The library

Since my daughter recently learned how to knit, she has been bitten by the knitting book bug. But unlike me, she is very close to our big downtown library, and has been using that as a source of books. She said to me the other day that the library really had a great collection of knitting books, and that I should check it out. So Tues, on my way to work I did stop by to do just that.

As I walked down the 700 aisle (arts and crafts section) looking for the knitting books (textile history, embroidery, tatting, it was hard to make any progress down those shelves!) I hit on a section on spinning! And was amazed to see that they had 18 books on the shelf on spinning. I settled on two of them to check out.

The first was a charming little book called The Magic of Spinning. It is written by Marion L Channing, with a first copyright of 1966. It was published by Channing publishing! And the illustrations are done by her husband. But wait, it's even better, the book is signed by the author herself. What a gem. It is a tiny 48 page very basic book on spinning. There's not a website listed in the references :) She thanks Paula Simmons for her help with the book. It was a treat to read. And it was put in our library, by the stamp on the front of the book in 1984. How amazing.

From that tiny beginning, we now have the second book I checked out, Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning. It is a whopping 500 pages, and was copyrighted in 2001. It just amazes me the information, skills, and experiences that are now available about this subject. Yes it has been almost 40 years. But with the advent of the internet, the new wave of 20 something knitters, think of how much more information will be tested and gathered in half that time in the future.

I did finally make it to the shelves with the knitting books. There is an amazing three shelves full. I really commend my library management for this. I have a book shelf full of knitting books myself, however there were many there I have not had the chance to see, let alone buy. I checked out, Slip-Stitch Knitting by Roxana Bartlett and Knitting Around the World, published by Threads. I also found two machine knitting books, The Machine Knitter's Handbook and The Machine Knitter's Design book, both by Hazel Pope.

So the library cycle has started again. When I go back to return these books, I of course wander over and look at the stacks again. For many months I have avoided the library, just because of this cycle. I have bookcases full of books here. I feel I need to read some of these, and either keep them or move them on. But that is not how it works. If the book or magazine is my own, it can lanquish on the shelf, I won't make it a priority to read it. However, a library book, with it's overdue deadline, makes me find the time to read it. That's either a good or bad thing, depending if I have the time or not:)

Ah reading. It is one of my daily pleasures, whether I read a book, an email, a blog, a magazine....

Cup of tea and a good read anyone?

CW

A Bunny Update

I don't blog about my bunnies much anymore, but they are still very much a part of my daily life, and especially part of the time I spend on fiber related projects. And the last two months I have been spending more time on the bunnies, now that the weather is warmer. So I thought an update would be good.

I did not breed any rabbits this spring, so everyone in my barn are now adults of various ages. The ages range from a little over one year (born early last year) to one old man of nine. I currently have 18 bunnies. Each have their own cages, and the cages are in lines of four or six, so most have 'neighbors' They seem to like having neighbors, but like good neighbors, also like those good 'fences' (that is cage dividers) Two bunnies in the same cage (unless babies growing up together) usually mean a tussle, either for space or for the decision of who is on top (grin). But they like having the company of that bunny next door, and I try and keep the bunnies in cages in a row. That makes the feeding and watering easier too.

So since my barn has around 30 cages and since I am down to 18 rabbits, one of the ongoing projects the last two months has been to repair and clean cages and then move bunnies to a more consolidated group. The work is progressing, but very slowly. I work full time, so it means first I need a day off, and second, a day I am not just absolutely worn out from working, and third, reasonably nice weather. Once I get all three factors, it ends up I have about one day every other week to spend 4-5 hours working in the barn. But it progresses, and will eventually be done.

The other 'chore' of course is grooming rabbits. Many are to the point of needing plucked right now so I spent one day last week, grooming six rabbits. (As an aside to those that are not familiar with angora rabbits, they grow a coat, and then molt it about an average of three times a year. When the coat is molting, it is possible to just pull the fiber right off of the rabbit. This is one way that angora is harvested, the rabbits can also be sheared when the coat is to the right length. Plucking does not hurt the rabbit, if the coat is shedding. If the fiber comes out in my hand that means it is loose. If I did not harvest it, the rabbit could ingest the fiber while grooming itself, and cause it's death by woolblock.)

Here
is a picture of one of my french does in full coat. Her name is Reboot, because my daughter found her out of the nest and chilled, warmed the rabbit up and it lived. So we call it Reboot.

Reboot has a wonderful coat. The color is called a blue, and the fiber averages six inches in length. The is some guard hair, which will be spikey when spun, but is not itchy. It is very very soft. I do spin most of my angora as 100% yarns, and use those yarns as accent brims on hats, or to knit a very warm scarf.

I raise two different breeds of angora, french and satin. Here is a picture of a satin buck in full coat. His color is chestnut with rufus (which means there are reds in the coloration)

Satins are known for their very intense colors and shine to the fiber. This happens because the hair follicle has a clear tip, which reflects the light and gives the shine. The intense color happens because the fiber length is on the average, shorter than the other angora breeds. When any angora rabbits fur grows, the color gets diluted the longer the fur grows. The tip is the most intense color (and can be a different color that the main part of the fiber) As the fur grows, the color changes to a base color, generally white or gray or tan. Genetics determine all this, and what color the rabbit is called is based on those genetics.

Since satins tend to have fiber lengths of around 3 inches, there is less amount of the base white or gray to dilute the color and it looks more intense.

This rabbit does not really have a name. Most of the rabbits in my barn are referred to mainly by their breed, color and sex. So he is my chestnut satin buck. I don't have any others like that so it can be a unique name for him. I did have identical ermine satin bucks in one litter, I guess rabbits could have twins. They are so identical, I had to name them. Ummm A and B. I never was very creative with rabbit names. It might be that the fun of naming them wore off after about five years of trying to think up names for that litter of eight. I have used the names of Santa's reindeers (I still have Vixen) and off course all of the common rabbit names (in fact I have two Jack's right now, one I had named, and one came with that name) One time I had to take a rabbit to the vet. Since this was a small animal practice, the receptionists ask immediately 'what is the animals name?' After a pause I said, I call her Lilac (that's the color of the rabbit). 'Funny name for a rabbit' was the reply :)

But named or not, these rabbits are very much a part of my daily routine. I spend much more time with them than the fiber would ever repay. It just makes me smile, when I go to one of the bucks cages to give them food, and they demand a head scratch instead.

CW

Oh Brother, what have I started?

Actually it all started when a knitting/spinning buddy went to an estate sale, and an old Brother knitting machine came with an odd lot that she bought. She casually asked if any of us were interested in a knitting machine, warning us that she had no clue if it would work or not. I said, sure why not and took it.

That was last Dec. I knew nothing about knitting machines, so I went to the standard source of information, Ebay (laughter). After looking at many pictures, I did come to the conclusion that what came home with me was missing many pieces. But the bug had bitten me, and as I searched Ebay, I was starting to pay attention to prices.

I finally found one that I thought was an amazing good deal. Probably what hit me first was that it at least had a case of very similiar color to the one I already had. And there were pictures of many more parts with the one on Ebay. So I bid and won, and ended up buying a Brother KH 601 knitting machine, from of all places, the Tacoma Goodwill!

It arrived mid Feb, and I found a place about 2 hours from me that still serviced Brother machines. I took it up there March 9th (I know the date for sure, it was my hubby's birthday). Tues this week I got the call that it was ready to be picked up. Since I was off from work on Weds, I drove the two hour trip again to pick it up.

The owner of the shop was fantastic and gave me a three hour lesson on it. Along about the 2 1/2 hour mark, I think my brain exploded :) But I had a nice sample swatch knitted, and along with the manual and the yahoogroups that I had by now joined, I can say I now can knit on it.

I have been ebay shopping for some pattern books and general machine knitting books. I bought a couple years worth of Machine Knitters Source magazines. They are from the early 90's but I still think it will help me learn. I am doing what I always do, when learning a new skill, read, read, and more reading. Right now, in many ways it is like trying to read a foriegn language I just barely understand. But if I become too frustrated, I can go and just knit on it as there are lots of things that can just be created from straight knitted squares. Right now I am just walking through each page of the manual and making sure I understand the basics.

Fusion Knitting has a blog that I read all the time. She is very machine knitting oriented and a constant source of information and inspiration. Her recent post, making a tank top in just two hours has me sure that I have made a great investment by buying this machine. Not just investment moneywise, but time.

Oh, and a final serendipity of it all. These Brother machines have not been manufactured for awhile. Parts for them, including the precious needles are hard to find. So even though the freebie machine handed to me by my friend had no real parts to it, what it did have was 200 needles, and they are an exact match for this new machine of mine. That is like finding a treasure chest of gold. The old freebie also included a stand, and that is another wonderful thing. It sets the machine up to a comfortable, sit on a chair level. I grin everytime I walk past the set up now. Thank you knitting goddess, you have set me on a new path.

CW

Blogger's new look

If you haven't been to blogger.com and that is what you are using for your blog, you need to go and check out all the new templates. Cool stuff. I think I will stick with my green for now though. I've gotten fond of it.

So this is a test to see if the comments addition to the blog is working.

CW

A natural gold color

Or at least close enough for me. I am really pleased with how the ragwort dyed my yarn. Here is a picture of the yarn.

So if you want to duplicate this, here's how (and I bet it wouldn't exactly match, that's the fun part of natural dyes)

Take a bucket full of ragwort flower tops (see my previous post if you need a picture of the flower) Put them in a large stainless steel stock pot and bring to a boil. While that is heating wash skein of yarn to be dyed in soap and water, and rinse well. Then place in a mordant bath of alum water (this is a moderate stainless steel stockpot filled with water and two heaping tablespoons of alum and one teas of cream of tarter dissolved in it) Let yarn soak in mordant water while dyepot boils. I boiled the blossoms for about an hour. Be sure there is plenty of ventilation while you do this. The liquid will be a gold brown clear color.

