Spinnin' on Top of the World

Tour de Fleece - Basket o' Fun Morph

2011-08-19T09:32:00.005-06:00

Day One:

Much of what I spun in its original form. From top left: Rambouillet, Hobbledehoy ArtBatt, braid of silk, handful of kid mohair locks from Kai Mohair, 1 lb. of Gulf Coast Native wool.

Day Six:

Starting to morph! Gulf Coast Native and Rambouillet have been carded, mohair and ArtBatt have been spun, silk still in original form.

Day Twenty-three:

All the finished yarns. Fibers from the Basket o' Fun have been spun, plus a skein of white Targhee, another ArtBatt, a braid of superwash merino from Cloudlover fibers, and the "get it off my bobbin so I can start spinning the good stuff" pink navajo-ply. In the middle is the bobbin of alpaca/feathers that I was working on at the close of the Tour.

Tour de Fleece Days 12-21

2011-08-11T10:41:00.003-06:00

Oh, hi. What the heck happened here? Did I forget to post about the end of the Tour? How...different. ;)

Let's see.

DAY 12

More silk! Neverending silk!

DAY 13

The silk ended after all. Whew. 238 yards, 1 oz., laceweight.

DAY 14

After days of spinning silk, it was so refreshing to spin a quick bulky two ply from some gorgeous handpainted superwash Merino top from Cloudlover. Colorway is Crusoe.

DAY 15

And then I took a break from sitting in my hotter-than-Hades apartment and headed to the Colorado Renaissance Festival with friends. Naturally I dressed up. And spun on my spindle. :) Here I'm spinning some hand-combed Rambouillet top.

DAY 16

Targhee, spun on my finally-fixed Victoria. Notice I got carried away shooting the breeze with the neighbors and forgot to move the yarn-guide on a regular basis. Fail.

DAY 17

Technically this was a Rest Day. But I did do a little carding. These loco batts have a little bit of everything from my scrap basket. Too bad my camera does not understand red. "Red? Does not compute. PINK!!!!!!!!!"

DAY 18

Towards the end of the Tour, yarns were really coming together. Here's the finished yarn I started on Day 15. I was so happy with it. I think I'll be knitting some sort of little baby sweater for a friend from this lovely. 208 yards.

DAY 19

The finished yarn from Day 16! So smooshtastic. Targhee wool, 461 yards, laceweight.

DAY 20

This was a fun, quick spin! It's another corespun Hobbledehoy ArtBatt. Only about 60 yards, but uberbulky, with interesting textures.

DAY 21

This pic is terrible, so I made sure it was small. It's hand-dyed alpaca with feathers inserted willy-nilly. I'm not sure how I feel about it, so I didn't get all gung-ho and finish it before the end of the Tour.

After Day 21, I kind of pooped out. I spent the next couple of days attending a wedding and then recovering from said wedding, and so my last photo was of the Basket o' Fun. I've decided to let the Basket o' Fun have its own special post. It's pretty cool to see it morph.

Tour de Fleece - Days 6 - 11

2011-07-13T15:16:00.003-06:00

Uh, whoops! Forgot to post for a few days there!

Day 6

Corespun Hobbledehoy ArtBatt. We're talking soft wools, locks, bling, and angora spun around a cotton core. My favorite! About 40 yards, I think.

Day 7

Finally started spinning my challenge yarn that counts towards both Team Raw Power! and Team A Spinner's Study. This is a singles yarn from Gulf Coast Native wool, which I processed from raw fleece. For Team Raw Power!, you must process 1 lb. of raw fleece into yarn. For Team A Spinner's Study, I'm doing Challenge #1, which is to spin a wool breed (or any fiber, I s'pose) which is new to me. Gulf Coast Native sheep are native to northwest Florida! They were brought there by Spanish settlers (think St. Augustine) and gradually adapted to their surroundings. The wool is moderately soft...soft enough for the blanket I'm planning (I think), but should hold up better than the ridiculously soft stuff. Nice to spin some yarn with some teeth.

Day 8

Here we have the first plied skein of Gulf Coast Native wool. Whoo hoo! About 180 yards.

Day 9

Silk spinning from bombyx silk combed top. Yeah. I'm crazy. This skein is going to be eensy. Maybe I'll weave with it!

Day 10

Day of Rest from the Tour! However, I didn't rest...this was my LYS's spin-in day. So I went to that and spun more silk, which would be a boring photo.

Day 11

The silk spinning goes on! But I also finished my second skein of the GCN fleece. Whoopity whoop!

And just for reference, here is a pic of the Basket o' Fun as it looked on Day 7:

Tour de Fleece - Day 5

2011-07-06T14:33:00.004-06:00

FINISHED! With the mohair boucle of crazy! 121 yards.

Gosh, it feels good to say that. Finished. Yay. Not that I didn't enjoy the process, it's just a long one, and I kept screwing up. First, I had to tease apart all the mohair, which took awhile. Then I spun the singles from the cloud, so that tends to mean fighting the fiber a bit. Mistake #1: spinning the singles Z instead of S. Then I plied with a commercial 80/20 angora/silk weaving yarn. Mistake #2: not putting in enough twist in this first S ply. Then I tried to add the binder thread by spinning Z again, effectively cabling the yarn. Unfortunately, without a huge amount of twist in the first round of plying, most of the neat boucle effect began to even out. This wouldn't have been as noticeable if I hadn't spun the singles in the wrong direction, but what can you say. Dang. So I cut off what I'd done so far and sent the first round of plying back through the wheel, adding more twist. Turns out it still wasn't quite enough twist, but by this time I'd had it, and just cabled the whole thing with the tencel binder thread.

Oh, well. Still looks pretty cool. Might use this for weaving.

Mileage check-in: 252 yards spun & plied

Tour de Fleece - Day 4

2011-07-06T14:31:00.001-06:00

This is the mohair that never ends!

Being plied with commercial alpaca/silk weaving yarn:

Tour de Fleece - Day 3

2011-07-05T08:28:00.002-06:00

Considering it was eleventy billion degrees inside my apartment on Day 3 of the tour (the high in Boulder was 100 degrees. Not okay.), I trucked my Kiwi outside and started on a mohair boucle yarn.

I began with luscious kid mohair locks from Kai Mohair, teased them apart, and spun "from the cloud."

The bobbin took awhile to fill, and I was moving at a snail's pace. My neighbors and I were gathered at the creek, since staying in our apartments was not advised, and we were a little lethargic.

I didn't get enormously far, but I did start plying the mohair with a pretty alpaca/silk thread. I'll probably finish that ply today before putting in a binder ply to hold it all together. Not sure what possessed me to do such a labor intensive yarn, especially because I'm on the Sprinters TdF team and we're supposed to spin like a mile or something, but I've never done a true mohair boucle before and wanted to give it a shot.

It was kind of too bad that the creek was snow melt and just dipping your feet in there could give you hypothermia (or at least in theory...Josh's feet were bright pink after a few seconds), but it did motivate us to gather the neighbors and head for the hills. Nederland, up in the mountains, was about 20 degrees cooler and had a fantastic fireworks display! Wishing everyone a happy 4th!

Tour de Fleece - Day 2!

2011-07-04T11:16:00.002-06:00

Today: The merino/silk/sparkle singles yarn...onward! Since I'm not enamored with this yarn, I decided to navajo (chain) ply it, mostly to quickly free up the bobbin for things I like a little more.

Stats:

12 WPI - sport weight

131 yards

semiworsted: drumcarded prep, spun mostly woollen but sometimes worsted because I became laaaaaazy about it.

Tour de Fleece...and we're off!

2011-07-02T21:40:00.002-06:00

Le Tour in pictures! Here we go. Day 1.

I had a merino/silk/sparkle batt that I finished spinning this morning on my Kiwi. I'm not super excited about it, and continue to be befuddled by the pull of pink. I don't even like pink. Or wear it. So why do I spin so much of it? It is a Mystery. Since it's not my favorite, I'm punishing it by making its photo small. Anyway, here is the bobbin, getting ready to be navajo-plyed:

I'll get to plying that puppy tomorrow, but in the meantime, I gathered together some other fibers that I'm definitely going to tackle during the Tour. We've got a lb. of Gulf Coast Native fleece, some Rambouillet I dyed a deep wine (carding this tomorrow), a FABULOUS Hobbledehoy ArtBatt, some lovely mohair by Kai Mohair in Texas (I just can't pass by that "salad bar" of dyed mohair without buying some!) and a gorgeous little braid of mulberry silk. Yum.

Then after breaky, Josh and I left for Micah and Kelly's farm, as Josh's & Micah's dad is in town and the three of them were going to build a gate for the front porch. My interest in gate-building is...uh...maybe 1%, so I was satisfied to sit on the porch with a cute pup and spin some Targhee batts I'd carded pre-Tour.

All was going swimmingly. Until this happened:

Sob! broken conrod joint! A flat on the first day of the Tour! Well, dang it. Tomorrow I guess I'll break out the superglue and/or duct tape and go to town on my poor, crippled Victoria. In the meantime, I still have the Kiwi! And this serves as your public service announcement: always be sure to own at least two spinning wheels.

Gearing up...

2011-07-01T22:28:00.003-06:00

Boom! Two posts in one day! That's right!

This one is more of an organizational mini-post, though. Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow, and I need to get all my ducks in a row. YEEEEEHAW!

Teams for TdF 2011:

- Sprinters (don't plan on spinning lace, necessarily, but I'll be spinning a LOT)

- Breakaways (whooooo, art yarns!)

- Team Raw Power (starting from 1 lb. of raw fleece)

- Team A Spinner's Study (spin something I've never spun before; in my case, Gulf Coast Native)

- Team Louet (I heart my Victoria)

- Team FAYS (fiber artists and yarn spinners - originally a Facebook group)

- Team Cloudlover (gotta support one of my fave indie dyers!)

- Team Tour de Batt (it's all about the carding)

- informal Team Hobbledehoy

...and...because I must,

- Team Hopelessly Overcommitted. And yes. I am.

Honestly? I'd love to join more teams, like some of the funky weird and/or nerdy ones. But much as I'd really like to be on Team Browncoats or Team Winter is Coming or Team Sparkle Ho, I'm full up. Like for realz. If I manage to keep up with the photography for all of this, it will be a freakin' miracle.

I've got a basket o' fibers ready to go...it should see me through at least a week or two. I hope!

Yarngineering

2011-07-01T14:28:00.002-06:00

While I get my photos together (finally!) from the Forks trip and gather materials for this year's Tour de Fleece (starts tomorrow...whooohoo!), I thought I'd post a little about prepping & drafting, what I like to call yarngineering. Because everything needs a silly made-up word attached to it. Yes.

A friend of mine who is a newbie-ish spinner asked me how I'd recommend she prep and spin a lovely CVM (California Varigated Mutant) fleece she purchased at Estes Park Wool Market. Loaded question! But definitely worth a thoughtful answer. She was worried she'd do it "wrong" and ruin her fleece. Pshaw! We don't have wrong in spinning...we have it depends. ;)

You can prep any fleece any way you want to, but working with your fleece and listening to what it wants to do can really enhance your final yarn. Here are some options:

Carded fiber, long draw: best with fiber that is under 3 or so inches in length. This is because it's just easier to card and spin if it's short. Gives a soft, woolen yarn, fuzzy and lightweight, with lots of air, so it's super warm. Downside: pills easily.

Carded fiber, short draw: I do this one all the time, usually with one leg flung up on the couch and my eyes on the TV or a book, because I'm lazy. Just do a short draw, but let the twist go between your fingers. Best with fibers shorter than 3" due to the reasons above. Gives a woolen yarn with the above characteristics, but usually with more twist than long draw yarns.

