Spinning Spider Jenny

"Spinning Around" News; Spinning Downloadables To Come; Twitter

2009-06-27T18:00:00.025-05:00

Watching the River Flow

What's the matter with me
I don't have much to say
Daylight sneakin' through the window
And I'm still in this all-night cafe
Walkin' to and fro beneath the moon
Out to where the trucks are rollin' slow
To sit down on this bank of sand
And watch the river flow
~Bob Dylan

"Spinning Around," the BOOK, is moving forward towards completion. We're aiming for a November '09 print date. Once in print, the book will represent the culmination of over 3 years of writing, much of which was fleshed-out on this very blog, and nearly 30 years since I first delved head-first into knitting and the fiber arts. Lizbeth Upitis is our very talented editor who is steering the boat and making sure the boat doesn't tip over. Meg Swansen, of Schoolhouse Press, is the publisher, thus making the boat possible. Michelle Wolfe assists Meg Swansen.

I'll bet there are many knitters out there who know that Lizbeth wrote the wonderful book, "Latvian Mittens ~ Traditional Designs & Techniques."

"Spinning Around" will feature spinning and natural dyeing technique, along with patterns for many favorite Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen pieces of knitwear.

Now for some much needed changes: Beginning now, I can no longer provide lengthy spinning nor dyeing tutorials on the blog. I will, however, continue to post about any projects I'm working on, my family, the Lunar Ladies, and anything else that tickles my fancy. I also invite any spinning or dyeing questions that you may have. If I don't know the answer, I'm pretty darn sure I'll know someone who will.

More news: Chris and I have been discussing offering downloadable technique segments on spinning and/or dyeing. We're guessing that we'll be able to do so sometime in 2010. We'll no doubt develop a website in which to offer these tutorials and will link to that website from this blog.

Also, I have been thinking long and hard about my in-person teaching of spinning and dyeing and have decided to retire. I've very much enjoyed meeting many of you over the years, but the time has come for me to move on to new ventures. Thank you to everyone who ever took one or more of my classes.

Hiccup.

Our David, oldest of the spider, came to stay with us for a few days. He and Chris recorded a duo CD based on Henri Matisse's paper cutouts, "Jazz." David is a violinist and Chris is a pianist/composer. What they created together is a masterpiece. I can't wait 'til the CD is mixed and available. Yes, I AM very proud of my musicians all...that means you, too, Alex!

Here's David (left) and Alexander (right), waiting for "The Vermonter" train to take David back to NYC after his stay in Vermont.

Hiccup.

What you see above are the few, miniature potato plants that make up my '09 crop. I've planted them on a mound near the raised beds I usually grow potatoes and pumpkins in. Something tells me my mini purple taters are going to be quite nice this year. Time will tell...

Here's some pretty lamium that's in bloom.

What did I plant in the raised beds this year? Wildflowers! A whole helluvalotta them. They'll either choke each other out or look glorious together in a few weeks. Obviously I was heavy-handed with the wildflower seed...

Hiccup.

The Lunar Ladies got together at E's house yesterday. Now anyone in the northeast US can tell you that we're getting more than our share of rain lately.

But E's garden seems to be thriving on all this rain, looking glorious. Equally glorious are (l to r) Jenna, Leslie, and E!

Above is a pic of our lovely Elizabeth in her new-this-year greenhouse.

After feasting on green smoothies, cheese, crackers, sesame bites, strawberries, and corn on the cob, the Lunar Ladies settled in for some knitting and crocheting. The spider just watched. I'm really a very solitary spinner and knitter.

Above, you'll see a pretty pink sock that Leslie is knitting for her mom. Leslie, do tell us about the yarn and pattern please.

Maureen, who came later in the evening, is crocheting a pattern that's both knit and crochet for a company she co-owns, The Green Mountain Spinnery. I don't think the pattern, a cardigan, is available yet, but do please tell us about it, Maureen.

Jenna was sewing a fish. But not just any fish. One of the fish that are found in Vermont. And there's a matching faerie that's going to ride the fish, no less. This fish/faerie combo and more such fish and faeries will be part of a 3-woman show in the future. Jenna, please inform us when and where the gallery showing will take place, won't you?!

Elizabeth (E!) spun up some gorgeous Tencel/merino and we all oohed and aahed over it.

And E was working on a mohair, hand-dyed, crocheted, scarf that's really lovely.

And last but not least, E showed us a still-damp ALL LLAMA handspun, knit, rug. It's wonderful!! The llamas who share their lives with E provided the fiber. Tell us more, E, please.

Hiccup.

So what have I been doing? Well, I'm spinning some CVM (California Variegated Mutant) pin drafted roving for another EZ Watch Cap. I had spun the same fiber into EZ's Moccasin socks for the BOOK, and now am spinning it into a lofty, 4-ply for the hat.

Lookee that BIG whorl for some low-twist singles.

I wound the singles off onto a ball winder and then rewound (repackaged), by hand, the beginning and end together...doubled singles...onto another bobbin.

Here's the repackaged, doubled, singles. I'll spin another bobbin of CVM and do the same. Then will 4-ply it all together for a very, very, warm Watch Cap.

People disagreeing everywhere you look
Makes you wanna stop and read a book
Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street
That was really shook
But this ol' river keeps on rollin', though
No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow
And as long as it does I'll just sit here
And watch the river flow
Watching the River Flow ~ Bob Dylan

'til next time. Happy summer!!! Oh, btw, I'm "spinningspider" on Twitter.

Mohair Cloud Spinning; Emi's Visit to Vermont; The Lunar Ladies at Leslie's; Finished Flame Hat; Mini-Comb Question

2009-05-29T12:35:00.073-05:00

Chris and I were taking advantage of the sun a week or so ago, as we lounged by nearby Lake Raponda, reading our respective books...mine on earthbound ghosts and his on something philosophically music...or maybe that's musically philosophical. Chris was bare-chested and lying on his back. I glanced at him and said, "There's a bug in your belly button and you'd best remove it." (alliteration at it's best...or worst?) He nearly jumped to high-heaven, since when he was a child his sister used to tease him that she'd take a knife to carve out his belly button, knowing he was sensitive there. On inspection, the "bug" was nothing but a "fuzzle"...my Ma's scientific term for fuzz. Chris said, "It's just a textile. I think I've been in your spinning room too much." I asked Chris if he had a pencil and scrap of paper with him? Chris, knowing that I wanted to record this moment so I could post about it said, "Is nothing sacred?" Now anyone who personally knows me KNOWS that I hold a lot sacred. But when it comes to blogs...I told the Lunar Ladies about this incident and they chimed in regarding my blogging habit, "NOTHING is sacred!" No question needed. Geesh.

Chris and I have also been tooling back and forth from NYC this past month. First, we brought Alexander, youngest of the spider, to JFK airport to pick up his beautiful fiance, Emi, from Japan. Then, after Emi's whirlwind 2-week visit, we took her back to JFK. 'twas not sad to do so because she'll be back in a month or so for good, as Alex and Emi will be getting married!!! YAY!

Whenever we go into NYC, we get to see our David, oldest of the spider. Here's a pic (l to r) of Alexander, Chris, and David.

The two brothers Bakriges, (l to r) Alex and David.

When we asked the couple where they would like to visit they chose a shopping mall, for goodness sakes! Soooo to Holyoke Mall in Massachusetts we headed. Afterwards we stopped in Shelburne Falls, MA to see the glacial potholes and walk the Bridge of Flowers. Apparently the bridge used to have a trolley line running on it in the 1920's. Now it's lined with colorful flowers to admire. (l to r) Emi, Chris, and Alex.

And here's (l to r) Alex, Jenny, and Emi!! Can you tell I'm ready to have this lovely woman join our family?!!!

Hiccup.

Chris and I were also invited to a very special wedding of our friends, Sadelle and Ann this May. The service was Quaker and oh-so-elegant with its quiet, prayerful intervals. Sadelle and Ann each wore a gorgeous, custom-made, silk salwar kameesz. Congratulations Ann and Sadelle! We wish you all the best in life.

(l to r) Sadelle and Ann!

Hiccup.

Jofran's been doing some lacy knitting with her "lurid" (Jofran's word, not mine) Louet Northern Lights handspun. See past post: Immersion Dyeing With Osage Orange Sawdust; Newlywed Gloves Story; On Winding A Round Ball; Leslie's Moebius Scarf; Jofran's Northern Lights.

Above you'll find Jofran's pretty lace knitted stole. It's not blocked in the pic, but Jofran promises to send a pic of it blocked later. When asked who the stole is for, Jofran replied, "It's for ME!" Jofran, do tell us more about the spinning and knitting of your stole please. Thanks!

A close-up of Jofran's handspun and knitted stole.

Hiccup. It's spring and that means the spider made a trip to Hemlock Haven Farm for some of the best poop...llama, that is...a gardener could ever imagine. Thank you Elizabeth, our own Llama Farm Girl.

Elizabeth...or "E" as we like to call her, purchased a hat on a trip to Colorado that was fit for a Lunar Lady named "Lady Sunshine." Bears are dancing on the hat above the caption, "Dance by the Light of the Moon." Very cool headgear.

Poop scooper extraordinaire.

One of the poop providers, Alina.

Hiccup.

The Lunar Ladies, sans Queen Bag Lady, got together in May at Madame Moonshadow's. A more beautiful house cannot be found than Leslie and John's home. Also, Leslie may be the best housekeeper I know...with everything shining and fuzzle-free.

Here's Leslie next to her really neat stove. Do tell us more, Leslie, about the stove, please. Thank you.

And on top of the stove you can see Leslie's a great baker. Look at that apple pie! Next to the pic is a tray of leftover piecrust...one bit with cinnamon and the other with sugar and cinnamon. Mmmmmm.

The Lunar Ladies had some serious helpings of the desserts. Leslie also made the carrot cake on the left and the spider made some lemon/raisin/oat bars on the right. We were celebrating the May birthdays of Maureen and Jenna. Alas, Maureen was not there to enjoy her fave carrot cake.

But Jenna was thankfully with us for her 40th birthday celebration. E made Jenna a beautiful beaded necklace. Eagle-eyed knitters will note the useful yarn cutter pendant. Please take a look also at Jenna's stylish T-shirt. Jenna drew the illustration for the tee which promoted the Wardsboro, Vermont annual Gilfeather Turnip Festival. Check out the link to buy a tee just like it! Or how 'bout a turnip cookbook?

After the Lunar Ladies ate...and ate...and ate...Leslie took us over to her blueberry bushes and gave us a nifty lesson in pruning them. Thank you, Leslie!

LOOK at Leslie and John's incredible "sheep corral." A famous stone fence builder made it. Please tell us more, Leslie.

Three of the Lunar Ladies happily herded inside the sheep corral.

We walked around Leslie's property and saw an amazing amount of Lady's Slippers in one place. A quick count of these pretty little slippers came to about 100 I think!

I was about to take more pics of the Lady's Slippers when E yelled out something that had me stop in my tracks. A newt! Heaven forbid I step on the little fella/gal.

The Lunar Ladies, of course, had some show 'n tell when we went back inside Leslie's house. Above you'll find some of Jenna's whimsical needlefelted pins. Just looking at them makes a spider happy.

And above is Jenna's foot wearing an in-progress sock made by Leslie for Jenna. What's the pattern, Leslie? Jenna doesn't wear two socks alike...ever...so the other sock will not be exactly matching the above.

But E's socks knit by Leslie DO match. Tamara, E's sister, beautifully dyed a knitting blank and Leslie knit the socks for E as a present. Here's what Leslie wrote in one of the blog post's comment sections: I bought a "sock blank" from KnitPicks last year for Elizabeth. She gave it to her sister, Tamara (aka Spincerelyyours) to dye. Aren't they GORGEOUS COLORS? The blank came back to me so that I could knit a pair of socks for Elizabeth for her birthday. I love the idea of the sock blank which is knit up in to a long oblong with two strands of yarn and you are supposed to dye it and then knit both socks directly off of it so that the socks will be identical. I unraveled the whole thing into two balls and am knitting both socks at the same time albeit separately! The pattern is the Ridged feather pattern from the "Chevron patterns for self-striping yarn" section (p. 70-73) of the book "SENSATIONAL KNITTED SOCKS" by Charlene Schurch.

Leslie also knit a soft and cuddly Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket in a luscious periwinkle color. The little sweater isn't blocked yet, nor does it have buttons, but when it does it's going to look smashing on a very lucky baby.

Leslie showed the Lunar Ladies a Frame Loom that Leslie's husband, John, made for her from the directions in the link. John AND Leslie are amazing carpenters/woodworkers/etc.....together they built their own home and barn. I can't wait to see what Leslie weaves with this beautifully finished tool.

Hiccup.

Finished my Flame Hat. See the past posts: A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects, and 12-Step Hand Carded Color Wheel for Spinners and/or Dyers; Color Gradation; More Children's Knitwear; and Mrs. Schneider's Shawl, and Immersion Dyeing With Osage Orange Sawdust; Newlywed Gloves Story; On Winding A Round Ball; Leslie's Moebius Scarf; Jofran's Northern Lights, for more info on the fiber, the handspun, and the knitting stitch pattern. The hat is lined with a naturally brown Romney X from Ontario and the tip is blinged with sardonyx, and Japanese and Czech glass beads. The sardonyx is a little on the heavy side for its size, so it nicely weights the tip of the hat down...no need to be a cone head unless you choose to be! I still want to knit some matching half-mitts to go with the hat. When they're done, perhaps I'll model the set.

Hiccup.

The spinning techie portion of this post deals with spinning and plying for a mohair "cloud" yarn. It's also called a "halo" yarn. Technically, it's a "corespun" yarn...meaning that one of the plies is made up of either a thread core or a singles yarn core that's been wrapped with another unspun fiber. A cloud yarn is true to its name; light as a feather and very fluffy. Basically, my mohair cloud yarn begins with a cotton thread core that is wrapped with mohair. The mohair is kept in place via plying with a fine, handspun, Tussah silk singles.

The recipe for wheel spinning this cloud yarn is as follows:

Wrap the mohair onto the cotton core with the wheel going S (counter-clockwise). Hold the mohair perpendicularly to the core as you wrap.
Ply a fine singles with the wrapped core with the wheel going Z (clockwise), just until the mohair doesn't move around freely on its core.

You can use teased mohair locks or do as I did and tease out some staple lengths of naturally dyed mohair top. You can also try not teasing mohair top at all and wrap from the tip of the top. I used a soft yearling mohair but you could choose a softer kid mohair if you'd like. Anything coarser than yearling mohair can tend to be on the scratchy side.

The brown-ish mohair on the right was first dyed with an exhaust of Osage orange and logwood, but that looked icky if I remember correctly. I then solar over-dyed it with cochineal and madder root. The mohair on the left was not first dyed with the exhausted Osage orange and Logwood, but did go into the cochineal and madder root bath. The silk was dyed as unspun fiber with sandalwood. All the fiber was pre-mordanted with alum. The silk singles was spindle spun using a high whorl from my collection. Note the tufts that were teased from staple lengths of the mohair top.

A close-up of the mohair and silk.

The cotton thread in my case really didn't need to be multi-colored...it could have been plain...because I pretty much covered it all with mohair. But do note I could have left more of the core show if I had wanted to. Plus, I could have used a handspun core, especially if I wanted some of the core to be shown. The package this thread is in makes it convenient to put on a lazy kate. My kate is tensioned, but I didn't find a need to tension this thread bobbin as it didn't unwrap willy-nilly as I was spinning.

To make the mohair wrap around the core, first attach the cotton thread to your bobbin. Again, please keep in mind that you'll operate the wheel counter-clockwise (S) at this point. I like to hold the thread straight towards my body with my left hand. As you begin treadling, the right hand gently holds a teased mohair tuft next to the cotton thread. Hold some mohair fibers under the thread until they catch.

Here's an example of the fibers catching onto the thread as you treadle S. Once the mohair catches, you have to move your left hand towards your body to expose the next bare thread area and you need to move the right hand so more mohair catches. You don't have to draft the mohair until it is removed completely from the thread...instead you can just draw some out (perpendicular to the thread core), watch it catch as you treadle the wheel, and move on down the thread doing the same thing over and over.

BUT, another technique is such that you DO remove the mohair each time you've caught it onto the thread and then re-attach it as you spin, etc. See which technique you like...either not completely detaching the mohair as you move down the thread OR detaching it...they can give somewhat different results.

You may want to consider treadling slowly so your hands can learn the motions needed to make your cloud yarn. Hawk-eyes will see, however, that I'm using a Schacht Matchless wheel in Scotch tension mode with a 9:1 ratio...in other words, not a huge, slow whorl.

Also, don't forget your corespun yarn has to get onto the bobbin for storage, so make sure your hands let it get where it wants to go, please!

Here's a pic of detaching the fiber from the cotton core. I would re-attach it immediately and repeat: attach, detach, attach, detach, etc. But honestly, this attaching/detaching tends to be a lot of trouble if you ask me, and I didn't deem that the end results were that much different than simply remaining attached until I ran out of my handful of mohair and needed to get more.

You can wrap thick-ish and make a slub of sorts. When I wrapped more thickly I still kept the slub "airy"...think cloud!

Or you can wrap thinly. You can glump on more fiber or less fiber...even unto very little mohair for a yarn that resembles commercially spun mohair yarn. Your choice, but remember the yarn has to fit through the orifice of your wheel and needs to move nicely under the hooks. I had little trouble with my hooks when I was spinning the mohair onto the core, but I did have a tad of problems when I was plying. You'll see in a bit what I did to help the yarn along during the plying.

If you want exaggerated texture, you can even squoosh up the airy slubs towards the wheel if you like.

Here's a pic of the mohair that's been wrapped (corespun) onto the cotton thread.

Now don't think your cloud yarn is finished after you achieve what was talked about above. If left the way it is, the mohair would slide hither and thither along the cotton thread in a very unstable manner. You could ply two bobbins of the above on itself (but make sure the doubled yarn fits through the orifice and under the hooks!) or, if you want to keep the yarn on the light side and very cloud-like, you can ply it with a fine, perhaps decorative, singles. In my case the silk singles I used for this purpose is Z spun and will be further Z-plied. The extra twist bothered the silk singles not, as the plied twist was only enough to stabilize the corespun mohair.

Please let me refer you to the past post, Plain Vanilla Two-Plying And Balanced Yarns, as this is the kind of plying I'm doing here. One of the plies is the silk singles and one is the corespun mohair. I am using a tensioned lazy kate as I ply.

Above is a pic demonstrating how my right hand stays put by my stomach as it equally tensions the singles. My left hand moves back towards my right hand as the two singles ply together, with the plying twist being guided by and following my left hand.

My right thumb being used as a gate-keeper. See the above link for the Plain Vanilla plying post to know what a gate-keeper is.

And the gate-keeper opening up and letting the left hand bring the just-plied yarn towards the orifice for storage on the bobbin.

Yes, I used the same 9:1 whorl for plying my mohair cloud yarn.

Remember I said that the mohair got a tad tangled occasionally in my hooks as I plied? I have a c-hook on the hook closest to me that is smaller than the rest of the hooks. I simply avoided that hook and then had no more "catching" problems. If you have catching problems, consider using only a few hooks to guide your yarn onto the bobbin. Each wheel is different so experiment with what works for you.

When I finish spinning enough cloud yarn, I'll knit it into something and show you what I've knitted!

I'd LOVE to see your cloud yarns. Do please send me jpgs so I can post your handspun clouds!

Hiccup!

I'll end with an e-mail from a kind reader:

Hi Jeannine,

I have gotten into hand spinning (on a drop spindle) and find it positively addicting. So far I have worked from prepared roving/top but now I want to branch out to preparing from a fleece. So I am looking into wool combs. Specifically, mini combs, as I am not a spring chicken anymore ;-).

In your blog, you have a section on combing using your Louet mini-combs. They are one of the brands I have been looking into and everything about them appeals (not too sharp, very light). However, on some forums, I have read that perhaps they do not stand up well to heavy use or not-so-fine fibres. Your project used Romney which is a medium/coarse wool, I think. I would be using them on any type of wool that was similar to that available in medieval England. Do you find that the lack of sharpness makes for resistance in the combing? Would you say that the single row combs are more versatile (useful for more variety of wool types (medium, fine, etc)?

The spider responds:
Welcome to the world of spinning! A good addiction, eh?!

From the blog you know I love my Louet mini-combs. Yes, I did show them using Romney, but the Romney I used is on the finer side and well-prepared so that there's minimal tangling "glumps." I often scour keeping lock formation (as shown on the blog), which helps keep the fibers from over-tangling.

Some folks are very hard on their equipment. On Ravelry, I read how one woman ruined her mini-combs in one day or so!! Mine have lasted years and years. It's just last year that a tine fell out and that was due to degradation of the base on the edge...understandable with years of use! And even with the tine out, I still use the mini-combs just fine, tho' I have a new pair, as well.

I don't own the double-row mini-combs, but I do find my single-row quite versatile for fine-medium wools and fibers. If I was going to comb medium-coarse fibers, I'd opt for my Vikings or my English wool combs.

The lack of sharpness in the tines on the minis haven't been a detriment in any way. If anything, I love that they are not as dangerous as my Vikings, etc. But again, how you scour your fibers does have a bearing on what combs well on the minis. The better the scouring technique, the better the shape your fibers are in, and the easier the combing is.

Hiccup.

Will end with two pics of the lovebirds. The first pic is at the Bridge of Flowers. Below, Emi is wearing the scarf I spun and knitted for her. I'm so glad she likes it!

'til next time! Oh...did you notice I have started a second blog? Please check my left sidebar for a link. Yes, it's very different from Spinning Spider Jenny. Very different, indeed!!

Immersion Dyeing With Osage Orange Sawdust; Newlywed Gloves Story; On Winding A Round Ball; Leslie's Moebius Scarf; Jofran's Northern Lights

2009-04-30T08:27:00.057-05:00

Newlywed Handknit Gloves

Somewhere within the first year or so of my marriage, I had the notion that I would make Chris superb, 100% wool, handknit gloves. Chris was and is a dapper dresser and I felt he would surely love classic, finely knit gloves. I had never knit gloves before and the thought of bestowing such a gift to Chris thrilled me.

I chose a glove pattern from an old knitting pamphlet, 50’s vintage, which required a multi-plied fingering yarn. In the Detroit of the early 80’s one would be hard-pressed to find an open yarn store, let alone one which sold the wool fingering yarn I envisioned. However, cross the Detroit River via tunnel or bridge, and a knitter would find herself in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, a quaint little town, complete with it’s own old-fashioned yarn shop.

I spied gray wool fingering in the Canadian knit shop that fit the glove’s pattern requirement and went away with enough balls of yarn to complete the project. The gloves were to be a secret present, but since Chris generally left me to my own knitting devices, asking nary a question of what I was embarking on, I was safe to work even in front of his nose.

The pattern’s stitch gauge was about 9 stitches to 1 inch, a somewhat daunting gauge for a novice knitter, and the pattern itself was a seed stitch variation. It took me weeks to complete the gloves on wire-ishly thin needles. Once completed, lovingly blocked and dried, I presented the gloves to Chris.

He was impressed and very touched. I patted myself on the back and silently proclaimed, “Job well done!”

Only a few days later Detroit experienced one of its ice and snow storms. When Chris came home from work he sheepishly showed me his gloves, with most of the fingers and the palm torn to shreds. “What on earth…?” I exclaimed in horror. “I didn’t have an ice scraper in my car and unwittingly used my gloved hands to remove the ice from the windshield,” sighed Chris.

I never, to this day, knit Chris a pair of gloves again.

Above is a pic of Chris and our David, oldest of the spider, snapped around the time the glove story took place. Yes, we finally got our new copier/printer/scanner, making the above pic possible to show you.