Strain the dye liquid from the flowers and place in old crockpot. Put skein of yarn in the crockpot and set to low. Let simmer overnight (or as I did, while I was at work) I could see that most of the color was out of the liquid. I removed the skein, wrapped it in saran wrap, and microwaved it for 2 minutes. This will set the twist, I do not know if it will help it to be colorfast.

Then I washed the skein in hot soapy dish detergent and a smidgeon of borax.(it really smelled bad, sort of off flavored brussel sprouts type smell) I saw a little of the color rinse off. After that I rinsed the skein in hot water with a glug of vinegar in it (I am doing all this in my kitchen sink) I could see the color brighten some after doing that. There was no color run off at this point. Finally I just rinsed in clear hot water, towel dried the skein and hung it up to complete drying.

I mentioned that really loving this color meant I had to spin up more white skeins, before the flowers faded. A bright internet friend said that the blossoms can be frozen until I am ready to do more dyeing. So that's what will be done, two trash bags full of the blossoms will go into the large freezer. It will make a very fun addition to our annual fall dye day at my house.

CW

Recent spinning

I have been doing what I call zone spinning, which means I just spin the fiber on my electric spinner, while watching TV, and let the yarn be whatever it wants to be. I stop and pick out VM but other than that, I don't fuss with the roving to force it into thick or thin or a specific type of yarn.

I tend to think I spin pretty much the same type of yarn when I do this. My electric gets set at about the same pull in, and speed. And I get a two ply yarn that looks very similiar, but I was surprised to find how unsimiliar the yarns can be, just changing the fiber being used.

What I did was to take two oz balls of roving per bobbin, and then ply that. I did five different fibers, and took some measurements along the way. That's how I found out how different the fibers made the yarn.

Here's a closeup picture of the five different skeins.

The white corriedale on the far right is from this roving I have posted a picture of this before, when I got it back from Woolyknob fiber mill. That skein is 163 yds, 18 WPI. I had a big difference between the WPI of the singles of the two bobbins, one was 25 WPI and the other 32. I must have gotten more into spinning finer as I went along.

Just left of that is the CVM skein. I bought this roving from Little Barn, and as you can see in the picture, CVM is like merino. It is a very puffy, springy yarn after it is spun. The skein is 162 yds, and the 2 ply is a thick 10 WPI.

In the middle is a Border Leicester that I bought two years ago, and had processed by Woolyknob. The singles were closer at 22 WPI and 24 WPI and the 2 ply is 13 WPI. There is only 120 yds in the skein, being a thicker yarn. I did overspin some in this yarn, I am not sure if it was because I was picking out VM (the electric just keeps on spinning, and sometimes I try and cheat and pull the VM out without stopping the spinner). I think the yarn will relax some when I wash it.

Left of that is the llama that I had processed by Woolyknob. It was an interesting roving. There were very obvious white guard hairs in it, which looked like stiff sewing thread. I could pick them out easily, if I stopped, went over the piece of roving I wanted to spin next, and pull them out. Also this roving had the most VM, llamas and alpacas just love to roll or lounge in the hay. It'll make this yarn hard to use for anything next to the skin, the pricklies still can be felt. The singles spun at 25 WPI and 21 WPI and I had alot of trouble with thick areas happening in the yarn. So the 2 ply is a 13 WPI in a 145 yd skein.

I saved my favorite for last, the brown Border leicester on the far left. I bought this fleece at SAFF, and had it processed at Woolyknob. This spun into a very consistent yarn for me, with the singles at 24 WPI and 23 WPI. The 2 ply is 17 WPI, so I have a larger skein, 173 yds. I love the color of this yarn, a true deep natural brown. I will be making a sweater from this roving, I am sure of that.

The whole point to all this was to see how each of the rovings I have recently purchased would spin, if I was spinning them 'in a hurry' If I plan to make any big knitting project that takes over 2000 yards, I need to be spinning in the most productive method. The CVM would not work, it is too easily too bulky. The llama will not work, it is too itchy. The corriedale will be OK, but needs to be dyed, I am not into white sweaters. And the one BL, will be OK, I may think about a barn sweater, or something felted with that, I am concerned that the yarn would just be too bulky for a shaped and cabled sweater. The brown BL is the winner, now I just have to work on making another 12 skeins _just like it_ :)

CW

Will It be Gold?

I have a whole field full of this which turns out to be Golden Ragwort. I just found this out last Saturday. I was mowing, and everytime I'd go past the field, I'd think, 'I KNOW that's not mustard' After I was done mowing, I got out my weed and herb and garden books, in search of the plant. I could not find any good pictures, I finally had to go online and find the identification.

What it is commonly known as, is squaw weed.

When I was chatting with my coworkers Monday, on a coffee break, I told them about the field full of flowers, and finding out it's ID. I said that is was called squaw weed, but I couldn't figure out why, because that usually meant it was useful in the tribal home remedies. And this was definately not a common medicinal plant. Then one coworker said, 'maybe it was good for dyeing things, that should be right up your alley!'

(Insert picture of me smacking myself on the side of the head).

My coworkers know me better than I do, it seems.

So that was my intention this morning, to gather enough to try one dyebath with it. I will not be able to do that until the weekend, however, since this field is the one that could be plowed 'any day now' by the farmer that rents the land for planting, I wanted to be sure to get some picked.

I found out there could not be an easier plant to wild pick. It stands waist high, and all one has to do is smack the plant to move any insects along off the plant (figured that out after a bee did get in the bucket) and then bend the plant top over the bucket and snip the blossom. I cut a five gallon bucket full of blossoms in about five minutes. And I probably took a 50 foot length of a very large 2 acre field full of these flowers. They are there by the thousands.

I have no idea if the plant will dye yarn a pretty color or not. I have seen it listed in one natural dye list as giving a gold color, but no indication of what mordent was given. I only have alum to use as a mordant, so this will be, all in all, a very limited dye experiment. Still, I am looking forward to trying, and then maybe in a week or two, showing off the yarn to my coworkers.

CW

Goddess and Dragons, oh my

I thought I'd share the birthday presents I just bought for myself.

Dragonspindle

Goddesspindle


An internet friend bj has a website Moonspinners and these are two of her spindle designs.

They are hard to photograph, because they are shiny. The goddess did ok with my camera, the dragon is even more beautiful than the photo shows. I asked bj to do a dragon design for me, and she found the perfect design and combination of colors for me.
Check out her website and see if you find a perfect design too.

These are fitting birthday presents, since my birthday is May 1st. No matter how old I get, I still love having a birthday, because it falls on Beltane. I think it is a perfect day for a birthday, whether I celebrate alone, or with the whole world (Kentucky Derby is on my birthday this year too!) I clean the porch good and officially declare it open for summer sitting. We will make our traditional May wine, and hopefully build a fire in the firepit in front of the porch. It's a tradition for us, just like birthday cake.

These two spindles have made me think about the possibility of magical spinning. I know one pagan that did knit mittens with intent, and of course there is always the orthodox prayer shawls. What would magical spinning be for? Meditation only? Focus for circle energy? Or would I get too distracted by the 'production' process going on, and not really focus? Anyway it is something to think about, and I will definately be using these spindles at home for the pleasure of seeing their beautiful colors swirl as I spin.

CW

What I learned at Greencastle

No, I didn't take any classes, unless you want to include life lessons.

It was a great weekend, in all ways. The trip up was easy with several just for fun stops on the way. Setting up the booth went like clockwork, as well as taking it down Sat evening. We know the routine well, and only changed a few things about the booth, so there was less of that, 'well, let's try putting the table here instead'. Friday afternoon sales were brisk, much better than last year, and Sat was steady, but not exhaustingly busy. Friday night we gathered with our yearly group of vendors that we know, and had glasses of wine, and notes of the past year until midnight. I was barely able to crawl into bed Friday night, but fortunately it was a good bed, and I slept well.

In short, it was the type of show Ted and I like, and we left Sat evening still speaking to each other

Here though are the lessons I learned over this weekend.

1. As much as I thought I would like to have it, I do not need a great wheel. The vendor next to us had a restored, fully functioning great wheel, built in the 1780's. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, and the wood glowed from great care. He was asking only $500. When we saw it, Ted and I talked a long time about buying it. He offered three times, saying he was perfectly happy to pay for it. He longed for that wheel as an antique, and I could only see it as a spinning wheel. So I could justify it, by it being fully functional. I just could not OK putting another 'something' into our already overstuffed house. Especially something that big. I said no to each of Ted's offer, but he knew I really wanted it. So I learned I could say no to something I always thought I wanted, and when found at the right price, didn't buy.

2. I found out I didn't need a small, very unique, fully functional antique wheel. This was sitting right along side the great wheel. It had the advantage of being small, and only $300. It was a tiny wheel, but also had on top a lazy kate, and along side a skein winder. A full yarn factory, in a tiny 24 inches. I had to say no to myself, because I knew, as cute as it was, I wouldn't use it. That tiny wheel (and bobbins) would mean many many treadlings for a bobbin full of yarn, and that the bobbin would be full in no time at all. I wonder if it was a child's wheel. It seems just the thing for a child to be spinning right along side the mom. At one point, since we sat directly across from the wheels, Ted caught me just sitting and looking at them, and said he hadn't seem that look of longing on my face since our second date LOL But I also watched both sell, the great wheel within an hour of the price going on it, and the little wheel later in the afternoon.

