Angora Rabbit Fiber

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I still cannot believe that this is from a bunny rabbit…an angora rabbit to be precise. I can’t help but feel bad for this breed. Cute looking, but having this much fur must really suck!

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I’m starting to get a better handle on spinning angora (not to be confused with angora goat, whose fiber is known as mohair). I’m getting the hang of spinning this by itself…usually I blend it with wool. I have found it slippery and at times hard to draft, but like any fiber you get used to the feel and how it needs to be handled in order to get spun. It is very light and lofty. My Himalayan cat’s fur is similar. Many people like the feel of angora in hand but can’t wear it on their head/neck as it tends to tickle/feel itchy…and I can totally see that. I would like to ply an angora yarn on its own though just to see how it works up. I’ll share the finished product whatever I decide to do… 🙂

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Spinning Singles

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I’ve gone back to spinning singles lately…the “traditional” idea of spinning where you spin thinner singles to ply together to make the finished yarn. I am hoping these are the start of yarn for sale…I again am at a loss at pricing because if I take into account the amount of time put into prepping fleece from raw to spinning/plying my price point would be simply too high for consideration. I’m liking the barter idea, so that may be the way to go. In any event I need to finish these into something before my mind gets away from me. I have angora rabbit, icelandic sheep fleece & my “wool soup” (taking odds & ends fleece/roving/batts – running it through the drum carder to make one of a kind batts for spinning) so far spun. Either way, I simply enjoy the process of creating the yarn – more so than knitting it into something! I get far more satisfaction in feeling the fluffy fleece between my hands become a wonderfully soft textured yarn. Not that I don’t enjoy knit/crochet, I simply enjoy carding/spinning more…so yes: when these are completed I must work on finding them new homes. 🙂

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Portable creativity

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This installment of “in the studio” is actually outside the studio…literally! Summer is here and the season is short so anytime I can spend outside creating I’ll take it. My kids have way more energy than I do for playing outdoors, so I do a bit with them, then supervise inside the screened gazebo. 🙂

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Luckily jewelry making is fairly portable…you do have to be organized, otherwise there is a lot of running back & forth inside. My spinning wheel is pretty light/compact too (it folds flat) so I can take it outside or even with me say, camping if I ever choose. 🙂

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My Stash of Handspun…

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This is my stash of handspun yarn in my studio…I consider this the “good stuff” – yet I am not ready to let it go…

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Part of me wants to keep it for my own enjoyment, and part of me want to sell in/barter it for someone else enjoyment. I still am not sure what to price these at, I know I could never make all my time back, esp. for the stuff prepared from scratch (raw fleece). It is something I will most likely ponder for awhile longer. In the meantime, I will enjoy its colorful addition to my studio space. 🙂

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Drum carding with the Brother Drum Carder

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Back in January, I started a thorough search for a drum carder…I had massed a decent amount of fleece and really was not looking forward to hand carding it all. If you have ever looked for a drum carder for equipment you know that they do not come cheap, and do I ever drool at all the different kinds out there on the market. I have spent a small fortune on jewelry making equipment over the years, I can`t really justify $900+ for something that is at the moment, solely a hobby. So I started my search for a used one on ebay…and was I shocked to find one in the $300 range…brand new.

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Yep, Brother Drum Carders are a no-frills economic made in the USA drum carder. I ordered one straight away in January from their website (they also sell on Etsy & Ebay). I must say, I am impressed having zero expectation & zero experience with a drum carder. I’ve used it to blend roving/angelina fibers/silk, and also to process my own fleece that I have washed.

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It is hard work cranking that thing by hand…I do dream of a motorized one if I ever get busy enough to warrant it. And the medium coarse carding cloth I chose doesn’t work very well with my alpaca or angora rabbit fibers…I will have to buy a cloth with teeth appropriate for fine fibers for this (that does make me wonder if a more expensive model could handle all/most types of fleeces) but can I really complain at the price point? I simply feel very lucky to have this tool at my disposal at such an affordable price!

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Washing Raw Fleece…

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In the beginning, I was really leery of washing sheep wool. It seemed like a really time consuming (& potentially icky) task. But spinning roving started to bore me, I wanted more control over my creativity & I started to gain much respect for this wool fiber, the animal who gave it & the process from start to finish.

