in a thrift store and saw a big bag of roving for $2. I didn't know it was roving at the time; I thought it was "that stuff people use to spin yarn." Even with my little knowledge of spinning, my thrift store instinct told me $2 was a good deal.

I actually got into spinning to save money! What a joke. Who knew I'd become obsessed and spend so much money on equipment, wool, dyes, etc.? Sometimes I hold up a hank of yarn that I have spun and proclaim to my husband, "This would cost me fifty dollars in a store!" He'll compliment it and humor me by saying nothing about the real cost of making yarn.

After my serious thrift store score (see Just Like Winning the Lottery), I went to a different store to check for yarn. Instead of yarn I found issues of Handwoven Magazine spanning three decades. I bought 24 issues. Spin-off has been one of my best learning tools for spinning, so I figured that Handwoven would be the same for Weaving.

I have wondered if I actually won the lottery, would I be one of those people who still shopped at thrift stores? I'm not sure, and I'll never know because I don't really play the lottery. For now I'm content using other people's unwanted looms and yarns and magazines.

Just like winning the lottery!

2010-07-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

My Basic Weaving class started last night and I can tell that I'm really going to love it. The pace is perfect for me and the instructor is excellent. We started to warp our looms with a 3/2 cotton. After my first two homespun wool projects I did at home, the yarn from the class felt so soft and fine. I figured I'd be weaving with all of my thick woolly homespun, and that's okay, but I'd also like to make more delicate weavings.

Today I headed out for a walk in the neighborhood and decided to stop by Value Village on Capitol Hill. After my quick check for looms and spinning wheels (I never see any) I wondered over to the yarn that hangs in plastic bags on the wall. Instead of the usual polyester grandma left-overs I found tons of gorgeous silk, soy silk, and Seacell yarn. Perfect for weaving!
This blue skein was marked $37.50---wow! I got it for a buck. The garnet colored soy silk skeins above were $15. each--I got 7 skeins. I spent a total of $18. The retail price of these skeins is over $800! My son thought I should sell it on Ebay, but no way--this is my chance to work with these new (to me) yarns.
The Thrift Store Gods have Blessed me!

try try again

2010-06-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And if that doesn't work, take a class. My class at Weaving Works starts July 8th. In the mean time I will attempt my second weaving. I have made the same mistake again--the view from the top is the "back" of the fabric. What am I doing wrong?

Haiku

2010-06-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

alone weak broken
together we are stronger
plied fused joined balanced

Tunisian Crochet

2010-05-23T17:01:00.001-07:00

My friend Jasmine said, "Hey, have you ever seen this?" and proceeded to show me a little sample of Tunisian Crochet. She got out a hook and whipped up a little 3" square in no time. I was shaking my head "No". No, I have never seen it. No, I don't believe there's another thing that one can do with yarn. No, I don't have time for ANOTHER fiber craft even if it's super simple. No.

Excepting that fact that I was fascinated, I went out the next day a purchased one of the long knitting needle/crochet hook hybrid things that I would need to get started. After reading an article from Interweave Crochet and watching at a few videos on youtube I set out to make something. I went through 3 different yarns before I figured out that I'd need a thinner yarn or a bigger hook. I've never been too fond of crochet, but this is really fun.

My First Woven Piece

2010-05-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

I really have no idea what I'm doing here. I got the loom warped and then I started weaving. The top side was the back of the fabric--I guess. At least I liked the back side better. At first the weft was compact and then it got loose and I have no idea why. The edges look awful. I think I need to take a class. I could spend a lot of time figuring this all out by reading books and looking at youtube videos, or just go straight to the experts.

I'm going to keep this---my first woven piece of fabric!

Isn't She Lovely?

2010-05-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

After a long day of work on Tuesday, I got in the car and drove north for about 2 hours. Destination: Anacortes, Washington. Purpose: to acquirer my new loom! Isn't she lovely? I had seen an ad in the "Equipment for Sale" notebook at Weaving Works that seemed like a good deal. $200. for the loom, stand, shuttles, and bench. It's a Nilus Leclerc loom, but that doesn't mean too much to me. My knowledge of looms is very limited, but this 4 harness table loom looked like just the right place for me to start. I googled this type of loom but I still can't tell what year it was made and the lady who sold had no idea. I can't wait to get started weaving!