3. I learned I really really like getting fiber from the processor, all ready to spin. The three large bags of fiber from Woolyknob Fiber Mill is beautiful. I will rave again about what nice work they do. I did hear one contrary comment this weekend, about a high lanolin fleece not coming back up to the buyers expectations, and then she put the caveat on it that they were just getting the mill going and may have been on their learning curve. Still, it is as I have always thought, the fresh merino and cormo fleeces really need to be wash slowly lock by lock and spun that way instead of made into roving. What I sent were two border leicester fleeces and a two hugh llama coats. The llama was a great surprise, I expected a courser roving, but it was as soft or softer than the one border leicester. I will be playing with that alot, first spinning it alone and then combining on my drum carder with some fibers, to find the best use. The two border leicester were sent at the same time to learn if processing a loose curl wool and a tight wool curl came out different. Visually, in the roving I can see no difference and I am excited about that, because I have found I do not like trying to open the tight curls by hand before washing, and it looks like this processor has no problem picking open the curls before washing. The two fleeces are different in softness, but that has to do with quality of the fleece. One fleece was a last of the bunch, $5.00 for the whole fleece deal. The other I paid $4.00 per pound for at SAFF last fall. After I spin some of the two BL, I will see how much difference there is in the yarn too.

4. I learned that even having a car full of ready to spin roving, and probably five raw fleeces at home waiting for me to work with, I could not go to a fleece fair, and not buy a raw fleece. After I set up my booth on Friday, I let Ted tend it, and I walk around for the first look at what is for sale, and what might tempt me for this years spending budget. Of course I look at all the fleeces. It's wonderful to see the colors, see the locks, feel the difference in texture of each. And I know most of these breeders now, so I have to see their new spring clip. I was doing fine almost the whole way until I got the the gal that breeds cormo. I bought a white fleece from her last year, that I am about half way through lock washing and spinning fine yarn. This year, I stopped to say hello, and check out each fleece, telling her about my love and success with her last year's fleece. I started noticing lots of lovely colors, hmm, BL colors, you know those browns that run into greys that run into a tan tip. So I start checking tags, and she not only has BL now, but has cross breed BL with the cormo. Oh oh. A silver fleece. Oh oh. I checked it out closely, yep, lovely cormo fine silky crimp, but BL color. And no tight BL locks. Just wide open cormo locks. I was doomed to dream of that fleece all night (because at first I walked away saying I had no business buying more raw fleece) So around noon on Sat, when the first lull hit, I told Ted I was going to walk around. My intention was to go and prove to myself that the fleece would have already been sold, and I could quit lusting after it. It was with mixed feelings that I walked up to her booth, and glad smiles when the fleece was still there. She had offered to split the fleece, but I really do not like to do that, for the breeders sake (how can you fairly split a fleece) and to assure myself I really do get all the good bits, I will pay for some of the not so good. It's all part of the price to me.
So I walked my wonderful sheepy smelling fleece back to the car with a smile on my face and went to face the hubby, who had been insisting we would never squish those three bags of process fiber into the car for the trip home, let alone another 6 pounds of raw fleece.

5. I learned that my hubby can not resist a bargain either, even if it is something he would never use. Our vending neighbor was selling merino roving like he was the only one to ever make it. He is a bulk vendor and probably even runs this merino in his own mill. He started with 85 count for $8 a pound and sold out of that, went to 95 count for $10 a pound and sold out of that. Ted was watching this with great fascination, he could not believe the pounds and pounds of the stuff being weighed and sold. I think he finally could not resist the call of what everyone obviously thought was an amazing deal, because when the vendor finally got out the 100's merino and marked $11.95 a pound on it, Ted said OK how much to you want, and bought the rest of the bag for me, a little over 2 pounds. So I learned even hubby can get lured into the call of a great fiber bargain.

6. I learned it was easy and hard to let go of being part of the vending scene. Yes, it was a bittersweet weekend for this reason. So much of doing this was seeing the same people, doing their same thing, year after year. It was like a little tiny support group of fiber sellers. We'd all set up with hugh anticipation, we would all ache in the knees and feet and could barely pack up on Sat. But it was always with the anticipation of there's always next year. This year, it made a great show for me, to put a 20% discount on all my fiber. I didn't tell people it was a close out sale, just acted like I was in that discounting type of mood, today only, just for you.... Some people I told this was my last year, others, I just nodded and said see you next year. Well, I probably will, just not as a vendor. I still plan to go to Greencastle, how could I not with all that fleece calling.

I told my husband as we got in the car to leave, that I would have the fiber room empty by the first Thur in April 2005, so I could guarentee a trip back to the Fleece Fair next year. He only laughed and asked where I thought I could hide that much fiber :) We did managed to stuff all that I bought into the car, it was packed just as full as when we came but with different stuff. Funny, today all I want to do is sit and spin, I just can not image why!

CW

Spring forgives it all

I have been working extra, and work has been stressful, but it doesn't matter because it is spring. The time changed and I have not gotten the sleep I need, but it doesn't matter, it is spring. I stay grumpy for about two seconds, and then I look outside, see daffodils, yellow forsythia in full bloom, peach trees about to bloom, and my favorite of all, yellow dandolions, and purple violets, filling the pasture part by my lane. I would be hated in suburbia, but I just think the combination of purple and yellow to be beautiful.

I have been fighting the urge to buy buy buy fleece. I subscribe and read all of the fleece for sale type boards on Yahoo, and _everyone_ has been shearing the last two months. I want to buy them all. I have managed to stick to just buying one that I committed to last Dec. When I did the rare breed exchange I talked to a couple of breeders of CVM and decided to speak for a fleece before it was sheared. First time I have ever done that. I got that fleece last week, and oh it is a beautiful color. Very deep chocolate brown. I have done nothing but look at the top of the box of fleece since I got it, I have been too busy with work, and getting ready for the fleece fair. But I am sure I will have lots more to say about this fleece as I work with it.

Speaking of fleece fair, I finished up getting ready on Monday, and so have avoided the last minute feeling rushed to get ready feeling. I have 10 rubbermaid tubs packed with fiber and now am really excited about going. I will enjoy this year's fair for a number of reasons. I am decidedly sure now, I will not do this again, so this being the last year of having a booth will make it special. And being ready ahead of time, helps me feel relaxed about it all. And I am marking all fiber 20% off, so I am looking forward to a bit of rush from everyone shopping a sale.

Another thing I am looking forward to from the fiber fair, is picking up three fleeces processed at Woolyknob fiber mill. I called them yesterday, and yes they not only had the fleeces ready, they remembered they were bringing them to greencastle for me to pick up. So I saved shipping costs both ways, and that knocks at least $15. off each fleece's processing, if not more. And for the first time I will be paying for something at the fleece fair, that I can take right home and spin :)

For a knitting update, a picture of the first finished baby blanket. Tues was the shower and I did wrap up the second blanket with needles and yarn, and had to take the jokes about not finishing it. No sympathy at all from that non knitting group. The recieptient did joke if _she_ was suppose to finish it, and then seriously asked what it was going to be! I thought that the 8 inches knitted already would obviously be a blanket, but not to a non knitters eyes, I guess. So I have it back now, and it will be my knitting project this weekend as we drive to Greencastle and back.

I thought I would be able to pick up my knitting machine from the Brother dealer in Indianopolis on Friday on the way up to the fiber fair, but it doesn't seem to be done with it's reconditioning. I have yarn ordered, but not here yet, but I am getting very anxious to start learning the knitting machine. I was disappointed to find out it wasn't done yet, I will have to make a special trip up there when it is finally ready.

But that's OK, because it is spring.

CW

EEEKKKK!

I walked into work today and found out that the planners had decided to make the pending baby shower for one coworker into a joint shower for the two pregnant ladies. I have one baby blanket done, but the second one, which I thought would be needed in six weeks in now due NEXT WEEK.

I have never ever given a partially completed gift....but as they say there is always the first time for everything. I am fortunately closer to the second lady, who works on the shift with me, so I think I will be able to do just that, wrap up a partially knitted baby blanket. Oh but I am not happy about it at all. I should have stuck to sweaters.

It was a good move for the planners, and even the shower attendees. It is hard to find time for all of us to gather and celebrate, and still work around welll, work, and everyone's schedule. So I plan to just be silently brave, wrap up what ever is done, and hope it is still appreciated, as much as the completed one.

The stress is added by the fact that I have the exact same amount of time to finish up what I wanted to get ready for Greencastle fiber fair. I was actually feeling in control about that, have my last three days off before it planned, and should have had everything packed and ready to load in the car by Wed. So I have to decide, do I not work on the baby blanket, and do the rest of the fiber plans, or do I ditch some of the fiber ideas, go with what I have ready, and knit like a demon.

Sigh, and I was feeling so in control.

CW

Yeah, I've been messing with HTML a little

So I've figured out how to do the list thing, it makes me happy, even if the list is skimpy.

And check out the very top left corner of the page, in case you missed it :) Who me, counting?

I am on a marathon stretch of working (away from home that is) and have not had time to do much on any project. This includes getting ready for the Greencastle booth which is just two weeks from now! I have gone through some of the available inventory, which is packed up and ready to go. I am off work tomorrow and I hope to report back an amazing amount of carded angora, ready to go. It's cold and rainy here again, which helps me with the temptation to go outside and play.

I have washed one black welsh mountain fleece, and plan also to card that and offer it for sale at my booth. It is my hope that the felting crowd will be drawn to the amazing black color and buy it for felting projects. I have had several of those projects in mind myself, mostly a large project tote bag. Can't you just see it in deep black with bright dyed needle felted flowers?

