11 posts tagged “spinning”

This is a laceweight single I spun about a month ago. It's a two ply yarn,

about a fingering weight . It's the first of my CMF roving Azure sky that I bought at Madrona and is also the first yarn I've spun on my brand new Purpleheart spindle. What you can't see from this picture was that this was the first time I had bought a variegatedroving and I had to try to figure out how to spin it. At first, I drafted too much and the colors were pastel (as seen by the center pull ball) instead of the vibrant colors that the roving has. After asking on Spinning Fiber, I found my rhythm and was very pleased with the colors. I'm calling it Should I Stay or Should I Go. Yes, I have started naming my yarns. I'm accumulating enough of them that it's getting hard to keep all the photos and information straight.

Lately, I've been working on this. It's a two ply, 9 wpi (bulky/very bulky) yarn made from the same CMF roving that the first yarn was. This was the first time that I actually made a two ply with two separate balls. I am absolutely in love with it. It is safe to say that this is my favorite yarn. You may also recognize it from the top of this page; it's also they yarn I'm using for my banner. Instead of splitting the pencil roving into 8-9 strips as I did for Should I Stay or Should I Go, I only split it into 2 or three, giving me a much bulkier  yarn. And I love it to death. It has been deemed, Heartbreak Hotel. (And if you don't know where that title comes from you really need to learn your Elvis :D) It's 113 yds.

And lastly, a pictorial comparison of the two yarns. 

Really, please do.

I finally finished spinning up the second half of the CMF roving. Second half doesn't mean that I'm out of the CMF pencil roving in this color, not at all. It simply means that I filled my spindle once with a single (and I do mean filled), then I wound it into a center pull ball, let it sit on my desk for a week as I filled up the spindle yet again.

I'm definitely loving this spindle. Prior to this, I've only had a Balkan spindle and a Turkish spindle, so although winding into a center pull ball is very easy on my Turkish, on the Balkan I had to make a lazy kate out of a shoebox so that the winding process wasn't painfully slow. And guess what? That shoe box is currently sitting in the corner of my room. At home. In Washington state. A bit far from where I am.

I was just going to make another one, but I found as I made a center pull ball off of the Purpleheart spindle that because it is missing a bottom whorl, I don't even need one. I just can wind, very quickly, from the spindle itself. It's awesome! 

I started plying last night, and almost made it all the way through.

First of all, for some reason my custom banner isn't working. Can anyone else see it? It's worked up until now. And yes, I know it's been a long time since I posted. But I'm back at school, which has been so busy (I'm doing 15 hrs a week of Calculus, just to do the homework) that I just haven't had the time to post.

So, here's my second post about Madrona. This is the lovely that I picked up there. I tried a few different spindles, but I  just could not resist this one. It's from Spindlewood Co., a local Oregon company run by Steve and Connie Paulsen. It's made of Birdseye maple, with a redheart shaft. It's 1 1/8 oz, or 31 grams, making it my lightest spindle. It spins beautifully, and for a very long time.

Most of all, I love the detail on this spindle. It's very unique, and absolutely gorgeous. I love the contrast of the two different colors of the whorl, as well as well as the curves. It also has  the same beautiful detailing on the bottom. I also love the finish on this spindle. I'm not sure what they used, but what I've encountered when I've looked at spindles is that the finish they use seems too heavy for the wood and the desired purpose, it feels 'sticky' to my fingers. The finish on this spindle is deliciously smooth. I'm in total love with it.

Now comes the part about flash-your-stash I mentioned in the previous post. I learned how to braid roving! (I used this as a reference). So, given how a lot of my fiber was everywhere, as well as generally smooshed, I decided braiding it would both organize it as well as make it pretty and let it get a little air. So, I present to you. The braided roving.

Aren't they pretty? Now the above are only a representation of my roving. I also have these, which I didn't bother braiding because there's a lot of it and because I already had a braided representation of it.

I also have the samples, which are such small quantities that I didn't even bother attempting to braid it.
And... for the final picture, here is my braided roving with all the fiber goodies I purchased at Madrona Fiber Arts Festival.

This post is going to be a bit of a flash your stash, and a bit of my new loot. (Just warning you, there are pictures and links to pictures aplenty ahead).