Hiccup. Easter and Passover have come and gone but I've caught a few moments of celebration below.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know I'm a tried and true potato freak. I have memories of my Grandma Proehl making potato pancakes in our kitchen when I was about 7, living on the east side of Detroit. Above you'll find some of my own '09 potato latkes, made from a recipe that cuts down on the oil and fat. Pure bliss. Please do e-mail me if you want the recipe. Mind you, making latkes is tedious work in the extreme, but well worth it!

Some of you may have noted from past posts that I've been baking quite a bit. I wanted to make hot cross buns for the first time in my life, being extremely drawn to the fruity dough, topped with delicious icing...but...I was afraid to try the yeast version. I have no idea why. I'm STILL fearful even after my bread baking foray with Librarian Leslie. Leslie says we simply need another session of bread making in order to conquer my fear, in her kitchen this time. I DID, however, make hot cross muffins, requiring no yeast nor kneading. They were pretty good, if I say so myself.

Kind reader of this blog, Terri, has been ever so encouraging as I travel the bread baking path and recently e-mailed me the following:
I don't know if this applies in your case, but I think a lot of people are intimidated by yeast breads because yeast is a living organism, which introduces a few extra variables. Since I know you're also a gardener, I'll use a gardening analogy for you. When you plant your potatoes, there are all these steps you need to do before and during the process. For example, you'll pick the right spot in the garden, prepare the soil, amending / adding as necessary, etc. Then you have to water, weed, etc. depending on the weather or other variables, the crop will come in earlier or later. By now, you know exactly what to do in order to get your potato crop (barring freak weather or a horde of hungry critters :) ). Yeast breads are similar. You go through all of these steps to get your dough ready. But if your kitchen is hotter or colder, or if your yeast is not as active, etc., it will take longer/ shorter before your bread rises and is ready to bake. As with anything, there's also a learning curve--what do they mean by "knead"? How do I know if I've kneaded the dough long enough? How can I tell that the dough has doubled/ etc. in size? Etc. You're lucky to have a friend like Leslie to walk you through the process, so you can see/ touch/ experience what the process is supposed to be like. With a few more bread baking sessions, I'm sure that you'll soon be an expert yourself!
Thank you, Terri, for all your welcome reassurance!

Hiccup. More Easter memories...
Chris and I scooted over to our Alexander's newly acquired apartment on the night before Easter. While I prepared our fave spinach pie for supper, Chris, Alex, and Alex's friends, Gus and Dave, kept themselves busy. See this past post for our spinach pie recipe: Rose and Leaf Tam; Deborah Newton's Sleigh-Ride Gloves; Bulky Spinning Tips; Ravelry; The Spinning Loft; And Hand Exercises for Spinners.

Gus did so by cooking up some duck eggs he brought and eating them. Gus said duck eggs are kinda rubbery. What's been your experience with them, readers? Do you like them?

A few marshmallow-ey Peeps were devoured. Alex was on the phone for awhile...rather rude if you ask me. And Dave expertly helped color some hardboils for our egg-tapping tradition. To see more about our Greek egg-tapping tradition, see the past post: Striated Blending Using Mini Combs; Slubs On Purpose; EZ's Hand To Hand Pullover; Funky Faroese Socks; Leslie's Half-Gloves; and 3 Fiberish Stories.

Hiccup. Now the following pics have nothing really to do with any holidays, but still relate to food. Good food. Well, I suppose that depends on your tastes. As for me, I was introduced not long ago to "green smoothies." I had no idea that there were MANY people drinking green smoothies all over the world. Just Google "green smoothie" to see for yourself and to find interesting recipes. What is it? Well, simply put it makes use of any leafy green such as chard, mustard, kale, spinach, etc. And to that you add fruit(s). And to that you add some water. Put a few (or several even) green leaves, cut up fruit, and a cup or more of water (depending on how much smoothie you want) into a blender. Whiz it all up 'til smooth. Ta da. Sound icky? It's NOT, believe me it's not. And it's packed with vitamins. Try one and share your recipe, please.

Here's a green smoothie of frozen blueberries, kale leaves (I cut out the stems in this case but I suppose you can leave them in), and water.

Perhaps it doesn't look pretty, but it's tasty and oh-so-excellent for you.

Hiccup. The Lunar Ladies had what turned out to be a most magickal day a few weeks ago. First we traveled to New Haven, CT in order to view the Handweavers' Guild of Connecticut gallery show. Click on their "special events" to learn more about the show itself.

Above you'll find (l to r): Elizabeth (Lady Sunshine); Leslie (Madame Moonshadow); Jenna (Duchess of Dirt); and Maureen (Queen Bag Lady).

The gallery show was held at Fairhaven Furniture. This is a neat place in and of itself. They carry LOTS of classy merchandise, including jewelry, to consider taking home with you. Cool door, eh? Our lovely E is our own personal Vanna.

My friend, Rita, was one of two featured weavers. Other pieces were created by guild members.

Here's an exquisite piece by Rita that immediately caught my eye. It's entitled "Cross Ventilation" and is made from cotton warp, iris leaves and redtwig dogwood twigs weft, with a paper lining. This '08-'09 piece incorporated spaced warp, plain and twill weaves, with inset "window" openings. I kept coming back to look at this weaving...it drew me in.

Above you'll find one of several amazing collections of Rita's boxes and bags displayed in the gallery.

Here's a close-up view of the purse featured above. Rita calls it "Soft Green Purse." It's also an '08-'09 piece, created from handspun cotton warp, rush leaves and handspun silk yarn weft. The same yarns are used to weave the lining fabric and to make the cabled strap. Agate beads adorn the front; with one bead being used as a closure. It is a twill weave.

All I can say is WOW whenever I get a chance to view Rita's work! The Lunar Ladies were blown away and in equal awe!!

This eye-catcher of a piece was made by the other featured weaver, Antonia Kormos. She hand dyed the yarn with synthetic dyes back in the 1970's.

Amongst the other beautiful pieces created by the CT guild members, this one stood out for me. It was woven by one of the weaving show's judges, Sarah Fortin. She named it"3-D Scarf" and its made from Soysilk, silk, and cashmere/silk. Pretty!

The Lunar Ladies' outing to CT finished with proverbial fireworks. We had been invited to Rita's house after we viewed the gallery show. Here we are, with Rita herself, in her greenhouse filled with unbelievably gorgeous flowering plants. A tour of her grounds had us all speechless. Thank you, Rita and Steve, for making memories 1000-fold.

Hiccup.

Above is a pic of Patti. Patti and I met and became friends when I was reading Tarot at "Kindred Spirits" in Brattleboro (alas, now closed). Patti wanted to learn to spin so here she is at my house, holding up her very first handspun. Yay Patti!!! Bravo!

Patti's work is very interesting. Her work is done exclusively by barter. Patti says, "I am a trained and certified dreamworker, and have done psychospiritual soul work/play and spiritual direction and journey accompaniment for many years. However, I choose to work by barter only. Barter is not free, but rather an exchange of energies that does not involve money. It is more flexible and more communal. It works on a one-to-one ratio. An hour of your time + an hour of my time. It is high-touch rather than high-tech. References available. Please see my website for more information. Namaste."

Hiccup.

Leslie, of the Lunar Ladies, spun and knitted this lovely moebius scarf a few years ago. Leslie, do please tell us about the yarn and stitch pattern. Thank you.

Here's the moebius with its deliberate twist.

Beginning to put on the moebius scarf.

Accentuating the twist.

The twisted part is now lifted up and onto her head. Very attractive, indeed, and incredibly cozy-looking.

Hiccup.

Jofran spun up a very pretty skein of Louet's Northern Lights wool top in the colorway of "Tropical Skittles." Here's what Jofran had to say about it:
Spindle spun on my Molinor (Greensleeves); plied on my Schacht wheel with the smallest whorl; over-plied then whacked on my counter between hot and cold baths (three of them). The whacking was fun! Regarding Tropical Skittles - I am always amazed at how the almost lurid roving turned into such a subtle yarn....
Jofran, what are you planning to make with this handspun? Why did you choose to over-ply? And hey girlfriend, didn't I give you that bag of Tropical Skittles? Lurid???!!! OK, it WAS bright in the bag... But it was meant to challenge you because it wasn't exactly your favorite colors.

The last few months of posts have featured my Louet Northern Lights project, in the colorway of "Sunset."

I've finished knitting the outer portion of what I'm calling my "Flame Hat." The lining is being knit out of a naturally brown Romney cross. The lace stitch I used on the orange-y part is from Barbara Walker's, "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns." The stitch is called "Little Lace Chain," pg. 234. The hat itself is pointed, as you can see, and it flops over perkily to one side or t'other. Some bling, in the form of beads, will definitely find its way onto the hat.

Hiccup.

The techie portion of this blog has to do with natural dyeing this month. Awhile back, Leslie and I got together in my dye studio to dye her handspun Shetland wool and handspun 100% llama for one of her projects in the BOOK.

The technique we wanted to show involved making an immersion bath of one color...in our case in was Osage orange sawdust. What made it fun was that her skeins went from cream to dark grey, all heading for the same bath. And, when the skeins vary in fiber type, it's neat to see the color that gets picked up by the skeins. It's good to note that within a dyestuff, there may be more than one color. Sometimes, one fiber type will pick up one of the colors within the dyestuff and another fiber type will pick up something else. How do you know what fiber type will pick up which dye from the dyestuff? Sampling, that much-repeated bit of sage advice. We chose, however, NOT to sample in this case and settled on being pleased with whatever came from the pot.

The night before Leslie was to come over for dyeing, I weighed out some of the Osage Orange sawdust in my dye mixing box. This past post shows my dye box and more: My Dye Studio.
The sawdust was put into the leg of an old, nylon pantyhose. It's easy to do this if you put the nylon leg inside a jar, with the leg opening folded over the opening of the jar and held in place with a rubber band. How much Osage orange did I use? I sort of by-gosh-or-by-gollied it. I'm personally not looking to reproduce a color EXACTLY in ANY of my dye projects and don't expect you'll want to reproduce what I do verbatim. If you like recipes for dyes, you'll find none in my upcoming BOOK (except for an indigo urine dye vat). I'm far more serendipitous of a dyer than being held hard and fast to most recipes. I DID, however, take a peek at one of my excellent dye reference books that I keep in my dye studio...in this case, Trudy Van Stralen's "Indigo, Madder, and Marigold ~ A Portfolio Of Colors From Natural Dyes," and decided on 1.5 oz of sawdust for the 7.4 oz of fiber to be dyed. I came to this amount of dye by checking how strong Osage orange can be in a general sort of sense, studying the pics of yarns in Trudy's book using Osage orange, and then made an educated guesstimate.

Yes, I know what the nylon stocking looks like in the pot, you naughty folks...

Leslie had earlier secured her skeins with loose, figure-8, ties. She also had wetted her yarn overnight with warm water and a drop or two of dish detergent. The dish detergent opens up the fibers, getting them ready to accept mordant and dye. Make sure the mordant and assist (if you're using one) is well dissolved in plenty of water that the yarn can swim freely in. The water with the mordant is cold. The yarn was sitting in cold water by the time Leslie brought it. There would be no cause for felting the fibers because the yarn was not going into a drastically different water temperature. Of course, Leslie and I were going to be very careful not to agitate the yarn at any point to avoid felting, as well.

The handspun first was going to be pre-mordanted with alum and a cream of tartar assist. The alum mordant will help the dye to adhere to the fiber and the cream of tartar will help keep the fibers soft. Pre-mordanting, as opposed to throwing mordant into the pot with the dyestuff, tends to assure better light and wash fastness and overall dye results. Again, how much alum and cream of tartar to use was decided by looking at some of my dye reference books.

The pots we used for mordanting and dyeing have a stainless steel, colander-type, insert. Eagle eyes will spot that they're nothing other than turkey fryer pots. These holey inserts are very useful to dyers and below you'll see why.

Leslie put the yarn into the colander which was sitting in the pot of mordant solution. The burner of the stove was turned to high, and for the first 10 minutes or so, Leslie occasionally lifted the colander containing the yarn 'til it was out of the solution and dripping back into the pot. This action of raising and lowering the colander now and again helps insure that the mordant fully enters into the yarn. Plus, it's easier on the yarn than using just a spoon and letting the wet, vulnerable yarn hang there. In any case, beware whenever you have a spoon in your hand around a dyepot...those spoons have a way of wanting to stir far too aggressively!

The pot was brought to temp, which was 200 degrees F. If we weren't planning to dye until the next day or beyond, I would have removed the pot when it reached temp and placed it on a blanket on the floor. Around and covering the hot pot I would have put two or so wool blankets. Yes, the pot would be put to bed, so to speak. These blankets keep the pot at temp for hours, without wasting fuel. BUT, in this case Leslie and I needed to dye that same day we pre-mordanted, so we kept a lid on the pot and brought the temp down 'til the pot was at a simmer. This simmer was kept constant for one hour.

Here's Leslie bringing the colander of mordanted fiber out of the pot...

and setting it on a bucket to drip. The dripped mordant was put back into the mordant pot and will be re-used at a later date. I like to rinse the yarn/fiber that's been pre-mordanted before I put it into the dyepot containing dye. This removes any mordant particles that are sitting on the outside of the yarn/fiber that might muddy up a dyebath. If the yarn is HOT as it's going to be when coming out of the mordant bath, then be sure to rinse it once in equally HOT water, to avoid felting. We had been cooking the dyebath with the Osage orange sawdust for the same amount of time we cooked the mordant pot. Both pots were HOT. The sawdust needed to simmer 1 hour in the pot before dyeing in order to release the dye. The nylon stocking of sawdust was removed from the pot before the yarn was put in. Leslie took the stocking with sawdust home with her 'cause there might be more dye power in it.

Here's the yarn as it cooks in the dyebath.

Just as Leslie raised and lowered the colander of yarn in the mordant bath, she did the same with the actual dyebath. This helps cut back on dye taking in one place and not so much in another.

Leslie knit a wonderful pair of EZ-designed "Jogger's Mitts." Again, please note that all the yarns were in the same dyebath, with the changes occurring because the fibers were differing starting colors and types. Note also that one of the yarns is yellow whilst the other two are green! Cool, eh? Thank you, Leslie, for spending your time dyeing with me!

Hiccup. Will finish this post with a few bits of correspondence that either came in to the spider and/or was sent out by the spider.

First, a very nice reader by the name of Judith had seen my past post talking about the exploding box of baking soda I carry when I travel: Scouring Fleece To Keep Lock Formation. Judith wrote:
I was looking at your Blog because I just bought a Coopworth fleece and was seeking ideas for what to make using it.

I saw your comments about baking soda. That's been my help with acid problems for 50 years but now it's off limits because I need to severely limit my sodium. I've stopped taking Nexium because it blocks the effectiveness of my heart medicine! I can't use Tums because that interferes with my cholesterol medicine.

So, in addition to restricting my diet to foods that don't bother me, I've been drinking ginger tea, and eating candied ginger. It's odd, because these cause a little burning sensation going down, but they seem to help quite a bit, as much or more than baking soda. I like the two types of ginger tea available from Traditional Medicinals. I also like to grate ginger root & make a tea with hot water, adding a little milk. Both the tea and the candied ginger root are available at larger grocery stores as well as natural food stores.

It helps to have some ginger tea before a meal, and to avoid eating between meals.

Other helps: munching on celery & carrots, avoiding onions, tomatoes, cheese. Also, avoiding ale (as in beer).

This is all quite a change for me but the indigestion was so severe that I'm better off with these changes. As a side benefit, I've lost 20 pounds.

Maybe your readers have some favorite projects using Coopworth fleece. Readers? Thank you, Judith, for these great tummy tips.

Another lovely reader, named Sarah, wrote the following:
I love natural dyes but I have two problems, one is crocking and the other is fiber damage. For example, I just dyed a wool fleece in lac extract, about 5% WOF with alum mordant, and I cannot seem to rince all the residual dye out. I get the rince water to run fairly clear and then when it dries and I handle it I end up with purple fingers. Also, the locks have become brittle. These are two problems I run into a lot and am not sure why. Any suggestions?

The spider answers:
Lac. Notorious for leaving a residue behind and thus creating some crocking problems. One reason for this is that lac is hard to dissolve completely. I use citric acid (purchased from Earthues or Dharma) to help the process along. Recommended by Michele Wipplinger, owner of Earthues, is 3% citric acid to the weight of the extract. Believe me, this addition will help immensely.

Now as for fiber damage with some dyes, several things could be the reason. For one thing, some dyes are simply harder on some fibers than others. Kamala is VERY hard on wool and silk, for instance. How do I know? Trial and error. Another reason for fiber damage could be your heating method...especially keying in on how hot and for how long. You might like this method (note ~this has already been explained above but it might help to take it in in another way): If you're using an immersion dyeing technique, once you have the fiber in, bring the pot up to temp and hold it there for maybe 5 minutes or so. Then turn off the heat and "put the pot to bed." What I mean is: lay a blanket on the floor, put the hot pot on it (careful!! I do this in my garage dye studio), and take two more blankets (preferably wool, but whatever you have will do) and wrap the whole pot in each of them. This will keep the pot at temp with no possibility of boiling or over-boiling (a real and all too prevalent problem). Then, just leave the pot wrapped up for at least a night, or even more. End result: dyeing is completed and the fibers are less prone to fritzing out.

Sounds like you're very careful about not overdoing the mordant, which is great. Some dyers add way too much mordant and fry their fibers that way. Oh, btw, I pre-mordant by "putting the pot to bed," too.

Thank you Sarah for your great questions.

Kind Clare wrote and asked me what I meant by the term "fingering in" when spinning?
The spider responds:
Regarding "fingering in," it is a deliberate act of incorporating stray or loose fibers into the yarn by rolling the just-spun yarn between your thumb and finger(s) right after the point of contact, in-keeping with the direction that the twist is going in. This action smooths the yarn. Fingering in can be done lightly, thereby maintaining any air you've allowed into the yarn to be intact (allowing for loft). Or fingering in can be done in conjunction with squeezing all the air out of the yarn, ending up with a harder yarn overall (getting rid of loft).

Thank you, Clare, for posing this question. Keep those questions coming, please.

And last but not least, on Ravelry I wrote about my love of making a round ball without a ball-winder:
I prefer to wind my balls by hand and choose to do so nine times out of ten over using a ball-winder. Being someone who likes the journey, I truly enjoy the act of winding a lovely ball. I even do this kind of winding as a passenger in the car, laying the opened skein around my bent legs to avoid tangles. As a spinner who only uses handspun yarn, perhaps I like the yarn going through my fingers once again…hmmm…whatever the reason, I’m in complete control so that the yarn never stretches due to a too-tightly wound ball. I rarely worry about winding a center-pull ball by hand because I’ve personally not found a need for it in my work once the knitting begins. I do start winding by wrapping the yarn several times around the outside of 4 fingers. Then I take that little “skein” off my hand and squish it together, making a nice, soft core, and begin winding a different direction for awhile. I keep changing direction of the winding and end up with a beautifully round ball, with the only “core” being the yarn itself.

Happy Beltane! 'til next time.

Blending On A Strauch Drumcarder; Saddle-Shoulder Sweater; Wonderful Wallaby; Emi's Scarf, Alex's Move; And Beginning A Silk Latte/Wool Project

2009-03-27T12:55:00.096-05:00

Chris and I are "empty-nesters"again. But before I could shout EMPTY-NESTERS from the highest mountain top, our house, and we as its inhabitants, were put through the wringer. Alex, youngest of the spider at 21, got one of the few precious jobs available in Brattleboro; not an easy task in this economy. Landing a job was cause for celebration especially since he got a supervisor-in-training position. Then Alex dropped the bomb that things weren't exactly going well where he lived with two of his buddies in Brattleboro. This was cause for panic because Chris and I live 25 miles to the west of Bratt and Alex has no car. Alas, back home Alex came, along with about 7+ loads worth of laundry, various and sundry furniture, and enough video games to start our own gaming store.

Now you can call me mean. Or you can call me self-centered. But there was no way Alex was going back into his old bedroom. That bedroom is now my spinning room and home of the Mac, where I do my tappings...never more to be a "pit" again. We had to draw the line somewhere and let's face it...we didn't want Alex to get too comfy for too long. However, it was a toss-up who was the least comfy as Alex took over our livingroom. Grand fun.

Alexander and I did have a good time one evening watching my "I'm Not There" video, featuring the many interesting faces of Bob Dylan (my fave being Cate Blanchett as Bob) . And then there was the night we viewed "Sweeney Todd," where I must have turned away from the screen more than I watched it, even tho' it was Johnny Depp, who I don't usually tire of seeing, singing about his ever-so-sharp barber blade as being his "friend." OK, that was weird.

Here's Alexander riding the Moo-ver, our southern VT cow-spot bus, into Brattleboro to work.

And here he is packing up his stuff from the living room floor, getting ready to move into his very own one-bedroom apartment in Brattleboro.

Chris looks pretty happy helping with this, eh?!

I'm pleased to report that Alex is settling in to his new pad and is only a few minutes walk from his work. Word has it that Emi, his fiance in Japan, already has a ticket to visit for 3 weeks in early May. Nice!

hiccup

The Lunar Ladies got together this month as per usual, but I could only make a wee appearance as it was the night of Alexander's move. I was with the Ladies long enough to snap a few pics of their fiberish projects.

Hey, those be potatoes! That's no fiberish project! Jenna kindly brought me some baby purple potatoes to act as my seeds for the official '09 potato crop. Woo-hoo!! Thank you, Jenna.

Here's our pretty E, she's been crocheting up a storm of late. Above is a cute baby vest. Tell us about it, won't you?

And here's some darling crocheted and felted baby booties. I'll bet our readers would like to know what pattern you're using, Lady Sunshine.

Above you'll find some truly lovely handspun yarn made by none other than our talented Leslie. The yellow and medium-green yarn is spun from Shetland wool and the darkest green/brown is llama. All the colors were obtained in the same immersion bath using Osage orange sawdust, with alum as a premordant. The final mitts, shown begun above, are the LAST project that will make it into the BOOK. We had to include some llama, now didn't we?!!!

Leslie brought some spiffy hand-dyed socks in progress. Spincerely Yours dyed a knitting "blank," to produce this gorgeous yarn. Leslie's doing the knittin' but I do believe the final socks are for Spincerely's sister, Elizabeth. Did I get that right, Leslie? Do tell us more about the sock pattern you're using, please.

Finally, because knitting, crocheting, spinning, and dyeing isn't all we Lunar Ladies practice, Jenna's been sewing a "Mommy Blankie." Jenna knows a very special new mommy who's not feeling too well early on in her pregnancy and could use her own comforting blanket for naps and such. Good Jenna.

Where's Maureen, last but not least of the Lunar Ladies, you're wondering? She's down below featured in the techie pics of this post.

hiccup

The past posts have featured several baby items that were worn by Alexander. But what about the oldest of the spider, David? Didn't he get special knitwear created just for him? He did! For some reason, many of the hats and mitts I made for David have gone missing. I'll keep looking for them. But in the meantime, above is a well-loved, circularly knitted, "Wonderful Wallaby," by Cottage Creations. How many of you readers have created a Wallaby? I think there's a whole lotta these sweaters just as beloved as David's. The yarn is not handspun and is a generic wool from who-knows-where. I love the hood. But then I love hoods. Do you?

This sweater was created from some commercially spun wool that I bought on sale eons ago. The design is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Saddle-Shoulder" sweater. The front cabling probably came out of Barbara Walker, but heaven knows which pattern stitch. David looked rather dashing in this sweater if I remember correctly. I can't show you any pics of him wearing the sweater because our printer/scanner died a few months ago. Haven't you been wondering why I haven't featured any old family pics of late? That's why. With a little luck we may have a printer/scanner again before April showers turn into May flowers.

hiccup

Remember that scarf I have been working on? If you don't, please take a peek at the past post: A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects. I thought it might be nice to put a few pics up for beginners on what to do with your knitwear, especially lacy knitting, when it comes out of it's gentle washing bath and looks like something the cat has dragged in.

