Weekend Full of Faires

This weekend was one full of variety of craft fairs and such.

On Saturday, we went up to the Renegade Craft Faire late in the afternoon. This gave us time to sleep in a little bit, grab a leisurely lunch before heading over to Fort Mason.

Parking was relativey easy, and the vendors there were the usual suspects we had seen before with a few new ones. I ended up buying a print from Wondermark, which was a whopping $5.00.

I got this print from him, which involves knitting...coz it's too funny, and well, it's just so very true!

It was interesting to see different takes on upcycling, repurposes, and the ilk, but nothing that jumped out at me and say 'WOW'.

On Sunday, I headed over to the Oakland Fiber Festival, which was a small craft festival for fiber artists. It was mostly vendors with a few guilds.

They had some tents set up to teach knitting, weaving, spinning, crochet, and felting, but some of the tents were over crowded with equipment. But unfortunately, not a lot of designated space for existing fiber artists to just hang out and commune. There were a lot of space in the park that you *could* do it...outside of the general festival area, but it would have been nice to see a place where people could convene, and sit and just hang for a while; seeing as how most knitters, spinners, and crocheters are extremely social community.

I had a nice conversation with Shaggy Bear Farms and her rare breeds flock and got a lot of information on some breeds that she raises, from pygora, teeswater, gotland, and Icelandic. I picked up a few samples from her to spin.

Finishing Silk Merino Blend -- Picking the Collective Brain

The internet has really made things easier, especially in terms of collecting general knowledge into a "library" of sorts. There are good & bad sides to this -- there's the trashy novel sections where people mistake fiction for fact, and the huge trivia section where you can drown in a sea of interesting, but non practical knowledge. Then there's the reference section, where you can find EXACTLY the piece of information you need.

Ravelry is a smaller version of that collective knowledge, but highly specialized, and I have made multiple use of it finding nuggets of knowledge.

Earlier this week, I navajo plied half of the the silk merino Bonfire that I had spun previously.

into this:

And it came out gorgeous! Love. Love. Love. I'll have about 230 yards of this wonderful 3-ply sport weight yarn (once I finish the other 2 ounces).

However, I wasn't quite sure how to finish this yarn. Its a 50-50 merino silk blend; and I wasn't sure how the silk would stand up to my normal aggressive finishing (which involves alternatively dunking in hot & cold water, thwacking, whacking, snapping, and fulling). However, there is a grand collection of knowledge on Ravelry that is an amazing resource and should have the answer I need.

A quick perusal on Ravelry found a post by Abby Franquemont on this very problem! It involves only a much less aggressive finishing technique (still involving hot & cold water and simple snapping)

(Paraphrase)
A) Hot water with wool wash
B) Soak skein for 20 minutes until it's saturated (or longer if needed)
C) Dunk in cool water as a rinse
D) Get out excess water
E) Snap all around the skein
F) Dry unweighted.

NOW, if Ravelry would only provide me with the definitive answer of exactly *what* I should knit with it to show off the colors to the best advantage? Unfortunately, it can only offer up potential suggestions and letting me make the final decision. That's the one thing that the collective knowledge can't do for me. :-)

Blackhole of Knitting

Lately, I haven't had much time to knit, mostly because I've been spinning, and what I have been knitting has been one "blackhole" -- no matter how much knitting you do, you don't seem to be making any progress whatsoever.

I'm still ploughing through my Ribby Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns. I'm still working on the body (mostly during lunchtime). Only July 8th, I was 5 inches into the body sweater. Today, a month later, I'm 12.5" into the body of the sweater.

This is 8.5 inches more in 30 days. This roughly translates into .2833333 inches per day, which is a sad, sad, sad state of affairs. I still love the pattern and I still love the color of the yarn....however, I am going to inch my way through this sweater.

However, as I've mentioned, I have been spinning. I am going through my Stash, and am currently working on 8 oz of some Ashland Bay Top that I started right after the Tour de Fleece (2010)

I've got 4 ounces finished, which pleases me to no end.

And, here's the final barber pole skein from Tour de Fleece. I apologize for the crappy photo. I haven't had a chance to take a decent one as of yet.

~200 yards of a heavy fingering weight, 2-ply

The Dye Pot

This past weekend, I got out the dye pot and worked on about 8 oz white merino I had laying about. The first batch was a green/blue/brown combination. It didn't quite work out how I wanted, but it still looks quite nice.

4 oz of merino

I dyed the other half a motley of purple & blues. Although I think I might have felted parts of it slightly. *sigh*. I think I might ply the two together, and call it "Lilac Bush".

