Better than hoped for – handspun yarn meets Saxon blue

The handspun yarn in question is Romeldale/ CVM wool from Spirit Trail Fiberworks.  It flowed so beautifully that I will give a quick re-cap.

• Singles start:  end of December, 2017 on Rappard Wee Peggy spinning wheel, scotch tension
• Four 3-ply S-twist skeins later: April 9, 2017 all plied on Watson Martha spinning wheel, scotch tension
• Total plied dry weight of 1.1 ounces (315 g) = approx 726 yards

It was a finished and measured pile of DK-weight yarn all of last week, and was the right weight to get a medium shade using my Christmas gift natural dye kit from Botanical Colors.

Soaked and into the pot for mordanting

If you followed my tweets last Friday you may know that I was remembering my first spinning friend, Mary, through the entire day.  In a casual read of the local paper that morning, I was saddened to discover a notice that she passed away peacefully on April 1, 2018.

Now in with the Saxon blue dye liquor

This is all of the liquid indigo Saxon blue from Botanical Colors’ “Natural Dye Extract Kit,” around 1.5 tablespoons.

Dyeing takes time

Simmering ended at around my school run to get T that Friday afternoon.  The slow overnight cool in the dye pot let the yarn exhaust.  Gotta love waking up to dyed yarn in clear water!

Not your typical April in Ontario

By Saturday afternoon, I had beautiful yarn hanging to dry.  The excited tweets were without pictures since we also were tucked-in for an ice storm that did not quit.

Not a typical April

We enjoyed the fire together on Sunday after I had finally done a bit of sewing to piece together a small cotton blanket for T.  Sewing was my bit; building a fire was N’s.  We were both working to help absorb a difficult new twist that the week had thrown our family on Thursday. 

School was cancelled on Monday as well but we got out for a long slushy walk to the library that day.  

The best teal ever

This is the happy outcome of Friday afternoon’s dye-work.

Isn’t this the softest teal?!

It has not stayed in skein form very long at all.

Housework has been delayed

A natural blue dye experience has been pending in my mental queue for far too long.  This was easy & relatively quick with just beautiful results.

Right after taking this picture, I swatched.  This yarn is still helping with the big feelings as I knit a Talland Tee designed by Sonja Bargielowska on 4.5 mm needles.

After storm surge, lakeshore

This spot by Lake Ontario was just a shady area of grass before the storm hit.  Since we had less accretion at home than we did during the December 2013 ice storm, it was surprising to see the lakeshore (south) damage.

The walk was chilly but a good change of scenery for me on Thursday before getting groceries & visiting with a spinning friend.  We met through Mary.

Farther west along the lakeshore

It was an overdue visit, and I am glad that we got together again so quickly after calling her with the sad news last Friday.

Of all the gifts, laughter that my friendship with Mary brought it was being introduced to a spinning group with 30+ years of weekly gatherings that meant the most for me.  The first time that our friend greeted me for spinning group at her home she asked, “And where is your wheel?”  I left that day with her (now my) Wee Peggy in the back of my car.

After the storm, spring

I met Mary on my first visit to the Oakville guild as a novice spinner.  While I will always carry & repeat her insights for spinners, I hope that you can also find an experienced spinner to take you under their wing.  Maybe that person can look you in the eye as Mary did for me and say:

You are a good spinner.  Don’t ever let anyone make you feel that you are not.

We all need a friend like Mary.  May she rest in peace.

April already!

The weaving that I mentioned in the last post is all pressed with pictures pending.  I can’t wait to go through the shots and share them with you!

We are in a 4-day family break for Easter, and this is a short (yes, really –  I know I can make it so) post.

Potted at least until we thaw.

Best wishes if you celebrate the season!  The hydrangea has brightened the hall since Thursday afternoon as we managed through several pressures of the week.

Little did I know when rushing about preparing on Thursday that we had a beautiful surprise from my dear Mother-in-Law waiting at home.

Special delivery 

The front bloom is faded now but the scent is still strong.

