Deeper and deeper she goes! Where She Stops, Nobunny Knows.

Okay, this is a natural step I think. I was flirting with a drum carder, but as always is a risk with me, I saw something shiny and got distracted.

I bought some combs. These are hand made by father/daughter team in Canada, where she's the fiber person who comes up with the specs from a user's standpoint, and dad is a seasoned woodworker. Beautiful combs, expensive combs. Sharp combs. Lethal combs. My first, and I'm inexperienced, but I have a feeling these will turn out to have been a great purchase.

These come in various woods, but I was taken by the Applewood ones. I found out, in corresponding with the daughter, that Dad is making the applewood combs from a tree that was felled in her aunt's yard. Once all the wood is used up from that tree, they may not offer applewood ones anymore. Somehow that made them all the sexier. They're inlaid with maple.



Meanwhile, I just had to try processing wool from scratch. It's the natural next step to spinning, except it usually comes later once a person has some idea of the different kinds of wool. I know only a few from spinning experience, but it's all good. Some's just better.

My LYS only has two fleeces, both going on a year old, but not dried out at all. I bought test amounts, even though they're not the breed wools I'd normally be working with. 0.7 lb. of Lincoln (it felt quite soft, though Lincoln apparently isn't) and 1/2 lb. New Zealand, which had 2+ colors in its basket. I got some of both. The beige will likely wash out white, and I have no idea how the brown will come out, it's varying shades all the way to quite dark. Now this wool definitely feels more coarse.

I test scoured about half the Lincoln today. Here's the raw fleece in all its smelly, greasy glory, just as it was shorn. I actually adored the pre-scoured color. This must be from the phenomenal amount of lanolin that's in it. Too bad the color goes with the lanolin, but it's something that's gotta be done. Scouring is what washing raw fleece is called.





Here it is in the pot. That's a big spaghetti pot with a borrowed deep fryer inset from another pot and the fleece in it. Almost-boiling water with a glug of Dawn Dish Detergent in it. That's to melt out and eat up the grease! You can see the steam above the pot. Yup, that's how it goes.



After that, into a pot of almost-boiling clearwater for rinse it goes. Then drained it, then stuck it in my salad spinner to whirr out all the excess water. Then spread it out on cookie cooling racks.

Et voila! Some wet ends...




I love this. Look at the color difference from the raw, unscoured fleece. Wowza! I hated to lose that color though. A dye pot just couldn't duplicate it.



In a different, less harsh light


So next is combing, then spinning. I don't have the carder (YET!) but I think I'd comb this anyway. It's a very long staple length wool, so this might be a challenge for my particular combs which are actually meant for finer fibers.

Here's the New Zealand. This will be a whole nother experience, for sure! Way more coarse feeling, and a totally different texture. Lots of it is like dredlocks. This will be very interesting.


Next is dye-ing. My new spin group that I'm joining is having "Fun Dye Day" in mid-July. I might tinker with some Easter egg dye though in the meantime. At this point, I'm mostly curious how this fleece combs and spins. I don't think I'll be able to wait until mid-July. "Mommie, are we there yet??"

First Spin on Wheel - Fiber-to-F.O.

My first "wheel spin" was from 3 oz. undyed, boring-white merino I got for $1.00/ounce specifically to practice on. I got very bored, very fast with boring-white, but spun about 10 yards until I got the hang of it. Then I went to 4 oz. beautifully hand-dyed BFL that I bought in Connecticut from Painted Sheep. I found that when I had fiber I cared about, my spinning got way better. And during this first spin, I got on a roll where I was whipping along, I mean, at a very good clip! And my yarn was coming out more even then, than when I was being careful.

Here's the fiber.


Here's the yarn. But I plyed it on my plying spindle. I didn't trust my inexperience with plying on the wheel yet. (Still don't.) 109 yards, heavy-worsted/bulky BFL.


Here's what I made with it. I love this cowl. It's going to my everyday practical-wear cowl, because it's made specifically to (a) keep my neck warm; and (b) not make me feel strangled because normally I hate turtlenecks; and (c) cover any gaps between the back of my shirt's neckline and said cowl; and (d) lay flat under my jacket, and not be flipping up because it's being stretched too tight.




Pattern: (length is not complexity, this length is chat)
Inspired by "Simple Ribbed Neckwarmer" (free download on Ravelry) but wanting modifications, here's what I did after asking advice for what I had in mind on Ravelry's "Cowls" group.