First of all, I acquired some beautiful roving at Madrona.  Firstly, Crown Mountain Farms was there. Oh my goodness, their fibers were completely drool worthy. I wanted to snatch them all up. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. Fortunately though, I had enough money to take a good shot at it. I simply fell in love with their pencil roving. It was something I had heard about before, but never actually owned nor spun. But then again, this was my first time buying hand dyed fiber. Gasp!! Before this, my only fiber purchases had been from Brown Sheep, where I picked up several pounds of mill ends at an irresistible price, and the few purchases at the Weaving Works. I took three different colorways home with me.

This is the one I'm spinning up first. Gorgeous!

edit:: Pictures have been added!!

Guess what day it was today? Madrona Fiber Arts day! Well, technically it lasts from Thursday thru Sunday, but since I'm too poor to take classes, I decided to just go to the marketplace. And boy, did I have some great fun shopping. But before listening to everything I say about Madrona Fiber Arts Festival, here's an update of my week.

Sunday: leave for Portland, arrive in Portland, basically re-move in to my dorm room.

Monday: Start to feel a little sick. Study for the quiz I'm taking on Wednesday, and catch up with friends.

Tuesday: More catching up with friends. Now I'm definitely starting to feel a cold coming on.

Wednesday: Miserably sick. Take hundreds of mg's of pills that don't help at all. Take quiz. Catch train back to Seattle. Go thru an entire box of kleenex. Cancel all plans for the weekend.

Thursday: So sick I can't get out of bed. Re-affirm to all my friends that I'm definitely not going to be able to see them this week. Can barely move my head. Watch lots of plotless drivel on tv.

Friday: Start to feel a bit better, now I can actually move. It's not just like a really severe cold. Get the meth pills (the cold pills that you can't get unless you give your name, address, drivers license number and signature)

Saturday: Well enough to go to Madrona. Leave at 8 with my mother to go to Tacoma. Arrive in Tacoma, drive right past the street we need. Gas light turns on. Oh crap! Drive hopelessly around Tacoma, frantically searching for a gas station. Nearly lose ourselves in all the fog. Get stuck at every red light. Gas light has now been on for over five minutes. It's close to panic time. Pull over at McDonalds. Ask for directions to nearest gas station. Blindly trust that direction giver knows what she's talking about. Drive several blocks, praying that we will see the gas station any moment now. Spotting target, let out sigh of relief. Fill gas tank with enough gas to let us drive around without fear of getting stranded. Drive back to off ramp of freeway to see where exactly this so called 'Broadway' street is. Find Broadway, and Tacoma Sheraton. Pull into parking. Oops, wrong parking. Parking garage for overnight parking only. Turn around. Go back out to Broadway and up to first tier of outdoors parking. No spots. No place to turn around. Back out of parking lot into street. Go up to second tier. Parking spots! Park. Realize that this is paid parking, and we don't have small bills. Go inside to get change, then pay for parking. Go back inside and go to marketplace. Drool and pet the pretty yarns and fiber. Take some home.

Mission accomplished! No petty sickness will prevent me from increasing my fiber stash! (insert evil Mu-ah-ha-ha-ha laugh here)

The Madrona Fiber Arts Festival is my first Madrona event, and only my second knitting festival. I went to the Seattle Knitting Expo last year, and was introduced to what is now one of my favorite online sellers: Angora Valley Fibers. Unless I'm totally blanking however, the Seattle Knitting Expo did not carry spinning fibers. And this year, fiber is what it's all about. That was my goal this festival: do not buy any yarn. Gasp! Shocker, I know.

I am a hoarder and a stasher at heart; seriously I think in my past life I was a dragon, I love to stash and hoard things so much there is no other explanation. Knitting and spinning have allowed me to give into those needs. (May I remind you of .... THE STASH? Don't forget this one, or this one, which is just my spinning fiber (see later post for pics of fiber). And this is all my good stuff, all acrylics have been banned to a box in my closet).

But, do to money restraints and ease of buying (I know I've mentioned this before, but keep in mind, even when you see my new loot, I am poor, I just saved a lot of my Winter Break pay check for the festival. And I didn't have enough to both go to the marketplace and the classes.) I decided that pure fiber is all I was going to buy these year. Let me explain. In Seattle, and in Portland as far as I know, there aren't any really good spinning LYS. There's Weaving Works in Seattle (see this post for my rant against them), Acorn Street Shop has a little bit of fiber, but not much, and a few spindles, and then there's one way up in Shoreline that I haven't quite gotten to visiting yet. In Portland, there is Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks, who are only starting to sell spinning supplies and spinning wheels. Never mind the fact that Blue Moon Fibers in based in Scappoose, which is about 40 minutes away from me, because they don't sell out of their warehouse. That's it.

