Shawls and Bobbin Lace Abound

The good news is that I finally obtained a full time role!  I start my new position in a week and am looking forward to getting back into the workforce.  On the fiber end this will be good for me so that I stop creating Works In Progress (WIP).  My time off has seen me cast on several shawls – two of which are gossamer web based.  The Sunflower shawl is nearly done as I just have a 1/4 left of the edging to complete.  It still looks so much smaller than the photo but my hopes are that it grows with blocking.

I have begun and ripped out and restarted my gossamer triangular shawl and seem to be progressing much better now that I am past the first 4 rows of the border.  I still think there is an error in the pattern as I had to reduce some stitches to make things balanced but there is nothing online about this issue so perhaps it is just me.

Bobbin lace is still awesome and I am working on my first true lace edging which will be attached to a handkerchief when it is done.  There is a great deal of pleasure of moving the bobbins around and pining threads to create intricate lace work.  I have had thoughts about learning needle lace but for now I am concentrating on learning Torchon lace work.  After all there are several styles of bobbin lace still yet to learn and master.  My homemade pillow is by far my favorite lace pillow but we shall see how things change when the sectional pillow arrives. I actually made this piece with silk yarn I purchased during the YarnFest in Loveland, CO in April.  I am amazed that the silk fibers stayed in place when the pins were removed.

On the festival front it looks like I will only be participating in the Golden Farmer’s Market in July and August.  My heart is not into going to Salida this year so I decided to skip the festival and hopefully join it next year.  The only other market I am looking into is the Denver Public Library’s Paris Holiday Market in November.  Of course I will also have the Rocky Mountain Weaver’s Guild Sale in November to hopefully move my hand spun yarns into new homes.

I realized that I have not done much yarn spinning as my stash is so large.  I am finding it difficult to procure a local venue to sell the hand spun so I have begun listing the yarns on the Etsy site.  Once several of the 50+ skeins of yarn are sold I am sure the urge to boost my supply will occur.  For now I have some merino/tencel fiber being spun on my Russian spindle to be used in making a gossamer web shawl – 8 ounces of fiber should be enough to make this work.  Of course I also have flax fibers to play with and ply with different fibers (silk and cotton).  Having a huge stash of hand spun has allowed me to focus on knitting items and of course create lace with bobbins.

I just have this nagging feeling that I am going to forget what my WIPs are at some point as in general I never had more than 3 at a time.  I don’t even want to contemplate how many actual WIPs there are but I breath a bit easier knowing that a few are almost complete.  As I get bored easily edgings are generally my downfall as they are so repetitive but the Sunflower shawl edge got a lot focus while at the hair salon and under the dryer this weekend.  My cotton spinning class was cancelled as we didn’t have enough people sign up for it but hopefully the silk and drop spindle courses will happen this summer/fall.

Well I am going to get back to knitting the gossamer web shawl for a bit and until next time – keep your needles sharp and yarn in abundance!

2014 Tour de Fleece competition

This past Saturday marked the first day in this year’s Tour de Fleece race on Ravelry. I was good this year and only joined 2 teams versus the 4 to 6 I have done in the past. I also decided to pace myself and just spin for a few hours everyday on one or more tools.

My primary fiber for the race is the Cambridge Fiber pack from Louet. This year I am spinning all of the fibers in their natural state and may have my friend dye a few of them but that isn’t a definite. For fun the new to me fibers which are in 8oz packages are being split into two 4oz sets. One set is being spun with a long draw method and one is being spin finer and semi-worsted. The difference in the two spinning methods is quite noticeable thus far. I have spun 8oz of Jacob Sliver and 8oz of Perendale sliver thus far. Shetland is on the horizon for later in the week. These are all being spun on my “workhorse” wheel the Louet S15.

My Russian spindles are also getting into the race competition but of course this tool is for finer yarn. The project this week is cobweb lace weight paco-vicuna for a potential customer. For the race I started a new spindle of fiber that I can combine with the yarn I made last week. The 2 ply needs to be created prior to Sunday (washed and dried) to show to its potential owner. Hoping to accomplish this by Thursday as I have a big market coming up all day on Saturday so I’m anticipating being mentally and physically wiped out that evening.

