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.

Minty-Green Sock Yarn

Ah, the winter. When it is dark by the time I get home, so all my project pictures are bad. Sorry, I haven't been good about keeping you all up to date on my projects recently, but I guess that just means that I have lots to write about this month.

Work on the shawl continues, and I have started a scarf that my brother commissioned for his new girl friend. I'll try to go into more detail in the future, but today I am just going to update you on a spinning project.

As you may or may not remember, I bought a few ounces of gray angora at the alpaca festival a few months ago. I have heard that angora is so warm and fine that, with few exceptions, it works better when blended with wool. Well, wool is something that I have plenty of for blending.  I pulled out some leicester locks from my seemingly never-ending supply and washed them.

However, I didn't want another off-white yarn. I could have spun it and then dyed it, but I have heard that the dyes might not penetrate all the way into the center of the yarn if you don't dye in the wool (aha, so that's where that phrase comes from!). So, the plan was to dye as much wool as I could fit into one jar a dark green (turns out to be 1.5 oz.) and then fill another jar and dye it turquoise. Well... you can see how the dyeing came out:

Wool being dyed in the jars

Still wet, but pretty similar to the color that the wool ended up

The green dye that I got is much brighter than I was expecting. After I took that picture, I put it back in the dye pot for more green. It got darker, but it is still neon. Part of the problem is measuring the dye. The package instructions say to use 1/4 oz. of dye per pound of wool. If I am dyeing 1.5 oz. of wool that is a very small amount of dye, and I don't have a way to measure it. So I am guessing. On the other hand, the water has been running mostly clear, so I think that means that the dye was almost all taken up by the wool, and I put enough vinegar into the mix. The turquoise is closer to blue, but at least it is a pretty color that I would wear.

Well, not to be deterred, I started blending the wool with the angora on my hand cards. Again, I didn't have a very good way of measuring the mix, so it is only approximate. But I think I am getting better at making rolags (aside from the matted angora balls):

Rolags of green wool and gray angora, blended

It's still a bit bright, but after being mixed with the gray, the wool is a pleasant mint color.

A rolag mixing the green wool with the angora

I, of course, couldn't wait, didn't do any planning, and just started spinning the stuff. It is incredibly soft, but I think it is pretty strong as well. I was so pleased at how fine the fiber was, and how thin I could spin it, that I think I spun it a bit too fine:

wool-angora single, with quarter for size comparison.

My current plan is to make a 4-ply so it will at least be laceweight. At the rate I am spinning though, I'll probably finish by December.  Maybe. And, if a swatch turns out strong, maybe I will make some socks. Though I keep saying that, and I still haven't made socks in years. So this might be clothing eventually. But for now, it is entertaining me at least.

Spinning fine, warm, neon yarn

Three Fiber Preps: Mill Combed, Flicked, and Hand-Carded

Just a quick update this week. I continue to work on the shawl, but I have run into a bit of a snag. I have finished 9 repeats of the the pattern (32 rows each) and I have enough yarn for another repeat. But the shawl is not nearly long enough: It needs another foot or so before it is a wearable length. So I am going back to the spinning wheel, and spin more yarn. I can't do this on the metro though, so I will have to start another portable project soon. Stay posted for more on that when I decide what I am making.

Meanwhile, I have been on a bit of a spinning binge. Once I had dyed the locks I immediately wanted to see what they would look like as yarn. But I wanted to spin it to match the rest of the shawl, so I had to do it on my Ashford wheel (maybe not, but I wasn't risking it). Unfortunately, my Ashford was occupied with the black merino bulky yarn I have been working on (and off) since June.

Aha! Motivation to finish it!

2-Ply Bulky Merino Yarn

The yarn was prepped from some yummy (and surprisingly cheap) merino top (mill-processed) that was being sold by the ounce by Delly's Delights Farm at Maryland Sheep and Wool. This skein came out more even and squishy than the blue one, so I think I actually learned something. It's always nice to have some evidence of improvement.

Once my wheel was clear, I could start on the hand-dyed blue yarn for the shawl detailing. I started by flicking the locks - a few locks of blue with a few undyed.

Dyed and undyed locks for flicking

To flick, I wrapped about half of the lock around my fingers and brushed it with the flick carder. There was a lot of VM, so I had to do a lot of brushing to get it all out (and even so, I missed some). I started with the butt, then did the tips the same way.

Wrapped and ready to flick

After flicking

As you can see, the process really opens up the locks.

I also got a LOT of VM all over my cloth, my pants, and the floor. This sheep was a pet, and wasn't coated - I am pretty sure it liked to roll around in mulch. I wasn't too careful with the washing either, so there was also a lot of waste. It was hard to grip the lock while still getting all of the VM out, and the lock structure wasn't well-preserved.

