The next mystery revealed

If you haven't heard the latest buzz, there's a new mystery knit along happening right now. It is called Mystery Stole 4 and the designer is Georgina Bow.

I have completed two clues and feel there's enough to show in some photos. I really like how this is knitting up and how it feels, and I think it is going to be a lovely stole when completed.

First the yarn:



And yes, those are beads sitting next to the yarn, because the stole is beaded in at least the first two clues. The yarn is Knit Picks Shadow in lace weight in a color called Lost Lake. The beads are size 6 seed beads in a color called Tortoise.

The stole is going to be rectangular, and it is symetrical in pattern. So it has been suggested that each clue can be knitted twice, for each end, and that eventually a clue will be knitted to connect these two ends, with a grafted seam in the middld.

So here's a photo of the two different ends, each on their own circular needles, each with it's own ball of yarn.


It's taking me twice as long to knit as the clues are being released (clue 4 of 6 was released this weekend). However knowing that I am doing both ends makes me feel like I am ahead, in the long run.

It's hard to really show off the beauty of lace, when it is still on the needles. But this final photo is a close up of the beading and lace stitches. See how the designer has the beading and lace playing off each other. I am so happy with how it looks!



This was my first knitting project that used beads. The designer recommended knitting the stitch and then placing the bead on that stitch. That makes the bead sit in that same row. If you place the bead while the stitch is still on your left and needle, and then knit the stitch, the bead sits a row lower. It really doesn't matter in the overall design, but the knitter does have to be consistent and do it all the same way. I am placing the bead after I have knit the stitch. I have a tiny crochet hook that will pass through the bead hole, and I can load four beads on the crochet hook. After I knit the stitch, I pick up that same stitch with the very tip of the crochet hook, pull it taunt, and slide a bead up off the hook and onto the loop of the stitch. The I put the stitch back on the right hand knitting needle. It sounds very fiddly, and it felt that way at first, but I really did get a nice rhythm going. Seeing the beads on the knitting is very encouraging and so I enjoyed adding more. In fact, the next two clues have no more beads, and I am a bit sad about that. I believe it probably is a good thing, design wise though, since beads running across the back could be uncomfortable.

So give me another month of so, and there will be pictures of the finished stole. I am really curious how it will be joined.

Can you knit in a hurricane?

I am not joking. I really did try to knit last Sunday when Ike roared through my state at 70 MPH. I found it was not the soothing pleasant hobby I usually enjoy, nor was it able to distract me from watching the limbs break off my trees and fly past my window.

Maybe I choose the wrong project. Maybe I should have pulled out some bulky cotton and made me some new dishclothes I need so bad. Maybe beaded lace was not exactly the knitting I needed at that moment.

I got one row knit, about three times. I'd knit about five stitches, recount, look at my chart, recount, place a bead, knit seven stitches, recount, look out the window, look at the chart, recount, jump at the extra strong gust of wind, frog back three stitches, recount, look out the window, place a bead, knit....

It took me an hour to knit 66 stitches. Even though the back row is a nice comfortable pattern of knits and purls, I put the knitting away, until the next day. Even when Ike was through, and the winds had died (and so had the electric) I didn't pull out the knitting because I was exhausted. And not feeling like knitting by candlelight.

All is well though. Lots of large limbs down, and a broken storm door at the back of the house is all that happened to this old house of ours. We are lucky. And we are still bone dry too, not a drop of rain fell. How can it still be called a hurricane and still be dry? Ah weather, just like current stole knitting patterns, remain a mystery. Pictures of the mystery stole 4 in progress will be posted after I complete clue 2. I have just started that clue, so that will be soon....weather permitting.

CW

Podcast Episode 18 photos

The Yarnspinnerstales August Spin-in podcast is up. You can find it here or through subscription on ITunes.

There's one thing I want to write about that I did not talk about on the podcast. The whole idea of the spin-ins is that I talk about whatever is on my mind this month, podcasting as I spin. I usually use either my Haldane, or Ashford spinning wheel. I have had several comments from listeners that they enjoy the fact that they can hear my wheel in the background as I spin.

Well, I did spin on my Haldane, while recording this yarnspinner tale, and during editing I noticed I could not hear the wheel. I had not changed anything as far as how I was recording, and was puzzled why it was not showing up in the background. It was finally the next day, as I was finishing a bobbin in order to ply the yarn, that I realized the Haldane was spinning very quietly. No rattles or wobbles like I am use to seeing, feeling and hearing. It dawned on me, that I had found the ideal combination of humidity, and heat, that put the wheel into it's perfect state. It was spinning like a Rolls Royce.

I find this amazing, especially the realization that I really will not have control over the environmental conditions in which this wheel lives, and that I have to enjoy the perfection when it arrives, and be glad for the lack of it when central heat dries the wood up again, for at least my listeners will be able to hear my wheel again.

I got busy and forgot to post the photos I talk about in the podcast. So sorry to those that stopped by, and didn't get to see the photos. Hope you come back later :)

I talk about two true rare breeds of sheep in this podcast. The first, California Variegate Mutant or CVM. This was the breed of sheep that actually started me on the collection of many sheep breed samples. I was part of an exchange, where I got samples from other spinners, with other rare breed fleece samples. I was able to locate both roving and raw fleece for the CVM breed, and so used those for my contribution to the exchange.

Here's a photo of the raw lock (upper left), the roving (upper right) and three small skeins spun from carded, combed and the lock.





This is a wonderful fleece to work with, especially if you find it already processed into roving. It's extremely soft, and comes in a variety of natural colors.

The second fleece I discuss is the Maine Island fleece I used for the Olympic spinning challenge on Ravelry. This recaps several of the blog posts on this project, and talks about my ups and downs while working with the fleece. Here's a photo of the three sample skeins I spun, two from drum carded roving and one from combed fiber.




