Other projects

Yeah, with me it's either feast or famine on this blog. But I have been busy.

I'm spinning this on my Eleanor, the Symphony.

It's from Spunky Eclectic and I think the colorway was called something like Orange Juice at Dawn. Anyway, it's a nice blend of merino and silk and it was on sale. Not my normal choice of colors at all but I guess the question should really be what is normal?
Here is the beginning of the second bobbin
and the basket of split roving wound up in little nests just waiting to be spun.

Some may wonder how I attached that mirror to the Sonata. Well, I tied it on with a bit of twine. just under one of the maidens.
See:

To change bobbins, I tilt the mirror to the side a little until it clears the end and just snap the bobbin up and out. The new one goes in the same way and the mirror is returned to it's upright position. I may or may not leave it on here. I have to say it does make it easier to see what is happening at the close end of the bobbin as I spin.

When the Northern Neck Spinners and Weavers On-Line Group got together for a Fleece to Shawl Demonstration at the last Farmer's Market, I learned a new trick -- Thank you Judy!

I was beginning to lament the wonderfully soft, beautifully colored Grey merino fleece that I bought because while my early attempts to wash it worked pretty well, I was having difficulty getting a smooth yarn when I combed or carded it. The yarn is okay but very neppy which I don't particularly like. It's very soft and the color is exactly what I wanted, but it was bumpy.... I was almost resigned to just spinning bumpy yarn.

Then Judy introduced me (and the other ladies) to flicking the locks. You actually open the ends of each lock separately after you wash the the fleece. It's a little on side of slow going but the resulting spinning fiber and yarn are really nice.

Now, I haven't tried spinning this yet and I had to figure out another way to wash the wool than I normally use, but the flicked locks are looking pretty good. These are short; about a 2 inch staple length but I figure that if I can spin cotton, I should be able to handle this.

I am washing this fleece for the lock flicking by being very careful to keep larger pieces of the fleece intact and using VERY hot water (hot tap with a kettle full of boiling water added) to the wash pan water and changing the water very quickly -- just as fast as I can boil another kettle of water. The lanolin is coming out nicely and most of the dirt is going with it. It takes one soapy wash and three equally hot rinses to do one small lingere bag of fleece.

I'm then hanging the whole bag up outside to drain and partially dry. Finally, after a few hours, I bring the bag in, pull the clean fleece out and lay it on the screen to finish drying.
Looks like a big moldy sponge, doesn't it? But, so far, this is working well to keep the locks intact so I can flick them out.

First results

Here are the results from my first warp. These are not all complete yet. The two mats are, but the three little bags need to be completed. The clutch sized one needs to be sewn up. That will take me about 15 minutes doing it by hand, so it's that close....

The other two bags still need straps. I am going to put a warp on my inkle this afternoon/evening and make straps using the same yarn that I used on the warp.

To make these I used up several odd skeins of hand spun yarn I had saved.

Some were over spun and some were underspun and some were just perfect. But I didn't have enough to make a knitted project. When I got the loom, I put on my first warp and went right to the basket with all these odd skeins of handspun yarn.

I could have done more as I had about 3 yards of warp left, but I was anxious to see what these looked like off the loom. Next time I will use the warp to the end.

There is much to learn. My selvages for the first few really sucked.

But I love the Earthy feel and look of these items.

When I wove the grey mat I got really, really excited. The black and white was the first roving I ordered from Sheep's Shed Studio. It was some of their black and white roving that I spindle spun as singles (sort of worsted weight). The grey, at the one end is commercially spun grey yarn at roughly the same weight. But it is two ply. It's nice and even. It is completely different from the puffy, thick and thin of the black and white singles. I want to make blankets out of this stuff!



Then there is the small mat from some of the very interesting mixed up buncle yarn that came with the loom.
I have quite a bit more of this

and I think it needs to be made into a set of placemats.

This bag is crying out for a tapestry design in that unwoven area of the flap. I just have no concrete ideas at this point. I may take it to Sally and ask for her advise.

This bag has a magickal feel to it. It wants to carry crystals or an altar kit or something... not sure as it tells me that it does not belong to me but it's new owner, when he or she finds it, will know exactly what it's role is.

The little clutch is just that: a little clutch.

Next warp going on starting tomorrow.