Needles: Size 8, 9, 10-1/2 and 11 circular needles.
Yarn: 100 yards heavy-worsted/bulky weight in a next-to-skin yarn.
WPI = 11wpi (thinest) to 8wpi (thickest), most was 10wpi
Gauge: 4-1/2 sts./inch.

Cast on 68 sts. (or whatever even number your gauge will yield a 15-inch circumference) on 24" Size 8 circulars LOOSELY (I cast onto both needles, doubled). If you need to use a different size needles, jump sizes progressively accordingly, as below.
K1, P1 and continue for 2-1/2 inches, knitting loosely.
K1, P1 and continue for another 2-1/2 inches, knitting a little tighter. (That's your neck area's under layer. It makes T-neck fold over nicely.) Total 5" so far.
Switch to size 9 needles. Continue K1,P1 for another inch.
Switch to size 10-1/2 needles (technically 2 needle sizes). Continue K1, P1 for 1-1/2 inches or thereabouts.
You now have about 7 or 7-1/2 inches, maybe 8.
Switch to size 11 needles, continue in pattern for 2-3 rows.
Bind off LOOSELY using Elizabeth Zimmerman's "sewn bind-off" and I mean loosely. What I did was, every time a stitch went off my needle, I tugged on the completed bound off area, each and every stitch. Just give 'er a pull. It doesn't get any looser than that.

Finished Specs: Cowl ended up 8-9 inches tall, approx. 15 circumference at neck (ribbing stretches easily to go over head but snaps back to fit VERY comfortably at neck) and about 24" at bottom if no stretch applied to it at all. (With the 1x1 ribbing, there's plenty of give so it'll lie flat under your jacket.)

So that's that. Sheeesh. From the time I started this post to now, I went to the store and forgot to take the trash out. A big black lawn bag full of yukky trash. I came home to trash (and I mean the yukky part became very real since I'd cleaned out the fridge) and it was now ALL OOOOVER the place. Kitchen floor was covered! Family room got a dog-loved stash brought in there. My office got its share. This trash, among other things, had chicken bones (how stupid was that!)
Bad dog. Baaaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaad dog.
Stupid dog owner. Stoooooopid dog owner! Chicken bones? Forgot to take it outside?? I stand corrected, but it's now been 12 hours and she's fine. She did barf up a huge mass, and it included what looked like chicken bones. Whew.

Color Wheel Becomes More Than a 3-Note Song

I'm keeping up with a blog banner post ("Stash") which has photos and fiber specs on my stash to date, either still in the bag or spun and knitted. It's pretty much a quick reference that I use, and I just added my last 3 purchases.

One occurred to me deserves a regular blog entry ONLY because it's a little testimonial to how when I started spinning, I had really specific color preferences (another way of saying a lot of color prejudices). Well, I haven't veered from them much to date, but as time has gone on I've found myself gaining a little more appreciation of colors I'd banned from my world, and also leaning toward accepting color combinations I never would have even considered before.

This is a HUGE departure from my norm, but just bought it. I mean, I'm seeing purple (horrors!) and hot pink/fuschia (double horrors!) and even the neon yellow-green (shudder, shudder, triple horrors!) One of those would be a departure. But all three together?

This is downright... shocking!

My First, and Likely Only, Spinning Wheel

Sheesh, over a month has passed since I've posted to this blog, time flies! In that time, however, I got a spinning wheel! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (Gee, that really does explain a feeling, doesn't it.) Anyway, it's a sweetheart. I only looked at Kromski's. I know others are cheaper, but there was just something I didn't like about every one that I looked at, except the Kromski's. And I tried the Symphony (a gorgeous fairytale wheel) but found it awkward to feed yarn toward the orifice which is located on the far left of the operating space. My forward hand is my right, and I just knew that I'd start getting a crimp in my right wrist.
(The Minstrel has a center orifice).
Also, reality was I'd be spinning mostly in my kitchen, and there just isn't room for the Symphony's footprint.
(The Minstrel is an upright wheel, it has a very small footprint.)
Third, I want to be able to take my wheel with me. The Symphony scared me in that regard, plus it would be pretty awkward to carry.
(The Minstrel is an easy-carry, and lays down on its front side).

