How the Time Flies

WARNING: HIGHLY PIC-HEAVY. If you're on a slow connection, you may want to go fix yourself some lunch or something.

Ok so--I've been so busy that I haven't even taken the time to make a real blog post for most of the month. This should catch you up to what's going on in my world--at least the fibre-enhanced portion thereof. ;)

It started with the arrival of a box from Crown Mountain Farms. I am spinning some of their Sock Hop yarn, so three pounds of it are sitting in my living room right now. :D I plan to do about a pound a week, but the first one went VERRRRRRRRRRY slowly as I was getting used to my new wheels, the fibre, and concentrating on making it to their specifications. Teyani (and everyone else) warned me that spinning for production is a very different mindset than spinning for oneself, and I completely understand it now. I'm about halfway through the box, which is good, but much slower than I'd anticipated. I see myself speeding up a lot in the coming weeks, though, so I should do pretty well with this.

A massive collage of pics I took a couple weeks ago of my first 2 skeins (in colorway Great Balls of Fire):



Here's a couple of collages featuring yarns I've finished. You may recognize the Iris Garden Stripe as the yarn that was on my wheel in the last entry.




My crochet class ended on Wednesday, on a high note. I was thrilled to bits to see everyone making something--even the two who had never done any yarn crafts before! It's so amazingly wonderful to see progress like that. Even the one who was frustrated because she didn't think she'd ever get it was changing colors, experimenting with yarns, and gaining confidence. My work here is done.

About midway through the month, I was struck with an inescapable urge to dye silk. What a success! There's nothing like seeing a brilliantly-colored swath of silk fibre to make one feel like one can do ANYTHING. I used McCormick's food coloring, citric acid, some plastic containers and my microwave, and in one afternoon I had this:



The pink/orange/purple one is spinning up beautifully.

I finished two pairs of the mittens in my 3-pair commission; I got slowed down considerably when I had a few weeks of no knitting at ALL. I worked in the wood shop, babysat, ran errands, did taxes (both personal AND business), cleaned my apartment, did a mountain of laundry, and cleaned out the van & my car. Oh, then I helped my sister pack for moving (she's coming back to CT! YAY!), worked for my dad, and went through a series of doctors' appointments for various small things. I have discovered that I am highly allergic to cats (though mine doesn't bother me symptom-wise), somewhat allergic to dogs and some pollen, and not allergic at all to dust mites or cockroaches. Eww. I...guess that's good?

I got the Babe spinning wheel at this month's Guild meeting, and though I loved its portability and durability, it just wasn't working out. I was kind of disappointed after spending a tidy sum on it, and couldn't figure out why I liked using Debbie's so much but disliked mine. Why was it so difficult to spin?

It turned out to be a combination of things. First, I had used Debbie's on her hardwood floor, whereas I have thick carpeting with double padding. The entire apparatus would wobble when I treadled, meaning it was extra work to keep the wheel going. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that the very design of the wheel put it off balance. The maiden juts out unsupported over the treadles (you'll see it in the photos below) and once it starts to move, the only thing keeping it upright is a single pole along the back of the wheel. Think of a flagpole in the wind--it's still upright, but it snaps back & forth at the top. It affected the takeup as well, making it hard to wind the yarn onto the bobbin.

My solution was to add stability to the design by placing a support under the maiden that would attach to the bottom frame between the treadles. I found a piece of cherry (my favorite!) that had a slight warp in it, and therefore was unusable for furniture. It's unnoticeable in this situation, though, so I cut it to length, then cut out the areas for it to surround the frames on each end. I put a small nail into each end, then drilled a tiny hole in position on the frame to correspond with the nails. After adding a decorative cutout and a good sanding, the piece was done. Check it out!



The wobble is gone, and I can even use the support piece as a carry bar. It's like a totally new wheel.

On the shop front, I have seen my sales pick up a bit. Instead of months between sales, it's been a few weeks between each one. This IS an improvement, though far from my goal of a few sales a week. I've got a bunch of new yarns that will be posted in the next week or two; I want to do a few craft fairs over the summer and I'll need stock! I've also got a crochet project in the works for the shop; not sure what it's going to be but the squares have built up throughout my crochet class.

