I won the lotto - AKA "Evelyn Strikes Again"

Last weekend, I was in the Niagra region for a wedding, and happily made it to 3 yarn shops in one day! I had just left The Fibre Garden, a spinning and yarn store in Jordan, ON, and I was on my way down the street to visit Stitch, when I got a text message. It was very alarming.

"My parents have moved out of their house. I have all of my mom's spinning stuff. It's yours if you want it. When can I drop it off?"

It was my old next-door-neighbour, the daughter of Evelyn, the woman I bought my wheel from!

When I got back in town, she came by with a truck load. When she left, I was shaking. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to call. Below is the tale of my bounty. Along with a vocabulary lesson.

The drum carder. It preps wool for spinning in a fraction of the time it takes to do with handcards. It can also be used to blend colours. I've wanted one since the day I bought my wheel, considering the number of fleece I have to process. They are prohibitively expensive to most spinners. One this size would cost me over $650 + shipping to buy. Evelyn's husband build this using drafting plans. Despite sitting in a closet for 30 years, a few drops of oil is all it took for it to work like new. It's such a masterpiece that even Nate was taken by it's non-traditional beauty. "This thing looks awesome" he says. 
And it does. 

A lovely set of handcards. You can't bring a drum carder with you everywhere!

A big, fat drop spindle. I have never tried a drop spindle, but this one is so soft and lovely and heavy that I've carried it with me for the last few days, hoping to find a moment to try it. 

A 'Lazy Kate' that holds three bobbins for plying yarn! Nate tried to make me one a few months back, but Angus got so upset when Nate turned the drill on, that the project was put on hold indefinitely. 

A spinning apron. If you look really closely you can see it says "Romney Wools Ltd" with a sheep on it. So vintage! And I feel so professional when I wear it.

A niddy noddy for skeining/measuring yarn after spinning. It's a small one, so it will not replace the beast my father-in-law Tom built for me out of an old chair at camp, but it's the perfect size for 50g skeins.

I didn't know what this was, so I posted on the Fibre Artist and Yarn Spinners Facebook group. I received many different responses from people, who all claimed to know exactly what it was, despite them all claiming it was something entirely different from one another. "I have been using one for years, it's a such-and-such" they all declared. It seems to be fairly conclusive that it is a yarn blocker, but can also be used as a silk real. Or if I were to install some mesh I could use it as a tumbler; or I think someone said something about adding pegs to make it a winder. These cost $400!

Oh my. A mixed bag of fibre, mostly unlabled, but the box says "silk, angora, mohair, camel down..." A huge mystery bin of very expensive fibre is what it is!

A Skein holder. When used in combination with a ball winder (shown below), a skein of yarn can gets rolled into a ball in moments. I have a cousin who took weeks to roll a ball of yarn (you know who you are). This was so fun, I had a dream about doing it the other night. Make all the bad jokes you want. Don't knock it till you try it.

Every issue of Spin Off magazine, from 1984 to 1990 (36 issues). Spinning is thousands of years old and the equipment hasn't evolved much, so I have no concerns about the magazines being 3 decades old. I'm not getting hair teasing and swim suit advice from a 1985 Elle MacPherson.

Or wait. Is this back in now?

So that's my lot, excepting a few more books and a doffer stick. My house is packed. I need a studio. And I haven't even written about the 1918 Finnish loom that was given to me by my friend Tuula last month! Another post for another day...

-A

A Dreary Yarn with an Appropriate Name

This is my favourite yarn that I have spun so far. I finished it weeks ago, but could not post it, because I could not think of an inspiring name. I tried my best for an Austinian reference, but I couldn't think of anything so dreary with Jane. All I could imagine were exposed, snow-squalled landscapes of leafless, stunted shrubs and lichens over bare rock. And when we think of such dark landscapes, I am sure we all immediately think of Wuthering Heights.

It is a woollen spun blend of two mystery wools from my friend Linda, and my standard white Poplar Dale Shetland fleece. It is mostly fine (at times super-fine, at other times sport-weight) yarn, with under-spun "snow-squalls" strewn throughout (and perhaps a few over-spun "crags").