Get the idea? I was built for a Minstrel. Or the Minstrel was built for me. Or for somebody I have a lot in common with. I LOVED the Minstrel. I was very, very, very, very, very sad to say goodbye to the Saxony style, a/k/a fairytale wheel. But it just wasn't meant to be.

The only thing I did NOT like about the Kromski wheels is the factory finish. Now I know that's just wrong of me. And there've been exceptions, because I like Jenny's wheel's finish, and there's a Symphony in a store where I like its finish. And I LOVE the finish on my mahogany-stained Kromski niddy noddy. But I've seen Kromski factory finishes that I just don't like. And once you order a wheel in a particular finish, it's pretty much yours because otherwise it becomes involuntary stock inventory at a store that may not want to store it. So rejecting it because "I don't like its finish" when you ORDERED it in that finish, and the shopkeep sees nothing wrong with its finish... let's just don't even go there.

They sell the Minstrel unfinished. I ordered mine unfinished. Long, long story short, I could write paragraphs trying to describe what I was after in terms of finish, but I'd never get there. It's a feeling more than a look. I normally hate light-stained wood, too, but it so happened that the feeling I was after resided in a stain called Puritan Pine, which happens to be a light wood stain.

For the next step, I didn't want shiny. Nothing with Urathane (or poly-anything, or acrylic-anything). Well, I did a lot of research. I found out that tung oil yellows over time (even PURE tung oil which is not what you get from hardware stores, pffft, but the "real" pure tung oil, made by Milk Paint Co. Eventually I found that lo and behold, everything I wanted in a finish was in a product called Briwax. It's a combo of beeswax (soft) and carneuba wax (hard), it's mostly natural except for a solvent additive (which I CAN justify) and it goes on hand-rubbed, where you can dictate the patina. And you get PATINA. Not "shine." So I now had the feeling I was after.

This is just one part of it, but it's the only photo I got that captured the look and personality of the finish I was after.


This is the wheel, finished and assembled. Total time, a little over a week.

The color shown below is NOT accurate. In fact, it's nothing LIKE what my wheel looks like. It doesn't show the variations, it doesn't show the tone. But it shows the wheel's design and all its beautiful wood turnings. Straight from SmallTown, Poland where the Kromskis have been making spinning wheels for eons.



People tend to name their wheels, and I totally understand that. If I had never known that, I still would have wanted to name my wheel. Well, there seems to be a big tendency toward the name Melissa. I can't tell you how many times I've read "I named her Melissa." Well, unfortunately every friend Jenny had growing up whose name was Melissa was a snitty little brat. Then there are people who name their wheels something like Victoria. Oh, I could see that for a Polonaise, you'd almost have to name a Polonaise something like Victoria. Victoria is elegant, she's aloof and slightly untouchable. She's complex. And you'd never throw her in the back of your minivan.

I named my wheel Annie. I can take Annie with me. I don't feel compelled toward (drum roll) "I must take off my shoes" when I spin Annie. From the very first git-go, Annie was meant to be friends with scuffs and scratches because Annie might even get taken camping. But once finished and taken to Jenny's house for unveiling, Jenny said Annie looks like a comfy, very old Western saddle. And that's Annie, because scuffs and scratches are supposed to ADD to Annie's patina and personality. Annie is meant to be a comfy friend. If I ever get a Polonaise (and I admit, a huge attraction), then maybe we'll consider Victoria.

A New Flower in my Vase!

I'm still in love with Bosworth's spindles and I'm still lusting after one. At the fiber festival, however, they just didn't have anything beyond 1.63-oz. and I was trying that one and a gorgeous 1.5-oz. one they had (Maxi) and also Golding's 1.9-oz. which was in the next barn over. With the thickness of yarn I wanted it for (and working with an empty cop, of course), the Golding just won out hands down.

After getting a growing cop, however, it dawned on me (duh!) -- it's only for a very short time that you have no weight on the cop (duh again). The 1.9-oz. Golding starts getting pretty heavy, pretty quick. But damn, it's a sweet spinner! It's like setting a machine in motion. I totally love that brass ring, not only the way it looks, but it just seems to add stability.

At the next fiber festival, I'm going to try a mid-range Bossie Maxi again, but I know I'm going to want a lighter, smaller spindle at some point and I just have a thing for the Bossie. Maybe a Midi is in order. Jenny loves the one I got her for Christmas.