Many of our family’s additional needs surface in the holiday times.  School was not exactly helping with T’s big project & other pressures.  Luckily neither N nor I is a Blast the Cheery-weeries type.  The learning curve is more about how to attune & build-in quiet successes by being fully present. 

This Easter unfolded as quiet and meaningful even as we do still miss family, and others.

When in doubt we go out

By Saturday morning, a day trip was in order.  We enjoyed a working sugar bush in all of its glory!

Maple syrup festival, yes!

It was the last weekend of their open season, and the Conservation Area was busy with families and many dogs on leads.

During the long, chilly wait for our guided wagon ride, I got some spinning done on my Jenkins Lark spindle.

 

Masham wool on my Jenkins Lark!

The fibre is Masham wool dyed as “Minerva” by Sheepy Time Knits for her 2018 Female Heroes club.  The plying ball in the shell weighs 35 g, and is 2-stranded.

As soon as I opened the package it went on this spindle, February 12th.  This is my post from 6+ years ago on my first & until now only spinning of dyed Masham top.  This spin is just as lovely as I remember, and it has been a good project while watching T at his after-school activity.  The Jenkins’ spindles always get loads of questions too.

Speaking of the red Masham yarn…. (yes, I can’t actually write a short post, bear with me):

Hot water bottle cozy in handspun Masham yarn

… in January 2016, I used the yarn to knit Sue Blacker’s design for a Hot-Water Bottle Cover.  The 4-ounce braid gave 134.5 yards of this 3-ply Masham, and I used a co-ordinating handspun yarn for the flap.

I have the seed of a thought that the Minerva Masham may be nice for small weaving but I am not bothered about end-use right now.

Back to our outing [focus!]

At wagon level through the sugar bush at Mountsberg’s Maple Town

The wagon was drawn by 2 horses, and it was a very nice guided ride.  The park has single-tapped 400 sugar maple trees this year.  In a less stressed year they will tap up to 600 trees.

We also enjoyed the Raptor Show but my favourites of the animals were between this Nubian cross goat, and the Bison.

Sometimes you just need to silly run down a road to see about some Bison in a field?  It was chilly, and that reminds me to share about an awesome spindle-spun hat that I made awhile back, and wear all the time.

The day trip really turned things around, and today included a new round of treats (those simple but effective Blizzard ads get us each spring).

Months of making… quietly

It is fabulous to sit down placing words in TKK’s editor this morning.  Over the long stretch we did live with those new challenges I mentioned (words “cancer patient & break-up”) but were knocked back by a sudden loss mid-November also in our immediate family.  That side had just buried another older family member the month before.

 

This is one of the new views we enjoyed from a balcony overlooking St. Andrew & Kingston but after the most difficult day.  The grief meshing with a long-delayed trip was tough, and we all have needed the comfort of time to reconcile these very different feelings.

At the North Coast, briefly

One night on the North Coast was with rough seas.  The reason for leaving Kingston at this point was also a painful but necessary chore that was handled well in the end.

It absolutely did not help that N was sick or that almost everyone was overwhelmed.  In addition to explaining this TKK break the pictures are helping me to re-think my assumption that at least 1 image can go in on T’s big school project.  Pausing to reflect is a good thing in such a busy week.

African bead whorl spindle in the island

The clay bead whorl spindle from West Africa came with me in the carry-on bag.  Cotton is basically what I love to spin in Jamaica but this combination was the best plan yet.  As of today, I have a 12 g plying ball from this project + a fairly full new cop.  The dish stayed behind but is by a Jamaican artist, and was surprisingly awesome as a support bowl.  I have asked for one!

When I started learning to spin cotton, I had no clue that it is SO very good for the exhausting, emotional seasons of life.  That should be said loudly enough for those of us in the back to catch-on.  It’s SO GOOD, everyone.

Looking forward

Irieknit pulls her socks up

We have now finalised the formal family steps, thrown our first birthday party (T is 6! It went well!), and are planning a new event with family visiting us for June aka the best month.

Of course, the grief is still with us but its edge has lifted a little.  The prognosis for our cancer patient is thankfully encouraging.  The other difficulty of the break-up is still unfolding but as well as can be expected.  I am making my way through the to-do list logically, and that’s also a good thing.