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I obtain my fleece from scouring fleece sales at various wool shows in the North-East. Although I get taken in by the wonderful alpaca fiber from time to time (which doesn’t need washing before spinning – which is a nice perk), I generally stick to the piles of passed over inexpensive bags of sheep fleece…the extra-dirty or not-so-well-known breeds. I don’t even entertain merino…it’s a lovely wool, but highly over-rated for experimentation purposes. 🙂

I add the fleece by the handfuls in my basket here in the laundry sink, that I had installed in my studio specifically for this purpose. I pick out as much VM (vegetable matter) or poo/manure tags  that I can from this stage…I can’t say that I have ever skirted any wool in the traditional fashion, maybe I *should* but I have never found I needed to at this point (or perhaps I am blissfully ignorant).

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After reading and trying out slightly different variations of washing fleece here is the method that I use:

Soak in hot, hot water with a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dish detergent for at least 3 hours – sometimes I even leave it to soak overnight if there is a lot of lanolin or dirt. I generally find this soak 3 times gets the majority of the dirt off. It is a really pleasant surprise to find a yellowish fleece is indeed a lovely white color after a couple good soaks in hot water & dish detergent!

I then soak it in the hottest water possible 3 times for about 30 min. each time. The last time I add 1/4 cup of vinegar to remove any remaining soap residue. I am careful to keep the temperature consistent while washing as, hot/cold water plus agitation will felt wool. I also do not manipulate the wool much, just gently push down into the water with rubber gloves.

The basket is fantastic as you need to drain the water several times – and I found when not using some sort of basket the fleece would just clog up the drain. These are old fixtures from a Zellers store that closed locally last summer. Bonus is that the square baskets have a lip for hanging on a display rack – and they fit perfectly onto the edge of my laundry tub when I want to lift it out to drain the water.

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The Zellers fixtures also make wonderful drying racks…in the summer, these move outdoors to dry naturally n the sun shine. 🙂

 

Studio Tour…

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I realized I had not shared photos of my studio space, since the renos last year. These photos were taken last January and (sadly) the space is still only 80% done, & the renos were complete *last* June. Nonetheless I am still really happy to have my own dedicated space to work in, even if the paint/trim is not completely done…

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This area of cabinets, I was going to make into a photography area…but it is right beside the sink, so it made an awesome drying area for fleece (I dry wool outside in the summer, these were taken in the winter). The racks are shelving from a local Zellers store that closed last summer – the fixtures were being sold for next to nothing.

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Here’s the sink – with some fleece ready to go for a soak. This used to be a utility room – so where the sink/cabinets are is where my washer & dryer used to be (now relocated to downstairs bathroom). Our contractor scratched his head as to why I’d want a laundry sink away from the washer & dryer. 🙂

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I love chalkboard paint! The sides of these old cabinets were uggg-ly! This paint came in handy in areas that were impossible to spruce up with regular paint…(not to mention fun!).

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You get a better view of the lazure painting I did in the space…my first attempt, not perfect but I do love the effect in the room overall…Oh, that painting is of me & my husband: we were dating at the time, done by Nova Scotia artist Richard Rudnicki.

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The utility room has already came equipped with many cabinets. We don’t use microwaves for food, but they sure come in handy for crafting. 😉 Oh yeah and best. bumper. sticker. ever. 🙂

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My drum carding area…it’s on a glass desk for now, not ideal – I have these sturdy wood flea market tables I think I will bring back into the space…it’s a pretty desk but I’m constantly concerned about damaging it…

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This is the inside of a cabinet where my carded batts & rovings live…it was pretty full at one time but now looks as empty as this since I have been spinning them…

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Several skeins of handspun yarn…this is what I would call my “good” stash…the stuff I am pretty much happy with, not sure if I should sell it or keep it…I have no idea what to price it as the fiber stuff is all new to me as far as the commerce side. Barter perhaps? Admittedly, I have a hard time letting go of it… 🙂 Anyway, I digress…they are organized in a retired shoe organizer. Works great (better than it did for shoes)!

