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! :)

Well, the twist has been set, and it's hanging up to dry. Actually, it's probably dry already. I'm not sure why, but it seems like this yarn has really taken a long time to finish. I've been spinning up some chunky singles yarn in response to the Etsy folks who said in their forum posts that that's what they're looking for. And besides, there are already some finer weight yarns in the shop. I spun this latest batch of Merino before dyeing the roving...now just have to come up with a bright color combination. Next time, I may dye the roving first and then spin in. It's neat to do it both ways since you get such different looks with each type. I've been using a slow cooker to dye my yarn and roving, but it's not very big, and I've been looking for other ways to dye it. My next experiment may be with "sun dyeing" if I can find a little info on it...and a sunny day.

The "Indian Paintbrush" yarn is finally spun and off the bobbin! Woo hoo! It seemed like it took a really long time to get this one done. I still need to set the twist and weigh and measure it before listing it in the shop. Here's a picture:

The Indian paintbrush flowers are starting to come out more I noticed yesterday in the field. I need to walk up there and get a picture of them to put in the listing also. I should be walking more anyway. I really like walking for exercise, but I've been working on the shop so much that I've been neglecting it.

I started a forum topic at Etsy a few days ago about what handspun yarn buyers are looking for in handspun yarn. So far it has 72 posts! It has been so interesting reading what everyone has to say! Everyone has been so kind and helpful with advice and suggestions. Some people said they like sport weight or sock yarn, but it seemed like the majority are looking for more chunky weights in handspun. So it looks like I need to work on some more of those next.

Better get off and get busy...housework is calling!

Whew! We had a busy weekend! I did get a little spinning done...here is the first ply of the "Indian Paintbrush" yarn on the bobbin:


I'm spinning this one in a little finer weight than some of my other yarns. I had a little under 4 ounces of roving. I'm anxious to see how much yardage there will be with the finer weight. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it listed in the shop sometime this week.

Like I said, I got a little spinning done, but we spent quite a bit of the weekend working cattle. We get them in in the spring and vaccinate the calves before turning them out on their spring pasture. We did ours on Saturday and helped my husband's dad get theirs done yesterday afternoon. They were actually pretty cooperative about going in...sometimes they have their own ideas about when and if they want to go in! Anyway, that "little" job is done and now they're happily munching away on some new grass.

Better get busy and do some laundry and housework. It kind of gets pushed to the side on the weekends, especially this one! Thanks for reading!

Ta Da!

I finished the first alpaca sock! I guess I'm not a very fast knitter, it took about a week and a half for one sock! It feels really good on, so different from regular cotton socks. Alpaca is supposed to be really warm, so I may have to store these till winter. I need to hurry up and start on the second, so I don't get distracted and start on something else, leaving an odd sock.

Also, I've started on the new roving. I divided it up into sections of about four ounces each. The first batch I spun up into a little bit of a textured yarn. I'll paint this one after spinning. Another batch I hand dyed first...it's hanging up to dry. It will probably be ready to start on by this afternoon. Here it is:

The inspiration for this one was the Indian Paintbrush flowers that are just starting to bloom in the prairie hayfield. They are usually some of the first prairie flowers to bloom in the spring, with lots more to follow.

Better go for now...thanks for reading!

The Roving's Here!

Well, the Merino roving that was on backorder finally came! Two pounds of it, just waiting to be spun into some soft, cuddly yarn. Now I need to put on my thinking cap and come up with some ideas for colors.

The alpaca socks are coming along. Last night I finished the heel flap and turned the heel, ready now for the gusset. They're like Charmin...squeezably soft.

It's Fiber Friday at Etsy. I don't have anything new to list right now, but I may jump in and feature one of the yarns with lots of views. Better go for now...thanks for reading!

Coiled Yarn

I was reading the other day about coiled yarn, and since I'm still waiting for my order of roving to come in, I thought I'd try a little coiled yarn with some acrylic yarn I had.

Here's a picture of it on the bobbin. I think it looks really neat. I haven't tried using it in a project yet, this was just kind of an experiment. I used a black cotton crochet thread and then coiled the acrylic yarn around it. Again, the tension was probably not quite right because it was pretty curly when I took it off the bobbin. Also, it uses a tremendous amount of singles yarn to make the coiled yarn. It would be neat to try it with a wool singles...it probably wouldn't have as much tendency to come unwound like this seems to do, especially after you set the twist. Anyway, I just thought I'd show it to you. Better go...thanks for reading!

Navajo Plying

I tried something new yesterday...new for me anyway...Navajo plying. I had read a little about it and thought it looked interesting, so I tried it with some singles yarn I had left over from some "regular" plying. It wasn't too hard after you got the hang of it. I think I was plying a little too tight, though. You could kind of see where the chains were. Maybe that would improve with practice or maybe that's just the nature of it. I kind of liked the yarn...it seemed stronger and pretty consistent. I knitted up a little swatch to see what it looked like and noticed how the colors were in a different pattern than normally plied handspun. It's neat in another way because when I do a two-ply (Navajo is three), I almost always have some singles left over from not having the same amount on each bobbin. Anyway, it was interesting to try. After some practice, I might do one up this way for the shop. Just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!

The New Yarn

I've been working on a new yarn for the shop. I spun one ply that was dyed with the colors I had left over from my Tropical Island roving. Then I spun another soft, thicker ply of natural white Merino. Together they make a soft, spring-looking yarn. I don't know what to call it yet. It's in three skeins (one of which still needs to have the twist set, then it will be ready to go) and have about 169 yards. Here it is on the bobbin:

I'm still waiting on the new batch of dyes I ordered the other day and looking for ideas for new color combinations.

Most of the new lambs are here, I need to get out and get some pictures to post!
Better go for now...thanks for reading!