Because there was so much waste, and it had a lot of pretty serviceable wool in it, I carded and blended the waste into rolags, and am spinning it into some thicker, textured yarn now.

Waste from the flick carding

Rolags carded from the waste wool. I like the periwinkle color, but there is still too much VM.

Well, the flick carding didn't actually blend the colors any, despite my hopes, so the flick carded yarn is "barber-poled" to get a lighter look. I think it will still look good knitted up. It is hanging to dry now.

Hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn from the fleece

The carded prep is making a nice periwinkle yarn though.

Hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn from the fleece

It goes to show, though, how much difference the fiber prep can make to the final yarn.

Dyeing for the first time

Whelp, I did some dyeing. I know I said that it was too messy and I wouldn't do it, but my shawl needed a bit of color, and I was bound and determined to make everything in it from raw fleece. So I bought a small amount of acid dye (enough to dye 4 lbs of wool, the smallest amount they sold) and did a bit of dyeing today. I am currently waiting for it to dry so that I can find out whether or not it felted.

First, I started with a small amount of wool. I scoured 2 oz using dish soap, ammonia, and vinegar (just like I did for the rest of the shawl). The tips were still crusty, but flicking should deal with that when I spin.

Dry leicester wool, ready to dye

I took about an ounce and made sure it would fit in my "dye pot": a mason jar.

Measuring out an ounce of wool

Next, I soaked the wool in warm water for an hour, to make extra sure that all of the soap was out.

Soaking the wool

I mixed a small amount of dye powder with water in the mason jar while the wool soaked. Unfortunately, I didn't have any way of measuring the tiny amount of dye I would need for only an ounce of wool (the directions call for 1/4 ounce of powder per pound of wool). So I guessed the amount. Maybe I should have bought something to measure? I did get a dust mask though - the dye powder can be hazardous!

I filled the mason jar halfway with hot water from the tap before putting in the wool. I didn't want to agitate the wool by filling up the jar with it in there.

Jar filled with dye

After adding two tablespoons of vinegar to set the dye, I cooked the wool in a double boiler for an hour, making sure that the water never got hotter than a simmer. Occasionally, I would turn the wool over with a chopstick.

Cooking the wool and dye

I must have put it the right amount, because the water was almost entirely clear when I pulled the wool out, and the rinsing required was minimal before no more dye came off the wool.

I set it to dry on some newspapers. It's a bit darker than I was going for (though we will see how it looks when it finishes drying) but I can always mix it with the undyed wool for a lighter color. Well, how do you think it looks?

Wet, dyed wool locks

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

Conservation Breeds

One of the things that drew me to spinning was the connection to our common past. Knitting feels "modern" to me, since yarn is available in lots of places. Spinning though, especially on the drop spindle, feels more ancient, more basic.

Because of this, I have been attracted to breed-specific wool for my spinning. It feels more authentic if I know that it is border leicester wool that I am spinning, and not generic "wool". Plus, breed specific yarns are hard to come by, and it is one of the advantages of hand spinning that I can pick for breed characteristics.

I am particularly attracted to the conservation breeds. Mechanization made sheep with non-white wool obsolete. It made sheep with variable wool obsolete. It made dual-coated sheep obsolete. Mechanization required standardized sheep.

But as a handspinner, I love wool that is different colors. Dual-coated sheep are interesting. There is pleasure in exploring the unique characteristics of a breed and making yarn that works.

A few years ago, I bought my first unwashed wool (by accident). I saw that the festival had wool from a "navajo churro" sheep, and it was an interesting color and texture. At the time, I didn't know anything about the wool, but was interested in exploring. I bought some "jacob" roving at the same time.

Dark jacob wool roving

Lighter jacob wool roving

1 lb unwashed navajo churro wool

After this, I went out and bought several excellent books on different types of wool, to figure out what the heck I was doing.

I discovered several interesting things about navajo churro wool.

1. It is generally considered ideal for weaving.
2. It is dual coated, so it is a pain to deal with.
3. The breed almost disappeared, but some enterprising people revived the breed starting in the 1980s.
4. The wool I had gotten had very short locks, so was not going to be very drapey.
5. It is generally considered an extremely odd wool to work with. I could tell that my locks had almost no crimp (waviness) and kind of looked like human hair.

The triangle shape indicates a dual coat

I decided to spend the time to separate out the locks into the outer and inner coat, although apparently most people don't bother when working with this type of wool. I took off the outer coat by holding the wool at the base in one hand and pulling off the tips with the other. The bleached tips helped. I then combed the wool. It still looked remarkably like human hair.