A Happy Mama

2010-05-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

We are having gorgeous weather in Seattle this weekend. I love spinning in natural light so I spun outside for a while yesterday. After I plied this skein, I photographed it on the cement in the sun. I'm so lucky to have all the tools I need to make yarn and I'm lucky to have enough money to buy any fleece I want to work with. This skein if from some BFL top that I dyed a few months back.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there. I hope you all have plenty to time to spin, knit, weave, dye, or do what you love to do.

Hemp - Better as Food

2010-05-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

After watching Food, Inc. my 13-year-old decided to be a Vegan. Our family is already Vegetarian, so it's not too much of a stretch to take out the dairy. My diet has been really bad since I came back to Seattle--diet coke, pizza, croissants, and late night potato chips---so I, too, decided to make a change. Seattle is a great place for Vegans. There's a PCC or co-op in basically every neighborhood. We also have Vegan restaurants. Healeo is by my house and they have a sandwich board out front that says: VEGAN HEMP SOFT SERVE. I had ignored this sign until I became a Vegan. Last weekend I went to check out this product and let me tell you, it was the best "ice cream" that I'd ever have. It also got me thinking about hemp. I'd purchased some hemp fiber at the last spin-in that I went to. After eating it, I decided to spin it.
It looks like fake blond hair and it feel like spinning string vs. spinning yarn. I had read that it doesn't get soft until you soak it. It did get a little soft after it got wet, but it still felt like string. The other interesting thing that happened while I spun this fiber was that my nose and eyes became very itchy and eventually my hands swelled! I was having an allergic reaction. The fiber seemed very dusty and I'm not sure if it was the fiber or the funny dust particles that were flying around that I was allergic to. I googled "hemp allergy" and all the hemp-positive sites said there is no such thing. Or they report no allergies to hemp seeds. Hmmmm....
This last photo is of the singles, 2-ply (little bow), and a pile of 3-ply hemp. It's string to me. I'll probably just use it to tie off skeins.

After that unenjoyable spinning experience I picked up some wonderfully soft Blue Face Leicester and began to spin my true love: WOOL.

Most Blog Posts Ever

2010-04-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

April has been a busy month for the blog. This is mainly due to my small skeins and small knitting projects. There has been a lack of thoughtful written content, just "here's a skein I spun" or "here's another baby hat..." It use to be that I'd have a huge project with a whole fleece or something and you wouldn't hear from me for weeks. Well, here I go again...

These two skeins were made from some roving that I dyed a while back. One hank of roving was dyed blue, red and GREEN---which was a horrible mistake. Red and Green, really? That would ply up into a huge mess. So I pulled out all of the green and spun the red and blues together. Then I took the leftover green and added it to some teal scrap roving. In the end I had two skeins that I liked.

Talk to you in May.

A Small Pink Skein

2010-04-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

This BFL top was dyed with jacquard acid dyes. After applying red, orange, and purple, I thought it looked horrible and squeezed out the dye within a few minutes. I was thinking that I'd redye or over-dye it at first, but after seeing the shade that it turned out, I went ahead and processed it with heat.
I spun it into a 2-ply yarn. Now I'm working on (another!) baby hat. Good thing I know a lot of babies, because I can't stop knitting baby hats.

Was it Shetland?

2010-04-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm notorious for not labeling any of my fiber materials. I know I dyed this, but I have no idea what it is. It might have been Shetland roving. Either way, I spun it up and plied it into a 2-ply yarn. The white spots don't look right. Now that I've done some dying of roving, I realize that you either have to leave a lot of the natural color (white) or dye over all of it. If you leave just a little bit, then you get the random white spot that looks out of place.

More Yarn from the Weekend

2010-04-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

This week is passing quickly. Here's another skein from last weekend. This is Merino top that I spaced dyed with lots of bright yellow, some teal green and some lime green.

Weekend Spinning

2010-04-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got some spinning done. Mostly I was spinning roving that I had dyed a while back. Sunday was sunny and gorgeous so I took this photo outside in the bright light.