I gently pushed (no wringing) the wash water out of the scarf (I used one of those no-rinse, pretty-smelling products) and brought it over to a towel on the table.

Here's the scarf rolled up in the towel. One can press the towel at this time with one's hands or put it on the floor and step on it...all to aid excess water removal from the knitwear.

Upstairs in the spinning room (read: NOT Alex's bedroom), I flattened a few garbage bags out onto the floor.

On top of the garbage bags were placed some towels to soak up yet more water from the scarf.

The scarf was gently smoothed out by hand on the towels...but oh no...sunlight was threatening to cause havoc with my dark grey handspun, which was naturally dyed. Best to move it from this potential fading disaster.

All is well as the scarf is now out of the sun's way. No pins were needed to block this variation of "feather and fan," even tho' it is rather lacy.

But look closely...there's Chloe, excellent black cat, pondering the scarf. She looks innocent enough, but I kid you not...later that evening I saw my 11 year old cat take a run as fast as if she was in training to do the long jump, skidding into one of the edges of the scarf, and rumpling all my work. Avoiding THAT is what closed doors are for.

A close-up.

Emi's scarf sans the beads (see lower right corner) I want to put on it. I have to get some matching nylon beading thread from our Brattleboro bead store, "Beadniks," in order to sew those little, square, Hematite beads on the edge. Using anything but nylon is asking for trouble, due to the possibility of the thread stretching. Shhhh...Emi doesn't know she's getting the scarf when she comes to Vermont this May.

hiccup

I've been wanting to make something with Silk Latte and hadn't been successful in finding just what I want to make. Well, that's not exactly true. Back up. I haven't found a Silk Latte blend I really liked 'til now.

Above you'll find a basket of handcarded rolags made from Louet's Coopworth roving and some naturally dyed Silk Latte. See the past post, Hand Carding Wool Locks For Spinning, to see swatches made from this same dyed Silk Latte, with a bit of info on what it was dyed with. Louet's Coopworth roving comes in a nice gradation offering of cream to dark grey/brown. The Coopworth gives a good stability to the fly-away nature of the Latte...at least for a yarn I was envisioning.

I was thinking about a shawl or shawlette. I've always liked Barbara Walker's "Cane" stitch (also called "Grand Picot Eyelet"), pg. 182, in her "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns." The pattern is just three rows high, and because of the "3," it looks the same on both sides. I've been into that whole same on both sides thingy of late, given that I looked for the same attributes for Emi's scarf.

Above are two larger swatches, one a triangle and one a rectangle (both incorporating the Cane stitch) utilizing some dark brown Border Leicester lamb fleece instead of the Coopworth. I loved the color when I used the fleece, but there were prickly fibers that made the hand on these swatches less than pleasant. I contemplated combing the prickly stuff out, but then that would remove much of the darkest, glossiest, fibers. Soooo, at the bottom you'll find a postage stamp swatch (see the past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for more on postage stamp swatching) of the Coopworth/Latte blend...less glossy and lighter in color (due to some occasional light fibers in the prep) than the top two swatches, but the hand was MUCH nicer. I can forgo a little gloss for something the doesn't prickle my skin.

There was a tad of trouble trying to get the Cane stitch to cooperate in various triangle and half-circle shapes. Weird stuff happens when you use 3 row patterns. Can any of you relate to this? In the end, a lightbulb went on in my head, letting me know that I wanted to make a shrug, in particular "Norma's Hug Me Tight." Norma was a good friend of mine (like a second mother) when I worked at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto, quite a few years ago now, and she designed the shawl-ish shrug. Hopefully by the time I prep the fibers, spin the yarn, and begin knitting the shrug, I'll have a printer/scanner to show you the fabulouse person that Norma was. I'm guessing the Cane stitch is going to work just dandy in Norma's pattern.

Here's the singles of 80% darkest Coopworth roving blended with 20% naturally dyed Silk Latte.

hiccup

How 'bout a little blending on a Strauch drumcarder? I don't own a Strauch, but I borrowed the carder more than once from the River Spinners for teaching my spinning classes. I think this carder is wonderful and have recommended it to many folks in the market for a drumcarder. Do you have a Strauch? If so, tell us what you think about it and why.

Below is a series of pics taken when Maureen was over to my house many months ago, carding for one of her projects for the BOOK. If you've never blended on a drumcarder before, perhaps some light will be shed to help you get started.

Maureen decided on a 50% Tencel and 50% Perendale/Romney wool top for her blend. Her aim was to make a yarn for a very elegant dickey. Don't tell Chris that a dickey is making it into the BOOK. His mom used to make him wear them to school and she couldn't understand why he always lost them. But no regular dickey is this! It's designed by none other than EZ herself.

Above is a pic of weighed clumps of the two fibers. How much to weigh totally? Well, it depends on what will comfortably fill your large drum. Do a test run and weigh a batt that you think works well. You may want to test out percentages for your blends on handcards to see what pleases you. You even may want to spin for a postage stamp swatch to see how said blend knits up...if in fact you plan to knit with it. Sampling, sampling, sampling...

"Sandwiching" is one way to go when blending on a drumcarder. In this case, a length of the wool top was spread out in a thin layer to cover the feeder tray. Perhaps the one thing that will bung everything up faster than anything else when using a drumcarder is feeding in too much fiber...especially when feeding in too fast. Consider aiming for less fiber, not more, at a time.

A side view.

Maureen doesn't hinder the fiber from going in, via the little drum called the "licker-in," as she cranks clock-wise. She may guide it or very gently keep it in order, but she doesn't hold the fiber hard and fast. If she did hold back on the fiber too much, chances are it would fill up the licker-in rather than transfer to the large drum. Note the neat brush attachment that smooths the fiber as it goes onto the large drum and keeps it from straying or halo-ing too much. If there's one thing that's worth every penny, it's getting such a brush attachment for your drumcarder. Folks have actually e-mailed me to ask if they should buy such an optional attachment and I always respond with a big YES.

Once a layer of wool (or the fiber that will give you the easiest time transferring from the licker-in to the drum) is on the drum, the slippery Tencel is dragged directly onto the large drum. This avoids the slippery fibers from acting up, as they may do when going through the licker-in. Sometimes these slippery fibers simply don't like to transfer nicely. Thankfully we can put such fibers on directly by slowly turning the crank counter-clockwise when needed, as we fill the drum.

Maureen's about to put another layer of wool on top of the Tencel. The wool layers act as "bread" to the Tencel's "peanut butter." If Maureen wanted to, she could have begun with a layer of wool, then Tencel, then wool, then more Tencel, then more wool, etc...with how much depending on what the big drum could accomodate. Beginning with wool and ending with wool makes for easy removal of the fiber from the drum.

Strauch sells a Knuckle-Saving-Batt-Picker that works great to separate the fibers of the batt along a recessed area of the drum, enabling for easy batt removal. Consider separating the fibers in small batches at a time across the recessed area, instead of trying to separate the fibers in one fell swoop.

Continued separating. For some reason I've no pic of Maureen actually removing the once-through batt. Basically, grab all the fibers of the end of the batt as you would a goat's beard, turn the crank counter-clockwise, and ease the batt off the drum's tines. See the past post for pics on how to remove a batt from the drum: Teasing Wool With A Picker; Simple Drum Carding; Shaded Lattice Hat And Mitts; Four Layers Over The Ears Hat; The Potato Party;and a Pee Story.

A blended batt that's gone through the drumcarder only once. We decided that another run-through was needed. Sometimes several trips through the drumcarder are needed, depending on how homogenous a blend you're looking for. We wanted the Tencel to really pop so we opted for only two run-throughs.

To get the fiber ready for it's second trip, Maureen split the fiber in half horizontally. She broke each piece in half again, this time vertically, to make sure the fiber amount that was to go through at one time was on the light side. Remember, less fiber going through at a time is often better than more. If you think you'll save time shoving lots of fibers through your drumcarder at a go, you'll find yourself going worse-than-backwards with mucked-up fibers lodged in your drumcarder, rather than progressing forwards with beautiful batts.

Consider predrafting the fiber length you're about to put through. It's not a MUST (geesh, is anything I recommend a must? I think not!) but you may like the results. Also, for this second go-round, I like to feed the fiber diagonally across the tray going one way, then heading diagonally going back the other way, etc. until all the fiber is drawn in. Continue with the rest of the fiber lengths until you've filled your big drum once again. This diagonal feeding helps fill up the big drum nice and evenly.

A blended batt that's gone through twice. Pretty! We liked the obvious Tencel streaks. Again, if homogeneity is wanted, put the fiber in as many times as needed.

That's all for this month folks. Happy Easter! Passover Blessings!! Oh, we can't forget that ol' April Fools Day!!! 'til next time...

12-Step Hand Carded Color Wheel for Spinners and/or Dyers; Color Gradation; More Children's Knitwear; and Mrs. Schneider's Shawl

2009-02-27T12:40:00.064-05:00

On a Night Like This

On a night like this
So glad you came around
Hold on to me so tight
And heat up some coffee grounds
We got much to talk about
And much to reminisce
It sure is right
On a night like this

On a night like this
I can't get any sleep
The air is so cold outside
And the snow's so deep
Build a fire, throw on logs
And listen to it hiss
And let it burn, burn, burn, burn
On a night like this
On a Night Like This ~ Bob Dylan

Aah, nothing like some Dylan quoting to put me in a blogging mood. Anyone who's been reading this blog since it's inception knows Dylan's words pop up occasionally on my posts. Dylan seems to have words for every occasion of my life. If Bob's not your cuppa tea, by all means skip to what interests you. If you're a Dylan admirer and his words make you ecstatic or invariably make you ponder life...know you can occasionally find lyrics here that I can't seem to get out of my head. If you know nothing of Dylan or wonder what the spider is so gaga about, get any of Bob's CD's and inhale deeply...what you take in could be life-changing (geez, I sound like a Dylan-preacher!).

Above you'll find two pics of my Babes; my personal musician-husband. Chris was recently gigging in Colorado and is presently touring in the Los Angeles area, then on to Tennessee. It did not escape my eagle eyes that there was little to NO snow present when and where Chris was in Colorado, unlike the mounds surrounding our home in VT as I tap this out. I do believe the above pics were taken in Boulder. Something tells me some readers may know about the beautiful spot, falls included, that Chris is standing by? If so, do tell us about it.

hiccup

A week ago, Lunar Lady Leslie Librarian came to my home, where I have an inside garage dye studio, to immersion dye her handspun Shetland wool and llama for the last spinning project for the BOOK...a pair of EZ's jogger's mitts. Next time maybe I'll share pics of that fun adventure. But for now, below are some pics of a simultaneous project we worked on in the spider's kitchen.

I have always wanted to make yeast bread but had no one 'til now to show me how it's done. Prior to our dyeing day, Leslie e-mailed and wrote to ask if we should bake bread on that day as well. I wrote back and said we had better tend to the dyeing task at hand...no room for mess-ups now. Leslie, uncharacteristically, did not respond to my e-mail. Instead she showed up with all ingredients for bread-making in tow and proclaimed something like, "I'm pulling a Jenna. We're baking bread anyways." And so we did.

The only foray into bread baking, and solo at that, I had ever made occurred more than 20 years previously. The end result mimicked a brick. I'm not to blame. No one told me not to knead for hours. Not so this time. This time I had expert advice.

Leslie was not surprised that I was reminded of the pleasure of a "live" indigo urine vat as I admired the yeast coming to life in the warm water bath.

My upper body is going to have to get used to the workout provided by mixing bread batter. The consistency of the batter reminded me of what we have to slog through during mud season in southern Vermont.

This time I've got a ringer on board to show me how to knead.

How can I get across the sheer joy I felt when patting the risen bread? The act floods me with memories of patting either of my little boys' bottoms.

Look at these beauties!!!!

Is there anything that speaks pure bliss like a warm loaf from the oven?

Do share your bread baking stories in the comment section. If you've a favorite recipe you'd like to include, I would LOVE to try it. After all, I'm a bread baker, don'tcha know?! Thank you, Leslie, for making that statement possible.

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The same day Leslie and I dyed and baked bread, the Lunar Ladies made a later-in-the-day appearance at the spider's home.

Only Maureen couldn't make the date, but above she is with us in spirit. That first book of the Green Mountain Spinnery never ceases to amaze me with it's beauty.

As is usual when the Lunar Ladies convene, we have to see what each other have been up to fiber-wise. Above is a scarf that Leslie finished and an EZ Baby Surprise Jacket that Elizabeth completed, sans buttons. Both were made from the same style of self-striping, commercially spun, yarn. Different results completely, eh?

E also brought her wheel and this beautiful garnetted (silk? Tencel? Do tell us more E, please.) and homegrown llama fiber above. If my memory is correct, did the talented Spincerely dye the nubbly fiber?

Above is a pic of E's handspun from this beautiful and exciting blend. Instant novelty yarn...like colorful crocuses emerging from the earth on a spring day!!

Jenna had her own project going at my house. Above are the components she used to create magic: pipe cleaners, colored paper, and beads. Scissors are helpful, too.

Some masterly cutting, folding, and curling produced the beautiful bouquet held by our charming E. Jenna's lucky niece was to be the recipient of this gorgeous, long-lasting flower arrangement.

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Alas, Kindred Spirits, where I read Tarot in Brattleboro for several months, closed its doors in January, unable to withstand our country's economic downturn. I shall miss my Mondays there (you never could tell what interesting person you'd meet at Kindred Spirits on any given day) and forever be grateful that I was granted my first break at being a professional Tarot reader within it's warm embrace. Thank you, Shirma.

But what's a Tarot reader to do when she's no place to read? Ack!! Enter Hundredth Monkey, a fabulous holistic health store in Wilmington, Vermont. Susan is the lovely proprietress, but a little, naughty, black cat definitely runs the show.

Shakti...in one of his unusual quieter moments.

Here's my snazzy Tarot set-up, complete with orange and yellow cloth, rimmed with prosperity-inducing goldfish, gifted to me none other than by our talented Jenna.

Here's my set-up after Shakti had the last say.

But oh how I enjoy being around that nix-nooxy, pisser of a cat. You should see how HIGH he can jump!!! Visit the store when you're in town to find out!

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And on to some more items knit for my children ages ago. Like last month's post, none of the baby and toddler-ware is knit from handspun, but that doesn't make it less treasured.

This little baby set was knit from Shetland jumper weight wool for Alexander, youngest of the spider. The sweater and longies come from none other than EZ's "Knitter's Almanac." The plain blue bonnet and bootees hail from EZ's newsletter and leaflet #22. The hat in shades of blue is part of a set entitled, "Spring Fair-Isle," from the book, "Kid's Knits ~ Classic Handknit Fashions For Young Children," by Lesley Anne Price.

I distinctly remember proudly putting the longies, for the first time, on Alexander only to have him adorn them immediately with one of his gross "blow-outs." I'll spare you the gory details but surely you knitters will have pity on me having had to clean up that mess even all these years after the incident.

To this day I love this sweater. Everything about it makes me smile. I particularly love the hand painted, porcelain heart buttons.

I seem to remember the hat was quite fun to knit despite occasionally having more than two colors per row to knit. I worked diligently on it the night prior to my scheduled C-section surgery in the hospital. There's a pic showing Alexander wearing the hat in the past post, Winterlude.

The above pic shows another creation hand knitted for Alexander. The yarn for both top and bottom was a flake cotton. The top is EZ's "Open-Collared Pullover," again from "Knitter's Almanac. The bottoms, fondly called "Pumpkin Pants" by our family, are an abbreviated version of EZ's longies.

A close-up of the polo-style shirt. The fishie buttons are hand painted porcelain.

This sweater that a toddler-sized Alex wore (you'd think I never made anything for David, oldest of the spider...but that's not so...just haven't featured anything much yet), was knitted from a back 'n forth pattern in an ancient copy of "Knitter's" magazine. A girlfriend and I both converted the sweater to circular and made it for our sons. My equally ancient brain can't begin to remember anything about the yarn details I'm afraid.

A close-up.
And finally, here's one of many wool diaper covers I knit back when the kids were little. If truth be told, I went to disposables sooner than later, rather than my originally preferred cloth, because we didn't have our own washer in the early years (and for that matter during much of our 29 years together) and it was a bloody drag going to the laundromat constantly for diaper duty. For me the diaper covers were more of a romantic notion than something that was practical for our family. In the end, plenty of stuffed bears wore various versions of them.

On to my recent spinning project...

I showed you the fiber and singles of this handspun in last month's post, A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects. Here's the 2-plied yarn on a bobbin...

and in a washed and dried skein.

I had some leftover wool singles and plied some of it with leftover 100% Bamboo for this little skein. I slightly upped the amount of twist in the Bamboo and wool 2-ply from the twist I used for the 100% wool skein, so that the plying wouldn't be sleazy. Worked well me thinks.

My brain keeps designing and redesigning the hat and half-mitt set I want to make using this yarn and some other handspun yarn I had made and stashed previously. When the ideas in my noggin' settle into something tangible, I'll feature what results.

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When I lived in Toronto, now nearly 11 years ago, I took part in a spinning and dyeing educational program that had me doing all sorts of interesting exercises. I particularly enjoyed anything that had to do with dyeing. Below is a 12-step hand carded color wheel that was created by dyeing each individual color separately. Take a peek at a past post to see the two friends I did this exercise with: Dyeing Blitz.

If you've never plunged into such a dyeing project, I highly encourage you to consider sallying forth. MUCH gets learned and acquired along the way... What gets learned and acquired, you ask? Well, for one thing you'll see just how accurate a measurer of minute dye amounts you are. And you'll learn first-hand how to be gentle with your fibers to avoid unwanted felting. Plus, I guarantee your love and appreciation of color will be strengthened. In other words, those color-juices of yours will be revved big-time and you'll be dreaming of how to get MORE color into your life.

I chose to spin the colors for my "yarn" color wheel version, much to the chagrin of my instructor. To this day I'm glad I made such a stand because dyeing commercial yarn would have been meaningless to me since by then I already hadn't used commercial yarns for years.

I've never taught a workshop to reproduce the dyed version of the color wheel, but I do teach a 12-step color wheel workshop made possible through hand carding. Participants begin with just the three primaries: red, yellow, and blue. All the rest of the nine colors needed for their wheel are from blends. Three of the blends result when two primaries are mixed 50/50: blue with yellow (green); blue with red (violet); red with yellow (orange). Green, violet, and orange are called secondaries. The final six blends are made when 50% of a secondary is mixed with 50% of a primary: yellow with green (yellow-green); yellow with orange (yellow-orange); red with orange (red-orange); red with violet (red-violet); blue with violet (blue-violet); and blue with green (blue-green). Yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet and blue-green are all called tertiaries. To summarize what makes up a 12-step color wheel: 3 primaries; 3 secondaries; 6 tertiaries.

How your hand carded color wheel will look depends on what your primaries look like (their qualities) to begin with. To give an example, if the yellow you're using for a primary is more on the golden side (a yellow with a "warm undertone"), the green you get by mixing that yellow with blue will be quite different than if you used more of a lemon yellow (a yellow with a "cool undertone"). Why? Because a golden yellow has more orange in it than a lemon yellow. Orange is the complement of blue (they're opposite each other on the color wheel) and when two complimentary colors are mixed they dull down or literally grey out. Sooo, if you mix 50% of a golden yellow with 50% of a primary blue, you may get a greyed green due to that orangey addition in the yellow. If you mix more of a lemon yellow with primary blue, you'll get more of a "Kelly" green.

I don't know about you, but in order to insure I'm really getting, for instance, a 50/50 blend, I need to use a scale to weigh each component. I could measure in a "by gosh or by golly" fashion without the use of a scale, but it's so much more pleasant to know I'm absolutely weighing everything accurately for the best results possible. I personally like my digital Ohaus "jewelry compact scale," but even a cheapy diet scale may work just fine for you. Then again, it's perfectly possible that some folks are accurate "guessers" without the use of a scale.

Can you just imagine a knitted piece based on a 12-step color wheel? Saliva is forming in my mouth as I think of the delicious, juicy possibilities.

Pat was a participant in two workshops I had previously taught. Recently, Pat sent me the above pic, showing a color wheel she created at home, with the following info:
That weekend at the Gathering (spider adds: In November '08 I taught a carded color wheel workshop at the Northeast Handspinners Association "Gathering") I bought some natural dyed Cormo from Alice Field and that's what I used for my wheel and the yarn that's in the picture. The colors in the picture are nothing like what I got - mine were muted and very beautiful because of that wonderful Cormo roving was dyed with cochineal and madder, tansy and indigo. I just wish the colors showed better.

Thank you so much, Pat, for sharing your delicate color wheel with us!

The above pic shows a color gradation dyeing exercise also performed back in Toronto years ago.
In this case, the gradation was achieved by measuring milliliters of dye liquid from a stock solution using a syringe. Going from top to bottom on the card, you'll see the progression from no dye, to using less ml of the stock solution (less dye), to using more ml of the stock solution (more dye). As you can see, magenta was our color of choice for this exercise.

Here's the color gradation utilizing handspun yarn.

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And to finish this month's blog...
My dear friend, Jofran, who lives in Michigan, recently visited her mom, who lives in Ohio. Both mom and daughter are avid and wonderful knitters.

Here's what Jofran wrote to me when sending the following 3 pics:
This was a simple circular shawl. My mom bought the shetland directly from Schoolhouse Press in 1998. In 1998 my mom asked me to put a lace edging on it.

It took over ten years.... The edging is a traditional shetland lace edging from Heirloom Knitting. I added the beads for a little excitement.

This is my momma who taught me how to knit when I was 5. My mom has been knitting 72 years....

Lovely knitting, Mrs. Schneider and Jofran! The shawl looks soooo perfectly beautiful on BEAUTIFUL you!!!!

Let the four winds blow
Around this old cabin door
If I'm not too far off
I think we did this once before
There's more frost on the window glass
With each new tender kiss
But it sure feels right
On a night like this
On a Night Like This ~ Bob Dylan

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Ostara Blessings! 'til next time.

A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects

2009-01-29T16:13:00.048-05:00

It's amazing even to me that I'm letting my readers know that I've been baking something weekly from scratch during the whole month of January. Biscuits, scones, quick bread, and muffins have been tumbling out of my oven. This truly is amazing because I've never been much of a cook, let alone a baker. Not long ago Chris requested that we share the kitchen instead of him being the only one who knew what ingredients we needed when we went grocery shopping. He said it was time I threw out the worn-out "I'm not a cook" LP record and replace it with a "I'm a cook and proud of it" CD. I thought seriously about Chris' appeal and decided that baking might be something I could finally sink my teeth into and enjoy. Weird as this may sound, my Ma used to get disgusted when she'd bake a cake for the family and it would be gone in an hour or two. You would think that she might have been pleased by such an enthusiastic reaction to her baked creations. Wasn't so. Instead, Ma would say, "All that work and they go and eat it all in no time flat." I wonder what she would have preferred we did with the cake?!

Two friends, in particular, have been supplying me with enticing recipes and plenty of encouragement...Librarian-Lunar-Lady-Leslie and Jofran-Who-Can-Knit-But-She-Can't-Type-Worth-A-Damn. Leslie is renowned for her fabulous, healthy, baked morsels and Jofran is a master of turning nourishing ingredients into heavenly dishes. Tonight I whipped up a Jofran-fave that uses three bunches of steamed greens (mine were mustard, chard, and kale) mixed up with two chopped sweet onions; all drenched in an exquisitely light feta cheese sauce and served over rice. Chris proclaimed it outstanding. But know that not everything I've whipped up can carry the "outstanding" moniker. A few weeks back, when I had just begun my baking foray, I set out to make blueberry muffins. The only baking powder in the cupboard had French writing on one side of the container and English on the other side. That could only mean one thing. The baking powder was from when we lived in Toronto. I used baking powder that was over 10 years old! Leslie got a chuckle out of that one. Thankfully no one died from eating the muffins and they weren't quite rocks.