As far as projects in progress right now, I am working on the second baby blanket, and really liking the pattern. It is in blue and white yarn, and is coming out looking like checked gingham. I will have to get a picture posted when it is further along, and show how cute it looks. The due date for this is in about 6 weeks, still I need to keep after it, to get it done.

I should be receiving a Romeldale fleece in the mail in the next day or so. I am very anxious to see this fleece, which is the parent stock of the CVM breed, and is even rarer than CVM. More details later.

And along with that shopping, I was bitten by the yarn stash bug, and put an order in at Elann.com for White Buffalo yarn, the yarn that is barely spun, and 6 ply. I got enough to make a large jacket for me. And then my daughter enabled me to an ebay seller, with silk yarn for the knitting machine, and I bought way too much of that. Yummy black, grey, camel colors, along with two large skeins of very fine yarn, for handknitting shawls. Darn that stash bug anyway....

CW

Inspiration Finally 'Springs' Up

I guess I have been in the project blahs lately, because all of the sudden the last three days my mind has been abuzz with ideas again.

This lack of inspiration often happens when I am working on projects with a goal. Right now those projects are baby blankets. They are acrylic for ease of care for the new moms, and to help rid my very ancient yarn stash of yet more acrylic. I have only been serious spinning for the last six years, and although the handspun is starting to equal the acrylic stash, I am trying to switch the balance the other way :)

I was at knit group yesterday afternoon, and got a good reminder of why I really only want to knit with handspun. There were at least a dozen of us knitting, and everyone one of us, except one, were using a commercially made yarn. The one handspun yarn glowed like a jewel in that circle, a brilliant purple over gray yarn. We all just kept looking at it, commenting on it, and secretly wanting to be knitting it.

I have not done a major spinning project for six months now. I have been dabbling with the breed samplers, or making yarn for socks. I think it is time to do a couple thousand yards of something. Probably it will be the corriedale roving that I recently got back from the processors. Spinning up three pounds of roving ought to make those yards I need to plan a few bigger projects.

Another source of inspirations came from Charleen in a blog entry this month. She did a dyeing project, that just makes me itch to do the same thing.

And finally I found two books on Saturday at a yarn store, that fit right into and added to the ideas popping in my head. One is Sally Melville's Style In this book, she explores uses for odd balls of yarn leftover. She has a wonderful explanation of using color and lovely patterns for sweaters to knit. Although she uses commercial yarns in her patterns, I know this will be a way to use up those small yardage skeins of handspun that I have around. I did not realize that this book was out of print, and now feel very lucky to have found it. And to compliment this, I found a copy of Alice Starmore's Celtic Knits. Her patterns are complex, knit once in a lifetime type beauties. I dream of spinning hundreds of yards of different colored DK weight skeins, to knit one for me.

That is what makes this a fascinating hobby for me, and one that has really made me set other hobbies aside. As I see more and more people learn to knit (I taught three people to knit yesterday!) and spin, I see my enthusiam for the craft rejuvenated again and again.

CW

Rare Breed Exchange Part 2

I'd like to put a note of explanation here first. I was asked just how this exchange was done. There were a certain number of participants in the exchange and each person took one or two breeds from the rare breed list. They submitted a sample, often with a descriptive sheet of paper of that breed for each person in the exchange. As an example, my breed was CVM. I made up 10 sheets exactly the same, each with descriptions, some roving and raw fleece, and a small skein of yarn. I mailed this to the exchange coordinator, who then sorted everyone's so we all got a different sheet from all the different breeds. It is fun to do, and lots of fun to receive the exchange later in the mail.

The descriptions to follow are the notes from spinning the remainder of the exchange breeds, as there were twelve different breeds in the exchange. This ends up being backwards, but part one is below this, posted on 03/12/04.

Jacob US lineage

The sample submitted for this was actually from a petting zoo. It was still very nice, clean and soft to handle. There were two contrasting colors, a very dark part and a white part. Instead of mixing the colors, I divided them, and processed them separately.

The dark fiber was combed with my small combs. It combed really nice and I was able to spin a 19 yard 2 ply yarn of 16 WPI, and ended up with a very soft yarn. There was quite a bit of waste from the combing, but it didn?t seem too bad, so I used my hand cards to card that. It made a nice fluffy batt, and I spun the yarn on a medium weight drop spindle, just a small 7 yard sample skein.

I was inspired to try spinning this Jacob thin like Shetland, so I combed the white part of the sample, and spun it on a light weight drop spindle. I even let the singles rest on the spindle for awhile before plying. It was a lovely lace weight yarn. (I will have to edit later for exact figures, I am working from my notes away from home, and seem to have forgotten to write down the statistics on this skein)

I found I really liked working with this fleece. In fact, I went to a small spin-in last Sat and a vendor was selling Jacob fleeces, so I bought a 2 lb fleece to wash at home, and hopefully it will spin as fine as the above samples.

There are notes in my 10/14/03 blog about another Jacob sample I had worked with, which would also be US lineage.

Jacob UK lineage

Since one of the members of the exchange lives in England, we were lucky to have a chance to compare the two countries in several breeds, plus have access to some of the breeds only raised in Europe, and not in the US. There was a sample of Jacob submitted for us to compare. The sample fleece had two shades of deep brown, and an off white part.

Since the US Jacob combed so well, I decided to try the combs on this sample. I was disappointed though, it did not comb well. In fact, I named it the great disappearing fleece. I would put what looked like a six inch lock on the combs, and with each pass, the fiber got shorter and shorter. So it did not pull off the combs well. I did take some of the short bursts of top that I pulled off the combs, and spin it with a medium weight drop spindle. The white sample gave me an 11 yard skein of 2 ply 21WPI yarn, so even spinning with just short bursts of top, I was still able to get a nice fine yarn. Sometimes, I think there are advantages to having just that small nest of yarn in your hands while you spin, as far as getting a thinner yarn.

Hebridean

This is one fleece I have not had the chance to see before this exchange. It is a very primitive looking fleece, very long locks with no crimp. In fact, it does not look like wool at all, more like lock from the angora goat, only not even as silky as that. The sample felt like it had not been washed, or maybe only lightly washed.

I did not even try to card a sample, by the length, I could tell it would have just snarled up in the cards. So I took half the sample, and combed it with the hand combs, and half of the sample I spun straight from the locks without any processing at all.

The locks were very easy to comb, except for the static created by combing long locks. The top pulled off the combs quite easily, and there was very little waste left on the combs. The long top was very easy to spin, and I spun what I would call a ?hard? single. That is just the result of the twist going so heavily into the aligned long fibers. When I plied the sample, there were some small hairs sticking out of the yarn, although I did not think this breed was doubled coated, the hairiness of the skein suggested that. My small skein was 7 yards of a 2 ply, 23 wpi spun on the Roberta electric spinner.

I spun the second part of the sample by just pulling fibers out of an intact lock. It was very easy to do, although I got more short fuzzies floating around and on my lap as I spun. I actually got the same size skein spinning in this manner, same WPI. The only difference was that this skein was definitely fuzzier. It probably has to do with the fibers not being as aligned while spinning as well as those short fibers that would normally get combed out, were still present.

Llanwenog
Now isn?t that an exotic name! I have no clue how to pronounce it.

This is truly an opportunity to see a sample of fleece from a breed not raised in the US. This breed is from West Wales.

The locks are white and open with a very broad waved crimp. It feels moderately soft to the hand. The sample only included a few locks and a sample of yarn spun by the exchanger. So I only had the opportunity to feel and admire the sample, not actually spin any.

I am sure this would be a great fleece to spin in the lock. It should spin into a tight yarn, that would be great for knitting and showing off cables and designs in the sweater. It is not the softest next to the skin yarn, but still very lovely.

North Ronaldsay (Orkney)

This breed of sheep live in the harsh seacostal areas of the islands off Great Britain and graze on seaweed! I can imagine their coats are great protection from the elements for them. What surprised me is that the fleece is still usable as a spinning fiber.

Two participants submitted fiber for this breed. The first was a raw fleece from a ram. I was surprised to read that it had been washed in what is called the cold water method. There was no lanolin feel to the fiber at all. There was still a bit of dirt in the fleece. The locks were short, so I did not try to comb them at all. I used my hand cards and opened the locks and carded them into nice batts. I spun these batts on my electric spinner. The resulting yarn had a lot of dark hairs running through it, which were not as obvious in the carded batts.

The second participant submitted a sample of top or pencil roving of the wool after processing. The information sent along with the sample, said they do dehair the fleece before processing, so there must be a double coat, that accounts for the dark hairs in the above skein. The difference between that raw fleece and the processed fiber was like night and day. This was very soft, springy fiber that was just lovely. There were two colors, a deep brown, and a white. There was only a little bit of the brown, so I kept that sample intact without spinning any of it. I spun the white sample on my electric. I could tell that it was made from a very short stapled fiber, I had to use the inch worm drafting, in order to keep the drafting zone intact. My sample skein had a single of 23 WPI but when I plied it, I could feel that very cottony texture that one experiences in short stapled wool. It felt very similar to the Southdown that I had sampled another time. Combining that hand, with the springiness of the fiber, and my 2 ply was a bouncy thick, barely 10 WPI sample.

Ryeland

This was another sample that only had a lock or two of the fleece and a sample of the spun yarn. It felt like a time saver, to be able to just stick these sheets into my notebook, but I do miss having the opportunity to play with the fiber myself. If someday I happen along some fiber, I can add the notes in this spot.