So when I want hand-dyed BFL (which I've found out I've been pronouncing incorrectly this entire time) I would have to buy online. Yarn I can buy elsewhere. Heck, I can buy it at a really good discount because I work PT in a yarn shop. If we don't carry it, I can put an order through to the distributor to get it, and still get it on discount. Not only that, but I'm a much faster knitter than I am a spinner, partly due to my inexperience with the spindle and partly due to the fact that I'm using a spindle and not a wheel. For the same amount of money I could spend on yarn, I could buy fiber that would last me much, much longer. It has a longer entertainment value, and in my cost effective world, that is a great thing. Yarn is so much easier to find and much more quickly completed, although you would never know that from looking at my WIP's.

First of all let me say that I need to become proficient in spinning pencil roving, because I bought several of them. Also, to tempt your imagination, I also bought a new spindle (squee!!) and BFL.

Tomorrow... pictures and more! (I left my camera cord in Portland)

I finished spinning the single that I wanted to Navajo ply. Then I plied it. I had never Navajo plied before, and it took me a little while to get the hang of it. I really like it, especially the look it generates. However, I don't know if this was due to my lack of experience or if it always happens with Navajo plying, but in between most of the singles. there was a hole between the plies.

It did turn out pretty though, or at least from what I can see while it's still wet.

I gave into my inner child and built a snow fort.

I'm relaxing right now before I go to bed, so I thought it was about time I posted again. So far I'm doing a lot better keeping the updates frequent than my previous attempts on blogger, so I'm pretty happy with myself.

I survived my CS final, and I actually think I did pretty well.

In between studying and massively preparing for my upcoming tests, as well as detoxing from my CS final, I've beentaking knitting breaks (ie. knitting while checking email, or while watching tv).

I have a ::gasp:: couple of FO's to report.

First, I spun up the soy silk, and manage to get 55 yds of two ply. I also spun up 14 yds of 70-30 Merino Silk blend from one one foot piece of roving, also center pull ball plied.

Secondly, the Suki bag is finished! Well, it's finished in the sense that the knitting is done, but I still have to felt it then connect the felted handles to the bag. This means I'll have two bags to felt when I get home! Look at all the little ends. What the pattern wanted me to do, and that I was surprised about, is that they only wanted me to square knot the ends then clip the remaining yarn to an inch. So that's what I did. We'll see how it works.

Because I finished all the fiber I had with me, and finished Suki, I decided to pick up the Snicket Socks once again. I got some progress done: I finished the leg and turned the heel, but I really don't like how the heel turned out. The heel only fits correctly if I make sure to stretch the stitches up a bit, otherwise, when I relax my foot, I have a good couple cms of loose fabric. I've already decreased 8 sts after the heel in an effort to get it to fit better, but I think I'll have to decrease 8 sts BEFORE I start the heel, and make the heel that much smaller. It's a short row heel, one that I don't normally do in other socks I've made, I usually do a heel flap. So if all else fails, I'll go back to that. Otherwise, I really like how its knitting up and would definitely do this pattern again.

Hello all! I just thought I'd put in a quick post while I'm taking a small break from studying for my CS final. Which is tomorrow. At 8:30 in the frickin morning.

Anyways, hi. I've been spinning a lot, at least in between studying and definitely before finals week started. I spun up the soy silk, like I said, and I got approximately 55 yds. I don't have a scale (another thing to put on my Christmas list, I really need to know how many grams and oz are in each skein), so I can't tell you how much fiber created that. I can tell you that although the end product is very nice and shimmery, I don't like working with 100% soy silk. It's like a cobweb, and I mean that literally. It doesn't like to stay in its nice roving form, and prefers to float everywhere, and cling to everything. Yet each individual staple is incredibly strong. I was using my spindle (obviously), but that spindle is about 1.2 - 1.4 oz (again, I need a scale) but I could easily spin a very very light laceweight single on it, without having to worry about it breaking. However, it all comes back to it's a cobweb. Predrafting is a necessity for this fiber; don't work with much more than how wide you want your finished yarn to be. But the fact that soy silk eats the twist, and condenses as soon as it encounters twist, you want to predraft chunks a little wider than what you would expect your finished yarn to be in another fiber like merino in order to get the same result in soy silk.