New year; new small loom!

This January brought the wonderful gift of a new Erica table loom kit from Louet NA.  Shafts 3 & 4 are on order.  The threads for this plain weave are handspun Gulf Coast Native dyed in the wool by Sheepspot.  The combing portion appeared on TKK here and gave a lovely 164 yards of 3-ply.  The warp is 9″ wide in the reed, 2.5 yards long.

Let’s skip my back beam mistake because it worked out, and Warped Weavers’ members were ready with good explanations for me.  The weft was the carded waste (yes, I have a Pat Green blender/carder!) spun on spindles for the Tour de Fleece last July.

Tabachek Holly, and Wildcraft spindles in July 2017

The combed waste is blended with white Polwarth X Port locks & Tussah Silk for 151 yards of 2-ply.  It was a great whimsical spin, and I wanted them both together in a project.

Weaving with T on the Erica was the most special part of the weekend project.  This was in January, and tiring but totally joyous.

The Devil has been in the last steps for projects, weaving & otherwise.  This cloth & 2 scarves that I wove a week ago on the Mighty Wolf are in queue for pressing.  I wet-finished all 3, and have other projects working on.

Some WIPs finish quickly, especially the utility knits like mittens, spinning.  The pulling-up of new socks is to tighten that drift, and to write more often.

Night is the spinning time – Romeldale/CVM from Spirit Trail Fiber Works

Shorter bursts are an option I don’t quite stick… This was after all going to be a short post & look at the time!  We have renewed TKK’s no-ads purchase, and I am considering the angles.

It is true that the fibre work has trimmed itself down but the same categories are full of promise.  Dye gift from N & don’t forget the fleece to be cleaned!

Right up there with washing my October fleece!

The larger projects are still WIPs and not sleeping even though I fell behind on sharing as a log of that work.

For today we have a post, and the socks on my feet/in the post are the Kissing Cousins pattern by one of my favourite designers, Sarah Jordan.  They are ingeniously conjoined!

Woodstock Fleece Festival 2017

This past Saturday was the 9th annual Woodstock Fleece Festival, and I made it!  It is held an hour away by car, and is by faaar my favourite local event for fibre folks.

Last year was a definite miss.  It’s much improved but a school week is a school week – I can’t predict whether our nurturing reserves dip too low for a Saturday morning trip.  Plus, N had a 12:30 pm dental appointment in town.

Dashing through the festival – handspun Diminishing Lines shawl

It was a blur!  I see from the pamphlet that I totally missed some vendors (sorry, Peggy Sue Collection; The Gaynor Homestead!) but I feel completely rejuvenated by my trip out, and here is why.

Found! A Squirrel-cage Swift

You may know him as Wheelwright?  Reed Needles has repaired one of my antique wheels, and visiting his booth of many Canadian Production Wheels (CPWs) is always a must-do.  I was expecting to only say a few words when I had an, “Hey, is that functional, Reed?!?” moment.

Demonstrably functional – a squirrel-cage swift

It has been totally mentioned by me to Reed a few times now:  he is an enabler par excellence.  With a twinkle in his eye he noted that yes it works, and that the circa 1860 fittings are hand-forged.

A hand-wrought fixing screw – squirrel-cage swift hardware

The spirals are beautiful, and it fixes the upper roller cage easily/ properly.

A closer look at the flanged rollers shows yarn (I suspect linen of course) wear on the dowels.

Upper roller cage – wear marks

Reed was selling this swift on behalf of a local weaver’s estate.  It is sturdy enough for life with an active child + speedy unwinding of skeins.

Lower roller cage – cantilevers out

The cut end of the base on the post-side has some deep cracks but this tool will let me unwind yarn gently, and round skeins if needed.

Other names for this tool are ‘roller-cage swift’ ‘barrel swift’ and ‘rice.’  According to The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning they are believed to have been developed in continental Europe (p. 270).

A similar swift with a wooden upper handle is shown in Keep me Warm One Night by the Burnhams (no. 38; see p. 42) as a gift to the Royal Ontario Museum and from Ontario.