Combed fiber, long or short woolen draw: Generally not recommended unless you're working with hand-combed top. Commercial top is usually too compacted for this method to work easily, so you'll find yourself fighting the fiber. Gives what's called a semi-woolen yarn.

Combed fiber, short worsted draw: good all-around method for commercial combed top. No twist is in the drafting triangle (between your hands/fingers). Also great for long wools, whether commercial prep or hand-combed...it emphasizes shine and drape. Gives a worsted yarn that results in defined stitches and durable fabric. Downside: heavy, and not as much warmth as woolen yarn.

Carded fiber, short **worsted** draw: One of my favorite ways to spin. It seems to enhance the good points of both woolen and worsted spinning and somehow minimizes the downsides of each method. Gives what's called a semi-worsted yarn, which is light and fluffy, yet more defined & more durable than a usual woolen yarn. Again, this method is better with shorter wools under 3", due to having to be carded first. Long wools are tough to card.

Other wacky ways to spin:

Over-the-fold: This works well with ridiculously short or down fibers. You basically wrap the lock or tuft of roving over the first finger of your hand and spin off the tip of your finger. This gives a woolen-ish yarn, though each fiber is basically folded in half as you spin, so you generally end up with a bit of a halo in your yarn. If you're trying to play up a halo (like with angora bunny yarn), this is a great method. This method is also nice for slippery fibers (i.e. soysilk)...it tends to keep the slipperiness in check.

From the lock: Also great for very short or fine fibers (say, a fiber that's too short to comb and too fragile to card, like a superfine 1 1/2 inch-stapled Rambouillet lamb fleece...ask me how I know...). Most superfine fleeces nep up while being carded, and this is one way to avoid neps. Take each lock, give it a twist in the middle to keep it under control, and comb out each end with a flicker brush or dog comb. Then spin straight from either fluffed end. This gives a semi-worsted yarn. Downside: time-consuming.

Carded fiber (usually rolags), double-draft longdraw: This is really hard to master. Or do at all, in my case. It involves ramping up the ratio on your wheel, treadling quickly, drafting back very VERY quickly, then kind of walking your hand back up the yarn to even out the larger lumps to make a low-twist, fluffy yarn. Hard. Hard. Hard. In my opinion, of course.

So! With, say, a lovely CVM fleece such as my friend Danielle's, you might want to start at the end, so to speak. Do you have a project in mind? Do you want a higher or lower twist yarn? Generally speaking, a lower-twist yarn is great for lace knitting and for weaving delicate projects. Low-twist yarn drapes beautifully in lacework and "sits" well in weaving. Higher twist yarns are perfect for socks, rug warp or weft, and for giving a yarn extra strength and durability.

CVM fleeces tend to be on the shorter side, staple-length-wise...this is due to their Merino blood (all fine wool breeds have some merino blood somewhere). So I personally would card this fleece. Hand-combed top is luscious and wonderful to spin, but you would have a ton of waste with a shorter-staple fleece. Mini-combs with multiple rows of tines set close together would be a good choice if you decided to go the combed route. From the lock would be nice, but takes SO. MUCH. TIME. So carded might work out best, unless you have specialized equipment. Use carding cloth (either hand cards or drum carder) that has a higher number of TPI (tines per inch) so that the fine fibers are captured by the cloth and well-carded. Card slowly...CVM can be delicate and needs a light touch. Otherwise you'll be picking neps out of your batt or rolags as you spin.

Okay, so you have carded fleece. Now how to spin?? Just look over the above methods and decide what you want to emphasize in the yarn. Keep in mind that CVM is very crimpy, so the yarn will poof up a little when you're setting the twist and will also have great elasticity.

There are many, many ways to go about yarngineering. This post only touched on a few of the basics. Do you have a favorite way to prep and draft that isn't covered? Feel free to post it in the comments section! :)

An Open Letter to Mononucleosis

2011-06-02T13:17:00.004-06:00

Oh, stupid mono. You broadsided me. I had no idea you were coming, then BOOM! there you were. Because of you, I spent 13 days straight in bed, moaning for my mom. And because of your pesky pre-fever fatigue and lingering after-effects, I haven't spun anything at all in over a month. A month! That is cruel, mono.

Coming back from my Forks trip, I was on a spinny high. I was freshly inspired by all the wonderful, interesting, and even mind-blowing experiences, and all I wanted to do after I returned was to put my new knowledge to use, spinning feathers and cotton straight from the boll and long-draw bison. But you wouldn't let me. No. You caused me to fall asleep at 8 p.m. and just curl up on the couch on the weekends, missing get-togethers with my friends. Then you really had your way. A fever that spiked over and over again, horrible chills, fatigue that caused me to have to rest midway between the bedroom and the bathroom, malaise that caused me to miss graduations and barbecues and Josh's Swedish family being in town. That was you.

Stupid mono. I wish I could completely kick you out of town, but I understand that you hide in my body, biding your time until you feel like coming back. Well, I refuse. You are not allowed back. I will drink gallons of Emergen-C and Good Belly and will take mountains of vitamins to prevent you from barging in again. You are not wanted here.

Sincerely,
Nicole

Forks!

2011-04-11T08:59:00.002-06:00

In T-minus 2 days, I'm leaving for a week in Washington State. I've been planning this since last August, and it's finally here...the Tribal Textile Treasures workshop with Judith Mackenzie McCuin. I'm extremely excited. And trying to contain myself, because I have three more days of the day job to wade through to get there.

My friends Connie, Stephanie, and Debi and I are leaving Wednesday evening, around 9:00 pm, I believe. We'll arrive in Seattle in time to crash in a nearby airport hotel, then rise bright and early to rent a car (more likely a minivan to hold the mounds of FIBER!), and drive to Forks, WA for the workshop. Recently we were e-mailed a rough itinerary, and it looks like Thursday will be a meet-and-greet, Friday will be the day we journey up to the Makah tribal museum and Neah Bay (and learn to weave with cedar), Saturday will be a spinathon of feathers, mountain goat, and woolly dog, Sunday will be our day in La Push, learning from the Quileute elders, and Monday we'll finish up around noon. My fiber buds and I decided early on to extend our trip a bit, and we'll be heading back to Seattle to explore the area a little. Tuesday we have plans to go whale-watching, which is pretty darn cool. The return date is Wednesday. It's times like these I really mourn the usual American policy of stingy time off!

You may have noticed that I mentioned a few places that are familiar from the Twilight books (Forks, La Push, etc.). I might be the only person in the world who has not read these books. I tried twice to read the first one forever ago and put it down. I hate to be critical (especially because I know how many people love these books), but I have a problem with the writing. Everyone I know swears up and down that I'm crazy. My little sister Alea (aka, liTTle) threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't read at least the first one, since I'll be in the heart of Twilight country. So I borrowed it from a friend and am plodding through. I'm on page 317, and it still hasn't grabbed me or anything. All that seems to be happening is a lot of mooning over how beautiful Edward is. Stephanie Meyer ignores the most basic rule of writing: show, don't tell. Weave the words to create mood, character, and plot. But don't directly tell the readers how we should be feeling.

I'm a reader and love great books and am not trying to be snobby or anything, but this book just seems...blah. We've got piles of basic subject-then-verb sentence structure, mounds of passive rather than active verbs, and I keep finding myself skimming rather than reading. Can someone please explain what I'm missing?

To Sum Up

2011-03-29T15:34:00.006-06:00

Believe it or not, I'm still alive!

I tend to get distracted. But here are a few things that are going on in this girl's fibery world...

WASHING: I've been washing up my last fleece of last year, trying to get ready for fleece season of this year. It's nearly upon us! Gotta get ready! :D So on Saturday I filled my low Rubbermaid bin with hot hot water from the water heater, boiling water from the stove, and a healthy glug of blue Dawn and submerged two lbs. of unbelievably gorgeous Cormo wool. Oh, Cormo. You make me swoon. I did three washes and three rinses (a dash of vinegar in the 2nd to last rinse). Cormo, with all its Merino content, can be greasy, and I really wanted it prepped just right. It's now outside on my balcony, drying in the sunshine.

I've tried the washing-in-tulle method, but failed miserably at it...all the locks bunched up at either end, I had nowhere to put the drying tulle sack, and ultimately I found it so enormously time-consuming that I went back to my tried and true method. This mostly involves dunking, soaking, and tossing the locks into another laundry basket to dry. I'll be documenting this highly unscientific method on the blog as more fleeces come to live with me in the coming spring. :)

SPINNING: Indigo Montoya (my Ashford Kiwi) has a slim line of the aforementioned Cormo on his bobbin. I handcombed a sample of already-washed-locks with my Alvin Ramer super mini combs and the resulting top was DELICIOUS. Yum. I'll probably ply this sample back on itself via the Andean plying method. Buttercup (my Louet Victoria) has been out and about lately, traveling to my LYS' Spin-in and to Stephanie's house. I just finished spinning two singles' worth of merino/silk/firestar/angelina on her, and plied them together on Indigo's jumbo flyer. Pics soon to come, if I can get my act together.

CARDING: Broke out the handcards for a special project recently...very controlled color blending for a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend of mine. I think I was successful...the finished yarn and mitts show a long, sloooooooow transition of color. Just lovely.

KNITTING: The mitts! I'm using the Churchmouse Welted Fingerless Gloves pattern as a jumping-off point.

DYEING: Not a whole lot lately, after getting all the preliminary dyeing done for the mitts.

TRAVELING: This is the most exciting thing! In just two weeks, I'll be traveling with a couple of fellow fiber fiends to Forks, WA for the Tribal Textile Treasures workshop with Judith Mackenzie McCuin. Yep, I'm pretty much insanely excited.

WEAVING: Finished a set of modified waffle weave handtowels for my mother-in-law. How about a picture? :) Here you go:

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here!

2010-12-01T09:08:00.007-07:00

Okay, not exactly. It's only December 1st. But am I alone here in thinking I need to get stuff done now? There I was, back in November, planning on an update for the Little Shop that Could, and...um...well, it's stocked with a whole two yarns at the moment. Still. On the upside, I did very well at the Handweavers Guild of Boulder annual sale. On the downside, that was a month ago. Gah.

Aside from the forlorn shop, I am feverishly creating these days, prepping for the holiday season. On top of the usual gifties, my friends Alison and Danielle have both commissioned woven scarves from me. I love, LOVE custom work like this, but two weeks of illness in November sucked time like nobody's business. I'm late! And the day job isn't helping!

Despite the tardiness, the woven scarf projects make me giddy. I am LOVING working on them. Alison wants a plainweave scarf of handspun alpaca/silk in pinks, creams, & tans. I've spent the last couple of evenings dyeing, trying to get the pinks just right without being neon or whatnot. Danielle just said "thin, long, and black/gray/white." So I've been gradient carding alpaca in four natural colors - black, rose gray, tan, and nearly-white. With a little black sparkle, of course. Gotta have a touch of sparkle. The tan is thrown in there to make the white appear *really* white against the solid black baby alpaca warp. I like this pattern, but don't understand the note at the bottom: "This draft is for multiple separate layers of cloth that will come apart after weaving!" (Exclamation point!)(!) Um. Any chance I could just have one layer? Maybe this is doubleweave somehow...? Basically I'm looking for the starbursts to slowly transition from black to white over the course of the scarf. Hmmm...this will take more thought. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.

I'm also working on some Monkeys! These socks have been on the needles since April, I think. They need to be off, I tell you. Then I can get to work on a pair of socks for my mother-in-law, though I don't think with my track record that those'll be done anytime soon. Whew!

p.s. My new loom is magic. His name is Miracle Max. :)

Still in Shock. But a Good Kind of Shock.