Sick Spinning

Because I was sick with the flu these past two days, I didn't have the fortitude to do much except be a lump on the sofa/chair.

T.V and Internet surfing was out for long periods of time, because, well, everything on the monitor was much too bright and hurt my eyes. And a low level headache kept me from reading, well, because it hurt to read.

And I wasn't about to tackle the sewing machine in my mental state (which wasn't much). Knitting was out, because I didn't trust myself enough to be able to count well enough on the shawl I am currently knitting, nor did I think I had enough of a mental state to try and wrap my head around starting something new. And I couldn't really nap for periods of time because I'd wake myself up with a major coughing fit.

So, I sat at my wheel, and spun..and spun..and spun...and spun....while listening to various podcasts to keep my brain from turning into more mush. And I managed to finish up several skeins of yarn on the wheel, and get them washed, thwacked, and dried. (This is probably the most I've spun in any one given period of time, ever....)

So, here's what I did:

Merino
I finished plying up singles for a 3-ply Black Merino - Fingering Weight: 161 yards. This came out absolutely faboo. The yarn is nice, lofty, and has the springy-ness of Merino. This yarn is for a set of Fingerless gloves



And, I washed up it's matching white merino counterpart


Targhee
I finished spinning up the last ounce of Targhee that I started at the Winery. Then plied both of them for a 2-ply Fingering weight : 259 yards / 1.5oz total. This came out extremely well balanced, and I managed to maintain color consistency. (I'll review targhee in a later post)



Navajo-Plying
For a bit of a new experience, I navajo-plied some Coopsworth singles (2oz) that I had languishing on a bobbin. I had never done this technique before, and it was easy, once I got it actually started. Getting the first chain done was tricky. The resulting yarn is a bit over-active (it's one of my first yarns I created)

So from this:


to this



Low Twist Yarn
And, I spun up this lovely pin drafted roving (all 7oz) into low-twist sport/dk weight single: 250 yards. (I'll also talk about this later in a later post)

Spinning a Japanese Maple

So, a while ago, I received this fiber & spindle from Butterfly Girl Designs:


Japanese Maple - 70% merino, 20% bamboo, 10% nylon firestar

It reminded me of a Japanese Maple in the fall. Much like this:

(BTW, I love Japanese Maple Trees)

I used the pictured drop spindle to turn it into this:



And then, the poor fiber sat resting all this time, because I wasn't sure what to do with it! I wasn't 100% happy with how it turned out, because the colors (at least to me) seemed muddy, even though I loved the fiber colorway. I wanted more of the gold to pop.

However, I know that sometimes how the fiber looks prepared is a bit different from how it might spin up...or even how it might knit up. So, I wasn't ready to trash the project.

I debated plying it against itself or maybe spinning something to match or maybe a commercial yarn. In perusing through my stash, I remembered that I had this:


Jagger 100% Wool Cone -- 5000 yards

Certainly, I could spare a few hundred yards for this project? LOL. The coloration was close enough to the gold bamboo in the batt, so I opted to give it a go. So, I prepped up the Kiwi wheel for plying.

And at first, I wasn't too happy with how it looked, except for certain spots. But I opted to keep trying. I *knew* that the gold would bring out the colors and to trust myself on my knowledge of color theory. My plying wasn't the greatest, but a little help from Jasmin and I got this....

I am definitely in love. The gold really made all of the colors pop and tied everything together. I currently have 495 yards of laceweight/fingering weight yarn. Plus, I still have some of the batt left over. I think I might be able to squeeze another 50-60 yards out.

And think I've found the *perfect pattern* to go with the yarn. I'm not wholly sure how well this yarn will look in this pattern. So I will try a pattern swatch. Now, I just have to figure out how to knit up this pattern (coz after reading it, my head is spinning!)

Fiber Holidays

This past $WinterHoliday, we drove down to see family in the southern part of the state. So, per usual, I packed up my holiday knitting (socks, what else?) along with two spindles and extra yarn (just in case).

I managed to finish 1.5 pairs of socks on the trip (my socks as well as started a new pair for DH).

But, on the way back home, we stopped by Village Spinning & Weaving in Solvang. What a *wonderful* fiber shop. I walked inside and was really pleased. They had a very healthy selection of coned yarn for weaving and a rather ample section of fiber all neatly bagged and assorted. There was a nice assortment of merinos of various counts, BFL, Jacob, different alpacas, colored tops, and assorted luxury fibers (yak, bison.....). They had a gold wrapped ounce of quivit! Oh, and they had some lovely lovely yarn, but I was there primarily for FIBER!