The fleece sample was a soft short stapled springy wool in a grey brown color. The sample sheet stated that the fiber is best when carded and I can agree based on the short length of the locks. The sample skein was a nice 2 ply in a tweedy gray color. It felt like it would be a bouncy yarn, and not good for any high pattern definition knitting. It reminded me a lot of CVM that I worked with earlier.

Northern Short tail family

The last sheet of the exchange was a collection of four different breeds all considered part of this family. They are raised in several different areas of Europe and have widely differing fleeces. The sample only included a lock attached to the sheet with a bit of information about each breed.

Gotland This sheep is raised primarily in Sweden. The long lock was soft feeling and had a wide evenly spaced crimp. It reminded me of our Border Leicester breed's fleece.

Heidschnucke This sheep is raised in Germany. The lock was a good twelve inches long. It was coarse, with no crimp or softness. There were obviously two different coats, dark black coarse hairs were intermixed with the yellow white second coat.

Romanov The sheep is raised in Russia. It is another obviously double coated sheep. But these locks were short and were a mix of brown and tan colors.

Spelsau This sheep is raised in Norway. It did not have the double coated appearance. The long lock had only a slight crimp. The tips were tightly closed and colored a dark gray. The lock opened up at the cut end, and lightened in color. The lock felt much softer, that it looked.


Looking at all these pictures from the links, and working with the wool, really adds to my amazement at how varied the sheep breed can be, adapting to many environments. Yet even with those adaptations, still providing fleece for us to use for warm clothes, meat and milk for our food, and playful lambs, to add to the joy of sunny spring days. I bet every shepherd, no matter what language they speak all laugh just as we do, at the bouncy lambs of springtime.

CW

Rare Breed Fleece Exchange Part 1

Introduction

One of the yahoogroups that I belong to will frequently come up with exchanges for group members. This can be as varied as finished scarves, froghair or in this case, fleece samples from breeds considered by the ALBC as Critical, Rare, Under Watch, or Recovering. Spin-Off has listed these breeds as well.

Critical: CVM/Romeldale, Gulf Coast Native, Hog Island, and Santa Cruz.

Rare: Cotswold, Jacob, Karadul, Leicester Longwool, Navajo-Churro, St. Croix, Tunis, Wiltshire Horn.

Watch: Barbados Blackbelly, Dorset Horn, Lincoln, Oxford, Soay.

Recovering: Black Welsh Mountain, Clun Forest, Katahdin, Shetland,
Shropshire, Southdown.

Spinners may express surprise to see some of the breeds they are very familiar with on the lists. That is because these breeds are often raised in small flocks for the hand spinning market, or in interest of maintaining the breed.

The exchange requested a clean sample of fleece or roving. Each participant chose a breed, mostly based of availability to them and their stash.
What I chose to do with the samples is similar to how I have been handling the other fleeces for my breed notebook. This means I carded some of the sample, or combed some, or did both, depending on the amount available. If there was a larger amount of fiber, I did the spinning on my Roberta electric wheel. If there was only a small amount of fiber, I used a drop spindle to sample it.

California Variegated Mutant

This was the fleece I chose to use as my sample in the exchange. I had purchased roving at the Michigan Fiber Festival and had spun some of it for a pair of socks. The roving is soft, light gray with occasional brown highlights. Since I only had roving though, I contacted several breeders for raw fleece.

I have to admit when contacting the breeders I found out I was confused about the CVM term. It is applied specifically to the badger coloration that Romeldale sheep can produce. I am still trying to get a Romeldale fleece from a breeder so I can compare.

The CVM fleece I received had a staple of 4-5 inches. It had many open crimped locks, and the color was a light shade of grey with brown tips. I washed the fleece using both the lock method to maintain some in locks, and the rest loose in my sink. It did not seem like a high lanolin fleece. However, I noticed when I got the fleece back, after two months, that it was definitely sticky. I was disappointed to discover this. It means my water is probably not hot enough, or that orvis is not working to remove the lanolin. I think I will start boiling water and adding that to the soak, for fleeces from now on.

My exchange included a small sample skein spun from the roving. The yarn was a 16 WPI 2 ply. I also included a small bag of washed fiber and a small bag of washed locks.

I combed the washed fiber on small two tine combs, and even being a little sticky, it pulled off fine. I spun the sample top on a drop spindle, and had a 17 WPI 2 ply yarn.

I spun the washed locks on the Roberta. This also was not that bad to spin, even though it felt a little sticky. The single seemed very very thin, but when I plied it, I still had a 15 WPI 2 ply yarn. That shows just how much this yarn will poof when allowed to relax into the ply. I did notice that I plied pretty loose, a habit I have formed plying on the Roberta. If I had allowed a tighter twist in the ply, I may have found that I had a thinner yarn.


Navajo-Churro

The sample sent for this breed was a white tightly compacted roving. I predrafted heavily and spun my sample skein on the Roberta. I could tell the roving (it may have been top, it was not marked) consisted of short staple fibers. I spun at a very slow speed, and used a long draft zone. I was aiming for a loose spun thick single. I ended up with a 10 WPI 2 ply yarn.

Just spinning from a processed fiber is nice, but not very informative to the characteristics of the breed. I also had raw wool in the collection of breed samples that I have been working on. My notes from that follow.

This washed fleece is very primitive looking. It reminds me more of mohair than wool. It had very dark brown areas, tan areas, and light brown areas. The colors all side by side were a nice color combination. I divided into groups of like colors. The fiber was long and had no crimp.

Combing: The fiber did not like to be combed. It was very hard to pull off and the top felt very wiry. The colors were much more blended. I did a tan/silver sample skein, and a rich red/brown color. Both were spindle spun into a two ply yarn. I found that I could spin this best with the park and draft method, maybe the spindle was too heavy for the top.

Carding: I have two sets of cards, a coarse tooth and a fine tooth. I used the coarse tooth set to card the fiber and it really made a lovely batt. I only carded once, and the colors were swirled rather than blended. The batt benefited with being predrafted and then I could spindle spin the regular way, not park and draft. I think the singles got over spun, because when I went to ply, I found I did not have to even spin the spindle in the opposite direction. I just let out the two singles and the spindle would twist in the plying direction. I found this very fascinating to watch. I really loved the yarn from this sample. The dark brown had no hint of black, it was just a rich walnut brown.

I spun the carded fiber on the Roberta. I used what I call my wacky long draw. I can not do a true long draw on the electric, there is too much pull in with the Irish tension. So I put the fiber over my right index finger, and my left hand pulls back on the fiber. There is no pinch on the fiber, and the twist runs along toward my left hand until I finally let it all wind on and start over. The VM just dropped out while I was spinning but the occasional nub still made bumps in the yarn. The card color of the fiber was not tweedy but mottled. I was full of ideas of rugs to make while spinning this lovely yarn.

Shetland
The sample submitted for Shetland was a beautiful gray colored lamb’s fleece that had been processed into roving. There was a sample skein of a 3 ply yarn, that just begged to be a sweater. There was only a small amount of roving, so I did not spin any of this sample.

I had other samples of Shetland in the Breed sampler pack, and the notes from that are as follows:

The fleece looked a deep chocolate brown color with a lot of white and black hairs dispersed throughout. It showed the doubled coated nature of the breed. Interestingly, the color of the carded batts and the top looked black, which meant the brown must have been more of the color of the tips of the fleece.

Carding: I used my fine tooth combs, and this produced fair looking batts. The batts had little intregity, like the fibers were so short, the batts almost fell apart. I spun the batts on the Roberta. I could see two distinct fibers feeding off the batts, a very soft black, and a courser gray to almost white. They looked like guard hairs, but were still soft. The yarn was surprisingly not very springy, compared to the feel of the unspun fiber. My 2 ply skein was 15 WPI in what I would consider very nice sock yarn.

Combing: The small combs worked very nicely, a springy top pulled off easily. The waste was very full of neps, which surprised me, since I really didn’'t see that many when spinning the carded batts.

Dizing: I have heard that Shetland is one of the fleeces that can be spun very fine. I have very little skill in fine spinning and decided to practice on that with this combed sample. One of the things I had been wanting to try, was using the diz. I had always heard that you diz straight from the comb, and with hand held combs, I could not figure out how that could be done. So I took the top that I had just pulled off the comb, and put it through the diz in a separate step. I used the diz that was sent with the combs. This is a curved piece of plastic, probably cut from a milk jug. There was a pin hole in the center. I looked at that and laughed outloud, just how was I going to even get fiber into it! I finally managed to get a few threads of fiber wetted enough to go through. Then I started working the top gently through that hole. I held the top in my left hand behind the diz, tensioned with my small and ring finger. I was also holding the diz in my left hand, between my thumb and second finger. I then pulled the top with my right hand gently through the pin hole. It slide through easily, and amazingly was the size that I would call pencil roving. From a pinhole! I would have to stop now and then and rearrange the top in my left hand, straighten it out and such. I measured the top before it went through the diz, and I had about 2.5 yards of a 1.5 inch wide top. After going through the diz, it was about 18 yards of a 3/8 inch top. Amazing.

I spun this thinned out top on the Roberta. I had it set with no tension at all, because the bobbin drive band still creates a strong pull in. I set the speed dial to around 10 oclock. Even thinned out like it was, I still drafted some while spinning. And there was still the occasional slub, how did that get through the pinhole! I left the singles on the bobbin for several days, as is often advised when dealing with plying very fine yarn. The singles were 37 WPI, the finest I have spun on the Roberta. I noticed they were underspun and could have had more twist. The 22 yard skein of 2 ply was 23 WPI and a beautiful yarn.

Tunis

The sample for this fleece was an off white roving. It was dry feeling, but pleasantly soft and spongy and not the least bit itchy. I split the roving in half lengthwise and then drafted it to about twice the length. It was very nice to spin, clean and no nubs. I spun it on the Roberta, and probably got it a little overspun. The yarn was not as soft as the roving. The 20 yard 2 ply skein was 15 WPI.

