Using up the bits

If you spin, you have lots of tiny little skeins and balls of odd yarn that were samples. If you knit or weave, you have the ends of many skeins of yarn.

This is supposed to be a wicked cold winter. What could be nicer than a wool rug at the base of your favorite knitting chair?

I crocheted this with single crochet stitches... just round and round with two to four extra stitches in the corners. Two instead of four probably would have prevented the "ruffles" but I rather like them.

I would not put this rug in a high traffic area as it's rather slippery (at least on a hard surface floor). But I might paint the back with some of that no skid foam stuff...

Home on the Range

We decided after a couple of months of almost no eggs being produced, that the chickens were unhappy in their pen. They had, after all, picked it clean of all vegetation and when it was dry it was a dustbowl with sticks and when wet a mudbog with sticks.

On top of that, one of the trees in the corner had keeled over and smashed in the chicken wire across the top of the pen, so it was nearly impossible to get into the pen to clean it up unless you wanted to crawl.

So, I had the boys go in with wire snips and start removing the "roof". Ken and I took out another section. But finally, I realized that they would be just as happy running around in the yard.

We risk an attack by fox and stray dog, but the birds would have a better diet, get some exercise and with full run of the yard, might actually be able to escape predation as their wings are not clipped.

So now every day is a hunt for eggs and we have to herd them back from the road from time to time.

I'm trying to teach Macha how to herd the flock, but so far she just looks at me like I'm crazy even though she walks along with me as I attempt to round them up.

Fortunately, both Macha and Gloria have accepted that the chickens are part of our "pack" and have not attacked any of them. I suspect the rooster helps with this as his spurs are down right wicked and he did fly up in Macha's face once when we first let them out. She has steered clear of him ever since.

We ended up with 6 babies in the shared refreshing of the flock with out neighbor and all of her older birds. So we have something around 20 or so. We are again getting eggs -- about 3 or 4 a day. But I suspect the girls have a secret nest or two that we haven't found yet.

Each night they all go back into the pen to roost, so we can at least make a count from time to time... and while I've not noticed a decrease in the bug population, I have noticed I'm outside a lot more and getting more exercise from hunting eggs and chasing wayward birds.

Triple Play or Bust?

I have to tell you that having grown up in Texas -- in a part of tornado alley -- I've become very paranoid about high winds. There is a reason I do not live in the heart of America anymore and I avoid Florida in the summer months. I fear that I will now add Louisiana and Mississippi to my list of places not to live.

But I'm beginning to worry about where I live right now. Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to cross over the top of my house on Saturday afternoon. Hurricane Ike may be close on her heels... I'm thinking Wednesday or Thursday. Then Josephine! Well, that's next weekend most likely.

I'm hoping the waters near the Bahamas are icy cold right now so Josephine shuts down... And I'm hoping that Ike is more interested in Miami and other parts south than the Commonwealth.

As it is, I'm trying to prepare my brain for Hanna and a week or more without electricity.

It takes a long time to cook without electricity (since I have an electric stove). But the shelves are stocked and I know how to cook over an open fire, and have a dutch oven and can bake in a pit.

If there is no power at work, then I can stay home, tend the fire (literally) and work on my spinning, knitting and weaving. Thank the Goddess that my hobbies don't require any electricity at all.

Where Am I Going?

The fiber is bursting out of the loom room now.

I have about 1/3 rd of the very first fleece I ever bought. It's that brown, very difficult and VM filled Ramboullette. Then I have half of the grey lincoln processed and half set up in roving. I've got all of the white lincoln washed but only about half put into roving. Then there is the grey merino of which only 1/4 is washed and finally the 10 foot mystery wool of which about 1/4th has been washed.

I've also got a few odd bits (4 ounces here and there) of silk, shetland wool, bfl wool, soy silk, bamboo, cotton and flax. Oh yeah, and there's a bunch of Churro in there that has pretty much found a home in the felting box.

If you look at my yarns... well, there are two whole bins of various kinds of knitting yarn and a basket full of odd handspun. There is also the growing collection of coned yarns for weaving.

I now have the floor looms and all of its accoutrement's and two spinning wheels, the inkle loom and dye and felting stuff. There's also a sewing machine in there and a drum carder and ... well, it's just gotten a little crazy.

I need to tidy up and put things away and maybe even have a small give away. We will see.

New Faces Around the House

A Guild

Nearly a year ago while visiting the blacksmith shop and consulting with the folks there about making a set of hand combs, I was sitting there using my drop spindle. John, one of the smiths approached me about starting a spinner's guild.

