Manic Monday

I've been able to do a little spinning tonight. I'm still a ways away from filling a bobbin and I love this "Crabapple" sock fiber more and more every minute I spin. Look at these lovely singles!



I'm planning to spin a two ply yarn. It came in two huge (like basketball-sized) balls of roving, so I'm spinning each roving on a separate bobbin. If there is any difference in the colorway, it'll all blend together. I'm hoping to get areas of all pink, all green, and mixed. The brown is in spots here and there and I think there's just the right amount.

My filigree class is over, but I still have access to the craft shop. I finished two of my orifice hooks - one flower and one martini glass. I really love how the flower turned out. It has a few blobs here and there, but it's so pretty and delicate. I'm on the fence about the martini glass. I like it, but the silver has a melting point close to the solder and one edge of the glass has a little extra character, thanks to the flame beginning to melt the frame. I had hoped to sell this one, but I think I'll keep it since it's not up to snuff. Filigree is a lot of fun and I hope I have the time to keep playing with it. I have another orifice hook in the shape of a wine glass, but I haven't figured out how I'd like to fill it in. I'm going back to the craft shop on Wednesday and hopefully I'll have the perfect idea by then.

What happened to April?

I swear I had no idea I went so long without an update. I did have a vacation somewhere in there, but it's been a busy month.

My April PhatFiber box arrived last week! I still have to do a write-up of all the goodies, but here's a preview. This month I got all fiber and no yarn. A few of the contributors got boxes like this instead of the usual mixed yarn/fiber style. I suppose it all depends on how many of each kind of sample show up. I don't mind since I've been a spinning maniac lately and haven't been knitting at all. I'd rather see the pretty yarn samples end up with people that may actually go on to purchase more from those talented sellers.



I haven't touched my box since opening it because I've been busy working on my May samples. I worked again with CJ at Extreme Spinning to develop a custom colorway for the "Flowers and Showers" theme. It's called "Crabapple" and is a lovely blend of pinks, green and brown inspired by spring-blooming crabapple trees. I'm getting it in several fibers, but the Suffolk/Hampshire sock roving arrived first. I've written before about how much I love this fiber. It's a dream to spin, especially with my new Jumbo Sliding Hook Flyer. I can get a LOT of yarn on a jumbo bobbin. They'll handle 4oz no problem and I'm working on filling one bobbin with as much as it will hold.

This fiber looks very bright in the roving, but it's more subtle when spun. I can't wait to see how it looks once it's plied. Green and pink is one of my favorite combinations.





I also had a wild, fiber-filled weekend. I went to the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival and volunteered to demonstrate drop spindle spinning. My cousin's wife and my new fiber co-addict came along to demonstrate needle felting. I met a bunch of women from the local spinning group and recruited several vendors to hopefully become future Phat Fiber contributors. I also fell in love with an alpaca and am keeping my fingers crossed that I can buy her fleece. After she's shorn in a couple of weeks, I should get notification on the weight and price of her fiber. It's lovely stuff and I hope I'll have some swoon-worthy pictures to share by late May. I LOVED being around alpacas again. I used to work with them as a vet tech and the first time I heard one hum yesterday, it brought it all back. I've also volunteered to help with a shearing day in May. I'm not sure yet if I'll be needed, but if I am, I'll get to see first hand how shearing works and I'll be able to refresh my alpaca handling skills.

Beginning Filigree

I've been having a lot of fun lately exploring my creativity. Last week I began a silver filigree class and last night I soldered my first piece. It was a little terrifying to learn to use the acetylene torch. I heard "soldering" and imagined we'd be using little soldering irons like I did with stained glass. Instead, we use much higher heat and flame little bits of soldering wire onto our pieces. I've become more comfortable using the torch to anneal (soften) my wire and I've learned to twist it. Last night I shaped the frame for a filigree orifice hook (for my spinning wheel) and soldered the joint. It was really exciting to watch the flux melting away and to see the solder liquify and leap into the joint.

The next step is to shape all of my filigree and solder it into the frame. I can do most of the shaping and layout work at home and save my time at the workshop for the parts that need the torch. If I'm not allowed to have a gas grill at my apartment, I think my landlords would really frown upon an acetylene torch in the second bedroom. This is a blessing in disguise, because it will keep my love of filigree work at least slightly under control. I can get a pass to the workshop that lets me use it whenever it's not in use for a class. Even better, the workshop pass gives me access to the pottery studio. I learned how to do wheel pottery once upon a time and I may look into a refresher class in the fall.