2010-09-11T16:02:00.004-06:00

Uh, guys?

I bought a loom today. A LOOM. A maple eight-shaft Baby Wolf. With stroller. And an extra reed.

I blame Stephanie. She was with me today at Shuttles' 18th birthday sale (15% off everything!) and was a complete enabler. Of course, I'd been saving for this moment ever since I took my first weaving class two years ago. I knew I wanted an 8-shaft Baby Wolf. So I kept an eye out on Craigslist and an ear out in my Guild...for two years. After telling this to Stephanie (who knows about such things), she confirmed my suspicion: eight-shaft looms just don't come up for resale very often. Usually they're snapped up very quickly.

That did it. I gathered my courage and waited my turn in the long birthday-sale line. Upon reaching Judy (who'd been my weaving instructor for multiple classes), I announced that I'd decided to buy a loom. She was so happy for me, gave me a hug, and rang me up. My heart stopped for a sec, but I reminded myself again about the money I'd saved for this very moment, and that buying a loom was inevitable anyway. That calmed me down a bit, and I went back into the secret bat-cave area where Sara was taking loom & wheel orders. And I ordered my loom. And it was good.

It should be another month before it comes in, so I have time to figure out where exactly I'm going to put it. Who needs a kitchen table, anyway?

Fiber Tourist, Right Here!

2010-08-30T10:53:00.002-06:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but GUYS!

Excitement!

In April I'll be combining three loves (fiber + travel + anthropology) by journeying up to Forks, WA and taking part in a Judith Mackenzie McCuin workshop!

Here's what I'm talking about. The workshop is called "Tribal Textile Treasures," and will last for 4 days/3 nights. It will involve learning how to weave with cedar and spin wolf down and feathers, plus time with tribal textile artists and storytellers. I managed to squeeze in by the skin of my teeth. My friends Stephanie and Connie are going, and the organizer said that although the workshop was technically full, she could arrange for us to bunk in a 3-bed room at the B&B.

My deposit has been cashed, so it seems like it's really happening. Now all that's left is to save for the workshop and other expenses (air fare, etc.). Oh, and I s'pose I'll need a travel wheel. (Eeeep.) But it will all be worth it. This will be my first fibery trip, my first in-depth fiber workshop, and my first class with Judith. Freak out!!

Le Tour

2010-07-06T21:50:00.003-06:00

Guess who forgot to join the Tour de Fleece yet again this year? Yup. I always do this kind of thing...get excited and promptly forget. But that doesn't mean I'm not spinning! Still spinning every day, though that's pretty usual. I figured Hey! I'll just be a late joiner. No big woo. But it turns out the Tour forum on Ravelry has nearly 3,000 members and the threads are eons long. So I think I'll keep track of my yarns on the blog here and pretend in my little fantasy world that I'm another treadler in the Tour.

So without further adieu, here's what I've been working during these first few days...

Interlude

2010-07-05T16:08:00.003-06:00

Well, I should probably post all about the Estes Park Wool Market Sheep-to-Shawl contest (SPOILER! We didn't win, though the shawl is lovely & I'm really proud of us), but I'm a lazypants.

So. Here's a little pic of what I did during one of my days off back in maybe April.

Pretty colors! :D

Walking with Mr. Pants.

2010-06-21T21:49:00.005-06:00

Me: Holyfreakin'CRAP it's a gorgeous night.

Mr. Pants: Yep. Hey. If you were a superhero, what would your name be?

Me: McHurtalot.

Mr. Pants: Hmm. Is this because you like to hit things and/or people?

Me: Uh, maybe.

Mr. Pants: I bet I could your guess your sponsor.

Me: Chrysler?

Mr. Pants: ...

Me: So what would your superhero name be?

Mr. Pants: Señor Pantalones. Of course.

Hand Over the Fleece!

2010-05-30T09:01:00.006-06:00

We're in the midst of fleece season! One of my favorite times of year!

I went with friends Stephanie and Connie to the Recycled Lamb a few weeks ago to check out their mini-fleece-market, and guess what. Found some fleeces.
That's Stephanie on the left, me on the right, hoisting our gorgeous acquisition...a CVM/Romeldale/Rambouillet fleece from Sister Sheep. I ended up with 3 lbs. of the loveliness.

Then we went to Twin Peaks farm, where Connie has an "in." Lucky us! We met a lot of little new lambs, as well as some sweeties such as Cochise, a CVM ram, below.

We decided to buy Cochise's fleece and split it 3 ways. My share was 2 lbs., below:
I took everything home, freaked out at my good fortune, and then washed up part of the white fleece, which Beh (aka Evil Cat of Perpetual Badness) promptly found while it was drying. Aw.Don't worry! This isn't usual. The cat is typically kept far, far away from the fiber. Since this particular portion will probably become my first sweater, I didn't think I needed to chase her out. I mean...how cute is she? If only everyone could sleep in a cloud of fleece! :)

But...why?

2010-05-28T14:45:00.004-06:00

Why do I make yarn by hand?

Because when you think about it, it's kind of ridiculous. It's yarn. That's just one bump up from string. You can buy yarn for el cheapo cheapcheap at your nearest big box and whip up an entire afghan for $15, if you set your mind to it. Or you can just forgo the "making" part altogether and buy a blanket pretty much anywhere. Who needs hoity handspun when you can just buy the finished product?

But see...that's exactly the point. The magic comes in the making...the creating of something out of not very much. I spin because I have to. I'm completely serious. Spinning is addictive magic. There is something about treadling to make the wheel spin while simultaneously watching and feeling the fibers twist together.

Spinning has woken my sense of touch, and there's really no going back. Why settle for four senses when you can have five? At this point, I can plunge my hands into a raw fleece glistening with lanolin and tell you what breed of sheep it came from. I can rub your coat a little and let you know if it was made with wool or alpaca or cotton or something manmade. It's all just a little amazing. I'm in love with my new-found sense of touch!

On top of all of that, spinning is a great calmer. My stress level goes way, way down when I am in the midst of freaking out about something and have a sit-down at my wheel. It is a slow, patient process, which lends itself wonderfully to pulling you back...slowly, methodically, gently...from the Cliffs of Insanity. The touch of the fiber is soothing, and the rhythm of the wheel whirls troubles away.

So you see, I must create yarn. I must decorate with yarn. I must pepper the knitters in my circle of friends and family with yarn. And I must sell yarn, because I love to spin so much more than I love to knit or weave, and if I didn't get it out of my apartment somehow, they'd find me one day buried under mounds of wool and llama and flax and sparkle and whathaveyou.

Which is actually starting to sound appealing...

In Which I FTHO

2010-05-18T09:34:00.005-06:00

Okay, here's the deal.

I'm swamped.

I can't get it all done! I keep trying! I really do. But everything is so busybusybusy. I'm not even exactly sure why that is. Craptons of social & fiber type things are the likely culprits.

Last week was ridiculous. Tuesday night was Guild. Wednesday night was Happy Wednesday with my neighbor Valaroo (which I s'pose doesn't really count, since we just go out for dinner/happy hour and then I get a few hours of downtime afterwards). Thursday I went over to Stephanie's house to help her spin for Colorado Weavers Day...she was scheduled to teach a novelty yarns class and needed last-minute tailspun & boucle yarnspinning help. Friday night was Rea's birthday, so off to celebrate I went. Saturday was said Colorado Weavers Day (allllllll day long), I met a few fiber friends for dinner at Southern Sun, and then there was a Spin-in at Shuttles from 7-9:30, where I also met other members of the Sheep-to-Shawl team I haphazardly joined for Estes Park Wool Market.

Ah, yes, the Sheep-to-Shawl team. This has become interesting. Guess who idiotically volunteered to spin the warp. From handcombed top, no less. And naturally, I'm the only member with combs. WHAT am I thinking, I ask you. I'll most likely also end up warping the loom because somehow I'm the only person with floor loom experience?? What?? And I'm a spinner on the team, so what am I doing weaving? The original weaver was inexplicably booted to alternate. Don't ask me, I'm not in charge. I don't know what's going on here. All I know is that these things need to happen before June 13th: deciding on a pattern, scouring of the fleece, drying of the fleece, handcombing, spinning the warp, and warping the loom. And I'm involved in every step. Yikes. What I really need to do is quit trying to do everything myself...this is a team effort after all...and remember that the point of this is NOT perfection. It's educating the public. It's supposed to be fun. **deep breath**

Tomorrow I leave for Texas. Ah, Texas, respite of warmth and family. My sisters Little and KK will be there, as will my parents. We're all staying at Little and Pedro's house in Austin (my grandmother's old house)...a little mini-family-reunion. Ultra-special because KK and I are leaving our Significant Others at home, so we don't have to worry about Josh and Ben having to figure out and deal with our wacky fam. I'm so looking forward to this trip. I really need it. As soon as I come back, everything will be megabusy again. But at least my soul will be rested and ready to meet the crazy head-on. :)

On Happiness

2010-03-31T08:30:00.007-06:00

My friend Kate (I totally went back on my word from a previous post and changed her name) and I were on our way to the Recycled Lamb in Lakewood last Friday night to attend a relatively local-ish Stitch 'n Bitch. The drive was gorgeous, since we took the back way...hilly snow-covered plains, horses, even a couple of hawks hunting for their dinners.

The drive took about half an hour, and Kate and I started talking about how happy fiber makes us. Because fiber is basically a giant happiness generator, amiright? :) But then talk turned to life in general, and what "being happy" really means to both of us. Kate and I are about the same age, but she is in a different place in her life...she has two kiddos, she and her husband own their home, that kind of thing. She talked for awhile about how she and her family used to live in another neighborhood, one that she had always considered ideal and Norman Rockwell-esque. But after they bought a house there and moved in, she realized that the place was the quite the opposite. Neighbors didn't greet each other, children didn't play outside. It was all about how much money you had in relation to those around you. Sounds miserable to me, and it apparently was to Kate. She couldn't take it, and before long, had moved her family outta there and into a neighborhood that was much more positive and welcoming. She said from time to time, though, she still fell into the trap of envying other people's possessions. But how do you escape comparing yourself to someone else? How do you manage to NOT want someone else's position/money/power?

Then I talked about how I did relatively well in school and was on the track to grad school after college, but I made the "mistake" of working in the physical anthro lab. The work was interesting and enjoyable, but the grad students were something else. They were, as a whole, utterly jaded. Angry that their own work was regularly published under the professor's name...bitter that they put in long hours as TAs while being compensated peanuts. This would be my life if I continued on in academia, at least in my mind. So I turned down a project manager-ship that I'd been offered and got the heck out of Dodge, escaping to Germany for three months. I did a lot of traveling over the next few years, saving my pennies from my low-responsibility jobs. It made for an exciting life, and I met really wonderful people from all over the world, but every once in awhile I berate myself for falling far short of my (and my parents') expectations, as far as careers go. Sometimes I avoid calling my parents even now, because I didn't become a doctor. Not that this was specifically expected of me, but something incredible was, and I haven't really lived up. Anyway.

Josh and I are both fantastically underemployed in relation to our brain cells, don't make a great deal of money (though we have a LOT in comparison with most of the world)(though when I think about it, why am I okay with comparing myself to those who have less, but not those who have more?), and have lived in a teeny apartment for the past 6 years. But are we "happy"? I'd say yes. We love our neighbors, don't take our jobs home with us, have time for our hobbies, and have everything we need. The only thing I really wish for is to be geographically closer to my family. And I think if our neighbors put more stock in money and possessions, we might have a harder time, as Kate pointed out.

