April's Spinning Goal

Sheesh, I can't believe how time flies sometimes...I was sitting here getting ready to post and as I logged in realized how long it's been since my last post. I guess I have been busier than I thought.
Last weekend I went up to Orcas Island with my kids to visit my family and help out an acquaintance with his wool. Basically I agreed to a sort of 'work trade' and gave 9 hours of my time teaching someone how to skirt, wash, dry, comb, card, spindle and wheel spin as well as dry his fleece in exchange for a fleece. I think It was a good deal on both ends...now I have a dirty fleece to deal with but I am not really one to complain about having more wool. :)
This last weekend was the Spring Fair and I spent Saturday helping at the Shepherd's Extravaganza with the selling of the the judged fleeces. I also got the chanced to pick out a fleece (well, one for me, one for Andrew) as well as do a little shopping in the vendor booths. I am proud to say that I only bought my fleece and some dyed locks of Romney...which brings us to this months spinning goal...
8 ounces of Romney locks dyed in wonderful colors. I have decided to do this one lock at a time - just grab one out of the bag,

Flick card the tips and the butts open,
Spin.
Repeat.
I need to weigh out the rest of the locks and try to get approximately thirds so that I can do a true 3ply if I want...
I plan to test in the same manner as when I spun this So I'll either end up with three smaller Navajo plyed skeins or one larger 3ply skein. We'll see where we're at once the singles are spun and the samples are done.

Back in Action!

After much frustration I finally asked my questions on the forums at blogger and got an answer. A rather simple on actually: switch back to the 'Old' editor. I did that and it works! I would love to know what was wrong with the new editor (I am sure it is on my end) but whatever....this works.
I was working on some fibery things and my little helper popped up to the counter to 'watch' me as I was working. In addition to the hackle I was using, my combs and flick carder were on the counter and she decided that she wanted to play with them. Actually I believe she kept saying 'help mommy' as she 'carded' some wool. Maybe I have a future fiber lover here. She does seem to like anything I am working with - she'll rub it and say 'soft, pretty'
Quite some time ago (like before we moved -so more than a year) I started this bear. I had her all cut out and all of the pieces together, I just had to assemble and stuff. I give you "Spooky" For sale in my Etsy shop.

I also made another pumpkin...Alexis this is the one I started the day you and the boys were here:

I kinda like his evil little grin, don't you?

And last but not least this is some spinning I have been doing. Brian brought me all home some wool one evening and I love the color. It's funny because I probably wouldn't have gone for this color but I am really enjoying it. Brian said I should make something for myself so I have decided on a sweater. What you see here is about 1/3 of what I will eventually need to spin. I have 4 bobbins spun up and 5 more to go.

Then I will ply them as a 3ply and then knit me a sweater. I think I may have enough leftover for one of two things I want to do, either make a sweater for Abby to match (it's iffy on whether or not I'll have enough for this) or throw some on the loom and weave a scarf.

There are a couple more things in the works but that is what I have 'really going' right now. I must go and get ready to prepare for my presentation this evening...oh, did I forget to mention this?
Sooo while I was at the sheep to shawl I was talking to a guild member and something came up that I had my spinning notebook handy to use as a refrece. The guild member really liked the spinning notebook and long story short I am presenting a short 'workshop' (really just a talk) on how to keep a spinning notebook. I am a bit nervous as I have never really done any 'public' speaking (not since reading a paper outloud in college a decade ago). I have done one 'dry run' and think it's ok. Now I need to finish my props and get any supplies together that I might need.

And so on that note, off I go.

Spinable Smoothies

Woo Hoo ! I finally got my smoothies posted on Etsy! Check 'em out on the side bar or hop on over to Etsy for more!

Have you had your fiber today?

A while back I got this idea for my spinning fiber and I have finally got my crap together and did it! Introducing the Spinable Smoothie! These are 1/2 ounce servings of my hand washed, hand combed, diz pulled Navajo-Churro/Polwarth fleece hand dyed by myself in the wonderful colors provided by the Kool-Aid company. They should be up in my shop soon.

Grape Sheep Special (includes combed mohair too:))

Icee colorway

Orange Smoothie

I have been working on some spinning on my Turkish drop spindle that I have finallly named "Dolly" and have finished a sample I got in my Phat Fiber box. This was a wonderful superwash wool from it's a colorful life. It has been an absolute DREAM to spin. I will be buying more from this seller once I have worked through some of the mountain of unspun wool I already have.

I have also been spinning on some roving for the Tour De Fleece. I challenged myself to 4oz of laceweight. I have the singles done, now all that is left is the plying and I should be able to make it with time to spare (assuming the children cooperate).

A few weeks ago I was surfing around on Etsy and came across this:

And since it was only 5 dollars and shipping was free I HAD to have some! So it arrived about a week ago and this is what it looked like all shiny outside, with the surprise free Ravelry pin!

THANK YOU craftypuppylover! I have gotten fiber from her before in my Phat Fiber box and love her colors. I had to card it all up as soon as the children allowed and I started spinning it as soon as I finished my laceweight singles last night. I didn't get to bed until after midnight because I HAD to finish! I'll ply it later today and try to post a pic. This fiber has been so much fun to play with.