It was like being a kid in a candy store. I didn't know where to start!

Unfortunately, I had totally forgotten my list of what I wanted, so decided to just go with some pretty fibers that caught my eye. I picked up some lovely soft merino, some nicely dyed merino (purples & dark reds), and a LOVELY mottled BFL (oatmeal, dark, and white). I seriously debated on the quivit, but knew that I had no knowledge of spinning short fibers so it would have to wait. However, the already-spun quivit from Musk-Ox farms was SORELY tempting....But I held myself back.

DH started a lively conversation with the owners about sheep and indigenous species, which tangented onto man's involvment in breeding & environments. They were lovely people and very helpful.

So, now, I think I shall have to make this stop on our trips whenever we go and visit family. The shop was lovely, well-organized, and had a healthy selection of fiber-y goodness, AND the owners are just nice, nice people.

Continuing Looking at Wool Types & Micron Counts

Previously on another blog post, I was looking into micron counts and wool types in order to learn about "micron counts" and why they are or not important. I also wanted to research some of the wools that fall into the Fine/Medium/Long (Coarse) categories as suggested by the guidelines so that I would have a better idea when planning on projects on exactly what wool types would be best suited for it.

There are apparently two books on the subject of wool types that I need to acquire:The Knitter's Book of Wooland In Sheep's Clothing: A Handspinner's Guide to Wool.These have been recommended on the Ravelry boards by a multitude of people.

However, Ravelry and the general Internet has been a wealth of information. You just need to go to many sites and piece things together; and even then, you still have an incomplete picture.

But, here's what I've determined thus far in terms of wool (I'm not including things like silk and plant fibers):

Fine wools (16- 22 microns): most Alpacas, Merino, Cormo, Rambouillet, (some) BFL(x), fine shetland(x), camel, angora, possum, quiviut, cashmere, vicuna

Medium wools (22- 31 microns): Corriedale(x), Falkland(x), BFL(x), mohair(x), (inner) Icelandic(x), Shetland(x), Dorset, Cheviot, Jacob

Long wools (31- 36 microns):Romney(x), Wensleydale, Border Leiscter, Lincoln(x)

(X)s mark those wools I've already spun as part of my Spinning Study.

When correlated with the information from the previous post, it gives me an idea of what projects to use with different types of wool:

16-19 Fine worseted & intimate wear

19-23 Apparel, outerwear, quilt batting / felts

23-28 Sweaters, light upholstery coatings, fiberfill

28-32 Upholstery, tapestries, some carpets

32-38+ Carpets, industrial use.

Obviously, these are only guidelines. There's nothing preventing anyone from using one type of wool to make something out of the "category",

The Smell of Sheep: Making Connections

As I noted previously, I purchased about 1/2 lb of dark BFL wool to spin up. As I was tearing apart the long roving into sizeable chunks, I noticed the smell.

It was a slight smell, but a smell nonetheless. It was the smell of sheep; albeit it was the smell of clean sheep. (Much like a freshly washed dog smells of clean dog, versus smelly dog).

It was a nice scent, and one that most of my other rovings and tops I had purchased previously did not have..or at least that I noticed. Maybe it was because this was 8 oz of wool versus 2 oz of sample fibers? Maybe because this wool was bagged at the mill versus being separated then bagged at a fiber supply shop.

I met a spinner who once told me that he was able to tell what wool he was spinning by the smell. I don't know if that's true or not, and it would certainly be difficult for me to 'test' at this moment, as I normally buy prepared fiber, versus raw fleeces.

However, I found that I LIKE the smell of the BFL. Admittedly, I sniffed the wool vigorously and have taken quick sniffs whenever I spin it (also keeping it tightly closed in a container, lest the cats decide they like the smell of sheep!)

It reminded me that this fiber came from a living, breathing animal that has frolicked (do sheep frolick?) on some pasture somewhere. I find myself connecting with the wool (and thus, to the animal(s) that provided it) and enjoying the process of spinning that much more.

I think in our modern-every-day life, we are so far removed from the land and the origins of so many of our daily products (food, clothing, etc), that we take for granted what we have. Our lack of 'connection' with our daily wares makes us more of a disposable culture - throwing things away because we have no connection with it.

If we ruin a meal, then it's no problem to go buy the ingredients again. But what about the plants or animals that were harvested or killed to make that food?

