Mostly Spinning & A Little Dyeing.

I've been working on getting comfortable with my new wheel so I spent some time spinning the types of spinning I'll want to be comfortable with for Madrona Winter Retreat. I'm taking a Spinning The Wild Downs class with J McCuin MacKenzie so I wanted to spin something similar so I spun cotton. I have some natural brown stuff but I quickly put that away because I wanted to save it for a future unkown project.












I pulled out this old acala cotton that I timidly dyed last summer. I was appalled by the bright red, white and blue I was seeing early on so I rinsed the dye out before it had much time to take so I have some pretty aenemic looking cotton roving.
What makes me happy though is I finally got the concept of the long draw!!!
I'm thrilled!
I also found my brake brand was too short for the necessary cotton spinning tension. Luckily I had enough band left on to lengthen it and it works so beautifully. I did follow the assembly instructions correctly too. I'm wondering if the people that have alot of trouble with short fibers or laceweight might just have a brake band that isn't able to be adjusted to the proper tension. I know things like this must happen because we all have to put the little bits of our wheels together.




I decided to try dyeing cotton again. This is acala cotton from Little Barn. It's fragile so I braided it.
And then put it in a nylon. (I'm not sure if this is necessary. I don't really like to do this because I can't see the color.) I always want to leave it off but I can't imagine rinsing the cotton after dyeing and having the preparation all fouled up.



I also dyed some superwash and the colors weren't what I planned! Same goes for the cotton I dyed. I had a long streak of beginner's luck in dyeing but now it's obvious that I have to keep my containers clean and measure dyes and water. I've just been throwing in some of this and that. The last couple of handpainting sessions have yielded very ugly roving.

Joy!

My Ashford Joy came today! I'm very happy though we are just getting acquainted. I have to get used to her before Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat at the end of January. I think that's enough time. So far so good!





I bought her from Woodland Woolworks and she arrived very quickly w/goodies. I chose the video Spinning Basics & Beyond but I was delighted to find a spinner's control card enclosed. This was very high on my wish list and now I have one!
Thanks to my wonderful library system, I got to give these 2 books a trial run.
Knit 2 Together has some wonderful patterns. (I figure if there are at least three things I'd knit in a book, it's a great book.) I even read all the knitterly anecdotes. There's a wide range of skill levels and it's also presented to undaunt the new knitter.
I just picked Spin to Knit up tonight. I breezed through but what I have seen so far, I like very much. It looks like a straight forward get-yourself-started-spinning book.







I have been working on the alpaca hat and it does seem to be working out. I just started the decreases. If I keep at it in between spinning sessions, it could be done next week. What I like about it so much is the incredible softness of this baby alpaca. It feels like angora to me. I can also see the difference in my spinning skill. I spun the sand and the chestnut last spring sometime...maybe in May and the gray was spun this fall. There is a huge difference in the quality of the yarn which goes to show you...Practice really does work better than anything.

Some Plying

I plied some of the English Garden with some Garden Ivy merino from Ashland Bay.
I am pleased. I sat there for hours plying with a little bit of time up and about for stretching and snacking. I ended up with about 350 yards of a 2 ply. I'm trying to decide whether to spin up some more.








Depending on the lighting and surrounding colors, the dominant color changes from blue to green. Strange.














While I was in a plying mood. I decided to go ahead and ply those 2 bobbins of merino/silk that have been ready for a good week or 2.











Now to be added to the pile of increasing yardage of merino/silk in various colors.
Still haven't settled on a project idea. It would be easy to use the colors separately but I was thinking of trying to combine all or some of the colors in a kind of patchwork lace.

Not very much knitting happening.......

It's true. I think I knit just because I spin and need some justification for making all that yarn.
I've been working on this since July! I think I have 3 or 4 more repeats to do but I hardly ever pick it up. It's the Hanging Garden Lace Stole by Sivia Harding available from Knitpicks. (I've photographed about half its present size.)














But I have been working on the alpaca hat. I'll do a check for the size pretty soon to make sure it's going to work. I have about 3 inches done. The photo seems to exaggerate the size of the stitches. It's actually a very fine gauge and looks better "in person".











These are what I've been using for stitch markers on my lace projects and now even my colorwork. I lose stitch markers so fast, it's the most economical for me. The smaller ones work better but often I find myself having to use the large ones because I've lost all the small ones and they do seem to work fine.













The Silkworker's Notebook fell into my hands in the middle of last week. It's really wonderful. Please don't pay the outrageous prices some booksellers ask for it. It is still available from the author for 80 dollars versus the 200+ dollars copies I saw offered for sale in other spots.
My copy is obviously a used copy but I got it for a very good price.

Power!

We got hit with quite a bad storm and we were without power for 6 and a half days. This meant no heat or water for us as well. I came home this afternoon and found the power back! I'm so happy! I truly didn't expect it for a day or 2 more and I wasn't completely convinced the power company could get the repairs done. There was a lot of damage!
The day after the storm, I was looking on the bright side of things and went outside to collect moss and lichens. It wasn't hard. They were right there, everywhere I looked. I didn't even venture into the woods.























My plan was to sort. I want to get them grouped and identified and then start seeing what colors they'll yield.












But I got nothing done during the cold, dark days except a little spinning. A week's work! This is what I usually get done in an evening without really trying.






