Have Wheel, Will Travel

Spinning doesn’t usually top the lists of portable activities, but that’s starting to change with the increase in the number of portable spinning wheels that have become available in recent years.  My personal choice is the Bee, by Spinolution, which was designed to fold down and fit under an airline seat!  Lightweight in size, but not features: the Bee has a full range of ratios (1:4 – 1:36), and 3+oz bobbin, rocker-treadle, and open orifice, all weighing in at 13 lbs! 

I recently returned from a wonderful mini-vacation, spinning and dyeing with Carol Lee at the Sheep Shed Studio in Wyoming (that’s Carol in the dyepot picture).  I took my Bee along, tucked inside a 20″ rolling duffle along with my clothing.  I made it through airport security without a hitch, and it fit nicely in the overhead bins as I flew from the east coast to Dallas, then in to Denver.  I did gate check it on the final leg of the journey home in order to get a stand-by seat on an earlier plane.  That went fine too, although I did have the bag packed tightly, with lots of  padding around the flyer assembly.  There is a custom-designed bag available for the Bee that will allow it to fit under an airline seat, but I wanted the wheels (and room for my other clothing), so the duffle worked for me!  If you want more info on this wheel, please send me a note (I’m a Spinolution dealer and would love to help you out!)

Here are some more pictures of all the fun Bee and I had in Wyoming:

Llovely Llocal Llamas!

Spring break this week, so I had a chance to make a quick trip down the road to show them the llamas at Shenandoah Homeplace Suri Llamas in Luray, Virginia.  For the last year, I’ve been helping the owner of this lovely and historic homestead, retired Airforce General Chet Taylor, with marketing fiber and yarn from his pedigreed animals. I enjoyed getting out to see his farm (and the cleanest, neatest most organized barn you can imagine).  The children got a chance to get up close and personal to the animals, who were very gentle and even a bit shy.  My youngest first called them camels, and he wasn’t far off, as llamas, alpacas and camels are all related (in the camelid family).  The highlight for them, though, may a have playing in the hayloft!

 

 

The first batch of llama fleece was sent off to a small mill for processing into five natural undyed shades of  lovely, dehaired luxury yarn shown in these pictures.  Some was made into roving which I have both spun by hand and sold to other spinners.   While more fiber is heading to the mill and roving is currently sold out, there are still skeins of the yarn in three of the colors available, and on sale in my shop http://www.wildhare.etsy.com.  Just look in the Shenandoah Llama section ( it may be several months before the new batch is back from the mill).  

Llama is lustrous and silky with lots of drape, which makes it great for lace knitting, scarves and shawls.  The natural colors also go well together in fair-isle designs.  And it’s so meaningful to work with fiber from small farms where you know the animals are well tended and free to enjoy green pastures like those at Shenandoah Homeplace Suri Llamas.

The lovely fiber is only a small part of it for dedicated llama breeders.  To read more about these pedigreed animals and the farm on which they live (and which is in the National Registry of Historic Places), please visit their web site: http://web.me.com/shenhomeplacellamas/Shenandoah_Homeplace_Suri_Llamas/Welcome.html

Central Virginia Fiber Mill!

One big hassle for fiber farmers and businesses like mine in Virginia has been access to commercial fiber processing for small batches.  If you want to keep each fleece separate, or try a new blend, or have less than 50 pounds of identical yarn millspun, the only option was to box up the fiber and ship it out of state, waiting months and months for finished product and relying on phone calls and written order forms to communicate what you want the mill to do.

So, I was excited to read recently on ravelry.com that there is now a new fiber mill in Virginia that is both willing to accept small jobs, offers a full range of services, and can handle ‘luxury’ fibers and custom blending.  I’m talking about the Central Virginia Fiber Mill www.centralvirginiafibermill.com in Ruckersville, just north of Charlottesville, run by Mary and Mark Kearney, who also raise alpacas.  This Wednesday I had a reason to visit Charlottesville and would be passing within 5 miles of this new mill.  I also had a nice little pile of freshly shorn fleece from Forevermore Farm — so of course a visit was in order!  Here’s the virtual tour:

Raw fleece is first sorted through for quality, and then washed in 160 degree water to remove any lanolin or other animal oils, and thoroughly air dried.  Next, it goes through the picker, shown left, which separates the locks and any matts into a nice fluffy cloud.

This cloud is then sent through the carder.  The particular machine Mary is demonstrating in this picture can create either roving or batts.  The batts can further be wet felted into felt fabric by the mill.  Roving can be sold as is for handspinners or processed into yarn. 