Not sure if you remember the Tiger Lily yarn I spun up from Abby's luscious batts, but I was JUST getting ready to wind it into a ball after the guild meeting so I could start knitting my socks. I was showing the fat skein to one of the lovely ladies of the guild when she gasped and said, "You HAVE to enter that into the skein contest this fall!" I demurred (I really wanted my socks) but when I talked to Abby, she was like, "GO FOR IT." And so I'm gonna re-skein it (it's gotten a bit out of place from being handled so much), tag it, and enter it in pretty much ANY skein contest I can find this summer. :) Why not? It remains my favorite skein to date--and I'm a girl who LOVES all of my yarn. It would be kind of cool to even say I participated, y'know?

Geez, I think that's enough for now. I'm sure there's a ton I've missed, but it will have to wait til later. Enjoy the pics, check out the shop, and drop me a line to let me know someone's reading this! :D

A quick PSA

...Before I post my real entry later this morning.

As knitters, crocheters, and spinners, we often feel the need to 'knit/crochet/spin/DO SOMETHING' in support of people affected by tragedies. Thankfully, there's a way to let our hearts speak through our yarn for those affected by the VA Tech massacre earlier this month. Click on the image below to be taken to the yarn shop's blog and mailing address.



Just spreading the word. :) More yarn, fibre, dyeing, and wheel modification photos coming later today. :D

Mine. ALL MINE!! :D

Thanks to the lovely Yarnyoga from Livejournal, I am now in possession of a nearly-new spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Traveller, which is one solid hunk of wood, let me tell you! I feel like I could knock it over and it would still spin just fine. :D

And I CAN spin fine on it; took me a half hour of fiddling around with the tension and learning how it acts differently from the Thumbelina (my borrowed wheel)--which is in just about EVERY way. I do think this is far more adjustable, and at least I won't have to make replacement parts!

I love that it's unfinished; there's nothing on it except a single coat of furniture wax that YY put on it in 2004 when she got it. I can do anything with this wheel!

So the plans are still to purchase the Babe production wheel, to use for my Sock Hop spinning, and to use this one for my personal spinning--that way, I can have one dedicated wheel that is always used for the same purpose so I don't have to adjust it repeatedly, and the second wheel will handle my stuff for my shop, my personal use, and testing out new techniques or fibers.

Isn't she beautiful? :D



(please ignore the craptastic low-light pic. I'll take better ones later. :D)

So far, the things I've noticed:

The wheel will stop if I stop treadling. The Thumbelina would keep going, so I have to get used to this.

I love having the maiden (the part on the top that holds the yarn I'm spinning) on the left. I draft from that side of my body, and this makes it more in line.

Treadling is much more work overall, but the double treadle makes a huge difference and puts less strain on my legs than the single treadle did.

Adjusting the tension is FAR more complicated on this wheel than it was on the Thumbelina.

The bigger wheel puts a LOT more twist into the fiber with MUCH less effort. Spinning is, therefore, faster.

And there's more, I'm sure, but now I want to get back to the delight of spinning on a wheel that is not only nearly brand new (it was built in about 2004) but is also...MINE.

*cackles*

Lookee! Alpaca!

Sometimes It's Good to be a Woodworker

When I got to borrow the Sleeping Beauty wheel, it had been used for a long time by several different owners. The wheel itself is at least as old as I am, perhaps more--this model was made only during the early 1970s before it was redesigned. I got it with two bobbins, and there were some worn parts. So I decided to spruce it up a bit (with the permission of the owner, of course!).

First, the brake on the maiden was simply worn out. I just needed to cut a new piece that was 1/16" larger than the old one.



A more complicated fix was the broken bobbin. While not completely necessary for normal spinning, the section that had broken off the whorl rendered the bobbin too short to fill completely. I sanded the broken edge smooth, cut a new piece from a thin scrap of wood (poplar, I think) and glued it on, then sanded it all smooth. This removed some of the old finish, sadly, but it's worth it to have a better working bobbin. Apparently, this also cured an issue with balance, as it seems to spin better now than it did. I also filed out the bushings (the interior liners for the openings) a bit, as the wood had compressed them over time. It's still noisier than the other original bobbin, but MUCH better than it was.