There is a review of the raw fleece of this breed in my blog entry from Oct 14th, 2003.

Teeswater

The sample submitted for this breed was a silky feeling top. I had heard Wensleydale called the poor man’s mohair, and I felt that this was just like that. I also read someone else saying the same thing, and adding that Teeswater fleece has a finer hand to it, than Wensleydale. This top looked very much like mohair and even silk top, without that stick to your fingers problem that one has with silk. It was not as soft as silk though.

I only had the top to spin for this sample. I spun it like I would spin silk on my Roberta. The tension band was completely loosened and the speed was set high. I split the roving in half lengthwise and while I was spinning I would still travel back and forth across the width of the roving. There are times when I am spinning a fiber at this high twist that I feel like I am holding on for dear life, or it will go whisking away from me. It amazingly doesn’t break. And yet when I would slacken the fiber, I could see that the single was not holding the twist even at that high speed. The singles were 25 WPI and the sample skein turned out to be a whopping 39 yards of a 14 WPI 2 ply. The yarn had a much softer feel to it than I had expected.

Black Welsh Mountain US lineage

The sample for this breed was a deep black color, one of it’s most endearing characteristics. The fiber is very short and is not soft.

Combing: I could not comb this fiber at all. It came off in such short puffs that I did not think I could spin.

Carding: I like the way this fiber cards. My fine tooth carders produced a bouncy batt. I spun these batts on my Roberta, using a moderate speed and a very loosely held drafting zone. I tried for an even yarn, as opposed to a thin yarn. My singles where 15 WPI so my 15 yard skein was a thick 8 WPI 2 ply.

I have worked with this fiber before and think it will be wonderful knitted loosely and heavily felted into clogs or purses. The black makes a perfect background for needle felted pictures also.

Black Welsh Mountain UK lineage with US lines

One of the things the person submitting these BWM samples wanted to show was the difference between these lines of breeding. And it was very interesting to feel the two fibers and know there was a difference.

This sample of washed fleece was very black, in open undefined locks. It was definitely softer than the above sample.

Combing: This was the most amazing difference between the two samples. This fiber took to combs beautifully. It did look longer in staple and I am sure that is part of the difference. The resulting top was wonderful to spin. I used a medium weight drop spindle and the resulting yarn was the nicest BWM yarn I have ever seen. The 12 yard skein was a 20 WPI 2 ply.

Carding: This sample also carded nicely. The batt was just as lofty as the above sample, but had more integrity and less short spikey fibers. There were also fewer neps in the batt. I also spun this on a drop spindle, and the 12 yard sample skein was 13 WPI 2 ply.


This brings me to the half way point of the sampler. I am going to post this for tonight, and write up the other half next week. I am taking a break from the computer over the weekend.

CW

Spring and a Project Review

It was definately a springlike day today. Strong winds, rain one minute, sunshine the next. My daffodils are six inches high, and the crocus are blooming by the back door.

I spent most of this week getting back into a routine after traveling to see my Mom. By today, the housework was done, and the paper clutter reasonably under control, so I split my day off between doing laundry and spinning.

I have not figured out a good way to handle a finished project list on this blog. Until I do, here is sort of a quarterly review of projects I am currently doing.

Finished 2004

Hand spun CVM knitted socks
Four doll sized dog sweaters, from Lion Brand yarns

In progress Knitting

Blue baby blanket for coworker 1/2 done
Lace rectangle stole in Adriafil's Touch 1/3 done

Spinning
Breed notebook samples, 12 more to go
Wool Baaaaadd exchange silk latte samples

Processing
Washing suri alpaca
Carding 100% angora

I did a quick ply on about 10 yards of some fiber I had spun on a drop spindle at the last knitting meeting. I was so excited about the yarn sample I had to look up in my dyeing notebook, just when and with what I had dyed it. It was a blue faced leicester white roving that I had dyed in a crock pot with Black Cherry Koolaid. I had noted that the color was raspberry in the dye notebook, but looking at it today, it is a dead on coral, like coral jewelry. It catches my eye on the niddy noddy everytime I walk through the living room. I also rediscovered how much I love this roving. It spins thin, and stays thin after plying, unlike alot of the yarns I have been making lately. Maybe it was a top and not a roving, that would account for the smooth yarn. I doubt I have enough in the four ounces I dyed, but this yarn just begs to be a lacey shawl. It is not cobweb, but a fingering weight and would be perfect for an evening out.

Maybe I should start a list of 'almost started' projects

CW

Business or Pleasure

This is something that has been bugging me since Jan. Is all this fiber stuff around me business or pleasure?

I started out eight years ago, by getting a few angora bunnies. I dusted off the untouched Ashford traditional wheel with the intent to learn to spin. At what point did these few innocent hobby type actions turn into Zavagant Fibers?

I do this all the time, turn a hobby into a 'booth' When my daughter was very young, I took up hand smocking. One year at my local city's street fair, I had a big rack of hand smocked dresses for sale. My daughter and I both outgrew smocking.

Then it was quilting. And church bazaars. Any and every type of hand craft, I made, displayed and sold. Right before this spinning hobby, I was selling watercolor paintings (lets just say they were very primitive styled, I am not a good painter)

There is some cycle that happens when I get into a hobby. I learn all I can about that skill, get better than the average crafter (or the fact that no one DOES that craft) and someone pays me to do that for them, and I am off and looking for a full time way to sell it.

So I have been of two minds about this fiber stuff. I love it. I want to continue to love it. I want to share it with many people. I want to provide what they need to enjoy it like I do. It's not about the money, it's the joy of others loving spinning too.

It still ends up being a business, and alot of work. That is why I am off on this tirade today. I looked at the calendar and realized it is now only six weeks until my big yearly booth. I have pounds of angora plucked and graded, now it needs carded, packaged and labelled. This is not the fun part. Combing alpaca is alot of fun, a pleasant way to spend some time on my front porch. Combing pounds of alpaca is no longer fun. I love playing with the dyepots. I have six pounds of white corriedale roving that begs to be dyed. I had a very grand time last year, planning color combinations, and dyeing roving. But I doubt I will have time to do that in any large quantity in six weeks.

That is the difference of course, between the business attitude and hobby attitude. If it is a business, you do it all the time, in large quantities. I work full time, so doing the fiber business all the time is not possible. That alone has kept the business from growing. Over the last six years, as I have added more and more to the booth sales, I rationalized it all by saying I was building a retirement business, that when I quit the full time job, I would do the fiber business full time. But I am at least 15 years away from retirement, and not really ready to juggle the two for that amount of time.

So I am at the point of deciding, do I push to expand the business, or just let it shrink back to the non grandious hobby status. I have always thought the next logical expansion for Zavagant Fibers was a web site. I have been 'looking into' doing that for 15 months now. It just doesn't seem to want to happen. I have decided to cut way back on raising the rabbits, because we do like to travel, and daily care of the rabbits is something that will limit our travel time.

Neither of these are enough reasons alone to say no more business. However it piles up in my mind, to the point I am ready to just say, look, it is time to close this cycle you have once again started, and just sit at home and spin what you want.

Would I miss doing the fiber shows? You bet! Would I miss the thrill of trying to find what entices the fiber buyer to say ahhh I just have to have that? Yep! Do I fold up the Zavagant business cards and call it quits?

I really don't know at this point. I have been cutting back bit by bit, like a junkie easing off his Jones. I may even be to the point I need, just a few rabbits, one booth a year. No website, and word of mouth advertising.

I also think this is why I have been very reluctant to get into serious sewing on my lovely new sewing machine. I can just see the possibilities, quilts, heirloom sewing, christening gowns, lovely pillows...

Anyone need a bridal gown made?

Oh and lets not even think about the Brother Knitting machine, fedexing it's way to me as I type.

CW

Brioche Stitch in the round explained

I have been making the brioche gaiter in the Fall 2003 Interweave Knits. I am really happy with how it looks, now that I have the stitch figured out. This picture shows it in progress and almost done. The only fiddly part still is the end of the rows and the marker. I really have to watch or there will be an extra stitch or not enough stitches. It is because the rows start and end with a YO and sometimes the marker is between that and the next stitch, and those are the two stitches that should be purled together. So I have put one stitch 'aside' move the marker and then put the stitch on the left hand needle, to do the P2 tog.

All of that last statement will not really make sense to those of you that have not messed with the brioche stitch in the round (also called the prime rib stitch)

So I have kept alot of notes as I was learning the stitch, and have found a way to write it out, that makes more sense to me. I have enough confidence that I have things straight now, to go ahead and put these notes on this blog.

I cast on to straight needles and did the two set up rows. I then knit the first pattern row on circular turbo 12 inch needle, size 5. These are those small circular sock needles that are so popular. My angora/silk yarn is very slippery and I have to really watch when I put the project down, or the stitches slide right off. I also have to stop at the number one pattern row, or I am not sure I would pick it up and start in the right place. But I really am getting the ribbing look.

Since I wanted it to be wider, I cast on 100 stitches.

First set up row: *YO (yarn is in the back, comes to front between two needles, wraps right needle and goes to the back. The very beginning YO is more of a motion with the right needle to wrap the yarn around it, after that, make YO as stated. S1 as if to purl (purlwise) with yarn in the back. K1* repeat stitches between the starts. (This row does increase in the number of stitches)

Second set up row: *YO (exactly as the YO in set up row one) slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back, K2tog (these are the previous rows slip 1 and YO)* repeat stitches between stars. You are back to the original number of cast on stitiches.