For now though, I'm going to see how this orifice hook turns out and then try to make either more hooks or a couple of pendants. The teacher has agreed to expand the class and we'll also learn how to make bezel settings and bails for custom pendants. I've always wanted to know how and I'm excited to get the chance to try.

It doesn't look like much yet, but it's a start! (Click to see bigger)

Spring Fiber Jubilee

This past weekend, I went to my first fiber festival of the year with my cousin's wife aka my new fiber co-addict. She's a felter and learning how to spin, so we were both giddy about the chance to get out and breathe wool fumes. It was fun going shopping for fiber this time. I went to one last year when I was only a knitter but there's so much more to see when fiber is on my radar.

My first purchase of the day was 4oz of llama roving. I had a hard time picking a color, but this creamy roving is softer than alpaca. It's softer than almost anything else I've ever touched. Seriously, it's amazing. Silky, fine, shiny.. it's wonderful and I keep petting it instead of spinning. (click pictures to view larger)



We browsed some more booths, one of which had gorgeous baskets. I also squeezed some mohair, but resisted since I already have several bags of 100% kid mohair in the stash. We saw Angora goats being shorn. One of the outbuildings had raw corriedale fleeces and lovely roving. I bought 4 oz each of two colors because I'm on a natural fiber kick lately. It's nice to alternate gorgeous batts and natural roving and locks since it keeps me on my toes. All of these different fibers and preps keep my fingers from getting in the habit of any one technique.

They're seen posing here with the llama roving.



And what was that burst of bright orange in the photo? I found a booth selling lovely dyed and combed wool by the pound plus these gorgeous hand-dyed Cotswold locks. After the orange batts, I am madly in love with this shade of clear yellow-orange. I have no idea what I'll do with these, but the color was practically screaming to come home with me. It's just a little 2 oz baggie, so maybe I'll mix them in with something else as an accent.



In the middle of all of this, I saw a familiar face. It took me a moment and realized it was someone I knew from her blog, Feather and Fan. We've emailed back and forth a few times, but never managed to meet until we just happened to be at the same fiber festival. We'll also be spinning together at the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in a couple of weeks. It's such a small world!

Speaking of alternating fibers, I finished the rustic, plant-dyed, lanolin-rich Shetland locks and moved on to one of the sparkling merino/alpaca "Fairy Dust" batts. I am spinning thicker singles and loving the soft colors and copious twinkles. There is clear pink and blue angelina all over everything in my apartment. I seem to leave a trail of it wherever I go. It may have something to do with wearing a fleece pullover while I spin, but it's still cold here and I can't help it. I don't mind. It makes my place look extra fancy.

Spinning Before and After - "Hellebore"

I think I've really reached a turning point with my spinning. I am much more comfortable with raw fibers, locks, fiber prep and color blending after this latest project. I went into this with a clear idea of what I wanted, and I was able to spin to get that result.

I started with two colors of plant-dyed Shetland locks from Natchwoolie. I had about twice as much of the darker cranberry purple "Lambrusco" than the lighter pinkish "mauve". I recently bought a scale and I don't know how I lived without it before this. I split the two colors into two equal piles each. Each one was destined to become a skein.

Next, I started on the first skein. I split the piles again into two equal halves so I could spin a two-ply yarn. I have more purple than mauve, so I wanted to be sure I was able to blend it effectively. For the first ply, I flicked open the locks with a cat brush and left the two colors in separate piles. Flicking the locks really opened them up and made them easier to draft.



When I spun the first ply, I alternated grabbing from each pile and spun from the cloud. I ended up with a rustic, textured single with occasional slubs and thick and thin spots. I didn't want to card all of the personality out of this fiber, and I like how the singles turned out.



Then I started on the second pile of fiber. I flicked the locks open again. I added an extra step and roughly carded the two colors together by grabbing random combinations of locks and flicking them together. They all went into one big pile.



I spun this pile from the cloud, pretty much as it looked there and didn't pay attention to what was happening with the colors. The singles still varied a bit, but the changes between purple and pink were much less dramatic.



The final step was plying the two back together. I ended up with 2.5 oz, 110 yards and a bit of variation between sport and worsted weight. There are sections that are all purple or all mauve, but the rest is varying blends of the two colors. It's heathered with a bit of added excitement and I love it.






I swatched it on US5's and I love how this fabric shows the texture and variation in color. It's not stark stripes, but it's more interesting than a well-blended heather.