And yes, that's the beginning of my work on the Sock Hop yarn. :D Colorway: Great Balls of Fire! :D

Last, and most complicated, was the reproduction of a new bobbin. Bobbins (and frankly, any parts) for this particular wheel are extremely rare and hard to come by. My dad and I got out the lathe and designed a replacement whorl and head out of Spanish cedar. The shaft is just a normal 3/4" dowel, drilled through. It's pictured here before I polished it with steel wool, to get rid of any tiny roughness raised by the tung oil used to finish it. For reference, the bobbin with blue singles on it is the old one, while the empty one is the new one. :)



The hardest part was reproducing the drive whorl--it had to be at least ALMOST exact if not perfect, so this bobbin would turn at the same rate the other bobbins do.

After giving it a whirl (hurr hurr), it looks like the bobbin is just right! The brake works beautifully on the maiden, and the broken bobbin doesn't act up as much as it did. All in all, not a bad day in the shop. :)

Back to spinning!!

Awesomeness.

See this?



Yeah, this?



Look a little closer...



That got me a job.



Spinning this.



...I am a very, very happy little bird right now.

Periodic Updates

1. New Online Portfolio Here. Nothing you guys haven't seen before, but I love the interface and how nice the images look on the page.

2. Nearly done with my current knitting commission; I encountered a snag when I had to change the size from adult to child on part of it, but now it's smooth sailing. I am aiming for the end of the week to be finished.

3. Received a box of Wensleydale locks in a yellow orange and a pink orange, as well as some more Zwartble roving and a darling wrist-style yarn holder--for the yarny types, it's like a distaff for spinning but you can use it to hold a ball of yarn to help facilitate knitting while walking. :D

4. Getting rid of the van. Husband got a raise, a bonus, and a nice tax return--and so we got a new (for us) car. Hey, look, we have two cars that are decently reliable!

5. Reinventing myself as a spinner & textile artist. Will it work? Stay tuned.

6. Teaching two classes through Adult Ed: Basic Knitting (on Monday nights) and Basic Crochet (on Wednesday nights). Both are fun, though hard work, and totally worth it. Thursday nights are now taken up with SnB at Starbucks. I taught my husband and a male friend to knit. :D

7. At this rate, I will never have to buy coffee at Starbucks EVER AGAIN. :D

8. I got the spinning job. :D I will be spinning sock yarn for Crown Mountain Farm's Sock Hop line. :D Can not wait. :D

9. Experimenting with Limonata-can crochet. This should be amusing.

10. Godzilla movies rule. I just watched three of them with my husband, and we are so hooked. Again.

No pics this time around, sorry. :) 'Night!

Small Yarns

Working through my stash some more--today I've got just a few small skeins to show off. Some of these were spun a couple of weeks ago but the weather hasn't cooperated to give me good light lately. It's a bit on the bright side today, but still MUCH better for photos than dull grey!

First, here's the purple contrast for the Tiger Lily yarn, also displayed against the striped skein to show how they'll look together. It's the same blend of colors only MORE blended, with an emphasis on the purple.



And this is a little collage of three different sock yarns. Yardage is noted on the collage.



I may be posting more later--I am spinning up some mystery fiber in a beautiful range of light blues and greens, among other things. :D

Spinner-friendly SnB in Connecticut!

Come one, come all--now, every Thursday night from 7-10, drop in at the Starbucks on Rt 75 in Windsor Locks, CT for a brand new Stitch N Bitch group! Our little twist (see what I did there?) is that we invite spinners, too--so bring your spindles and come hang out! Turns out the manager is a crocheter...so she's happy to have us yarny types around!

You don't need to be a Connecticut resident, either--since the Starbucks is located RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from Bradley International Airport, feel free to drop in if you're passing through our fine state!