I did learn a little bit about slowing down. Not that I'm very profilic in the spinning and knitting areas but I do get sort of driven. I'm hoping to bring a bit of the wound down, relaxed attitude back into my life again.
I brought home the bulky attachment last week for the Babe minus 2 of the bobbins. I went by to pick them up and bought 2 pounds of a Churro blend that was on offer. I had sampled a bit and liked it. Very different from anything I've ever spun or thought I would spin. I'm pleased with it. I was contemplating knitting something basketlike.

Double Trouble!

I've had a single treadle Babe for a little more than a year. I found it the perfect wheel for me to learn to spin and it is amazingly versatile. I spin alot of 2 ply laceweight on it. It even spins cotton and camel down. The trick is to take the some of the strong pull off by lacing (like a shoe) or zigzagging on the hooks on the flyer(same thing..just a different term). Judith MacKenzie McCuin taught me this trick last year at Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat. (I just discovered she has a book coming out March 07. I'm very psyched because she is wonderful!)
Time has kind of marched on and I feel the need for a new wheel. It seems I'm always lacing my flyer on the Babe no matter what kind of spinning I'm doing. I guess I just don't like so much take up.
I was able to try out different wheels at a spinning retreat and I felt right at home with the Ashford Joy but oh so especially with the Schacht Matchless. Since I'm in a hurry, a Joy is first on my list.
But someone was selling a Babe double treadle with a Bulky attatchment. The price was incredibly good. Since I didn't really need it, I offered a little less and so now I have 2 Babes!
I really like the double treadle better than the single already.
I tried the bulky attachment and although I was able to get even, consistent and thicker yarn, I have a long way to go before it could ever be considered bulky.
It is my goal to not get too stuck in a rut. I like the yarn I spin..the kind that just seems natural for me but I don't want to be limited to that. So I'm practicing. It can be a little frustrating when you move from doing very satisfactory yarn and try something new and totally fail and fall down flat.
The other thing that I don't attempt too much is changing my drafting hand but can see how that could be very important.
I'm working a bit on the alpaca hat. I've been sick with a cold so I haven't really gotten very far.The gray really does have alot of blue in it. I could see that in the dyepot but I didn't think I'd really be able to see it in the yarn. (Strange reasoning, I know.)





Today I came home with my new Babe and found 2 new things waiting for me.
A Rowan book that someone was destashing. I saw the hat on the cover and thought camel down. (It's because I saw the most beautiful lace hat made out of Nomad Yarns yarn from Mongolia...Bactrian camel down spun mostly on spindles.)Now I just have to find a person with straight, tame hair I can give it too.
And Shelridge Farm yarn! Sand and Charcoal fingering weight yarn for socks and their new laceweight in natural (the white stuff).



Working a little bit on the Ashland Bay silk blend as I pause repeatedly to wipe my nose.

Brava!

I'm very pleased. The alpaca took an even dye. I was hoping for darker but this is fine. Actually more of a silver gray than the brownish color in the photo.
So, although the colors together don't exactly bowl me over. I think it will work. I can always spin up a little more and dye to bring the whole thing together.













Ah well um..my vest dyeing project didn't turn out as well. I got carried away in the spirit and glugged copious amounts of vinegar in the pot before I remembered that I should do it slowly. Actually, I was pretty lucky, the front came out with an even dye. It's only the back that got two blotches...one of which is pictured here.


I had very low expectations for this vest to begin with. I just figure if I'm going to be spending time stirring the dyepot, it might be fun to stir two.






Now I begin swatching for the alpaca hat.
I have been working on a small project that should be done tonight. It's an er...a dog sweater. I actually never thought I'd make one. But there's a dog here and she needs one. I chose just some old wool I had lying around. Some vintage Patricia Roberts shetland that was a very loud hot pink. I overdyed it to a deep sedate purple. I used an Evelyn Clark pattern from Fiber Trends that is worked in a thermal rib.
I'll try to get a photo but this dog is extremely camera shy.

Not yet.

I haven't dyed the alpaca yet because I want to be able to devote the time to tending to the pot.
I bought something really ugly today to dye while I'm dyeing the alpaca. It's silk. It might be unredeemable but taking a chance is part of the fun.







I went buzzing around Seattle today and bought some reading material. I'm most excited about the new Spin Off but I'm looking forward to Dogs of Bedlam. I included the Van Armin novel here because there is a character that knits throughout the whole book.
















I also bought some fiber to keep me busy while I'm deciding what to work on next.
Some wonderful Ashland Bay silk/merino. I've been spinning the different colors for a good 4 months. Really lovely stuff and fun to spin.













And some Ashland Bay English Garden merino top. I love the bold colors Ashland Bay was putting out. I hope that they keep doing it.

Into the dyepot.....

I'm a little nervous. I've spun up some baby alpaca and although not perfect, it's already very dear to me. But it's on its way to the dyepot.
I usually dye before I spin because dyeing fiber seems more forgiving than dyeing yarn.
I'm making a peruvian hat for a friend that has requested humanely raised fiber. So I'm using some baby alpaca top I bought from Fair Meadows Farm in Auburn, WA.
I dyed some of the natural fawn color top a deep chestnut with Jacquard acid dye.


But now I have to come up with a contrasting shade to complement the chestnut and
fawn. I'm thinking gray.
I'm hoping I can get an even color......