Finally a photo of the pink superwash yarn, because for many podcasts now, I have been saying I am _still_ spinning this pink roving. I did finally ply two of the bobbins and ended up with 257 yards of a two ply yarn. It's really prettier in person than the photo, sort of a soft coral color instead of true pink. I like it but am not sure what I will be making with it. I still have probably 10 ounces left of the fiber, from the original pound I purchased.



There is extra music on this podcast too, just because I found so many songs I liked that talked about summertime. I hope others find the songs as much fun to listen to, as I did.

Alaskan Memory shawl

Although it does not scream anything about Alaska, this shawl will always be my memory shawl of my cruise to Alaska. It will remind me of planning and swatching and starting the knitting process, while in class with Amy Singer. I will remember pinning the swatch out on a towel on the glass coffee table in our stateroom, wondering what the stewards would think of it, but knowing they wouldn't touch it. Everything else around it would be spiffied up anytime we were out of the cabin, but they had a great instinct about what to tidy up and what not to touch.

I will remember sitting on the couch in that state room, starting the actual cast on. I will remember that stateroom getting too sway prone, one day of very rough seas, and going to a more midship area, sitting in the common area, knitting and trying to not really look at the waves. It was enough to feel them.

I will remember being thrilled with Amy's creativity to come up with several lace patterns that had names and concepts for Alaska. We were instructed to pick two and work out the arrangement, and then cast on at the point of the triangle. With steady increases, adding more and more motifs, we would have a shawl. Oh and just because this was Seasocks Cruise 2008, we were invited to make it in sock yarn. This actually was a novel concept to me, and I find I really like the resulting shawl's drape and feel.

So in keeping with the theme, I knit a shawl shaped like a whale tail:


Here's a photo unpinned and draped:


I've worn it once, and find I like that extra bit that curves along the top. The shawl stays on my shoulders pretty well, being a non slippery yarn. But if I am moving and need to anchor it more, I can tuck those extra curved bits under my elbow and keep the shawl in place. The style will not work with a shawl pin, the shawl is too wide and therefore too shallow to really fit around my shoulders and pin in place.

The lace patterns I chose from Amy's suggestions were whale tail, and icebergs. The whale tail runs right down the middle of the shawl, and the icebergs pattern surrounds it. Here's a close up:



This has been one of my favorite shawls to knit so far, not just because it was a memory shawl, but also the patterns were pretty repetitive, and easily memorized, the increases were dependable constant, and the yarn was enjoyable to knit. I have thoughts of doing it again, because it's a great way to use those expensive hand dyed sock yarns that really never seem to be worth a pair of socks.

Here's the specific details on the project:

Yarns used: Mountain Colors hand painted yarns Barefoot, one skein in Lost Trail colorway, 350 yds. Patons Kroy sock yarn 2 skeins 384 yards, in Gentry Gray. Basically I knit until the yarn was all gone.

Circular needles size 5

Cast on 43 stitches. Instead of starting with just say 5 stitches for a point, I went ahead and made a flat end to the triangle, so that I could start the lace pattern right away.

Cast on May 11th. Finished Aug 5th. Entered into 2008 State Fair, no ribbons.

CW

Olympic spinning challenge finish line

I finished the final bit of the challenge at 10 am my time this morning, two hours before the close of the Olympics Beijing time. The cat bed knitting was completed Friday night, but so far the cat has only stood in it, not laid in it. I suspect it's just not cold enough yet to want a snuggly place to sleep.

So here's the starting line




And the finish line:



The challenge details:

Fleece from Maine Island Sheep (rare breed) about 2 pounds unwashed

Washed, picked, carded batts for spinning: 1 pound 9 5/8 ounces

Three sample skeins spun to get required 9 WPI for knit project

Total yarn spun: 630 yards 2 ply 9 WPI (total spinning yardage 1260 yards)

Project knitted: Snuggly catbed used 280 yards of yarn

Yarn put in stash: 350 yards

I feel a bit at a loss for what to do, now that this is done. I have focused on it above all other projects. I have cast on for a pair of sock and have about an inch knit, so if I want I can work on those. But for now, I have been happy to have a day away from the fiber.

CW

Spinning Olympics update

I am on my last lap of the spinning olympic challenge. I can almost see the finish line from here:



Actually I took that photo yesterday morning, so half of the batts are already spun into a single.

A quick update though of the progress so far.

Days 6 and 7 I carded the picked fiber and started spinning a second set of skeins.

Day 8 through 10 I did a little spinning, but mostly was away from the project. I went to the state fair on one day, and spent two days editing the podcast. Off and on during the mornings of these days I picked the last of the washed fiber for the third and final batch of carding and spinning.

Day 11 I worked at the state fair, but in the evening I finished the plying of the second batch. Yardage for that batch was 238 yards of a bulky 9 WPI 2 ply. The picking helped alot, but the yarn is still bulky and slubby. I have given up any hope of getting anything but that type of yarn for this fleece. This evening I also searched Ravelry for a project to knit with the first 210 yards and decided on a cat bed. I've wanted to make one for my cat for a long time and realized that although this maine island fleece is bulky and slubby, it is very soft and I think the cat will like curling up in it. I have had cats crawl into baskets of washed wool to sleep many times, so I think there is hope this cat will accept the basket as a bed.

Day 12 I spent the entire day on the project (in between housework LOL). I carded the third batch of fiber, put the first three skeins of yarn into balls for knitting, printed out the pattern, rounded up circular needles and put all that in a bag for knitting at my knit group Tues night.