And before we move on to other topics, I can't help but ask: Is it me, or is working with flour in the kitchen bloody messy? Before I'm done baking, there's flour in crevices I didn't know flour could get into.

I thought it would be fun to show a few hats I knitted from when the kids were little. Note that none of the hats shown here are handspun, not that they couldn't have been 'cause I was definitely a spinner by then. The above hat was called the rather rude "Balls Hat." Rude because I don't mean baseballs. The balls were supposed to be cherries or apples or even radishes. But they never got their leaves. Yes, I know...even Adam got his leaves in many sculptures and paintings, but sadly no leaves on this hat. I made quite a lot of these hats, sans the balls, for sale back then.

My favorite thing regarding the knitting of hat's like these was to include a knitted lining. First the outer hat was knitted in stockinette. Then the inner lining was picked up on the purl-side of the cast-on edge and knitted just like the outer hat, but with finer yarn. Next came the little, triangular, garter stitch earflaps that were also lined. And finally I-cord trimmed the edge of the hat and provided a nifty tie.

Above we have another hat donned a long time ago by Alexander, youngest of the spider. This hat had a name but who-knows-where the pattern is, that would have also let me plug the hat's designer. Does anyone know more about this pattern or better yet, did you knit one? I remember 'twas fun to make. I also remember that Alexander began complaining around then that his hats did not look like his friends' hats. Hence, the beginning of hat-whining that would last throughout grade school.

This third hat goes back to babyhood time again. It's all in garter stitch and has a Scandinavian origin me thinks. I LOVED this hat as it looked beyond darling when worn by a baby. The little peak in front is simply cuter than a bug's ear. Again, I've no idea who designed this hat or where a pattern can be found. Readers?

Hiccup.

Here's the fiber that I'm spinning at my wheel these days. It's Louet's "Northern Lights" wool top in the colorway, "Sunset." At the last class I taught in '08, I had spun some of this in order to demonstrate plying. The color continued singing to me once I returned home so I thought that it would be fun to spin the entire 8oz bag up for perhaps some half-mitts and a hat for me. I'm thinking on making EZ's "Very Warm Hat," using some leftover, solid-colored, handspun for one side of the hat and some sort of 2-color pattern for the other side of the hat.

Here's the singles, which will end up as a 2-ply, when all is said and done. Note I'm spinning on the Louet S10 with the fatcore bobbin. I've been asked over the years which oil/grease I use to lubricate my S10? I prefer 30 weight motor oil. It's thick enough to stay where I put it. I have to admit, I don't follow the Vaseline recommendation.

And here's a project that has made it to my knitting bag. The handspun is two shades of Polwarth wool and silk. It is leftover yarn from my Deborah Newton collaboration for Spin Off, as seen in the past post, Ode To A Low Whorl; Beginner's Park And Draft Spindling; BOOK Update; Sister Sweater; Scandinavian Hat And Mitts.

The project is to be a scarf, and what I think will prove to be a very soft and warm scarf at that. The pattern comes from Jane Neighbor's, "Two-Color Knitting," Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974. The pattern is called, "Banded Scallops," pg. 34, and is what's called alternate reversible. In the glossary of the book, an alternate reversible is described as follows: "This usually indicates patterns having a texture of two distinct parts which alternate. Where one occurs on one side the other appears on the reverse. For example, where one is raised the other is depressed, where one is knit the other is purled. Sometimes design, rather than texture, alternates." Jane discusses the above pattern by saying: "It is difficult to achieve an attractive two-color reversible lace but this is at least somewhat lacy."

The cool thing is that I could choose to fully keep the puffy, raised texture or block it out a bit in order to better see the lace holes. Will see what I think when the scarf is completely knitted. In any case, the pattern seems to be one of the many "Feather and Fan" versions...always a perennial fave of mine.

Hiccup.

The Lunar Ladies got together last week once again. Unfortunately our E was ill and couldn't be with us. But in a moment you'll see that she, too, was represented.

Jenna arrived and proclaimed that she had a dream that showed instead of the spider taking pics of the Lunar Ladies, each Lunar Lady would take pics of the spider holding something that each Lunar Lady made or was making. "Bloody hell, don't take pics of me," I proclaimed! My hair was in such bad need of a dye job that a skunk would mistake me for its mother. Jenna told me to put on the hat. Maureen complained that I have a penchant for taking pics of them all no matter how they look. A mini-argument ensued over the hat. I won. On went the hat. Apparently it was necessary for Jenna to see this dream through to real life.

Here's Maureen's sweater project. We'll have to wait for her to comment to tell us more about it. Never mind that a comment by Maureen is a rare siting indeed. Pretty colors, eh?

Here's Leslie's delicious homemade rolls, a waxpaper-wrapped homemade energy bar that's beyond-wonderful, and some nuts.

And, keeping to my word, E was represented in abstentia, thanks to Leslie.

And finally, our resident dreamer Jenna, has been working on a crocheted bear for a friend's baby AND recently worked on a needlefelted man. Jenna's man was born when she took a needlefelting class taught by the amazing Kathleen Meeks, of Maybelle Farm.

Hiccup.

Before I show you this gathering of knitters I think it's important to tell you that the Lunar Ladies now have official Lunar "Court" names. The Duchess Of Dirt is not present at the below gathering. The hostess was Queen Bag Lady. Queen Bag Lady felt that the Lunar Ladies needed just a knit-in with no other Lunar Lady shenanigans. I, Princess Moonbeam, thought it was a wonderful excuse to get together more than once in a month, as is our usual practice!

Above you'll find Madame Moonshadow knitting on a spiffy scarf. Madame Moonshadow, won't you tell us more about the scarf and the yarn used in the comment section, please? Thank you.

Lady Sunshine is crocheting another pretty hat just like the one that was featured in the past post, 30-Step Hand Carded Triaxial; Choosing Fibers For Your Projects; Emily's Angora Handspun; Celebrating a Birthday and the Holidays; Emi Said YES!. Lady Sunshine, please tell us about the yarn you're using in the comment section. Thanks!

And above is Queen Bag Lady, herself. Geezo, I haven't a clue what she's knitting!

But I do know this is Queen Bag Lady's organized knitting needles...

And here's her official unorganized needle stash.

In the above pic you'll find what I was working on at our knitting get-together. These are half-mitts that I originally began for myself, but ended up giving to my Chris. Interestingly, Chris' hands aren't all that much bigger than my own and so they fit him just fine. The pattern is based on "Wristers," pgs. 19-20, as featured in "Fox & Geese & Fences ~ A Collection of Traditional Maine Mittens," by Robin Hansen, Down East Books, 1983. The handspun I used is a wool/mohair blend for the half-mitt itself, and 100% mohair for the color pattern. I have no idea what the color pattern represents. I made the majority of these half-mitts awhile ago and didn't finish them until recently, so I've no idea what I was going for color-pattern-wise. When viewed as above, they kinda look like Afghan Hounds (yes, the dog), for goodness sakes.

Now do look at the pic closely, please. Bet you can't tell that I made one of the half-mitts with a 2-ply and the other with a 3-ply. You can definitely feel this difference in the yarn, but not see it all too well. Why did it happen? I ran out of the two-ply I was using and realized I had spun a tad of 3-ply with the same fiber. The bottom line is that Chris cares not a bit that there's two different plied yarns in his half-mitts and neither do I. Perhaps I'm getting lax in my old age.

Palm side up! Know that there's a finer-handspun hem underneath the color pattern put there in order that the edge wouldn't curl. After I finished Chris' half-mitts, I had him try them on again and was going to wash them, as is my usual practice. Chris replied, "No way! I might never get them back." Given that I took his balaclava for the BOOK and haven't returned it yet, I guess he has a point there!

Hiccup and on to the techie portion of this post. Shading Techniques!

Shading within knitting has always appealed to me. Whether it be shades of black to grey to white, or shading from one color to another, the results have always intrigued me. As a fiber artist, there are various ways to achieve shading. Here’s a list and brief description of many of the shading techniques I’ve been drawn to:

Shading via hand carding: Various colored fibers can be put on the carding bed and if careful to keep colors in place as you card (see chapter ---), not only will the individual colors be retained, but there will be some attractive shading between the colors.

Shading via drum carding: One can lay different colors in stripes, whether vertically or horizontally placed, directly on the main drum. If one is careful when putting the resulting batt through the carder again (if needed), some, of the individual colors will be retained and shading will be inevitable between the original colors, happily creating new colors. The more you put the original through the licker-in, the more you blend and meld the colors together, cutting down on shading, and ending up with a more homogenous, even unto, single-colored, batt.

Shading via dyeing: Four techniques come to mind if one is looking for shading through the dyeing process. 1) Rainbow dyeing allows one to place colors on fiber or yarn in a pot. When the colors move and meld with each other, new colors are formed. 2) Dip dying allows one to overlap colors on a skein of yarn or length of commercially prepared fiber, creating a gentle transition between the original colors and creating new colors in between. 3) Handpainting allows colors to be placed and even overlapped on commercially prepared fiber or yarn directly as desired. 4) If a range of whites, various grays and dark brown to black fibers and/or yarns are chosen to be incorporated into the same piece, shading options can naturally occur by putting all of these values into the same immersion pot of dye.

Shading via spinning singles: When using different colored rainbow dyed, dip dyed or handpainted fiber, a spinner can shade within the singles as wanted, especially if the singles are to be knitted as singles, and not plied.

Shading via plying: If a spinner knows they’re going to use solid colors, they can plan to ply a shaded interim between those colors by plying one singles of one of the colors with another singles of the other color.

Navajo 3-plying is another technique that lends itself well to shading since the spinner can keep the colors in a multicolored singles as clear as wanted and yet allow one color to transition to the next via barber poling.

Shading via knitting: One interesting way to shade from one color to another would be to knit a row of one color, then knit the next row of the second color, knit again a row of the first color, then the second, etc. Another way to shade makes use of purl stitches, random or otherwise, as in Bohus knitting, which brings color from one row into the next row. The use of slipped stitches can also bring color from one row to the next. Fair Isle patterns make wondrous use of shading, often within or around lozenges and other traditional motifs.

Shading via choice of fiber type: Fuzzy fibers can make shading easier because the “haze” caused by the fuzz adds another dimension to the shading. Keep in mind, however, that any fiber or yarn can lend itself to shading if utilizing one or more of the carding, dyeing, spinning or knitting techniques listed above.

Above is a nice example of shading in plying AND shading via choice of fiber type. The haze is courtesy of mohair.

And next we have some random shading through hand carding. Each rolag created ranged from light grey to dark grey. It was "random" because some rolags had more than one shade within the rolag itself and they were spun without a set plan.

Here's some shading within a stranded color pattern. Note also the haze created, which adds to the shaded effect.

Above you'll find shading created in a ribbing pattern. More haze, as well.

Finally, here's an interesting type of shading by using similar colors in rows next to each other in a knitted motif. What's particularly effective is when one color is brighter than the other similar, but duller or darker color.

Do YOU like shading as much as I do??? Please share your shaded projects with us by sending me jpgs and a write-up. Also, do let us know if you've shaded in ways not covered above. Much appreciated!!

Will end with a question by Jofran in the comment section of last month's post.
Jofran wrote: How do you get air into your singles, and don't say think air - because I don't understand that.... also you may not answer it depends.... as in life the answer to every question is it depends.

The spider responds:
A tall order, indeed, since I can't say "air" and "it depends." Geesh. First I'll start with fiber prep, especially when using commercially prepared fiber. Two words will suffice: Stripping and/or predrafting. Both techniques will automatically get air into otherwise compacted fiber. For more on stripping and predrafting, see the past post, Spinning From The Fold; Plus Stripping and Predrafting Commercially Prepared Fiber.

Next I'll suggest watching your drafting triangle as your spinning the singles. If the triangle is translucent rather than opaque, there's a better chance that the fibers aren't stuck to each other and that air surrounds each individual fiber.

And finally, if you're using a two-handed technique, do make sure that you're not pinching the life (and hence, air) out of the just spun singles as it heads to be stored on the bobbin. YOU and your sneaky little pinching finger may be the biggest culprit for removing air and loft from your singles. I like to "lightly finger" the singles as twist enters, especially for knitting yarns. Lightly fingering allows me to control stray fibers on the outside of the singles but doesn't squeeze out all the air from the inside of the singles.

Anyone else have "retain the air" tips for Jofran?

Almost forgot...this request was recently put in the comment section of a past post:
Hi Jenny,
I am glad to find your blog as I have just begun my explorations into indigo fermentation vats, and have urine vat underway. I'm in Australia (New South Wales), and feel its great that there is such a great global community of people willing to share their knowledge about natural dyeing. I am wondering if you ever found out who is the vendor of the madder roots in Australia? I am on the hunt for some supplies!
Best wishes,
Shoufay
Can anyone help Shoufay? Thanks!

Happy Groundhog's Day! Happy Imbolc!! 'til next time...

30-Step Hand Carded Triaxial; Choosing Fibers For Your Projects; Emily's Angora Handspun; Celebrating a Birthday and the Holidays; Emi Said YES!

2008-12-27T16:18:00.055-05:00

Still knee-deep in the holidays, I don't know about you, but I'm just about at that point where I've had about enough of all the rich, scrumptious, and sumptuous holiday food and am hankering for regular fare. The Winter Solstice brings with it my birthday...51st to be exact..and with it my much looked-forward-to birthday cake(s). I'm one of those folks who likes to eat birthday cake for breakfasts in the days after the actual event. I'm not sure my pants will fit much longer with this kind of indulgence, so thank goodness the holidays + birthday only arrive once a year.

Now that Chris and I are empty nesters, I can forgive him for the following question, but do know that HE KNOWS that he'd best not proclaim the following exclamation next year. Chris said, "So now that the kids are gone we'll be getting a smaller Christmas tree. Yes?" My response was something like, "So now that the kids are gone all fun is erased from our lives? No!" Geesh. Think again, my handsome husband. Plus I told him, "And you get to help me trim the tree...a first in our nearly 29 years together!!" And he did help with the ornaments! We laughed hysterically as he picked out one homely ornament after another, questioning why any of them were to be exhibited on our tree. I suppose the 8 plastic wishbones with plastic roses on them are a bit over the top...but hey, maybe they're fabulous for good luck. Never mind that some of these ornaments were stored in a sanitary napkin box from the early 80's... Very classy.

In the earlier part of December Chris traveled to Denver for some gigs, musician that he is. We like to pick Christmas cards out together but this time I asked him to get some neat cards from Denver whilst he was there, as he's a really good picker-outer. So indeed, he came back with a wonderful and rather unusual box of holiday cards. A day or so after he came home from Denver, I needed to go to Greenfield, MA to shop for something or t'other. We went inside a bookstore and lo and behold, there were the same cards he had picked out. I began to exclaim that, "Why, there they are..." Chris broke out in laughter saying, "I never had time to get the cards in Denver so I stopped in Greenfield on my way home from the airport." I giggled and said, "What on earth did you go to the bother of doing that for?" He said, "You were so gung-ho on cards from Denver, I didn't want to disappoint you. Maybe you thought Denver-ish cards were special or something." Is he a cutie or what?!!! Maybe Denver-ish cards are splendid. Someday I'll have to find out.

An ice storm hit our area in Southern VT a few weeks ago. We were without power for 56+ hours, with no emergency power backup whatsoever. It was kinda fun reading by flashlight, snuggled under our flannel sheets...well, at least for one night. But by the second night, it was getting decidedly colder indoors and Chris and I were reminded that we were not graceful, nor seasoned campers.

What made me particularly sad was the damage and devastation to trees, bushes and plants. I swear you could hear the trees moaning in pain as they tried valiently to hold up their ice-covered branches. The maple tree in our back yard split to the left and to the right. Thankfully the maple didn't split towards our roof. Now my Chris is a lot of things, but he's not a chainsaw kind of guy. That means we'll have to get a tree-guy in for tree removal, which will undoubtedly prove to be an interesting, upcoming event.

Three Lunar Ladies carpooled to my home two days before my birthday, despite snow falling heavily all day. The fourth Lunar Lady came later, when the weather was even worse, saying to Chris as she arrived, "That wife of your's........!!!" Who, moi?

Here's Jenna, Leslie, and E on arrival! Jenna is either catching sleepy, winterized flies or singing. Your guess. E is obviously doing some form of the boogaloo.

The spider at 51. Leslie commented about the church on the table saying, "I bet you loved that as a kid." Indeed I did. It was my Ma's and can be lit up with a bulb, illuminating the stained glass windows, AND it plays "Silent Night." Anyone else have a church like this?

Leslie knows a lot about wines. Here she is opening up the red wine for our party.

And above you'll find Jenna whacking a geode in my dye studio, aiming to reveal its inner, crystal secrets. Every time the Lunar Ladies get together, I like to gift each of them with a healing crystal. This month's crystal is in the form of a geode. The geode is inside the old sock and Jenna is shown using the side of the hammer as she attempts to blast it open. Visible sparks began to shoot off the whacked sock and one spark even hit Jenna's foot. Despite much effort, no geodes cracked open. Everyone decided to delay their whacking. I, on the other hand, called inside for Chris, man of the house. This made the Lunar Ladies roll their eyes, disgusted and feeling I was wimping out calling my man. So be it.

Here are geodes where barely a dent is made in them. Well, to be fair, E chose not to whack her geode (it's in the upper left hand corner and she liked how it looks rather like a snail or turtle as is).

Here's my geode in all its crystal glory.

More Lunar Ladies shenanigans... A lot of re-gifting goes on amongst us.

Here's Jenna with someone's regifted ladybug lights on her head, no less. She is holding up a green, Hickory Farms' Melt Away mint. Chris bought a bag for me for old times sake (I used to work at Hickory Farms as a teen in Deee-troit). See the past post, The Road To Becoming a Fiber Artist, Part One, for more on my early jobs.

We Lunar Ladies all adore fibers and often bring show-n-tell for joint admiration. E crocheted this delicious hat using her own llama handspun yarn; fiber provided by Milagra. E, do tell us more about the spinning and making of this hat in the comment section, please. [spider adds: See comments for E's details about this project.] Also let us know which magazine you got the pattern from. Thanks!

More crocheted goodies by E, this time in the form of half-mitts. Again, do let us know about the pattern and yarn, please. [spider adds: See comments for E's details about this project.] The heart crystals are (left) flourite and (right) malachite. Any of you fantastic readers out there love crystals as much as we do? Do tell us about your faves!

Above is a pic of Leslie holding The Green Mountain Spinnery's, "Ascutney Mountain Hat." The pattern was designed by the talented Melissa Johnson. This pic shows the double decrease at the crown.

And here's the dashing side view.

Speaking of the Green Mountain Spinnery, here's one of the owners! Maureen is holding a goldstone pendulum that I gifted her...perfect for a Taurus Sun.

Now ya never know what the Lunar Ladies will get up to when we get together. For whatever reason, 5 feet needed to be in the pic with my birthday cake. The cake was Leslie's FAMOUS walnut pound cake. To die for. The cake, not the feet, for goodness sakes.

The gang's all at my home.

What follows are some much appreciated, interesting, and perhaps on the unusual side, gifts given to the spider. I thought you may enjoy seeing the diversity.

What a GORGEOUS spider pin, eh? It was gifted by E and Jenna. Thank you, E and Jenna!

Maureen KNOWS I love orange, so she gifted a sacral chakra candle holder in glorious orange, a book on "Spirit Guides and Angel Guardians," and some delicious, crown chakra-opening tea (which I happen to be drinking as I type this). Thank you, Maureen!

If you've been reading the spider for awhile, you'll know I'm a potato-loving gal. Leslie gifted me with a snazzy, new potato peeler, a book on potato growing and cooking and a very funny book of knitting cartoons entitled, "It Itches." Thank you, Leslie!

Jenna didn't miss a beat gifting me a book on the, "Birth of a Modern Shaman," a little book necklace with real pages to write on (to inspire me to finish my BOOK...I shall write the title, "Spinning Around," on the first page), and, of course, what Birthday/Christmas would be complete without a Halloween pumpkin dish. Thank you, Jenna!

Jenna also didn't forget Chloe. She loves her knitted and felted, catnip-filled, mousie. And a paw-wave thank you to Jenna from Chloe!

Skip ahead to Christmas eve, when Chris and I each have the tradition of opening one of our presents under the tree. Above is Chris' gift to me and a better gift could not have been given. Chris knew that "Candy Fashion" was my all-time favorite doll. He knew this because the original dress on my original doll in 1963 (exactly like the dress above) has been kept (albeit, in tatters) in my upper dresser drawer for 40+ years. When we saw that Candy Fashion was being offered by the Vermont Country Store, complete with 3 other outfits and all accessories (looking just like the originals...including a pillbox hat), Chris couldn't resist ordering her for me for Christmas. I love that doll, but I LOVE Chris.

The above pic shows my Ma's creche, which I have displayed under our Christmas tree this year. Note the knitted star. Eagle-eyed knitters will know that the star's pattern was featured in the "August" chapter, "Christmas Fiddle-Faddle in the Wilds," of "Knitter's Almanac," by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I gave this star, knitted from gold yarn, to Ma back in the 80's and she, herself, tied it onto the creche. Makes me weepy to think of it. Sniff.

Hiccup. I've received e-mails and inquiries about whether Emi, Alexander's girlfriend in Japan, said YES? Why yes, she did! Yay!!!!! Al and Emi are now engaged. Congratulations to you both! Al's still in Japan and they recently came back from an emotional trip to Hiroshima.

Emi is an excellent photographer...

Just look at the amazing spider who set up shop somewhere in Chiba.

What's a Greek guy doing with a hat like that?!!!

And here's the lovely Emi, not looking like a mean warrior at all!

Lovebirds in Hiroshima.

And a close-up of the lovebirds...
Thank you from Alex and Emi for ALL your good wishes!

Hiccup. Received the following pics and this friendly and welcome e-mail from Emily.
Hi Jenny- How nice of you to take an interest in my little project I mentioned on your blog's comments. I started it quite a while ago and it's been languishing. I'm blending some very pretty aquamarine-colored merino mill ends with some champagne angora on my hand carders. I’m not weighing anything, just eyeballing the amounts. I'm then using my Schacht Matchless on the double-drive setting to practice my long-draw. You can tell by my uneven yarn that I still have a lot of practicing to do! I’m hoping to make the final results into a dk-ish weight yarn to make a lacy scarf for my aunt. Not sure when it'll be complete as I keep getting distracted by the item in the last picture. (As a related note, I cannot express the level of cuteness that ensued when I handed him the basket of rolags. Too bad my poor photos don't do it justice. And I have to redo most of the rolags...) Thanks again for all your great information. I can't wait to get it in a form that has pages to turn! Emily

Thank you, Emily, for your kind words and for sending the great pics. We'd love to see your scarf when finished, please. Your aunt's a lucky woman!

A close-up of a very pretty angora/merino blend.

Handspun and fibers.

Dandy rolags!
Oh my gosh, what a cutie! Bet he loved getting hold of those soft and cushy rolags!!!

Hiccup. Back when I lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada I made this 30-Step Triaxial to fulfill a homework assignment for a spinning certificate program (a program which, by the way, I never finished). Over the years I've shown the triaxial to many a student in classes I've taught. A lot of folks really liked the idea that many colors can be made with just the three primaries, yellow-red-blue, and additionally armed with hand cards or a drum carder. In each corner of the triaxial you'll find the primaries. I synthetically dyed some naturally white Polypay wool for this exercise. As you go from one primary to another, you blend 10% more of the color your heading to. For instance, if we start at the top with yellow heading towards red, the next "cinnamon bun" (as I call the balls of fluff) is made from 90% yellow and 10% red. The bun after that is 80% yellow and 20% red. In this exercise, I did decide how much total fiber weight I could card at a time and weighed the two colors that would make up the total with a scale. If you work in grams, the math is less messy, because everything is in 10's.