Woodstock 2017 haul (excuse messy trunk)

A swift – any swift – is used by the fibre artist to:

… unwind the skeins and is not suitable for making them.  When a skein is to be used, it is placed on a swift that is adjustible in size and wound off into a ball, or onto a spool or bobbin. (ibid, p. 22)

This swift adds choice because I do have a large umbrella one from Glimåkra that also works well.  They are both shorter than the skeins wound on my blue antique click reel (i.e. tool that winds skeins).  The squirrel-cage may be easier to handle the wider skeins, and I will go very slowly when checking that point out.

The squirrel-cages will hold more than one skein at a time without needing to collapse the tool as you do with the umbrella.  The cages also hold all courses in a skein with even tension across.  I am interested in how the squirrel-cages compare to the umbrella ‘v-shape’ on unwinding skeins to the warping board for weaving.

The Barn

Growth of this festival year-over-year shows most clearly in the barn marketplace.  Remembrances Pottery was a fun discovery – their stunning handmade mugs, buttons, etc warranted a quick stop.

Clay items from Remembrances Pottery in Sarnia

This and other quick stops were accompanied by the bag of raw wool that you can see in my trunk up there.  It still needs cleaning!

Lamb’s bounty! A Romney from Willow Farm’s flock

As you may guess from all the talk of rushing, and new time constraints, I probably shouldn’t have.  This is a 5 lb 4 oz lamb’s fleece from Willow Farm.

In my defense lots of Romney-strong lamb’s wool!

 

The shepherdess, Josslyn, explained that this may be the last year they attend but that farm direct sales are still possible.  I have missed cleaning fleece so much!

Baby llamas add to a festival

The llama pack and obstacle course was brought to us by the Norfolk 4H.  These babies were shy but the performing adults allowed for happy petting.

Your mood can’t go wrong with a llama or two

As always festival organisers also had some sheep in the barn for attendees.

Hello, sheep!

This family friendly atmosphere is why the event is growing, and I hope to bring N & T next year.  This year, I was thrilled to see some spinning friends at long last, and hit all the high notes.

Maple leaves still not raking themselves

There being much to be done in fall is not new.  What is new sits in my immediate family, and would include the words cancer patient & break-up.  Necessary but not easy stuff is ahead but we are well in the midst of that.

My next warp will be for a head-scarf – pushing the baby blankets behind because first things first.

 

Spindle spinning with others

At the tail end of the last post, I very quickly mentioned the spindle project that I called ‘Pyrenees Delight Cheviot.’  The spin dates back to the night of the 12th stage of the Tour de Fleece when I needed a completely portable spin for summer days with T.

Inspiration in green fibre form – STK Cheviot wool

The Tour falls nicely behind my birthday, and Mandie at Sheepy Time Knits had a well-timed spinning fibre promotion for the event.  Don’t you love when fibre barely even grazes your stash?!

Jenkins Delight spindle to the rescue!

This Cheviot has been the single best pairing for my Jenkins Turkish Delight spindle.  Before now, I had used this spindle for a BFL/silk that is now socks, Wensleydale & took a wrong turn to Merino finger roving.  It’s been reliable but only now have I really found the groove with this Cheviot wool.

Cheviot is an old breed developed in the south Cheviot Hills of the UK.  Mandie’s dye colour is so clear and saturated on this wool.

The feel of this ‘three-dimensional’ crimp is amazing as I use the Delight.  In the Fleece & Fibre Sourcebook the crimp is described as “unique” within this breed family (p. 55).   My hands agree, and I would love to spin Cheviot locks after this experience.

In Ravelry’s 2017 Tour de Fleece Feature!

Community eye candy!

Each year, Ravelry.com supports the spinning community’s celebration that is the Tour de Fleece.  We know this, and in 7 years of spinning, I have always looked forward to the home page’s blog post.  It was FluffyK who let me know via tweet that my spinning was featured in the round-up.  Hers was too!

This is the beautiful post, Eye Candy: Tour de Fleece, written by onestitchshort that includes my project.

