spinny spin spin!

I have been testing out my new-to-me louet spinning wheel. This is causing me a great amount of excitement. Like that my life is perfect!  Whoa, doesn't take much, does it. Heh. I have only spun wool on drop spindles up until this point, so having a wheel certainly is opening up some new doors in my imagination.

I decided I would see what I would have to figure out and study in order to create various types of yarns. These tests are just that, imperfect amounts of yarn for me to learn from. 

I started first making a single yarn. No plying in this first one. 

This is a small amount of alpaca wool single, slightly fulled and knit. 

I am in the parking lot of the ballet studio waiting for my kids, thus the photo quality is meh. 

The next one I tried was a 2 ply. I created a two tone yarn, as you can see in it's knit form. 

Here is a close up:

This is very similar to what I would make using a drop spindle. The next 3 examples are made so much easier with a wheel!  The 3 ply turned out better than when I ply using a drop spindle. I have both my hands available to ensure things aren't getting twisted up. 

A close up of this one:

This next 3 ply is made with one single where the above example uses 3 singles. The Navajo 3 ply is super easy to do with the wheel. When I made this type on the drop spindle I did it "on the fly". This is way better. 

Sorry for the terrible photo. I can't help it. 

The final example is a Navajo 4ply!  I have never done this before, but with the wheel was really easy. This is what I am most excited about and I am sure I will do a whole post on the topic!

One more close up:

There you have it!  Now to make a bunch of stuff until my fingers hurt. Yay me!

UFOs coming out of the cows

I really enjoy creating. I dream of colour, I imagine shapes and patterns, I anticipate the softness of a special blend of fibre.

I blend wool and fibres with hand carders.

I use a drop spindle to create singles and ply yarns.

I recently obtained a spinning wheel from the side of the road in the garbage. I have made a few skeins of yarn as I test this new twist.

I knit from patterns already made, but also create my own inventions

I crochet, both Tunisian and one-hooked.

Hmmm, but...

I do not weave in my ends. Almost all my "finished" projects sit in a 95% complete state. I decided to wipe them off the almost-done list and put them on the finished pile! So, I got these done in one night (not sure why I hadn't done this sooner...) and on the way home last night, I made my daughter stand on the side of the road so I could take pictures of the finished work. Here are some photos.

This is a Tunisian crochet cowl that I designed.

wound twice around, this is a cozy wardrobe addition

This is a capelet that I made, using a pattern from a magazine, Delicata by Brooke Nico

on an adult this will look different, but my 11 year old is all I had for a model today.

One of my favorite pieces to make.  It was fast, and the yarn is soooo amazing.  Mirasol Qina

The pattern is 

Peaches and Cream Shawl by Therese Chynoweth

This is a prototype bonnet hat that I designed.  There are lots of patterns for these around, but none matched what was in my head.  (maybe nothing really does, hehe)

She wants this hat.

This is one of the most fun hat patterns I have made.  It can be extremely slouchy if you want.. The pattern name is Aspen Ice Hat by Liat Gat

This is a less slouchy version of the same hat.

This is another one of my Tunisian Cowls - I have not named the pattern, nor have I written it down.

Another version of the same Tunisian cowl, using Alpaca...

SO SOFT!!!! AHHHHH!

She wanted to pose some shots with the cows.

 

This is Aranami Shawl by Olga Buraya-Kefelian

I used a thicker yarn than what was called for, and I like it's gushiness

This is her showing off for the cows, I suspect.

This is another invention that needs some testing. 

She wanted to keep this one too.

This is a linen/cotton scarf-ette, a pattern called 

Ironwork Shawl by Tara Miller

This is from the book, Cowl-girls...it took a very short amount of time to create, as the yarn was extremely bulky.  

#09 Seed Stitch Cowl by Cathy Carron

Another of my inventions.  These mittens are the BEST!  made of possum fur and have a super-nice fit.

Another of the same pattern cowl as the others.  This one was made all from handsun yarn ( the second skein of yarn I ever made)

This is a top for an adult, so it looks kind of baggy on her, but I really like how this turned out, and can't wait to wear it next year (winter is a-coming!)

A ham, through and through

 

So, three cheers for me, right?  I suppose I should work on finishing projects.  This was an incredible amount of fun.

More colour and exotic texture

I don't have time to type a great big post, but this is what I have done. 

This, turned into

This, which completed my exotic spin session. 

What I have made using a couple drop spindles, Nova Scotian hand dyed wool and some imported fibres, are these:

From left to right, Bfl (fleece artist), silk and camel; camel and bfl (fleece artist); cashmere and merino. 

Now, what to do with it!!

Alpaca wool blend done

I finally finished the project (I have more than one project on the go) I have been posting about. The result is quite lovely and soft. 2 skeins of 3 ply (Navajo) blue faced Leicester.  Both are 44g, one is 105m and one is 106m. This is exciting news because it means I was relatively consistent in the spinning of both skeins, even though they were spun several days apart. 

So, there you have it!  Now onto the next project!  

It's a merino camel blend that I am hand blending with hard carders. Hopefully I will have the same consistency in next project!

Cats plus fibre art equals....

It takes longer to get things done with cats around. Spinning, plying, knitting, crocheting - these are all things that put cats into a happy place. I was finishing up a project that was 75% for a long time. All I had to do was ply 2 singles. It took so long, because of this:

Yes I use chairs to wind my yarn from the spindle to a skein. The cats follow my every move. I don't have photos of what they do when I am plying, because I have no hands free!  Anyway, the end result is a 62g camel/wool blend. With a bit of trilobal nylon for some pizzazz!

One done, one to go, two done, eight to go

If you have been paying attention, you will know that I have been working on a wool/alpaca blend. The goal is 2 similar skeins of about 40g each. I finished the first one last night and here it is:

43g of Navajo plied almost worsted weight softness. The second will follow. 

While all this is going on, I am also on a knitting frenzy. I have a few hats to make, of a Dutch nature. I have 2 done and this one almost done. These will be mailed to my friends who have asked for one!  From far and wide. 

I made this pattern after watching the Olympics and with some fine tuning based on another pattern I think the result will be happily accepted by others!

Have a great day!

Part two to yesterday's post

So yesterday I explained that I am blending alpaca and bfl hand painted wool to make a 3 ply (the process I am using this te is called Navajo plying), colourful skein for making mittens. I am doing this with hand carders, spinning with a drop spindle, and plying with a larger drop spindle. Last night I took some photos of the blending

This is what the bfl looks like after I put it in the cards and add in some of the alpaca. I am not using a lot, because the wool is hand painted and I want to keep the progression of colour relatively intact. Otherwise, what is the point of getting a hand painted roving?  

Here is that same bit after 3 passes of the handcarders. As I comtinue to blend you will see that I have to keep the rolags in order off the cards. 

When I spin these I will get long colour progressions, which is perfect because I will be Navajo plying the singles when I am done. This means that instead of using 3 separate singles and plying those together, I basically make looooong loops like crochet, ply and repeat, with only one single. This is what the yarn is looking like   

This one should be done today. I'll keep you updated.