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That picture there: on the right – my dear friend & mentor Aurore Henze painted of me/for me…I was amazed that it matched the color of the pillar perfectly…when I started out lazuring it, I did not have that color in mind at all, but since I didn’t like the first pass I covered it with a darker shade of purple…then I got this painting and wow…fate! 🙂

Missing from these photos are my jewelry & soap making cabinets…I’ll add them in another post…I’m hoping these will give others ideas as to what to do for their own creative space, no matter what the size or purpose…

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Cat vs. Fleece…

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If you think this pic is funny, wait until you see the second one… 😉

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The cats really like to zen out in my studio, but for some reason this particular day, this one decides to dive right into a couple of pounds of Icelandic sheep fleece I had laid out on my work table for processing. Zen, he was not. He went crazy: rolling in it, biting it, kicking it with his back legs while he held a large tuft of it…and then…

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…decided he needed to try to *groom* it all. Proceeded to try licking it…gagging insued!  Ah cats! Originally posted on my Facebook a few weeks ago, it got enough laughs I tried to upload it to icanhazcheezburger (lol cats) tonight…but my connection timed out. Oh well, I may try again later… 🙂

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Latest Textured (Art) Yarns…

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I am terribly behind on posts, and doubt I will bother to catch up. Earlier this year my hard drive failed and we have not yet had luck recovering the data…there is ways but very time consuming and for the self-employed parent time is limited. So I guess you can say I lost interest in blogging.  I’ve also lost faith in WordPress & will be switching most likely to Drupal hopefully this fall. It’s just been one thing after another, and I apologize for any inconsistencies or problems viewing this site.

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But to begin anew here are the latest yarns I have made. These were a total experiment but I love the end results. I took the first two art batts I made earlier this year & turned them into these two skeins of yarn. Here you see them freshly fulled and hanging outside to dry (I love this time of year!). I’m also washing my newest fleeces obtained at this year’s New Hampshire Wool show (below you see a bit of it peeking out, also drying in the fresh open air).

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Both skeins are bulky one plies with beads spun in. I love how fast bulky one ply yarn spins up, but am always afraid of an unbalanced yarn. These are not bad, as you can see they hang fairly straight. The one on the right was from an art batt I made & named “The Fog of War”. I don’t always name my projects, but if a name pops in my head right away I figure there is purpose there. I’ve had these wood beads kicking around forever – probably a closeout I bought from a wholesaler. They never made it into the “for jewelry” making pile, and I am so pleased to have them integrated into this yarn.

The second skein, “Pink Candy Crush” has tiny 4mm pale pink crackle (glass) beads spun within. I loved the effect of the smaller beads just as the large ones. Far more cute & subtle but it works for such a happy colored yarn.

“Fog of War” is a blend of many different wool leftovers…I call these kinds of batts/rovings wool confetti as it is very light, fluffy & airy with tiny pops of color within. “Pink candy crush” has merino, tunis & a purple wool of unknown breed (odds and ends again) along with banana fibers . Both also have angelina fibers for added sparkle. The beads are attached with a Habu stainless steel thread.

These were really fun to make & I’m already on my 3rd. Spinning is my zen. Jewelry making is exciting; new designs make my heart race, while spinning keeps me calm & happy no matter how sore my back may get. 😉

I know people have asked if I will be selling my yarns…I hope to add fiber product of some kind to the website by the end of the summer. I am having a hard time deciding how to price my yarns. I’m thinking of selling my yarns by barter exclusively rather than by exchange of money. I think that feels more fair to me…

Little Girl’s Necklaces

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Today I added charms to my girls’ necklaces, something that anyone can do with their order by browsing the add-ons section. I’m sure my girls don’t appreciate the fact that not all mommies have the charm stash that theirs does. So this is what they chose to add to their necklaces with their names engraved…

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A note about the Hello Kitty charm: this was a birthday gift for my oldest a couple years ago…I set the image in resin on the picture charm. For copyright reasons I do not offer this for sale. But if you have your own special image you would like to have made into a charm I’d love to talk to you about it! 🙂

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Fantastic Handcrafted Yarn Swift

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That’s a horrible picture of a fantastic product. I have wanted a yarn swift for quite some time, even before I was spinning my own yarn, but really cringed at the thought of buying those made in China umbrella ones for $50+…I also thought they’d take up quite a bit of space. So I was happy to find this table top yarn swift handcrafted in the USA by Knitting Notions in Nashville. I also could not believe it was only $55 and love that it comes apart for storage in its own bag. You can move the pegs up/down to get the right tension (so don’t go by my sloppy photo ;)).

