Arctic Lace Luxury Yarn Club: Tour de Fleece Day Something

The "welcome aboard" package for the Arctic Lace Luxury Yarn Club arrived today!  I don't think I should show the content just yet; I don't want to have to do a spoiler alert.  :-)

I'm looking forward to the next few months of the Club; I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I'm plugging away on my Skywalker shawl, and have purchased yarn for the KAL for yarnaddictanni's Elegance scarf.

BFL and Lace; Tour de Fleece Day Whatever

All right, I admit that I've lost track of the days.  It was a l-o-n-g week at my day job and I didn't get much spinning or fiber work accomplished. 

On the spinning side, I did do a bit of BFL on the wheel--some of my hand-dyed.  I'm almost halfway through that and if I would just sit down at the wheel again I could polish off at least that much!

Yesterday, as I was feeling a little "punk" I built a nest on the living room sofa and watched some Craftsy class videos.  I started with the lesson in Laura Nelkin's "Mastering Lace Shawls" appropriate to where I'm at with the Skywalker Shawl.  I was not looking forward to that particular section because I wasn't sure I understood what she was going to do with the extra wraps but as soon as I saw it (I love videos, don't you??) it was easy peasy.  The lessons moved on, I moved on, and I made more progress on the shawl than I had anticipated.   It looks positively ghastly on the needles now, as it's "stuffed" on the circulars, but here's a pic of it just before I started yesterday.

 

Last night I finished the "base" of the Pax shawlette.  I think I'll go back and practice the edging on my practice piece before starting it on the "real" shawlette; it has a series of short rows right next to each other, and some increases and decreases that confused me a bit when I first tried them.  We'll see how that goes!

I'll also be signing up for (or, at least following along unofficially) a KAL, starting in August.  More about that later.

Oh, oh.  I just saw that Craftsy has an online class on artisan bread making.  Now I'm hungry AND I want to take another class.  I'll be strong--I'm in the midst of an online class at work, and will soon be starting creativity coach training.   But I can still EAT artisan bread, right?  That won't take much time.  :-)

Happy spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, quilting, ...creating!

 

Plying, Dyeing, Tying....Tour de Fleece Days 8 & 9

Multiple sub-posts today:  plying BFL, dyeing Punta, and typing flax onto a hand-rigged distaff.

Yesterday was a plying day, finishing up about 400 yards of BFL from Fiber Fancy.  I'm pleased with the result--I liked the colors of the fiber, and I like it even more as a yarn; it's a sort of jewel-ish, autumn-ish sort of colorway.  (This photo is a bit deceptive; it is more autumny in tone.)   It has been soaked, and is now drying on the rack.

This morning I did a bit of dyeing, on Punta, with a citrus theme.  I didn't measure, I just mixed colors and diluted until it looked sort of right.  (It will be a very short entry in my dyeing journal!)  I'm pretty happy with it, I think.  There are a couple of spots that are muddy because I wasn't paying close enough attention to the green and orange when they were next to each other, and a little too close for comfort.  One of those spots is on an end, so if it still looks too brown when it's fully dried I can just "delete" that part of it.   I'm always surprised how different the saturation/density of color is when it is fully dry, so I'll try to remember to post a photo when it is fully dry.   My drying rack is going to be busy today!    (This is the first I've done with Punta, and I'm looking forward to spinning it, and getting some experience with yet another fiber.)

While the Punta was steaming I rigged up a make-shift distaff for spinning flax, and dressed it.  I think.  We'll see, when I start spinning--I may well have to make adjustments!

Preparing the flax for dressing.  As I was spreading it out on the towel I couldn't help but think that is probably what my hair will be like as I get older...."flaxen haired," indeed, and not in a good way.  It is definitely going to be an experience learning to spin such a long fiber--the length you see here is the length of the fiber.  When you're accustomed to a staple length of just a few inches, or an even shorter fiber with cotton, this will be...different!

For the distaff pole I'm using the handle for my push broom; the end is rounded and smooth, which I think will be a good thing--it won't catch the fibers.

 

Tying the fiber onto the pole; this is where I think I may need to make some changes/adjustments when I start spinning.  It's a start.

 

 And here it is, all dressed and attached to a camera tripod.  I used duct tape.  :-)  It isn't pretty, it isn't elegant, but it works!