I read an article where two chefs went through the process of making goat tacos by picking out the goats from a ranch then watched the butchering process, and taking home the still warm meat. They wrote how they were so much more extra careful in their preparation, because of the process they had gone through and how they felt a connection to that animal. The warm meat on the counter strongly reminded them that this came from a living breathing animal.

Much like the smell of sheep reminds me that this wool comes from a living breathing animal. I mean, I *knew* it did before -- wool comes from sheep after all. But the smell make me seriously GROK that fact. I know that once I finish spinning this wool, then going through the process of making it into a sweater, that it'll mean more than just the time & effort required to spin & knit the sweater; I'll feel that connection to that dark BFL sheep that provided its fleece for my wool.

I think we all need to be reminded that our *things* must come from somewhere; be it a tree that was felled to make our spinning wheels, or a sheep that was sheared for wool....or even a sheep killed to provide a meal. Children should be taken to a farm to show them where our food comes from, or to a mill to show how cloth is made for our clothing.

We need to connect with what we have, to know where things originate from, so that we can truly appreciate what we've been given.

A Backlog of Fiber

I have a backlog of fiber that I need to spin. I had bought a bunch of different 2oz samplers from Spunk Eclectic some time ago, and I've managed to get through only have of the different wool types I purchased!

I'm currently working on each one diligently (on the drop spindle) and taking notes on each one. I also bought a Phat Fiber Box sampler one month, as it was all *non* sheep wool fibers, and discovered that I don't actually like spinning pure silk, pure bamboo, seasilk, mulberry, or any of the "slick" fibers. (At least not yet).

AND, there's the spindle and fiber club from Butterfly Girl Designs, and I just got this lovely blend of fiber & spindle for the November club.



AND I just recently acquired 8 oz (1/2 lb) of dark Blue Faced Leiscter, which is just so YUMMY which is getting spun on the Kiwi. I'd *like* to be able to have enough yarn to make a sweater, but in reality, I probably wont...but I'm hoping.

This doesn't count the Japanese Maple I'm still spinning on my Butterfly Girl resin spindle, OR the Shetland roving on my Kundert.

Have I mentioned that I knit too? and have several projects on the needles? OOF!

Spinner's Study: Shetland

As a mini-break from the Japanese Maple spinning, I opted to start spinning the lovely brown Shetland I had gotten from Spunky Eclectic



I had always thought that Shetland was a somewhat scratchy yarn with a high micron count, and I was expecting it to be about the same as the Icelandic wool that I had spun up, but OMG, this stuff is so much softer than Icelandic...almost as soft as merino....not quite, but it's a LOT softer than I was expecting.

I took a quick look online, and according to the Wild Fibres Website

Icelandic's micron count: 22-28 for the inner coat 55-65 outer.
Merino's micron count: 18-24
Shetland's micron count: 20-33

So, Shetland *can* be as soft as a decent merino. And the stuff I have is definitely falls in that range. (The merino I am comparing it too is definitely 'softer', but it's pretty darn close.)



As I am still in the "Spinner Study" phase, I have no idea what this will make as of yet. I'm wondering if I should ply it with the merino or lighter brown alpaca that I have. So many decisions!

Micron Count System

As a relatively new spinner, I had to do a bit of research on this concept of ‘microns’ as it relates to wool softness. I’ve seen how some on Ravelry use micron as a determining factor for their fleeces, wools, etc. So, I did a bit of research on the subject.

In general, the Micron system uses the measurement of a micron (1 millionth of a meter or 1/25,000 of an inch) to determine how the type of wool (either ‘fine’ or ‘coarse’). However, the “micron” count does not necessarily mean is of good quality. The micron count of a lot or fleece of wool uses the “average micron count”. But, apparently, this count can be deceptive.

For example, if you have a lot of wool, where
• 50% of the fiber = 35 microns
• 50% of the wool = 15 microns,
• the average micron count for that LOT is 25 microns.
• So, you’d have a lot that’s a mixture of both “coarse” and “fine” wool.