State of the Pyrenees Delight Cheviot spin

When I updated the project this week, I was stunned to see that it has 26 people who call it a favourite, and was viewed 1,458 times & counting.  That is a major leap from the peak of 5 favourites, 68 views on another Team Spindlers project, the CVM sweater spin.

The post lifted my spirits – I was trying to cope from here with difficult health news for my Mom who lives in Jamaica, and the non-stop adulting.  That uplift was important but I am also very happy that two spindles were shown as beautiful tools riding in the Tour.

Last word – project specs

The spindle weighs 28 g, and is in Carob wood.  Two-strand-ply balls shown in the calabash bowl are 37 g, 43 g, 37 g, respectively.  All singles are spun on the spindle, wound-off, and re-wound to a two-strand-ball that I will ply from when the fibre is all spun-up.

Start:  July 13, 2017 to morning of October 4th, today.

Last last word

Although I had to duck out at the very end of the Tour, I rode most of this year’s Tour de Fleece as a co-captain in Team Spindlers.  It was like riding a wave that floated all boats.  Spindlers is a mixed group of all skill levels, and the discussions are advertising-free.

I also joined a relaxed & fun Team Bosworth.  It was an all-spindles year for me!

Dappled morning glories

It has led me to hope that we can keep both big & small tent spindle-friendly spaces flourishing.  These spaces are:

• how I & others learn about spinning in the first place;
• a look at how modern folks with busy, stressed lives keep spindles in motion;
• where I made friendships outside of my silo; and
• a very good coping mechanism for staring, snide comments and worst of all deadpan reactions to spinning in daily life.  After all, your beloved spindles don’t make much yarn unless you are spinning with the spindles in daily life.

If any reader has thoughts to share about how we can either sustain the existing spaces or bring our tools to new spaces, I would love to hear from you.  It is something I have been speaking about with friends whose work I have seen but aren’t local and now prefer to step back a little from the fray.

Writing is more my speed than video/ audio but all thoughts are welcome.

Reviving Ramie on the small saxony wheel

In the final days before welcoming T home last summer, I opened my 151 g of Ramie top, and started spinning on my painted East European saxony wheel.

For Twitter and my only record of the start (please excuse the mess!)

This is my first project with Ramie & was love at first spin.

Priorities soon made themselves known.  The night that I had given a Lecture on not touching Mom’s tools, I took this wheel and its Ramie up to my studio.  The fibre stayed downstairs but it was a pretty vain hope.  With everyone under strain family bonding was clearly more important.  What I didn’t know then was how long that takes when your child is aged 4, and circumstances are what they are.  Sitting at wheels took a back burner as we navigated our long, early parenting days.  Others came out but this easiest-to-knock-down wheel was up until just last month.

Dust-gathering no more!  Ramie stash spinning again.

Small note – It is a crazy peg array.  Safety first, and I am not telling anyone to follow this particular flight of fancy.

While she was up & out of dear T’s reach, I saw quite a few questions in Facebook spinning groups about similar wheels.  The questions boil down to:

• Should I buy this?  A: maybe – do you know what you are looking at; do you like to spin fine?
• Did I make a mistake in buying this?  A:  it depends; I love mine.
• something something ‘gypsy wheel’… A: no, seriously, all of Eastern Europe

Invariably, 1 or more voices on the thread cry down that these small wheels make you “treadle like a hamster even if it operates.”  Well, mine operates and that is not my experience.  At all.

The wheel has such a gentle action in terms of the draw-in of the yarn, and the old leather hinges on the treadle bar.  It is also an almost wheel-less feeling as I work since she stands below my torso.  With the band fitted and at the right angle with the mother-of-all, this is smooth and easy spinning now that my (yes, crazy; do not do) pegs are worn in a bit.

Small drive wheel = light drive wheel

Sometimes, I do need to fiddle with the mother-of-all screw tension.  Most times it is fine with my Hempathy yarn band going strong.  When running these wheels have a sweet spot of momentum.

