Sunshine, Gardening, and Fiber

The CT Sheep and Wool festival was this weekend.  The weather was beautiful.  I went and enjoyed a day of spinning outside with other hand spinners and shopping at the booths containing fiber and fiber tools.  I came home with a beautiful Dogwood spindle from Spin-A-Bit.  I also purchased a pretty periwinkle colored 30/70 angora rabbit/cormo wool roving.  At the festival, I entered the spinning bee with my new spindle and won two categories: longest yarn and finest yarn on a spindle.



The dog wood trees will be blooming soon.  I miss Shasta's dogwood tree that we planted at our Niantic home.  I hope to plant another one here in our new yard once we have finished some of the stump clearing and have more of a yard to work with.  For now I will enjoy my dogwood spindle and think of the beautiful flowers blooming on Shasta's tree.

Some of my handspun entries in the fiber competition also won ribbons.

The tapestry weaving I did with my hansdspun GSD fur and wool blended yarn won a first place in the weaving category.

The knitted lace scarf I made with my handspun yarn won a third place ribbon.

Monroe was my willing model with the finished shawl.  She also modeled with the the yarn a few times during the spinning process last summer.

The fiber was a gift from a friend last year for my birthday, a blend of merino, bamboo, silk and nylon.    It'a a pretty color which was chosen to match with the wisteria flowers I love that bloom in the spring.  I spun the 700+ yards of two ply yarn on Tabachek Tibetan Support spindles last summer.  I spun directly from the roving without blending.

The singles were plied on my Louet S10 wheel.  The final yard was 22 wpi and 3000 yd/lb.  I must really like this color as the roving I purchased at the festival this weekend is very similar in color.

The hanspun skeins that I entered at at the fiber festival also won ribbons.  The categories that I won were 2 ply, 3 ply, and exotic.  I ended up with more than $30 in prize money - which I rapidly spent at the festival fiber booths.

While I was out playing with wool, Art was home building raised beds for a vegetable garden.

Our back yard is still waiting for a tractor to clear out the stumps, so it will be a while before we get started on putting in grass and plants.  Here are a few before pictures.  Hopefully by this fall I will have new after photos to share that have grass in them.  

If I stand with the stump piles to my back, the view isn't so bad.   But I do look forward to the day when we can put in a lawn.

Chiengora Tapestry and Catching up

We sold our home along the shoreline last year and moved farther north to be closer to my husbands job in Massachusetts.  In the process of getting the house ready to sell, experiencing a hurricane and a weird and wild early year snow storm, going thru the sale of our house and the move out process just before Christmas, moving into a rental while we tried to figure out where to live next, buying a new home and moving in the week after I turned 50 - I've neglected my blog.  I thought I'd post a short update today as I am trying to settle into the new place (translation - I can't face unpacking another box today, so I am playing on the computer).

On the fiber front, my newest passion has been tapestry weaving.  I am fascinated with some of the tapestry diaries I have seen online.  Some of my favorite examples are found on the Weavolution blog. I tried to do a tapestry diary of my own, but I found my weaving skills needed a little more polishing before I could enjoy working on a diary.  So I decided to to do a sampler of sorts instead.  Using many of the little skeins of yarn from my early chiengora spinning days, I sat at my loom and wove something everyday.  My approach was a bit random, just weaving whatever I felt like and with whatever color I chose at the moment,  sort of a Saori weaving technique.  As I wove my chiengora yarn into the tapestry it was fun to think about the many years I spent as a volunteer at the Fidelco Guide Dog foundation were I met many wonderful people and dogs who taught me valuable life lessons.  Here is the final tapestry just off the loom:

I was not trying to create a scene or picture of anything realistic in the tapestry.   I was random weaving with whatever cheingora yarn I chose at the moment in an effort to gain a better understanding of some basic tapestry techniques.  However, after the weaving was complete and I took a moment to let it set in my mind, I saw mountains and ocean.  Most of the first 3 decades of my life I lived in mountainous states in the western US. The past two decades I have enjoyed living along the shoreline in southern Connecticut.  My memories of hiking in the mountains and walking at the beach are a huge part of me and have come thru in the tapestry.  I love that my first tapestry is wove with many of my early hand spun yarns and that the yarn is mostly German Shepherd Dog and wool blends from an amazing decade in my life.  The final result of having so many of my years of living represented in the final piece is a wonderful entry for me into the world of tapestry.