The triaxial.

The three buns in the middle of the triaxial demonstrate how I picked one of the buns along the side (in this case my "base color" would be 90% yellow and 10% red...see below) and I combined it with a % of black for a shade of the base color; a % of white for a tint of the base color; and a % of grey or beige for a tone of the base color. Can you see/imagine, depending on the %'s used and the base color you start with, the skies the limit with the colors you can come up with?!! So remember, if you have just the primaries and some hand cards, you'll have a rainbow of color at your fingertips. Also, think of the neat shading projects you can create!!!

Here's the 90% yellow and 10% red base color I used when tinting, toning, and shading above. Whooosh! If that doesn't get your creative juices flowing, I don't know what will.

Finally, here's some thoughts about how I choose various fibers for whatever project I have in mind.

Choosing Fibers

As a handspinner who only uses my own handspun for knitting, I’ve been asked how I choose which fibers I want to work with knowing I want to knit a commercial yarn pattern geared to a non-spinning crowd. How does one choose which fiber(s) to use when designing a pattern? What follows are some points I often consider when choosing fibers to spin for a knitting project.

Does the yarn need to be/have:
• Elastic/bouncy or non-elastic/bounce-less
• Dense/heavy or airy/light
• Thin, medium or thick
• Tight twist, medium twist, loose twist
• Textured or smooth
• Halo or fuzz-less
• Soft or hard
• Warm or cool
• Short or long fibers
• Coarse or fine or somewhere in-between
• Slick or toothy
• Luster or matte
• Dyed or undyed
• Added zing via neps, noils, other inclusions such as beads, dashes of color or other fiber, glitz, etc.
• Stiff or flowing with regards to drape

All these points and more help me to judge a fiber’s suitability for a given project. Additionally, these points affect how I’ll prepare and/or spin the yarn in order to make the most of the fiber’s qualities. It pays to research a fiber’s qualities. Such research is beyond the scope of this blog. However, searching online or in the library in order to learn the qualities of a fiber, especially a breed of wool you’ve not encountered or a fiber you’ve never used or encountered can prove invaluable.

Consider your end use. Does the project require yarn that is hard-wearing, delicate, dressy, everyday/utilitarian, breathable, dye-able, is the itch factor important, etc.? Can I make such a yarn from the fiber I’m considering? Do I want to make a handspun yarn exhibiting the same qualities inherent in the commercial yarn recommended in a pattern?

If using a commercial pattern, perhaps it’s easiest to substitute wool handspun if the commercial yarn recommended is wool, keeping in mind that all wool breeds do not exhibit the same qualities. However, what if we want to have a silk yarn or yarn of some other fiber for the project that originally called for wool? In other words, if I change the fiber type from the yarn that’s featured in a pattern, how will that choice change the yarn I need to spin, and ultimately, affect how the handspun acts in the final project?

If we choose a blend, how do we know which fibers will work well together? How will we know which %’s of the fibers we want to include would work best?
How easy is it to spin my fiber choice into a yarn the size that the pattern is calling for? Am I willing to change gauges if I decide to change the size of the yarn recommended? Will changing gauges really alter the pattern’s numbers or overall look of the piece I want to make, or will I easily be able to convert to the new gauge?

If I change fiber type, will I need to consider the amount of plies in order to correspond directly to the commercial yarn called for in a pattern. For example, it’s not uncommon to find a commercial wool yarn that is 8+ plies. Is it practical or necessary for me to spin for that many plies? If I choose not to spin that many plies, will it change the nature of the yarn? What would happen if I want to spin a singles only, relating to the size of the yarn called for in the pattern?

All of the above questions and more lead me to suggest that you SAMPLE, SAMPLE, SAMPLE! As a handspinner, I have no time not to sample. Before you spin up oodles of fiber into yarn, only to find that your yarn and fiber does not work well in your chosen project, spin a bit and sample. For an easy, painless, start to sampling, see the past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, featuring Postage Stamp Swatching. Once you’ve established the yarn you like and want to use via postage stamp swatching, spin up enough of it for a good-sized swatch, of 4 or more (the thicker the yarn, the bigger the swatch needed for accuracy) square inches. Try different needle sizes within the swatch, separating the different areas with a purl row. I first like to make a stockinette swatch edged in a few stitches of garterstitch. If I’m going to knit with a stitch pattern that differs with stockinette, then I make another swatch using that stitch pattern, as well. Sound like a lot of work? The alternative would be guessing and making up your project using your handspun, only to find the piece doesn’t look or feel right, or worse yet, doesn’t fit.

I'll end this post with an announcement of an important change relating to this blog. I first want to thank all for your encouraging e-mails and comments to continue the blog I began 2 1/2 years ago. I started to cry with joy when I received comment # 19 today from "Simon Spins." Thank you, Simon, and to your mom, Fiber Ninja. I WILL keep the blog, but I have to let you know that there will undoubtedly be less really long spinning tutorials from here on out. That doesn't mean I won't chat about spinning or dyeing or knitting, it just won't be as intense as you're used to reading here. That said, I ask YOU to keep the spinning info on the blog alive and healthy by posing questions on any spinning/dyeing/knitting issues you may be encountering and I'll do my best to help and will ask for help and ideas from readers. I LOVE to get pics and a write-up like Emily sent me for this post, so I encourage anyone who wants to send me jpgs and chat about your handspun and/or projects, please do so. One of the reasons for this change I'm proposing is the continued push to finish the BOOK. Also, I have finished with my projects for the BOOK and I'm sure you'll understand that you'll have to wait for the BOOK to be published in order see them and read about them fully. The cool bit about this news is that I'll be able to chat on the blog about non-BOOK-related projects that will undoubtedly find their way on to my wheel, on to my spindle, into my dyepot, and eventually into my knitting bag. At this point I can assure you a continued once-a-month post about this 'n that, but who knows...maybe I'll eventually go back to more, but much smaller, posts each month. Does that sound good to you? Hope so. Keep those comments coming 'cause that's the cream of the blog a far as I'm concerned, keeps me revved, and let's me know my tappings are of interest to you.

'til next time. Wishing you all a peace-filled, exciting, and creative 2009!

Spinning Fuzzy Fibers; Ratio Considerations for Longdraws and From The Fold; Thanksgiving '08

2008-11-29T14:15:00.061-05:00

DSL! The spider and her blog now have the good fortune to have a high speed internet connection. Oh ya baby!! I'm not gonna know how to act given how fast things are moving!!! Please understand that prior to a week or so ago, we didn't even have a choice between dial-up and DSL. DSL simply wasn't an option in our little, rural town of Whitingham, VT. That means that this entire blog for 2+ years has been put up on dial up...leading to this spider being fed up due to the snail's pace of uploading my multiple pics, not to mention lotsa time-consuming linking and writing. If you go back into my archives, you'll note that many posts have 30 or more pics...these posts took DAYS to bring to life...I must have been bloody crazy, eh?!!! And it's also important to know that despite Chris and I putting our names on multiple lists requesting that DSL come to our area, it was NOT Verizon/Fairpoint that called us and said DSL was available. Thanks to a gentleman knitter on Ravelry, Lee255, I was alerted to the DSL's arrival. Lee even went out of his way to personally call me on the phone despite never having met me. Lee and his wife, being Whitingham residents themselves, were the ones to give me the phone number to get the ball rolling towards high speed. THANK YOU LEE AND VANDA!!!!

Here's more news of a different sort. I have decided to take at least a year off from teaching any spinning/dyeing workshops. Did you notice I took down the teaching schedule that topped each new post for all of the blog's lifetime 'til now? Over the last few years I taught quite a lot of such workshops and have enjoyed meeting a whole flock of wonderful spinners. But now it's time to finish the BOOK and travel down other paths that are calling me. I'm planning to go back to school and no doubt a dayjob will be needed to pay for school expenses and more. As for the blog's future, I'm not sure yet...time will tell. I'm hoping that my tappings thus far have been at least somewhat of use to you. I know one thing for sure (well, as long as my hands hold out)...I'll not stop spinning, dyeing and knitting. And I'm guessing, at least in some capacity, I'll not completely cease designing nor writing in those three fiberish disciplines.

Chris asked, "So Jen, does this mean that now I'll be able to wear the pieces you wouldn't let me wear because you used them for teaching?" Well, no. Not until the BOOK is finished. Chris replied, "Oh great, so I can look forward to my new hat in the winter of 2010!"

Here's a dandy pic of my roommates, Maureen and Leslie (l to r) at a recent spinning conference, my last teaching stint of the year. Two better partners in fun and naughtiness could not have been found.

The Lunar Ladies were together again (unfortunately sans Maureen) this November. E was our hostess with the mostest. Jenna gave us our Yule/Christmas pressies early and informed us that we were to have a "craft session" that evening. Jenna, who was a florist for years, brought some intoxicatingly fresh evergreen wreaths and we each had the fun of decorating one for ourselves.

E and Leslie (l to r) are shown above wrapped up in ribbons.

The spider, also ribbon-wrapped, is hugging and kissing our resident fey, Jenna! Who could resist?!

Now the above pic might take some explaining. After all, flipping the bird is not generally thought to be in the holiday spirit. Here's how the story goes: Jenna was showing the Lunar Ladies how to make a bow. She didn't want to show us the usual method of twisting each loopy puff because it's hard on the hands. So Jenna demonstrated an alternative method of how to make a proper bow. Let's just say the spider wasn't getting it. It reminded me of that moment when everyone else seemed to be getting how to drop spindle 'cept me. Jenna kept repeating to stick our middle finger in the "button," which apparently is the middle of the bow. Somehow my right hand's middle finger had a life of its own and a theme for the night was born. So blame all this bad taste on me.

More birds a' flying.

Look closely and you'll find E's Paco amongst our wreaths. He's such a good little boy. No paw-flipping from him.

While we're still on the subject of wreaths, thought you might to see a fibery wreath of sorts. The wreath is composed of lustrous Coopworth wool locks, rainbow dyed with natural dyes (cochineal, logwood, Saxon blue indigo). For more info on rainbow dyeing, see the past post, Clear & Brilliant Rainbow Dyeing.

A close-up shot in all its prettiness...makes me think that perhaps I should have actually glued the fiber down in a circular wreath form and enjoyed it in all its glory without the twist. Some fibers really are better left untwisted me thinks!

This past Thursday was the first time Chris, David, Alexander and I were all joined together at a Thanksgiving meal in something like 10 years. One reason which brought us to NYC was the fact that Alex was flying out from JFK airport to Japan the day after Thanksgiving. Yep, he's going back to Japan only three months after he was last there. Why? Well, don't tell anybody but Alex is bringing a beautiful diamond ring and a seriously important proposal to bestow on his girlfriend, Emi. But sssshhhssss, I'm not sure she knows yet...

Above is my Chris pouring the delicious kosher grape juice for our meal.

Our favorite holiday meal is Greek spinach pie. Turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce has never graced the Bakriges' table. I asked the guys whether they felt cheated because of the whole no turkey thing. They looked at me like I was speaking the local language of Mars, and said, "Um, NO Ma!" For a past post featuring my spinach pie recipe, see Rose and Leaf Tam; Deborah Newton's Sleigh-Ride Gloves; Bulky Spinning Tips; Ravelry; The Spinning Loft; And Hand Exercises for Spinners. By the way, this same past post featuring the Rose and Leaf Tam, is a great example of some fuzzy fiber spinning...which just happens to be the spinning techie topic of this post you're reading presently.

No pie was baked nor purchased for this Thanksgiving celebration either. Instead, we brought a silly, tho' downright delicious, buttercream-iced, turkey cake. When the time came to cut the pieces for dessert, both Alexander and I wanted the heavily frosted turkey body itself. I, ceremoniously, cut the turkey in half...much to the gasps of the lookers-on. Mmmmm.

Above is a pic of our two sons, David (standing) and Alexander (sitting). I told Alexander he was wearing a "wife beater" shirt. He said, "Ma, do you have to call it THAT?!" So there is our David wearing a yarmulke and Alex wearing a wife beater. Hmmm. If they both were sitting on my shoulders, perhaps one would be holding a pitchfork and the other donning wings?

Oh, one more thing about Alexander. I was with him when he purchased the shhhhhsssshhh...ring...shhhhhsssshhh at the jewelers. Wouldn't ya know that the cute salesclerk batted her eyelashes and gushed as she said to Alex, "Has anyone ever told you that you have GREAT hair?" Alex, without skipping a beat, says, "Well, ya..." No shyness from that boy. Tell it like it is, Alexander! I, on the other hand, was earlier thinking his hair looked rather skanky that day. Go figure. Something tells me this is the same way my own Ma and Dad felt when they saw me in the 70's...long, scraggly hair parted down the middle, wearing my beloved, bedraggled blue jeans with elephant-sized bellbottoms.

On to some spinning stuff...

Fuzzy yarns. What's your pleasure? Angora rabbit, dog down, cat down, fox fur, mohair, qiviut, bison down, camel down, yak down, etc.... No doubt about it, fuzzy yarns carry with them an air of luxury and a dose of warmth.

If I were to tell you my two favorite pieces of advice regarding the spinning of fuzzy yarns I'd say, 1) Be sure you're spinning a stable yarn, as fuzzy fibers can be slippery and those fibers like to slip completely right out of the twist. 2) Don't worry about spinning fluffy. Spin that stable yarn from fuzzy fibers and the the halo WILL occur without even trying.

I've chatted about stable yarns before but it's worth repeating. A stable yarn is one that doesn't drift apart at any stage: the yarn doesn't drift apart when it goes on to the bobbin: nor when it is taken off the bobbin; nor when it is washed and dried; nor when the yarn is knitted/crocheted/woven/etc. into something...and finally, the yarn doesn't fall apart as it's used in a piece. A spinner can test if his/her yarn is stable by tugging on each end of a length of yarn, several staple lengths long. If slippage is felt, then more twist is needed to make the yarn stable.

Many of these fuzzy fibers are on the short side. Sometimes fuzzy fibers are a combination of short and somewhat longer fibers. Be sure to put in an adequate amount of twist for the chosen size of yarn. Very short fibers are more difficult to actually keep stuck in a thicker yarn because they're too short to be adequately caught in the twist...with shedding being the result...or worse yet, instability. If you're looking for a thicker yarn, consider making it from finer singles plied together.

Please keep this sage bit of advice that I learned long ago from one or more of my mentors in mind: When spinning thinner yarns, more twist is needed to make the yarn stable. When spinning thicker yarns, less twist is needed to make the yarn stable. And furthermore...the length of the fibers play an important role in that very short fibers need more twist in order to hold them in the yarn. On the other hand, longer fibers need less twist in order to hold them into the yarn. Therefore, how much twist you use is dependent on the size of yarn you spin, whether you will ply or not, the slickness of your fibers, and your end use.

There's an upside and a downside to fuzzy fibers being warm. The plus is that if it's cold, these fibers will be more than welcome. However, beware of making a bulky-ish sweater out of 100% dog down unless you want to wear your creation to an Arctic ball. Such fibers can feel like you're wrapped in plastic wrap and cooking in a sauna. Consider blending fuzzy fiber with breathable wool for comfort's sake. 'course that said, one of my favorite uses for fuzzy fibers and fuzzy fiber blends is as a lining to mitts, hats and more. If I'm careful to remove any prickly guard hairs from dog down and the like, the wearer of such garments is caressed in luxurious warmth and incredible softness. And in this case, the outer part of such a hat or garment doesn't have to be butter soft since there's a layer of delicious, non-scratchy, fuzz between it and one's skin.

Here's some handspun 2-ply (sport weight) I've been knitting of late into a lining. The spinning, according to my documentation, was done in 2000. I can't remember where I got the fiber but I seem to remember it WAS commercially prepared, but NOT wonderfully prepared. Out came my hand cards in order to open up the clumps in the blend of blue fox and wool fibers. The spinning went far easier after the hand carding treatment.

Above you'll find a pic of a headband of wool singles (see recent past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for more on the singles yarn) that I'm lining with the blue fox/wool blend yarn.

Fuzzy, but fuzz on the low end of the spectrum.

Another view of the lining in progress.

On to another fuzzy project...

The above pic shows a swatch (Cat's Paw stitch) and skein of 30% Sheltie dog down and 70% Shetland wool. The yarn is a 2-ply and was created thanks to a dog named Kloo and a sheep named Lily. Kloo shared her life with none other than Nancy Bush and Lily lived with a flock at
West Hill Woolies farm in Wallingford, Vermont. Nancy and I collaborated on an article in Spin Off magazine featuring my handspun and her knitting of a "Dog's Paw Shawl," Fall 2001, pgs. 54-60. Please note that the Sheltie/Shetland blend is fuzzy, but not so fuzzy that you can't distinctly see the lace stitch. If you don't want to obscure a stitch pattern, consider using a lower % of the fuzzy fiber in relation to wool or another fiber in a blend.

Above is a hat made back in the 80's for my Alexander. Never mind that he hated the hat because he felt it had too big of a pompom. The pattern is from Cottage Creations, "Snakka du norsk ~ A Norwegian Winter Sports Cap." The outer layer is 2-ply handspun Perendale wool, dyed with Gaywool synthetic dyes. I remember being at a knitting guild meeting back then in Middletown, CT when one woman asked where I bought that yarn. I told her I had spun it myself. She said, "No really, where can I buy some of that yarn?" Geesh, it wasn't that great or anything...

Here's what I lined the hat with. The handspun is an angora rabbit and tussah silk blend (50/50), also dyed with Gaywool.

Judging from the way the stitches are skewing over to the left, I overplied the yarn and no doubt, not on purpose. The overtwist in the plying, in this case, thankfully didn't mess up the hand of the fabric, but at least now that I'm an older and wiser spinner, I can judge that the yarn wasn't balanced. In other words, there was more S (counter-cl0ckwise; to the left) twist than I needed for the amount of Z twist (clockwise; to the right) put into the singles. Or you could say that I would have needed more singles twist to balance the twist in the plying...but if I had done that, the hand, no doubt, would have been too boardy.

Alexander might not have liked the hat, but even he couldn't disagree that it was one warm head covering!

Above is a pic of a wool tam with a 100% Samoyed dog down I-cord trim. I used to make oodles of these tams for sale. In this case, the dog down is completely free of guard hairs, making for a delightfully soft halo.

But in the above 100% Samoyed yarn, guard hairs were NOT taken out. I know the yarn was spun ages ago, but I can't, for the life of me, remember why I did not remove the prickly guard hairs. I do know I used some of it to line a few pairs of mittens. Heaven help one's forehead if I had also used the yarn to line a hat!

I remove guard hairs by holding a tuft in front of me, backed by a strong light. One by one those hairs are plucked out. Some spinners have other methods to remove the guard hairs, but I've not found any methods that work better than simply plucking them out. Readers, any thoughts or suggestions on guard hair removal...especially methods that have really worked for you?

A close-up showing those offensive hairs.

And an even closer close-up. Itch, itch, scratch, scratch.

When you're knitting/crocheting/weaving with fuzzy yarns, remember that the halo fuzz is part of the gauge/sett just as much as the yarn core itself. If you want to make your fuzzy yarn "be all that it's meant to be," consider not packing in the stitches too tightly next to each other. That way the fuzz will happily fill in the space in between the actual stitches. Let's not forget, if you're looking for warmth, it's the airspace around and within the yarn that allows for it.

One more thing...I've not chatted about which drafting technique works best with fuzzy fiber, have I? If you've been reading the spider long enough, you'll know that I'm about to tell you to learn all the drafting techniques you can, and then pull out of the hat which one works best in your particular fuzzy situation. If you need more info on drafting options, please head to the past posts: Drafting Techniques For Handspinners Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners, and Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners.

OK, yet another thought...regarding fiber prep for fuzzy fibers...more than once I was told that it's not necessary to do any fiber prep of the carding or combing type when it comes to fuzzy fibers. I was told to just grab a handful and start spinning. Well, that's one way to go about things. If you're looking for a more textured yarn, that's a good path to take. Perhaps you'll begin by hand-teasing the fibers with your fingers...or not. Thinking back, one of my favorite fuzzy fiber experiences was when I used mini-combs to prepare some angora rabbit. I seem to remember really enjoying spinning that prep into a very, very, fine, laceweight 2-ply. But combs are just one way to go and generally work best with fibers 2" or more in length. Hand cards (or a drum carder, for that matter) might end up being your best friend regarding fuzzy fibers. Hand cards break up clumps and blend the short and longer fibers together. Plus, hand cards work wonders when blending fuzzy fibers with other fibers such as wool or silk. If the fuzzy fibers are very short, you may opt to make punis out of them. See the past posts, Making Punis, and More on Punis, for puni making techniques. If your fuzzy fibers are so short and slippery that you can't even make punis out of them, then you may want to blend the fuzzy fibers with something that has a little tooth, like wool or even tussah silk. Do try not to kill the baby bird when spinning this prep (see past post: Please Don't Kill The Baby Bird), however, because you'll end up with a handful of short, fuzzy fibers whilst the longer, toothier, fibers spin into yarn. Also, if you don't want the short, fuzzy fibers to shed, make sure you properly catch them in the twist of your yarn. Chances are good that you'll want to spin such a yarn on the finer side, since the finer the yarn, the more twist needed to make it stable, and the better chance that the short fibers will be caught in the twist. Geesh, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record even to myself. I had better stop now...

I'll end with a question that came in via Ravelry from Diane in Bear Lake, Michigan (dlalomia on Ravelry): I want to try doing the long draw with some Romeldale combed top from Dakota, one of my sheep. Zeilinger’s did a nice combed top for me and I have 4 oz. left to play with (all the rest got sold). I thought I’d try spinning from the fold and see what I can come up with. Do you have a suggested ratio that would be best for spinning the long draw from the fold? I have a Minstrel wheel with 6.5, 8.5, 12 and 16:1 ratios.

The spider answers: Thanks so much, Diane, for posing this question. I'm afraid I don't have a pat answer for you, but I do have some points to consider. I like to think of ratios and their corresponding whorl sizes in terms of comfort. Generally, I might start out with my default whorl...let's say it's a 6.5:1. This means the bobbin and flyer turn 6.5 times for every one turn of the drive wheel (one treadle's worth). If I wanted to spin a fine yarn, which requires more twist to make it stable (especially if the fibers are on the short side), I might find that in order to treadle comfortably, I would need to go to a higher ratio, such as the 8.5:1. BUT, if I was naturally a fast treadler, then the 6.5:1 might work just fine for me. Let's say that I want to make a bulky yarn with fibers of a medium staple range. Again, I often start with my default whorl of 6.5:1. Depending on how bulky I was spinning, I may require a lower whorl size to spin comfortably, given that the bulky yarn requires less twist to make it stable. However, given your range of ratios available to you with the Kromski Minstrel wheel, you don't presently have the option of going to a lower whorl size (tho' a larger whorl option IS available for purchase when you're ready). But until then, you may opt to treadle as slowly as possible and/or speed up your hands in order to make your bulky yarn.

Now, let's throw in the situation that you want to spin with a longdraw from the fold. Spinning from the fold halves the fibers. I just looked up what the average staple length of a Romeldale fleece is on the internet and one source states it's 3-6". Let's assume that your top is impeccably prepared and that the fibers are slipping past each other ever so nicely whilst drafting . If you spin half of an average 3" staple length, that brings you to a 1.5" staple length...be sure to get enough twist into yarn to make it stable! Just keep an eye on putting in adequate twist for the size of yarn you're spinning. One suggestion I may have for you is that I often like to "up" the draw-in (be it Scotch tension, Irish tension, or tighten the drive band on a double drive) when I'm spinning with a long draw. This is no hard and fast rule by any account, but just something to consider if you feel you need it. I think I like a tad more draw-in with the longdraws over the short draws because more oomph seems to be needed to get and store the longer length of yarn onto the bobbin. Otherwise, I can't really recommend one ratio over another for spinning from the fold with any of the longdraws due to the variables inherent in spinner's technique(s) and preferences, equipment options, fiber type, fiber length, yarn size, and end-use. But I can recommend that you sample. Check out postage stamp swatching in my past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for a fast and painless swatching method developed by my friend, Leslie.

