Catching Up: Fiber Updates

 Hello Everyone! It has been far to long since I was here with you. This beginning of this summer started with a bang and I feel like I have been going, going, going, non stop. As of yet, things have only slowed up a little. But it looks as if things should calm down soon. 

A few weeks ago I was a vendor in a fiber festival. The weeks leading up to the festival were very busy for me. I was unable to pick my fiber that I needed to dye until quite late, and then we went on a family Holiday. So by the time I got home, and had free time to spare, the festival was only two weeks away! I amassed all my supplies and took a day to mix up my dye stock. Then I started dyeing!

 It took almost a week to kettle dye and hand paint 14.5 pounds of Merino wool. Initially I did not even think I would get it all done, though I was hoping too!

I dropped into bed exhausted at the end of each dye day, tired of steam, vinegar and standing all day. But every morning I was ready to get back at it and as each successive dye day dawned, I would have all sorts of fresh ideas rolling around my head of color combinations, techniques and other ideas I wanted to try. It was interesting to see how color-wise on some days there seemed to be a common theme, and other days it was all higgledy-piggledy.  It was such a fun process and I enjoyed myself tremendously.  If I could dye fiber two or three days a week, every week, that would be happiness indeed. It is a wonderful creative outlet and there is no limit to the what you can do with a little bit of no-how and some practice.

 I use the Greener Shades Dyes to dye all my fiber. All of the colors, other then the Coral Reef Aqua, are non-toxic and do not contain any heavy metals. It was the safety of these dyes that attracted me to them. They still are made up of chemicals, but they are much safer for you then many dyes. I do all my dyeing in the family kitchen, and I do not want to inadvertently harm someone with my dye solutions. I use regular white vinegar as a mordant, but for some of the colors it would be better to use citric acid, especially for the Coral Reef Aqua. I am still a little nervous about using the Aqua, but I am just careful when I measure it out, and I wear gloves and clean up thoroughly after each batch. But back to the citric acid. I need to find somewhere to buy it in bulk, because for certain colors and mixtures I find I like the results best with the citric acid. 

 At the fiber festival I picked up another half ounce of Sunshine Yellow. I discovered I use this color the most with my mixtures, I ran out of my yellow on the last dye day! River Blue runs a close second, I'll have to restock on that one soon. I was gifted the lovely red bamboo and merino roving show above. And the purple and green merino roving was what I received in the Vendor-to-Vendor Swap. I always like doing the vendor swap. It is fun to prepare a little bag of goodies to enter, and equally fun to see what you receive in return. 

 Despite the busyness of life, I have found time to do quite a but of spinning in the last few weeks. I have been spinning up some of my little half ounce samples of colors I plan on repeating. And I have also been working on some of my 1oz sampler rovings as well. The above picture is a half ounce.

Half ounce

1 ounce Lagoon

My Mum is spinning this roving up. Aren't the colors wonderful? 

1 ounce Orchid

I have finished yarn waiting to be photographed. If it is a nice day outside tomorrow I'll have to take the skeins out and take some pictures. I have been spinning on one of my smaller drop spindles. It still has a fairly thick whorl though, so it is a good weight for what I am doing. I am trying to spin all of these samples up at a similar weight, that way if I wan to use them together in a project I can. 


Well it is late, and I have lots more to update you on but I am quite tired, so farewell for now ,my dear readers!

Spinning Beaded Yarn With A Drop Spindle

 Two weeks ago I stopped into a local fiber Mill to check out the set-up and see how they processed their fiber. I was planning on placing a wholesale order with them and since I was in the area I figured it would be nice to check-out the mill. It is always fascinating to see the workings of a fiber mill. The amount of fiber they move through on a regular basis is simply amazing! While there I purchase a little bag of felting fiber. The staple length was long enough that I was able to card it up into rolags for spinning. I only had one color that   
I could not use. This one was set aside for needle felting, or perhaps for making felted soap.

 For quite awhile now i have been wanting to try my handat spinning beaded yarn. I did a search online to study various methods of bead spinning. Everything I read was tailored to spinning beaded yarn on a spinning wheel. But I figured with a little finagling I could probably make one or more of the techniques work on a drop spindle. I picked the method that seemed easiest for using with a drop spindle. First I strung a small handful of 6/0 seed beads onto a spool of cotton quilting thread. The thread was going to be used as the core of my yarn. I set the spool of thread on my lap, picked up one of the rolags and began to spin, using the thread as my core. Every 10-12 inches I would pause in my spinning and slide a bead up the thread to the join where my rolag was attached, and then continue spinning. I'll have to include a photo of this in my next post concerning this yarn. 

 At the time of taking this pictures I had spun about two roalgs worth of Romney. I added that to the beginning of my yarn for another lighter color in the mix.

I am VERY excited to see how this yarn turns out! Seeing as this is a new technique for me, and that there was no beading directions for the drop spindle, I'm kind of winging it. and seeing what happens.. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I am not sure if I am going to bead approximately half of my fiber and then ply my two ends together, or if I'll bead it all and ply it together, or bead it all and ply it with something else. I'll keep you posted!


