Taueret

tired spinner

Friday was a kidless day, and boy did I need it.  Spent the entire school day down in my little workshop space, finishing spinning the red merino/lincoln/soysilk yarn that I think I blogged about a week ago.  I ended up with a gigantic skein, something like 400 yards of the stuff, so I'm glad I like it.  More pics on fickr.  I was going to ply it with something and still might, if I decide to knit with it. 

In other knitting news, I have joined on the arms of the EZ pullover and am working the first set of decreases.  I am going to have to spin a bit more but that's fine, I already have the batts.

I also did some weaving on Friday.  I wanted to make a couple of table runners, and I have a ball of hemp yarn (handspun, but not by me) burning a hole in my pocket.  I could sniff that stuff all day.  And inhale.  Anyway, I used hemp and natural cotton and linen and silk to make these:

I do too knit!

Look!  I do, honestly, knit.  Roam is a blocking and a zipper shy of being a FO:

Thanks goodness.  For someone who hates seed stitch, this one has not really been what I would call fun.

That done, I allowed myself to turn back to the (in this case, misnamed) Hurry-up-last-minute-sweater from EZ'z "Knitter's Almanac"- you know, the wishbone front one?  I started blending, spinning and knitting this one last spring- here it is in its current state (in all stages of being a WIP):

Because this is going to be a THICK, wool and partly alpaca knit, I'm not making it super long, so the body is probably already long enough, one sleeve is done and I am just starting sleeve 2.  This bulky, in-the-round (ie all knit, noooo purrrl) knit is flying by, after the endless horror of Roam's ocean of seed stitch.  I may have to do a bit more spinning for it but that too goes quickly.

daily fibre content is essential

I'm realising that all I really need to be sane and happy is some time to spend on fibery pursuits each day.  Knitting alone isn't enough, I tend to save knitting for multitasking situations, so it doesn't satisfy me the way weaving or spinning does at the moment.  Nevertheless, I am onto the hood of Roam.  Hurrah.

Last night when I should have planted my arse on the sofa and worked on Roam, I went down to my workshop and blended some more batts.  These are merino that I dyed recently- didn't come out how I expected or wanted at the time but *fine* for blending up, some corriedale full of second cuts that I dyed a year or more ago, golden soysilk, a little gold bling, and lots and lots of deep purply-red Lincoln locks.  Such. beautiful. fibre.  Honestly, it is almost a shame to spin some of these breeds, the fibre alone is beautiful enough.

Fun to spin, but sneezy somehow!  I think the Lincoln is a little bit flyaway when carded?

home alone, again!

All kids at school or preschool today, and me not rostered to work.  As soon as they were all out the door, I was at the drum carder.  I started blending these batts a couple of weeks ago, and here's the finished pile today:

Then I spent the remaining hours 'til 3PM spinning.  I feel better now.

what's with all the scarves?

well, what *is* with all the scarves?   I'm thinking of them as swatches, giant, usable swatches.  I'm not so much on dishcloths, or hats (just doesn't get cold enough here).  I'm (if you hadn't noticed) kind of swept up in weaving at the moment- I get like this, from time to time.  While I have every intention of weaving some major yardage, very soon, for some Saori-style garments, I'd like to draft a pattern first for my intended garment, so I can weave about the right amount of fabric.  So... the scarves are like small sketches.  I wake up thinking "what would happen if..." and I can find out quickly, yet end up with a useable item.   That is what is with the scarves.

This week's scarves:
1) going for a more masculine, grotty look- feltedness (I really like this one- it has this kind of, well, grotty quality that tickles my pickle.  Handspun, unspun fibre, angelina glitz.  Laceweight merino warp.

2) Scarf the next:
(more pics of this one at flickr).  Handspun, unspun locks, unspun roving (drafted as I wove), sari silk, and some beads.

3) My fave, the scarf woven with no heddle on my rigid heddle loom (use the loom to control the tension on your warp, but leave the heddle off).  Way, way more beautiful in person than I can get it to look in any photo. 

There are more at flickr.

(the main inspiration for the last scarf was the Fiber Friday challenge on Ravelry- from several weeks ago (I got distracted).  That week's theme was 'nursery rhyme'.  The yarn I spun was inspired by:

'grey goose and gander
waft your wings together
carry the good king's daughter
over the one-strand river.'

Grey longwool, cotton, lots of silvery/golden glitz, softly spun and plied with a blue thread.  really pretty in person, fairly eh in pic.

Working on review of new book "Creative Weaving" for tomorrow.

Washing day

Last year a local lady gave me the fleece from her backyard pet sheep.  Superfine merino, ranging in colour from white to black.  Quite a lot of VM.  I skirted it and stashed it.  Finally decided that washing it and dyeing it in batches would provide some fibre for blending into fun batts to spin (I am sad that I am out of crazy batts to spin!). 

Also decided that it was a good opporunity to useup the stash of koolaid, food colouring and various other odd dyes that I got cheap here and there before I started buying proper Landscape dyes.

Little miss is into EVERYTHING at present and helping me wash wool was all in a day's work for her.

Even after half a day spent scouring, the bag of fleece is still half full!
Who knew my new patio furnture would make such a good drying rack?

BFL is ever so nice.

I don't normally pimp mention my dear friend Mandie's business here, mostly because she is so very clever that she doesn't need my help to spread the word- that and the fact that she *is* my dear friend, and while I have NO commercial affiliation (other than the kind where I buy stuff from her ;-)), I wouldn't want it to seem like I was only plugging her because she's my BFF (hehe I always wanted to say BFF).