So to hit the finish line, I need to spin, and ply those last batts, and finish knitting the cat bed. I have 30 rows left to knit, and with bulky yarn and size 9 needles, it should be done by Friday night. I choose a catbed pattern that is not felted, although I may see how the cat likes it that way. If it doesn't seem snuggly enough for her (too big) it is 100% wool and will be easy to felt later if I want.

The project has been interesting, and certainly challenging, with the poor quality of the fleece. I will say though that the fiber type of the maine island is wonderful and if you ever have the opportunity to purchase some (hopefully from a breeder more in tune with the needs of a hand spinner) I would definately recommend it.

CW

Photos for Podcast Episode 17

The first podcast for August is now here at Yarnspinnerstales, or in ITune if you are already subscribed. It's a mixed bag of topics this time, so I am loosely calling it, What I Learned Recently, Tips and Techniques.

The first topic is about picking a fleece. I have already posted previously about the fact that the Maine Island fleece I am working on currently had so much vegetable matter in it, that I was having problems spinning a decent yarn. I realized I needed to go back to the basics and pick the locks open after washing and before carding. I talk all about that process in the podcast. Here's a photo of the fiber after picking and before carding:


It probably could be spun that way actually, it is so open. But I like using the carder because it gives even one more chance for all that bit of stuff to fall out before forming into a batt.

I want to go into detail here about the 'stuff' removed from the locks while I picked. This is what was causing me so much trouble as I was spinning. I either had to stop and pull it out, or let it spin into the yarn, causing lumps and bumps.

Starting in the upper left corner, there is an example of locks that were not entire. If you pulled on the lock, it just split in half. Those halves, carded into the batt, made for areas where you would come to a dead end of fiber while spinning. Yes you can rejoin the fiber, but it still breaks the rhythm and therefore the smoothness of the spinning.

No explanation is needed for the next three bits of problem fiber.

Dead center between two clumps of fiber at the top of the photo, is a thin wisp of fiber with a nub attached. Next to it, in the upper right as some of the little black seeds that were driving me to distraction while spinning. And finally on the bottom of the photo are two just plain short cuts which happen from the shearer recutting an area, or repositioning the blade.

There's no way to deny that I purchased a fleece with problems. I was going only for the fact that the fleece was from a rare breed sheep. I did see the fleece before purchasing it, but was not examining it closely because I was going to buy some no matter what. I can say the fiber from this breed type would be exceptional, soft and lofty. I just got it from a breeder that really was not raising the sheep for a handspinner.

Two topics in the podcasts that I do not have photos for are how to andean ply, and also how to find competitions to enter your spinning and to prepare the skeins for judging. I thought since we are still in the middle of the Summer Olympics, to talk about another type of judging that we as spinners and knitters might actually enter.

The last topic is about spinning fat. I recently worked on a skein for my state fair for the designer yarn category and decided to go for an intentional bulky yarn. I explain in detail how I spun that yarn in the podcast.

First I discuss the fact you need a roving about a pencil width wide, which is rolled to compact it before spinning. I forgot to take a photo of that roving, but here's the single after spinning.

And then some of the 2 ply winding onto the bobbin. What you want to end up with is a 2 ply that is about the same thickness as your original roving.

I was getting a 3 WPI if wrapped loosely, 4 WPI if I scrunched them together a bit.

Finally here's a knitted swatch of the yarn.

Yeah, it looks and feels like a hotpad. It would take a creative knitter to make something with this thick yarn, but it is certainly interesting to knit. The whole point to the process was to spin with an intentional yarn in mind and that's exactly what I did.

CW

Olympic Spinning challenge 4 and 5

The subtitle to this post is: Picky Picky Picky. It will be apparent as to why later.

Monday was day four of the Olympics and I did nothing with my challenge. That's not to say I did nothing at all though. Right now it is also state fair time and once again I will be busy with volunteer work in the textile department. I also have four entries in the fair, three skeins of yarn and the knitted shawl. I will post about those later. The fair opens tomorrow (Aug 14th) but all of the judging happens previous to the opening. And the judges need helpers, so my first volunteer day happened Monday, to help with the quilt judging. Those of us that do this, fondly refer to it as 'quilt wrangling'. Our jobs are to get the quilts from one category spread out one on top of the other on a large table, while the previously spread out category is being judged. This helps keep things moving. There are also scribes, which sit and listen and write comments the judge makes about the quilt, which are then mailed to the person that entered the item.

Quilting is a big thing in the state, and there are over 35 categories in the quilts alone. The number of entries per category can range from two or three to fifty. So it takes two judges, and about a dozen helpers to get them all 'wrangled' and judged.

I wouldn't miss this opportunity though, except every time I do it, I want to run home and start piecing fabric together. Ironically, if I entered a quilt, I couldn't then go to the judging. The compromise is to make the quilt and not enter it, something I am perfectly willing to do given the level of expertise I see at the judging.

But I come home very tired, and so did not even feel like spinning.

But Tuesday I got to spend the entire day spinning and watching recorded Olympic coverage. I am enjoying the Olympics more than I thought I would, and having it in such an exotic location is helping. To see bicyclists riding around the great wall, is just amazing.

I am not so thrilled with my spinning challenge though. The fleece is frustrating me and the yarn I am spinning is bulkier than I wanted. I already know I will not be making most of the ideas I had for the yarn, it is just too bulky for a nice afghan as well as maybe not having enough yardage.

This is what I am running into. First of all the fleece fooled me. It had a higher amount of lanolin that I anticipated and so it is still slightly sticky to spin. I really do not mind that in a yarn though, as I can use that to an advantage by making something for outerwear. It will help in the weatherproofing. But the fleece also fooled me by hiding a very large amount of tiny vegetable matter and the higher lanolin is holding it in the roving and not dropping out like it usually does while I spin. Also, there was hidden a larger amount of nubs. So I am starting and stopping all the time to pull bits of seed, and nubs from the yarn.