Mostly I feel incredibly lucky and grateful. I had the incredible good fortune to have been born in an amazing country, which -- despite its problems -- is chock full of opportunity and beauty. I have a loving partner who enjoys learning as much as I do. And I really couldn't ask for better friends. Yep, I'd say I'm a happy chickadee.

So you've heard of spinning silk caps...

2010-03-30T15:28:00.004-06:00

...what about TUSSAH silk caps?

Maggie pulled out an example of a tussah silk cap at my Sensuous Silk Spinning class last week, and omg. This thing is crazy. Copy of National Geographic next to it for scale.

Um, yeah. Why would you even need to spin this? You could just wear it around like a shawl! It's folded in this pic, too...you can separate the layers for a true bell shape. According to Maggie, tussah silk caps used to be available to handspinners, but she hasn't seen one for sale for about 20 years now.

For all of you non-handspinners, a bombyx silk cap or hankie is much smaller than this...usually about the size of that National Geographic there. Bombyx silk caps/hankies are still obtainable, and can be a lot of fun to spin. Just don't expect a smooth yarn from them...the resulting yarn will have some bumps and noily bits. That's just the nature of the beast.

So Much Fiber, So Little Time

2010-03-03T09:24:00.003-07:00

I'm a slacky slackster! I ignore the blog on a regular basis!

I think part of the problem is that I feel every post probably needs an illustration. Which is, you know, not necessarily true.

Anyway, I've been loving the fiber world lately. My "More on Four in Two" weaving class with Judy Steinkoenig was really wonderful. Two full days (9-4:30) of learning new weave structures for 4-harness looms...yes, please! Judy has a dry sense of humor (she called us her "more-ons") and is a very technical weaver, so it's easy to learn the specifics from her and then garnish your well-prepped weaving with artful creativity. At least in theory. :) Each person in the class warped his/her loom with a specific weave structure before class (I was assigned "crackle"), then after lecture we moved around the room round-robin style to get a chance to practice each. We all were required to hemstitch our samples, and so I'm a hemstitching expert at this point, lemmetellya. Finished samples included Ms & Os, supplementary warp, summer & winter, log cabin, crackle, shadow weave, and huck lace. I actually didn't get a chance to do shadow weave (ran out of time!), but will be posting an entry on each one. With a picture, of course!

Also in fiber news, I'm continuing to love living in a mecca of fellow fiber-lovers. My weeks are filled with fiber social groups, which is totally bizarro, especially considering I can be a shy little violet. First Monday of the month is the Spin-in at Shuttles. We've got about 25 people (!) who regularly attend at this point. Amazing. Second Tuesday of the month is the evening meeting of the Handweavers Guild of Boulder, which always involves an interesting show-and-tell from members, plus a great speaker of some sort. Last month's speaker was Anne Bossert, who combines fiber art with handmade furniture. Third Monday of the month I get together with my friends Stephanie and Connie for a sort of yarn study group. We usually focus on a combo of different fibers (i.e. yak + cotton, or flax + silk) and study ratios of "ingredients" and properties of the resulting yarns. We also drink beer and watch spinning DVDs, so, you know, it's not that serious. :) And then I also joined a group that meets on the fourth Saturday of the month for a spin-in/knit-in, though I haven't been able to attend for the past three months because of conflicts. With luck, I'll be able to make it this month!

Here's wishing everyone a great, fibery late winter/early spring, and I'm encouraging you to get out there and meet other spinners and/or other fiber artists! There's just nothing like learning and socializing with your fiber peeps. :)

Classes Galore!

2010-01-06T15:47:00.003-07:00

My Mint account has registered something astounding: I'm taking a plethora of classes after a bit of a draught!

After a busybusy fall and a Summer of Fun (during which I only took the one dyeing class, I think, with Nancy Finn), I've registered for 4 (!) classes at my LYS after getting a little quiet notice in my inbox that the winter offerings were available for perusing online. Shuttles is so sneaky this way. Their notices are gentle and vaguely prodding (i.e. "Please register at least a week ahead of time."), which absolutely doesn't prepare you for the craziness. When I called, Judy Steinkoenig (co-owner & weaving instructor) answered and, completely flustered, told me she'd have to call me back because she had lines (plural) of people at the desk trying to register for classes.

I'm so glad she called me back. It's amazing, but I managed to slide my way into two brand new classes with Maggie Casey (yes, that Maggie Casey), a class with Debi Dodge (who does a LOT of skein judging), and a class with Judy herself (my Beginning Weaving instructor). Here's the happy listie:

* More on 4 in 2 (aka, More on 4-shaft Looms in 2 Days, or Beginning Weaving II) (Feb. 6 & 7) - Judy
* Spinning Outside the Box (Feb. 20) - Debi
* Playing with Multicolored Roving (Feb. 25 & March 4) - Maggie
* Sensuous Silk Spinning (March 25) - Maggie

There are actually a TON more that I'd love to take (Boucle, Spinning Paco-Vicuna, Wrap and Roll), but had to draw the line somewhere. I feel so lucky to live in an area that is so rich with teachers! The fiber world is deceptively deep...the more I learn, the more I realize I have more to learn. :)

Fibery Summer & Fall - in Pictures!

2009-12-01T21:21:00.009-07:00

What's all this? Is it winter already? Time to break out the Snuggie 2.0 and reminisce about warmer days...let's see...

I went to Estes Park Wool Market in June and saw a bit of llama jumping...

...hung out with my wonderful (and supportive!) sis Kara in Pennsylvania, who wore my yarn like a necklace and took me to the Garden State Sheep & Fiber Festival (thanks, K!)...

....did a little spinning in front of Pennsbury Manor while in Pennsylvania...

...caught Amelia Garripoli in action at her book signing of "Productive Spindling" at Gypsy Wools in Boulder...

....did some weaving by the creek...
...and, of course, carded and spun my wee heart out!

Whoo hoo!!!

2009-10-12T17:36:00.004-06:00

One of my yarns made it onto Etsy's front page this afternoon!! I can barely handle the excitement! :D Good old Statsy sent me an email giving me the heads-up.

Still trying to find the screenshot from the Flickr group, but in the meantime, here is the Craftcult capture of the treasury that included my Simple As yarn...

...okay, can't figure out how to post that, either. Thanks for ease of use, Blogger! Here is a link, though...

Spinning as Therapy

2009-08-21T21:17:00.003-06:00

I haven't felt like doing much of anything since I received some pretty heavy news last week. Last Wednesday my mom called to tell me that my stepdad has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of the plasma cell. He'd been having rib pain lately, which we all initially thought was due to broken ribs from when he took a fall while installing storm shutters. He has been tired and even drifted into confusion one day. Rib & lower back pain is a classic symptom of this type of cancer, and the confusion was caused by an elevated amount of calcium in his blood. I could go on and on about the technical details, but I'm not sure how much I want to delve into it here...all I can say is that I've been sad and frustrated that I live so far away from my parents. I can't help. They're in Florida; I'm in Colorado.

A heavy weight has settled down on me. It pushes down and makes me feel pretty consistantly sleepy...just wrung out. And there's guilt involved, too. My family needs me to be strong. The last thing they need is a daughter/sister that feels ready to collapse with exhaustion.

And so I've turned to my wheel. It rests patiently in the living room until I'm ready for it. I picked out some superwash merino from the depths of my stash, and slid the drive band to the smallest whorl. Spinning sock yarn is something I've never done before...creating a three-ply fine yarn takes time and dedication. But that's exactly what I have right now. I'm a fast treadler in even the most relaxed of settings, but now the wheel positively purrs and the flyer flashes with the blur of the hooks. My heaviness turns out to be pent-up energy and crushing sadness, and now it's pouring into the wheel, flowing down my arms, through my fingers, and spinning away. It's magic. The depression begins to lift, and my thoughts become more organized and less panicky. I can be useful to my family again.

Love you, Dad.

Dyeing with Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows

2009-08-05T14:56:00.012-06:00

It has now been MONTHS since Nancy Finn was here, and I kept forgetting to post about the dyeing and color theory class she was conducting over at Shuttles . Naturally I jumped at the chance to take the class and spent a happy day at Shuttles dyeing everything in the immediate area with big, bold, bright colors.

Nancy Finn is the owner of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks, and if you have a well-stocked LYS (local yarn shop) near you, you have probably seen her work. She runs a studio where she and four employees handpaint complex fibers full of subtle tones and gradations. Her teaching method is thorough and very complete...I learned so much!

She started us out with dozens of small strips of silk ribbon. Silk doesn't necessarily need a heat source for color to set, so these were going to make up our color wheel notebook by the end of class. We then got right to playing with color, mixing drop by drop to create new tones, using only red, blue, yellow, and black as bases. Among the concepts I learned were how to alter shades via the use of a special mix of colors called toner, and how to actually use black. Black changes everything. I have always been afraid of black, thinking it would muddy my colors and make them horrible and ugly. Not so. Colors seem to gain force and depth with the use of even a few drops of black...they become infinitely more interesting.

Nancy uses a special method of handpainting...one I've never seen mentioned before. Most people who casually dye know about the plastic-wrap method of handpainting. Nancy said she can't stand the thought of how much plastic she'd be using if she went this way. Instead, she uses restaurant steamer trays to do her dyeing. She dyes 2 oz. at a time, because that's all that she says fits well in a tray.

Nancy pours well-mixed dyes directly onto the fiber:

Next, she presses the dye throughout the fiber to make certain it's saturated:

She also likes to add a little zing of color that doesn't necessarily "go" at the end:

We all took a turn, handpainting silk top, merino/silk top, and fiber from home:

And here is the Drying Rack of Loveliness:

All in all, such an informative class!!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-06-29T10:32:00.002-06:00

I have about a zillion posts I'd like to make, but haven't because the days have been packed recently. It's begun to seem that out of these three: (a) a day job, (b) a fiber job, and (c) a social life, I can manage to squeeze in just two at a time. Usually what happens is that I drop the ball just after aiming it at blog-writing or twittering or even posting new items in my shop. The spinning doesn't stop, though, and there are probably a dozen skeins waiting patiently for me to take pictures of them. This week the goal is to post at least half of them. We'll see how it goes.

I am bound and determined to get this blog at least relatively up-to-date (once pics are edited and ready to go), so here are a few topics to look for in the coming weeks:

(1) Dye class with Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks!

(2) Estes Park Wool Market report!

(3) Experiments with natural dyes

(4) Trip up to Yellowstone and Josh's family reunion (have to throw in some non-fiber every once in awhile).

Anybody have an iron?

2009-05-14T15:38:00.005-06:00

The doubleweave baby blanket I was weaving for my neighbors Chad and Sarah's baby Bella was all done this afternoon! With doubleweave, you can (among other perks) weave a project twice the width of your reed. It's like magic. I never go all the way down the reed when warping, just get kinda close, so my doublewidth projects can be about 22 inches wide versus the usual 11 or so. The rented table loom I've had since last July (I've put off returning it because I probably owe $150 in rental fees at this point) has 4 heddles, which means I can only do plainweave when I'm doubleweaving, the under-and-over "regular" weave that some people might remember from grade school Weave-It days. So yeah, not super interesting, but by playing with color you can create nice plaids, which is what tried to do while working on this blanket.

I started warping back in, oh, January, when I didn't know the sex of the baby. Plus, hey! green is pretty. Since this project hasn't been super-inspiring, I got distracted and didn't finish till now, a week after Bella was born. :) I was so excited about finishing that I cut it off the loom, even though there was still a lot of warp left, though it can be retied for other projects.

Then I saw it. The dreaded crease. This happens sometimes, especially to novice weavers like myself, when the left (doublewidth) selvage is too tight and the threads pull together. When you warp for doubleweave, you have to double your EPI (ends per inch), and so the reed is just *loaded* with threads. I tried to counteract the crease this time by spreading out the two warp threads furthest to the left in the reed, hoping that even if my selvage was tight, the added room would aid in the threads being properly spaced out in the finished blanket.

