Injured

Unfortunately, there will be even less progress on my projects to report than usual: I've managed to injure my shoulder, and I'm resting it from knitting and spinning for 2 weeks.

First off, I don't know how I injured my shoulder. But my spindling form couldn't have helped. I have been trying to avoid lifting my elbow above my shoulder and stick to "butterflying" the singles: winding them onto my thumb and forefinger by twisting my wrist back and forth. But oftentimes I am lazy. I think, "it's only a few inches," or "I should give the spindle another spin," and I just lift it up. There's a good chance that this is what is causing the pain and immobility in my shoulder. But if not, it could, so I really do need to work on my form.

So, despite wanting to finish my shawl, and having a lot of free time on my commute, I'm stuck longingly staring at pictures of homemade yarn. If you spin, I hope that my mistakes can help you to avoid them. And this update will be a bunch of small things that I haven't gotten around to reporting yet.

First, some purchases:

Rainbow masham wool braids from Edgewood Garden Studio

I was just too tempted not to buy these rainbow mini-braids from Edgewood Garden Studio. Each is two ounces, and they are perfect for playing around with different ways of doing color combinations. The wool is masham, which is an interesting cross-breed of teeswater and swaledale. The wool is not as soft as many, but it seems to have a lot of luster. Unfortunately, when the braids arrived, they were very compacted (probably from the dyeing process), and I am worried that they will be difficult to spin. They might just need a little predrafting, or they might need a lot of predrafting. Either way, it's not ideal.

My second purchase was a swift.

Peg swift

I have already tried it out, and it makes balling yarn soooooo much easier. No more tiring myself out moving my arms around the chair or over my head. Storing it is the only problem, since it is a bit bulky.

Yarn swift in action

Along with my purchases, I had been feeling like it had been too long since I had processed any fiber. With one spinning project and one knitting project, I wanted to card something. I can't do it on my commute (needs too much room, too messy, etc) but it is a nice project for evenings and weekends. A chance to get back into the feeling of raw wool.

Ryeland rolags

Before I hurt my shoulder I was making rolags out of the ryeland wool I bought at the Maryland Alpaca Festival. It cards wonderfully, and it has a nice, soft, grayish brown color. Some of the locks are more brown, some are more silver, but I am just mixing them all. I have heard that the wool is incredibly stretchy and springy, and so far that seems to be true. I don't know when I might have a chance to spin it, but I think I will use the wheel to make sock yarn.

One lock of the ryeland wool

This week I have been going a little bit crazy with no spinning or knitting. So I started to organize my fiber stash and realized that I have half a pound of white rambouillet roving. I also have a lot of other white wool, and I'm not particularly fond of the rambouillet, so I decided to try dyeing it.

Rambouillet roving, pre-dyeing

While I have dyed wool before, I always did locks. This time I decided to do the roving in different colors. I spread it out on a tray covered in plastic wrap, then got it very wet. Then I poured dye on top and poked it until it soaked it up - Navy blue, kelly green, and yellow. I then baked it in the oven for an hour. I'm still waiting for it to dry, so I don't know if it felted yet.

Rambouillet roving, dyed

I am really not liking the dyes that I got at the alpaca festival. They are really bright and ugly. Oh well, maybe it will look fine spun up.

Maybe.

Card and Spin

As I continue work on the shawl and skirt, I just thought I would tell you about a little side spindling project I have been working on, on and off (mostly off).

Last summer, I told you all about the Navajo Churro outer coat that I was combing and spinning. Well, the undercoat was not completely lost in the shuffle. I have been carding it, since the fibers are so short, and spinning it on my drop spindle. I hope that I can get something soft enough for some thick warm socks this time.

Singles on the spingle

Today though, I thought I would show you my process of carding the wool. It is not a tutorial, but some of you who knit or spin but don't do your own processing might find it interesting to see how it works - even if the commercial preparation looks completely different.

First, a quick guide to fiber prep. Previously, I showed you a combed preparation. That creates a smooth "top" that is usually used in worsted preparation. Yarns made from top are generally tight, with little air trapped in them, and show stitches well, with good definition.

Today, I am talking about carding. Hand carding creates "rolags" which are small airy bundles of wool. They are not smooth, and the usual preparation with them, woolen, creates warm, fluffy yarns with little stitch definition. It is a good prep for short fibers.

Bag of Navajo-Churro under coat

First, spreading the fibers a bit with my fingers, I lay them on my cards. They don't have to be flat, or aligned, just mostly ensnared in the tines of the cards.

Fiber placed on the card and ready for carding

The hand cards, by the way, are a great tool, and there are few substitutes. Unlike with combing, pet brushes just do not work, in my experience. You need a very large, strong "brush" with thick tines. Because there are not really any alternatives, they can be pretty pricey, and they don't work well with longer fibers (5"+). A set of cards was one of the first tools I bought, thinking they were a good multi-purpose tool, but, if you are just starting out, I would go with a flicker or pet comb first.

In the second step, brush across the card with the other one, pulling out the snags and letting more air into the fibers while you gradually make your pile of wool more uniform.

Result of several passes through the cards

As you brush, you transfer the fiber back and forth. You want to card the "back" of your fiber bundle, just like the front, so you occasionally transfer everything to one side or the other.

Transferred and ready for a second pass

After it has gone through a few times, you pull it off, roll it up, and twist it into a spiral for storage.

Rolag straight off the cards

Rolled between my hands to be more compact

Rolled up for storage

The fiber drafts easily and evenly from this prep, as long as you store it in a way that it doesn't get too compressed.

Carded prep makes some nice fuzzy yarn on my steam-punk inspired spindle from Snyder Spindles