Behold Heathcliff.

Marianne and Colonel Brandon Capelet

I recently married two patterns.

I started off loosely following Sally Meliville's Knit-Round Scarf pattern, and by about three rounds in, I couldn't commit to a plain, crew neck collar on a plain capelet. I suffered with grand finale thoughts throughout the entire progress up to the neck, when it came upon me to Google a pattern for a scalloped edge.

Lovely Ingrid modelling the capelet

Here is my friend Ingrid modelling for me at the Circle of Creative Arts gallery on Queen. It looks so lovely on her, that I struggled with taking it back from her. Alas, I need something for my table at an upcoming sale!

The reserved, quiet body pairs with the complicated, romantic neckline, not unlike the way Marianne and Colonel Brandon pair in Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. The style along with the natural taupe 100% virgin wool, lets us reasonably imagine it as something Marianne may have cozied up in while recovering from her illness, when she at last fell in love with the Colonel.

Elizabeth at Pemberly Yarn

It was Anne's birthday last week, and on account of my lent-related austerity measures, I could not purchase her a gift. I had just spun my Pemberly Spencer yarn, and thought it could be a good opportunity for me to try my first "Art Yarn". I honoured the entire previously-thought-ugly outfit by plying the Pemberly Spencer with Evalyn's leftover white yarn, then added some blended tufts of dark brown and rust.

I hadn't gauged the amount of white yarn left on the spool well, and so I hope Anne can find some occupation for her slim 45 yards.

Navajo Plying

Yesterday, I filled a bobbin for the first time. I normally get impatient, or run out of fibre, and hurriedly ply something together to brag about. I was so satisfied with my full bobbin that I thought I would learn to Navajo ply.

Navajo plying takes a single strand of yarn and makes it three-ply. I didn't seem to entirely comprehend beforehand that in doing so, it would result in less than 1/3 the original yardage. My impressively packed bobbin is now a not-so-impressive 33 yards.

Single ply, before the Navajo ply

It only requires one bobbin of single-ply, unlike other plying methods where you hold two or more strands to ply together. Nate hasn't finished constructing my 'lazy Kate' yet (the device that holds bobbins for plying), so this is rather convenient for me. Plying with just the one strand also preserves the colour pattern, compared to the candy cane affect you get when you ply different colours together, and it saves from having to divide your single ply into equal amounts. You also don't have any leftovers from the bobbins not plying equally.

It was not a difficult skill to learn with the tried-and-true YouTube tutorials. It is like making giant crochet loops with your whole hand. At first I thought I must be doing it all wrong, but I came to realize that it is one of those tasks where if you focus or think on it too much, it can be disastrous. Best to just execute the motions and hope for the best.

After Navajo Plying

There is some yellow in the wool that I am not fond of, so earlier today I learned how to dye wool using tea. It is now drying and awaiting its "after" photo. Another post for tomorrow. 

Pemberly Spencer

A dear friend recently gifted me a bag of wool roving, of no mean size. Included were three rolls - light grey-brown, dark grey-brown, and the third, not so attractive, distantly familiar shade. I couldn't quite find the memory. I had been saving this roving until my spinning skills improved, as it is far too lovely to waste on amateur work. I was eager to do some spinning today, so I opted for spinning the not-so-attractive colour.

Then it struck me. Elizabeth at Pemberly.

For years, I was tormented by the scene in the 1995 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, where Lizzy tours Pemberly, under the assumption that Darcy is away. When they discover one another - him all wet, and her all humiliated - an intense romantic tension builds. A tension only amplified by the anxiety inflicted by Lizzy's ugly spencer jacket and bonnet. There I have said it! I thought they were ugly - such an awful colour scheme! I hate to speak ill of my dearest Elizabeth, but there it is.

I speak in the past tense regarding my dislike, not because my grammar is poor, but because I quite like the outfit now. Evidently my tastes have refined over the years. And I have developed an appreciation for bonnets. I am determined to spin this odd coloured, lovely roving into yarn that honours the outfit I have cursed for over a decade. I make no promises, but perhaps it is destined for a spencer jacket. 