A Few More Baby Caps

2010-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

I made a few more baby hats. They are fun to make because they take less than 2 hours and they use up my hand spun scraps. This idea was inspired by Cosymakes. Her designs have that look of the exposed stitches (purl rows) like in the baby sweaters that she makes. After I made my Baby Caps, I saw the Tahoe Hat in Spin-off. I'm not too fond of the way that they photographed the Tahoe Hats in the magazine. You can't really tell what they look like. At first I thought they were Berets. I'm mentioning this because it's another example of using up hand spun for little projects like my baby caps.

More Baby Caps

2010-04-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe: Cast on a number of stitches divisible by 11 (Some hats I cast on 55, others 66). Connect and (Row 1)knit in the round. I use dpns. Row 2:purl, Row 3:knit, Row 4:purl, Row 5:knit, Row 6 change color if desired and purl. Then knit in the round until you want to make a purl stripe. If you are using a second color, work that in the purl round so that it creates that contrasting stitch look. When I felt like adding a purl row, I did. At the top, when you are ready to reduce: Row 1: k9, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 2: k8, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 3: k7, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 4: k6, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 5: k5, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 6: k4, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 7: k3, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 8: k2, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row 9: k1, k2tog, repeat to the end
Row10: k2tog to the end. Leave a 10" tail and break the yarn. With a needle on the yarn, slip it through the remaining stitches and pull in through the inside of the hat and weave in the end. Weave in any other ends.

Baby Cap in Greens

2010-04-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've gone on a baby cap kick. I'm not sure which little heads they will end up on, but they are fun to make with hand spun scraps. There is no pattern--I just make it up as I go.

Baby Cap

2010-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a baby cap made from hand spun left overs. The model is Santa Clause. The hat is to be given to the baby of the people who have gave me the hand carved Santa. That's just a coincidence. Santa actually lives year round at my house. I like the piece so much I just leave it out in celebration of all the folks who leave their Christmas decorations out too.

How I See It

2010-04-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

One of the midwives I work with went to the beach and brought back this piece of driftwood as a gift. I love it!

Thanks Marge!

Color Experiment Gone Bad

2010-04-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

hmmm..."Olive" Shetland, peach Tarhgee, and natural Alpaca. After one batt I could see it was a mistake. I only carded one batt and then I put a stop to the insanity! But just out of curiosity, I went ahead and spun up one skein...
Yuck.

One Skein of Blue Merino

2010-04-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

This Merino top was spaced dyed with blue acid dye.
The singles took many hours over the last few weeks to spin.
I spent a little over an hour plying this morning.
This photo was taken outside on the picnic table.
Compared to the fat skein I made yesterday, the blue one took at least four times as long to make.

Couldn't Wait

2010-04-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

I just had to spin the batts that I carded yesterday. I couldn't wait. The three batts made one large skein. My new big bobbin can hold more that 3 batts at one time! I've never actually filled it yet. This was my attempt to make a thicker yarn.

Carding Scraps

2010-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

My drum carded made an appearance today. One of my projects was to blend some Orange-Red Shetland and Salmon colored Angora with some Purple Shetland and lots of Lavender colored Mohair---Voila! Red! There were three batts. After pulling off strips from the batts, I rolled the fiber into little balls so it would hold up in storage.

One for now, one for later

2010-04-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

The new baby will have a tiny green sweater waiting for her when she is born. When she gets a little bigger she will get to wear the orange Baby Boy 5-hour Sweater. The green one really did take about 5 hours. Both are made from top that I spaced-dyed and spun into a 2 ply on my Ashford Joy. The funny thing about this pattern is that there are no buttons. I'm not sure if I'll leave it like this or add some kind of tie closure.

Hand Spun Baby Sweaters

2010-04-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

Making a baby sweater was super fast and fun. As soon as I cast off the orange colored one I started a green one. The ends are not woven in yet, but here's a photo of the first one for my friend's soon-to-be-adopted baby. I never measure my hand spun--I just guess how much I'll need for a project. My guess was really off on the first sweater. It took half of what I thought. Both of these yarns were made from spaced dyed roving that I dyed in February.