No go. This is what happened:

Now the thing to do is to patiently pick out one or two vertical (warp) threads from the blanket, giving the remaining threads room to spread out. Not too much of a hassle, but darn it! I'd hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with this crease thing again. Maybe spacing out 4 or more far left warp threads would have been the solution...

My Torture Devices: a Love Story

2009-05-06T11:17:00.006-06:00

My ridiculously pointy combs have arrived from Canada! Actually, they arrived several weeks ago, but I got neglectful of the blog. Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet at the beginning of March and ordered a set of Alvin Ramer Super Mini Combs in cherry wood. I'd been debating for a long time about what my next fiber tool would be. A swift would be great, but Josh doesn't seem to mind holding out his hands for me while I use the ball winder. A drum carder would make me a happy, happy girl, but my guild has a Patrick Green Deb's Delicate Deluxe carder that I've been fortunate enough to rent on occassion, and that has suited pretty well. Actually, what the heck am I talking about, I fell in love with it. It's only rentable by the month, though, so when my month's up, I have to return it and put my name back on the waiting list. I imagine that I may break down and buy one at Estes Park Wool Market in June, since Susan's Fiber Shop has a booth, and she usually has a couple PG carders waiting in the wings for some weak person like me to come along. :)

But back to the combs! What can I say? They are truly magnificent. Once I got over the guilt of not ordering LaniCombs (they're local, but pricey), I reveled in all the features of these lovely Ramer Super Minis. First of all, they come with a carding station, which is a superduper plus. Also, they're actually weildable, unlike some regular combs. My arms/wrists don't get as tired with these as they did using the larger combs. They come two-pitch standard, which does the job with most fibers. Folks, I'm really, really happy with the job they do. So without further ado, the pictures...

Here is the set-up, with the combing station clamped to the picnic table with C-clamps. The picnic table is actually a bit low for combing, I've learned...larger C-clamps are in order so the station can be secured to a thicker table. The first comb is charged with a wonderful cold-soaked Corriedale/Merino/Rambouillet fleece I bought online and scoured. The wool is from Wooly Wool of the West , and it is to die for...barely any veggie matter, and so soft and lovely!

Next we have the action shot. The charged comb is turned sideways for minimal chance of impalement and the active comb is sliding through like buttah. I don't usually comb with my left hand, but I REALLY can't take pics left-handed, so there ya go.

Here's a pic of the fiber dizzing off through the (included) seashell diz. Pillowcase of happy fluff and water bottle (for spritzing the wool when it gets too static-y in this dry Colorado environment) also pictured.

Happy nests of fiber ready to spin!

What those happy nests became!

Yarn Everyday

2009-04-13T10:02:00.004-06:00

I joined the Yarn Everyday group over at Ravelry! The basic premise is that we spin at least a little every day in April, and must take a daily picture. That last caveat is the kicker for me...spinning everyday is a given, but photo-taking...well, let's just say there are about 20 skeins of yarn waiting for me to take their pictures for my shop. Which is why my shop is so rarely updated. I'm hoping that with the longer days I'll be able to get outside and take pics more often, since the inside of my apartment is as dark as a cave.

My pics so far mostly consist of spinning, with a little stash reorganization mixed in for good measure. The pic with my wheel shows me spinning at my monthly Spin-in, with other spinners and neat wheels in the background. Anyway, without further ado, here are the first week's worth of yarn everyday...

Characteristics of Fibery Animals

2009-02-18T10:32:00.002-07:00

I was on Craftster yesterday, answering a query regarding the qualities of different animal fibers. I think my brain is programmed for this kind of trivia...I love answering questions like that! :) Anyway, I thought I'd repost on my blog. The whole section up until Huacaya Alpaca addresses different sheep breeds.

Merino - the finest and softest of the sheep breeds. Bred in Spain, where it was illegal for a while to export them. Short staple length, high crimp, fast to felt. The crimp of the merino also makes it one of the most elastic of the sheep breeds.

Rambouillet - a French breed decended from a herd of merinos either purchased by or gifted to King Louis XVI by the king of Spain. Like merino, rambouillet wool is very fine and soft.

Corriedale - a medium-fine wool, suitable for beginning spinners because its staple length is not as short as merino. (Other medium-wool breeds: Finn, Polworth, among others)

Cormo - corriedale/merino cross, with qualities of both breeds.

BFL (Bluefaced Leicester) - English longwool breed with a surprisingly soft handle. Has a slight sheen/luster, as is typical of many longer-stapled wools.

Cotswold - English breed with a long staple and low crimp, which gives the wool a wavy/curly appearance.

Lincoln - English breed with long-stapled, lustrous, hard-wearing wool. (other long-wooled breeds: Romney, Border Leicester, among others)

Icelandic - double-coated sheep. Outer coat is good for rugs and is hard-wearing, inner coat is next-to-skin soft.

Jacob - multihorned, primitive breed of sheep (seriously, they are amazing-looking) with spotted black/white fleece. Medium-fine wool with some kemp (hair-like fibers) throughout (varies - depends on the individual animal).

CVM (California Variegated Mutant) - decended from Romeldale sheep, with a fleece that varies from white to brown to black.

Course wool breeds include Scottish Blackface, Cheviot, Black Welsh Mountain, and Karakul. Course wool is great for making rugs and very-hard-wearing outer garments.

Huacaya Alpaca - New World camelid bred for its fleece by the Inca. Baby alpaca is free of guard hairs, which increase in number as the animal ages. Alpaca is seven times stronger than wool and three times warmer. Most alpaca fiber is not as crimpy as wool, so it doesn't have the "memory" and elasticity of wool and tends to drape.

Suri Alpaca - type of alpaca with a silky, lustrous coat.

Llama - New World camelid bred by the Inca as a fiber and pack animal. Larger than the alpaca. Llama fleece is not quite as fine as alpaca, and is likely to have more guard hairs.

Vicuna - New World camelid. Its fleece is extremely fine and was once reserved for Inca royalty. It was very difficult to domesticate, however, which is why it was nearly hunted to extinction for its fiber. Smallest of the New World camelids and endangered. I believe vicuna fiber is still illegal to import, though their numbers have recently increased and there are a few being raised in the States.

Guanaco - largest of the New World camelids. Fleece comparable to the llama. Difficult to domesticate.

Camel - sheds its downy undercoat periodically. Camel down is very soft and fine, suitable for next-to-skin items. Camel hair (the outer coat) is often used in the Middle East for rugs, rope, and was historically woven into a coarse fabric used for tents. Camel down fiber has been compared to cashmere in its softness.

Cashmere goat - not actually a breed of goat, but a hair type bred in goats. The cashmere that we know is actually the undercoat...the long guard hairs must be removed. The undercoat is fine, very soft, and strong.

Angora goat - produces mohair, which is a long, lustrous, strong fiber. Mohair is very lightweight and does not wrinkle or crush easily. Teased apart, mohair is cloudlike and soft.

Angora bunny - Angora bunny fur is very soft, and finished items have a distinct halo. It is very lightweight and is seven times warmer than wool. It does not have the elasticity of wool, however, so produces a drapey fabric.

Bison, Musk Ox (Qiviut), and Yak - like the camel, the commonly spun fiber comes from the downy undercoats of these animals. Extremely fine luxury fiber.

Experimentito

2009-02-13T10:49:00.003-07:00

The other day I tried my hand(s) at doing an encasement yarn. I've done one before without quite knowing what the heck I was doing. It was subsequently bought and turned into this fab scarf by the talented Phydeaux.

With an encasement yarn, you spin two singles yarns and then, while plying, sandwich another material between the plies. With Electric Sheep, I plugged a rainbow-dyed cotswold curl in every so often, letting the curl twist itself inside the plies. This time around, I teased apart some loose mohair locks into soft clouds and let them be pulled from my fingers as I plied the two merino singles together. Setting the twist by steaming avoided any excess blue dye from bleeding into the white locks.

Oh my gosh, I love the result! It's called "Head in the Clouds", and talk about soooooft. I just want to pet it all day long. The only thing I worry about is (as usual) stability. Will this yarn shed because of it's lock-y mohair-y nature? No idea! I think I'm going to hold onto it for a bit just to see if shedding might indeed be a problem. Here's hoping it keeps itself together!

Singles vs. Plied

2009-02-12T09:14:00.004-07:00

So I've been having some issues recently regarding the spinning of singles yarns. Singles are unplied yarns that still have some energy, even after setting the twist. An example is my "Simple As" yarn, which I spun super thick/thin with superfine merino wool.
My issue with singles yarns, though I LOVE the texture of them, is that they just don't seem as stable as plied yarns. I worry that they may felt too quickly. I was reading Judith MacKenzie McCuin's new book The Intentional Spinner recently...she writes that plied yarn should always be a spinner's default position. She might have a point. I think I may start spinning singles yarn from primarily bluefaced leicester wool, which is next-to-skin soft but has a long staple length, in order to help counteract disadvantages such as rapid felting or fibers working their way out of the yarn (aka pilling). Falklands wool may be another option...it's a merino cross rather than straight merino. What do you think? Do you have any strong feelings one way or the other on this subject?

Sock it to Me

2009-01-16T10:46:00.006-07:00

Finished my first pair of handknit socks!! Can I get a whoop whoop?

They actually weren't NEARLY as difficult as I thought they'd be. I don't know. I'm not much of a knitter, preferring spinning or weaving. But I wanted a portable project to take home with me to Florida for Christmas, and so I decided to learn to knit socks.

The yarn is Plymouth Sockin' Sox, which is a superwash merino/bamboo/nylon blend, contains enough yarn for two socks, and was on sale for about $10 at my local yarn shop, Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins . I loved working with this soft yarn, though there were a couple of knots inside the ball that drove me a bit batty.

Anyway, I followed Silver's Sock Class , which I highly recommend, using size 2 DPNs and casting on 64 stitches with the Long Tail Cast On. The toe section on the first sock ended up rather wonky, but the second sock turned out a-ok. After blocking, they expanded a little and don't fit like a glove anymore, but after their first actual wash I'm hoping they'll firm up again.

I'm so proud of these socks!! I've already cast on for my second pair, this time with Plymouth Happy Feet in a nice wine color, on size 1 DPNs, hoping to have them fit a little better.

Two Below, Honey

2008-12-16T09:45:00.003-07:00

It's cold here. Very very cold. Frigid, in fact. And so I am PUMPED about my upcoming trip home to Florida! Not just because I'm ruminating on the relative warmth...I'm also extremely excited about seeing mi familia.

Every year I make a point to go home for Christmas. I've just gotta go. Nothing will hold me back. If I can't take off for work, I quit (yes, I am highly mature). If the plane tickets cost $1,800 for both me and Josh, I pay it off over the next 5 months (yes, this has happened before). I simply must go. It's the one time of year that my whole family comes together, even if Little and Pedro are only there for a nanosecond (Christmas Eve and Day, like last year).

This year, everyone will be there. Me and Mr. LaPamf (aka Josh). My sisters KK and The Little, and their significant others Ben and Pete. My parents, Mamasita and Dade. My grandma Mimi. And this year everyone will be there for a whole week!! Whoo hoo!! It will be a whole week of weirdo cookie-making contests (most psychadelic, anyone? How about "most fishy"?), cheesy Christmas movie watching, luminaria-making, last-minute Christmas shopping, searching nooks and crannies for an appropriate white elephant gift (which, per the rules, must come from somewhere within the house...one year I got a shoe phone. Remember those?), cracker-snapping, and laughing over the absolutely bizarre stocking stuffers. Oh, the stocking stuffers. I have some doozies for this year.