There's a yahoo group set up just for the SnB; go here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TVSnB/?yguid=294740022

...and sign up. :)

x-posted to some other fibery communities and my personal LJ.

Limonata

I'm always pleasantly surprised by how different the final product looks after spinning. On the right, you see the fiber before spinning, and on the left, 200+yards of perle-cotton-thin yarn. I haven't done the actual WPI yet, but it's pretty fine. :) I love silk. :D

I kept out the rest of the fiber because I have thoughts of plying it with something else. Not positive yet, but there's also no rush on it.

There are a couple of other yarns to show off, too, but it's been SO GREY and dreary outside whenever I've been home with the camera, so I don't have any good pics yet.

Sale on Yarn! Buy Stuff! And a funny story.

First off, check out the March Sale at my Etsy shop! All GREEN items are 10% off until the 31st. This includes my Mardi Gras yarns, the Iris Garden yarns, and the Dragonfly scarf. I have some other green things coming soon; mostly yarn, but we'll see if I can get my butt in gear to post some other fun things too! Also, I have a signed print of the Mermaid from last year's Merchant Road series up for auction on Ebay. Please consider placing a bid, or spread the word! :D

OK so, funny story.

I signed up to teach 3 classes in my town's Adult Ed program: Basic Knitting, Intermediate Knitting, and Basic Sewing. The second two were cancelled due to not enough people signing up, which was too bad, but I'm ok with it. The first one started last night and was GREAT, but that's not what this story is about.

So I'm home tonight, plying some pretty pink self-striping yarn when I get a phone call from the secretary of Adult Ed. What follows is pretty much word-for-word.

Her: Jenny, do you crochet?

Me: ...uh, yes? A little?

Her: Would you like to teach a course?

Me: ...I, uh, well, I don't know, I, er...

Her: It's just Basic Crochet. *cheerfully* I'm sure you could do it.

Me: ...Jule, I don't know...I crochet, but not a lot...I've never taught it before...

Her: *reading the pamphlet* Oh, it says "Fun with Granny Squares"! See, that's really easy.

Me: I've never done a granny square in my life!

Her: It's only for six weeks. It starts tomorrow night.

Me: O_O (I'm sure she could hear it, too)

Her: See, the problem is that our usual teacher thought the class was going to be cancelled, but at the last minute we got eight students. But the teacher went to visit her family in Norway, so she's not here...

NOTE: I would like to mention that I am not making this up at all. This is pretty much how it went down.

Her: *continuing* ...and I know your Wednesday classes were cancelled, so you could teach this one instead...

Me: ...ok. But...this is not enough time. I need to learn how to make granny squares and work out a curriculum before the class, and I can't with less than 24 hours' notice. Can we start next week instead? Since it's only six weeks anyway?

Her: *thrilled* Of course! I'll call the students. See you next Wednesday!

*end call*

*cue Jenny freaking out, with husband LOLing at her*

So yeah, now I have a Basic Crochet class to teach. I have never taught crochet to anyone, nor have I ever actually crocheted a granny square. Ever. I need to learn how, preferably right-handed. I'm a lefty. *facepalm* And then, slightly less pressing, I need to come up with 'fun projects' that use granny squares. Please don't tell me--I know I'm screwed.

Actually, I'm not, but MAN I am feeling like I am at the moment. I'm gonna get some sleep, then tomorrow I'll grab my crochet hooks and see what I can do. I at least have a week, thank the gods.

And remember--this is on top of my knitting commission, my artwork, and my spinning. Oh, and babysitting. *diez*

So, anyone got any good sources for ambidextrous crocheting of granny squares? :D

Yarn Pr0n - 2 new yarns!

First, the Zwartble I spun earlier this month is going up for sale, so it got the full photo treatment. :)




And here's the first of two skeins of alpaca, also up for sale, in a colorway called "Iris Garden". The alpaca is raised, shorn, carded and dyed by a local farmer who also happens to own my favorite yarn shop in the world, Criations in Somers, CT.



Go check out the yarns and let me know what you think!