Brioche stitch
Row 1: Yarn is in front, *P2 tog (you are purling the purl stitch and the slipped stitch from the previous row), take yarn from front to back over right needle, hold in back and slip 1 pwise (you are slipping a K stitch of previous row), bring yarn between the needles to the front (you have completed a YO)* repeat stitches between the stars, end with P2 together, S1 purlwise yarn held in the back. Slip row marker.

Row 2: *Yarn is held in the back and brought between the two needles to front, S1 purlwise (you are slipping a Purl stitch from previous row), take yarn from front to back over right hand needle, K2 tog (you are knitting the knit stitch and the slipped stitch of the previous row)* Row ends with K2 tog, slip marker, bring yarn to front and start row 1 with P2 tog.

These two rows are repeated until the gaiter is the size to fit your neck comfortably (around 7 inches). End with round 1 and bind off with a normal cast off on round 2.

I am about half way done with this, and now the stitch has a nice rhythm. If one remembers that you knit the previous knit stitch on the K2 tog row, and you purl the previous purl stitch in the P2 tog row, it is pretty easy to figure out where you are in the pattern, if you put it down.

I saw that the Winter 2003 has a lovely brioche stitch vest for men in it, and now I am sure that is what I want to do next. I am thinking an alpaca blend yarn, but do not have any made, so I guess that means drum carding to blend, and spinning before I can think about knitting it.

CW

Sunday Knitting

There is a new knitting group in the old part of the big city near me. It is meeting at a neighborhood coffee cafe, and usually has about a dozen knitters meeting each Sunday afternoon. I do not make it every week, but I got to go today, and really had a wonderful time.

One highlight was a reporter from the local paper, joining us and interviewing anyone that was willing. She asked things like how long we had been knitting, why we knit, was it surprising that the group was mostly 30 somethings, and many more questions. We were all willing to talk, because we were all talking about something we love.

The group really ranges in ages from preteen, to retirement age. The skill level runs from just learned to knit (my daughter being in that category, having finally taken up the needles and learning to knit last Tues) to those like me that had to admit they had been knitting for more than 40 years.

It is relaxing to knit in one of the comfy chairs the cafe provides, hot drink at hand and just to listen in to all of the conversation. Suggestions are made, stitches are taught, and yarns are fondled and admired. Several learned the beginnings of spinning several weeks ago, and the one new spinner now has enough yarn for a shawl. She is being very picky too, about this shawl she will knit with her first handspun yarn, looking over all of the patterns offered, and deciding she would make up her own pattern.

I worked on the final part of a paid knitting project. One of my coworkers wanted tiny sweaters for her tiny poodle. She brought me a sweater made for the American doll, and asked it she bought the yarns, would I make sweaters for her poodle like that sweater, only smaller! So I agreed and she purchased Lion Brand yarns in a pink boucle, a very bulky and fluffy yellow, a vivid purple, and also a Sugar and Cream cotton in lovely spring variegated colors.

I winged the pattern. I figured out how many inches around it needed to be at the bottom, cast on that many on a circular needle, and worked my way up the sweater in a plain knit stitch. It was fast knitting, and I just laid it against the sample sweater to judge my progress. I was flying along fine until I realized I was going to have to go to DPN and work back and forth for the front and the back seperately. It's been so long since I've knitted a sweater, I had forgotten it couldn't be circular needles all the way!

Another first for me, as I did these, was I jotted notes for it in my PDA instead of on a scrap of paper. So after I completed the first one, I had the pattern in that, instead of on a sheet of paper. The advantage was that it will now transfer over to my computer, and I have it saved for future use, instead of just scribbled and probably unfathomable notes.

After the first sweater, the rest went quick. I figure it took me about 3 total knitting hours to make one. The coworker added one extra thing, she brought in the tiniest hat I have ever seen and asked if I could make one out of each color to match the sweaters. I really couldn't refuse, the hats were all of four crocheted rows! Actually I had to adapt that pattern some, adding her requested crocheted ties to the hat, so she could tie it under the dogs chin.

Pity this poor dog, but I have been told by other coworkers that the dog patiently allows this attire, and actually loves wearing the sweaters in the colder weather.

So those are now done. Next is to finish the brioche gaiter, because I have seen in the Winter 2003 Interweave Knits, that there is a brioche vest, and I really like the way it looks. It is just begging to be knit for my hubby, in a lovely tweedy handspun.

CW

Look what's in my spinning basket

Saturday at my place, the weather was truly awful. Things are chaotic at my house, and I really could not keep to my regularly planned day off. At one point, I looked at the four baskets huddled in the corner by my electric spinner, and decided if I couldn't put any order in my day, I would put order to _something_ at least. So I pulled out my spinning basket.

Here's what I found.

Three bags of fiber that are part of my breed sampler book I am creating. I set those aside and actually worked on spinning that later in the day.

Handcarders
Small 2 pitch combs
One dog coat comb all part of my fiber processing

2 rulers
Index cards
2 small notebooks

Wires for ties on skeins (I use thin phone wire, which is multicolored and handy to keep track of what is on that skein)
7 ink pens, three pencils that's where they've all gone
Small scissors YEA!
Homemade lilac handcream Yum

One big black button ??? (I later remembered I was trying it as a diz)
Small felted ball, IE cat toy rescued from the path of the sweeper

6 yarn ball bands from past knitting projects
6 pieces of paper with spinning notes on them
3 invoices from fiber purchases

2 small odd balls of handspun yarn

3 cardboard cards with various samples of handspun wrapped on them

Mystery piece of roving in white and brown color That went in the trash

Small baggie sample of border leiscester roving with business card

Everything got sorted and some got put back in the basket. I then proceeded to spend an enjoyable hour working on three of the breed samplers, Shetland, Coopworth and Targhee. I will be posting more on that in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, the weather is still lousy.

CW

Passing on the Stash Gene

My daughter claims I intended this all along, but really I am innocent!

Until two years ago, she really did not have any interest in anything needlework related. She enjoyed the bunnies being part of my life, could fondle fiber when she visited me (except for turning up her nose at wool) and was not against accepting anything I would knit for her. Then two years ago, she saw silk fiber for the first time, and that got her hooked.

So for Christmas that year, I bought her a drop spindle and silk roving. In no time at all, she was spinning. It coincided with a dyeing project of silk hankies, and she found out she liked them even more than the roving.

Then about 10 months later, I started hearing her ask, just what should I do with this yarn that I am making (heeheehee) She snagged some of my crochet cotton and a hook and asked to be taught how to crochet, because in her words, it was only one needle to deal with not four (DPN)

She picked that up with practice, and tried her own thread, learning the hard way that one should not try and crochet with freshly spun singles :) For Christmas that year, I got her a set of crochet hooks, and a book of stitches and patterns.

In December I made a trip to Threadbear Fibers, and took her along. She was properly impressed by all the wonderful yarns, and easily let me buy her a book on crochet socks. She got the Cascade Fixation yarn for her first pair, and I can proudly say, showed off her first completed sock at spinning group last night.

Yes you can make very nice socks with crochet. They fit her wonderfully, because crocheted socks are not attached to any needles, and she just continually tried them on and made adjustments as she worked on them. It almost tempts me to give up my DPN's.

What is making me smile to myself the most these days though, is all of her enthusing over different yarns she is seeing online, or in yarn stores. She has purchased several different types of cotton, with intention of making more socks. When she was telling me this over the phone one day, I just had to crow, "you've gotten stash!"

And to top it all off, she is now studying my knitting patterns. She looks all the same as when as a three year old she was studying books to try and fathom reading. Next Christmas, I just bet, it will be a set of DPN's.

CW

Baffling Brioche Stitch

I have been knitting for over 40 years now, and I am still humbled by how little I know about the craft.

This challenge of the last few days all started by an SOS from a blogger friend (www.riverrim.blogspot.com) She was trying to make the Brioche Gaiter in the Fall 2003 Interweave Knits.

At first I thought her questions were about how to do a yarn over as the first stitch of a row. Very good question actually, it is not all that easy to do until you find a way to hold the needles and wrap the yarn over the right hand needle, in one smooth motion.

Then I get some more questions from her, and I decided I best get the pattern for the gaiter out and try this myself, to just see what was going on. I have about six rows done and I am still perplexed myself.

I have the actual brioche stitch figured out, thanks to two of my knitting books. The absolute best description of how to do the stitch was in Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns. Her verbal explanation was limited and only slightly helpful, but a clear picture of just where the yarn was traveling while doing the stitch, helped me finally figure out how to knit it.

***actually quoting the book now, thank you Mary Thomas***

The success of any Brioche Pattern depends on the correct order in which the stitch and Over (K2tog) are knitted (or purled together) "Over, S1, K2tog" The Over passes in front of the slipped stitch and then over the needle. In the next row the 2 stitches which are knitted together are the over and the slipped stitch. The Over at the beginning of the row is made as before a Knit Decrease, as the intervening Slip stitch is a (sic) auxiliary Motif, so it is slipped purlwise according to Pattern Principle. The pattern consists of these 3 units which are repeated in every row, so the fabric is alike on both sides.

***end quote***

She then goes on to say that there is always a prep row, which is the back side, and consists of casting on a number of stitches divisable by 2 and then first row: *Yarn forward, S1 (purlwise), K1* repeat between *'s until end.

Her second row is *Over, S1 (purlwise), K2 tog * repeat until end.

She then states that you repeat this second row until the desired length.

Her picture of the finished fabric looks exactly like the gaiter knitted and photographed in Interweave Knits. It looks like a ribbing but is not.

Here are the problems I am still experiencing with both her pattern and Interweave Knits.

