My distraction, Stash Pics

Here she is, the tiny little distraction that is my excuse for not crossing the finish line for the Ravelympics. Her name is Leila and she was a VERY unexpected addition to our little family. We found her the 21st of August under my car in our driveway. She was very emaciated (this picture was taken a couple of days after we got her), flea-bitten, but soooooo lovable. We adopted her and the vet said when we found her that she was 6 months old bsed on the size of her teeth (other than the fleas she had an intestinal parasite and we still have to get her fixed next month). She's now a healthy 4 pounds and still such a love!!! Orpheus (our 2-year-old, 14 pound cat whom we found as a stray and adopted when he was 8 months old) adjusted pretty quickly to her presence and they get along just fine.

Orpheus was also starved when we found him and so has always been very obsessed with food (as starved animals have a tendecy to be), but he actually backs down and leaves his food to Leila if she's around. It's so bad we have to lock her in the bedroom to feed Orpheus and then feed her when he's done!! If we feed them at the same time she'll run between the bowls and eat from them so fast that Orpheus won't get a chance to eat anything.

Here is after a couple of days. (My cats love to lay all over the bed and get the matress pad all cat-hair as soon as I've stripped the sheets for the wash):

This was taken about a week ago...they are sooo cute (and look how much Leila has grown)!!

She is a narcoleptic gremlin cat who loves laps and naps more than anything else (well, except food). She'll lay in my arms like a baby or lay on my lap while I spin and fall asleep within 2 minutes. At night she either sleeps on my chest, between my ankles or between our pillows (I've accidentally squooshed her lots of times but she never gets discouraged). She is mischevious as all kittens are but she's a lap cat and extremely cute, so I forgive her.

On to fiber-related things:

My first plied-on-the-wheel yarn is in front here and there's another center pull ball of singles in the back:

This is the rest of the fiber that I got for the Ravelympics (It's all spun now but I haven't taken picstures of the finished yarn yet):

4 Oz. Ramboullet in the colorway "Glee" from FlawfulFibers


A sample of Shetland they sent me with the Ramboullet


4 oz. of Superwash Merino in the colorway "Amethyst" from DyeabolicalYarns

Next post: Picstures from the Knox Farm Fiber Festival, including new stash pics!!

Quick Note

Just a quick note to say that I am still around and have lots of stuff to update. School is in full swing so I'm a bit swamped.

A few notes:
Ravelympics-
I didn't end up crossing the finish line due to a new addition to our family that came quite suddenly and occupied much of our lives for the first few weeks she was here. More on that in the next update. I did get about half way and I hope to try again next year.

Knox Farm Fiber Festival-
I will be attending the Knox Farm Fiber Festival tomorrow. It is my first fiber fest and I'm really psyched for it!!! I'll try to take lots of pics for the blog!

Ravelympics 2008

I am currently busy spinning my heart out for the 2008 Ravelympics. For those of you who aren't on Ravelry, it's a knitting/crocheting/spinning challenge which is going on during the summer Olympics.

I am on Team TARDIS and I'm signed up for the Handspun Heptathlon.

My goal is to spin one mile of finished yarn on my dropspindles in 17 days!!! That's 1760 yards!

Here's my progress so far:


"Cameo" is dome bring spun into singles and it now waiting to be plied. I have 40 yards plied so far, and that's the only finished yarn I have counting towards my goal at the moment. I am working on spinning up the rest of the alpaca and have 2 big bobbins worth.

I also ordered some new fiber for the challenge. This 3 oz. of drumcarded Merino in the "Olive Dotty" colorway from Fiber Monster came today.


It is so luscious and the colors are amazing, I can't wait to dig into it!!!

I have more fiber on the way, I'll post pictures when it arrives.

In the time between posts I've also completed spinning the "Blue Icee" chain-ply. I have 1 small skein and 2 skeins around 100 yards. Here's one which I think is 96 yards:


Also here are my first wheel-spun singles:


I have them plied now but haven't photographed them yet. My lessons are going great!! My teacher says I'm spinning on the wheel like I've done it for 2 years and says I have spinning in my blood!!!

WIP-Blue Icies

I'm working on spinning up the Romeny/Mohair batt I got for this Ravelry challenge to spin a yarn which includes the theme of temperature. There's a new theme every Friday and I thought I'd give this one a shot since I had some fiber that fit the bill. The batt colorway reminded me of the blue ice packs we used as kids in our lunch boxes; we always called them "blue icies". I just hope I can ply some up and post it by this evening!!!



I'm thinking if spinning a thicker single to ply with this but we'll see!!