What the Easter Bunny is Bringing

2010-04-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

Some friends of mine are probably adopting a baby soon. (I say probably because you never know for sure how it will all play out.) It's going to be a little girl, they say. With adoption there can be less time to get ready. They only found out about this baby a few weeks ago and now the birth mom is due in a month. I decided to make the baby a sweater. I'm using a pattern called the Baby Boy 5-hour Sweater that I found for free on Ravelry. It's taken about 6 hours so far and I'm almost done. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day knitting and watching lame TV shows.

My husband is hilarious! He hid chocolate eggs amongst my clutter this morning.

Credit Where Credit is Due

2010-04-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I jumped on the band wagon and made some pedicure socks. It's kind of funny because I never actually go out and get a pedicure, I just wish that I did. These have been on my to-do list since I saw them in Knitty 2006 as Pedicure Socks by Ruthie Nussbaum. In my attempt to link to the pattern, I searched on Ravelry only to find that there are several versions on Pedicure Socks. Hmmm...really? It seems like Ruthie Nussbaum made these up. Even Patron's has a version, but I couldn't find the copyright date as proof that the Knitty pattern came first. Instead of the Knitty pattern, I used a sock making guide that I've had around. However, Ruthie Nussbaum gets credit because her pattern was my inspiration.
I actually used an old Family Circle article that I've had for years. I have no idea when it was published. This article is what I used when I first was learning to make socks. It's been years since I've made socks, and I wanted to review turning the heal, so that is one reason why I made the Pedicure Socks.
The yarn used was from the Hand Dyed, Hand Carded, Hand Spun Tarhgee that I spun in January.

2 FOs

2010-03-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Latest Yarns

2010-03-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the first skeins from the dyeing day last week.
This pinkish orange yarn was suppose to be one big skein on my new large bobbin, but it kept breaking and turned in to four smaller skeins.
This yellow skein is from some dyeing and carding I did around Christmas time---that seems like a long time ago! I had blended Yellow Tarhgee with silk---I'm not too fond of it---I didn't blend it very well and there's unintentional lumps of white silk.

The common denominator for all of the yarns pictured here: #601 Yellow Sun Jacquard Dye---can you see it in the top greenish/blue skein?

Spinning, Hockey, Another Day Off

2010-02-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

Spinning spaced-dyed roving is so much fun. I love seeing the colors develop from the fluffy stuff to the string on the bobbin. Today I started the lemony summer colored Blue Faced Leicester while I watched the end of the Olympics. What a Hockey game!

To mix it up a bit, I have a basket of fibers to card. This is actually Shetland (not Cormo like I said before) and angora dyed fire red. If I get tired of spinning I can pick this up for a bit.

Dyeing, Drying, Cleaning Up

2010-02-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

The wool locks are beginning to dry. The prepared top is dry and I picked the first one to start spinning today. I've cleaned up most of my dyeing equipment and put it away. Now I'll have lots of fiber to work with over the next few months. I plan on hand carding some of the locks, experimenting with blending. Some of the dye pots were filled with different fibers with the intention that they would be blended together later. Each type of fiber took on the dye in a unique way, so there should be rich dimension to the color in the end. I am excited to have so many kinds of projects to work on!

A Good Day to Dye

2010-02-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

I just spent the last 10 hours dyeing. I dyed Blue Face Leicester top, Merino top, Angora, raw Tarhgee, and some Cormo that I had hand washed lock by lock but never spun.
I dug out all non-dyed fiber in the stash went crazy. I used the plastic wrap method for the top and I dyed the locks in pots. All the burners on my stove were going all day.
The roving is now drying on the rack. The two last pots are on the stove and pretty soon I'll have to clean up the whole mess and put all the equipment away. I get so much joy from dyeing. My dream house would have a dye room. For now I just have to transform my kitchen and try to be careful---not to splash and not to contaminate any food or surface that's used for food.

Behold, the SUN!

2010-02-21T16:11:00.000-08:00

The sun is out today! It feels like I'm in California or somewhere with blue skies. But no, it's February in Seattle. I haven't spun much lately, but I did process the blue skein above. For my Olympic knitting project, I chose to finish something... the orange shawl I started in the fall (well, started dyeing last July).

Joy Sliding Hook Flyer Review

2010-02-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

I got a call on 1/29 saying my new flyer was in at Weaving Works so I went down there and dropped $82.13 ($75.00 plus tax) on it.