I also spun up the really small sample of Merino-Silk (70-30) I had, which was only about a ft long. I made... geez, I can't remember now. I think it was about 13 - 15 yards of it. I really liked it, especially its luster, but I'm not sure if it's because it's a 70-30 blend or if it was because it was merino, or if it was just the quality of merino that was lacking, but it was still a little itchy to me, something I had not expected. After all, it was part silk. I'm willing to bet though, that if I blended silk and BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) or silk and superwash wool (as soon as I get hand combs) that it would not bother my skin at all.

Anyways, I've taken a long enough break. Got to get back to studying!

Look what I made! It's a 165 yds of two ply merino yarn!

Isn't it beautiful! I spun that! It's my first plied yarn, the first single even that I worked on since the whole spinning thing clicked. I've been working on this for the past 2-3 weeks. A spindle makes an ounce or two last a long time. It was a whole lot of fun though, and very relaxing. I could just stand/sit there and spin, but because I love multitasking, I would spin while on the computer, watching tv, or talking on the phone (although that quickly starting cramping my neck). I spun a laceweight single, then Andean plied it by winding it into a center pull ball, then rewinding the ball using both the inner and outer strand in order to make plying easier. I then plied! Plying goes pretty quickly, although it seemed that winding the newly plied yarn onto the spindle took a lot more time than actually plying it.

Here's a penny in order to show the scale of the single. In a few parts it was a little larger than this or literally sewing thread thin, but the majority of it was this width.

And here's a closeup of the color. I actually saved a little bit of roving to

make a bulky weight version of this. Part way through spinning the lightweight single I figured out that if I wanted to create one of my favorite looks right now, the barberpole, using this roving I would need to draft a single about 4 times as large as this one. So I'll try that soon, but right now I'm a bit tired of this roving, so my next spinning adventure, which I will start either today or tomorrow, is the start of my sampling. I decided since I can spin a continuous yarn that I would start trying out a little bit of each fiber to see how I like them. The first one I'm going to try is soysilk.

Ooooh, nifty. This cross post thing is awesome. Since I've started spinning, I've once again become an active member of spinningfiber (lj) and I had completely forgotten/neglected my lj I set up for spinning. At the time, I really wanted an lj account so I could join some fiber-y communities, so I set up that lj and pretty much haven't used it since. Once I lost interest in spinning I forgot about the blog. But this cross post thing enables me to post on vox, yet have an excerpt and link automatically sent to my lj. Very cool. I think their next step should be to add lj name tagging over here, as in you can link to people on lj automatically. They have their own vox version, but I think they should add lj as well.

Anyways, to the spinning! Sorry, no pics for you today. I'm still working on my one and only spinning project (I only have one spindle with me anyways), and surprisingly I haven't had time to spin today. ::Gasps in horror:: Unfortunately, I've been busy doing school work. I'd spin some right now, but my roommate's sleeping so the lights are off and I'm not quite that comfortable with spinning yet to be doing it in the dark. My single is coming along nicely, and it's been a great learning experience.

I've learned:
                 -  technical skills (how to draft semi-consistantly, how to spin without your shoulder feel like it's gonna die)
                 -  that it's a whole lot easier coming back to it even though I never really got the basics down prior to this
                 -  I am definitely addicted
                 -  rovings can be even prettier than yarns, and come in fabulous colors
                 -  I love variegated roving, but not ones where there's only a little bit of colors running lengthwise
                 -  I like the big, bright colorful rovings, like Shimmy and Fragile on this page
                 -  The difference between woolen and worsted prep
                 -  The difference between the uses of combs and cards
                 -  I kind of already knew this, but spinners are really really nice people who don't mind out helping beginners like me!
                 -  Spinning is addictive. It's worth repeating.
                 -  I have a spindle, and that's all well and good, but I would enjoy a wheel better.
                 -  I'm part zen part end result spinner. (See previous point)
                 -  Time flies just as fast when as I'm spinning as when I'm knitting
                 -  I can't wait until I have some money saved up so I can go to the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival and pick me up some roving and maybe a fleece