I'll probably do something for my dad with it since he has been asking me since the day I got my spinning wheel when I am going to learn to spin gold.

I have also been getting caught up with my fiber notebook. I don't remember where I got the idea to keep a notebook of my spinning (one website or book or another) and I am SOOOO glad I have been doing it. I think it will help immensly with remembering things like "Gee, where did I get that fiber I really wish I could remember now that I want to buy some more" and "how on earth did I draft that?, I love the end result and want to do it again'."

Oh, and I finished knitting a monkey for my unborn nephew that I will need to get boxed up and sent to Chris and Sarah in Ohio. My mom thinks it's creepy. I happen to like it. I added a tail too...I don't know what the designer of the pattern was thinking making a monkey without a tail.

So for now that's what I've been up to for the most part (you know, aside from the torture laundry).

Happy Birthday To Me! (a month ago - finally catching up)

So I had my (cough)30th(cough) birthday on May 5th and I had a GREAT day. Well actually I had a great couple of days. My mom came down for a visit and brought my big birthday present....a 4 harness Leclerc floor loom! I am giddy.

The only bummer was that I didn't get to warp it right that instant. That was on Monday night. Tuesday we went shopping and I only bought one thing - some cups and domed lids like you get when you have a smoothie - I am going to sell some fiber in them.

Wednesday morning bright and early we got up and got ourselves out the door to head to Orcas Island. On our way we stopped for breakfast and then the used bookstore (actually two used bookstores) I bought at least a half a dozen books on either dyeing or weaving. Next we headed to a yarn shop where I bought two skeins of sock yarn and 4oz of fiber to spin...wwwweeeeee!

While on Orcas I visited Maria at Warm Valley Orchard in the studio where we talked about the upcomiing sheep to shawl and I bought some more fiber and yarn with my birthday money. As I was leaving I told her about my newly aquired loom and she out of the blue just gave me a couple of cones to practice with. After I got home I realized that the fiber I had bought was identical to fiber I already had...I guess I was drawn to it for a reason. I may sell it I may spin it and sell it, who knows at this point. 

I got a couple of  wonderful Mother's Day cards from my kids and husband and all in all had a fabulous weekend.

On the way home we stopped at the Weaving Works in Seattle and OMG was I in HEAVEN! I'll be making the drive for that place again for sure! I have more stuff than I know what to do with at the moment but I know where to go if I need anything for spinning, weaving, knitting, basketmaking, etc. While there I bought some bamboo yarn to weave into a shawl/stole and some BFL fiber in a natural off white color for a scarf I have in mind. Mom bought me a boat shuttle as another birthday gift (like the loom wasn't enough....sheesh. I love my mom. She spoils me when she can).

Since then I have been doing a bunch of spinning and weaving. The first thing I put on my loom was some cotton carpet warp that I used to weave some mats for the kitchen, using scraps of fabric as the weft. I love how they came out but they slide all over and are more hazard than help for now. I will be getting some spray on rubber at some point to coat the backs in to hopefully solve the problem.

Currently on the loom I have some cotton that was intended to be 12 placemats that were to be 11 inches tall and 18 inches wide. That did not work out. I didn't know how to figure the 'sett' of a given yarn and it didn't really occur to me to do something with it. Live and learn. After a bunch of trial and error I have finally got it strung and tied on and have begun to weave. It will much to narrow to be any sort of placemat but since I have tons of yardage on the warp I will have more than enough for a table runner (and we have a nice long table). I was bummed at first that the pattern I had strung for a plaid was not coming out.

I realize it is because it is still set to wide to give me a balanced weave but as I stood up to stop weaving and decide to continue on, try something else, or use what I had as a sample a different pattern caught my eye. It shows up pretty well in the photo but in person you can only see it at the right angle. I am still unsure of what to do - to keep going as is, or to scrap it. I'll probably just keep going.

I planted some pot peas that will bush out instead of climb and I am very excited to see them growing. The peas only took about a week to germinate and almost all of them have come up. I think only 2 or 3 did not. Looking forward to making a fresh pea salad in a couple of months!

The same day I planted the peas, Brian was in the mood to cook so we headed out to Tacoma Boys and picked up some things for dinner...We ended up making some sirloin steaks in a red wine, shallot and currant reduction sauce and served that with some oven roasted potatos and steamed green beans. For some reason ALL of my photos are washed out and have this weird greyish tint to them so when you see the pic know that the sauce was a deep purple and the the beans a bright fresh green, not the sickly color that they are appearing (try to adjust the color in all of these photos to be brighter and less grey if you can do that on your imaginary color adjuster thingy). Needless to say dinner was superb, especially with the glass of wine and because we got to eat it out on the back patio.

This Thursday I plyed the yarn I have had on the wheel for about a month and I am very pleased with it. The colors are wonderful and they shift into eachother so wonderfully, I don't know if I will sell this one or keep it for myself but I am smitten with the colors and thier progression. Again try to imagine all of the colors brighter.

Well, that is all for now (yes I am finally done). Off to put the kiddies to bed...