Now spinning is one of those skills that is in a revival stage right now. I'm glad for that because it is an essential skill that I feel strongly needs to be preserved. Should something happen to our electrical power grid for a long period of time it is one of those skills that will be needed and valued. In any case, it has significant historical interest.

At the time I didn't really know any other spinners in the area, however, but offered to do a demonstration with the hopes of stirring some interest. Low and behold, the same day I was spinning with my wheel, there was another woman there (Judy) spinning on a great wheel. And we got to talking a bit. Then I met Sally. And then I got my loom and realised how much I needed instruction in weaving.

Okay, now there were three and Judy, who is a member of the Five River's Guild, said there were others out there. We started an on-line Yahoo Group. I talked about it in Ravelry. We met once in Sally's studio. We got together to do a second demonstration at the Tavern and did the fleece to shawl.

Things were beginning to gel. I offered spinning lessons and had five students at the first class. I polled the ladies I now knew were interested in spinning and weaving and found there was a whole group of folks who work full time and who want to join a guild but can't make it to weekday/daytime meetings. There was also significant interest in working together in a studio setting.

I made up a draft of By-laws and extended conversations with the President of the Tavern Foundation regarding available space. On Tuesday, Sally and I presented the By-laws to the Foundation board. Much to my surprise, a few questions were asked and we were asked to step out because they needed to have some serious discussions.

I had forgotten about the politics ... well, to be honest, I knew the politics existed, I just convinced myself that they would overlook the politics at the idea of having another guild join them with serious ideas for generating more income for the Foundation and providing additional educational opportunities for the community.

They were apparently assuming that we would just haul our equipment in from time to time and do demos and our meetings would be lectures and only involve projects that could be completed in an hour or two. They also assumed that we only wanted to use the space once a month or so rather than be an on-going, open as often as possible, working studio. Formal meetings once a month, yes, we have to do that for the sake of planning, money management and supply management. But lessons (especially individual or small group lessons) could be given on a variety of subjects anytime the building is not in use by other groups. At other times we envisioned members of the guild being able to come in when other activities are not happening, sit down to the loom or wheel they have "rented or reserved" and work on a project. They could come any time, and any day that nothing else is scheduled and a key keeper is available to open the building.

We did another spinning and weaving demonstration on Saturday (this time making "pockets" -- basically decorative drawstring bags) and while we were there five more folks came up and said they were interested in joining a spinning and weaving guild.

We already have several items being offered for donation including two looms and a great wheel.

Anyway, this working guild idea is on a roll right now because even if the Tavern turns us down for a permanent site, we are already discovering possible alternative sites. And as we talk about it more, we are realizing that now is the time to do this.

And I'm excited about it and scared at the same time.

Green Man

This is how I like to use spinning waste.

My birthday present

My husband and the guys at the Blacksmith shop went all out for me this year. They made me a distaff for flax spinning.

It's free standing and instead of being made from wood, they made it out of iron.

It's the best of recycling too because they used two wheel pieces from a wagon from 1920 and an old weight and piece of pipe from something else. The only two things they bought new was the finial and one internal piece of rod.

They made it to the height I needed to suit me while spinning and they added special touches like the finial but it also turns when I need it and comes apart for easier transport.

Works like a charm, too. The only problem now is that for some reason, the flax strick that I have smells like cow manure.

Combined with the fresh sheep fleece that hubby hauled home today, my house smells distinctly barnyardish. Personally, I like the smell and find it comforting.

I'll talk about this monster fleece in the next post. It is, by far, the largest fleece I've ever seen. And while the thing if filthy dirty and probably will never come completely clean and bright white, it's soft and spins up very nicely.

Learning experiences

I got the warp finished (I thought) and started weaving. The goal was to make a nice tea towel (or four). I also wanted to get my beating even and not so hard. I'm not making a rug here.

The color in the photos is very bad, by the way. The yarn is pale blue and white in reality.

This is the pattern I chose to use.



Here is how it started. I used the green just to get my ends even. I thought it was looking a little like gauze instead of like a towel. Decided to cut off the first few inches as a sample and washed it.

It's beautiful gauze. Just lovely stuff with a nice drape and everything. BUT not what I wanted, even after a wet finish.



So I went down two sizes in the reed and resleyed. I'm much closer now and I think the wet finish will do the trick. It might end up being a table runner as it is somewhat narrower now than I planned. But then it might make a nice napkin or something.

Live and learn. I'm going to finish it whatever it turns out to be.

I'll post pictures of the closer to a towel weaving next week or so.

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.