A bit of combed wool

It felt kind of rough. I had been planning to make socks out of it, since the outer coat is thicker and more durable. I was starting to get worried that it would be too rough for socks. Still, I spun it up on my drop spindle.

One single on the spindle

By the time I was plying it, I knew that it was very rough. I still hoped that a hot bath would loosen it up and make it softer.

After finishing

Nope! Still super rough. I decided to stop fighting against the inevitable and just make a non-clothing item.

Trivets

The trivets I ended up making were perfect for the wool. The original pattern was closed in the middle, but I made an extra wedge, because I liked how it looked this way. I am hoping to get three of them out of the yarn, but I might run out.

So, in conclusion, the lesson for the day is...
Conservation breeds are great, but pay attention to what they are saying they are for, and don't try to make next-to-the-skin garments from anything that wasn't bred for it.

Later: what do I do with the under coat?

One Thing Leads to Another

Knitting is mainstream, spinning is unusual.

You can find usable yarn in any craft store, and yarn shops with high-quality yarn in every city.

As a knitter, there was little push to buy new tools and try new crafts. Sure, I would go out and buy a different size of needle, and I bought a set of t-pins when I started doing lace. One project required that I do a crochet border. But I never felt deprived because I didn't have a spindle. Fantastic yarn was all around.

It helped that I usually bought plain-colored, worsted-weight wool yarn (now that I spin, I try to avoid buying yarn, since it is piling up so fast). That stuff is versatile and interchangeable. With it, I can make almost anything I want to wear or use, and if there is something else, I can buy a batch of yarn special.

But now that I spin...

At first, I thought that I would just buy some roving and spin away. All I would need is a drop spindle. But I went to my local festival and fell in love with some dyed locks.

Dyed locks

Suddenly, I needed hand carders if I wanted to work with them. And then I read that the best way to get out the little bits of grass in the locks was to get a flick carder. And then it turned out that the staple-length was too long for carders to work easily, so I needed combs.

Suddenly, my tools were multiplying like never before. And that is even before I accidentally bought a pound of unwashed wool.

And it wasn't just my tools that were multiplying. All I wanted was to spin yarn, and I found myself carding, combing, flicking, and washing.

I think it is because of where I got my roving. Because it is not carried in most craft stores, I had to go to the festival. And while there was roving (and top) there was also more soft and beautiful wool that was just waiting to be turned in to yarn with just a little more work.

I am resisting the final step, however. I had been very careful to try to always get colored wool, either dyed or naturally some other color.

And then I was given pounds and pounds of white wool. I am making a shawl, but what am I going to do with the rest?

I don't think I can avoid dyeing forever, but we will see.

Sheep to Shawl: Part II

So, I have pounds and pounds of (mostly washed) leicester wool (see Part I). What can I do with it all if I am uninterested in dyeing?

One lace shawl, coming up.

Moreover, I have been wanting to knit a tallit for awhile, but it is a big project that requires some motivation. The poetic interest of making a religious object "from scratch" has some appeal, and they are usually mostly white - so no dyeing required.

So, how do I get from pounds of wool to a shawl?

Washed wool ready to be processed

First off, even with the remaining gunk, the locks on this wool are a gorgeous white and long.

Six-inch leicester locks.

The longer the staple of the lock (length) the easier it is to make low-twist, drapey yarns that are perfect for shawls. Six inches is great.

The locks are too long for carding, so at first, I tried combing. But the remaining lanolin made it too "sticky" with the combs I had. It ended up snapping most of the wool, leaving only a quarter as usable.

My fiber combs

Next, I tried just using my flick carder.

My flick carder, or flicker

I kind of hate this tool, because of the way it tends to scratch up my hands when I use it. I wish that it had a blunt end, rather than than having the carding cloth go around the corner. But it opens up the locks beautifully.

Flicked locks

Just flicking the locks lets me spin with aligned fibers (which makes good knitting stitch definition) without mucking about with the combs. It also gives the little sticks and bits of grass a chance to fall out (the dreaded VM). Even though I put a cloth on my lap, it does mean that I look like I have been rolling around in mulch whenever I flick locks.

The one last question was what to do with the waste wool that gets pulled out by the flicker. I fold the lock over my finger when I flick to try to prevent loss, but there are always a few shorter hairs, and some tangles.

I have been making "dryer balls". These go in the dryer, and they supposedly save energy and make clothes naturally softer. Since they are felted, it doesn't really matter what the wool looks like, so I have been stuffing them with the waste. I haven't used them yet though, because I am waiting until I have enough to felt them in the washer.

Pre-felted dryer ball

It is about the size of a large orange. The yarn is an unsuccessful handspun made with some other waste wool.

Part III can be found here.