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Racing Stripe

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Snapped this quick (read: terrible) picture of a single ply racing stripe textured yarn, still on the wheel. Inspired by Jacey Bogg’s technique in her book & DVD Spin Art, this is bluefaced leicester with a racing stripe of both handspun one ply wool and metallic thread. The picture does not do it justice of course. I wonder what to make with it. Spun on my jumbo flyer so I have a decent sized skein. Hmmmm…. 😉

Thick & Thin…

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Sorry for the terrible picture…this is my first attempt doing a single ply thick/thin yarn using Jacey Bogg’s wrist flick/turn-key-in-lock  method as she describes in her book/dvd Spin Art. I absolutely adore this book & accompanying dvd, and although my yarn is not perfect, I was encouraged at just how nice it actually *did* turn out. I think the biggest testament is that it drapes nicely. Single plies can never be balanced as it does not contain any counter twist like a plied yarn, so the goal is to achieve as even a drape as possible. If your yarn hangs fairly straight after washing/fulling, then that is a good “balanced” single ply yarn. I don’t tension my yarns either, simply let them hang dry after a good thwack or two. 😉

This yarn is a superwash merino which is a first for me. First time spinning a thick/thin, and using superwash. Not a fan of the smell of superwash wool (chemically treated so that it will not shrink/felt). I like the fresh barn smell of sheep fleece (unlike an unclean barn smell har har! ;)). We live in a virtually chemically free home so smells and odors particularly of a chemical nature seem very strong to me. I think I will stick to untreated fleeces and care instructions if I ever gift any yarn or knitted/crocheted pieces. Merino itself is a very good choice for thick/thin yarn since it is short stapled; therefore the short movements created to make the fibers “catch” in the thin section are easily achieved unlike in a long stapled yarn you wouldn’t get as much variation in the thick/thin.

I’ll be sure to post what this looks like knitted up, however it may be awhile – I don’t see me stepping away from the spinning wheel anytime soon… 😉

Rhinebeck 2012

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So excited to announce I finally got to go to Rhinebeck this year! I have been wanting to go to this show for several years now, and the gorgeous weather was one of the deciding factors to take off and go last minute (we even got the chance to spend the night in Manhattan making this the perfect trip for me. I love the country, but adore that city – the creative energy!). I picked up some great raw fleece at the fleece sale (the most organized I have ever been to I might add) as well as a few other goodies – check out my bounty!! I will be posting all about the show on my family’s blog; once it is completed I will post a link to it here! Can’t wait ’till next year! 🙂

Fiber Experimentation

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From left to right: mohair, mohair/wool mix, colorfully dyed llama, brown yak down & angora/wool mix.

 

I’ve been going through my fleece bins ans spinning/plying yarns from different fiber sources. I want to get a feel for the different fibers so to determine what I would like to continue to spin on a larger scale in the future. So far I have enjoyed every type and learning the pros and cons of spinning each. It is going to be hard to narrow down. 🙂

Spinning Yak Down

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This summer I purchased a small bag of yak down to try spinning. It is amazingly soft/fluffy/airy and short stapled, so a light touch is definitely needed as well as a very short, inch-worm type draft. I put my pulley on medium with a soft uptake (my Lendrum is a scotch tensioning wheel). I found the large pulley didn’t give the enough twist so the fibers drifted apart easily which would be annoying during plying. I really wanted to keep that light airy feel in the finished yarn. The finished project in another post…

Spun Recycled Silk

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Frabjous Fibers has these awesome bags of recycled silk bits…some long, some just tiny chunks of many different colors. It spins up in this wonderful bumpy texture – kind of like when you tail spin wool locks only much finer. Spinning takes a bit of skill because you do have to inch worm draft quite carefully. Once you find your groove however, it is so much fun to spin and the texture is so rad! I have plied this with wool and it adds a wonderful softness and fun color texture. I’d like to card this together with some wool…another reason why I so need a drum carder! 😉

Leclerc Bobbin Winder & Storage Bobbins

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Spinning so many singles means my handful of bobbins for my wheel just isn’t cutting it anymore for storage. Upon doing some research, I was happy to obtain a bobbin winder and 2 dozen storage bobbins from Leclerc Looms here in Quebec. I purchased their larger size styrene 4in spools, not the typical boat shuttle spools that are too small to hold much yarn for plying.

The winder is a simple heavy duty tool that I am really glad I bought. Not only is it faster than winding off by hand, it winds nice and even, and not too tight as I find the case with hand-winding. I have it screwed to this side table for my rocking chair in the livingroom for now until I move back into my studio again. What can I say it does the trick. 🙂

Making Handspun Yarn – the Tools Involved

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I have been having a fabulous time learning all about spinning since purchasing my first spinning wheel in February. I’ve been spinning wool roving mostly from my collection of roving by Bartlettyarns obtained from the New Hampshire Wool Show last year (they had a buy 4 get one free sale…or something like that. At the time I had no idea I would learn to spin; I simply stocked up because it was a darn good deal and you can never have enough wool roving for felting :)). It’s very light and fluffy and I enjoy the texture it creates once spun. I am still waiting for the plying head/jumbo flyer I ordered for my Lendrum, so for now I have been spinning and storing my singles…for the most part anyway. I also have been experimenting with plying just to get a feel for it (you can most certainly ply with the regular head you just get less yardage).