We are at around the half-way mark to what experts call the family equilibrium.  Supports have come and gone; other supports are tremendous.  Not only is this & my Martha wheel now carrying spins-in-progress but I got myself an afternoon away this weekend as a real break.

Mobile comforts – mindless sock and Cheviot spin

This top-down to toe-up piece is a March pattern release by Sarah Jordan called Kissing Cousins Socks.  It is in a Turtle Purl yarn, Tiberius.  The Cheviot wool dyed by Sheepy Time Knits is my ‘Pyrenees Delight’ Tour de Fleece project.  It was such a thrill to have my spinning picture featured by Ravelry and this has stayed in my spinning rotation ever since.

Progress and respite.  I wish the same for you!

Getting more patient: up-noting my weaving, and cotton

The Elin towels from my last post were fully finished by the start of June.  This was the last daylight they have seen!

Four handwoven Elin towels – cottolin; 8-shaft broken twill

The gaps in attending to weaving, writing, and the old craft approaches have been wearing on me.  This cliché assumption all spinners hear now has hit a new chord:

You must be very patient!

My stock response of no and pivoting to the true family trait of stubbornness no longer sounds even technically correct.  There is a new need to cultivate patience.  Life is catching me behind my natural pace for new skills and challenge projects.

Hemmed 2 months after weaving

In between cutting this warp from the loom, and finishing steps, I learned that a good acquaintance who lives near to us was seriously ill.  We were high school friends, and she had moved to Canada before we did.  Even with overlaps in circles at home, I only realized at the end of April that she had been in hospital for most of winter.  This arc of being able to rise to the occasion has been fulfilling in many ways.  It has also shown the upper-limit of my time and energy is not that far from resting state.

With the new awareness of how slim my margins truly are (as opposed to wishful thinking), I will focus on sustaining my home practice.  This meant answering with a no thank you for a teaching opportunity.  It’s a new and frankly unexpected patience.

Teaching T to spin with an Andean Pushka!

It has meant that I could participate in the Tour de Fleece even as it crossed both of our mothers visiting this summer.  The guest bed does close my loom… Patience is a virtue, right?  That too passed, and the Mighty Wolf breathes again.  This dug into my brain a little – spring sampling and all – and is a set of 2 rosepath combination twill baby blankets from a 5 yard warp.

Colour and weave (and treadling mistake) rosepath plus in 8/4 cotton

This is the first with the entered colours reversed as weft.  It is a 14-thread repeat, and was a joy to weave.  I used a new Leclerc temple, and have Beam me Up Scotties finally on the cloth beam.  Black lacing is banished forever!

As patience has its limits, I also bought an electric bobbin winder that I used in weaving the 2nd blanket on this warp.

Time for this post is slipping away, and I best get to the cotton spins.  They are the very soul of a patience I never had.  Good thing that I am both stubborn and thrilled to have something meditative for these nights after navigating the unseen special needs of our home life.

Atoni rosewood spindle with brown cotton; Takhli with Egyptian cotton slyver; African bead whorl with Egyptian cotton puni

The state of these 3 cotton spins has moved since this June 21st picture albeit slowly.  The Rosewood spindle of the Atoni people, East Timor has not changed much & should be wound-off.  The takhli has a 2-year spin of Egyptian cotton top that sits as singles today:

Hard won 50g of Egyptian cotton top in singles balls

The loose goal is to perhaps use these as weft singles.

Pima seeds and singles ball, brown cotton on Atoni spindle, Egyptian cotton puni on African bead whorl

The goals are even more loose with these.  It starts as ideas to spin with new tools, and I let it lead me.  These are closer to my new pace but also to hearing our friend’s advice to parent for the long haul.  None is overblown – we are going to do well if we can.  This summer it meant 1 short day-camp, 2 house guests, no break from the home, and hitting our prime family outings.  Much like blog posting was left undone.  I am trying to embrace both WIPs and the progress that lives in them.

As tiring as this phase has been on different levels it is helping so much.  We can see new things are possible, and add them as we can.  It’s not just short, silly projects as I feared.  It’s also not going at my own way and pace.

End of summer blooms!