I almost quit, thinking well I will comb the rest and give this 8 oz up to a general loss. But I went ahead and at least plied the singles, and I liked the yarn better. Oh it's still bulky and I can still see bits of VM in it (OK can I now call it interesting additions to the yarn?). But the plying tended to even out the yarn and make it more appealing.

I don't have pictures of the yarn yet, I decided to wash it, so it is drying right now. I have about 160 yards of 2 ply at 9 WPI yarn so far.

Sleeping on a project often helps and when I got up this morning I realized that I needed to get back to the basics again and do something I had not done, hand pick the fleece before carding. In my feeling of needed haste for this project, along with thinking there was not much VM, I had skipped this step. The only thing I had done was open the locks some before putting it through the carder. It's no wonder there was a large amount of trash in the batts.

So I spent a hour and half on my porch this morning with about 8 oz of the remaining washed fiber and picked it open. It still did not remove all of the VM, but it does look better and will card up in a hurry, being already picked open.

Here's a lovely picture of the basket full of picked fiber. Hard to believe 8 oz fills the basket!

This is the trashy bits I gathered up off the porch floor after picking. Yes, it seems to be about the same amount of waste as I would get if I combed the fiber. It's almost the same process really, when you pick the fiber as hard as I do, there's alot of waste.

Later today I will card the picked fiber, and spin another 2 ply yarn. I imagine I could get a thinner yarn now except if I really want to knit something with this yarn, I should go ahead and continue with the 9 WPI and use it for something bulky and warm for this winter.

CW

Olympic Spinning challenge Day 2 and 3

In all honesty, I didn't do anything on the fleece on day 2. The weather here was perfect, and we were in the mood to play hookey. You know, take the day off, go somewhere together and ignore all the yard and garden work that needed done. It was a great day. We visited a part of the 'world's longest yardsale'. This is one specific highway that starts in Ohio and ends in Alabama, and along the entire length you can find yardsales, on the second weekend in Aug. I saw two spinning wheels for sale. Neither had any markings on them and both had had the fliers redone with modern wood. But they were functional and in good shape, just small.

So on Sunday I got back into the challenge by carding about half of the washed fleece. I ended up with 12 big fluffy batts, totally over 10 oz. Here's a photo:



I am disappointed in the batts though, because the vegetable matter is just not falling out while I am carding the fiber. Often when I card wool most of the VM drops out between the small and big drums, or pops off the big drum as it goes around. But these batts have a high amount of VM still in them. You can see it in the photo. Maybe it's because the fiber is white, and I am use to working with a dark fiber, and just don't see the VM in the dark fiber.

Since I am working this fleece up for the breed notebook, I went ahead and combed a 1/4 oz of it to test spin. I shouldn't have done that, if you have listened to my podcasts you know I love combed top, and it was proven to me once again. There was _no_ VM in the top and the spinning was smooth and easy, since I didn't have to stop and pull out nubs and VM. I should comb the entire fleece, but if I truly want to do this over the Olympics, I need the faster processing of drum carding.

I spun up three sample skeins for the breed notebook, as well as to decide what size I wanted to spin for my Olympic challenge knitting. This is a photo of three of the skeins:


In the photo, there's an obvious difference in the color between the combed top on the far left, and the two carded samples. The combed top is whiter than the carded yarn proving once again it pulls out all the junk when you comb. It measured a 16 WPI but it doesn't look that thin in the photo. I think it may have relaxed some and bounced into a thicker yarn. The two carded skeins were done to see just how thick I could spin the yarn and still get a reasonably non slubby yarn. The answer is the middle yarn, around 9 WPI. The bulkier is just not that nice, because the slubs were not pulled out. So middle of the road yarn it will be, for the knitted project.

One other thing I did was browse through some of my knitting pattern books looking for ideas of what to knit with the yarn. Now some will be determined by just how many yards I finally end up with. I found several afghan ideas, like I originally thought about doing, but I also found two other ideas. Both are from the Folk Knitting books. One is a stole with pockets, and the other is a garter stitch vest. I like both because I could start knitting while still spinning more yarn.

But enough of all of this warm up work. It's time to get my nose to the wheel, so to speak, and get spinning.

CW

Olympic Spinning challenge Day 1

And they're off!

Although my olympic spinning challenge certainly didn't start with the pyrotechnics that was used in the real Olympics opening ceremony. Nor will my challenge come even close to breaking me into a sweat. I salute all the athletes competing from all over the world, for all of their focus and hard work. And say again, thank goodness that's not me.

I want to try and keep my notes here instead of a notebook for this project. First a few details.

Fiber: Maine Island fleece, unwashed, and only around 2.5 lbs. I only purchased a part of the entire fleece, when I bought this, because it was a breed I had not worked with before, and because I was unsure if I'd like the fleece. Also it was white, and I am not usually attracted to that color. I gravitate more toward the blacks, grays and browns.

Project challenge: Wash, card, spin the entire fleece. Knit something to completion with some of the yarn, before the Olympics close.

Here's a photo of the unwashed fleece:

The fiber does not feel soft to the touch, nor does it feel like it has high lanolin. The fleece had been well skirted, I will not lose much at all from having to pull out dirty bits. That makes the higher price per pound that I paid (if I remember right it was $12 per pound) worth it, since I also don't think I will lose too much weight from lanolin. That will be determined later, after it is all washed. There was a reasonable amount of vegetable matter in it, for an uncoated sheep, but nothing nasty like burrs. There is some yellow areas, that I am not sure if it will wash out or not.