All Shasta

I attended my first Spin-Off Autumn Retreat last week.  It was held in Manchester, NH this year.  During the spinner's marketplace I came across a vendor selling spindles made by the Cascade Spindle Company.  Several of their new spindles are named for mountains in the pacific north west.  When I saw the tag that said "Shasta"  I knew I had to have that spindle!!  The tags had fallen off the spindles so it took a while to figure out which one was the Shasta spindle, once the spindle was identified I held on to it with complete joy in my heart.  It's a 3/4 ounce spindle made of poplar balsam with a walnut shaft.  It's nice for spinning a lace weight yarn.   I'm loving this little spindle and am spinning my Shasta fiber on it.

Several years ago I was given a chance to purchase a bag of alpaca fiber from a friend of a friend who's husband raised alpaca.  After poking around in the different bags of fiber available, (my wallet said one and ONLY one bag for me. Evil wallet.) I chose one that had a nice fawn color similar to my dog Shasta's undercoat color. When I turned the bag over to pick it up, it had “SHASTA” written on the side. When I asked why it said that, the woman selling the fiber said her husband was from Northern California and named his alpaca’s for different places near where he and his family lived. The alpaca fleece I was buying came from an animal that was named for the same mountain that my Shasta was named for and it was close to the same color as my Shasta’s undercoat. What are the odds of THAT?

I blended some fur from both animals, 30% from my Shasta, 70% from the alpaca Shasta, on my drum carder and ended up putting it in with my fiber storage as life was a bit busy then and I didn’t get it spun. It has been in a cabinet for several years now. I actually pulled it out earlier this week and tried to spin it a little. I didn’t think I could do it, but when I discovered that I had Shasta hair all over me again when handling the fiber I felt happy (and yes, I did get a little teary eyed, too).  So now I am spinning my Shasta fiber blend on my Shasta spindle!  This was just meant to be.

Here is the label that came with my spindle:

Some fiber to spin, a heart to heal

I went to the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair over the weekend. I made a few late entries in the handspun skein competition. I chose three skeins that I had spun before Shasta passed. I have only entered a few handspun contests before. I wasn't sure if my heart could do it again. In the past, my fiber ribbons were accompanied by Shasta winning agility ribbons around the same time, and that was a part of the fun and experience of the fiber show for me. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about fiber without Shasta. ( previous Ribbons )

My yarns won a few ribbons this weekend.

The one that I loved the most was my Novelty Yarn entry. I named it "Shasta Blue", I finished spinning and plying this skein when Shasta was still with me. The yarn is a blend of fibers, Merino/Bamboo/Silk (50/25/25); a 3 ply yarn that I spun on a drop spindle and plied on my Louet S10 wheel, it's the multi colored blue yarn shown photo below. I lost points on it for "stray fibers spun in". I wasn't sure what the judge was referring to. As I looked closely at the skein later, though, I saw several of Shasta's hairs poking out of the yarn. He was part of my fiber show experience after all! I can't think of a better fault a judge could find in my handspun yarn.

Amethyst, Take-2


I finished my 2nd attempt of spinning the Amethyst roving this week. The final yarn is shown on the left in this photograph. I am pleased with this 4 ply cabled yarn, it has a smooth and dense feel and should make a nice durable pair of mittens.

The singles were spun Z twist on a drop spindle then transferred to Louet bobbins. Two singles were plied S twist on my Louet S10 wheel and then plied again Z twist for the final 4 ply cabled yarn. I spun a total of 490 yards of the final yarn at 1010 yd/lb and 12 wpi.

I have had troubles with preparing cabled yarn in the past and am happy to have obtained this balanced result. I did have to add more spin to the 2 ply intermediates by running them thru my Louet wheel a second time so that they would ply together nicely. As always, it's an experiment in learning about hand spinning - with nice results this time. I'm taking a moment to enjoy the nice feeling of accomplishment.....then onto the Chameleon colorworks roving!!

Fiber Time
I have been spending time spinning fiber on my favorite drop spindle. I like it better than my wheel for spinning fine singles. I transfer the singles from my drop spindle to Louet bobbins and ply them on my S10 wheel.