The Numbers that Shape Your World

Since receiving the spinning wheel 18 days ago (on 2/10/07), I have spun 1633 yards of finished yarn on it, resulting in 14 different skeins of yarn.

Of that, only 125 yards were single-ply, which means the remaining 1508 yards of finished yarn actually represent 3016 yards of singles.

(This does not include the skein of practice yarn from my first attempt, nor does it include various smaller amounts of fibers to test. Those probably total another 50 or so yards.)

All but one skein is worsted weight and lighter. Most of it is DK, sock or laceweight.

I have put up 3 skeins for sale on my shop, and should have another 2 or 3 up by the end of the week. I also have pics of my latest spinning, though you may have to wait til later tonight or tomorrow for them. :)

Birthday Weekend, and Yarn for Sale!

ETA: OMG I TOTALLY forgot to mention this!! I'm selling a signed print on Ebay. It's The Mermaid, #2 of 20, signed & numbered in silver pen. The print is 8"x8" square and it's one of my favorite images from last year's Merchant Road series. Please check it out, and feel free to bid. ;)

----

So...Birthday Weekend is about 2/3 over, and it's been lovely so far. :)

Friday morning was spent mostly hanging around the house, spinning, and knitting. I got a few dishes done (strange how they keep getting dirty), cleaned out the corner near my desk here so I wouldn't have to deal with an avalanche, assembled some tax paperwork, and then did a little stash-diving. Came up with a gallon bag of about 6 or 7oz of that green sparkly batt I've been working on FOREVER and decided that it was time to just spin it up and say goodbye. So I did just that. Halfway through, the bunny got home and we went over to Dragonmaille's to hang out and spin and play video games. While we were there, a mutual friend, SkullX, came by to talk about a project with Dragonmaille, and we all ended up hanging out together. It's been a long time since we had a chance to really chat with Skullx. I asked him about the icons he'd done for Dragonmaille, which I love. The result of his inspiration is the new icon on my LiveJournal. Every color and element was chosen for a specific purpose, and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a new vision of the Divine Bird! :D After all that, we got home, and I grabbed some earlier attempts at spinning the green sparkly wool and decided to ply it with cotton thread. The results are below--I named the yarns "Mardi Gras" and "Mardi Gras 2-ply". Both are now up for sale on my Etsy Shop. There are about 80 yards on the Mardi Gras and 100 yards on the 2-ply.



Next morning, bunny & I got up and went to eat breakfast at The Diner. It's a little local place, owned and run by a retired police officer from our hometown. We love going there because it's cheap, the portions are huge, and the food is SO GOOD. Seriously. SO GOOD. After that, we headed to the bookstore where I received one half of my present from the bunny--a copy of "Knitting Beyond the Edge" by Nicky Epstein. We hung around for a while, I cast on another mitten and got a few rows worked on it before we went home. That night we went to my father-in-law's for dinner and good conversation. :)

Today, my actual birthday, I spun some angora (which is also going into the shop once I photograph it), went up to Criations to spend a gift certificate, and then had my official Birthday Dinner (tm) at my parents' house. Both of my grandmas were able to make it, happily, though it was a little odd not having Granddad there. He hasn't been gone for even a year; he was at my last birthday and it seems a little quieter this time around. Still, it was a lovely, relaxed time. I got to talk to my sister on the phone (she was stuck in DC, waiting for her severely delayed flight). Both of my grandmas oohed and ahhed over my yarn--I brought the Mardi Gras AND the Tiger Lily (from my previous post) to show them. After they left, my dad put in a movie--Master and Commander--and the four of us watched it together with cocoa and popcorn. I am thoroughly impressed with the movie; it was just amazing--and it didn't hurt that we watched it on my dad's awesome home theatre! Seriously, I felt the rumble of the waves. :D Coolest present--my parents got us tickets to see Macbeth at UCONN next Sunday!!

So tomorrow, Bunny stays home and we have plans to go see Ghost Rider (movie passes), eat dinner at Outback (gift certificates) and then just veg out at home. :D It's the kind of day that we just love to have. I plan to knit & spin some more--gotta get my speed up--and add a few new things to the shop. The angora goes up tomorrow, and I just added a mohair scarf to my stock as well!