1) Mary Thomas states that you repeat row two endless for the length. This row has you always slipping the stitch purlwise. However she has charted the pattern also, and in her charting, one row is shown slipping the stitch purlwise and the next row shows it being slipped knitwise.

2)Mary Thomas's pattern is using straight needles and knitting back and forth with a front and back side. The Interweave Knit pattern is on circulars. Yet their pattern calls for two rows, one with a P2tog and one with a K2tog. Their pattern slips everything purlwise, but alternates the 2tog stitches.

So I am at the point now, I am going to undo what I have knitted so far, because it is very clear that what I am getting does not look like ribbing. It does not look like either the finished fabric in Mary Thomas's book, or the gaiter in Interweave Knits.



Here is how I actually move the yarn while doing the 3 stitch steps of the Brioche stitch: (you have just knit a stitch and the yarn is in the back) Bring yarn forward put right hand needle under next stitch on left hand needle as if to purl, slip that stitch to right hand needle, put right hand needle tip in next two stitches on left hand needle as if to knit, and knit these together. This knit together, will take the yarn that has been in the front,over the slipped stitch on the right hand needle, causint a yarn over. The yarn ends up in the back.

Unfortuanately just repeating the above, does not put the K2tog stitch in line to be the slipped stitch on the next row, as Mary Thomas says it should. And just repeating the above row in an endless loop around the circular needle, does not seem to be giving me the ribbing look.

So now I am out of time and have to leave for work. The challenge will have to wait until tonight. I plan to rip all I have messed with so far, and start again, following Interweave Knits pattern exactly. I did check their website and no errata is listed for this pattern, so I am expecting that now that I have actually figured out the yarn over part of this stitch, I can get it to work.

CW

A Minor Victory over Machine

I have a new sewing machine. Actually I have had it for a year now, but the only major sewing project I have done since getting it, was a Ren Fair outfit, and all that took was lots of straight seam sewing. The machine is a wonderful do everything type, and I am sure it was very bored just sewing seams.

However, my hubby's job is now requiring him to have his name embroidered over the pocket of his shirts. And he asked if I would do it for him. I could have done it in a flash on the older model, I knew it very well, but with the new one I was feeling a bit intimidated.

So I spent the afternoon of my day off sewing samples. Sample sewing, for machine embroidery makes alot of sense to me. It's just like swatching a yarn, only even more so. I will blithely take needles and yarn and start a knitting project without swatching. About 50 % of the time, it works just right and I am just that much ahead. The only 50% gets undone and reswatched. But I would never take a finished item like a shirt and hope to get a name embroidered just right on the first try. There's no way to rip it out and start over. I was right in my judgement too, after looking at the six different attempts.

The first thing I tried was the preprogrammed lettering in the machine, not the specialized cards, but the machine itself. It looked pretty rough. Each letter would be made of about four sets of parallel stitches. Sort of like this llll--llll except put more levels in the center bar, and you had the letter H. I showed it to hubby crossing my fingers he'd say that was just fine, but no luck, he said, where's all those lovely letters you used for the Christmas decorations two years ago? I could have said, in the old machine, but he knows better.

So I worked more samples, pulling fonts from the cards that go into the machine. One would be too big, one way to small. And I had two lines to balance, his name and the company's name. By 5 pm I had what I knew would be the best possibilities of my limited selections, and had even figured out how to save the sequence, and find it again!

The next day when I went to finally sew it on the shirts, I ran into another problem. I knew it was to be on the pocket closest to the left arm. If I hooped that up, all of the shirt was then in between the hoop and the sewing machine and the hoop could not be attached. I called hubby saying 'are you sure it has to be that pocket' He suggested inverting the design completely, so the shirt could be inverted, and then all of the fabric would be going to my left and out of the way. Ah bless his little engineering heart, that was the perfect solution. I had two shirts done in about 40 minutes.

I wouldn't say it was a fun project, but the time did pass quickly as I was learning. And I came out of the project with a fondness for the new machine, and much more willing to tackle a bigger sewing project. This blog has just expanded the term 'fiber' once more into the sewing world.

CW

Well, it finally happened

A 100% wool skein ruined by some critters munching.

I had planned to join the yahoogroups shawlknitters, knit along on the Estonian Garden shawl. They started sometime last week, but I had to order the pattern, and had knew I had a lace weight merino skein in my stash.

I got the pattern, read it over, and was ready to cast on in this morning's peace and quiet. So I got the skein, and started to wind it off. Hit a break after about a yard, didn't think anything about it, until I hit about another six breaks, same lengths. The skein itself looked fine, but give the slightest pull at that one spot and the yarn just floats apart.

This is not handspun, it was commercial yarn. And I will take the blame for the loss. Usually I am very very careful with the 100% wool yarn, handspun or commercial, zipping them up in tight bags with sachets. But this skein got put in an extra knitting bag, with another pattern, when I bought it last spring. I had intended to start the shawl, then the bag got pushed in the closet. And became lunch for some wayfaring critter.

No sign of moth at all, no sign of anything, but it has to be what happened. I am just sick at heart about losing that skein of yarn. When I bought the kit, the pattern and yarn together seemed like a great deal. Now what I have is just a very expensive pattern.

So I am back to square one about the knit along. I really wanted to knit it from homespun but didn't feel I had the time to spin for it and start along with everyone else. If I had started spinning two weeks ago, I just may have had the yarn done! Still trying to decide what to do.

CW

A New Look and A New Name

I got brave and changed the template for my blog, and I think I like it! I wanted the ring links at the top, and was able to figure out where to put that code, and have the template not change. I like the bigger font, and I think I am OK with the green color. It would probably not be my first choice, but it is easy on the eyes.

I should say a thank you to Cyndy, another blogger I read (riverrim.blogspot.com) for giving me the encouragement to do this.

Since I use the freeware version of Blogger, I will never be rid of that ad bar on the top, so just ignore it, or do like I do, enjoy the randomness of the ads that show up there, as the daily giggle.

As far as the name change, I found the spot to make this change while messing around in the blog edit area. It is ridiculously easy to do. I have never liked the name 'a better fiber blog'. It was all chance that named it anyway. When I broke the first one beyond repair and just started a second blog, and was asked for it's name, I of course was thinking they wanted something like a file name, something I would recognize later. So I wrote 'a better fiber blog' And then there is was, for all the world to see :) I didn't change it, thinking that would affect the ring codes, but I am wiser now, and know better. So the blog is now Yarnspinners Tales, since yarnspinner is sometimes a screen name I use.

I do not really understand HTML, but I am at least recognizing important bits, it's like being in a foriegn country and finally understanding their word for potty, I can't speak it, but at least I know where to go.

CW

Wonderful roving

I received a big box from the post office yesterday, and it contained the roving from a corriedale fleece I had sent for processing. I opened it to find two bags full of white, soft roving.

Here is a picture of the roving, and a lock of the original fleece. The difference is amazing. And this can be my personal and very big endorsement for the processor that did the fleece for me. It was done by woolynob fiber mill in Indiana (woolynobfibrmill@aol.com) It is a beautiful roving, white and not a bit of vm. I know selecting a good fleece has a big part to do with it also, I consider myself just plain lucky in that, since I often have limited selection and price range.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lusi222/detail?.dir=/corriedale+roving&.dnm
=corriedale+roving+and+lock.jpg

Here's some details on the fleece. I bought it at a fiber fair in Yellowsprings Ohio, in Sept. from a local breeder, Robert Milliken. The fleece was listed as 9.5 lbs and I paid $14. for it. I wrote about buying this fleece in a Sept 27th post. I skirted off some to keep to wash as locks and spin fine, and some that was a bit felted, that I didn't want included in the processing. When it was weighed in, there was 6.25 lbs of raw fleece. I have roughly measured the roving at around 4.5 lbs. It's hard to weigh those big balls of roving at this stage, I will weigh the yarn later.

So now I have lots of white to spin. I want to make sock yarn, at least to start with, and then dye the yarn. It is going to be easy spinning.

I am very tempted to say that I will never hand wash fleece again, after recieving such wonderful results. However, I have to compromise for now, and say that I will wash what is here at home now, and send any new fleeces I buy, straight to the processor.

CW

Here is the picture of the scarf I made my daughter out of recycled silk yarn.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lusi222/album?.dir=/recycled+silk+scarf

It takes a minute to load, but once it is completely loaded you can really see the shine from the silk yarn. This yarn is made by a company called Mango Moon and the color is listed as Jewel-Earth. The tag says the yarn supports the women of Nepal with better living conditions, education, and health care. Their web site is listed as www.mangomoonknits.com. Supposedly they use the loom waste from weaving silk saris.

As far as current projects, I am working on knitting toe up socks for a friend out of handspun CVM wool. I made the sock part a natural color, and have spun a yarn from the same roving dyed teal. I washed that yarn last night, and the color was still running from the yarn. I was surprised because I did not get color on my hands while I was spinning. So the yarn had to get several washes and many rinses, and it finally seemed rinsed of the extra dye.

I tried something else I had read with this yarn. After I finished with the rinses, I wrapped the yarn in saran wrap, and microwaved it for a minute. The idea is that this heat will set the twist better than just hot water wash. I am hoping too that the last blast of heat will set the color better.

So when that yarn dries I will start on the cuff of the sock.

I have been knitting with the bamboo doubled pointed needles for these socks, and now I know why everyone likes them. It has been a very pleasant experience to knit with them. I am using size fives because this handspun yarn is bulkier than regular sock yarn, it is more like worsted weight. But the sock is coming out nice and plump and will be the wear around the house and keep her feet warm type of sock I wanted for my friend.

CW