  Here is the spinner, which turns the roving into yarn. 

One side spins the singles, and the other side spins the opposite direction for plying.

 Here is a picture of a spool of alpaca singles spun at the mill:

The spools of finished yarn can then be wound into skeins on this machine, which will wind multiple skeins at a time, in whatever yardage you specify (I’d love to have a machine like that — the old niddy-noddy is wearing out my elbow!).

 So there you have it — raw fleece in the door, finished yarn, roving, batting or felt back to you.  I left some fleeces for custom blending, and am eagerly awaiting the results!  Unlike the out-of-state mills I contacted, Central Virginia Fiber Mill will be able to get the job done in time for the Sedalia Festival on May 16th.

In conclusion, no trip to the Kearney homestead would be complete without a few pictures of their lovely alpacas:

Homespun Yarn Party ‘09!

This past Sunday I was a vendor at the wonderful and aptly named Homespun Yarn Party in Savage MD!  Close to 40 independent fiber-types (dyers, spinners, shepherds, etc) together in a banquet hall with LOTS and LOTS of excited and happy customers!  There was a line of at least 200 waiting when the doors opened at noon, and it took some pretty strong hinting to get folks to leave at the end!  It was a blast – very successful, can’t wait until next year!  More details on the event at http://www.homespunyarnparty.blogspot.com.

Here are some pictures of my booth, which was manned with the help of Debbie White of Forevermore Farm, whose sheep provide a lot of the rovings that I dye:

 I’m now busy updating my etsy shop (http://www.wildhare.etsy.com) and getting caught up on life in general.  Tomorrow I’m out to Debbie’s farm to help with shearing… more wool to dye!  The next festival on my calendar is the Sedalia Fiber Festival on May 16th.

Yours, Mine – Ours!

Just a catchy title – this isn’t about blended families, but about the beautiful creations that result through teamwork.  First example: My friend Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts www.beth1818.etsy.com  transformed this 2 oz. drumcarded batt of mine:

Into a lovely beaded-fringe scarf:

 

 She spun a single on her Ashford Traditional and plied it with a commerical yarn with more sparkles and a hint of eyelash, then knit a simple stockinette scarf, adding vintage beads on the ends.  Since I blogged about the creation of this batt in an earlier post (simply batty!), you can get a look of the project from start to finish!

 

Next, I wanted to show you what I’ve spun up from two of the samples I received in my phatfiber sample box (www.phatfiber.blogspot.com):

The top sample, from www.welovethor.etsy.com, came to me as a puff of hand-dyed 100% corriedale wool.  I corespun it to preserve the color transitions, and to maximize and show off the fiber.  My little skein is just over 7 yards long, with seven wraps per inch (making this heavy worsted).  Here’s a close-up:

The next sample is from www.spinningsisters.etsy.com and arrived as a little twist of hand-dyed merino wool roving.  I spun this as fine as I could, then navaho-plied it, creating a three-ply yarn that preserves the color changes.  This little skein is 38 yards long, with 22 wraps to the inch (between a fine fingering and lace weight).  Here’s a close-up:

Now here’s a challenge:  I’ve never been very good at coming up with projects for small amounts of yarn.  If you know of a pattern that would be perfect for one of these yarns, post a comment below, including the link and which yarn you think it would be appropriate for.  The yarn can be used as an accent in conjunction with another yarn, but patterns using just this yarn would be especially appreciated.  On March 12th,  I’ll draw two names, one for each yarn, from among those who submitted a pattern for that yarn, and I’ll SEND THAT YARN to the winners!  You can submit as many patterns as you want – each submission is an entry in your name.  So submit away!

This and That -

This past week has been a blur of snow days, meetings, school delays and working on taxes, and YIKES,  I haven’t updated this blog with the winner of my drawing from my last post.  The results are in, and the winner is Andrea , who is knitsandknots on etsy.com, where she sells some really cute knitting patterns for baby items, and who blogs here: http://knitsandknotsweb.blogspot.com/.  Congratulations, Andrea !  I’ll be sending you an e-mail so I can find out if you prefer the yarn or spinning batt, and get your address.  (The picture is  of the yarn: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17982819)

Now, for some other news.  It’s less than a month until the Homespun Yarn Party, an event featuring  30 indie fiber folks, getting together to show and sell our products and have fun.  I’ll be there as a vendor – would love to see you!  Here are the details:

Second Annual Homespun Yarn Party! March 15, 2009

Who: All your favorite local yarn dyers and spinners, plus some extra crafty goodness! And all our knitting/crocheting/spinning friends (you!) of course!!

