Newest Fiber Obsession, Er, I Mean, Hobby

Yep, I've taken up a new fiber hobby. Look.Can you tell what it is?
A rigid heddle loom.

I've always thought weaving was pretty, but I'd never really thought about trying it myself. But then about a month or so ago for some unknown reason, I was suddenly seized with this urge to weave. So after some research, I decided to try the Ashford 16-inch rigid heddle loom. I thought I might not have enough patience to do something larger, and also didn't want too big of an investment in case weaving and I didn't get along.

It came unassembled, of course, but it really wasn't hard to put together. Soon it was warped and ready for my first project, a scarf.You can see it takes a little while to start getting the hang of it. Or it did me anyway.

Next came more scarves using some of my handspun yarn.And then I used some acrylic yarn to give plaid a try. This one is a table runner.I've just been using it on my lap. It works pretty well with the footrest up and a pillow underneath, so I can weave while watching TV in the evening.

There are all kinds of patterns and textures you can do with the rigid heddle loom, too. I should probably get to spinning up some more yarn...

Did You Think I Flew the Coop?

I really didn't fly the coop, things have just been really busy, and blogging kind of got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

With the arrival of spring came yard work and mowing, and we put out a garden again this year. It was kind of late getting planted...several weekends were spend working cattle, and then there were several rains that prevented us from getting the ground worked up. Most things were planted and set out on May 22, and started coming up in about four days. I'll have to try to get some pictures soon.

Also, the sheep were sheared on May 21, so the girls are sporting stylish new do's. It was just in time, too, before the weather turned hot.

And can you believe it? I actually listed a new yarn today! The poor shop had been really neglected, too, having one lone item for sale for what seemed like ages.

Here's the new listing:I called it "Prairie Sunset." This is some of our own wool from our Rambouillet ewes, Belle, Scarlett, Rachel, and our Rambouillet-cross ewe, Lily. I spun it first and then painted it.

There's lots more things to talk about, but I guess that's all for today. Maybe this will get me back into the swing of things. :)

Our Wool Becomes Yarn

My newest spinning project? Our wool. I finally got around to spinning up a little bit of our Rambouillet combed top that arrived from the mill.
I spun some just as it was. Except for pre-drafting, of course. It wasn't quite as buttery smooth as I thought it might be, but still it was nice. There seemed to be some clumps that were kind of hard to draft, but the yarn came out really lofty and squishy.There were about 80 yards in the first batch. Being impatient, I just spun it up without dyeing it first and then used some big needles and the chunky yarn to knit a little scarf.
I tried putting some of the wool through the drum carder a couple of times for a batt. That seemed to break up the clumps and made for a smoother yarn. It was still nice and lofty, though. The twist was set by washing in lavender baby shampoo and then another rinse with lavender Eucalan. And boy, does it smell nice! :)

Plying with the Lazy Kate

In my post a few days ago, I showed you the lazy kate with bobbins ready for plying. Here's the result:

I thought it was actually a little harder to use than the built-in lazy kate on the wheel. It could just be that I'm new at it and need more practice. I had one bobbin on the top and one on the bottom. It might have been better if both bobbins had been on the bottom at the same level. It seemed as though sometimes they didn't quite turn exactly together.

I really like the colors in this yarn.

It was a Falkland wool dyed roving I bought from Fat Cat Knits on Etsy. There were about 140 yards as I wound it off the bobbin onto the niddy noddy. Of course, it will shrink up a fair amount when the twist is set. It should be listed in the shop soon! :)

Lazy Kate

Awhile back, when I ordered the jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel, I also ordered an Ashford lazy kate. My Ashford Traveller (see the picture in the sidebar) has a built-in lazy kate on the front of the wheel, but it will only hold the standard size bobbins.

Of course it came unassembled. The assembly wasn't complicated, but it was really hard to put the screws in on the sides. I think I almost had a blister before I got it put together.

But anyway, here it is, ready to ply with some Falkland roving I ordered from Fat Cat Knits on Etsy. There were four ounces all together, with about two on each bobbin.

I haven't tried it out yet...I'll have to let you know how it works.

Jumbo Flyer

Yesterday I installed a jumbo flyer on my spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Traveller that came with a regular size flyer and standard bobbins, which work really well for fine to medium yarns. The ratio, I think though, is a little high for soft, chunky low-twist yarns. (At least that's what I'm blaming my too-twisty singles on.) The jumbo flyer uses the big bobbins also, which hold a LOT of yarn.




I spun up some Falkland singles on it, and got about four ounces (over 150 yards) on one bobbin! The yarn twisted back on itself a little when it came off the niddy noddy, but after I set the twist in water and "thwacked" it a little, it hung pretty straight.

I painted this skein after spinning instead of dyeing the roving first since I was in a hurry to try out the flyer.

It should be listed in the shop soon! :)

More New Colors

I've been on a spring-color streak lately. Here's a couple of new yarns for you to see...the first is called "Flower Bed." It sold already (thank you, by the way, to my customer!).