Best wishes to you all. Look for a post at the end of December.

Witches' Ball '08!!!

2008-11-02T14:01:00.015-05:00

Anyone who knows me KNOWS that I'm all about Halloween. There's no better holiday in my ever-changing-color-eyes. Kindred Spirits in Brattleboro, VT made my heart sing when they announced they would sponsor the 1st Annual Witches' Ball, held yesterday on November 1st, in Brattleboro, VT. Here's a few pics, including some showing the spider as a Blinged-Up-Gypsy-Tarot-Reader. A better blast could not have been had! Kindred Spirits' owner, Shirma, really knows how to throw a party! And just for the record, the spider really IS a serious and thoughtful Tarot reader, whether it actually IS Halloween or not.

Madam Spider getting ready for a reading.

Madam Spider in all her glory.

My blinged-up wings for the night were courtesy of Thumb Thing Green. Thank you, Jenna! What? Didn't you ever see a gypsy spider with wings? How 'bout a Gypsy Moth? Well, now you can say you did.

Shirma, oh-so-creative owner of Kindred Spirits, made the spider a wonderful sign advertising her readings.

Madam Spider's web, which ensnared anyone who dared to walk by it, including the spider herself.

Cindy the Witch! And a sweet and lovely witch she is!! We had fun together sharing a pot of "toasted almond" tea at the Twilight Tea Lounge in Brattleboro prior to the Witches' Ball. 'course we were dressed in costume as we sipped our tea and got nary a sideways glance from anyone...except for one woman who stopped me and said I wore the best and most beautiful wings she ever saw. One can get away with wearing wings and just about anything else in thankfully progressive Brattleboro. We could probably dress this way all the time and not cause a stir.

Sarah Palin arrives at the Witches' Ball. What could be freakin' scarier? Sarah really cleaned up by winning all sorts of stuff via the raffle and silent auction at the ball, but she WON'T do the same on November 4th!!!!!!!!!!!

Spincerely is dressed beautifully as a gypsy woman. I LOVED her black, lace head scarf. Reminded me of when I coveted my Ma's similar-looking scarf, that she wore on her head during Catholic church services. I soooo hankered to wear a similar head covering as a child. Alas, we school kids had to wear dowdy little, circular, white, lace doily-like coverings, not the black flamboyant lace that dripped over one's shoulders. By the time I was old enough to wear the longer, more luxurious version, the practice dropped out of favor by the Catholic churches in our Detroit area.

E as Palin and Tamara as gypsy; beloved sisters.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! SAMHAIN BLESSINGS! 'til end of November...

Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater

2008-10-25T10:27:00.058-05:00

Just a little advertising for the Southern Vermont Fiber Event to kick off my October blog post. But once you've filled your bags with yarn and spinning fibers at this cool event, don't leave Brattleboro, Vermont too quickly because that evening...

there's the 1st annual "Witches' Ball," hosted by Kindred Spirits. It is November 1st, 7:30~11:00 pm at the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery, 139 Main Street/, Brattleboro, VT. Fee is $15 per person or $25 for two (ages 17 and up welcome). There will be prizes for costumes (note that costumes are optional), food, music, dancing, a silent auction, and more. Spinning Spider Jenny will be one of the Tarot readers scheduled for the night. To reserve your space, call 802-254-7777. Tickets will also be sold at the door, however space is limited.

No doubt about it, there's a chill in the air here in southern VT that wasn't present a month ago. The above pic shows our Leslie typing away comfortably despite the fact that it's cold in her Brooks Memorial Library office. This pic and blurb recently appeared on the library's website. HOW THE STAFF AT THE LIBRARY IS DEALING WITH THE HIGH COST OF FUEL OIL

Cataloger Leslie Markey with her homespun, hand knitted Alpaca wool gloves. Orders anyone?

Hiccup. Rhinebeck. New York Sheep and Wool Fest. Just the name alone evokes smiles from the fiberish friends I know. This year the spider taught three workshops (two fiber prep workshops and one spinning workshop) at the fest, held last weekend. What's always a blast for me is to meet new folks as well as get reacquainted with spinners who have taken classes I have taught elsewhere.

Lisa was a participant in a Rhinebeck workshop who I had happily met when teaching at The Spinning Loft last fall. Lisa is a wonderful spinner and designer of knitwear and came into this year's workshop wearing another beautiful, handspun creation that I thought you readers would enjoy seeing. I don't know the actual particulars of her yarn or design, but I bet if you squawked loud enough, she'll let us know about it in the comment section of this blog post.

The pretty, fitted back of Lisa's sweater.

If any of you were present on the Saturday of the actual New York Sheep and Wool Fest, I'm sure you could attest that it was mind-blowingly crowded. Surfacing through the crowds were none other than...

Leslie and E, Lunar Ladies both. They tried to get into my Saturday workshop on their own but were stopped at the door by bouncers. Luckily I found Leslie and E milling about out front of the building I was teaching in and boldly brought them back into my classroom for pics. Perhaps the bouncers thought they were fiber riff-raff?

Here's Leslie in front of my white board proclaiming "Postage Stamp Swatching," a technique which Leslie herself developed and I sagely pass on to students via my teaching. Postage Stamp Swatching is perfect for devout non-swatchers, as well as for those wise spinners who would never proceed to spin up pounds of fiber before seeing how their handspun works in a swatch. The beauty of Postage Stamp Swatching is that it takes a very short time to complete. Begin by making a lllooonnnngggg ply-back from your freshly spun singles. We're talking a ply-back (singles folded back on itself) that reaches across the room you're spinning in. You may need a helper to do this. Knot the ply-back at the end, making sure you let no twist escape, and remove it from the wheel. Smooth the ply-back out so that the singles twist you put in balances with the plying twist (achieved by the fold over). You can now wash and dry the resulting, 2-plied yarn...or not...your choice. If you plan to knit with the handspun you're spinning, pick some needles you think might work well with the size of yarn you produced as your ply-back. The reason we call it a "Postage Stamp Swatch" is because the long ply-back knits up into the size of a stamp. OK, if it's thickish yarn, it might be a biggish stamp you'd find in Togo or some other place like that. (You were/are a stamp collector; weren't/aren't you? Both Chris and I were stamp collectors as kids but we've kinda let that hobby go by the wayside). This little stamp of a swatch will tell you if the singles your spinning will make a 2-ply that will work in your project. If the swatch is too sleazy (a technical term for low twist), then make another Postage Stamp Swatch from singles that has more twist in it. If the swatch is hard as a board, then make another Postage Stamp Swatch from singles that has less twist in it. 'course do consider that you may have chosen a needle size that was not suitable for your yarn size... An important point you need to know is that when you make the ply-back from freshly spun singles, it will balance itself and make a 2-ply yarn where there's no excess twist going Z or S (right or left; clockwise or counter-clockwise). Once you see a Postage Stamp Swatch you like, consider making a larger swatch from yarn that was spun in the same way (but in this case spin enough singles so that you can ply the yarn in whatever conventional way you choose). It's from the larger swatch that you'll take your gauge. That way, you won't spin gobs of fiber up to find out that the yarn you spun won't work in the project you have in mind. Easy peasy and time-saving to boot. Thank you, Leslie, for this excellent technique!! Oh...and of course you can make Postage Stamp Swatch with a long a 3-ply-back or a 4-ply-back, etc. in the same manner.

Here's E wearing her stylish, new Llama Llama Poo Poo shirt. The spider herself can testify to llamas producing superb, non-burning, fertilizer for the garden.

The llamas at Hemlock Haven Farm have their own blog. Please be sure to check it out.

A logo you llama-lovers KNOW you're going to have to wear! Visit Llama Llama Poo Poo for more information.

Chris picked me up at the end of my Saturday class at Rhinebeck. Apparently he spent a few hours roaming The New York Sheep and Wool Fest by himself before heading to my classroom. He relayed hearing his name called out by a man somewhere in the flock of people roaming the fairgrounds. Chris looked to see who it was and saw a group of men waiving their hands to bring him over to them. The man who called was none other than Ted, Knitterguy!!! The guys were all friends of Ted's. Now to understand the power of the internet, one must realize that Ted and Chris have never met in person. Ted realized it was Chris, in the sea of humanity, by seeing his pics on my blog. Pretty incredible, eh?!

During the last hour of the fest on Saturday, after I had packed my teaching stuff up, Chris and I walked the grounds and visited the booths together. Again, out of the blue, came "Exuse me. Excuse me...! Are you Spinning Spider Jenny?" A lovely woman from Maryland greeted us and said she and her son were avid readers of my blog. I believe the son is 8 Years Old!!! She said her son insists that she print out the spinning techie portion of my blog each month. Oh my gosh, I nearly cried with joy. Who says that children can't learn to spin and comprehend spinning techie stuff at an early age, eh?!!!!!!!

On the Saturday evening of Rhinebeck we headed over to the Ravelry party. Surely there must be 600+ people who took pics at this party and they pics are scattered around blogland like forty going north. Here's my pic offering. Chris was amazed that THAT many people showed up for the party. I wasn't amazed in the least, knowing what Ravelry means to us fiber folk.

I WAS properly in awe of the fabulous Namaste bag I won at the Ravelry party. Orange just happens to be my favorite color, don'tcha know?!!! Thank you, Namaste!!!!!

Check out those groovy wrinkles on my 50 year old forehead. Hard-earned rungs climbed during life's journey?

At one of my Rhinebeck '08 spinning workshops, a very kind and thoughtful participant gifted me with a box of notecards with the above "spider writing" image. You, too, can get yourself a box of these notecards and more at Punkin's Patch. I love 'em! Thank you!!

Hiccup. And now for the spinning techie portion of this post...

Here's some rainbow dyed Cormo/Romney X wool from the flock of Alice Field, of Foxhill Farm, in Lee, Massachusetts. For more on rainbow dyeing, see the past post: Clear & Brilliant Rainbow Dyeing . The natural dye extracts used are cochineal, logwood grey, logwood purple and Osage orange...all from Earthues.

As I had chosen for the bulky, Navajo 3-plied yarn in the past post, And The Winner Is; Bulky Navajo Plying; Lotsa Birthday Celebrations; Back To Dee-troit And Another Visit To The Spinning Loft, I used the HUGE whorl (3.8:1 ratio) of my Schacht Matchless wheel, set in single drive, flyer-lead, Scotch tension in order to spin the yarn above. This time I wanted to spin a low twist singles yarn that would be used as a singles (not plied) in knitting. I chose such a large whorl because I wanted to put the least amount of twist needed for stability for the size of yarn I was spinning AND do so in a comfortable manner. Putting the least amount of twist needed for the size of yarn you're spinning and still retaining stability (yarn does not drift apart when tugged) is the key to making a singles yarn that would behave and not skew out-of-control when knitted. That said, singles twist IS twist that is going in only one direction and can never be balanced, so if you put as little as is needed to make a stable yarn, you're at least going to skew less in your knitted fabric. An important note: skewing will show up most in stockinette fabric; possibly less when knitting something other than stockinette. Swatching is essential to test which fabrics will skew or not with your low-twist singles yarn.

Knowing the average staple length of the fiber you're spinning is also an important point to consider when spinning a singles yarn. For instance, if you're using a shortish fiber of less than 1.5" or so, and you're making a thickish singles, you'll need more twist to make the singles stable, but in doing so, you may end up with more twist than you like in your yarn (rope-ish). BUT, if you make the same thickish yarn with fiber of a longer average staple length, you'll be able to lower the twist better to cut down on skewing and still keep it stable.

Two points to consider that may serve you well: The finer the yarn, the more twist needed to make the yarn stable. The thicker the yarn, the less twist needed to make it stable.

Above you'll find the rainbow dyed singles on a niddy noddy prior to washing. For me, it's important to wash the skein prior to knitting (yarn ain't done 'til it's washed), so that it'll be all that it was meant to be (ie. no surprises).

And here's a pic of the skein curling up on itself after washing. Singles WANTS to balance itself...that's why you see it trying to ply-back on itself when washed and damp. However, if you have a handy-dandy swift and yarn blocker you can tame it like I did so that it'll dry straightened but not stretched.

I placed the damp skein on the swift and carefully wound the singles onto the yarn blocker, being extra diligent not to stretch the yarn as I'm winding.

One hand turns the yarn blocker and one hand guides the yarn onto the blocker as shown.

The singles yarn is shown wound on the blocker to dry.

Above you'll see a swatch knitted at the bottom with stockinette...not too bad of skewing, eh? But do take a look at the individual stitches in the stockinette portion. If we look at the left and right side of an individual stitch, do you notice that the right side is much straighter than the angled left side? Now, let's learn to "read our knitting." If you placed an "S" over the diagonal of the left side of the stitch, you'll find the diagonal of the left side matches the diagonal portion (between the upper and lower hooks) of an S. But if we tried to place a "Z" over the right side of the stitch, we'd be hard pressed to see the diagonal (it's nearly vertical!) of the stitch looking like the diagonal of a Z (between the upper and lower horizontal lines of the Z). This tells us that there's more Z or clockwise twist in the fabric showing up, which makes sense because the singles was spun Z and you can't actually balance a singles yarn. However...and it pays repeating...you CAN put the least amount of twist needed to make your singles yarn stable (keeping in mind yarn size and average staple length) in order to successfully knit with it.

Finally, let's look at the stitch pattern above the stockinette portion of the swatch. It's an easy but dynamic stitch pattern that I found in "Barbara Walker's Learn-To-Knit Afghan Book," by Barbara Walker, called "Trinity Stitch," pg. 117, Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, 1974. Nary a problem with skewing using the singles when knitting this stitch! It pays to swatch and try out different stitches.

Advantages of knitting (or crocheting, for that matter) with singles handspun: 1) A time-saver...no need to ply!; 2) Keeps colors clear when spinning and knitting with multiple colors. Any other plusses you can think of?

I'm planning to knit my singles into an ear-warming headband. Will probably line it with some fluffy dog fur handspun for warmth and added style.

Now because I'm a more or less honest woman, I have to admit that the tad of yarn used for the swatch itself was spun on a high whorl spindle using the park and draft method; spun as a passenger in our Chris-driven car on the way to NYC (trying not to hit Chris in the face as I spun)...not on the Schacht wheel with the HUGE whorl that I ended up spinning for the actual project on. AND, again since I'm a truthful woman, I knitted the singles using #5 US needles right from the spindle without washing it. So yes, singles can be knit without washing. Know that I did wash the swatch. But, I like my wash-after-spinning-the-yarn method-prior-to-swatching explained above a whole lot better. Why? Well, just 'cause I do...there's less chance of problems, me thinks, and by washing the yarn first you get to see how it "blooms" and settles into its own twist along the entire length of the skein prior to knitting. And yes, I put the same amount of twist used in the swatch into the yarn for the finished project. How do I know? I tested the angle of twist in both the spindle spun yarn and the wheel spun yarn. Why did I choose to spin on the wheel in the end? I don't know; I just did. Maybe I just felt like treadling! There's more than one way to achieve what you're looking for. It's up to you to find the way that works well and pleases you most.

Happy Samhain! Happy Halloween! Will no doubt have a pic taken of me in costume and post it separately like last year. What are YOU going to dress up as on All Hallow's Eve?

'til next time.

100% Mohair 2-Ply Handspun; Running Out Of Yarn; 2 Useful Quotes; Alex and Japan

2008-09-30T08:11:00.030-05:00

Lay Down Your Weary Tune

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

I stood unwound beneath the skies
And clouds unbound by laws
The cryin' rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause

-Bob Dylan

Autumn! My fave time of year is surrounding me. Happy Rosh Hashanah to those readers who are observing. Happy fall to all!! Above you'll find my '08 Kennebec potato haul. Some taters are pretty scabby (Perhaps caused by the overly rainy August? Any thoughts on why surface fungus scabs formed and what to do to stop this from happening again?), but I was assured that if I peeled them they'd taste just fine. I've already made two pots of soup and I can attest to their truly delicious taste. Thank you Tom and Diane Golding, for your generous gift of potato seeds this year. Do note the green pumpkin above the potatoes. Even now that pumpkin simply refuses to turn orange. Maybe we'll have to carve it and call it our Watermelon-Jack-O-Lantern.

Yesterday I was having tea with Leslie, Lunar Lady Librarian. She quoted both her grandma and grandpa. The quotes were just too good not to share. From Leslie's grandmother Ethel ("Gram"): When I would say that it's "only a quarter of an inch" mostly in relation to sewing hems, etc., she would say "A quarter of an inch on the end of your nose would be a lot!" This would also apply to making sure of one's knitting gauge, don't you think? From Leslie's grandfather Irvin ("Grandad"): When pulling into a parking space one time, I said, "Grandad! You almost hit that car!" He replied "An inch is as good as a mile."

Alexander, youngest of the spider, age 21, recently went to Japan for over a month. Chris and I are ecstatic about him showing extreme passion over his experience there...so passionate that he wants to go back to live asap. 'course he's smitten with his Japanese girlfriend, and that could be one such wonderful reason for his joy. But we also know he loves all-things-Japanese and we are happy he has found the beginning of a path he has been looking for, perhaps all his life. Here's a pic of him coming off the plane from Japan...tired but full of determination to head back to Japan. Please send him good wishes and thoughts as he begins this portion of his life. Any of the spider's readers from Japan?

Above you'll find Alex, happy but not so fresh, hot off the plane from Japan.

From left to right, here's Kyle (Alex's buddy who went with him to Japan), Alex, and Chris. We're waiting for their bags to come off the plane.

Hiccup.

Am working on a handspun, naturally dyed, EZ epaulet jacket for the BOOK. What do you think happened? Yep, I ran out of yarn. How many of you have run out of yarn for a project? Now let me tell you that no sweat poured from my forehead. I'm a spinner and dyer after all. That said, I had no more of the Cheviot wool/mohair fiber I had been using for the body and sleeves of the top-down jacket. See the past post, Four-Ply Cabled Yarn & Improvising, for more info on the spinning of that interesting, wool/mohair fiber combo. Want you to know that it was really no problem about not having any more of the original fiber. I look at running out as a design opportunity; something that ocurred because my jacket needed an ooomph of difference. What did I spin instead for the project? Luxurious 100% mohair, that's what. I spun Louet's lovely, fine mohair top (yearling, I do believe).

A handful of pretty mohair top.

A length of mohair, just beyond the average staple length, removed from the top.

I don't know about you, but I dislike too much fiber in my hands at one time. Therefore, since I was going to spin the mohair from the fold in order to incorporate as much air and loft as possible into the yarn, I split the little length of top in half.

Joining the fluff from the yarn to the fold of the mohair.

In the end, I liked spinning this mohair top from the fold when it was not over my index finger. I simply held it folded with my hands.

If you'd like more info on spinning from the fold, see the past post: Spinning From The Fold; Plus Stripping and Predrafting Commercially Prepared Fiber .

A skein of the mohair top that was immersion dyed with madder root and Osage orange is featured above. The handspun was pre-mordanted with alum. You may be happier, as I often am, of designing the singles of 100% mohair to turn into a looser, rather than tighter, 2-ply...especially if you're using the mohair for knitting. Too much twist will look rope-y in knitting, so do consider being careful about keeping the twist on the low-ish side.

There's me knitting a mohair sample swatch whilst wearing my comfortable moon and stars jammies. Chloe, excellent black cat, is my esteemed helper.

The above pic shows a swatch of various stitch patterns knitted with the naturally dyed mohair. In the end I liked the "Cartridge-Belt Rib," pg. 21, in "A Second Treasury Of Knitting Patterns, " by Barbara Walker. This pattern will edge the bottom of the body and sleeves of the jacket.

I like this 100% mohair yarn soooo much that I think I'll have to spin some more down the line for a 100% mohair sweater!

Lay down your weary tune, lay down
Lay down the song you strum
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum

The last of leaves fell from the trees
And clung to a new love's breast
The branches bare like a banjo played
To the winds that listened best

-Bob Dylan

True to my word, the blog posts are finally getting shorter in order to make time to work diligently on the BOOK. Thanks for your understanding. And please don't forget to comment now and again. It's kinda hard to receive over 70 comments when I'm running a contest and a mere handful when I'm not. Please know I enjoy each and every comment and would love to here from YOU.

Cheers, 'til next month...

And The Winner Is; Bulky Navajo Plying; Lotsa Birthday Celebrations; Back To Dee-troit And Another Visit To The Spinning Loft

2008-08-26T10:35:00.064-05:00

Ikkinlala, a student from Canada, is the winner of the spider's 2 Year Blogiversary contest. The winner was randomly picked from slips of paper, each with a name of a reader who kindly took the time to comment on the last post, all put in Chris' black hat and chosen by Chris himself. Congrats Ikkinlala!!! The prize consists of 1/2 lb bag of purple/blue striated wool top from Ashland Bay, 1/2 lb bag of bright blue Corriedale wool top from Louet, and a copy of the book, "KnitLit (too)."

Here's Ikkinlala's tip: The most useful advice I've been given is probably an obvious one to most people, but I still had to make the mistake myself: alcohol and knitting do not mix well.

THANK YOU, one and all, for taking part in my Blogiversary contest. Have you seen the neat and useful tips...fibery and/or dealing with life in general? If not, be sure to check out the last post's comment section: 2 Year Blogiversary Contest!!!.

Above you'll find a pic of the prize. Do please let us know what you make from your handspun, Ikkinlala.

Hiccup. I was happily included in many birthday celebrations in July and August. July: Alexander, youngest of the spider and now 21; my Chris who turned 50; Jofran (also now 50) and Leslie (yep, that magic number 50). Can I just add that I'm glad these folks finally caught up to my being 50?!! Geesh, it's about time... August: David, oldest of the spider and now 28; and E (Elizabeth). As you know, if you're a regular reader, E and Leslie are Lunar Ladies both. And lovely Lunar Ladies at that.

Here's E and Paco as E opens her presents.

Above you'll find Maureen (left) and Jenna (right), two more Lunar Lady lovelies, lighting E-friendly birthday cupcakes made by Leslie.

That's Leslie mid-lick. One of Leslie's fave treats is soft-serve icecream...called Kreemies (or Creamie or Creamee...or however you'd like to spell it) in our neck of the woods. So what better than for the Lunar Ladies to take Leslie out for Kreemies, eh?!!

And Maureen brought scones for Leslie's celebration, which were lit in swanky, birthday fashion.

On to another birthday... Jofran, a friend of mine for 30 or so years, was asked by her husband what she wanted for her birthday? "Jenny," she said. Gee, I've never been a birthday present. Good thing Jofran wasn't interested in having me jump out of a cake or anything. What did happen was that I hopped a plane and spent 4 delightful days in da hood. Detroit. My hometown. Well, Jofran lives presently in Dearborn. OK, close to Detroit but no cigar. We sure had lots of fun, tho'.

For one thing, Jofran and I went up to visit Beth in Howell, MI at her wonderful shop, The Spinning Loft. Seriously, you're missing out big-time if you haven't had a visit to Beth's shop yourself. You'll not find a nicer or more knowledgeable proprietress.

Here's Beth herself, holding up two of her prettiest balls...of fiber: A carded Romney roving from Elemental Affects. A box of different, luscious colors of these beauties came in as we were visiting and nearly knocked the bras right off our bodies.

Two more well-endowed gals. That's Jofran on the left and the spider on the right.

Beth asked if we were up for lunch? You bet, considering Coney Island was the destination. Bring on the chile cheese fries.