Wet Felting at the Soup Kitchen

The Saturday Adventures of Anne and Ashleigh continued yesterday, when we went to the Soup Kitchen Community Centre for their weekly felting workshop! Calna, the Executive Director, and amazing fibre artist, facilitates. Upon establishing that she is my ex-aunt from before I was born (me being her "first ex-husband's sister's daughter") we got started!

My felting experience has thus far been limited to shrinking things that I have knit. Wet felting allows for felting all sorts of mediums like roving, unprocessed fleece, cut up sweaters, and even silk, into beautiful sheets of whatever you want to use it for. I don't know the full scope of what can be felted (please comment with other ideas), but we were all working flat pieces that can later be sewn into whatever we like. Anne is working on a case for her iPod, and I am making a mat that I can roll my double pointed needles in - like this one from Pinterest.

A blurry picture of materials. Appropriate, because felting is a blurry art. 

We started by laying out a "base material" - larger pieces of roving that we layered our design on top of - onto a sheet of bubble wrap that is at least the size of what we were trying to make. We then layer on our design. I layered on more roving, locks of fleece and tufts of silk roving. The silk doesn't actually felt, but it adheres to the wool fibres quite well and creates a lovely glow. Calna says that when you see glow, you know it is silk. I also used a "silk hanky" - a very fine and delicate sheet of silk - to create what proved to be a very impressionistic tiger lilly.

Silk hankies and roving!

When my design was layered, I placed a sheet of fine mesh or netting over top (I think I was using some kind of tulle) and then spayed it with soapy water from a spray bottle, until it sufficiently soaked through.

Then we were to gently rub and massage the piece. Jen, a fellow felter, referred to this as "Zen time". Just relax and gently rub it until it feels flat and lifts easily away from the mesh.

We then hemmed our pieces, by tucking under the edges all around, and then replacing the mesh and massaging the edges again.

Massaging my felt.

I removed the netting and placed another sheet of bubble wrap, bubble side down, on top of the felt and wrapped it around a rolling pin. I noticed after the fact, that others had the wherewithal to secure their projects with rubber bands around the pin. I missed this instruction, which complicated my rolling immensely. Calna insisted that it be rolled at least 100 times forward and backward. Anne didn't count - she focused on relaxing her shoulders. I counted every roll.

Rolling the felt and relaxing her shoulders.

Once rolled, we removed our felting from the bubble wrap, and rinsed it under the hottest water our hands could tolerate for a few minutes. All frustrations are then released by throwing the felt at the table as hard as possible 20 times. This step has a name, but I have forgotten it. Perhaps Anne remembers. Honestly, I think some of these steps are arbitrary, but exist for Calna's personal enjoyment. It was fun none-the-less.

Anne smashing her felt on the table 20 times. What is the word for this? 

After smashing, I was left with a beautiful mat, riddled with holes. I had to repeat some of the above steps to patch the larger ones. It looked quite pretty with the holes, but would not perform its function of holding needles very well.


Once the felt dries, it can be embroidered and sewn, or decorated in any imaginable way. There are needle felting machines and sewing machines available for use as well - which is a whole other Saturday adventure. I am going to embroider mine later on, in hopes that I can make the tiger lilly slightly less impressionistic.

Note the impressionistic tiger lilly. 

If you are looking for something to do on a Saturday, check out the Soup Kitchen at noon. You can make a $10 donation, or make a bracelet for them to sell. 

Felted Twig Cuff

I needed a break from the seed stitch Wedding Washcloth from Purl Bee that I am knitting for my friend Liza. Knitting washcloths might seem mindless and quick, but make no mistake - these are no ordinary washclothes.

The little "twigs" on the cuff are a result from knitting a full round with both yarns. I figured this out by way of a happy accident. If you want a crisper edge (though not much crisper), drop your first colour when you transition to the second colour.