Recently completed:

1) Louet Merino/silk roving (product # 12.8752-6, color fuchsia) purchased at Webs in Northampton, MA December 2009:

Fuchsia roving, singles and final 3 ply yarn (580 yd, 17 wpi, 1700 yd/lb) wrapped on cards:

2) 4 ply cabled yard (65 yd, 16 wpi, 1280 yd/lb,) made with left over Merino/silk fuchsia singles and white Tussah silk from roving purchased from Liberty Ridge Farms October 2004 at the New York State Sheep and Wool craft Fair in Rhinebeck, New York. :

Final skeins of the three ply fuchsia yarn and 4 ply cabled fuchsia and white silk yarn:

3) 2 ply (145 yd, 1300 yd/lb, 18 wpi) Alpaca and Angora blend; roving purchased from Cobble Rock Ridge Farm at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Fair in April 2009:

4) Merino/tussah spun from roving purchased from Clover Leaf Farms October 2008 at the New York State Sheep and Wool craft Fair ( 450 yd, 1700 yd/lb, 15 wpi):

Currently working on:

5) Amethyst Merino roving purchased from Webs in December 2009:

I fell in love with this roving and was in a hurry to make it into yarn. I tried spinning the roving on my Louet s10 wheel, but my rushed approach produced an uneven 2 ply yarn:

I purchased more roving and am trying to patiently spin thinner singles on a drop spindle. I would like to produce a smooth 4 ply cabled yarn.

Trying something new

I am learning to spin organic cotton on an acorn support spindle. Or at least that's my plan. After spinning chiengora for several years, I thought I could handle the short staple of cotton. I am hoping I am still right about being able to do this, but I am definitely wrong that cotton spins at all like dog fur. The drafting method is very different for me, and quite a challenge I will add. So far I have learned I can't spin cotton on my Louet s10 wheel, no matter how much I lubricate the wheel. There is too much pull from the wheel and the cotton falls apart in my hands before I can get enough twist into it. I have always wanted a book charkha, and maybe someday I'll get one. From the videos I have watched that looks like the best way to spin cotton. But on my present budget, I am committed to trying the tools I already have. The support spindle has been a challenge for me in the past, and I have left it behind on more than one occasion and returned to my wheel or my favorite drop spindle. Those options didn't work this time. So I will keep at it and attempt to master this little acorn. I hope the one handed drafting skill I am learning with the cotton will be useful when the Great Wheel comes home. Maybe I can try spinning the cotton on the great wheel? I have seen a video or two of cotton spinning on spindle wheels. The Great Wheel is considered a spindle wheel and isn't a charkha a spindle wheel also? So much fiber, so much to learn, so much fun.

Dog Hair in the Library

The display case at the East Lyme Library is filled with some of my chiengora projects this month. I had fun choosing the items to include and displaying them with photographs of the dogs I got the fur from for each project. I have received a few positive comments so far, so I think people are enjoying the display.

Home from Rhinebeck

Yesterday a friend and I drove to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. We had a nice day together enjoying good food, wandering around admiring all there was to see, and buying a few things that we really liked.

I delivered The Great Wheel to Dave Paul of The Merlin Tree while I was at the festival.



Dave will work on it in his shop this winter rebuilding the minor head, replacing a spoke in the wheel and one of the legs, and giving it a thorough once over to get the wheel into good working condition. It should be ready this spring; something to look forward to when the snow melts and the trees and flowers begin to bloom. As a general guess, Dave estimates that the wheel was made between 1840 and 1880, much older than I thought it was.

The skeins I entered in the hand spun skein competition at Rhinebeck won a few ribbons. Very exciting for me. Rhinebeck attracts many highly skilled hand spinners and fiber artists; the competition there was much greater for me than at the Big E. The 6 skeins I had entered at the Big E were also entered at Rhinebeck plus three additional skeins. Below are the Rhinebeck results with the judge's comments (the Big E results are provided in my October 3rd post.). There were 15 points possible for Presentation, 35 points possible for Fiber Preparation, and 50 points for Spinning.

This photograph (I call it my Autumn Spinning Wheel) includes ribbons from both Rhinebeck and the Big E.