Where: Historic Savage Mill 8600 Foundry Street, Savage, MD 20763  Just off I-95, plenty of parking!

When: Sunday, March 15, 2009 – 12 PM to 4 PM

Why: Who needs an excuse to get together and craft?! We wanted to get together and spread some fiber love!

In addition to some great crafty vendors, we’ll also have:
free lessons on knitting, crochet, spinning, fabulous door prizes to be given away throughout the event,crafty goody bags for participants (while supplies last) and weather-permitting, a sit and spin/crochet/knit area out on the deck.

A complete list of vendors and more details on this event are available here: http://www.homespunyarnparty.blogspot.com/

And if you like supporting and learning about indie fiber artists, you may be interested in the Phatfiber Sampler Box.  The Phat Fiber Sampler box is a way for independent fiber, yarn and related needlecraft companies and artisans to promote their products through a tactile goodie box that goes on sale once monthly. Contributors get exposure while the consumers get to handle and experiment with products before making larger purchases.   Here’s a peek at the February box I received:

It included several mini skeins of yarn, roving, several different kinds of handmade stitch markers, knitting patterns for socks, fingerless gloves and a lace scarf, hand lotion, a kit for making felted beads, and even a knitting comic book!  I’m a member of this group, and just sent out my first batch of samples in the now-sold out February box.  If you want to know more about this, and get on the list for notification about when the March box goes on sale, go to http://phatfiber.com.  Support your local independent fiber artist!

And finally, one last note – the new knitting group in Front Royal is going well — if you live near enough, please come join us!  Our next meeting is tomorrow (Sat. Feb. 21st) at the Daily Grind on Main Street, Front Royal VA  from 10 a.m. until noon, in the back room.  I’ll be there with some new batts and rovings for show and tell. 

Call it Puppy Love

Dogs, rabbits and sheep don’t always get along in real life, but I think they combined nicely in this yarn I’m calling “Puppy Love.”

I blended together soft brown wool, angora rabbit that I had dyed pink, and white samoyed dog fur on  my drum carder.  I made rather thin batts and rolled them into rolags (to make one, start at the narrow end and roll up the length).  When spinning from a rolag, you work from the end, where the fibers are rolled around in a spiral.  This produced “woolen” spun yarn, know for being soft and lofty because the spiral arrangement of the fibers contains a lot of air.  So the yarn is extra soft and light!  More pictures:

 

Both angora and wool are reputed to be several times warmer than wool, as well as exceptionally soft and fluffy.  I can believe it — my hands warm up just handling the skein!  This yarn will also develop a pronounced halo as it is knit and worn. 

A word on the dog hair: Samoyeds have a double coat, and the soft, fluffy underdown is desirable for spinning.  It is harvested in the spring by combing as the dog sheds its winter coat.  This samoyed fiber came from my friend Cynthia Mora, who breeds and shows her dogs (and pampers them like crazy!).  She bathes them so frequently that, ever before I washed it, the fiber didn’t smell at all like dog!  I’ve been very impressed with the yarn she has spun and the things she has made from samoyed, and was excited to experience this fiber for myself by creating this yarn!

New Lambs – New Spring Dyeing

Last weekend’s shearing was just in time!  The first two of this season’s baby lambs have arrived at Forevermore Farm!  Debbie sent me pictures to share.  Here’s Stephie II and her new little one:

And here is Brownie and her newborn lamb:

No, the babies aren’t swapped up – and I don’t have details on the daddies, but aren’t they both cute!  (I may have to lay claim to that cinnamon-colored lambs first fleece!).

I have wool from both these mother sheep (last year’s shearing), already processed to roving.  Brownie’s is already in my shop in it’s natural color, and I spent last Sunday dyeing up a some of Stephie II’s wool for my shop.  Here are some dyepot pictures of her wool:

 

And do you remember back in October when I blogged about washing those two raw fleeces that I got from a different farm at the Virginia Fall Fiber Festival?  I finally decided what to do with the white one (from a ewe named Maddie).  I divided it up into small batches and dyed it in different bright tropical colors, to use for blending and lock spinning.  Here are some of those fresh from the dyepot:

Here’s close-up of the chartreuse locks soaking — so yummy!

 And that’s all for now!