Materials:

• To felt you require a yarn that is preferably 100% wool, but I believe anything over 70% will felt to some degree. I used Martha Stewart Crafts 100% Merino in bluish gray, and Blue Sky Alpaca's Suri Merino in Snow.
• US Size 10.5 double pointed needles (5)
• Mild soap
• Hot water

Pattern

1. Cast on 28 stitches (small), 32 (medium), 34(large) - These sizes are only approximate - as you are felting, keep checking the size. You can shrink it by felting longer, or stretch it when wet to make it bigger. Once dry, minor size adjustments can be made by re-wetting
2. Divide the stitches evenly over 4 needles.
3. Rounds 1-5: k
4. Round 6: k, continue to carry your first colour while adding the second colour.
5. Rounds 7-11: k with second colour only. 
6. Cast off - use a needle one size larger, or be a bit loose with the cast off so there is a bit of give for fitting your hand through.
7. Because you will be felting it, you don't need to bother with knitting in the ends! 
8. Fill a basin with the hottest water you can handle to touch and add mild soap. 
9. Keeping the band submerged for as much of the time as possible, vigorously rub it against itself. I rub my hands together like I am trying to warm them up. Note the amount of shirking to make sure  you don't felt it down too small. This takes about 5-10 minutes.
10. Squeeze out excess water and reshape.
11. You can cut down on drying time by wrapping it in a towel and stepping on it.

Enjoy as is, or jazz it up with some needle felting!

Felted "Sweat" Band

I don't know if anyone would want to sweat all over this felted "sweat" band made from suri alpaca and merino wool, but they'll look good doing it if they try! 

Materials

• To felt you require a yarn that is preferably 100% wool, but I believe anything over 70% will felt to some degree. I used Martha Stewart Crafts 100% Merino in bluish gray, and Blue Sky Alpaca's Suri Merino in Snow.
• US Size 10.5 double pointed needles (5)
• Mild soap
• Hot water

Pattern

1. Cast on 28 stitches (small), 32 (medium), 34(large) - These sizes are only approximate - as you are felting, keep checking the size. You can shrink it by felting longer, or stretch it when wet to make it bigger. Once dry, minor size adjustments can be made by re-wetting. 
2. Divide the stitches evenly over 4 needles.
3. Rounds 1-3: k
4. Rounds 4-6: k dropping first colour and starting second colour.
5. Rounds 7-9: k dropping second colour and picking up first colour again. 
6. Cast off - use a needle one size larger, or be a bit loose with the cast off so there is a bit of give for fitting your hand through.
7. Because you will be felting it, you don't need to bother with knitting in the ends! 
8. Fill a basin with the hottest water you can handle to touch and add mild soap. 
9. Keeping the band submerged for as much of the time as possible, vigorously rub it against itself. I rub my hands together like I am trying to warm them up. Note the amount of shirking to make sure  you don't felt it down too small. This takes about 5-10 minutes.
10. Squeeze out excess water and reshape.
11. You can cut down on drying time by wrapping it in a towel and stepping on it.

Enjoy as is, or jazz it up with some needle felting!

First Yarn

Today I plied my first spun yarn, with the yarn that Evelyn had left on the extra bobbin that she gave me with the wheel. I like that it is her last yarn, mixed with my first. Her's was consistently very fine, and mine was extremely inconsistently thick, then fine, then thick again. When plied together they created a neat coiled effect. I can't decide what to knit with my very first yarn. It could be worth millions one day when I'm famous. 

Washing Old, Dirty Fleece by Hand

When did someone paint me washing wool?

Washing fleece, or "scouring" as it's also known as, is truly one of the most satisfying steps in processing raw Fleece. Its amazing how something so filthy can become so clean and lovely. Particularly when you're washing two-year-old fleece, where the lanoline oil has had a chance to harden, and the sheep are raised for lambing and are covered vegetable matter (vm). The hardened lanoline makes it very difficult to shake out or remove the vm before cleaning.

Many experienced wool processors or spinners will tell you that in such a case as this, it is a total waste of time to even go near the fleece. But I have the benefit of inexperience and curiosity on my side, and 24 free Shetland sheep fleece to play with. Using two-year-old fleece full of vegetable matter to learn from, reminds me of when I was 11 years old, taking drum lessons. My teacher started me on jazz music, because "if you can play Jazz you can play anything". If I can make yarn out of this fleece, I can make yarn out of anything.