Consequently, the additional measurement of the amount of variation in fiber diameter (the Standard Deviation Column) can give you a better insight to the quality of wool. So a fleece or lot of wool with its individual fibers closer in diameter could be considered a more “quality” wool [1]

Type of Wool	Micron System	Maximum Standard deviation (microns)
Fine	Under 17.70	3.59
Fine	17.70 - 19.14	4.09
Fine	19.15 - 20.59	4.59
Fine	20.60 - 22.04	5.19
Medium	22.05 - 23.49	5.89
Medium	23.50 - 24.94	6.49
Medium	24.95 - 26.39	7.09
Medium	26.40 - 27.84	7.59
Medium	27.85 - 29.29	8.19
Medium	29.30 - 30.99	8.69
Coarse	31.00 - 32.69	9.09
Coarse	32.70 - 34.39	9.59
Coarse	34.00 - 36.19	10.09
Very Coarse	36.20 - 38.09	10.69
Very Coarse	38.10 - 40.20	11.19
Very Coarse	Over 40.20

There are no hard-and-fast rules on how different types wools should be used, but there is a general guideline: [2]

• 16-19 Fine worseted & intimate wear
• 19-23 Apparel, outerwear, quilt batting / felts
• 23-28 Sweaters, light upholstery coatings, fiberfill
• 28-32 Upholstery, tapestries, some carpets
• 32-38+ Carpets, industrial use.

Of course, from reading various articles, going micron mad is probably not the best way to raise animals or determine the best wool needed. There’s the role of “crimp” in determining uniformity or density in wool, and is a factor in selecting a fleece. But that’s another topic for another time.

So conclusion? Micron count should be used as a guidelines for merely determining “softness” of a given wool or as a consideration when selecting a fleece or wool. It shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all of the decision process.


[1] http://msuextension.org/publications/AgandNaturalResources/MT198380AG.pdf
[2] From the Navajo Sheep Project: http://navajosheepproject.com/images/pdf/wool/woolgrading.pdf

Japanese Maple

I'm still plugging away on spinning the Japanese Maple colorway from Butterfly Girl Designs on the lovely resin spindle she had sent me.

However, since the spindle is less than an ounce, it gets very wobbly quickly, so I have to wind off onto a bobbin so I can spin more (as I had gotten about 3.1 ounces). Consequently, I have about 2 full bobbins of the Japanese maple.

And I still have a lot left to go through. I figure I might be able to get another 1.5 bobbins out of the 3.1 oz of fiber. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep this as a single or ply it.

I definitely want to make a shawl out of it -- probably a "flame" pattern shawl, because the colors of the fiber remind me a firey autumn.

Bison Fiber!

In Lamar Valley, where a lot of buffalo roam, we wandered some of the fields before Lamar River, taking care to stay away from the bison on the *other* side of the river.

We were avoiding bison patties, when I saw them....fur. Specifically bison fiber. I nearly jumped up and down in excitement. DH laughed at me. I picked up a bit of down -- very soft; as well as darker fur (probably the hump fur) which was very very coarse and very very dry.

There were a lot, but most were all matted. But I managed to get some that looked relatively clean and mat-free. I didn't get enough to spin a lot, but maybe if I work it in with other fiber?

Fiber!

I dragged my DH over to Purlescence yarns today in order to pick up some more generic Louet wool so I can show W how to use the drop spindle. They only had a superwash wool, so I picked that up (1/2lb).

Why the 1/2 lb?
Because I also wanted to try my hand at making a 3-ply sock yarn and keep in the theme of the Spindler's group Sept. challenge -- the night sky. I don't know if I'll be able to spin up 1/2 lb of fiber in 1 month, but I'm going to try!

So, I got it home, and started the dye'ing process.
I broke up the whole thing into 2 oz lots, and then went ahead and dye'd them separately

Lot 1: Colors: dark red/burgandy, dark blue.
Lot 2: Dark blue / sky blue
Lot 3: Black & Blue
The last 2oz are being saved for helping W learn how to drop spindle.

I used the crock pot I had gotten at the thrift store several weeks ago, and I've discovered a small problem -- it's too small. It was fine with smaller amounts of fiber or just yarn, but this fiber is really "thick" so I had to really push it down into the crock pot.

All of the fiber didn't fit well in the pot, and after removing it from the crock pot, I noticed all the white splotches of undyed fiber. Being an "organic" type craft person, I decided to just let it ride, and hung up each lot to dry. We'll see how it spins up.

Just a few photos

Since the evening's plans fell through, I took some photos before practicing the fiddle. This is especially for those friends *cough* who complain I don't take enough photos :-P And, for those of you on Ravelry, I managed to actually update those projects & photos.

Sky Blue Roving -- It's some generic Louet roving I dye'd a Sky Blue.

---

Icelandic Wool Skein = ~ 162 yards

---

Brick Red Corriedale = Worseted

---

My First 3 ply = ~15 yards

---

Mohair I'm currently spinning