Now, *I* have to get to work!

The distaff side; Tour de Fleece Day 7

Does gathering information for learning how to spin a fiber count for Tour de Fleece?  I hope so, but need to do some research, anyway.  (Have I mentioned that I'm a librarian by profession?)

In preparation for spinning flax, I've been watching more videos; this one was especially helpful for me at this point:

Margaret Tyler Spinning Flax



Now I can see that I'm going to have to dig up a distaff.  I do have a camera tripod I could use, but will have to scout out a dowel or broom handle or some sort of rigmarole for the top of the distaff. I wonder if I know any woodworkers I could con, er, talk into making something for me?

I consulted some other videos for how to dress a distaff, and then went in search of some ready-made distaffs.  (I know, and I won't buy one until I've learned whether or not I really want to spin flax, beyond the basic trial.)  Now, if I weren't already watching my budget after signing up for Donna Druchunas' Arctic Lace Luxury Yarn  Club (Hey, it's birthday and Christmas presents to myself for a few years), I might try to use this flax spinning experience to buy another Kromski wheel, this time with one that has an optional distaff attachment.  But I love my Sonata and really can't justify another wheel (sigh), so it comes down to free-standing distaffs, and there are some nice ones.  For now, however, I'm scrounging around in the garage and store room for an old broom whose handle I can saw off.

Wish me luck.

Tour de Fleece Days 5 & 6: BFL and...flax!!

Yesterday was more of the same--spinning the BFL that sort of grew on  me.  Tonight I'll likely spin another bit of BFL on my Golding drop spindle.

But the big news is the arrival of the two 8-oz stricks of flax that arrived today.  Learning to spin this is my main Tour de Fleece goal.  As I recall, it involves having a bowl of water handy, which could be a challenge to my coordination and dexterity!  I love to learn new things, however, especially related to all things fiber, so I'm looking forward to it!

Tour de Fleece Day 3: Giving cotton a spin on the wheel

One of my goals--for some time now--has been to do some cotton spinning on the wheel.  I learned how to spin cotton on a supported spindle (listen to me, talking as if I'm an expert at spinning cotton on anything!), but believed it would be easier and faster on a wheel.

So I tried it.  And:  not so much.

No, I didn't spend a long time practicing it, but remember that I have some experience on a spindle.  ;-)   So, I knew to be sure to put enough twist into, to let the supply just rest in my hand, and able to judge that short staple length.   And I could do it--even a pretty darn thin single, which is what I wanted to to.  (I'm a quilter at heart, and this whole spinning thing started with wanting to experience what our foremothers would have had to go through in order to get fabric for  a quilt.  It would have been quite awhile ago and my actual ancestors would have been more likely to do linen than cotton, but ...there you have it.)

If I could slow down the take-up even more on the wheel I would like it better, and feel that I have more control over it.   I don't do much in the way of long draw, and I suppose cotton might lend itself to long draw--except that you have to make sure there's enough twist in it.  I did play around a bit with pinching the thumb and index finger of my draft hand to act as a gauge that would let through just the right amount of fiber as the wheel did the drafting.  That actually has some promise.

So, perhaps I'll give it some more practice on another day.  I'd like to get a charka one day and try spinning cotton on it.  For today, though, I think I learned what I wanted to learn as my goal.

Oh, and here's a bit of it 2-plied:

Tour de Fleece, Days 1 & 2

The TdF spinning has begun!  I didn't have a chance to post yesterday's pic and report, but yesterday's and today's spinning activity were the same, so this is more efficient, anyway.  :-)

Today I finished spinning the singles for Blue-Faced Leicester from Fiber Fancy, for a total of 8 oz on two bobbins.  I'm going to let this second bobbin rest for a few days before I do the plying--but I confess that I can't wait to see what it looks like plied.  This is the first I have spun with the Woolee Winder and it "feels" different in the spinning; I just hope the spinning has been good enough.  ;-)  The play of the color in the plied yarn should be fun!

 

I would do more spinning today, but my drafting wrist is telling me that it's time to give it a rest.  My new-ish spinning stool has done wonders for my back, though--it doesn't ache as it used to.   It does need a bit of cushion for the derierre, however.  The trick will be to make something that will still take advantage of the contouring of the seat.