Anyway, I need to break my rule, because I just finished spinning 100g of her Blue Faced Leicester.  W.o.w.  We have been curious about BFL for ages, as it has such a great reputation, but it's virtually impossibly to get, down under.  It's not a breed that exists here, I believe.  Anyway Mandie managed to import some and I ave to say, I'M A BELIEVER.  As soft as merino- feels similar to 22 micron merino- but with this gorgeous, curly crimp, and a luscious long staple.  This particular fibre came as roving, but it is REALLY nice roving- still very lively (you know how some fibre prep just feels like it's been processed to death?).  It even smells like heaven- completely different to anything else.  This is LUSCIOUS fibre.  Just gorgeous.  I had to go get my camera so I could show you the liveliness of this super stuff:

It IS as soft as it looks.  Here's the last wee bit before I finished spinning:

It's as soft and cushy as....a soft smooshy cushy marshmallow.

Even the Rose liked it, I think.

So, you know, if Mandie has any left, and I don't know if she does, run, don't walk- it's special.  I only wish I had a couple of kilos!

oh how I've missed you

My cheapo (but expensive) metal umbrella swift had been terminal for some time- when it was finally relegated to the rubbish bin I was very sad.  I don't know about you, but I find ye olde swifte, along with the ball winder to be just about THE indispensable items in my fibre toolbox.  My Valentine's day present turned out to be a LOVELY Ashford wooden umbrella swift, and I already LOVE IT.  I loved my horrible metal one, with all the snaggy bits and the wire that used to perforate my finger every. time. I. used. it.  So imagine how much I love this smooth, non-biting beauty?

When I got my old swift and ballwinder, 2 Christmases ago, I ran around, winding everything in the house into those sexy, flat-bottomed balls (boy is THAT phrase going to confuse googlers).  I can't resist a bit of the same this time:

Isn't it pretty? :-)

Fiber Friday spinning and frankenwheel

The theme this week in Fiber Friday is "Asia" so I had this idea, to spin yarn like this (not QUITE like I imagined but not totally different either):

It's one ply of dark red merino (dyed by me with Koolaid, it started as kind of a watermelon pink), with intermittent glumphs of sari silk plied with a single of english leicester, also koolaid dyed. It's called "Free Tibet" and was lots of fun to spin.

In the process of spinning this, I realised that my Majacraft Rose has a personalty. She embodies the spirit f this lady from "Little Britain" (on the right):

You know the one- she's a lovely old dear UNTIL she hears that the jam she is tasting was made my a lady with an Indian surname, and then the literally spews vile racism, copiously and to he embarrassed horror of bystanders. Well- my Rose protests that she can spin bulky, weird yarns..." look how tolerant I am! Delta orifice! Lots of ratios! Did I mention my delta orifice? Why some of my best friends are boucles!" but the sad reality is that upon encountering anything remotely bulky, if it has any texture at all, it hangs up on the loops that act as the hooks on the flyer. These loops aren't really any bigger than the standard orifice, AND they have a nice snag factor, to boot. What my Rose says, in reality is : "oh la la la, look at me spinning... oh that's nice... oh m goodness, what's that... what did you say? SARI SILK??? BAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."

I am getting. sick. of. it.

So, I pulled my Ashford traditional out. The leather footman connector was broken, so I fixed it, and it was dusty and VERY thirsty for oil. Then, I remembered the jumbo flyer and bobbin on the electric spinner I bought a couple of years ago! A quick swap, and now ye olde dorky Ashford Traditional is once again my favourite wheel.

So you know, woo hoo? I need to get my butt onto a list I have been told about full of Majacraft owners, and decide for well and good whether the wheel is not for me, or whether I am simply a dork who doesn't know how to use her wheel (likely). For now, for the kind of spinning I am doing at the moment, I think the old new traddy is going to be my new best friend!

In other news, my baby is starting school tomorrow. She is SO READY, has rejected all my homeschooling advances ("that sounds great mummy, and then I go to school in the afternoon?") and is cracking her neck to get there. Baby sis and I will be very lonely!

And finally- a headline!
Ugly self patterning sock yarn makes pretty warp yarn:

I have a weaving book from the '80s called "Rigid Heddle Weaving" by Karen Swanson. It is a really comprehensive book, I have never heard anyone mention it, but it is honestly my favourite rigid heddle book so far. Anyway, it is full of techniques and samplers, which I skim with my eyes but do not take in, I need to try it, to "get" it. So, this leftover sock yarn warp is going to be the big 7 foot sampler from that book, as soon as madam leaves for school and I am allowed to have a turn! I am a quite looking forward to it. (the weaving, not madam going to school, so much).

There's more, I have new books. But that's way enough for one post!

Soap Opera

Just a quick photo of some silly yarn I spun for the Fiber Friday challenge on Ravelry. The theme this week is "soap opera". My idea was to concoct an unlikely yarn (get it?) from an assortment of artificial ingredients. Strips of lace fabric, ribbons, some wool. It didn't come out quite how I envisioned- my wheel is no set up for yarns like this- the guide thingies on the flyer are loops of wire (originally I think with a fishing rod application) and while the Rose has a delta flyer* (a nice big orofice) the yarn guide loop thingies are in fact the weak link in the chain- chunky yarn snags on those on its way to the bobbin. This stuff was WAY beyond the tolerances of the wire loopies, so I more or less wound it on by hand, park and draft style. Not that there was much drafting with this crazy yarn.

* sorry to any Voyager fans who find themselves here accidentally due to a google misjudgement ;-). heh. heh.