Right now I am on a road trip, headed out of state to help our friends with the children while they are at a conference. Thanks to my new notebook, I am able to blog as we drive. Blogging on-the-go is a new experience for me, I find I am enjoying it. 


Any new techniques or tips you have learned recently? Be it spinning, knitting, crochet, or sewing....I would love to hear about it!
That's all for now. Take care my friends, and I'll be back with you soon.

Spring: Part 1

This year spring arrived early because of our bout of warm weather a month ago. In between we have had some cold days, but overall it has been very spring-like and altogether lovely. It has been nice enjoying such a lengthy, drawn-out spring. 

The pictures in this past were taken over a couple weeks, going from oldest to newest. I was on my way back across the state and everything was beginning to burst into bloom. There were photo opportunities everywhere, but I was on a schedule and could not stop very often. However little unexpected chances arose, such as these gorgeous flowering trees in the walkway by the music store.

About a week ago I started working on the raspberry patch. Because of the early warm weather the weeds have gotten a wonderful jump, thus it was not a pretty sight that met my eyes the first time I went out there. We have clay, and in-between rains the ground gets as hard as rock. So after a rainfall, and as soon as the slippery, clumping clay is remotely workable, it is best to rush out and get things done before the crazy winds on our hill dry the ground back out. Sometimes if we do not have wind the ground will stay soft longer.
I did some weeding, raked away a great deal of dead rubbish from last fall and then called it quits because I was in need of thick gloves before I pruned. I came back a few days later with two helpers and got more weeding and raking done, as well as pruned back dead  and/or wild growth. The patch is not quite ship-shape. But it is looking pruned and respectable. Every time I scoop the boys beans I spread a bucketful or two around the base of the raspberry canes. Alpaca beans are mild enough that you can use them straight in your garden. There is normally some straw interspersed with the beans, but it will help keep down the weeds and eventually decompose and add nutrients to the soil.

Crabapple tree

Apple tree.

Maple tree.

The leaves are coming on ever so slowly, but each week the hazy green in the distance deepens and the woods look fuller. The field behind us has been planted already. Corn. Not at all a happy thing for me, as well as other members of our family. We were never allergic to corn, but something about this new GMO corn is not good for our allergies. Lets just say for about a month and a half some of us can not even go outdoors comfortably, nor have the windows open in the house. Its a relief when we can get away from the corn and are able to breathe without sneezing constantly or having running eyes.

The Applemint has spread and is doing nicely. It is almost impossible to eradicate it, (short of a huge excavation and some sort of poison I suppose!) so everywhere we have been it has done nicely. But here with all this lovely(?) clay, it grows huge and happy. It is nice for tea, however we haven't dried a whole lot of it in recent years. Though I do believe I will try drying a bunch of it this summer. My Mother and my sister-in-law both make soap and it would make a nice add-in to certain scents.

Windfall & Mounty

And now on to the animals on the farm! The alpacas are doing well, there have been some temporary modifications to their living arrangements.....

.......And for a while there they were not sure how they felt about it.  But now everyone is settling in nicely and getting used to the change. Meet our newest members.....

.......Guinea Hens!

The ladies are about 6 months old. We purchased them from my Aunt. Due to her other animals they were not very compatible on her farm. Her poor bulldog pup had to be on a leash and was getting chubby from lack of exercise. Not to mention they can be a little noisy when alarmed.
But so far we've not had any trouble with them. They have to be kept enclosed for awhile, so they get used to their new home and do not try running off. They are all just starting to lay, and we get four or five eggs every day. It is a nice steady amount. Not enough to give eggs away very often, but also not so many as to overwhelm us. Guinea eggs are different from your standard chicken eggs. They are quite small, we've heard two guinea eggs equals one large chicken egg. To me they just look like small chicken eggs. The shells on the eggs are quite thick, they feel like little rocks when I hold them in my hand.
The ladies do not have names as of yet. It is not like we will be able to tell them apart! But we do like to name our creatures. 

The first time let the ladies wander around the boys pen Mounty has tried to chase them. But he and Windfall both are learning to listen. After getting after him, he has since left them alone. Sunday while I was taking care of the guineas water they escaped out the barn door behind me. I had not had that happen before and I was envisioning them flying over the fence and escaping entirely. Mounty instantly went on the alert and let out a little hum, taking a step toward them. But I firmly told him no, and after watching them a moment he went back to eating. Windfall ignores them unless they are let out in the lawn to eat grass and bugs. Mother did that once, last week, and he was quite agitated. I don't know if it was because he thought they were somewhere where they didn't belong (since they are usually kept locked up) or if it was because he wanted to be outside his fence. The grass is always greener you know....

That is all the farm news for now! 

Next up:  a new (for me) spinning technique!

Catching Up

I have a new design in the wings and I am so excited about it! Last September I was visiting my sister-in-law and somehow did not have a project to work on. I can not remember now if I forgot to bring something, or if it was simply a case of finishing up what I did bring along. Either way, my hands were empty and I needed a project. She rummaged in her craft room and came back with yarn, needles and the stitch dictionary and basically  said "design something". So with plenty of quiet and spare time on my hands, a new pattern was born. I only knit the left mitten, then it got put on the back burner as other projects came along. This week I puled it out and sorted through my notes, determined to make a go of it and finish it off. I'm pleased to say,as of this evening, I finished the mitt! Well, all except the top part of the thumb. I need to jot down how to do it, as I failed to make thorough notes on the first time around. 