The next one is called "Retro." When it was hanging up to dry, it looked like the tie-dye T-shirts from the 70's. I remember my cousin making one for me when I was about ten.

I have another handspun yarn almost done also. This one is a two-ply, with one ply being BFL wool and the other white cotton crochet thread.

Notice more spring colors! I may try to get it listed this week, though I've been busy today working on my "Down on the Farm" sock club yarn and goodies. They may keep me occupied most of the week, as they're supposed to be mailed on the 15th. Yikes, like the taxes! Our appointment to get ours done is Friday. Nothing like putting it off till the last minute, huh?

Whew! Busy, Busy...

Yes, I've neglected my blog again. It seems like things have been busy here. Lambing season is over for this year. There are 16 lambs. Also four baby goats from the nannies someone gave us. I wanted to show you a picture I took the other day.

I took it from a distance so maybe they wouldn't get up before I got the picture. When I cropped it, it made it a little blurry, but hopefully you can see this lamb with his soft "bed."

I've been dyeing up lots of sock yarn and spinning a little. I haven't posted a picture of the yarn I talked about the other day. Here's how it turned out before and after reskeining.


I'm thinking that using less vinegar is working a little better. The colors seem to be more even that they were with more vinegar.

The handspun I listed yesterday is some Blue Faced Leicester wool. It's called "A Penny for Your Thoughts." There's quite a bit of a copper color with some turquoise, spring green, gold, peach, and mauve.

I've got some sock yarn soaking, and it's almost time for dinner, so I'd better get busy! :)

Ravelry

Are any of you on Ravelry yet? People seem to be talking about it everywhere and saying it's really neat. I'm not a very experienced knitter (though I've crocheted for years), but I thought, why not? So I put my name on the list a couple of days ago. It's unbelievable how fast people are signing up. Here's what they said when I checked my place in line this morning:


Found you!

* You signed up on October 9, 2007
* You are #41874 on the list.
* 14973 people are ahead of you in line.
* 757 people are behind you in line.
* 60% of the list has been invited so far

Now, it was only the day before yesterday when I signed up and it said there was no one behind me in line. Now two days later there are 757 people behind me in line...and it's not even 8:30 in the morning! I hope it's as cool as people are making it sound!

Speaking of cool, the weather has really cooled off here this week. A week or so ago, we were hot and had the air conditioner on. This morning the temperature was about 45 degrees. Brrrr.

I'd better get busy. I'm listing some handspun bamboo this morning. Here's a picture:

I painted the roving (or "top" I think it was actually called) a pale pink and pale yellow. I think I posted a picture some time ago. Up close, you can see the pink and yellow. At a distance, it looks kind of a peachy color. Hopefully, I'll get it in the shop sometime this morning.

Behind

I think I should get a T-shirt that says "I'm Behind." I'm not sure if I'm not well enough organized or if I'm just slow. Probably both. I wonder how someone can be so far behind on so many different things. I finally got the yard mowed again. The crab grass had just about taken over. There was a section of the yard that I didn't get done the previous time, and it was so tall the cats could hardly find their way to the barn. It was really dry when I mowed it the time before, and I was riding around the whole time in a cloud of dust and dirt. I guess I'm allergic to dust (it's a wonder I can stay in the house) because I've coughed off and on ever since. So when I mowed yesterday, I put on one of those white dust masks and wore that to go mow. I'm sure it was quite a sight. I usually wear my red cap with the big bill to keep the sun off and my sunglasses. Now add a white mask to that and it's probably frightening to small animals and passersby. But anyway, now the yard looks like a yard again instead of a hayfield. The cats are glad.

Now back to yarn. I've gotten part of the bamboo spun and plied. Here's a picture:

It's a little hard to see because of the flash and the natural shine of the bamboo. Also, here's a picture of my newest sock yarn that was in the shop..."Kaleidoscope":

I'm waiting for my order of base yarn to come in so I can do some more sock yarn.

Better get off for now and do a little catching up. :)

Meteor Shower

Did anyone get up in the night to look at the meteor shower? *raises hand* We're kind of night owls anyway, and saw a few before bed (11:00 or 11:30). I actually even set the alarm to get up in the night a couple of times. There were a couple of pretty clear ones about 2:30. Really fascinating to watch. You really had to be on your toes, though, because they were so fast. Plus, I guess I was worried that I wouldn't hear the alarm and was dreaming about watching meteors! The meteor shower and lunar eclipse in August were what inspired our EtsyFAST group to make the theme of our August Challenge "Celestial." I listed my second entry this morning...some handspun yarn I called "Moonlight and Orchids." Here's a picture:

Wheee! While the picture of the yarn was uploading, the mail carrier came and brought the package of sock yarns I ordered. Now I need to put my thinking cap on and come up with some colors! :)

It's in the Shop!