So starting bright and early on day 1, I took half of the fleece and pulled out the obviously big bits of straw and such, and gave it all a good shake. This lets some of the vegetable matter as well as short cuts of wool to fall out. Then I divided that approximate pound of fleece into half, and starting washing.

I used very hot water and Dawn dishwashing liquid. I washed the wool twice in soapy water, and rinsed it three times. The first wash water was almost like mud, it amazed me how much dirt was in the fleece, and also just how white the wool was turning after the first wash. The tips that were extremely dirty stayed that way though, and I may find I will have to cut those off before I card the fiber to keep that from ruining the nice white color.

Here's a photo of two washed locks and an unwashed lock (which is on the right):


The locks are of average length, around 4 inches. The crimp is really different and hard to explain. If the locks are intact, the crimp shows as very tight bumps. But if you look at individual fibers it's almost as if you can not see any crimp at all. You can almost see that on the photo above, the dark area of the unwashed lock shows the crimping I am talking about. It will be interesting to see what this fiber does once it is spun, because the amount of spring to the yarn does relate to the crimp.

After I had both batches of the fiber washed I put them on my sweater drying mesh and put them outside. We are having a period of low humidity and light breeze and it helped the wool dry. But just to be absolutely certain it would dry by day 2, I put it in front of a box fan overnight.

You would think I have a plan for this project, but I still am going back and forth about whether to be linear, and wash it all, then card it all, or to basically work on all areas at the same time. Card some of this batch, spin some and start knitting from the bobbin. Or do I wash the yarn? I have never knit with yarn that did not have the twist set first by washing.

And I have still to decide what all of the yarn from this fleece will become. At first I figured I would do a sweater for me, but I am feeling that the yarn will be too scratchy for that. I thought about a shawl, but that just doesn't work with the fact I would like to spin this a worsted weight at least. I do not want white socks either. What I see when I look at this fleece is an afghan or at least a lap robe to snuggle under in the winter. I am not sure why, but I can not get that idea to change into anything else. So I am going to look at some patterns and see if any appeal to me. And if the pattern is a good one to stop and start, I may just try knitting it without washing the yarn, and then wash and block the whole afghan.

It is an easy decision though about what to do on Day 2. I will be drum carding the fiber.

CW

Project Updates A Rant and A Rave

Today is the official start of the Olympic spinning challenge, there will be a post following this for more details on that. It's only relevant here, because my fleece is soaking in hot soapy water and I need something to do to keep from poking at it. I am trying a new formula of Dawn for washing this fleece (this is the Rave, I love Dawn dishwashing liquid for washing fleeces, that greasy lanolin pops right off with Dawn). It's a concentrated formula and it's called Simple Pleasures. The scent is lemon and tangerine, which I am loving. The verdict is still out if this will wash a fleece as well as the traditional formula, I will know that later. And it may be hard to find, I know my local Kroger is discontinuing the product, I do not know if that means the company is discontinuing it or not. But for now, it's got my thumbs up (almost a guarentee that it will go away).

No pictures with this post, just some details on what has been keeping me busy the last two weeks.

Items for our state fair are due to be submitted this weekend, so I've had the usual last minute finish up rush. I am entering three hand spun skeins this year and they are spun and washed. I need to skein them into two yard skeins, because that is the required skein length. It's a clumsy operation to get them into the skeins that size. I can set my skein winder to that size easy and wind the yarn onto it. However the yarn is currently already in a skein, that's how it's washed. And winding onto a skein winder, from a skein without a second skein winder is hard. Usually I have to try and put the small skein back onto the PCV pipe skeiner I have, and wind it that way. The alternative is to put the small skein into a ball and wind from that. I have done that in the past too. The best solution is to put the yarn from the bobbin straight to the skein winder set for two yards. I have tried that too in the past and have been unhappy with how the skein looks after washing that large size skein. And if I am unhappy with it, I am sure the judge will be too. So I fiddle, to get a nice looking two yard skein, and because it is so fiddly, I procrastinate doing it. It's a good TV watching project and I have a movie I want hubby and I to watch tonight, so I expect I will be doing it then. Maybe I can talk him into holding the small skein, while I wind the large. Ahhh togetherness.

The other two fair items are in final finishing stages too. The first is my Alaskan memory shawl, knit from sock yarn. It's in the towel after a nice Orvis bath and then I have to pin it out to block in a little bit. I am procrastinating on that too, so many pins. And now here's my rant. I used a well known, high priced specialty sock yarn, you know the type, hand dyed in amazing colors. And when I washed the shawl, that yarn bled, an ugly orange brown color. Now the colors on the shawl did not seem to be affected by this bleeding, and I didn't leave the shawl in the murky water. Even the next two rinse waters were still bleeding a terrible amount of color. It really upsets me. I can rant because I am a dyer. I know about bleeding yarns, and what to do about them. It doesn't have to be that way, and to have yarn sold at high prices that bleeds like that is just laziness or ignorance on the manufacturers part. I do not think it has harmed the shawl, and I did not want to dunk the shawl in vinegar and then submit it to the fair smelling like a pickle. They'd think I'd entered it in the wrong department and that it belonged in Culinary. No I am just going to have to put down an old sheet and pin the shawl to that in case it bleeds while blocking. And then I will consider what to do about it after the fair. What to do may involved never washing it again. I can not imagine how bad this would be if I had knit a pair of socks with the yarn.

Back from switching the fleece from soapy water to rinse water.

The last fair project has been an interesting challenge and it is the one that it the least finished. It may or may not go but it's been fun to make. I have learned how to weave on the 12 inch square loom and it's partner triangle loom and have made squares of handspun to sew into a table cloth. Technically it will be a tea table cloth. I needed 25 squares, and have eight more to go. And then I should wash and block those, and sew them together. Ideally I would knit them together with a lacy design. So I am at the decision point soon, do I finish it fast, and get it in the fair, or finish it pretty and enter it next year. Stay tuned....