 I have no lofty goals of using these particular fleece to spin extremely fine yarns to knit expensive designer knits with - I am simply trying to gain experience, improve my wool processing skills, and have something to practice spinning with.

A note about skirting 
Before you can wash a fleece, it has to be "skirted" - unless the person who sheered the sheep has done this for you. Skirting takes off the worst of the fleece that is stained and matted. I will go over skirting in another post, which I realize is out of order, but I'd hate for my blog to seem contrived. I've had this fleece stinking up my bathroom for almost a week, so its time to deal with it.

A note about felting

Felting is wonderful, except for when you don't want to do it. If you have a filthy fleece, you are probably not trying to felt it at this stage, and if you plan to card it for spinning then you definitely don't want to felt it. Felting is achieved through heat and agitation, and is helped along by temperature change and detergents. You will probably not accidentally felt your whole fleece while washing it (unless you decided to wash it in a machine or use a wash board), but you may accidentally felt parts of it if you are not careful.

Machine alternative 
Many people use their top load washing machines to wash fleece. I have a front load, so its not an option for me, but I am also paranoid about letting my wet wool out of my site, so I would do it by hand anyway. Here is a good tutorial on using a machine from Spinderellas.com

The required materials:

• Something to wash it in - a basin, kitchen sink, bath tub
• Dish detergent
• Vinegar
• Drying rack (salad spinner also helps)

Here in the full fleece that I am going to wash. I zeroed the scale with my pickling pot on it before filling it up. I know I can only wash about 2 lbs at a time in the galvanized basin I use. 

About 4.25 lbs - looks like I'll be doing two loads.

*Note* You have to get the water ready before putting the fleece in!

Put about 1/3 of a cup of detergent in the basin for every pound of fleece. A pound of fleece is quite  a bit, so you might have to do it in batches depending on the size of basin. Ensure that there will be a decent water to fleece ratio (more water than fleece) to avoid having to do extra soaks.

Fill up the the basin with the hottest water you have, leaving enough room for the fleece.

Set the fleece on the water and hopefully it will start to sink on its own, if not gently press it down. The water is probably too hot to use your bare hands, so use dish gloves or some kind of prodding device. The key is to not agitate the fleece.

Once covered by water, let the fleece soak for about 25 minutes. Don't go longer than this, or the water will cool, risking felting, or the lanolin re-hardening.

Gently remove the fleece from the water and set aside.

Dump the water - as you can see in this picture, it's disgusting.

Depending on how dirty the fleece is, you may have to repeat the above instructions, with half the soap and a little less time. Last week I washed a filthy one-year-old fleece with two washings, and one rinse, but it may have been a little over-scoured. This is a two-year-old fleece, so there isn't much hope for less than two washes.

Second wash

If you have done a second soak, remove the fleece and dump that water. My water is still mucky after the second wash, but I don't want to do a third for fear of over-scouring. The wool will clean up a bit more in the carding process, and the yarn can always get washed once it is spun.

Still mucky, oh well.

The fleece is rinsed by filling the basin up with hot water again, without soap, and about 1/4 cup of white vinegar per pound of fleece, to balance the ph. Soak it for about 10 minutes.

Mine was floating. As a child, we had a in-ground swimming pool. My father was relentless that I not go anywhere near the pool if it had the plastic cover on it (glorified bubble wrap), because if I fell in, the suction from the cover would prevent me from coming up and I would drown. I applied this crude science to my floating fleece issue.

To be entirely honest with you, I forgot about the fleece and I went grocery shopping. It ended up being in there for about 45 minutes. I will make an update on here if I notice any terrible result from this.

Remove the fleece and squeeze out the water. The rinse water is pretty clear. That is a good sign.

If you have a washing machine with a spin cycle that doesn't add water at the start, you can use that to spin out the wool and then hang on a drying rack. I don't have this kind of spin cycle, so I just squeeze it and drape it over my drying rack. You can also spin handfuls in a salad spinner before hanging.

Unwashed fleece is in the basin beside the drying rack - what a colour difference!

Once dry, your wool is ready for felting or carding, or whatever else you like to do with clean fleece -comment below with other ideas!