A FY, a forgotten FY, and a yarn sample gone awry

Here is the first finished (nearly dry) skein of Cameo. This is a roughly 50/50 Merino/Soysilk blend I carded on dog combs. This was spun on my Bosworth Featherweight and chain-plied on my Annie May; the WPI is 16 and the yardage is a mere 58. I do have another full bobbin to chain-ply and quite a bit more of this to blend and spin up.


A close-up:


I can't believe I forgot to blog this skein as it is my all-time favorite!!!!! This is a 1 oz. 2-ply of the Abalone bombyx silk hankies I got from Woodland Woolworks. This fiber was finished being spun up and plied on my Bosworth the day after I got it in the mail and I'm so over-the-moon about it that I can't believe I didn't blog it! Anyways this is approx. 16 WPI and 98 yrds. I think silk hankies are so wonderful to spin, so gorgeous, and fun to turn into roving too!!


A close-up:


And just for gits and shiggles here is the sample 2-ply of pure Soysilk that I spun on my Bosworth Lightweight before deciding to blend it to make drafting easier.



And a close-up:


I've soaked both the pue Soysilk and the Soysilk blend in a hot water bath to set the twist the way I normally set my skeins and the Soysilk smells terrible wet, like burnt tofu!!! Does anyone steam theirs or set it a different way? I can deal with the smell, but I was just wondering. I actually love the smell of wool, especially the smell of drying finished skeins!!!

Spinning Tip for the Humid Summer Weather

Problem: 

Now that we're into the real heat of summer, I've started having problems with the humidity making my hands a bit clammy and my fiber really fly-away-ey (shush it's my word). This was making carding and drafting difficult.  

Solution:

Corn starch (or talcum powder if you prefer, but it is carcinogenic and not good for Asthmatics like me)! 

I started rubbing corn starch into my hands before starting to spin in order to absorb the extra moisture and keep my fiber running smoothly through my hands, and it's really done the trick!! 

Of course this is probably common sense to most people but I thought I'd share my little solution. Now you can use straight corn starch, but for us creative crafty types you can do what I did and take a little plain corn starch from your cupboard, add some dried skin-friendly herbs, grind with a mortar and pestle and WALA!!! Perfumed hand powder!!

I stored mine in an old spice jar(I picked one of the little ones like Cream of Tartar come in so I could throw it in my spinning bag and take it on the go.

I made mine with dried roses. I was going to add dried lavender as well but the jar is almost empty and I make a PMS/Cramp relief tea for GF with it, so I had to save it!

Make sure you are not allergic/sensitive to the herb(s) you add and make sure they are not eye irritants in case you rub your eyes while spinning away into the night!!

I've found that one light application of the powder will last through a couple of hours of spinning in a pretty humid room, but you should be able to reapply as necessary. I would recommend multiple light applications to pouring a ton on at first because it is quite slippery.

The corn starch also helped me draft the Merino blend easier by overcoming some of the greasy feeling the Merino still has. 

Hope this may help some of you dedicated spinners suffering through the summer heat elbow deep in wool!!

Chautauqua County Fair, Spinning Update

Yes it that time of the year again. GF and I went to the fair today before she had to go to work. She's working all evening shifts today and I have an unheard of 3 days off this week (!!!!!), so we braved the morning t-showers (it cleared off pretty much as we got there) and spent a couple of hours wandering.

Unfortunately my favorite ride of all time was closed down while we were there (major pouting!!!!), it's one of the few fair/park rides I go on and I could ride it all day!!!

Most of our time was spent looking at all the animals.

First the "zoo" animals...
Look how cute the Ring-Tailed Lemurs were all cuddled together!!!

This Black Tufted Lemur was sooo cute in his basket too!!

Now onto the livestock barns!

We saw everything but I took pictures sparingly with my phone because the quality isn't very good.

A calf (so sweet!!):

SHEEPIES!!!! Most of the sheep they had were Suffolk, Dorsets and X's but I don't remember what these were.

I saw a few breeds I'd never heard of before: Hamp, Shropshire, Dorper and this one...Montdale (their noses are so long!):

A Border Leiscester:

They were shearing and there were bags of fleece and there were yearlings and my brain fell out of my head for all of this and forgot to take pictures!! Sadly there were no wool vendors, in fact there were hardly any vendors at all this year!!! I was tempted to talk to the shearer about getting some fleece, but since I don't have combs yet, I resisted.

Then onto the goats..look at the kids!!!

And some more goats:
One of the goats in the barn (whose breed I didn't catch but had the most lovely coloring, deep reddish brown with a black stripe down its head and back) decided that once I started scratching his head I wasn't allowed to leave!!! Of course this caught all the other goats' attention and I was stuck scratching goats for 15 minutes...well there are worse things, I do love goaties!!!