I took one look at it and put it back in the box and then left it in my car for over a week. My plan was to get my money back. I had tried to find some reviews or information on-line before I purchased it, but I couldn't find anything. I thought it was like a Woolee Winder---sadly it's not. I kept changing my mind--keep it, take it back, keep it, take it back. I decided to give it a chance.

It screwed on just like the other flyer. I had to adjust the fishing wire and springs, but that was no big deal. I had already spun 2 full bobbins of singles. I used the new flyer to ply the singles. In the end, the new bobbin was not even full! It does hold a lot of yarn.

This is definatly an upgrade for my wheel. Is it worth $75.00? Probably not. But I think I will keep it anyway since thrift and practicality have gone by the wayside.

By the way, I love love love the knitted hats worn by the US Olympic Team!

Upgrading the Wheel

2010-01-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

During the spinning of the Tarhgee Silk blend, my spinning wheel broke. The little plastic piece that attached the foot peddle to the piece that goes to the crank snapped apart.

They don't sell this plastic stuff at the hardware store. I called around and found that Weaving Works carries all the Ashford pieces I would need including the little plastic piece. However, I didn't leave there spending only $1.35 for the plastic---oh no, I had to go and order the Ashford Joy Sliding Hook Flyer.

Looks like the Joy is getting an upgrade.

Working with Tarhgee

2010-01-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

I've been spinning the Tarhgee and my first 2-ply skein is done. Since I have so much (a whole fleece) of the Tarhgee, I dyed some of the locks yellow and blended it with silk. I haven't started spinning that yet so I don't know how it will look. The white silk really mellowed out the bright yellow, so the little hand carded puffs look like the color of baby chicks.

St. Distaff's Day Acquisitions

2010-01-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the St. Distaff's Day spin-in hosted by the NwRSA. They had many vendors and I spent all my cash on fiber, raffle tickets, and a Fricke flick carder. I bought 1 lb of Blue Face Leicester top, 4 oz of mohair, 3 oz of silk, and 4 oz of hemp. I had never seen hemp for sale so I took the opportunity to get some. I promptly came home and blended some of the silk with Tarhgee that I had dyed gun metal blue. It added so much shine that it looked synthetic! I met Jo Fricke and liked her flick carder so much that I bought one even though I already own an Ashford flick carder. I didn't know the Fricke's live here in Washington, but they do. They are up in Granite Falls.

I finished another skein of my dyed roving.

Hand Carding Revisited

2009-12-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year my husband gave me a pair of Schacht hand carders. They curve and are made for fine wool. I did a low-water immersion dye pot with the Targhee that he gave me for my birthday. Then I carded the fiber and pulled it into these little balls. This is the first time in years that I have hand carded. I'm such a fan of the drum carder and have been afraid of hand carding since I had wrist surgery in 2006. Those were the pre-blogging years so I have never mentioned how I injured my thumb/wrist while hand carding obsessively and incorrectly. I had deQuervain's Tendonitis. I just googled it to get the spelling right and I found: "The cause of deQuevain's Tendonitis is an irritation of the tendon at the base of the thumb, usually from taking up a new, repetitive activity." Yup, that's about it. I tried every alternative treatment, but eventually had surgery that fixed it immediately and permanently.

I have learned all my fiber related skills from books, spin-off mag, and youtube videos. Somewhere along the way I remember reading (or hearing?) that you should hand card with the same gentleness as brushing a child's hair. Now that I approach it with that in mind, hopefully I will have no more injuries.

ahhhhh...sun light...for about five minutes!

2009-12-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

Our family just spent three days on Whidbey Island. I had plenty of time to spin so I spun up some of the top/roving that I dyed on my birthday. This morning I went out on the beach and took photos in the natural light. That's right, NATURAL LIGHT. Being that it was the winter solstice, the days of course were short. But I'll take what I can get. The skein above was mostly orange and purples, which sounds like a bad idea. The roving looked a little strange but it spun into a complex rosy brown.

I spun the second skein of the light blue with spots of red.

The roving that became this yarn was quite unappealing. I try to steer away from mixing pink with blue. Again, the yarn turned out better than I had expected. All these Merino skeins are very soft and will probably get knitted into little items like mittens or hats one day.