Anyway, here's my spindle crop so far. Each one does a different job phenomenally well. That big, honker square-whorl Powell plies like you wouldn't believe. I mean, it just drives like a big, steady Lincoln when Lincolns were still like Lincolns. The Kundert does amazingly well (and a long spinner) on thinner yarn. And the Golding definitely is a winner for a thicker single. I love them all.

The crop...





Though among their less expensive carved spindles, I do love this Tsunami design. That brass ring really earns its keep in action!

Trying for a thicker AND looser spin...

The other day at the Fiber Festival, Jenny and I took a break and we were sitting on the lawn, whereupon I was looking in my bag of brought fiber to try spindles with, and discovered I had stuck my trial spin of that fiber in the bag. I showed it to her, and she said she's getting to where she can recognize my spins. She thinks they're unique, but couldn't explain why. Well, that's generally a compliment and I know she meant it as such, but I've been noticing that my spins tend to be TIGHT. The end result makes for a highly compressed yarn which has some disadvantages.

So with this top I wanted to try for a thicker yarn AND one with less spin. I've only been at it since the end of December, but habits die hard! It's still more overspun than I was after. I'm also finding that thick yarn is harder to spin in that invariable variations in the drafting (thickness) really show up! And they're fifty times more noticeable.

Here's what I've wound up with, at least so far. While it's good to wait until the whole top is spun to ply it, I just can't stand not knowing how it's coming out until it's all spun. I also tried a looser ply.

THE FIRST PHOTOS LIE: The yarn looks ever so perfectly consistent in terms of thickness. NOT!

No flash


With flash


This photo isn't in great focus but it shows what I mean by variations in thickness showing up so much more with a thicker yarn. Actually, you kind of really have to look close to see what I mean, the photo makes them look way more consistent than they are. Some of this is heavy worsted WPI, some is fingering or close to it.

2nd pair of FGs - done!

I finally finished the 2nd glove. Damn. This one wasn't a breeze, lol.
There's a mistake in it not far from the cuff where I got off track and did some purls where I should have done knits. There was a hole where you pick up stitches because I only picked up 4, not 5-6 (not unusual to happen). I actually fixed it a whole lot easier than I thought I'd be able to. Another mistake where a purl row was wide enough to where I knew there was something wrong with it, and what looked like a slipped stitch but wasn't, but had a loose place. I have no idea what that was about. But I got all those repaired and secured really nicely though, with no weird tightness in odd places or whatever, and weaved in all the ends (a LOT of those). Plus, along the way, in addition to all that, I had to re-do the thumb start a couple of times, and that ended up pretty perfect. And last but not least, I had bound off one row too soon, because it's never going to be perfectly the same, but it was JUST enough shorter at the fingers so it bugged me. I'd have rather had it one row longer, but not shorter. So I did undo the bind-off, and all I can say is, if you're going to use the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn bind-off, be sure. It was a total bitch to get that undone. It's a great bind-off, but each stitch is actually sewn through twice, once in each direction by the time all's said and done. And the way it's done, those stitches don't show (a good thing) which is NOT a good thing if you're trying to single them out for undoing, one at a time, because they don't show. They're freaking hard to see. But that is a GREAT bind-off!



I'm really happy with these gloves. I think the yarn itself is pretty wonky (unspun parts and also a few knots here and there which TOTALLY pisses me off on a commercial yarn), some thin spots, some thick spots, and with color changes that are sooooo long in the coming that you really do need two skeins to have two matching gloves, because each color doesn't repeat within the same skein. But all that aside, they are going to be nice and warm. I don't think my homespun ones will that much, not as much as these anyway. And they have great bounce-back which is important on something you're going to be stretching but want to fit snug. So I'm happy with them.

It dawns on me that I haven't given hand knit things as gifts yet, I'm too new at it so I'm still learning a lot of stuff, and still in the stage where there are things I want (like another hat or two, another cowl or two) BECAUSE I'm that new at it. But there will come a point where I'm going to want to give some things as gifts, and FGs are just great things.

So anyway, that's my 2nd pair of Fingerless Gloves. The pattern is Maine Morning Mitts (same as the homespun ones). And I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THAT FREAKING PICK UP STITCHES TRICK. GAWD!!! The trick is, you have to pick them up in the opposite direction from what's intuitive AND turn the work opposite what's intuitive. There may be another way (in fact I know there is) but there's just something that I can't figure out about that way.