CW

Two Sheep breed review in July Spin In podcast

I have uploaded the July Spin In podcast and you can find it here or in ITunes under Yarnspinners Tales.

I talk about two different sheep breed fleeces in the podcast, so here are some pictures to go along with that discussion.

First, the breed of sheep that every new spinner is told to start with Romney:



Nice long open locks, moderate crimp and as you can see, combs or cards well. Combed skein is on the left, carded on the right.

Next, a rare breed, that was created specifically in the western United States, Targhee

This breed is part of the fine wool class, and has a very short staple, and very tight crimp. The washed locks feel cottony and did not like being carded at all. The combing produced a nice top but there was a high percentage of waste. Combed skein is on the left and carded, a very ugly lumpy skein, is on the right.

The yarnspinnerstale this month is about crafting and it's need for community. From the beginning when a crafter was earning his bread, there were guilds. Once machinery took over that task, crafters would gather to help each other, as in quilting bees. Now finally in this internet age, we have the height of the world wide community such as Ravelry. I talk about how the knitting Olympics started, and how it has grown to be a large community of not only knitters, but spinners too on Ravelry. And I talk about my personal ravelympic spinning challenge and the fact there are others doing the same thing.

My challenge is to start with a raw fleece and knit something from the yarn from it by the end of the olympics. That means washing, carding, spinning and knitting. I will challenge myself to have it all done through the spinning, and then I will knit a 'sample' which I have decided will be a mobius. I do not plan to knit the entire fleece by the end of the olympics, because that quantity of yarn needs to be a sweater or shawl. But a sample piece, to get an idea of the gauge is a perfectly acceptable finale for the challenge.

I have chosen another rare breed fleece that I purchased and have not had the time to work up yet. I will be keeping notes, just like I use in the podcasts so I can share the experience later. The fleece is from a Maine Island Sheep. Here's a photo:

And two close ups of the locks.

I have been spinning so many naturally colored fleeces lately that even though white seems boring, I am actually excited about working with a natural white for a change.

Stop by here now and then during the olympics, I will be posting pictures of the progress.

And if you are on Ravelry, I am on Team Tardis. Yeah, it's all about Doctor Who for me, because I just could not resist a team that boasts that they have already been and done the 2012 olympics and decided to come back for this one again :)

CW

Help me hatch my dragon

Thank you, my dragon is all grown and is an adult now. It is labelled as an earth dragon, able to throw boulders for defense and cause earthquakes by stamping it's feet. I am still waiting to hear it's name.

Edit: It hatched! thank you everyone. If you keep up the clicks, just one per 24 hours, the baby will grow into an adult dragon. I need to think of a name.



OK this is so not fiber related, but I really want to try and get this dragon to hatch. It takes unique clicks and unique views. I do not know if that means one time only, or what, but I thought putting it here would get more unique clicks.

It goes to the website for Dragon Cave, and to all my ability, the website is not harmful or spam. You do not have to sign up, just click on the egg. The page you will go to is my scroll, with the information about this dragon.

Thanks readers, lets hatch a dragon.

CW

A rebellious yarn

It's true, I have a rebel in my stash. However, in my opinion, a rebellous yarn, is a rebel without a cause.

This all started two days ago, when I was searching for some sock yarn. I had not really stored yarns purchased over the last several months, and in the process of doing that, I came across a box of handspun yarn. I decided it was time to get all the handspun into one container. So I got all the skeins together and laid them out on the table.

Now I know this was a perfectly good photo opportunity, but I wasn't really thinking blog at the moment. And in truth this was not _all_ my handspun yarn, just the skeins I will not sell. That's either because I really love the yarn, or really hate the yarn. If I love it, I want to make something from it. If I hate it, well, I am too good hearted to take someone's cash for it.

I will admit, it made a pretty picture seeing all that yarn on the table. I got enthused enough to start pulling 'project' bags from the pile. One bag of 14 skeins of natural colored yarn for a sweater for me. One bag of big bulky black welsh mountain for a felted kitty bed. Several bags of hats, mitten, scarves for whoever. I do not have specific patterns yet for these bags, but I will, thanks to my many knitting books, or Ravelry.

So, that's when I found this: my rebellious yarn:
I remember very well spinning this yarn. I hated it, and posted at length at the time how I hated it. It was a scratchy wool blended with linen. I hated spinning it, and it shows so now I hate the yarn. It's overtwisted in spite of being washed, slubby and unevenly spun. It's only good quality is the very lovely lilac color that it was dyed. Since I purchased it in sealed bag, I had no idea of the quality of the fiber, and went on the color alone. Not wise, but pretty.

It continued to be rebellious this morning as I tried to wind it into a ball. OK, I was lazy, and should have used the swift to hold the yarn. The skein was winding off by itself oh so nice at first and lulled me into thinking I could continue that way. And then of course you hit all the kinkiness of the overspun yarn, and that rebellion rears it's grinning kinks again. It was only because I was on my front porch in the early morning coolness, coffee steaming on the table beside me, and birds filling the air with song, that kept me calm, as I worked through all the tangles and finally had it into a relatively tame ball. Besides, I consider it practice for later, when I have to once again untangle the ear buds of my mp3 player. Ever notice how yarn like those are, and how they seem to tangle the second you take them out of your ears?

I have four skeins of this yarn, close to 800 yards. Yes, I will use the swift to ball the rest, I learned my lesson. And I am too thrifty to toss this yarn. But fortunately I had a gleam of a possible project in mind for it.