Chile cheese fries prompty devoured. Beth's comment in the Blogiversary post was: O.K. I got it. If you like to eat Chili Cheese fries only do it when you are traveling otherwise you get a big behind;-)

To respond to Beth's comment, let's just say that Chris cooks more often than not and tonight I said, "Good tuna on rice, babes." Chris replied, "That's not tuna..." I blurted, "It's bloody tofu. You sure have a way of hiding tofu with spices and such in order to sneak it into my life." No complaints from the peanut gallery, however. For goodness sakes, what's Chris going to do next, make tofu taste like chile cheese fries? I can only hope.

Beth spinning on a spindle as we awaited the arrival of none other than....

Ta da da...Ted, Knitterguy! Ted didn't know we would be seeing him. We didn't know Ted was due for a Beth-visit until she mentioned it. Jofran and I didn't have much time to wait for him, as Jofran's little boy, Tommy, was waiting for us, but luckily as we were about to throw in the towel, there Ted was, in all his glory. Sooooo nice to meet you in-the-flesh, Knitterguy!! Wish we could have seen some of your incredible lace knitting in person. Next time...

Thanks Beth for EVERYTHING...especially the chile cheese fries.

While in Detroit Jofran and I did lots of other things...went to a carnival twice, watched fireworks, ate watermelon, and more. One thing Jofran wanted to do was to re-block her Mananita (lace poncho) that she recently knitted. In the above pic you'll see how Jofran makes sure her Mananita gets thoroughly wet prior to blocking.

And above you'll find Melanie, grey kitty, making sure that the blocking process proceeds without a hitch.

Lookee how Jofran stores her drop spindle collection. For a few bucks and a trip to the dollar store, you, too, can have spindle storage. Jofran's collection from left to right:
Left Arm: Inner (closest to the wall) ~ Black Creek Pioneer Village spindle from Jenny '98;
Outer (away from wall) ~ Greensleeves Molinar purchased from Beth '08;
Middle Arm: Inner ~ Adam Mielke from Jenny '05;
Outer Purchased in the early '70s in Camden Maine - my first spindle;
Right Arm: Inner ~ Louet, Tommy's spindle (used mostly as a sword); gift from Beth '08;
Middle ~ Bosworth Mini - wedding gift from Jenny '01;
Outer ~ Abby spindle from her class at Spinning Loft

While at the Spinning Loft, Jofran purchased a new Tibetan supported spindle by Tabachek. The spindle is a beauty...a walnut whorl and oak shaft. Jofran found a ceramic bowl to rest her spindle in when she went, albeit unwilling, to a carnival. Please note that I dragged her to the Polish tent at the carnival, as well, and made a date with her the next day to eat a plate of scrumtious Polish delicacies.

Here's one of the many things Jofran does when she's not spinning. An engineer by education and trade, she's quite at home playing trains with her beloved Tommy.

Thank you Jofran, Bob and Tommy for a fun and memorable visit!

Hiccup. One of the places I've recently taught spinning at was Peters Valley Craft Center in New Jersey.

Here I am at the check-in center, ready to set up my classroom.

Above is Chris, standing in front of a view I saw daily when I taught at Peters Valley. Just behind Chris, in the tall trees, our class saw a black bear sitting peacefully for several minutes. Did I have a camera handy just then? No. But I'd rather have a pic of Chris instead any day, so you'll just have to believe me that I actually saw such a bear. Or not...

There's our David, that just-turned 28 year old, with Chris at the beach at Coney Island in NYC (no, this is NOT the same Coney Island restaurant I ate the chile cheese fries at. You don't think I'd ever eat chile cheese fries in front of Chris, do you?!!!). What a delightful day! There's nothing like sinking one's feet into the wet sand along the water's edge with my men.

Hiccup. Below you'll find the spinnerly portion of this post. Below is some home-combed top from a Montadale X wool that had been solar and naturally dyed in the fleece.

Lots of different natural dyes were used, including onion skins, madder root, various wood chips/sawdust, hayscented ferns, yarrow and more.

Above is some of that Romney that I drumcarded previously, shown on the past post: Teasing Wool With A Picker; Simple Drum Carding; Shaded Lattice Hat And Mitts; Four Layers Over The Ears Hat; The Potato Party;and a Pee Story. There were too many noils and neps still in that fiber to use in the smooth-bulky-yarn project with the Montadale X, so I used my trusty Louet mini combs to cure the matter. The neppy/noily pile to the left is what was waste from the combing session. The pile on top hasn't been combed yet. The little nests have been combed. Worth combing? You betcha. For more on using mini combs, see the past post: Striated Blending Using Mini Combs; Slubs On Purpose; EZ's Hand To Hand Pullover; Funky Faroese Socks; Leslie's Half-Gloves; and 3 Fiberish Stories.

Look at the HUGE whorl I chose to put on my Schacht Matchless wheel. I did this because I was aiming for a low-twist singles, with the final resulting handspun to be a bulky Navajo 3-plied yarn for knitting. In other words, every time I treadled once, I wanted the flyer to go around only a few times (3.8:1 to be exact) in order that not too much twist entered the just-spun yarn. Coupled with slow treadling and fast hand movements, I achieved the low-twist yarn I was looking for. The various colors of the Montadale X and the indigo-dyed, blue Romney were spun randomly, aiming for different lengths of stripes.

I used a short backwards draw and Scotch tension for optimum control. I'm a control freak don'tcha know?!

The singles were wound into a loose ball and briefly steamed in order to make the twist not too crazy as I Navajo 3-plied.

Here's the little skein I spun in order to knit the swatch below. For more info on Navajo 3-plying, see past posts: Navajo 3-Plying, A Look At Ingeo & More, and Joining Unspun Fiber To Spun Yarn; Navajo 3-Plying Revisited; Drea and The Knittingsmith; Plus Another Visit To NYC.

Here's the swatch I knit from the handspun featured. At the bottom I used a size 10.5 U.S. needle (divided by a purl round), then a size 9 U.S. in the middle, and a size 8 U.S. at the top. The gauge was as follows: bottom ~ 3 sts=1"; middle ~ 3.25 sts=1"; and finally about 3.4 sts=1" (would need to spin more and knit a bigger swatch for an accurate stitch gauge with the U.S. #8...I ran out of yarn). That said, I rather like the feel of the middle section. For what, you ask? For a hat for Chris, who happened to comment that he really liked the colors. The yarn/hat might make it into the BOOK if I don't dawdle...

And here's a close-up of the swatch for those who want to look at things with a fine-toothed comb.

August is at the tail end and we're soon to go pick up Alexander, youngest of the spider, and his friend Kyle, from the airport. They have just spent one month visiting Japan and Alexander's girlfriend, Emi. Will surely have tales to tell next time of their trip...

2 Year Blogiversary Contest!!!

2008-07-29T16:59:00.009-05:00

July's post is decidedly short and sweet. Have been busier than a beaver, travelling more than usual, and unfortunately have no time this month for my typical spidery tappings. Thanks much for your understanding.

Spinning Spider Jenny, the blog, is soon to turn 2 years old. That means it's time for a contest! An easy contest, but you have to follow the simple rules in order to qualify for a prize. What prize? Well, it depends. It depends if you are a spinner, a knitter, a dyer or practice none of these fibery disciplines (I know I have several wonderful readers who fall into the latter category). Here's what I'm looking for: Tell me/us your best or most useful spinning OR knitting OR dyeing tip OR...the most useful piece of advice of any sort (can be humorous or serious...you-name-it) that you've ever received during this lifetime.

The rules: 1) One comment per person, please; 2) Identify yourself in some way...in other words, if your name is John, then you need to be John-who-loves-cabbage, or some such foolishness. That way, I'll be able to announce the winner as John and there won't be a billion Johns thinking they've won; 3) You must comment by a tip or advice, as explained in the bold letters. Just saying "Hi" won't get you diddly-squat; 4) Let me know in the comment whether you'd want a spinning or a knitting or a dyeing or a non-fiber-related prize if you win.

Oh, about that prize. Depending on who wins, a little, but nice, prize will be sent that will surely please. Commenters, you have 'til 11:00 pm EST of Monday, August 25th, 2008 to get your comment in. I'll put all names in a hat and pick a winner. Good luck! And thank you, treasured readers, for making this blog possible. A blog writer, I suppose, doesn't have to have an audience, but it sure is sweet when she does...and doubly sweet when they're as nice as YOU!

Viking Combs; Editorial BOOK Update; Silk Spinning Tips; A Tripe Story And Two More Dad Stories; Tater Plants Growing Up; And Slug Slime

2008-06-29T07:59:00.118-05:00

It's the end of June and there has been a major change in our household. The youngest of the spider, Alexander, has flown the proverbial nest. This is the first time in nearly 29 years that Chris and I have been without a kid in our immediate midst. My brother, Bob, asked if I missed Alex? Well...hmmm...actually...um...no. I mean after all, it's not like he lives all that far from us. And at nearly 21, it's about that time for him to find his own path, don'tcha think? Quite honestly, it's rather pleasant to know that Chris and I can wear nothing but lampshades on our heads and dance the Freaky Deaky if we so choose...not to mention being able to indulge in this delightful form of entertainment at any time of the day or night. Oh, and for the record, you'd know what the Freaky Deaky was if you went to the University of Detroit in the 70's as Chris and I did. It really was an actual dance back then...

Let's continue this post with another of my "Dad" stories. Having received a lot of positive feedback via e-mail on my "Dad" stories in past posts, I'm one to happily stay on the bandwagon when it's on a positive roll.

Good thing for cropping. You really don't want to see the prop Dad's using below his belt...

Dad as Truman Capote. Note the stylish, windshield-washing, glasses. I ask you...is it any wonder that this man's daughter is unconventional?

Roasted Peanuts

My Dad gave me a gift that is priceless. He didn't gift me an object that was expensive dollar-wise or put into my hands an antique heirloom passed down from a long-gone relative. What he gave me was far more precious...my Dad showed me the ability to delight in the little things life has to offer.

Although we were decidedly lower-middle class, urban Detroiters in the 1960's, I never knew I wasn't anything but rich growing up. It's not that I lived in a fantasy world or that my parents completely protected me from reality. From simply watching my Dad find supreme pleasure in, for instance, something as simple as a bag of steaming hot, roasted peanuts, whilst sitting in the bleachers watching a baseball game, I learned my most cherished life-lesson. The glass IS half-full.

My Dad taught me the fun of fishing in an old row boat on a glorious, summer afternoon. He became excited as he showed me a candy bar that had 5 different flavors under the same wrapper. Dad introduced me to the unforgettable aroma of a humble Mulligan Stew...acting like it was a sirloin steak. My Dad insisted we get a puppy, even though money was tight, because a puppy would grow into a beloved family dog that would give years of love and companionship. I could go on and on with similar examples.

I've watched various friends and acquaintances get caught up in what they feel they must have to live their lives. I've seen how easily these friends get bored and how they fail to appreciate all the small, though never insignificant, things that I was taught to savor. I owe this positive state-of-mind to my Dad. He was a man who was the epitome of young-at-heart, never losing his child-like wonder. His life was a spirited tap dance that he performed with gusto.

Hiccup. Below are some pics of some things I've been working on of late.

A pair of EZ mocassin socks for the BOOK. Indigo dyed. Chakra inspired. Speaking of the BOOK, there's been an editorial addition. Tech Editor: Jofran Pastor. WoooooooHoooooo! We're moving forward!!!

A very textured EZ watchcap. See this past post for tips regarding the fiber prep for the novelty handspun created: Striated Blending Using Mini Combs; Slubs On Purpose; EZ's Hand To Hand Pullover; Funky Faroese Socks; Leslie's Half-Gloves; and 3 Fiberish Stories. Please eagerly anticipate the BOOK for directions on spinning and knitting.

As I was knitting the thick 'n thin watchcap above, I realized that I was short on the lightest color. Out came the fibers, mini combs and eventually I found myself at the spinning wheel again. The above pic shows how the yarn looked in its wash water. Kind of reminded me of something intestinal. Chris walked by and said it reminded him of tripe. Now dear readers this yarn looks nothing like tripe. And if someone should know this fact, it's Chris.

Attempting To Impress Your Wife By Ordering Tripe

When Chris and I were newly married in the early 80's, we used to like to bop over to Ann Arbor, Michigan for an occasional get-away from our Hamtramck apartment. To this day we feel at home in the hippie, progressive, atmosphere a college town like Ann Arbor can offer. (Alas, perhaps Ann Arbor has changed since then...Michiganders, what's Ann Arbor like now?) On one such occasion Chris decided to treat me to dinner at a fancy restaurant instead of the earthy, whole grain bakeries and vegetarian establishments that we usually haunted for a quick bite.

As I was pondering the menu, Chris made up his mind rather quickly. "Tripe," he said confidently. Tripe? What the hell's that? Chris said he heard it was a fabulous delicacy. I ordered something less exotic. Something I was already familiar with.

When the meals arrived, the tripe looked like that sheet of foam-like plastic that you put under the lid of your laptop when you close it.

My meal was lovely...even tho' I can't remember all these years later what exactly it was that I ate. Chris had a look that I seen repeated many times over the course of our marriage when a meal he had ordered was less than appealing. Yep, Chris has a penchant for ordering crappy meals. I've seen this so much that I've ceased to pity him on this count.

Tripe (according to Wikipedia): Beef tripe is usually made from only the first three of a cow's stomachs, the rumen (blanket/flat/smooth tripe), the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe), and the omasum (book/bible/leaf tripe). Abomasum (reed) tripe is seen much less frequently, owing to its glandular tissue content. Tripe is also produced from sheep, goats, and pigs. Unwashed (or "green") tripe includes some of the stomach's last content, smells very unappetizing and is unsuitable for human consumption, but is a favorite of many dogs and other carnivores and is often used in dog food. It is called green, although its colour is often brown or grey, because of its high chlorophyll content from undigested grass. For human consumption, tripe must be washed and meticulously cleaned.

Heaven only knows what kind of tripe Chris ate.

I'm guessing there are some of you out there who like tripe. If so, feel free to sing its praises in the comment section on this blog. Or not.

I'm knitting a jacket with the naturally dyed handspun above. If you go to this post, Four-Ply Cabled Yarn & Improvising, you'll find out what fibers the yarn is created with.

Janelle, the BOOK's illustrator, is going to create an icon to alert readers when they come to the spider's life "Ponderings" sections. Janelle needed a pic to help her with her drawing for such an icon and what you see above is Jenny The Thinker. Janelle got the spider thinking about a phrase Janelle is fond of: "Don't chap my ass"...meaning, "Don't piss me off." Janelle knows Jenny likes sayings...especially the off-color ones she's never heard of. The spider has been known to jot down blue Yiddish sayings said by students in her workshops... Just look in her teacher's notes-to-self if you don't believe this. It's my love of words, I tell ya!
(My editors are gonna love how I change tenses and even my own name throughout a paragraph...heh, heh)

Hiccup. Those Lunar Ladies have been at it again. This time, sadly sans Leslie, they met at the Brattleboro Food Co-op in Brattleboro, VT for dinner and chat. Jenna wore a snazzy hat made by a friend of her's (Jenna...let us know the particulars of how folks can get their own cool hat, please...).

Jenna, blinded in her delightful hat.

E donning Jenna's hat.

Maureen, forever hiding her face...BUT showing off a pretty ring...and wearing Jenna's hat.

And the spider...cleavage, Jenna's hat, and all...

Hiccup.

The fiber prep techie portion of this post will deal with two breeds of wool, white-ish CVM (California Variegated Mutant) and dark grey Shetland. Viking combs (2-pitch to be exact) are the featured fiber prep tool.

Above you'll find greasy locks of CVM gifted to me by a student who was in my first ever (back in '98!) Harrisville Designs "Learn To Spin" course, Peg Sorensen. A very nice article that spoke of Peg and her sheep can be found here: California Variegated Mutant Sheep by John Hibma. I am about to scour the locks keeping them in lock formation. Please see past post for info on this scouring technique: Scouring Fleece To Keep Lock Formation.

CVM wool fleece scoured, but still wet. Note the very light grey fibers running like a band through the locks.

Dried CVM on the left and dried Shetland (more on the Shetland wool in a bit...) on the right. The fleeces dried in plant trays lined with towels.

Viking combs, shown below, are fiber prep tools that come in a pair. They are simple, often hand-held, combs with very sharp tines. Please do not use these combs around kids, cats or parakeets. Always lay combs down flat (tines parallel to table) when not using one or the other. Always store such combs away safely. Do not comb with Viking's if you are tired or weary or out-of-sorts...those tines are deadly and need your full attention.

Being combs, the Viking variety produces "top"...which is a fiber preparation that removes the crud and short fibers, and leaves only the longest fibers. These long fibers lie parallel to each other, and because you are producing the top yourself, there's lots of luxurious air left around the individual fibers (as opposed to commercially prepared top which may be condensed due to packaging). Home-prepared top can make for a truly fantastic spinning experience and resulting yarn. Just thinking about it is enough to make me drool!

For some of the other types of combs that have been discussed on this blog, go to the past posts: English Wool Combing; Navajo 3-Plying On A Spindle; Leslie's Onion Skin Dyed Cardigan; Bobble-Cuff Socks; NYC Peace Of Mind, and Striated Blending Using Mini Combs; Slubs On Purpose; EZ's Hand To Hand Pullover; Funky Faroese Socks; Leslie's Half-Gloves; and 3 Fiberish Stories.

Two-pitch Viking combs, shown above, have two rows of tines. I also own two pairs of one-pitch Viking combs...one pair with the tines set close together and one pair with the tines set farther apart. The two-pitch tend to do a more thorough job than either of the other pairs I have, and can handle quite fine fibers...but they also produce more waste because of it. The closer the tines are, the easier it is to do a good job with finer fibers. Therefore, the one-pitch Vikings with the tines set farther apart are good with coarser fleeces. The one-pitch with the tines set closer do a decent-ish job with the mid-range fleeces...those that are not too fine, nor overly coarse. Do you need the three pairs that I own? Probably not. If I had to do over again, I could probably cut out the one-pitch that are close together. That said, it's nice to present all three for use to students taking my fiber prep workshops.

I've been told that these combs are considered "Viking" style because something like them was found in a bog said to date back to Viking times. The joke that's often told is that the originals didn't come with directions, so we'll just have to do the best we can...

All of my Viking-style combs are made by Indigo Hound. You can find them at many of the major fiber equipment suppliers. Indigo Hound's Viking combs are generally reasonably priced, not as aesthetically pretty as other Vikings perhaps, but well-made and able to withstand much use.

The above pic will give you an idea of the average lock length of the CVM that I'm working with.

This first set of pics will show me demonstrating the Viking's as hand-held combs. I tend to like to alternate lashing on the butts of the locks for one layer and the tips with the next layer, etc. Or I sometimes don't pay attention to locks and butts at all, especially if I haven't scoured keeping lock formation. If you DO like to keep all the butts going one way or t'other, then scouring keeping lock formation will help you to stay on track. When I lash on, I try to let only a wee bit of fiber stick out beyond the tines on the handle end. In other words, the bulk of the fiber will hang off the end opposite of the handle.

Above I am lashing on the butt ends for the first layer.

Now I'm about to lash on the tip ends for the second layer. Etc...

Usually I don't like to put more than 1/2 of the height of the tines worth of fiber on the Viking combs. Any more than this and combing will become difficult and unwieldy. In fact, with this very highly crimped CVM, I would have liked a tad less fiber...you'll see what I mean below...

For clarity's sake, let's call the comb that's holding the fiber the "stationary" comb and the comb that does the actual combing, the "working" comb, eh? Otherwise, the combs are exactly like each other...in other words, you can use either one for either job as you set out...unlike a situation where a spinner likes to label and use their hand cards as "right" and "left," possibly with each hand card having their own, specific job(s) to do.

Before combing, I like to raise the fiber off the base of the comb a bit, in order to make the process easier.

A gentle spritz of plain water cuts down on static. Beware of too much water or it'll feel like your combing a wet, drippy, sheep.

The combing process begins...first, a top-view showing how the tines of the stationary comb holding the fibers need to be perpendicular to the tines that are "working" (doing the combing). Begin by going through just the tips of the fiber with the working comb. I've used this analogy before, but it's worth repeating: If you were to comb through a child's hair, you wouldn't start at the root, would you?!!! No sireee! You'd surely begin with the ends/tips. As you continue combing, dig deeper...a little at a time...into the fibers. The fiber on the stationary comb will transfer to the working comb as you continue combing.

Here's a side-view as the combing proceeds. Note that you should NOT comb towards your body at any point during the procedure, but that the combs MUST be perpedicular to each other in order for all to go smoothly.

More combing. Here's where I wish I would have had a little less CVM wool on the comb to begin with... Eeesh.

Please make sure you make a complete pass after each time the working comb digs into the fibers of the stationary comb.

Nearly all the fiber is now off the stationary comb and onto the working comb. Please note that it doesn't matter whether the stationary comb is in the right or left hand. Just stay consistent.

Look at that furrowed brow of mine! This is serious business!!! But fun!!!

Crud (not much) and short fibers left in the stationary comb.

To continue combing, the working comb now becomes the stationary comb 'cause it's holding all the fibers. And the beat goes on...

More combing...

And another top-view.

Here's what the CVM looks like after two, complete run-throughs. I could continue or stop here. If I continue, there will be more waste and less short fibers/crud. Your choice. I stopped here in order to get on with showing you how to take off the fibers from the comb.

I don't have another pic of this, but begin by lifting the fibers off the base of the comb a bit for ease of removal.

Holding the comb firmly in one hand, gather the fibers 'til they look like a goat's beard. Be sure you get all of them, leaving no stray fibers hanging outside of your grasp. First, pinch with your thumb on top and draw out about 1/4 - 1/2 an average staple length of fiber.

Next, pinch the goat's beard with your thumb on the side and draw out the same as above.

Thumb on top again...

Thumb on side again... Etc., etc., etc..... Lookee that top hanging down off the comb...woo-wee baby!

Once the top is off the comb, I like to pre-draft (keeping hand separation just a bit beyond an average staple length...see length between thumbs).

Then I might split the top in half (not vertically...but actually the halves being a top and bottom). If you do this, take the two halves and hold them together and pre-draft again.

Hand-picking out a nep (short fiber) left behind. If I had combed more, I could have removed the few that were left.

The combed CVM top!

Winding a CVM nest.

The finished CVM nest for temporary storage. If you're interested in more detailed info on how to wind a nest, you'll find it here. Yes, I know that I linked to this post already twice this time 'round, but hey...there's a whole lotta info in each post!!!!

Hiccup...but still using the same, 2-pitch, Viking combs. This time, a different fiber will be combed...Shetland...along with an additional "helper" tool...the Pris Pad.

The Pris Pad is a wooden slab that holds the Viking "stationary" comb without using your hand to do so. I'm told it was named after Priscilla Gibson-Roberts who developed it. The Pris Pad has two dowels that keep the Viking comb from moving sideways and a metal dowel that fits into the hole of the handle. A cork or stopper is placed over the metal dowel in order to keep the comb from flying off the pad. A C-clamp, preferably two (I could only find one in the house for some reason!), will hold the Pris Pad in place.

The pretty Shetland that's loaded onto the comb above is "Avocado," from Kathleen Meek's Maybelle Farm. Avocado was a fleece that was divided up amongst members of the
River Spinners in Brattleboro, VT. I scoured my portion of Avocado keeping lock formation, as shown with the CVM earlier. For more information on the beautiful Shetland fleeces available at Maybelle Farm, contact Kathleen at: maybellefarm@hotmail.com or call 802-896-6218.

When using the Pris Pad, load fibers just as you did when hand-holding the Viking combs.

Before you comb, consider lifting the fibers off the base a bit. Doing so will make the combing much easier.

Proceed to comb as previously explained when using the CVM. Remember to keep the tines perpendicular to each other!

Digging deeper into the fiber as the combing continues.