Spinning and Knitting

2009-12-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

I have been spending some time spinning and knitting, but not writing about it or putting up photos. Again, I have to blame the lack of light. There are only a few hours a day that the natural light comes though the window in a way that works for photographs.

Now that I have all that newly dyed Merino top and Shetland roving, I have plenty of interesting fiber to spin. I also was given some Alpaca for my birthday and I'm hoping to card some of that during the holidays. I've been knitting this orange shawl for weeks now, but I'm taking a break for a while. I'm so happy that the Christmas holiday is here because it always leaves me with more time to spin and knit.

Passings

2009-12-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

My Grandma passed away yesterday at the age of 94. She was a lifetime knitter and stashed before stashing was cool. Sadly, I only kept these stockings that she knitted. They have been brought out for the holidays so I thought I'd put this photo up. My stocking was knitted in the late 60's I think. It's wool. My husband's and kid's were done in the 90's. Of course my grandma was a huge influence on me in many ways and I am sad. That's all I can say now.

The Best Day Ever

2009-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Today was my birthday and before we went to Cupcake Royale (yum) I opened presents from my family. My husband gave me about 5 pounds of Targhee and the book Teach Yourself Visually - Hand-Dyeing. The kids gave me wonderful non-fiber-related gifts. I received these gifts after spending the whole day dyeing. It was awesome just to listen to pod casts all day and dye roving/top in my kitchen.

I started with about 3 pounds of different types of top.

I tried several types of space dyeing. I heated some in the oven in tin casserole pans with tin foil lids.

I steamed some of the roving/top in the canning pot.

And now it's all drying on the rack. I can't wait to spin up these samples and see how they come out. Once the roving is dry I'll take more photos. Today was the best day ever!

Schwartzie the Icelandic/Navajo-Churro cross

2009-11-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Montana I obtained a whole fleece from a young woman named Mandi. She had owned an Icelandic/Navajo-Churro crossbreed named Schwartzie. Beloved Schwartzie fell into an ice pond and died. Her first (and only) sheering was all that was left. This whole black fleece has been in my possession for several months now and I have finally begun to process it.

I have decided to comb out the long course fibers and then I will probably drum card the soft undercoat. The photo above is a charged hand comb and the photo below shows the results of combing this fiber. The little ball is the combed course fiber ready to spin. The fluff on the left is the "seconds" - the soft undercoat. I put quotations around the seconds because this is the soft part that I'll actually have more of a use for. I'd like to blend it with something in the future.

Yucky Cakes

2009-11-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

I finished the wool/cotton-denim 2 ply and wound them into cakes. These are going in the storage bin and my guess is they will never get knitted. It's a lot of work for yarn I do not like. :(

ps I'm not searching for complements. When I like my work I like it. When it sucks I'm not afraid to say to.

Keepin' it Warm

2009-11-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is my new design: Oxygen Tank Cozy. It was created out of necessity. Now that I'm living in such an urban and densely populated area, I'm experiencing parking troubles. I'm constantly stressed out about finding a parking spot. The neighborhood is packed with cars and there's new condos going up all over. There are no parking spots and I find myself driving around and around looking for a place to put the car. Being that I'm a home birth Midwife, I need to be able to get in my car with all my equipment and go fast. I figure there are Midwives in Manhattan, so they must know how to deal with these issues. I've decided to consolidate all my birth bags into one huge birth bag for easy traveling.

The problem that arose with my new system was that the Oxygen Tank would slightly rattle around in it's new container. Problem solved: it get a sweater---or "cozy". The other benefit is that it looks kind of covered up when it's in peoples homes. The typical home birth aesthetic is that the medical equipment is "out of sight, out of mind". The tank usually is set aside with a baby blanket over it; covered, but easily accessible. Now after it's unpacked at a home birth, it can look friendly and warm in it's sweater. I know, I know...it sounds silly, but home-birthers don't think of birth as a medical event. If it means putting a sweater on the medical equipment, so be it.

The Oxygen Tank Cozy was knitted with a solid colored yarn and a self-striping yarn. Both were hand spun left overs. Knitting in the round, I alternated the solid and the self-striping every two rows to get the effect.