While visiting a new yarn shop this week I picked up this yarn for a test knit of my new pattern. The yarn is "Rustic" by Cascade Yarns, Fiber content is 79% Wool 21% Linen. I purchased two skeins as I am hoping to have enough yarn left over for a complimenting accessory. I am looking forward to sharing more with you about this project in the near future.

I have several Christmas presents that I never showed you. The first being this adorable hat. I knit this for one of my sisters. 
Yarn: Handspun Blue-Face Leicester
Pattern: Kim's Hats from "Last-minute Knitted Gifts."

Up-close detail of the hat.

Jillian & Bilbo

Christmas 2010 I made Jillian as a gift. She was made out of hand carded, hand spun Alpaca/Angora yarn,
Christmas 2011 I made Bilbo as a gift. He is made out of hand carded, hand spun Merino/Corriedale/Dorset/Angora yarn.
Pattern: Loveable Toys from "Last-minute knitted gifts.
The rabbits are quite different from each other, because of the differences in yarn. Jillian is more soft and floppy, and thanks to lots of angora, she has a nice fuzzy halo. Bilbo is soft but sturdy, with a nice firm hand. He does not have nearly as much halo as Jillian does, seeing as I did not card as much angora in with the the rolags.
I suppose it could also be due to the fact that he is only 4 months old, whereas Jillian is over a year old and has had time to grow fuzzy.

Bilbo

Such a sweet little face!

The boys were exceedingly interested in the goings-on of the photo shoot. I do believe they thought the rabbits were edible. I couldn't get a single photo without the alpacas in the background! Not that I minded though. They are inquisitive fellows, and so sweet.
   

Difference in ears.

I also made a pair of wristlets for another sister. These are from one of the older issues of Spin-Off. Though at this precise moment I do not remember which one. If anyone wishes to particularly know I will gladly look it up. This is the fourth pair that I have made. They only take a small amount of fingering-weight yarn, and work up very quickly. The only modification I made this time was to lengthen the ribbing.


Next up: Spring updates!


For now, farewell my friends!

In Which I Card My Walnut-dyed Alpaca

Remember when I dyed alpaca with walnuts this past autumn? I carded up a couple rolags at the time, but had other projects that I needed to work on. So this projects was set aside, though I was hoping to get to it over the winter. Obviously that did not happen. But thinking back on it, I really wouldn't want to be carding in the house. Even though I washed it and dyed it, there is still veggie matter and a little bit of dirt that falls out. Not to mention stray fiber that blows hither and yon. 

 Two weeks ago during our spell of beautiful weather I carded fiber on two different afternoons and ended up with approximately 30 rolags. Because I was working from fiber that had been dyed at two different times I had different shades of alpaca. My first dye batch is darker, see the above photo on the left. The second batch is lighter. I was taking fiber from both bags and carding it, and also some just from one bag or the other. I figured once its carded, spun, plied, and knit it will look beautiful, despite the differences in the colors of the fiber.

 I'm looking forward to spinning this fiber, but I am trying to wait until I have made more of a dent in my dyed fiber. At the moment two pounds seems like a lot to card! 

I'm also spinning from a sample grab bag of assorted fiber that I picked up at a fiber festival last summer. The only problem with the grab bag is that I have no idea what sort of fiber I am spinning! I can take a guess at it, but its just really a stab in the dark.

This fiber is soft-ish, a nice heathered blue/grey. It spins well, we'll see how it plies.

This yarn is rough feeling. I carded the fiber together with some angora. It helped soften it up some, but it is still quite scratchy for next-to-the-skin wear. Although I only have about 70 yards of a fingering weight, so I can't make anything substantial with this yarn alone! I'm just setting the skein aside and deciding later what to do with it. 
If you have any thoughts or ideas I'd love to hear them!

Spring Is HERE!!!

Lilac Bush budding

Creek under the road

Primrose

Autumn Joy Sedum

Peony

Daffodil

Tiger Lily

Not only is it officially spring here, but we have been having some amazing weather and everything is way ahead for this time of the year. It has been simply amazing. It's like we skipped over spring for a week and had summer! Temperature-wise things are calming down now, but the weather is still very lovely. The distant tree lines have a misty green haze over them as the leaves unfurl. All the flowering trees are in full bloom, and all told, it is quite the astonishing display of spring we are having. 
As I travel I've been enjoying watching how the scenery has been changing over the last couple of weeks. Everything has gone from a spring-is-on-the-way look, to a full blown display of greenery and flowers.


But with all the early growth comes the worry that perhaps a hard frost, or even late snow storm, will arrive and damage the crops. We are praying that the nights stay mild and that the fruit trees survive until warm weather is here to stay.


I must go get ready for the evening church service. It was lovely stopping in here, if only for a short time to say "hello"! Next time I blog I'll have to share a few updates on the little bit of spinning and knitting I've been doing recently. Until then......take care, my friends!