Of course there was also fair food (one of my favorite parts of the Fair). We had curly fries, fried dough and fresh squeezed lemonade!!!

In spinning news: I finally finished Navajo plying the rest of the Peacock blue Colonial singles that were thinner than the ones I'm gifting. It turned out to be 16 WPI (as opposed to the 12 WPI the other skeins had!!!) and 90 yards. I also plied about 60 more yards of my shawl Alpaca and spun about a half bobbin of the Cameo singles. I have tomorrow off too and Friday so there will probably be lots of spinning going on, including my first wheel spinning on Friday!!!!!

50/50 Mohair/Romney batt, Handspun WIP & Herb Garden Pics

As promised here are the pictures of the 8 oz. 50/50 Mohair/Romney batt I purchased yesterday from Strings and Things. I haven't started to spin any of this up yet but I did notice there's more VM and neps in it than I would like. It looks like quite a lot for 8oz., both the full and half batt are folded in half in the picture below. It was getting ready to rain, and the wind was picking up so I had to fold them to keep them from blowing away!! I excited to start spinning this because it contains 2 fibers I've never tried before!

A closeup:

 

Another closeup:

This is what has been on the Bosworth Lightweight lately (I know, I know, I should be spinning for my shawl). This is more of the rose Merino I've been working with, which I blended with the natural Soysilk I bought about a week ago. I have a much better attitude towards the Soysilk now that I've used it in a blend. The staple length of the Soysilk and the Merino are similar, blending with Merino makes the Soysilk so much easier to draft, and the Soysilk really helps add some smoothness and silkiness to the Merino. I think the Merino I purchased was very coarse in comparison to other descriptions I've heard, and it was not a joy to spin unblended. 

Fiber unpleasant to spin by itself + Fiber unpleasant to spin by itself= Very nice blend!!!

I'm anxious to try another Merino from a different source though, because I know so many people love it!

Anyways, I call this Cameo (It'll probably end up as a 2-ply):

Completely unrelated from spinning, here are some pictures of my herbs! (The bird mesh it to keep the woodchucks out grrrrrrr!!)

Tricolor Sage & Golden Oregano:

Rue: 

(This plant is something every spinner should grow because it's used to repel moths and other insects. I plan on making sachets filled with dried Rue and Lavender to put in my fiber and yarn stash bags.

English Lavender and Lemon Balm:

Winter Savory and Sweet Marjoram:

Basil (Which only looks droopy because its not time for their evening watering yet and I'm hoping it'll rain soon. You fellow herb growers should know basil is the first to start drooping on these blasted hot days!!)

First Spinning Class, New Fiber Stash, Spinning Wheel Savings Update

I signed up for my first spinning class today. It's going to be on Friday the 25th at my LFS & I'm going to be learning on a Kiwi. I also found out from the owner that she sells wheels on consignment, and I only need a 2/3rds down payment. I am only about 100 dollars away from the 2/3 mark!!! ::HAPPY DANCE!!:: She does carry the Traveller and I was trying very hard not to drool over it!

As a consolation prize I purchased 8oz. of a 50/50 Mohair/Romney blend in blues and greys (I'll try to post pictures tommorow, it was too dark by the time I got home tonight).

We also stopped at two local farm stands and got more fresh goodies. The other day we got fresh local cherries, raspberries and sugar and butter corn on the cob, yummy!!!! Today I got 2 zuchinni, an onion, 2 heads of garlic and a pint of blueberries!!!! I love harvest times, but I sure miss the orchard I grew up by!!

Alpaca 2-ply, Silk Hankies & Soysilk

Last night I finished plying the first of the coffee Alpaca singles. Today (my only day off as I've been working 6 day weeks) I was rewarded with a much expected package. I ordered some more fiber stash from Woodland Woolworks and today it arrived!!!This is a 1 oz. stack of silk hankies in the Abalone colorway which is currently being spun on my Featherweight.
I also got 4 oz. of natural-colored soysilk, which I can tell will be interesting to work with (read frustrating), but its soooo pretty!
This bad picture is of my first skein of coffee Alpaca 2-ply. Yardage is 116, WPI is 18. The cat almost lost one of his lives over this skein as he decided to wrap himself up in it as I was winding it onto the niddy noddy. This was after I had already become frustrated with plying (I was plying on my Annie May) as I couldn't fill the spindle as full as I wanted without the yarn snapping. I have more singles to ply, including one 1/4-filled bobbin, but I think I need a breather from it. Luckily that wonderful set of distractions has been added to my fiber stash today; what perfect timing!!