One of the state fair categories this year is to weave an article from handspun. Now I am not really a weaver, nor do I have a functioning loom. I do however, have nail looms. A large shawl size triangle loom and two small sampler looms 12 inches in size.

Now I didn't want to make a shawl from this, I doubt I could stand to have it on my shoulders. I could have made two and joined them in the center for a tablecloth, an idea I want to do sometime, but not with this limited amount of yarn. So I decided to play with the sampler looms and see how the yarn looked.

There is nothing better for rebellious yarn, than putting it under tension again. And the weaving is going well. It's almost addicting, in that 'just one more row' kind of way.

Here's a closer look for details of how the yarn is pulled through the loom.

I am not going to go into details on the weaving right now. I had to consult the internet to learn the process and had to look in several places before it made sense and I was weaving. Once you learn, it becomes easy. The only difficult part is at the very end, when everything is very tight. Getting the yarn pulled through is hard work. You have to weave every nail, or the square will not stay together.

In fact that was my biggest doubt as I did my first square. I just couldn't believe that it would just dissolve into one big ravelly mess. But to prove it doesn't:

Now I normally would not show something so unfinished, but it's proof of two things. One, the square does stay together, and two, the square right off the loom is no where near finished. Whatever project I decide to make out of the squares, will definately be sewn together after a good washing and blocking.

But that yarn doesn't look quite so rebellious anymore, does it?

CW

Carding and spinning cotton

Yarnspinnerstales podcast episode 15 is posted and is all about carding and spinning cotton. I encourage you to go to the website and click on some of the links there, even if you do not listen to the podcast. I have links to videos, both on the website and on YouTube relating to this topic. There's a great video showing how to hand card cotton and create a puni, as well as video of spinning cotton with a support spindle, charkha and regular spinning wheel.

In one segment of the podcast I explain in detail how I carded dyed cotton lint on my Patrick Green drum carder with the fur drum. The pictures below go along with that explanation. Be sure to understand that the only reason this worked is because I had a drum carder with teeth about as fine as a cotton hand card. This process would not work with a wool drum carder.

I was very pleased with the final results of this fiber experiment. The cotton batt was cohesive and spun well with whatever spinning method chosen. The only draw back to the task is that the cotton lint had to be hand carded once to open it up. But that's true of any fiber before being put through a big drum carder. It just seemed like double work because so often wool fiber can just be picked open after washing and laid on the drum carder's feed tray, where as the cotton actually had to carded, it could not be picked open. Still, it's not a bad way to handle a larger amount of unprocessed cotton fiber.

This first picture shows the cotton lint after I had hand carded it once. I did not card to remove all of the lumps, I carded with the intention of opening the fibers. After one or two passes on the hand cards I just gently rolled the cotton off of the cards and laid them in a pile.



The next photo shows one of those hand carded batts being laid on the feed in tray of the drum carder. I found it fed into the carder best if the batt was laid so the fibers were perpendicular to the drum, which feels like it would tangle the fiber more, but really allows the teeth of the carder to do it's work, pulling in bits of that batt. If I laid the batt with the fibers parallel, the fiber would feed in too fast, in clumps.

The next picture shows one of the disadvantages of carding cotton on the drum carder, the fact that there is close to 50% of the fiber that will not feed onto the large drum, it wraps the small drum instead. The small drum is picking up the fibers that are shorter than the distance between the drums teeth, and for this cotton, that meant a lot of the fiber! I probably could adjust the distance slightly so the teeth would be closer, but that is a meticulous process and not worth the bother for this experiment. The fiber on the small drum would never be picked up by the large drum, so it is not worth the effort to try and recard it. Instead, I cleaned it off the small drum and set it aside. It will be usable by carding it with my hand cards and rolling into a puni.

To clean it off of the small drum, I use this small brush, which I keep calling a flicker brush in the podcast. I really don't think that's the proper name, but once I get a name in my head, it's hard to change.


This is what the drum carder looks like once the small drum is cleaned. I can now repeat the process, feeding more cotton onto the large drum, moving the location of the cotton on the feeder tray so I cover the large drum side to side in equal depth.

Once I have all of the large drum covered to the depth of the batt I desire, I need to remove the batt from the drum. The tool for this is shown below, stuck into the batt. On the large drum there is an area where there are no teeth, the starting and stopping point of the teeth's attachment to the drum. That area is covered with a smooth metal and this batt removing tool has a long metal pointed stick on it. That metal stick slides along the metal strip under the batt. Then when I lift the metal pointy stick straight up, the batt breaks and I will be able to remove it from the drum carder. Isn't it fun to think about the tool maker thought process, as that specific tool was being designed?

Once the batt is broken, I can grab the one edge of the batt with my right hand and turn the drum carders handle counterclockwise. This will turn the large drum the same way, which allows me to gently pull on the batt. It will peel off the drum, in one piece if I have carded it to a sufficient thickness. Here's a photo showing it peeling off the large drum.

And finally the desired product: a drum carded cotton batt. I made four of these during this experiment and stored them by laying each batt on tissue paper, with tissue paper between and gently rolling the paper and batts for storage.

To spin the batt just pull about a two inch strip the longways length of the batt. The cotton will spin just like it is, without the need for predrafting.

As I stated in the podcast, when I started this experiment I had no idea if the cotton would come off of the drum carder in a nice batt, nor did I know how cotton carded this way would spin. I am sure I am not the first person to try cotton on a drum carder, but it feels a bit like experimenting in an unknown fiber universe.

CW

Things you find in fleece

I've been washing a fleece these last two weeks. And of course, you can find all sorts of things trapped in the fleece by the sticky lanolin. Hay, straw, burrs, corn and this...
No it's not a japanese beetle. It looks like one, only on steroids. I have always just called them that, the beetle on steroids. I think it's real name is the June fruit beetle.