I can't wait. I CAN'T WAIT! But I must. Because between now and Sunday when we leave I must finish the 3-yard-long handspun/handwoven scarf for Alison, make a homemade ornament for...uh...tonight's guild Christmas party, warp the loom again and weave another present, spin 2 yarns for another gift and maybe some sock yarn for myself (who am I kidding??), finish shopping for my dad and stepmom and mail their package, mail Josh's family's packages, finish worshipping the Patrick Green carder I have on loan and return it (sob!) , and...I think that's it? Wow. Turns out the trip will really be a vacation after all!

More on Milkweed

2008-11-12T15:02:00.006-07:00

Naturally, after the last post, I made an excuse to go back out to Quantum's farm. I know, twist my arm. I wanted to obtain more than a handful of milkweed this time. Well, Micah and Kelly (being vegans and much happier when I express an interest in veggie fibers) were all over this idea.

We walked along the ditch and scanned around for milkweed. Micah and Josh plunged down into the ditch to pull the fiber from quite a few plants. I, not having the correct shoes to just sink my foot into Who Knows What, kept to the dirt road, pilfering the pods that grew up and out a bit.

In the end we managed to get two gallon-sized Ziploc bags crammed full with milkweed fiber. Whoo hoo! I didn't feel too environmental-unfriendly, since we left most of the plants alone and just helped ourselves to the fiber that was already pretty much drifting down the road. Now all I have to do is gin the fibers of their seeds and we're in business. I don't have any fiber reactive dyes at the moment, so the milkweed will stay white for the time being. I think I'll make some blends with merino and other soft fibers. My handcards are (unfortunately) not made for carding the finest fibers, so the first time I tried to blend, milkweed went flying every which way. Hopefully, I'll have greater success this next time!

Spinning from the Land

2008-10-31T13:22:00.003-06:00

Last weekend when Josh and I went to meet my sis-in-law Kelly's new horse, Quantum, I spotted something as we were cruising down the dirt lane, on our way home. There were interesting-looking plants in the ditch, sprouting fuzzy stuff at their tips.

"Stop!" I yelled to Micah, who was driving. He pulled to a stop and I hopped out to examine the plant. Sure enough, as far as I could tell, these were milkweed plants, their pods already blown out and rife with delicate, silky floss-like fibers. The fibers act much like dandelion fluff...wind picks up the silk and blows it (with the seed) down the ditch a ways. The pods were big...some were as large as my hand. Since they had already burst for the season, I simply grabbed some handfuls off the tips (saying a little thanks to the plant, of course), jumped back into the car, and we were on our way.

I examined my find. The staple length was very, very short...about an inch, on par with cotton. The fiber itself was ridiculously silky. In fact, it really resembled silk in its sheen and feel. The seeds were about .5 mm in length and separated easily from the fibers. Since I'd only grabbed a couple of fistfuls, I didn't have much, which was alright since it would be difficult to spin a pure milkweed yarn anyway.

I decided to incorporate the milkweed in a yarn I was spinning for Kelly. I blended natural ecru, lime, and baby blue merino (colors she picked to match her skis) with soysilk, green flash angelina, and the milkweed with my handcards and then spun them into a chunky yarn. The yarn might be too bulky to contain the milkweed for long - it pokes out of the yarn in a couple of places - but I'd already started the project when I found the fiber, and thought the inclusion of the milkweed would be special for her. Now if only I could find a hat pattern I liked! :)

Weekend Update

2008-10-13T13:08:00.003-06:00

Oh, man, I'm such a sleepy one today! I was up most of the night thinking really hard about how much I wanted to sleep. I'm not sure I actually sank completely into sleep all night...there was some dozing, I think...meh. I hate it when my mind just won't shut off.

So, during the depths of the night, I read about 50 pages of my current book Disobedience by Jane Hamilton, which I picked up off a card table marked "Free" in my neighbor's yard. This is also where I got Nectar in a Sieve, which I really enjoyed. Bookmooch.com is my friend, and I do love it, but sometimes the availability of excellent reading material is sparse. So it's nice to find an unexpected source of free, interesting books.

It was an eventful weekend! On Saturday I strapped my wheel Indigo Montoya into my car, plopped in my spinning bag of tricks, and headed over to the University of Colorado Natural History Museum for a spinning demostration. Josh came along as my roadie and helped me set up before walking back home. Naturally, I forgot my camera in the midst of making sure I had all of my tools. That's just the way it goes.

It was a fun event...there were about 8 of us there, mostly from the local Handweavers Guild, and we all set up shop in the Dinosaur Hall (right under the "Fossils!" banner, which cracked us up) and spun a variety of material while describing what we were doing to curious visitors. Lots of kids, and - this blew me away - a number of men seemed entraced by what we were doing. Actually, all the adults who inquired and wanted to try out a wheel or a spindle were men. One guy stayed the whole 2 hours, and by the end he could spin a decent beginner's yarn on the wheel. Turns out he was a woodworker and wanted to challenge himself to build a wheel in his shop. Trying to describe exactly how scotch tension works turned out to be a wee bit challenging, especially for someone who tends to trip over her words. :) I didn't get much of my usual yarn spun...since I was supposed to be helping to educate, I mostly carded up alpaca and wool and spun from rolags, in order to demonstrate using wool cards. So now I have this bobbin of finely-spun natural-colored yarn that I'm not sure how to use. The museum itself was a really fantastic resource that apparently few people know is there. I'm thinking about volunteering there in the future.

Sunday dawned cold and wet, just like Saturday. It was definitely a day for lounge pants. I barely moved from under the blanket on the couch until about 2 p.m., when Josh and I decided we would make it out of the house and go on over to Lyon's Pinball for a little pinball action. Did I mention that pinball is my favorite? 'Cause, yeah...I totally love it.

Tweet.

2008-10-02T10:50:00.002-06:00

So I just started getting involved in Twitter.

Doomed, I say...doooooomed! It is ridiculously addicting. And it lets me keep up with lots o' spinny and knitty peeps, so I'm a happy one. If anybody wants to find me, I'm Nicolassa on Twitter. Whoop!

A small pet peeve

2008-09-23T08:48:00.005-06:00

When I read blogs, I vehemently hate it when bloggers discuss people in their lives by calling them by only the first letter of their names.

For example (and this is totally made up):

"The other day when I was at the store with M, I saw P, who told me about how she and B were going to take L to see G and S.

What what what? What is happening here? Who are these people? Are we talking about real live humans or are we discussing Letter People? I know the blogger is trying to somehow "protect" the subject by reducing him/her to a single letter, but the problem is that all characterization falls away and you run into the danger of the reader getting substantially bored, skimming over the sentence, and/or falling asleep.

Why not try using fake names? I.e.:

"The other day when I was at the store with Mabel, I saw Portia, who told me about how she and Bubba were going to take Lulu to see George and Sam.

To me, this sentence is muuuuch better. Keeps you reading.

So it may be a little difficult keeping track of the names you made up for real-life people, but that's the challenge. I'm challenging all you bloggers out there to become writers.

I for one will continue to call people by their actual names, because (1) their names are usually a large extension of their personalities, (2) pretty much everyone I know is an adult and I don't feel a need to protect them, and (3) nobody reads my blog anyway.

And for anyone who doesn't like my personal policy, please contact me...I will gladly change your name in my blog. But know that you run the risk of becoming a Wehezikiah.

Ode to my neighbors.

2008-09-11T11:05:00.004-06:00

I freakin' love my neighbors. Seriously. They are the best.

I've never lived in a place like this before. All other apartment complexes and rented cottages that I've inhabited in the past pale in comparison. The people in my complex are, if not really good friends, at least interesting and kind people.

So I live in a red brick building that is set back from the road...oddly, it's actually located behind a row of little houses. A long driveway leads to our secret complex, which has a branch of Boulder Creek running next to it and willow trees arching overhead. Next door is The White Building, which is where our property manager Dean lives. I don't know many of the people over there, though I think it's neat that the Andean flute player who busks on Pearl Street and has hair to the floor lives in The White Building.

In our building, there is Peter, internet guru for Crocs and organizer of our yearly Friday the 13th summer party, who regularly invites us over to play Guitar Hero and have some wine. James is one of the younguns...a Serious Writer who works with Josh and has a giant cat named Whomper Stomper McFloofin. Chad and Sarah are teachers, a bit hippy-ish, who like to sit outside in the sun on their days off. They just got engaged. Monica recently graduated from CU and is a fire-twirler...some evenings she can be seen in the front yard whirling her on-fire poi balls. She and her boyfriend are psychology majors who are convinced that love is just a complex series of chemical reactions. Jessica is a vegan chef in a local restaurant. She keeps to herself, but always has a ready smile when I see her before she goes on her evening run. And Michelle just moved in...I look forward to hanging out with her at one of our neighborhood parties.

And in number 1 is my very favorite neighbor, Valaroo. This is her preferred name, and the name that is on the license plate of her hot pink cruiser bike, which is also decorated with about 7 different keychain versions of Spongebob Squarepants. Valaroo is a librarian, former nurse, and onetime model who worked in New York and Milan. She has a bright yellow car, carefully cultivates all the flowers on our property, knits voraciously, and is one of my best friends here in Boulder. Every Wednesday we get together for "Happy Wednesday" at the local brewpub, Mountain Sun, then wrap up the evening down at her place watching America's Next Top Model. She exposes me to new books and ideas and is completely unafraid to be herself.

It's just so wonderful to live in this little cocoon of interesting and intelligent people! Can't wait for our next get-together.

Can't resist...

2008-09-08T16:15:00.003-06:00

Totally off subject, but...

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=184086

I'd embed if I could...blogspot doesn't seem to like it.
Enjoy!

Ah, that's much better.

2008-09-04T15:47:00.007-06:00

Since I wasn't wonderfully happy with the braids of roving I handpainted in the last entry (or before the last entry, I should say), I decided to consider them "highly educational" and won't be posting them for sale. Instead, I'll blend 'em and spin 'em. :)

Determined to give it another go, I handpainted 2 lbs. of combed top over the weekend! Just posted the first one on Etsy...wish I didn't feel the need to write a book for every posting. Because of this, yarns (and now fibers!) take for freakin' EVER to post, and I don't have all that much time at ye olde day job to be sneaky about it.

I think the thing I'm most excited about is listing some handpainted animal-friendly fibers and rovings. They're just a joy to work with, and it's a cause I feel very passionate about. Someday...someday I'll be completely and 100% sourced from animal-friendly and humane farms. Or maybe someday I'll have my own animal-friendly farm! :) Who knows?

Dying to dye...and to not wash a fleece!

2008-08-26T15:29:00.004-06:00

Did some dyeing over the weekend, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the results. The process was rushed because I was taking time to shake my fist at the looming thunderstorm. My lovely neighbor Val was outside checking out what the heck I was using the picnic table for, and the colorway she chose is the only one I really loved...dark gold and forest green, gorgeous just-turning-fall colors. Unfortunately, I told her I'd give it to her, ha! :) Looks like I'll have to be repeating it sometime soon! Anyway, the storm limited my time to be outside all spread out, so I only got four skeins of BFL done. I sadly didn't take the time to completely untwist the wet roving, so there are spots of white. Carpbag. Oh, well...that happens sometimes.

