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…

New Year – New Group!!

For a long time, I’ve been wishing for a knitting/fiber arts group in my town.  On ravelry.com, I’ve connected with several other people who expressed an interest.  Last week, I decided that with the New Year, one of my goals would be to stop waiting for “someone” to get something started, and take action!  So I picked a place, announced a date and time, and spread the word to people I thought might be interested (and – duh – this morning realized that I should have put it in my blog too!).  So today was the day, and here we are:That’s me standing the in back.  The other members  in attendance – most of whom I met on ravelry.com, are craftyashley, mamabeth, lamplighter777, and ontiptoe, and taking the picture, ontiptoe’s friend and new knitter, CB.  Oh, and I’m wildharefiber. 

We met, chatted, worked on projects for a couple of hours.  Here are lamplighter777’s socks, which she is knitting up from some of her very first handspun (she claims she’s just been knitting a year – I am SO impressed!). 

Mamabeth and I both have etsy shops – she is beth1818 – here’s a link to her site: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5787123 - it was nice to meet and talk shop!  Craftyashley is both a new knitter and a new mother, and brought her sweet, sleeping baby girl along.  Ontiptoe and I met online only to discover that her daughter and my son were in the same class at school and at the time, sat next to each other!  It’s the internet fun!

There were several other potential members who weren’t able to come this time, so we’re hopeful that the group will grow and florish.  If you’re near Front Royal Virginia and would like to join us, we’d love to welcome you!  Send me a message and I’ll add you to the list and let you know the time and place of our next meeting.

Treasuries

The front page of etsy.com features pictures of twelve items currently for sale by various sellers — but how are those items picked?   From “treasuries”. Anyone can put together a treasury (not to get too complicated — there are a limited number of these treasuries, so it takes luck and patience to snag the opportunity).  “Someone” in etsy management picks from among these treasuries and features their favorites ones on the front page.  I have one I created now, waiting to be discovered – here’s the link: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=29456                       (good until 8 a.m. 12/31/08). 

Anyway, being featured on the front page is a BIG DEAL.  But a given treasury is only on the front page for a relatively brief period of time…. which could be in the middle of the night…. so it’s easy to miss seeing your moment of fame.  BUT,  I just discovered that there is a flickr.com group called “etsy treasury front pagers” that takes and posts screen shots of these ever-changing front pages, and even tags them with shop names, so you can search for a given shop.  That is how I found out tonight that I have indeed been on the front page of etsy.com!  Here’s the screen shot:

There in the middle of the third row is my handspun “colorblast” yarn (which has since sold).   Here’s a better picture of it:

Enough for now — I just wanted to pass along the discovery of this very useful flickr group!

Arabesque Tote – some options

My Arabesque tote bag looks lovely paired with the green  ”Go Retro” knitted coat in the Winter 2008 issue of Knitters.  But maybe those aren’t your colors… or your can’t find/have another yarn you’d rather use?  You can substitute as long as you’re using a similar weight feltable wool yarn (and swatch first, of course).  Find a varigated yarn with colors you love, and choose three hues from the yarn with similar value (i.e., light/darkness).  If you’re not sure how to compare value, it helps to squint or look at the yarn in low light.

The prototype bag that I knitted for this pattern was in a different colorway, and used Paton’s Classic Merino, color ‘harvest’ for the varigated yarn, and yarn from a friend’s sheep for the bag (this second yarn no longer available, but very close to available solid colors of Pattons merino classic).  So instead of brown, teal and green, you see what this bag would look like in plum, burgundy and green.   Just take inspiration from a varigated yarn that appeals to you, and experiment! 

Here’s the colorway from Knitter’s again, for comparison.  I’d love to see other color variations, so please send me a picture if you make this bag in other colors!

Would you like to put a lining in your bag?  All you need are basic sewing skills, and perhaps a sewing machine if you have one.

First, select your fabric.  I used printed cotton with some metallic touches.  I picked a fabric that doesn’t have a definate direction for the print so that I would have minimal fabric waste and could cut out my rectangle sideways on just over 1/2 yard of 45″ fabric.  You  may need more fabric than that if your print has to run a certain way.

Measure the width of your bag just below the handles, and the height of your bag from below the top trim to the base.   Now cut out a rectangle that is the width of your bag + 1 inch (for seam allowance) and twice the height of your bag, plus 2 inches to turn under.  Here’s a sketch showing what I mean:

Fold the rectangle in half, with the right sides of the fabric facing inward, and sew the side seams (by hand, by machine – your choice).  Fold down the top hem and press into place.  Fold it down and press a second time if you want your bag lining to fall well below the top edge of your bag (mine is done that way). 

Now, keeping the right side of the fabric facing inward, match one of the sideseams to the fold in the rectangle that forms the bottom of the lining.  Sew a three-inch line across as shown, creating a triangular flap.  Press this flap toward the bottom of the lining.  This step helps the lining conform better to the rounded edges at the bottom of the knitted bag.  Do the same thing on the other side of the bag.  Again, a picture to show what I mean:

Got that?  Now, insert the lining into the bag so that the right side of the fabric will show when the bag is opened.  The side seams of the lining should be at the sides of the bag, and the upper edge of the lining evenly spaced below the top edge of the bag.  It’s good if the lining is slightly deeper than the bag, as the bag will stretch a bit when things are in it, but you don’t want the lining to be shorter, as that will cause the lining to pull on the stitches that hold it to the bag.  Once you have it like you like, pin it into place, easing as necessary to avoid puckers.  Sew lining to bag with blind stitch (as used to attach the handle).  Here’s a peak inside my bag with the lining sewn in:

Adding a lining will  help keep your bag from getting stretched out with use, and adds a nice finishing touch.  Optional, of course, but the idea presented for your consideration.  Whatever color you choose, lined or not, I hope you enjoy knitting, using, or gifting this bag for a long time!