And that's the end of my boring (for you) and fun (for me) Birthday Weekend post.

Tiger Lily

I can't help it--I just can't stop spinning.

This time you get one big collage image. :)

From Fiber to Yarn:


I couldn't quite get the light to work properly for me, and photoshop was no help today. The blues in the pic are actually much more purple, but that's what the lens picked up. It's a very rich and decadent looking yarn.

I spun two plies in the same color order: Red, Pink, Purple, and plied them together. The color runs, while in the same order, ended up overlapping, though there are places where the plies worked out to the same color nicely. I am going to be making socks from this yarn. :) I got about 385 yards in the big skein, plus another 50 or so in a smaller skein that was spun randomly instead of in order.

Enjoy! Comments and suggestions are always appreciated, too. :D

Yarn Pr0n - some duplicate pics and some NEW ONES

Results of the Baby Camel/Silk.

Foreplay:


Swinging Spinning Single:


In Flagrante Delicto:


Afterglow:


*lights up, looks at yarn* So, baby, was it good for you, too?

Mega-super-ultra-stupid-fine

This is some Baby Camel and Silk top.



This is the single I'm spinning from it.



I feel happy. For reference, the orifice (the black tube that the yarn is coming out of) is 3/8" across.

The best part of this? I have been spinning it on my drop spindle as well as on the wheel, and both are the same weight/thickness. I'll be able to use all of it in the same manner. :)

And in today's episode of "Pimp My Ball-Winder"...

Sick of my spinning yet? :D

First off, two very awesome quotes from two chats I had today:

[11:17] friend a: [...] I've just felt my legs and have the sudden NEED to shave them.
[11:18] friend a: For the good of humanity
[11:18] friend a: You know, I should NOT have to be wearing pants in my own house.

*****


Re: chocolate covered potato chips

[15:34] friend b: I call them PMS Wafers
[15:34] ChocoboNoMegami: LOL
[15:35] friend b: they're MEDICINAL
[15:35] friend b: health insurance should pay for them
[15:35] ChocoboNoMegami: LMAO
[15:35] friend b: they save our loved ones
[15:35] friend b: "You seem filled with rage. Here, shove this in your mouth and shut up."

--

And now for spinning news. I plied about 175 yards of the Scottish wool and have at LEAST that much left to do of what I already spun. I would like to point out that I haven't finished spinning even the FIRST batch I washed, let alone touched the second batch. A one-quarter of a fleece gives a LOT of yarn. :D I'll post pics sometime this weekend. I still have a lot to card, too. *sigh*

A picture of the plied Scottish wool


So anyway, I got it into my head that I wanted to try spinning a worsted-weight single. For the non-yarny folk, that's basically the most common weight people think of when they think of yarn. It's not especially fat or thin, but I know I tend to spin very fine. (Not as fine as Dragonmaille but still pretty fine.) It's actually work to spin anything thicker at this point.

Using the wheel and some wool/mohair roving that had been gifted to me, I started by spinning 'from the fold' (thanks, Abby!) and drafted what I thought was something VERY thick, then measured it. Yarn is measured by 'wraps per inch' (wpi)...literally how many times you can lay the same yarn next to itself over one inch. Worsted is generally about 14 wpi. My first 'thick' yarn came to about 20 wpi.

Had to go thicker, so I went on and added MORE as I drafted. This time when I measured, I was better at 16wpi, closer but not quite there. This time, I added WAY more than I thought I needed. I was sure it would be TOO bulky...

Nope, I got it dead on, 14wpi.

So I kept going, since I'd finally made my goal. Upon checking the wpi when I finished, I found it had gone back to 16. However, it's consistently 16 throughout most of the yarn, so I can't complain TOO much. All I have to do now is get used to doing the same thing only heavier.

I admit it's not bad considering it's my first time trying to spin heavy singles. This is also completely usable, of course. I have about 125 yards of the DK single and 16 yards of the smaller part plied.

See?



