A "good enough" learning experience

I'm very new to dyeing fiber, and was very lucky to really like my first endeavor.  (All of which is good, because had I not liked it I might have parted company with dyeing.   By this point in a person's life you'd think a person would have learned that it isn't possible to do everything perfectly the first time out of the gate but, no.)

The dyeing sessions after the first have been reasonably successful, aside from occasionally managing to do a tiny bit of felting in the process; the colors were good, anyway.  Until a recent experiment, in which I just mixed some colors without much of a plan.  Some of it was OK, some of it not so much.  I saturated parts of the fiber too much, and the dye ran during steaming, creating some....what would you call it, yellow-ish, green-ish,....? 

Deciding that maybe I would like it better spun than I liked the fiber, I spun and plied it and, thankfully, I like it better than I liked the fiber.  I don't LOVE it, but I don't hate it, and I can see which colors I like in the combination and which I don't especially like in the mix.

So, now I know, and that's the point of it all, right?

And at some point I'm going to have to figure out what to do with this yarn I'm spinning.

Meanwhile, back to quilting and some projects that have been sitting on the shelf.  Ideas for art quilts are springing up all over my brain.  I'm going to have to do something about that.  Soon.

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 4: Digging up

While waiting a few days before plying the BFL I finished spinning on Day 2, I decided to start spinning 8 oz. of BFL that I dyed awhile ago.  I buried it away in a bin because I thought that I didn't like it much--it didn't turn out as I had envisioned it.   But on the off chance that it would look different (better) when spun and plied, I dug it out again.  And discovered that I liked it better than I remembered I had.  Now, it's not my favorite and I didn't say, "Wow!" when it came out of the bin, but I did dig around it a few times because I rather liked it, and it couldn't be what I was looking for because I didn't like the fiber for which I was looking.  When I finally realized that was it, I did say, "Oh!  Hmm."

And here's how it's looking as I spin it up.  It's going to take awhile, as I'm spinning a finer single than I usually do, so I hope I like it in the end!

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:

New Spinning Toys

I've been enjoying some new toys, er...tools, for my spinning--thanks to a bit of "mad money" from my brother.  (Thanks, Mike!)  A new spinning stool has been a great relief for my back, as I'm sitting with good support for the derriere, and at the proper height.

My favorite new...tool is a Woolee Winder.  I was even able to buy some extra bobbins so I'll be less likely to find myself in a bobbin bind!

  The bobbins are smaller than my standard Kromski bobbins, but because it winds so much more efficiently than I do when I have control over moving the singles on the flyer, it still holds the same amount of fiber/singles on a bobbin.

 
The photo shows 4 oz. of singles, hand-dyed BFL from Fiber Fancy.  (Love her fibers!!)  I have another 4 oz. to spin, the plan to do a 2-ply yarn.  I have no idea what I'll do with the yarn, but that's not really the point, is it?