Plying Buffalo yarn

This week I took the plunge and began to ply my spindle spun buffalo yarn.  As you know I am plying the single of buffalo fiber with a commercial wool crepe yarn, these fibers have been combined onto a Russian plying spindle.  Yes it did take me about 2 hours to combine the 2 yarns together but mostly because my plying spindle is so heavy I had to give my wrist a break from holding it.  A lighter weight plying spindle has been ordered so I can move through this process quicker.  Once I had the fibers combined the next step was to create the plying disc.  I finally found some cardboard which suited my needs and made a somewhat round circle and began the process of plying the fibers.

My current spindle does work well as a supported spindle and is aiding in the plying process rather well.  Somehow I seem to have more yak yarn than wool and keep getting gaps in the drafting area as the 2 yarns are not in sync.  Since this is my first time with this process I’m trying not to be to critical and treating things as a learning experience.  After all I have another 1/2 ounce of buffalo fiber plus cashmere, yak and paco-vicuna fibers to work with.

This weekend a met another lace knitter who happens to be a cashmere fanatic.  She has asked that I attempt to make a 2 ply cobweb weight yarn from paco-vicuna for her use in her knitting business.  My only hiccup at the moment is that I don’t know where I put my paco-vicuna fiber so that I can start on this process.  The last time I spun PV fiber was a few years back and on my Louet wheel and it turned out a Sports weight single.  Now that I can spin a fine yarn on the Russian spindles I am hoping to each cobweb status – time will tell.

Teaching a spinning class

This past Saturday I taught my first drop spindle class of 2014.  I taught this method twice last year and then somehow let teaching get away from me.  The class was held at the Recycled Lamb in Golden, Colorado and I had a total of 5 students.  We spent 2 hours learning how to draft fibers, thigh spin, spin on a drop spindle and then review fiber tools.  The next class will be 3 hours so that my students spin a decent amount of a single ply yarn and then we can 2 ply it so they have a small skein to show for their class period.  As with any process the more you engage in it the better one can tweak areas to make the process better.  Even though I was a bit nervous about teaching others once we started talking about fiber I found my groove.

Things are a bit slow on the production front from last week for several reasons.  Primarily I received a record number of 7 sales last week which required packaging and shipping.  Also I had to prep for the spinning class and get goody bags together for my students.  The second set of goody bags was packaged for the Horseshoe Market in July and given my schedule I am just going to mail the items to the event versus attempting to drop them off this week.  The college kid will be assisting in labeling packages which should help me get the 50 bags out the door sooner.  I did manage to finish knitting one summer hat and spin a single ply of some merino/silk last week plus there are the 2 skeins finished earlier last week.

                         

I still have knitting and spinning projects in the works this week and will have pictures for you a bit later.

Spindle spun Buffalo yarn

Very excited to be coming to the end of the process of making my newest buffalo yarn.   The first half ounce of buffalo fiber was spun into a single on the Russian spindle.  I then found a dark purple wool crepe yarn from Habu to ply with the buffalo a few weeks ago.  I spent part of my Sunday combining the two yarns onto a plying spindle and just need to make a plying disc this week to ply the two yarns together.   Buffalo Fiber    Habu wool yarn

I have learned from this process that my “plying” spindle is very heavy and I might want to get something a bit smaller.  My hand/wrist ached a bit from combining the threads onto the spindle.  I found myself taking lots of breaks from the project just to give my wrist a break.  Not sure of the yardage as of yet but there is quite a bit of yarn on the plying spindle.  It is nice to see the pieces of the project coming together and know that I am creating something special.

               yarns ready to be plied.

Works in Progress

Last week I made a commitment to be more productive with my hand spinning of yarns and knitting of items which was based on my small supply of material to sell.  I am happy to say that my production schedule is working and I completed 2 skeins of yarn and 1 hat within a week’s time frame.  These 2 lovely skeins were spun into 2 ply yarns that still need to be measured but I’m thinking they are DK to Worsted weight yarns.  The cabled lace hat also has been finished and was a challenge because I don’t particularly like cable needles.              