Rhinebeck Results:


2 ply Romney wool, 3rd place, 95 points
Fiber Preparation: (-2) "I would have blended the colors more, very nice shine."
Spinning: grist and twist (-2), plying twist (-1) "A little over twisted, could bias when knit"


2 ply blend, 67% merino, 33% German Shepherd Dog fur, 4th place, 94 points
Presentation: (-3) "needs figure 8 ties" ( I did use figure 8 ties, not sure about this comment)
Spinning: grist and twist (-2), evenly plied (-1) "SL uneven twist, not quite evenly plyed"


2 ply blend 60% Coopworth hoggett, 20% Shetland Hoggett, plus silk, angora and angelina, did not place, 93 points
Fiber Preparation "good choice for scarf"
Spinning: grist and twist (-4) "some variation" evenly plied (-3)
General comment: "Good choice using hogget Coopworth"


2 ply mixed yarn, one ply German Shepherd Dog Fur, one ply angora rabbit, 3rd place, 85 points
Presentation: "Good presentation"
Spinning: (-15) grist and twist "SL uneven", evenly plied "uneven plying"
General comment "lack of elasticity may not be right for gloves"


1 ply Mohair, did not place, 77 points
Presentation: (-5) "some knots and neps"
Fiber Preparation: (-8) "some debris"
Spinning (-10): "uneven"
General comment "watch for bias in lace"


3 ply Alpaca, 1st place, 90 points
Fiber Preparation: (-5) "SL uneven color"
Spinning: (-5) "SL overplyed"
General comment: "excellent skein"


2 ply Blue Faced Leicester, dyed, 2nd place, 86 points
Presentation: "well skeined"
Spinning: (-12) grist and twist "uneven" evenly plied "uneven because of singles, but balanced, soft good drape"
General comment: "good choice of yarn thickness"


2 ply blend, 85 % wool 15% German Shepherd Dog Fur, 2nd place, 97 points
Fiber Preparation: "Good choice of fiber percentage"
Spinning: (-3)grist and twist "SL uneven singles"
General comment: "good choice of yarn thickness"


2 ply Blue Faced Leicester, natural, 3rd place, 92 points
Spinning: grist and twist (-4) "uneven twist", evenly plied (-4) "underplyed"
General comment: "Good use of wool breed"

Getting ready for Rhinebeck















I am feeling brave after the Big E and decided to enter a few skeins in the spinning competition at the New York State Sheep and Wool festival. I am looking forward to going to the festival this year and hope to take my Great Wheel for repair/restoration.

The Big E Results
I am happy to say that my fiber entries at the Eastern States Expo won some ribbons!

I was able to spin a 3 ply alpaca before the entry deadline and it won the Champion ribbon for the camilid category. Very exciting for me! The other skeins I entered won a few ribbons, too. I liked reading the judge's comments

.

Big E results:

2 ply Romney wool; 2nd place
"A very judicious twist for the fiber. Gives it body and bounce, plus softness. Not the thinnest yarn, but great for sweaters. Good Job!"

2 ply blend 67% merino, 33% German Shepherd Dog fur; 1st place
" I couldn't believe German Shepherd Dog could look and feel so good! This reminds me of yak or bison. Beautifully blended and spun."

2 ply blend 60% Coopworth Hoggett, 20% Shetland Hoggett, plus silk, angora , and angelina; 1st place
"Very well blended and spun. Just the right amount of sparkle, not too much."

2 ply mixed yarn, one ply German Shepherd Dog fur (from Monroe), one ply angora rabbit; 1st place
"Amazingly fine. fibers well matched."

1 ply Mohair; 1st place
"I don't know how you get your singles so well-balanced"

3 ply alpaca; 1st place and Champion Camilid;
"Amazing again! Looks very professional. A good weight, very balanced. Practically Perfect."

My "Midnight Surfer" hand spun hand knit scarf also won a 1st place ribbon.

"A beautiful Combination of great spinning and great knitting. The elongated stitch pattern is very effective for your striping hand-spun."

And last but not least, the lined mittens I knit with millspun yarns placed 4th. (This is my own pattern. It printed in the Summer 2008 issue of Spin-Off magazine, p. 76.)
"Plain but very functional and well made. I love the lining!"