In other fibery news, I've been talking shop with Sandy over at Homestead Sheep and Wool Farm to see if I can get a greasy fleece sent off to be processed into pindrafted roving for easier dyeing. My bathtub just doesn't like lanolin...and the merino cross partial fleece I am buying from Sandy has LOTS! Since animal-friendly merino can be difficult to get a hold of, I jump at the chance to buy from Homestead whenever its available. In fact, I have 1 lb. of Dan Merino still waiting to be washed...and I bought it months ago! :/ So...the only problem with sending it off to a mill for processing is that there will be quite a lag...possibly not coming back to me until next year! Wowza. I'm sure it'll be worth it. Pindrafted merino is worth the wait!

End of an Era...okay, not so much.

2008-08-20T08:59:00.002-06:00

It feels so good to be back in the swing of things!! My weaving class is over, and whew! it was a busy time. We had our "graduation" ceremony on the last day, where we all got to spread out our 9-weeks worth of weaving and show them to the rest of the class. People did such extraordinary work, and you could really see the progression of skill. Judy gave us some graduation gifts...a metal tapestry needle for hemstitching (really needed one!), a weaving crossword puzzle, and a film canister containing four cents, which is essential for using as a weight when you break a warp thread. She brought a cake to class and even popped a bottle of champagne! Whoo hoo! Man, I am really going to miss class on Wednesdays.

Now, though, I'm back at the wheel, spinning a mile a minute, and it feels SO WONDERFUL. I just can't explain it. Spinning is my first love, though I do really enjoy weaving. I've spun a yarn a day for the past three days. I'm sure there'd be more if I didn't have this pesky day job to go to! As for the day job...I'm still smarting because I had my review and didn't get a raise. Boo hoo. So in essence, it's like I received a pay cut since inflation has gone up 5% in the last year. But I digress. Spinning pulls all that disappointment away. It's like magic.

Adventures in Wedding-Attending

2008-08-12T10:51:00.008-06:00

So I'm not sure what the carp happened while I was away in Cancun, but I woke up the morning after the wedding with a sore throat, aching all over. And it hasn't gone away. I caught a freakin' cold in Mexico! Oh, well, at least Montezuma didn't get all revengey on me.

Gretchen's wedding was beautiful. It was held on the gorgeous white beach at near-sunset with 35 guests, sand ceremony, sobbing attendants (Bobby and I kept accidently looking at each other, prompting fresh rounds of tears), comical falling-apart fan programs (oops - the glue didn't stick in the humidity), and just general happiness. I've known Gretch since freshman year of college...LONG time ago, folks...and we've lived together, worked together, ridden scary night trains in the Czech Republic together, and kept up with each other even though we now live in different states. Michael is a wonderful guy and perfect for her...I know they're going to be really happy together.

I have legions of stories about this past weekend and really don't know where to start or if I even should, because the floodgates would open. I mean, we're talking tentacle-y octopus sushi, iPod downloading emergencies, and tequila-chugging hair artist named Monica/Raoul. So I'm just going to mention the mystery of travel...that you become completely out of the loop. This was highlighted for me when my roommate Amy turned on her laptop for the first time on Saturday.

"Oh my gosh," she said, "Georgia and Russia are at war!"

"What???" I asked incredulously.

"And Bernie Mac died!"

"Wasn't he pretty young?" I wondered.

"And 38 people died in Venezuela of bites from rabid vampire bats!"

"How long have we been here? Three days? The world is falling apart!"

Panic! (not at the disco)

2008-08-05T14:44:00.003-06:00

I haven't finished Gretchen's wedding programs yet!!!!!!!!!!

I have a week's worth of weaving homework to squeeze into two days after I return from Mexico!!!!!!!!!1

I'm so frickin' busy I can't even bother to care about the fact that my exclamation points are turning into numbers because I keep hurridly taking my pinky off the shift key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

WHEW!

2008-08-01T10:32:00.005-06:00

Thought I'd poke my head in here and announce that I'm a big ball o' stress! Whoo hoo?

My wonderful friend Gretchen tapped me to create her wedding programs/placecards/table placards for her wedding in Cancun, which is next Saturday. Now, technically this shouldn't be a huge deal, as she is a casual type of person, and there will be only 35 guests. But I am my mother's daughter and thus have made the whole project into something enormous. The program is going to have two layers, the underlayer of which will be stencilled. The programs will be affixed to bamboo fans. The placecards will be embossed. Ribbon is involved. I am a woman obsessed with pleasing the bride, as this is my only job as matron-of-honor.

So I leave for Mexico next Thursday with a suitcase full of fans and a truffle-colored dress. In the meantime I'm also scrambling to finish/start various weaving projects. My lace project (a 3-yard teal blue tencel scarf) is overdue and still on the loom, but the loom needs to be rewarped before Sunday, which is my all-day Doubleweave class. Doubleweave basically means you are able to weave a project that is twice as wide as your reed...how cool is that??!?! Monday evening is my monthly spin-in over at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins (I always look forward to it!), Tuesday I'm sure I'll be scrambling to finish all the paper projects for the wedding, and Wednesday I'll be packing. Wednesday night is usually my weaving class night, but we're skipping a week so we can all catch up (NONE of us finished our lace projects!) and do our overshot project.

I tell ya what...I'm beat!! :D

Weaving, Take Two

2008-07-08T13:46:00.004-06:00

Hideous sampler finished. Onto something a wee bit more substantial! Let's say...a scarf!

For some ridiculous reason, I decided that for my Week Two homework project in my weaving class, nothing but my handspun would do. Maybe it's because I didn't want to spend dinero on yarn at the shop when my apartment is insulated with pounds of fiber that pleads with me daily to be turned into yarn. So I picked out a couple of colors that I figured would NOT go together super well, just to experiment. In one hand, I had a chartreausey-peachy superwash merino. In another, a varigated intensely blue superwash merino. Perfect.

First step was the figuring. This is the part I despise. I made it easy on myself by deciding to spin according to stats I already understood, namely 12 epi, or ends-per-inch, which was similar to my first project. The whole e.p.i. concept is making more sense to me now...it finally dawned on me that you have to take into consideration the weft yarn and how much room it takes up when you calculate e.p.i. But I still took the easy road...lame, I know. Anyway, the yarn was spun slightly thick-thin because I was hurting for time. Each color was plied with itself, then I wound off and set the twist.

Next came the measuring of the warp threads. 72 ends total, and a warp length of 3 yards. 3 yards! That's our allowable limit for the class, unless we clear it first with Judy. I wanted a really nice, long scarf. Downside to this: twice I stopped to spin some more yarn, because my measurements were screwy and I kept running out.

Next I measured and cut the warp, then warped the loom, which took me...oh, I don't know...Tuesday. The weaving itself went really fast, though I ended up spinning another 200+ yards because I'd used all of my carefully calculated amount for the warp, and then some.

Finally the scarf was finished! I took a deep breath and cut the back warp threads, then unwound and untied the front warp. Tied a fringe, and ta da! A scarf! Parading proudly over to my neighbor, I pointed out all of its myriad features.

"Looks great, Nicole," Chad commented. "Kind of like the Swedish flag."

Uh, yeah! Exactly what I was going for...

Adventures in Weaving

2008-06-30T15:54:00.003-06:00

Some of you know this by now, but I'm taking a 4-shaft weaving class! The photos are of my rented Schacht table loom and 1st project (a hideous sampler). Lemme tell ya...there is a LOT of math happening. Right now (at work) I'm trying to figure my warp and weft calculations for project #2 and getting increasingly frustrated. My major problem is trying to sort e.p.i. (ends-per-inch) from w.p.i. (wraps per inch), which I use with spinning. For some reason I feel like these are the same thing? That just seems to make sense to my feeble haven't-taken-a-math-class-in-12-years brain. But my calculation instructions say to calculate the e.p.i. this way: "wrap one inch and divide threads by 2". What?? So e.p.i. is half of w.p.i.? Wouldn't that make it "ends-per-half-inch"? I'm so confused.

And I'm not spinning a whole heck of a lot. I spun up 200 yards for my scarf project (due Wednesday) last Friday. According to my seriously skewy calculations, I need more than 200 yards for this project. But I was gone over the weekend (the in-laws wanted us to visit them in Houston), so I didn't get any of this stuff done. Now I have to warp my loom tonight and weave the whole thing tomorrow so that I can go have a happy Wednesday with my neighbor Valerie at Mountain Sun before class. And I am stuck on this e.p.i. thing. At least I can spin more if I get into a pinch. I am missing spinning for my shop...I only posted one yarn last week, and have just a couple for this week...but am LOVING the weaving! Aside from the math, of course.

...and Dance by the Light of the Moon

2008-06-25T15:57:00.010-06:00

I'm out of the rut. Yippee!

Josh and I took a mini-vacation to his annual family reunion up in Island Park, Idaho, just about 20 minutes from West Yellowstone. I absolutely love these reunions, and this one didn't let me down! It was extremely inspiring...bison traffic jams! A taffy machine that inspired a new yarn! Teaching oodles of kiddos (and a couple of adults) to spin (or just use the treadles)! Seriously, the wheel was a hit. I doled out lots of my extra fiber and some of the kids (as young as 4 years old) brought their "first yarn" to the pancake breakfast on Sunday. I was so proud!

And then there was Yellowstone. Bison bums (we were trapped behind a herd of I'd say 35-45 bison for 2 1/2 hours), travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs...even a grizzly bear! Josh even politely asked a buffalo if we could perhaps have some of the downy undercoat he was shedding. The fiber is protected by the park, so my mother-in-law bought me a couple of ounces from a vendor in W. Yellowstone for my birthday present. I'm a lucky girl! It is very curious to spin...definitely a down fiber. The staple length is about nil, so you have to hold it very gently in your hand and spin woolen, letting in twist between your two hands. I think I'll spin a luscious 3-ply and weave something...maybe a scarf...with the yarn. It is just too precious to sell.

Anyway, it was a brief trip...only four days, and two of them taken up by driving 10 hours one-way through some beautiful countryside. But we managed to get away from it all for a little wee bit, and that is just the best thing to jolt you into creativity. I spent Monday spinning and finishing up my weaving homework...but that's another story entirely. :)

Same (C)ole, same (C)ole

2008-06-11T13:07:00.006-06:00

I'm in a rut!

I just keep on spinning one two-ply after another. I don't know what the deal is, yo. The colors mixing and changing over the course of the yarn continues to fascinate me. It's a bit meditative, but with subtle surprises.

The whole issue makes me feel like I'm just not putting enough creativity into my yarn. I'm being hypnotized, dang it!

So over the weekend I broke out my string of dyes, bought some hefty mason jars, and mixed up some serious colorage. Combining colors and doing something new helped break me free a little. With luck I'll do some more dyeing tomorrow. I'd like to start stocking my little shop with some handpainted fibers, especially those from the rescue farm. I'm sure it would be hard to not spin the stock, though!

In other news, I received my notice from the IRS that my stimulus check should show up in my bank account by Friday...whoo hoo! Just in time for Estes Park Wool Market this weekend! Oh, wait. I'm doomed. :D

Checking for Fires So You Don't Have To

2008-05-28T13:31:00.003-06:00

Ahh...Memorial Day.

Makes you want to grill out, veg out, chill out. Or--in the case of my family--climb a big fat mountain.

Now don't get me wrong, my husband Josh and I did plenty of the former. We went over to Josh's brother Micah and sister-in-law Kelly's house two nights in a row to drink some lemonade-y vodka drinks and jam out to Rock Band. We also traipsed down to the Farmer's Market and then caught the uber-early 11:00 a.m. showing of Indiana Jones on Saturday.

But Sunday...whew. Sunday was a different story!

Micah and Kelly suggested the four of us go on a drive in the mountains, packing a picnic lunch and possibly doing a little hiking. Heck yeah, sounded great! So we piled in their car with their dogs Brahmin and Bodhi and headed for the hills. Mt. Evans or thereabouts was our destination. Naturally, the lake we had picked out was pretty packed...it was Memorial Day, after all. So we kept driving, skipping the toll road to the top of Mt. Evans and continuing onward and upward until we found a really beautiful picnic area. Bread, oil, vinegar, avocado, swiss cheese, almonds, fresh fruit...simple and tasty!