I love the shine factor in both of these yarns and am having fun going through my stash of dyed rovings.  There was a time towards the end of 2013 that I found myself short on dyed fibers but somehow that has been remedied (shopping sprees).  This week I am on target for 4 skeins of yarn as I plied 2 yarns on Sunday and they are drying this week.  The dyed Louet Fiber yarns are on the menu for this week.  These rovings will have to be Navajo plied to keep the colors from being muddy which requires spinning a fine single so I may just do one of them.  I’m really trying to boost the number of worsted and DK weight yarns in the inventory so I plan on spinning more of my other rovings than the Louet group.

On the needles is a new hat being made from the yarn I won at the Salida Fiber Festival last year.  I won 3 skeins of a linen/cotton based yarn in pretty spring colors (green, yellow and peach).  The yarns are being turned into hats with a broken rib stitch pattern but using a 2×2 ribbing.  I had started to make a cowl using some kettle dyed yarn I received as a gift but am not liking the look of it with the color changes.  This yarn has short color changes and knitting it in the round is creating a very muddled mess of colors.  Thinking this yarn will make a better scarf than cowl and as it is a cotton/cashmere blend it deserves to be in a special project.  My inventory only has 3 cowls in it and most are very warm so the search is on for the right lightweight yarn in a good color scheme to make cowls for the summer.

Spinning Yarn for a shawl

As I am spinning the Romney fleece into a fine yarn I have decided to actually knit with it.  So for the first time I am spinning yarn for an actual project!  After pulling out all of my lace pattern books I finally decided on the Frost Flowers & Leaves shawl from the book “A Gathering of Lace.  I’m so excited to start this project and have actually cast on the first few rounds tonight.  It uses the Emily Ocker’s circular beginning technique and I finally found a video that explains it in a manner that I can understand.  The shawl has about 200 rows and a lace border.  It will require 3000 yards of yarn – yikes.  So far I have spun 298 yards and I think running out of yarn will inspire me to spin more of the fleece.  My shawl will be ivory color but isn’t it beautiful?

 

I’m finishing up a lace beret on another set of needles and I’m so grateful that I have several stitch markers in my stash.  This hat is almost done as I just need to do the 2×2 ribbing for it.

 Later in the month I will make a similar hat but on larger needles as this one appears to be on the small side.  Looking forward to making summer based hats which will be great for the beach or camping trips in the mountains.  Hoping lighter weight hats will sell this summer during my farmer’s market.

The Estes Park Wool Market class schedule is out and there is a one day class on spinning Orenburg lace yarn.  The class is $100 but I’m thinking it will be well worth the expense to learn this technique on my Ashford wheel so that I can produce high quality lace (cobweb lace) yarns.  Also with this technique a little fiber goes a long way!  It will also give me a reason to continue to spin silk fibers as the wool is plied with silk for the finished project.  Galina Khmeleva is the teacher of this class and it would be so neat to meet her as I own her videos on this topic.  I still have a few weeks to decide but it would be a nice treat for myself and a means of getting away for a couple of days.  Everyone that knows me knows that I adore Estes Park.  It is one of my favorite towns in all of Colorado.  We have our favorite restaurants and enjoy watching the wildlife in and around town.

Well I’m off to knit my shawl but will post progress in a few weeks – stay tuned!

 

Yarn, Yarn and more yarn

It has been awhile since my last post but I have been working with fiber a lot.  At this moment I have 4 skeins of plied hand spun completed and ready to be washed and measured.  They were all created on my Louet spinning wheel over a 2 week time period.  There is definitely something soothing about spinning on the wheel.  I love my Russian spindles and Navajo but found joy sitting down at the wheel and watching movies while creating yarn.

I still have some Falkland yarn to ply and have just started to spin up some Correidale roving.  The Corriedale is very spongy and has a much different feel to it then BFL and Shetland wool.  My long draw technique is getting some good use in spinning this wool and it is a deep brown color.