Ewe Need a Haircut

Today I went to Forevermore Farm to help Debbie with shearing some of her sheep.  Wait– you may be asking.  It’s January, why shear now instead of waiting for a balmy spring day?  And why “some” of the sheep?  What’s so special about these:

First, they are all ewes.  Second, they are all pregnant, and due within a few weeks.  As Debbie explained, lambing is easier on a sheep (and on the shepherd) when the ewe is not in full coat, like these girls are.  But another important reason is that if you wait until spring to shear the ewes — who are then nursing their little ones — the lambs become terribly upset and often don’t recognize their mothers and won’t nurse.  So best to get the coats off now.

Debbie’s friend Bill did most of the shearing on a short table, with electric clippers similar to what a barber would use.  To keep the sheep from injuring herself or the shearer, she is restrained with leg ties and a neck leash.  I suspect sheep like to be sheared about as much my children like getting their flu shots…  but it both cases it’s necessary and for their good.

As the fleece comes off the sheep, it goes to the skirting table, where the wool is sorted through and any parts that are encased in “tags” (i.e., sheep poop), are too short, or have lots of straw and seed in it are removed and discarded.  This is where I came it — I was one of the people skirting the freshly shorn fleeces.  The wool from each sheep was then put ito it’s own bag, labeled with the name of the sheep.   Some fleeces will be sold just like they are – raw and full of lanolin.  Most will be sent to a carding mill to be scoured (washed) and carded into roving.  I brought some home to list in my etsy shop.

Here’s an after picture of the newly shorn sheep.  They will now have the privilege of staying in the barn at night and in poor weather, and get extra grains as they await the arrival of their lambs and begin nursing. 

Okay, I admit — they are prettier with a full coat.  But oh, what wonderful wool I brough home in those three bags (yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!).  Although all the sheep are Coopworth or Coopworth crosses, their fleeces varied from animal to animal.  Some were longer and more lustrous than others, and the younger sheep tended to have finer, crimpier wool.  Laurel, a Coopworth/Bluefaced Leichester cross whose fleece I brought home is particularly soft and fine .  And they weren’t all white — the two other fleeces I got are from Faith, who has multishaded grey/brown wool, and Jasmine, who is a black sheep.  She and her wool are in these last few pictures (sun bleaches the tips of black fleeces, so before shearing they look coppery colored).

Quite a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, IMHO – my kinda fun!

Simply Batty!

Okay, I can’t resist a bad pun with that post title…  The subject today is batts, and making them on a drum carder.  The carder lines the fibers up roughly parallel in a very fluffy rectangular chunk which can then be spun into yarn or used in felting.  But I’ll say more about using batts another time — for now, I’m making them!

Start with fiber.  Here’s some wool I dyed in shades of blue and green and a bit of black, white tencel, blue and green nylon glitz:

I decided to add some rayon thrums, so I cut those up into 4-5 inch long sections (comparable to the staple length of the other fibers – long enough to stay in the yarn, and short enough not to wrap completely around the carder drums)

I take everything and tease the fibers open and mix it up by hand:

Then I send it through the drum carder a handful at a time, adding fiber gradually until the carder teeth are full and the first set of teeth (the big spikey ones) aren’t adding fiber to the bigger drum.  My carder is a Strauch Petit with a brush attachment that helps finer and novelty fibers card smoothly. 

 I take off the batt from this first pass through the carder, flip it over and send it through a second time for a more complete and smooth blending job:

I could send it through additional times if I wanted the fibers thoroughly blended and more homogeneous, but I’m going to stop after two passes because I like the variations in color and fiber that I have at this point:

The batts from my carder aren’t very big, so what you see  above is a stack of about 5-6 batts.  Here’s a closer picture of the carded fiber:

Excited by these results, I kept on carding.  Here’s another one, starting with a pile of wool with more tencel and nylon and some thrums:

This mix looked like it could use a bit more sparkle, so I cut up some lurex strands to add to the mix:

This one went through the carder twice too, and created a batt with a nice blend of color with a healthy dash of bling from the lurex:

So there are two examples — I’ve been going ‘batty’ the last week or so carding up all kinds of fun and interesting blends.  I’m about to add carded batts as a product line in my etsy shop, so if you’re drooling over either of these, well, keep an eye out, they’ll soon be listed for sale!  I’ve named the first one “Sargasso” and the second one “Fathom”. Here are uncarded/finished batt pictures of another blend I’m calling “Iris”

Now, the next order of business is to spin up some of these to show the yarns that can be made from blended batts!  Stay tuned…