Once all the fiber is off the stationary comb and onto the working comb, there will be waste (short fibers and possibly crud) left on the stationary comb. Take the short fibers and any crud off. Save it, if you like, for a textured yarn. Or use as mulch, stuffing for toys, etc. You're choice.

Now here's where the combing technique when using a Pris Pad can part company with that of using the Vikings completely hand-held. If you'd like, you can leave the stationary comb as is on the Pris Pad. To proceed, the working comb (now holding all the fiber) will continue combing by laying the fibers onto the stationary comb in a vertical fashion. This is exactly what was shown in the past post using English combs: English Wool Combing; Navajo 3-Plying On A Spindle; Leslie's Onion Skin Dyed Cardigan; Bobble-Cuff Socks; NYC Peace Of Mind.

It's important to understand that...instead of the scenario above... you could just remove the empty comb that's now on the Pris Pad and replace it with the once-working comb that's presently holding the fiber (this comb with the fiber will become the new stationary comb and obviously the other comb will become the new working comb). In this way, you can continue with horizontal combing, eliminating vertical combing altogether.

It's hard to see the vertical combing in a pic (as opposed to the action of a video or in-person), but the working comb that's holding the fiber is actually laying fibers onto the stationary comb by travelling from top to bottom (not horizontally as when the fibers were on the stationary comb).

More vertical combing.

Short fibers and crud left from two go-throughs (one horizontal and one vertical). Again, I could have continued combing, with this next time travelling horizontally again, but know that if I did there would be more waste. I felt the fiber looked pretty darn good and figured it was time to draw off the top. When to stop combing really is totally up to you!

Because I'm using the Pris Pad to hold the stationary comb as I draw off the top, I have chosen to use a diz (a concave/convex disk that has a hole or slot in it). The diz above is decidedly not lovely...it's made of ucky pvc plastic. There is a rather large-ish slot in the diz and I have chosen this diz because I want a thicker...rather than thinner...top this time. I chose to make a thicker top because I'm thinking about eventually spinning a thicker, bulkier yarn with it. But more on the spinning in a future post... To see more detailed info on the use of a diz, see the past post : English Wool Combing; Navajo 3-Plying On A Spindle; Leslie's Onion Skin Dyed Cardigan; Bobble-Cuff Socks; NYC Peace Of Mind. Yes, yes...am linking to this post again... The diz slot is sooo big, I don't need anything, no crochet hook or bent paperclip or anything, to help me get the beginning of fiber through it.

Beginning to draw off the Shetland top. Draw out 1/4 - 1/2 of an average staple length.

Gently nudging the diz forward, towards the stationary comb, after drafting the 1/4 -1/2 of an average staple length. Continue...alternating with the drafting and the nudging..

Drawing off the last of the top.

Ooops! A thin spot caused by drafting out beyond 1/4 - 1/2 an average staple length. Not necessarily a major problem tho'. You can always break there when you pre-draft the top or break and rejoin when you're spinning.

Pretty "Avocado" Shetland wool top!

You can proceed, if you like, by pre-drafting the top...or not...do as you wish.

A nest of Avocado.

There's a good chance that the CVM top and the Avocado top will be spun into a yarn for a knitted head band. Hmmmm. We'll see...

Hiccup.

On Ravelry I chatted a bit about silk spinning and I thought that maybe my blog readers who didn't see it might find the info useful. Here goes. Know that some folks were talking about putting lots of twist into their silk yarns... I responded by writing:
I'd like to give an alternate opinion on how much twist is needed for silk yarn, be it spun on a spindle or a wheel...not wishing to confuse or be contrary, but coming from the standpoint that I've seen an awful lot of waaayyyyy overtwisted silk yarn grounded on the well-meaning advice that silk needs a lot of twist. It's a fine line between silk having enough twist and having too much...and a high ratio whorl size can put too much twist in, *quick as a wink*, before the beginning or even more advanced silk spinner realizes it's being done! As a lover of spinning silk for handknitting I can say that I use oftentimes the largest or second largest of my regular whorls for most of my silk singles that will be plied for knitting (depends on which wheel I'm using but it may be anywhere from 7:1-11:1 at most). Silk has surprisingly strong individual fibers and the twist added increases this strength. Silk for handspinners is usually cut long of staple (but not always...check average staple length prior to spinning...sometimes it's cut quite short when blended in sliver with a fiber that's short, such as yak or camel down). Twist can indeed enhance the luster of silk, but too much twist will turn the yarn into hard, super-strong rope that's NOT attractive. Yes, silk can be defined as slick and even slippery, but the key to easier/better spinning is not necessarily going down to a smaller-groove whorl size (ie. a higher ratio), *but adjusting the take-up so that you can comfortably spin it without the wheel pulling the singles in an uncomfortably strong fashion before enough twist can build up for stability*. Consider sampling in order to find the whorl size that will put in the amount of twist that will suit the yarn you're dreaming of for your chosen end product...silk yarn for a little purse or bag might have a decidedly different amount of twist than silk yarn used in a scarf. Also, there's that ol' general rule of thumb where the finer the yarn the more twist needed to make a yarn stable; the thicker the yarn the less twist to make a yarn stable...holding true for silk yarns, as well as for other fibers. I like to consider my whorl choices as "comfort" tools, which will help me to put in the amount of twist I need into my yarn...considering whorls in this way is directly related to how fast a spinner likes to treadle and how fast a spinner's hands comfortably work to draft and perform whatever technique the spinner chooses to do. In order to test if a silk singles has enough twist to make it stable (ie. not drift apart), tug just beyond the average staple length or more with both hands going in opposite directions. If you feel slipping of the fibers, add a bit more twist. Also, if the singles are to be plied, do ply-back samples to see if the amount of twist you put into your singles will give you the plied yarn that you are hoping for.

Above you'll see a proud display of my '08 potato and pumpkin plants as they grow and thrive. A few potatoes from last year saw fit to grow in this year's pumpkin patch. Go figure.

Second-year weld...looking oh-so-beautiful. Weld is great to use for natural dyeing, producing a clear yellow with an alum pre-mordant.

Slugs haven't bothered any of the above plants, but they do like to slime up my marigolds if given half the chance. I don't have anywhere near as many slugs as I once had...thankfully...and those that do appear are promptly picked off and thrown into the nearby forest. But what to do about that awful slime that won't wash easily off the hands? I've found that one of the best ways to get the gook off is by rubbing my hands on a dry stone. Works like a charm.

Speaking of gardening, I've been spending one day a week doing a bit of professional gardening. Depending on where this is done, I'm either an under-gardener or a weeder. Jenna says that since I am also now professionally reading Tarot, I'm "a writer, a reader, and a weeder." Say that fast a few times...

Chris said recently it was a bit mysterious what I'm doing gardening-wise. When he picks me up I look like something the cat dragged in and I can't keep my eyes open for more than a minute into the trip home. Let the pic above be proof that I'm no slacker.

Above you'll find a private veggie garden I helped put in. That's Druid in the foreground. She's a peach of a dog, but when she doesn't want to do something, there ain't no budging her. Jenna, head gardener, is in the background dealing with one of those big posts for a fence that will keep the neighborhood dogs from stomping on the peppers, tomatoes, etc.

Hiccup.

I'll end with a situation that Jenna and I found ourselves in recently. We had gone shopping together at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. We were both carrying all sorts of heavy stuff to the car, which was in the parking garage a street over from the Co-op. Jenna was carrying, among other things, a big-dog squash. A man approached us for any spare change we may have. The street we were on was deserted except for the man and we (make that "I") felt it best not to engage in any talk with him since we were about to enter an equally deserted multi-storied, dark, unattended (ok, the police do video-monitor it) parking garage. The man proceeded to follow us closely and badger us, saying very unsavory things. Me...originally from Detroit started to make a bee-line outa there. Jenna, I could feel, was gonna have a bloody conversation with him. I motioned her to follow me. It was hotter than hell and we had to go all the way around the block...uphill...the long way...with the freakin' squash in hand.

Half way 'round the block, we stopped to rest. Here's Jenna with that damn squash.

Jenna asked what I would have used to defend us, if need be? I held up some facial toner and the Emergen-C box. 'course there was also the snapdragon next to me... Geez, I wouldn't want to meet ME in a dark alley looking like that...

Ooosh...almost forgot my second "Dad" story promised...

Who To Put First

Sometime during the first year of my marriage, my Dad gave me some unforgettable advice, that I pass on to others to this day. Having come from a situation where he and Ma lived the first five years of their marriage with my Ma's mother, he said, "You don't EVER want to live with an in-law if you can help it."

Dad went on to say, "Put your husband first. Then your children. Then your relatives." 'course he assumed I'd make sure all was well and good with me to begin with. I found his advice puzzling at first. He clarified his words by saying, "Don't let your children overly manipulate the two of you. As a team, a husband and wife can make the best choices for the family's well-being. If your relatives, including your Ma and me, don't like it...think over whatever choices you've made and if you still feel in your hearts they were the best choices, ignore us!"

'til next time. Happy 4th of July all you USA folks! Happy Canada Day Oh Canadian friends!!

Flick Carding; Alexander Graduates; Brooklyn Botanical Gardens; Knittacia; '08 Potato Planting

2008-05-31T19:39:00.061-05:00

Pledging My Time

Well, early in the mornin'

'Til late at night
I got a poison headache
But I feel all right
I'm pledging my time to you
Hopin' you'll come through, too
~Bob Dylan

Yes, I'm a little late getting this post up. Yes, it's a little shorter than many of my other posts. Yes, the posts will definitely get even shorter each month as I delve further into BOOK work. Something tells me you'll understand. Thank you.

The above pic kicks off the spider's 2008 potato growing season. To my surprise and delight, a package came in the post that was laden with Kennebec potato seeds. It was a gift from that amazing couple, Tom and Diane Golding, who produce the beautiful and superbly crafted Golding Fiber Tools. Tom and Diane have apparently been following my potato-ey progress (or lack thereof) during the last two years, as documented on the blog in these past posts: You Say Potato -- I Say Potaaaahto and "Learn To Spin '07" At Harrisville Designs & Lynn's "The Purple Sock". Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Golding!! I'll do you proud (or my potatoes will, that is)!

Before I continue I'd like to point out my spiffy new hat. Chris bought it for me on a recent trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's a real "Tilley!" Please believe me when I say that I've been hankering for a Tilley for many years. I was really excited to own such a cool hat. Anyways, when potato planting time came (the dandelions were up), I was a little reticent to wear my Tilley 'cause I didn't want to get it dirty (even tho' they're machine washable, for goodness sakes.) Chris responded by saying, "Waddya think your hat is...high fashion or something?" Well, yes...my type of high fashion...said from a woman who couldn't care less if her purse and shoes match. Later when we were on a walk together, me sporting my Tilley proudly, I asked him if my nose stuck out beyond the brim, worried that maybe I should slather on the sunscreen now that the sun was getting more intense. Chris answered, "Who you think your daddy is...Geppetto? Your ass is not Pinocchio!"

A few days later I was busy trying to wash planting pots in hot water in our kitchen sink. Chris got all distressed and said, "Can't you do this outdoors?" I responded, "But I need hot water to kill any icky, bacterial stuff from last year." Chris became more agitated and said, "It's...It's...It's uncivilized!" Poor Cancer-Sun-Chris who has to put up with my Sagittarius-Sun-Ass. I hauled hot water outside in a bucket to clean my pots. geesh.

Take a gander at how those potato babies are growing green and strong!

Speaking of stylish headgear...After I started getting swarmed by black flies as I got the potato beds ready (testament that the flies freakin LOVE the generous application of Llama-Llama-Pooh-Pooh added to the beds), I decided to wear a netted hat that friend and Lunar Lady, Leslie, gifted me last year. It's a bloody lifesaver...especially since I know I'm allergic to black fly bites. It kinda looks like I'm either in mourning or ready to drive in a convertible car during the Victorian era, eh? Well, better than the cauliflower ear I get when even one black fly takes a nibble.

This past Sunday was spent applauding our Alexander, youngest of the spider, as he graduated with an Associate's degree from Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts. His major is/was Media Arts. We are very proud and wish him well as he FINDS A JOB AND MOVES TO HIS OWN APARTMENT. Woo-double-hoo!

Alexander and his ever-loving Ma.

Hiccup. The above pic shows a very recent, one-dayer, NYC trip. While Chris and David, oldest of the spider, and drummer friend, Gary, rehearsed at David's apartment in Brooklyn for an upcoming gig at the University of the Streets in Manhattan (see website linked to Chris' name for the date and time of the gig)...I jumped on the Q and headed over to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for a day of bliss...all by my happy self. I've been to these gardens before, but never was able to catch the Spanish Bluebells in bloom. Let's just say this pic doesn't begin to show the utter loveliness of the woods ablaze with dainty, blue flowers.

Then there was this neat Chinese Witch Hazel that was smooged right up next to a wooden fence of the bark's same color.

And how could I resist showing you this fellow spider, hanging out in the Children's Garden?!

Hiccup again. Knittacia (on Ravelry), also known as Wenche and hailing from Norway, kindly sent me the above Norwegian wool to try spinning. Wenche said, "I know it is a blend of 50% spring shearing and 50% fall shearing (I believe shearing is the name you use…). It is from white Norwegian sheep, but I am not sure if it is all from the one breed or a mix of different breeds."

Pretty Wenche!!

Wenche spun the same wool in a most wonderful way!!

As for me, I have decided that the Norwegian wool is the much needed ingredient in my Silk Latte and qiviut blend (see past post, Spindle Spun & Plied Silk Latte and Qiviut For Knitted Lace ). I had been looking for a wool that was shortish of staple and had some "body" that would give substance to the too-drapey Silk Latte and qiviut blend. Now I hadn't decided that the original blend was "too drapey" until I pondered over it some months (I do not often make fast decisions...In fact, I don't do anything fast...ask my friends if you don't believe me...)

Here's a bit of info that Wenche wrote about herself that I found interesting and I know you will, too:
As for when I got started, I would say I have been doing most of it my whole life. When I grew up my mother did a lot of sewing and knitting, and I made her teach me. I was knitting and sewing when I was 5-6 years old. And I have always had an interest for crafts in general. In my early school years I was saying that I wanted to become a fashion designer, but for some reason that all changed. I thing the world thought that that was not the “right” choice to make. My knitting was always there, but when I got pregnant (2002) I started doing it a lot more than I had used to. I started to look at knitting blogs all over the world and that was where I read about American knitters getting into spinning. So I ordered myself a spindle and wool on Ebay in 2005. And because there was no shops where I could by spinning supplies in Norway, I started to plan and build my shop already in 2006. But because I was having health issues I did not open the shop until February this year. My grandmother that just recently passed away, also was an inspiration to me. She did a lot of knitting, sewing and crochet. It was all very pretty work she did, but the thing that she was most proud of, was sewing all the shirts for the Norwegian National costume - Bunad. They are mostly sewn by hand and there are lots of small details to sew with white tread on white shirt. She did more than 200 shirts and one of them is owned by the Norwegian Queen Sonja. This off course, meant so much for her. She also did a lot of spinning and weaving in her younger days. Living at a sheep-farm, that was something they all did. Even my father now knows how to use hand carders, how to spin, and how to set up a loom. My other grandmother that is still alive is doing a lot of knitting. It is exclusively socks and mittens. And they are almost always hand-felted. They really are pretty and very well made. My own mother does not do any crafts. She is a nurse and her work has caused pain in her arms and shoulders, and she had to stop knitting. But all my crafting has gotten her interested and she now have a spindle and just got an old spinning wheel that used to belong to her grandmother. I was hoping to get her into the crafts again. And I have a wish that she can start helping me with the shop. She has a very good eye for colors and design, and I was hoping she could start to dye. I am sure she could be very good at it.

Thank you, Wenche! Look for more on Norwegian wools in future blog posts.

Hiccup.

The spinning techie portion of this blog, featuring flick carding, was born when the following correspondence took place on Ravelry between Hope (hopetoknit on Ravelry) and myself (jennyspider on Ravelry):

Thank you, Jenny, for your understandable, detailed directions on how to hand card. I am a beginning spinner working my way through the first fleece, a Jacob sheep, and I hear “use flicker for long locks,” “use carders for short locks.” Now I can use the carders for the long locks too.

There is evidently a difference in outcome between the two tools, but I don’t see it at this point. Can you explain or point me somewhere?

Thank you.

Hope

Dear Hope,
Thank you for your kind words about the hand carding instructions on my blog. I'm glad my tappings have been of help to you. Flick carders and hand carders are two, very different tools, indeed. They do have some things in common: they have many metal tines set in carding cloth attached to a paddle of wood with a handle. The flick carder (smaller than hand cards) is used as a single paddle, often in conjunction with a sturdy pad of leather or canvas that's set on the lap. The hand carders are used as a pair of paddles together (each being bigger than a flick carder). The flick carder is generally used to open up fibers of a single lock at a time (if we're talking wool), whereas the hand carders are often used to open up and blend more than one lock (if we're talking wool) at a time. Flick carders aren't generally used for blending more than one fiber type or color together, but with all the spinners out there and their various, resulting techniques, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks have figured out how to use the flick carder for blending. Hand carders, however, are the wonderful tool of choice that can blend more than one fiber type and/or color together. Also, hand carders can be used to blend just one fiber type together in order to homogenize the individual fibers more fully. How homogenous the blend becomes depends on how much you card the fibers together.

I think the best advice I can give you, Hope, is to take everything you hear spouted as "rules" with a grain of salt. 'course, as a beginner one has to start somewhere. But keep an open mind and know that you'll read more than one way to do something. That said, a flicker can be used for shorter locks and hand carders can be used for longer locks (the opposite of what you heard, eh?!) I do agree tho'...it's easier to use hand cards with fibers under 5" (anything longer can always be cut!) and it's easier to use a flick carder with anything over 3". Please don't be dismayed by this, just go with the directions that make the most sense to you and know that there are no hard and fast rules for anything in spinning (except not to hurt your own body or equipment while working.)

Flick carding allows one to spin from a single lock or staple length of fiber. One can spin from the end of this opened-up lock, and depending on the spinning techniques used, can get a smoother yarn from this more parallel fiber prep. But one can also spin the opened-up lock from the fold, and depending on the spinning techniques used, can get an airier, perhaps more lofty yarn. That said, depending on the spinning techniques used, one can get an open, airy yarn from spinning from the end and a smoother, denser yarn from spinning from the fold (ie. the opposite of what I first said!)

Hand carding allows one to spin from a rolag (rolling the resulting batt down the carder) or a cigar (rolling the resulting batt across the carder) or from the corner or side of a batt, holding the handful of carded fibers as you spin. Depending on the spinning technique used, one can get any number of results in the finished yarn.

One thing to keep in mind, however...flick carding (whether used more as a brush or patted) does remove some/most or even all (depending on how aggressive you are) of the short fibers in the staple. Hand carding does not remove the short fibers, and thus blends short and long fibers together. Taking this a bit further, flick carding can removed some of the undesirable short bits (neps) or tangled longer fibers (noils). Hand carding, on the other hand, does a great job of blending the undesirable bits into the batt, whether you want them there or not! Therefore, my personal preferance is to gently dog rake locks prior to hand carding with a set of hand carders in order to remove anything that's undesirable.

Best wishes and happy carding...be it flick carded or hand carded or drum carded!!
Cheers, Jenny

Below you'll find a few photos that show two different ways to use a flick carder. The first set of pics demonstrate the flick carder with a brushing technique. The last set of pics demonstrate how to flick card with tapping motions.

A Canadian friend of mine, Monika, made this nifty cloth cover for my old Clemes and Clemes flick carder years ago. The lock I'll be demonstrating with is from a Romney named Monica, who resides with Alice Field, wool breeder extraordinare, in Lee, Massachusetts.

When I open the flick carder's cloth cover-up, it is the perfect doubled cloth in which to flick card on top of. You may like to use an old piece of leather or canvas to protect your tender legs from the flick carder's metal tines.

In the above pic, I'm about to firmly hold onto the butt end of the lock. Some people like to first put a twist in the middle of the lock. I generally do not do this, however. The main thing is to hold onto one side of the lock at a time, making sure you card the middle of the lock, as well. You could start by holding either the butt end or the tip end first...no matter...you'll have to card both sides eventually.

Eeesh. Don't look too closely at my filthy, raggedy nails. Them be potato-planting nails!

As mentioned a moment ago, the first technique I'm showing is how to use the flick carder with a brushing motion. You'll find out pretty quick what happens if you're not holding onto the lock firmly enough...

More brushing...

Consider turning over the lock to brush the other side for a more thorough job.

The tip side of the lock flick carded by using the brushing technique.

Now I'm ready to do the same to the butt end by holding the tip end firmly.

A flick carded lock!
Yes, the flick carder does remove some short and undesirable bits.

The above pic shows me again holding the butt end of a lock that hasn't been flick carded yet. I'm about to use the tapping technique that was developed in either New Zealand or Australia or...? Anyone have a definitive answer for this? Thanks.

The tapping technique involves...well, tapping. It's a purposeful up and down tap...no wishy-washy tapping going on here. As you hit downward, the fibers begin to separate from each other, helped to do so by static electricity.

You can't see the downward hit as an action shot in this pic, but do imagine it to be so. Tap, tap, tap!! Watch out that you don't tap your own hand!!!

A partially tapped lock.

A lock that's been tapped a few times. Note that I'll have to tap the butt end in order to open it up, too...just like how we did when we used the brushing technique.

Once a lock is flick carded...and I'm guessing you'll want to do several, if not a basketful, of these locks...you can spin the lock easily from the fold. Or...

You can spin the flick carded lock from the end. Note that it's actually my pinkie and ring fingers that are holding a tad more firmly on the lock in order to spin from it. My thumb, pointer and tall-man are only guiding the lock...not clamping down...because if they did clamp down, I wouldn't be spinning from the end of the lock easily. Remember...those fibers have to slip past each other in order for drafting to occur. And don't forget that when you're spinning from the end of the lock, you're spinning from the whole, average staple length. So it's up to you (using good driver control) to make sure the fibers slip past each other so that drafting can happen!

With Father's Day coming up in June, I thought you might like another of my "Dad" stories. This time, it features Chris, too...a fantastic Dad in his own right.

How 'bout A Guy Like That?

I dated various guys during my high school and college days. Here and there Dad would make comments about these boys and perhaps give a bit of advice, but generally he just left me to my own choices. According to Ma, I was just like Dad in his early, pre-marriage days, "burning a candle at both ends" by dating a few folks at one time and staying out until the wee hours of the morning...a sometimes tightrope walking activity.

One summer whilst living in a dorm at college, I was to go on a picnic with the team of Resident Assistants and Directors. I had been employed to keep watch on a floor of the dormitory where I resided and for my efforts was given my room and board plus $15 a month.
I asked Dad to bring down the picnic cooler as no one else had parents within driving distance who were willing to help.

All the R.A.'s were busy packing up the cars with food, blankets, frisbees and other fun stuff to use on a sunny day by the lake. It just so happened that a guy named Chris was also a fellow R.A. Dad knew I was dating a guy from South America at the time, but when Chris offered to help move the cooler from my Dad's car AND they shook hands...firm handshakes, I might add...Dad whispered, "Now how 'bout a guy like that? Good looking guy with a great smile and no-nonsense handshake?" I giggled and playfully told my Dad to mind his own business.

Turned out Dad knew what he was talking about. I married Chris, had two boys with him and we we'll be celebrating our 29th anniversary next January.

Won't you come with me, baby?
I'll take you where you wanna go
And if it don't work out
You'll be the first to know
I'm pledging my time to you
Hopin' you'll come through, too

Well, the room is so stuffy
I can hardly breathe
Ev'rybody's gone but me and you
And I can't be the last to leave
I'm pledging my time to you
Hopin' you'll come through, too
~"Pledging My Time" by Bob Dylan

'til next month... Wishing YOU a healthy potato crop...or a happy and healthy whatever-else-you-like-to-grow in your gardens.