My spring cleaning allowed me to organize and see all of the fiber I have collected over the past few years.  At least now all my fiber is in clear totes and with this summer’s farmers market appearances the stash should be reduced quite a bit.

East Fresian yarn

Welcome to a New Year Filled with Promises

2013 has been quite busy thus far and we are only in day 1! I plied all of the yarns spun up during my holiday break and have completed 7 of them.  One hat has been knitted and another started in alpaca yarn then I must find a new hat design. The spinning wheel and drop spindle are empty of fiber this evening but that won’t last for long.  I still have cotton fiber on the Russian spindle and some made into balls which I hope to create into skeins and set into yarn this week.

I actually baked 2 loaves of banana bread to take into the office – yes the bread machine was used the first day of 2013.  Hopefully it is a sign of more baking to occur in the new year.  Must put all of those bread baking books to good use this year.

My goal for the first half of 2013 is to spin or sell the fibers purchased in 2011 (out with the old and in with the new).  It is time for that fiber to move to new homes and hopefully in the yarn format.  I am really liking the Wensleydale/Lincoln/CVM cross fleece and had an inquiry today for a pound of the raw fleece.  We shall see if I can actually sell it which would leave me with about 12 oz from my original purchase.  One of my Christmas presents was a gray mohair fleece which is so soft.

In December I joined a spinning network group – yes I am branching out to meet my fellow fiber addicts.  It was a nice outing and I actually knew a couple of the ladies in the group from other events.  I took the Navajo Churro fleece to get others opinion on its quality.  It turns out it is not felted but just hardened with lanolin – so I will need to wash the locks in order to process this fleece.  We washed a lock at the meeting and it turned out white and very soft quite different from the fiber I was trying to spin in the grease.

May your 2013 be filled with joy and new fibers!

January 1, 2013 yarns

Holidays and Spending time at the ranch

This week was a holiday week in the U.S. – Thanksgiving to be exact.  I have had 4 days off from work and have enjoyed sleeping in and just relaxing.  Went over to a friend’s parents house for Thanksgiving dinner and had a great time eating and laughing with everyone.  On Saturday, my mom took me to the mineral spring baths in Idaho Springs, CO along with a massage.  It was a very relaxing time and then we went to the salon to get our hair done.  Hot water and black hair do not mix well so the stylist was a definite treat for me.

Although I slept a lot this week I did get lots of things accomplished.  For one the mohair/silk lace scarf is complete – yeah!!!  It needs to be blocked but at least I have finished knitting it.  Still working with my comb and hackle set and learning the ins and outs of fiber prep.  Suri alpaca definitely does not need to go on these combs – I am thinking of just flicking the ends and spinning the locks that way.  I prepped 4 oz of the tri-breed wool fleece and spun it into a lovely fingering weigh 2 ply yarn (see photos).  While at the ranch today I prepped 2 oz of the Lincoln wool locks and have started to spin them on the wheel.  My wheel has been in use this week and made the lovely tri-breed fleece yarn.  I took the remnants of the fiber from the combs and used my hand cards to turn them into rolags.  This fiber is being spun on the Navajo Spindle and should be done sometime this week.

Not only did I finish an entire skein of yarn but I managed to drop off new yarn to Wild Yarns as planned.  I am also starting to prep for the Holiday Artisan Boutique in 2 weeks.  All of my knit items are labeled and ready to sell.  There are 2 scarves that need to get blocked along with mohair/silk shawl.  While going through my stash I found the 2 woven scarves I made earlier this year and have priced them for the boutique too.  So far I am keeping my promise of labeling the hand spun yarns as I finish them.  One day I will truly inventory it all but I feel that as long as it makes it to a store to sell it makes more room in the house for more fiber!

My new scarf is a lacy creation using Malabrigo lace yarn which is a 1 ply baby merino wool yarn.  The yarn is a blend of black and grays varying in shades throughout the skein.  It is so soft and I am using the “Nancy 

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Lace Scarf” pattern to create it.  Enjoy the photos and I hope everyone had an enjoyable week.