I own two lazy kates and I use them for storing my bobbins when I am not plying. I tend to get bored spinning one color so will switch it out for another fairly often. I watched a wonderful video called “The Gentle Art of Plying” by Judith Mackenzie. Judith calls these marvelous contraptions just “kates” and I chuckled because I agree with her – how can you call something so useful lazy? When she made this remark in her video I was nodding my head in agreement! If you are looking to understand more about plying and a good method to do it, I highly recommend her video. It certainly took the intimidation out for me. I even tried plying cables. It is a whole lot of fun and really addictive. I think once you understand twist and counter-twist (S and Z as it is called in the spinning world) plying is not so intimidating. I always thought I would only make fun bulky singles, but I am really loving plying and the balance created in the finished yarns.

A niddy noddy is another useful tool with an entertaining name. One you have finished plying your yarn (or spinning your bulky single yarn as it may be) you wind it onto a niddy noddy. This helps straighten the fibers as well as a tool to count how many yards was made. For my particular niddy noddy, I count the wraps and multiply by 1.5 to get the yardage of yarn made. Winding yarn on a niddy noddy takes a bit of skill and this is where my jewelry making experience really help me out. I have heard of people who, even after years of spinning, never could master wrapping on a niddy noddy. For me, I find it quiet fluid! 🙂

After winding the yarn onto the niddy noddy, you tie off the yarn and then set the twist and/or full. I will talk about this in another post. 🙂

Lendrum DT Spinning Wheel

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This is my new baby. Surprising, no? It’s definitely not for jewelry making, although you can spin beads into the fiber. 😉

We are a Waldorf Inspired household. Before I had my children I could have cared less about knitting and crochet. I had been slowly making time to teach myself to knit last year,but  finally decided to make a concerted effort at it during the holidays. I had a 3 month old, and spent a lot of time nursing & rocking…and I thought it would finally be a good time to dedicate a good amount of time for learning (read: a nice, quiet creative project so not to disturb baby). It went okay at first, but I found myself wanting to know more about the textile I was working with. How is yarn made? What is the difference between natural and synthetic fibers? Between machine or hand spun? Drop spindle or spinning wheel?

After watching a few videos on YouTube, I was totally intrigued about spinning and really wanted to get a wheel (I was pathetically clumsy with a drop spindle).

So after considering my options, I ended up purchasing a Lendrum Double Treadle. This is a scotch tensioning wheel, which meant nothing to me at the time, but I so enjoy spinning on this type of wheel now. Another post is needed for technical whatnots…

I chose this wheel because it is compact, folds for storage (not that I have never had a chance to store it!) and is locally made in Ontario. I am waiting for a plying head/jumbo flyer that I ordered back in the spring. Lendrums are in demand and worth the wait.

You can find  a local Lendrum dealer by visiting his website.

Spinning, understanding fiber and how yarn is formed has been like a kick start to my brain as far as knitting and crochet goes. Although I am still very much a beginner, since spinning patterns/stitched/formation make so much more sense to me. I bought this wheel in February and spin pretty much everyday we are home. A joy!

More info to follow…

 

Change of Plans…

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Just as I get my website up and running, we decide to do some upgrades to our downstairs. It is time. We also bought a camper trailer, so our family will be on the open road for most of the summer…which has been a dream of ours for our family.

What this means is a much needed upgrade to give me a bonafide studio. The washer & dryer will be removed and moved into the downstairs washroom, giving me free reign of the entire space. We have been frantically packing up our lives in preparation; the jewelry supplies are boxed up for now, and should see the light of day again this fall. This summer I will post about my adventures in spinning fiber this winter/spring to keep the creativity flowing. I feel a total overhaul of the jewelry as well…I’m looking forward to the summer to mull it all over.

Per usual if you can still contact me for custom requests, I may or may not be able to fulfill them, but do feel free to write!

I look forward to showing off my new studio space. It is my dream to have a place that I can share with the community as well…jewelry making, beading, knit, crochet, card fiber, spin…excited to finally be moving in this direction…