After lunch, we drove until we reached a random pull-off point. There was a sign that indicated that vehicles were permitted to continue up the rocky dirt..."road" is too luxurious of a term...more like "path". Micah braved it in the car for awhile. Snow only partially blocked the path, but we were lucky no one was coming down at the time. Finally we pulled over to an out-of-the-way spot and decided to go the rest of the way on foot. We didn't have a clue what "the rest of the way" meant, so we were pretty lucky that it was only another mile or so up! The path was gentle and not steep by any stretch of the imagination, but the air was thin and I had sort of a difficult time. Lack of oxygen really gets to me, even after having lived in Colorado at 5,400 feet for 4 years. At certain points I became really sleepy, then giddy, then freaked myself out because I realized I was oxygen-deprived. All was well, though. You just have to take your time and not push yourself too hard.

Turns out we were climbing Squaw Mountain, and went all the way to the top of the Squaw Mountain Fire Outlook post...11,486 feet! The 360-degree view of the valleys spreading below and the snowcapped mountains in the distance was absolutely, positively unbelievable. We could even see Denver! No fires in view, thank goodness. Inside the hut at the top you could just make out a couple of plastic-wrapped mattresses, for the lonesome Forest Service rangers stuck on fire-watch-duty. Josh, being who he is, also scrambled up a few rock outcroppings. I, being who I am, did not. :) I really enjoyed the excursion, though I usually make a lot of noise about how I don't like to go Up. Having a goal point (supercool outlook station!) helped make me feel like there was an actual finish to the hike. Yep, I'm a wimpstick.

Monday dawned rainy and Seattle-y. I honestly didn't want to get out of my pjs. It was a great reading day...finished A Tree Grows In Brooklyn...and managed to get out of the house long enough to go on a long walk with my darlin' to see the tail end of the Boulder Creek festival. I was also adament about watching the Great Rubber Duck Race, because...well...when 9,000 rubber duckies are floating down a municiple river, ya just gotta see it.

Sadly, no fiber news over the weekend. But in a day or so I'll post the details of fleece-washing that took place a couple of weekends ago. A pound of soft and lovely Rambouillet, all squeaky-clean...certainly didn't begin that way!

Great Western Alpaca Show Report!

2008-05-15T09:14:00.004-06:00

Whew, it's been awhile! Looks like I haven't posted all...month. Whoa. How did that happen?

Okay, to sum up, I've had a fantabulous fibery month so far. Not this past weekend but the one before was the Great Western Alpaca Show!! It was in Denver, but that's not so very far away and I managed to drag Josh along with me with promises of lunch at Watercourse (LOTS of vegan options). I just had to go and get some wonderful alpaca-y goodness. Plus, my spinny friends from the spring Spinning 2 Class, Jess (of Midnight Designs, http://www.midnight-designs.com/) and Wiley (of Sakina Needles, http://www.sakinaneedles.com/) were sharing a booth, so I wanted to stop by.

Well, the show was really wonderful. Lots of fuzzies on parade. The Fiber Fiesta was upstairs, and actually was much smaller than I expected...then again, I'm used to the madness that is Estes Park Wool Market. I bounced from booth to booth, digging my hands in everything. That's expected, right? Since fiber is such a tactile art? :) Found Jess and Wiley's booth quite easily. Wiley is hard to miss, what with her green hair and all. She was spinning away at her beloved Sonata while Jess and her husband worked the crowd. All manner of things were for sale at their booth...oodles of dyed SakinaNeedles fiber, Jess' handspun and hand-processed fiber, even some handmade lip balm. Jess' husband is allergic to lanolin, so her specialty is alpaca. I had just bought some MoWoPaca (50% mohair, 25% wool, 25% alpaca) from a neighboring booth and was looking for some straight alpaca. When Jess saw me fondling some alpaca roving, she casually let drop that she had some batts available, too. Well, I love batts. LOVE. So her husband popped open a ginormous plastic tub chock FULL of heathery alpaca batts. And then Jess told me she'd sell them to me for $2.50 per batt. Um, yes please! I bought six, which was about how many I could carry...these batts were huge and superfluffy. And I've already spun 4 of these beauties, from an alpaca named Marcus. Pics soon to come! Thought I'd dye them, but...yeah...just couldn't keep my hands off the batts.

Josh and I poked around a little more at the festival, but decided to hold off buying any more, so went on to Watercourse, then returned to Boulder to check out the Tulip Festival. Every year Boulder imports something like 20,000 tulip bulbs from Holland and plants them down on the Pearl Street walking mall. It was just gorgeous. About a million people were there, half of which were little kids dressed as fairies and elves...guess there was some sort of fairy parade earlier? So it was cute to the point of we-need-to-get-outta-here-before-sheer-cuteness-makes-my-brain-explode. Natually, I'd forgotten my camera for the Alpaca show, but I sure had it to capture some tulips.

On May 5th I went to the First Monday Spin-in at Shuttles. Good news: since there were so many of us there (20 people, maybe?), Maggie decided to keep the Spin-ins going throughout the summer! Yippee! Usually they take a hiatus, so this is great.

Swappy McSwapperton

2008-04-29T14:58:00.000-06:00

Recently I've been participating in Fiber of the Month Swaps via Craftster.

I cannot help it.

I can't resist the fiber!

This month my partner was maiziemama. She indicated in her questionnaire that she liked warm colors and wool, silk, and sparkle. Since I don't have access to a drum carder and wasn't dyeing yet, I sent her handcarded rolags of predyed merino, silk latte (fiber from milk protein = SUPASOFT!), camel down, bison down, and two different colors of angelina sparkle goodness. Here's a pic that she posted on Craftster (her pic, not mine):

And in return, she sent me these beauties!! BEHOLD, batts of ultragoodness!

Sweet mint and maroon batts, Blue Faced Leceister and Corriedale wools, plus a ton of angelina sparklies!

Gratuitous closeup sparkle shot:

I am such a happy camper!

Now I've got a decision to make...after work today, do I go home and spin these beauties, or do I dye up the 1 lb. of Blue Faced Leicester I've got soaking in the dyepot? Maybe both? My neighbor Keyboard Cowgirl and I usually have a "Happy Tuesday" and have some beer at Mountain Sun, but she just bought a $900 chair (yeahhhhh...what?!?!) and wants to conserve her pennies at the moment. KC just cracks me up. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to play with dyes with me this afternoon.

My hands will never be the same.

2008-04-28T09:16:00.000-06:00

See, I kept forgetting to wear gloves all weekend, so my hands are now an absolutely lovely shade of blackish purple. :)

I finally have begun to play with dyes! This was my first foray into the world of handpainting roving and top, and I am really loving the fact that I can do EXACTLY what I want to do with color. My nifty little collection of dyes ranges from Aztec Gold to Fire Red to Chartreause, and I had a blast mixing and concocting over the weekend.

I started off with 5 dyes I bought at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins here in Boulder, and supplemented it with 8 Jacquard Acid Dyes I bought from Hello Yarn online. Two sets of instructions equalled perfect step-by-stepness...everything came out great!

Since I didn't really know what I was doing, I started with Falkland top...it's not quite as expensive as merino or BFL, but is still soft enough for me to want to spin it. I soaked three ~4 oz. bundles of Falkland for an hour in warm water, then went outside to set up my dyeing area on the picnic table by the creek. Mixing the dyes was dubious. I looked like a unibomber, with my facemask and rubber gloves, but seriously folks, you can't take too many precautions with the unmixed dye powder. It is scary stuff if you breathe it in. I mixed up the three primaries (fire red, brilliant blue, and yellow), jet black, hot fuschia, chartreause, and turqouise. (So did I spell those correctly? It's too early in the morning. ) Once the powder is mixed with a little hot water, all is well and the mask can come off. At that point, the sprinklers came on and I was insanely happy I'd chosen the picnic table that was on the flagstone rather than the one out in the yard, because...well...I don't want to think about the obscenities that might have echoed down the street. :)

So the dye stock was mixed and ready for further diluting. I spread out el cheapo plastic wrap and carefully unfolded one of the wet Falkland bundles so that it was neatly arranged on the wrap. I mixed about 1/4 cup of dye stock with 1/2 cup of warm water per color, then liberally applied the dyes to the (not soaking) wet wool. With my first try, I applied the dyes a little too liberally. When rolling the wool up into a little plastic bundle, a ton of dye squirted out the end. Hooray for non-toxicity! So I dyed up three bundles worth, then packed up the gear and went back upstairs. The plastic rolls went into a large stockpot with a steamer in the bottom over an inch or so of water. Covered, the wool steamed for 40 minutes. Then I let 'em cool for several hours before unrolling the wool into a sink full of water with a little squirt of Eucalan wool wash. 15 minutes of soaking, then I drained the sink and refilled with slightly cooler water. 15 more minutes of soaking. Then I squeezed the water from the wool and plopped each bundle into a salad spinner to help further extract water. Then up to dry they went! The dyed roving mostly dried overnight, and I have to say that I'm pleased with the results!

Field Shirt project continued...

2008-04-23T11:02:00.000-06:00

Well, I was having some trouble with blogspot during the last post...I had difficulty uploading more than one image. I waited a couple o' days. Things seem to have cleared up a little.

So immediately after the shirt came in the mail, I set about cutting it up. This is when I discovered the shirt is built like a tank. I'm sure they're made to last through some pretty difficult circumstances, so this wasn't all that surprising.

First thing I decided to do was to cut off the collar and zipper areas. The collar is stiff and most likely I will not use it for my project...unless I'm confronted with a dire shortage of fabric. Zippers might be an interesting addition in crazy art yarn, but this project's ultimate goal is to have a soft-ish blanket for the kiddos, so I think I'll just discard it.

I'd also like to point out the massive use of velcro, which is visible in the pic to the right. Yikes. This might be more challenging than I realized!

Project for Jeanette

2008-04-17T10:15:00.000-06:00

Jeanette is a friend of mine from ye olde high school days. I lost touch with her for awhile, but recently we've become myspace friends and through that medium, I've come to know a little more about her and her family. She's married to a great guy now, and has three (3!!) sweet kiddos. Her husband Billy is serving in Iraq at the moment, and naturally that puts a large amount of stress on her family. I wanted to do something, however small, to try and help them a little through this second deployment.

So...I came up with a little project.I asked Jeanette to send me one of Billy's old field shirts. My plan is to spin fabric strips from his shirt along with some superwash merino wool, then knit it into a blanket for the kids. This way, they can cuddle with it and think of their daddy.

A few weeks ago (hmm...at this point probably over a month ago) I got a package in the mail! Inside was this:

I should have put something in the frame to give you a sense of scale, but let's just say this is one nice, big jacket. It should yeild lots of tasty fabric. I planned to cut the jacket down into long fabric strips, possible ripped along the sides for texture. The ends should be frayed for easy incorporation with the wool.

I started cutting soon after it arrived in the mail. This is when I discovered that these jackets are fortified with iron and minerals! They are practically indestructible, folks. The seams are reinforced, the fabric is seriously strong, and there are about a bazillion pockets.

Hooray and Welcome!

2008-04-17T10:04:00.001-06:00

Well, there I was, trying to update my goofy little 6-year-old livejournal blog, when I found out I couldn't post pictures there unless I paid them for the priviledge.

Ridonkulous, I say!

So I'm moving on to blogspot, at least for the spinny posts.

**stretches** Yep, I think I'll like it here.