Not bad for an evening of work! :)

IN OTHER NEWS:

I got my amazing package from my "Spin to Knit" secret pal yesterday morning--and I say amazing because it REALLY WAS. First off, I get this HUGE envelope from the Post Office--check out all the postage!



It didn't really sink in that the package was from AUSTRALIA until I got into the car. :D



Check out that haul!! My pal sent one big package rather than two smaller ones, and I couldn't be happier. The two yarns are called "snow" and "no snow". Both are very thick and OMG-soft. There were also some candies (whoo!), two postcards (double whoo!) and vying for attention for 'favorite part of gift' was a bag of Polworth poufs. :D Since I opened the package while we were out to breakfast, I ended up grabbing a pouf and a pen from the table so I could start spinning RIGHT THEN. (Good thing we were in our favorite diner where everyone knows us--all the waitresses came up to us and had to fondle the yarn & the wool! XD)

What a great intro to a day of...YARN STORE CRAWLING. Yep, Dragonmaille and I went off to Avon to visit an LYS that was closing. It's very sad to see a shop like that close, but the owners were retiring. At least it wasn't because they were forced out or something. Still, Wool Connection was the very first real LYS that I ever visited, and it's where I bought my first 'real' non-craftstore yarn. Holding true to my "no buying yarn for a year" promise, I walked out of there with some baskets and a pair of Mission Falls 1824 Wool skeins purchased specifically for a commission. Note: no stash enhancement took place. :D I almost broke for a trio of the same yarn in three shades of green (OMG COME ON IT WAS LIKE $3 A BALL) but I resisted temptation and put it all back.

Dragonmaille bought a TON of MF1824, though. I do love that stuff.

After that, we decided to go in the opposite direction, past BOTH of our homes to Northampton, MA. Yep. WEBS.

Again, resisted the impulse to buy yarn. It was easier there, actually; everything I loved was something I could make on my own. Why buy it then? I did pick up 2oz of Ingeo fiber in a royal purple and 1oz of Firestar in greens and blues with a hint of yellow and red. I want to use the Firestar sparingly in an upcoming spinning project idea, and I have wanted to experiment with Ingeo.

I also got to try a Louet wheel (not sure which model, but wow did I love it!) There was a man sitting over there when I was checking out the wheels; I thought he was a spinner himself but he confided that he was only back there because the 'man chairs' up front were full. WEBS really was packed, I have to admit. So we got to talking, and I sat down to try the Louet. The guy was FASCINATED. His wife came back and she, too, started asking a lot of questions. XD I felt like a master spinner sitting there, making up samples of wheelspun while talking about why the flyer moved at a different rate than the bobbin or what the hooks were for. :D Dragonmaille also came over and showed them how a drop spindle worked. I think the guy left with a new appreciation for textiles and how they were produced.

Oh, and Abby--I got to use your line about how machines were made to replicate what humans could spin, not the other way around. XD I think that was when the guy got really interested. haha!

All in all, I am very proud of my ability to resist the lure of new yarn. I went out yesterday with a definite plan in mind--to buy a ball winder--and I fulfilled that goal. I even got to test it out later at Dragonmaille's when her thread-thin singles were tangling while she plied them. :D I think I wound like 200yards and it didn't look like ANYTHING. :D

And now for some ball-winder porn. CHECK OUT THE LEOPARD-SPOTTED PILLOWS, AWWW YEAH!



See you later. I've got some yarn to wind. :D

Weekend Spinning: Wheel Version

Well, you all know I got to borrow a wheel this weekend. I will be keeping it for about a year, which means that I'll have plenty of time to spin my stash down to nothing! ;)

Thought I'd post a few pics of the result of my spinning. First up, we have Zwartble (the dark brown black, 120yd) and an unknown wool (the white, 70yd). The extra pic of the Zwartble is a flash pic so you can see it a bit better.




Closeups:


And here's the Alpaca (caramel, 2 skeins equalling 140yd) and Llama (oatmeal, 70yd).


Closeup:


Add to these another 200yd or so of singles spun from that Scottish wool, and you have my spinning on the wheel since Saturday. :D

I'm also working my way through that baby camel & silk; pics of that next time!