Yarny Things

Lots of Yarn play this week. I finished spinning 'Captain Planet' from the PhatFiber box...here is the roving:and the yarn:Then I spun up the 'Pool of Tears' Bamboo also from the Phat box. Again the roving:On the spindle:and the yarn:I finished knitting the handspun alpaca lace scarf:Now I just need to block it...can't wait for it to be all done (so I can fold it up and put it away until I need it...scarf weather is pretty much over).

Also I have been playing on the loom some more. After some fiddling on graph paper I had my desing pretty much figured out. I decided I wanted to try warping the loom 'directly' by using the single post method. I started by setting up a post:That post aligned with the loom so I could go from the warping bar/dowel to the heddle to the post and back.The yarn on a makeshift TinkerToy 'lazy kate' of sorts so that it would unwind easier while pulling it from the cone to the loom:After the warping was all done I started weaving - here is my very first plaid, designed by me! The pattern is quite simple and easily memorized. I did warp the edges with yellow when, if following the pattern, it should have been grey but I wanted a nice defined edge so hopefully it's the right call.
Next in line for the loom: Placemats!

I'm totally Phat!

I am giddy/happy/excited that my Phat Fiber box arrived yesterday! I have been wanting one for 6 months and they sell out in minutes. This month they sold out in less than 60 seconds from what I gather.

For those who don't know Phat Fiber is a sampler box of either fiber and yarn, just fiber or just yarn. I got me a 'fluff' box (just fiber). It is packed full of yummy fiber!

The theme this month was 'The Elements' so earth, air, fire, water and aether (not tangible/transcendant/philisophical - like that moment when you see heaven through that ray of sushine in the sky or think you see a fairy fly past).

Here is my box:

And by element we have

Water:

Starting in the top left is a braid of corriedale cross in Koi colorway from Color Bug Yarns There is also an adorable turtle bead on the card that I am totally in love with. To the right of that is the long braid of superwash merino in From the Depths colorway from it's a colorful life. Under the Koi on the far left is a bat from The Critter Ranch of firestar, alpaca and llama in Sand and Sea colorwy. To the right of that in the center is a light blue braid of bamboo called Pool of Tears from Polyartgirl Designs. To the right and under that is a batt of romney/alpaca in Water colorway from Lucky Loungers. I also included the card from The Twice Sheared Sheep here because they included an 'Oil Slick' stitch marker - love it! looks like it wll not snag!

Fire:

The pattern on the right is from Katherine Vaughan Designs it is for a hair scrunchie and is totally adorable. It would also look great if I made it out of the merino next to it there on the left from Smoky Mountain Fibers in "Fire' colorway.

Air:

Top roving is kettle dyed romney in "winter storm warning" colorway from (RuLeOuT):fIBer AdDicTiOn, NOS I am not sure if a storm warning belongs with air or aether but I guess it could be both. Below to the left is 'Fog' wich is rambouilette carded fiber from Sandy's Palette . I guess fog could go in water or air but I decided it belonged in the air since it is much less tangible than water. Also not sure if this beautiful 'sunset' farm batt blend from Fleecemakers Fibers is air or aether but this is where my first instinct put it.

Aether:

On the left is 'Edge of Night' BL cross roving from Desired Haven Farm and it is a VERY generous sample in some of my favorie colors. On the right is recycled carded sari silk from WC Mercantile. I should have pulled it out of the bag for the photo but I assure you it is 10x as beautiful in person.

Earth:

Ok starting in the top left corner is one of my favorites in the whole box. It is a generous Foxyie Batt from The Fox Hop and it is a beautiful blend of wool, angelina, seacell, and rayon bamboo. It is super soft and the angelina fiber is coppery and so it looks almost as if it has embers or sparks in it when you move it. Directly below that is a bag of Gaia Green Tea from Goddess Tea. I will be drinking it today. To the right is a wool, milk, alpaca blend in "terra" colorway from The Fuzzy Bunny this is another one of my favorites because the color is so rich. On the top, far right is another from Sandy's Palette in 'Good Green Earth' colorway of gray corriedale that has been overdyed. The bottom row from left is: 'Captain Planet' blended batt from Crafty Puppy Lover - this one totally took me on a trip down memory lane. Center bottom is 'Moon Rock' Tumbleweeds Carded Batt from Desert Garden also one of my top favorites. I choose to put this in earth because it was 'rock' though it could go in aether as well since the moon makes me think of fairies. Last but not least on the bottom right is "Spring Fields" BFL from Hippie Penguin Fibers. Both the bright color and the shape of the sample remind me of a Troll (If you don't remember Trolls you probably were not a child of the 80's).

Oh and this pattern belonged with the water category but I forgot to put it in the pile, so it get's its own picture...written by Michelle over at Fickle Knitter:I was chatting with Brian and Andrew last night and just could not let that fiber just sit there. So I reached over and grabbed my spindle and plunged my hand into the box. It came up with this:That would be the Captain Planet batt. I am enjoying the color change but have been having the theme song run through my head ever since.

Ok I am off to spin...and maybe eat something...either way fiber will be involved.