Also, a quick reminder – 20% off handspun yarn and handmade items in my shop through December 1st, and free shipping on all orders over $50 through December 10th!  Lots of lovely rovings, fiber-themed badges and magnets, hand-dyed commercial yarns – take a peek!  http://www.wildhare.etsy.com, or follow the shop link at the top of this page.

Me too! Me too!

By now we’ve all gotten our mailboxes filled and our newspapers stuffed with sales circulars… everyone is doing it, so I though I’d get in on the action in my etsy shop as well.  From NOW through Monday December 1st, I’m cutting the price of all my handspun yarns (some of which I’ve blogged about there) and all the finished items (shawls, scarves, etc) in my shop by 20% (prices are adjusted in the listing).  Additionally, I’m offering free shipping on any order over $50 from now through December 10th.  If you’ve got your eye on something in my shop, nows the time to act before it gets gone!

Check out my sale here:

www.wildhare.etsy.com

Mention this blog in the comments with your order and I’ll include a free fiber-themes badge of your choice! Just let me know which one you want (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17582914)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Published!

Today’s mail brought the winter 2008 issue of Knitter’s Magazine… inside of which you will find my very first PUBLISHED KNITTING PATTERN! Yes! It is the Arabesque Tote, pictured on page 69, with directions on page 70 (here’s a quick picture of the pages:)

You can also go to the Knitter’s web site and take a look at a better picture of the bag:

http://www.knittinguniverse.com/flash/knitters/GalleryDetail.php?IssueNum=93&ID=7550

Or take a look at a picture I snapped before sending it off to them:

The body and handle of the bag is knitted with two strands of wool and wet felted in the washing machine.  The swirling designs are needle-felted onto the bag afterward, using the same varigated yarn used to make the handle.  It seems like forever since I submitted my design idea (it was June) and wrote the pattern and knitted the sample bag (that was back in early August).  But magazines work well in advance.  In fact, I’m working right now on the model for another pattern for the summer 2009 issue of Knitters!  Too soon to reveal any details, but I will say despite the bitter cold outside, I’m knitting with pretty pastel cotton/silk yarn!

Before I submitted the design for this bag, I made one for myself, but in a different colorway and with a different yarn than the very nice Mountain Colors kettle-dyed and handpaint yarns that Knitters provided for the model.  My prototype bag won a blue ribbon at the 2008 Virginia Fall Fiber festival.  Topic for another day: pictures of this bag in my original colorway, and instructions on how I put a lining in it!

Spin up the Crazy!

I’m crazy about yarn and fiber, and can’t bear to throw it away (cheap acrylic excluded from that ).  I even save the little scraps from sewing in ends, little tangled bits of fluff, what I clean off the drumcarder, etc.  I’m not the only one — in fact, these little scraps became the subject of a spin-along in the ravelry “Novelty & Art Yarn Spinners” group.  The group moderator, Studioloo (www.studioloo.com) made yarn from her collection of scraps, and coined the term “spin up the crazy” to describe it… thus inspiring a “spun up the crazy” spin-along.  Follow as I spin up my own collection of crazy:

Here’s a shot of some of my raw materials:

I have lots of yarn bits, some odds and ends of spinning fiber too little to do anything with on its own.  Some of the group members were spinning straight from their scrap box, but I decided to send my stuff through my drumcarder.  I first cut any strings down to a few inches so they wouldn’t get too tangled up on the carder drum, then tossed a mix of yarn bits and fiber on the tray and carded away:

I made a stack of about six thin batts, which looked like this:

I wasn’t trying for a smooth consistent blend, I just wanted to get everything jumbled up and meshed together so I could spin it.  Here’s a close-up of this crazy batt:

Batt complete, I went to my Mach 1 spinning wheel (www.spinolution.com), set it for the lowest ratio and started spinning.  The Mach 1 has an open hook instead of a orifice, so it can handle lumps and clumps of almost any size.  It uses guideposts on the flyer, so the yarn is less likely to get caught winding on.  And the bobbin holds eight ounces — perfect for making big clunky funky yarn like this!

I spun up my crazy, and wound it into a skein.  Soaked it to set the twist, and left it overnight hanging by a heating vent.  This morning it was ready — 3  1/2 ounces, 50 yards of some pretty crazy yarn:

And that is how I spun up MY crazy.  Here are some close-up pictures so you can see the total random wildness of this yarn better:

Fiber Festival – I did it!

Last weekend I was a vendor at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in Berryville, Virginia.  My first time as a fiber vendor — it was a blast!  Debbie White of Forevermore Farm (whose wool rovings I carry on my etsy shop) was with me, and we made a great team.  Despite torrential rain on Saturday, the show went really well.  Here are some pictures of our booth:

Some of everything sold — handspun yarn, roving, spinning wheels, earrings, buttons, handpainted yarns, finished items, even lambskins  and cat beds crocheted from felted roving that Debbie brought.  I did a lot of dyeing in preparation for the show, and have lots of new rovings and yarns that I will be listing in my etsy shop this week. I wrote patterns for two scarves, each of which could be made with one skein of my two new millspun hand-dyed yarns that I gave away with any yarn purchase.  I’ll continue this offer with yarns in my etsy shop.  The Kromski Sonata and Fidelis wheels (which were used and my personal wheels) are sold, but I have a brand new Mach 1 ready to go — it would look great under someone’s Christmas tree!