No, I mean it, I REALLY love fibers.

It might kinda sorta be obvious to the casual reader of my blogs that I kinda sorta like yarn. Not to put too fine a point on it, I kinda sorta like fiber.

I know a lot of spinners and knitters out there. Some like coarse, heavy fibers like Navajo Churro. Some like fine, soft luxury fibers like silk and cashmere and angora. Some like soft, spinnable wools like Shetland, Romney, and mohair.

Me, I like 'em all.

Enough with the rolling of eyes and stuff, you guys, I know this is nothing new. It's just...I found myself getting choked up over the page for the Foxfire Fiber Farm. Specifically over the parts that talk about spinning. Also over the Jager Icelandics webpage, and their pictures of "Fresh Fall Fleeces".

I don't know what it is, really. I started spinning only a little under two years ago, and I've been knitting for maybe five or six years. I have always loved patterned, woven fabrics. I do have an appreciation for textiles in general. Still, there's nothing in my past that I can recall that makes me go all emotional for fibers and yarns.

My husband jokes that I'm part kitty because I play with yarn. My beloved Drakonlily once said, "CG, I think you don't just like yarn. I think you...LIKE...yarn." I go to Guild meetings and get a contact high from just being around so many fibers in different stages of preparation. I love the smell of lanolin, the feathery texture of angora and baby camel, the smooth sliding of silk or alpaca over my fingertips while I spin. I seek out every different possible fiber I can find, just so I have something new to try.

I revel in a thin, even single. I keep going thinner and thinner until it's hair-fine and still strong, always thinking of how I'll ply it to make a finer and finer finished yarn. I hold the yarn or the fiber or the single up to the light to study the halo of fine hairs surrounding it, and to see how deep the colors appear, like a newly-engaged girl admiring her diamond ring.

I do the same thing with my spindles. I sometimes take out my box of drop spindles to admire their different qualities--the slender, handmade, unique ones; the heavy beginner ones; the one I made myself; the unusual stone ones. I like to see how the bloodwood inlay on the top of my favorite spindle can look satiny when I turn it. When I spin on the small purpleheart spindle, I barely feel it moving, it's so well-balanced.

I dream of the day I own a parcel of land and can put sheep, maybe an alpaca or two, out to graze. Maybe I'll have a few different breeds, maybe even have a goat! I want a bunny. I'll get a llama or a dog to watch over them all.

I wonder if I'll have a wheel of my own. Or two! Or three! One to spin fine yarns, one for production, and one to take with me wherever I go. I'll settle for one. I'll probably end up making it myself.

I dream of spinning. My husband woke up a few weeks ago to see my arm sticking up in the air, and when he asked what I was doing, I made the motion as if I was winding on the single and put the 'spindle' down. All as I slept. I woke up this morning to find my foot 'treadling'...that is, pedaling the spinning wheel.

Here's the wheel I'm borrowing:



It's a Thumbelina "Sleeping Beauty" wheel, made in the early 1970s. It's older than I am, though not by much. :) I'm borrowing it from a fellow guild member, who will forever be thought of as 'the awesome lady who fed my fiber addiction in a big way'. ;)

And here are the first two bobbins of singles that I spun on it. The one in my hand is actually only about 100yd of singles; there was already some commercially-done yarn wound on the bobbin that I used to work on my treadling. The bobbin still on the wheel is more of the Scottish wool. I've since added more.



And now I'm off...got some more of that baby camel/silk to spin. :)

incommunicado

I just want you all to know, if you're trying to reach me and I don't answer the phone, or my email, or smoke signals, or banging on the door, or...well, you get the picture...

It's because I'm a bit distracted.

I am borrowing--BORROWING--a spinning wheel from a Guild member who lives down the street from me. I will be, shall we say, 'occupied' for the next few days. ;)

Please ignore the loud swearing for the first few hours; I am still getting the hang of treadling/pinching/drafting/treadling/keeping-the-yarn-in-one-piece-ing. And stuff.

:D