I got the bamboo yarn listed in the shop today! It came out to 3.8 ounces and 104 yards. I named it "Pretty Posies."

You can click on either picture to check it out. I'm including it in our EtsyFast group's July Challenge of a garden/flowers theme. For more information, check out the group's website. I'm fast becoming a big fan of bamboo. As I've said before, I like the softness and shine, and I've read that it's supposed to have natural antibacterial properties. What they are, exactly, I don't know, but I like the sound of it. :)

Bamboo Yarn

The dyed bamboo roving is all spun up. Here's a peek at the yarn:


I still need to set the twist and wait for it to dry. I read somewhere that bamboo takes quite awhile to dry. It did seem to when I rinsed out the roving. Anyway, the bamboo was SO nice to spin! I pre-drafted it, which made it seem even softer. I did this one in a two-ply. It seems like I can get a more even yarn with a two-ply, though this was pretty easy to keep even on the singles. I have another 4-ounce package yet to spin...I may try to make it in a singles yarn. Hopefully I can get this one in the shop sometime this week.

A New Venture

I'm getting ready to try something new (for me) in spinning: bamboo yarn. I've seen some pictures on Etsy of some bamboo yarn and thought it was SO pretty. I ordered two 4-ounce packages of top the other day and finally got it dyed yesterday. Here it is in my "dye studio." (In other words, a corner of the basement.)

Then here it is after rinsing, hanging up to dry. I thought it might dry quicker than wool, but it hasn't seemed to so far. I rinsed it out yesterday afternoon, and it was still damp this morning.

I really like the way bamboo shines. You can't really tell from the picture how much shine there is, but I think it really looks cool.

This one has shades of lavender to almost pink, with some white. I'm anxious to get started spinning. I keep fluffing it (it was really scrunched up after I squeezed the water out) to help it dry faster, and also because it's fun. :)

Fiber Friday, June 15th

It's Fiber Friday at Etsy where the fiber artists post their new items for the week. My newest yarn isn't ready to list yet, but I thought I'd post a couple of pictures here to give everyone a sneak peek. Here's the roving:


And here it is on the bobbin:


I had planned on putting some other colors with it for the second ply, but I liked the look of just these together so much I decided to stop with these. I used Jacquard salmon and teal. Anyway, here it is...hope to get it listed before long.

Yo Ho Matey Yarn

I got the new yarn listed in the shop yesterday afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures of it:



I designed this yarn to celebrate the release of the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie the other day. The colors were inspired by the characters: apple green for Barbossa, golden yellow for Elizabeth's dress and the treasure, steel gray for Will's sword, red for Captain Jack's bandanna, and a little blue for the sea.
Click on the link at the right if you'd like to check it out. That's all for now...thanks for reading!

Yarn Update

The latest yarn is all spun up, the twist is set, and it's hanging up to dry. I'm hoping it will be dry by this afternoon. I'll need to weigh and measure it, too, so I may not get it listed in the shop today, but if not today, then maybe tomorrow. The close-up isn't real clear, but you can see the colors pretty well. When I spun the first ply, I was kind of worried that it might come out a little blah. But when I added the red ply, that gave it the zing it needed, and I thought it came out pretty neat. I'll try to get better pictures when I list it. Better go for now...thanks for reading!

Yarn in Progress

I've finally made some progress on my next yarn. The first ply is done...here it is on the bobbin:

The second ply is still in the roving stage. The picture is maybe a little blurry, but you can still get the idea:

Looks like it might be kind of a wild combination. I'm anxious to see what it looks like after it's plied.

I need to get out while it's not raining and start skirting the fleeces from the shearing the other day. Right now they are sitting in giant trashbags in the basement.

I'm hoping to start on another batch of roving soon. I'm planning to steam set the colors in a big canning pot. I looked around for this pot for awhile this morning (knew it had to be somewhere) and finally found it. According to the "Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook" that was the gentlest way to set the colors. Now, if I can find the lid...

Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook

I had ordered the book, "Spinning for Softness and Speed" by Paula Simmons quite some time ago from Amazon, and finally found out that they can't get it from their supplier anymore. (It turns out that you have to order it directly from Paula Simmons herself.) Anyway, instead of getting a refund, I ordered the "Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook" by Lynne Vogel. There's lots of information about designing and knitting socks, but also TONS of material on color and different dye techniques that I was especially interested in. I've already been using the new ideas (new to me anyway) on my next batch of yarn. Part of it is done, and the rest is soaking, waiting to go in the dyepot. I'll try to post pictures next time. Thanks for reading!

Grapevine

The newest yarn is now in the shop. It's called "Grapevine." Here's a picture:
There's a pretty good amount of yardage in this one for as bulky a yarn as it is. There are about 174 yards and 5.1 ounces. I'm getting ready to work on a fun yarn project next, but am keeping the name and inspiration secret until it's done. You'll just have to check back to find out more! Better get busy...thanks for reading!