I have these at my house, and I purchased the fleece in the state next to me, so I am sure they are local there too. It's hard to get a photo of the very shiny green shell but they are startling to see. Startling too, to be swishing your hand through the fleece in the rinse water and feel something about the size of a pecan. I'm amazed it stayed so intact, it was hard to dislodge from the fleece and you can see the strands still sticking to it.

All in all, I'd rather find nothing in a fleece, but given a choice, I'll take this critter over live moth larva, or sticky burrs.

CW

June Spin In podcast with two breeds of sheep

The June Spin In podcast was posted last week, but I like to put a reminder link in this blog for those listeners that are not subscribed to Itunes. Plus I have photos that I wanted to post for the two sheep breeds (cormo and montadale) I talk about in the podcast.

Cormo is a breed developed by crossing corridale and merino sheep. So it has many of the same characteristics as merino and is a very soft wool. It's harder to home process because of the higher lanolin, but wonderful to spin, especially in the lock.

Here's a photo of the locks from my breed sampler file:




I talk about how I like combing the cormo better than carding and that after combing I pulled some fiber through a diz and spun that. I also spun fiber straight from washed locks and I found that my singles from both methods were spinning to about the same WPI.

Here's a picture of two ply, combed and lock spun. Just like merino there's lots of bounce to the yarn.

The second breed of sheep I talk about is the Montadale, not a fleece most spinners will get to try unless they have a local shepherd raising that breed of sheep. It is a down sheep breed and is used for both meat and fleece. This means that the fleece is not a soft fleece, although it is certainly OK for socks by my standards and therefore probably sweaters too.

Here's the photo of the locks:

I had a very small sampling of fiber to work with on this breed, so I combed it all, and this is the sample yarn skein:

Seasocks 08 Stash

Normally I don't brag about stash. In fact, normally I hide it in as many places as possible. In my latest podcast though, I talk all about the Seasocks 08 cruise to Alaska. I did not talk too much about the shopping done on the trip, and I had one listener ask me specifically if I bought Qiviut. So I promised I would be putting pictures on the blog of all the wonderful yarn goodies from the trip, both free and purchased.



I actually did not buy 100% qivuit yarn. I chose instead a brand called Qiviuk, which is 45% Qiviut, 45% Extrafine merino, and 10% mulberry silk (isn't all silk mulberry silk? after all that's all the silkworms eat, right?) The yarn store was in Ketchikan and had lace scarves knitted from both 100% qiviut, and this blend, and I decided on the blend because it was softer. And I want a knitted scarf that I will wear and not just look at. So I purchased two 1 oz balls with about 218 yards in each ball.



This is what $124 plus tax yarn looks like:



Believe me, I can hold the ball up to the screen and it is almost the same size as what you are looking at in the picture. They are tiny balls of thin yarn. I am going to enjoy making every stitch of whatever I decide to knit from this yarn, but I also will be a long time thinking about just what that pattern will be.



Photos from here on down are the rest of the stash from the trip.



First tools, all free.


The Pony sock needles were in our goodie bag. The two very tall and hard to photograph items that look like gigantic cigarette cases are needle cases, for long straight needles. Each person making a purchase at the yarn store in Victoria received one as a gift (there was a stitch marker too, I forgot to grab that for the photo shoot). Since my daughter claims she will never ever ever knit with long straight needles, she gave me hers. So now I have two. The stitch marker on the brown case has beads spelling the word SEAM and they were a gift from Heather Ordorver's class on sock heels. And the collection of markers were my door prize one night made by Rycrafty.etsy.com, a set of five with one of them uniquely marked for a beginning of the round marker.



Here's a photo of a sample skein of linen yarn given to each of us by Amy Singer for her No Sheep for You talk.

Opps, photos a bit out of order, this next one is the only yarn I bought at the yarn store in Juneau, and only because it was a sale price too good to pass up ($4 a ball).

Now, the best. The yarns in the goody bag.

Brown skein is Saucon Sock yarn, looks like I may finally have a color to knit hubby a pair of socks. Fuzzy multicolored yarn on the right are two skeins of eyelash yarn by SSK called Kolibri. And on top is a lovely skein of hand dyed merino/nylon superwash sock yarn by C*EYE*BER fiber. Yummy yarn.


These are the skeins I bought in Victoria at the BeeHive Yarn Shop (two photos). That yarn shop was the best on the trip, old store building, yarn everywhere, two stories, tables and books everywhere. And somehow, being in Canada made it feel like the yarn was special, and different than yarn I get here at home.

That's NOT true of these skeins:

Hempathy (actually darker maroon than it looks to me here) and Trekking XXL sock yarn.

But it is true of this yarn:

All together now....ohhhhh, ahhhh. Yes I finally have the chance to knit with some Handmaiden Sea Silk. This yarn actually came with a pattern, but I think I will be hunting some more for just the right item and pattern to knit with this wonderful yarn.

The last photo is not of stash, but a picture of the sample sock heel I knitted for the class. The idea of the class was to present many different styles of sock heels, knitted either toe up or top down. You cast on your usual number of stitches for a sock, knit some rows of ribbing and then, start turning the heel, following the directions for the specific type of heel. Then you knit a few finishing rows, no toe, and cast off. You can then slip the heel on to see how that style of heel fits your foot. Brilliant!

This was a sample of a dutch heel and is the only one I knit on the trip. Doing the other sample heels given to us in a booklet will make a very nice knitting project for my next road trip.

Cute huh? I do have to tag the final heel so I can remember what style it is, it will be impossible to tell the difference after the knitting is done.

CW