A New Baby in the Family, FY & Spinning Wheel Fund Update

Below is my brand new Bosworth Featherweight Top Whorl Walnut drop spindle which my wonderful GF bought me from Bellwether. After searching and searching for just the right lightweight to bring into my new spindle family, I stumbled upon Bosworth spindles. I am thrilled with my new baby and it spins Alpaca like a breeze! The single on the spindle is an Alpaca fiber sample sent with my spindle, just the same fiber and color as my current spinning project, how perfect!! Of course after ripping into the box (after getting home from an exhausting and HOT day at work, nothing is quite the same as getting a package, particularly a spinning-related one that you weren't expecting for a few more days!!) and admiring the beauty of this tiny little spindle, I set to work testing it out. I can't give this spindle enough praise!! This is the first top whorl I've ever used and I just love it, and it spins forever!!! No more breakage problems with my Alpaca singles from now on! ::HAPPY DANCE::

I love my other spindle, and it's great for some fibers and yarn weights, but at just under 2 oz. my Alpaca singles were slipping and snapping, and I was dropping my spindle over and over. ::tear:: Even adding tons of twist didn't help...I knew I just needed the right tool for the job!

The Bosworth Lightweight in Walnut weighs just .38 oz.!!!

This is my latest FY. I separated the light streak from the navy wool blend I purchased awhile ago and spun it as a thin single while spinning the rest as a thick and thin single. I am really happy with the effect gained from plying the two as the thin single acts as a highlight. This is 62 yrds. made from 2oz. of a wool blend sold for felting in my LYS. I always dig through the basket of wool blend bits the owner has while I'm there and I was surprised when she told me that she'd never thought of spinning with it!! The fibers aren't as tangled as I expected from felting fiber, drafting it wasn't very hard, and while it's not the nicest stuff, I think it looks great as an inexpensive novelty yarn!
Oh and a quick update on the Spinning Wheel Fund, I am over 1/4 of the way to my wheel!!!

Peacock Navajo Ply, Alpaca Single, Spinning Wheel Savings Update & Fiber Wish List

Below is my first attempt at Navajo plying, which I finally figured out thanks to a very informative video posted by Rexenne AKA Crow Calling Woman:

I prefer the navajo plying method to traditional 3-ply, which tends to tangle on me. I could not Navajo ply my very fine singles without it breaking, but perhaps with practice I can. I think it would be easier on a wheel, as your hands are not also trying to control the spin. This skein and the little one on the niddy noddy equal 176 yrds. I still have some singles left to ply, but they are much thinner so I'm going to keep them for myself and just gift away the 12 wpi skeins.

On the spindle right now is some of the coffee alpaca that is destined to become a 2-ply for the shawl I'm going to make myself.

I had a very good week for tips last week and my Spinning Wheel Savings Jar total is now $84.50, more than a sixth of the way!!!!! At this pace I hope to have my wheel before the fiber festival!!

Fiber Wish List (A list of fibers I have not yet tried that I simply must ASAP in order of urgency)
Silk (Hankies are what I really have a HANKERING for lol)
Bamboo
Llama
Mohair locks
Angora
Soy
Tencel
BFL
Superwash Merino

Now is it apparent why I'm looking for a lightweight drop spindle? LOL
I'm sure this list won't be fulfilled for quite some time, but when it is, I've got another in the wings.

2 FY's and Spinning Wheel Savings

Peacock Blue
This light worsted (12 wpi) 3-ply is made of the singles I spun from the peacock blue wool top I purchased from Pollywogs. The total yardage between these two is 208 and I have perhaps another 250 or 300 yards worth to ply.
Rosemallow
This skein is a 2 ply of the rose and magenta Merino/wool blend that I carded and a thin and thick merino single. The average wpi is 16 and the yardage is 126. I still have one bobbin of the blended single and a bit of the Merino single so I may ply some more of this or I may try andean plying the blend and using the rose Merino for something else.

I also test spun and 2-plied some of my coffee Alpaca and started swatching for a lace shawl I want to make for myself but I haven't found the right lace yet. Also on my hook, I'm swatching for my "Ravenclaw" scarf. I'll try to remember to get pictures up this week.

In other news, I have officially started saving for a spinning wheel. I have narrowed down the choices to an Ashford Traveller Single Drive.

While I still want to try one out in person I have tentatively selected this wheel based on affordability, versatility, expandability, portability, durability and availability of accessories/parts. It will be awhile before I save enough for it, but as of now all my weekly tips are being set aside in a spinning wheel savings jar.

My local fiber shop has hourly spinning lessons that I'm going to be attending soon, and they sell Ashfords, but I don't think they have the Traveller. I'm planning on attending the Knox Farm Fiber Festival in September, and I'm hoping a vendor or someone in one of the spinning bees will have one I can check out in person.

If anyone owns or has used the Traveller and has any advice or insight I'd be happy to hear it!