From Blending Board to Fiber Frolic

During introductions at a recent GLASG meeting, I blurted out that my special skill is spending my paycheck on fibers and tools.  I was not surprised to see how many other members agreed that this is high on their skill inventories.  I think most of us fiber fanatics love the tactile and visual sensations we get from our stashes and our equipment.  Fortunately, I haven't been bitten by the spindle spinning bug, but I know many spinners who have more spindles than they will ever use, just because they are drawn by the beauty of the wood or the craftsmanship of the artist.  For Lent this year, I am giving up bacon and guilt over my shopping habits.  I think doing both will make me a better and healthier person.

My friend Gail from Weaver's Cupboard and I went to the February meeting of the Greater Los Angeles Spinners Guild (GLASG), where Gwen Powell gave a seminar on using the blending board and woolen spinning.    Gwen has a Certificate of Excellence in Handspinning from the HGA and teaches spinning, weaving, crochet, and dyeing.  She was instrumental in bringing back the garneting board from obscurity under the friendlier name "blending board."   She worked with Clemes & Clemes on the design and the result is a board created with the fiber know-how of a master spinner and the craftsmanship of a major fiber tool maker.  After seeing some of their boards in action I find them tempting but for the time being, I'm sticking with my less beautiful but fully functional handmade board.

Gwen demonstrated how to create a batt and then pull off several nearly identical striped rolags.  She also showed how to add inclusions (little bits of stuff to add interest) to the batt. Finally, she showed how easily the rolags could be spun into woolen using a long draw technique.

Easy for her, that is.  She has become so expert at using her blending board that she had it loaded with fiber and created rolags in just a minute or two.

It took me about 20 minutes to get these rolags off my blending board.  I clearly have some issues with consistency.  We used some 1/4" dowels to wrap the rolags around - perhaps a large dowel would help.

I also put some inclusions in the purple/blue set, which mostly fell out later.  But it was a lot of fun and I'm going to enjoy using this tool now that I have some clues about what can be done with it.

Yesterday, I had a few minutes to spin the rolags.  I really tried to stick with the long-draw woolen technique Gwen showed, but I struggled.  I think part (but not all) of the problem was the consistency of my rolags.  Some parts drafted easily.  Other parts required tugging to get any fibers out.  And I kept catching myself reverting to my worsted style.  Since my singles were so inconsistent, I decided to Navajo ply without regard to color to get a very chaotic yarn.  I love how the colors turned out.  Wonder what I can do with 18 yards of chaos?

Gwen will be giving a full workshop for my Saturday Spinners group in a couple of months and I'm really looking forward to learning more from her.


One of my local guild's members sent out an email through the grapevine a couple of weeks ago about selling her Pat Green Triple Picker.  Lucky for me, I check my email obsessively and was the first to respond to her message.  As much as I like my Kaydessa box picker, I can prepare only a few ounces of fiber in an hour.  While the Pat Green can go through several POUNDS of fiber in an hour.   You can get an idea of its size from this photo -- the picker is sitting on a porch swing that seats two adults.  I'm still keeping the Kaydessa -- it can go to workshops with me, but the Pat Green will be my go-to tool.

This picker needs a little attention -- it's a bit rusty and the wood needs some care, but for the price, I couldn't have been happier.  A little elbow grease and it will be ready to go.   And just in time.  At the GLASG meeting, I won a bag full of unwashed alpaca.  Looked pretty horrible, but after washing, it's a beautiful light fawn color.  It was already a bit matted and washing matted it a little more, so it's going to need a ride through the picker before it can be carded.

Incidentally, I learned this last week:

                    (HOT CAR) + (UNWASHED ALPACA) X (2 DAYS) = (INSTANT NAUSEA)

Life is full of unexpected lessons.

Ever have one of those days where you couldn't do anything right?  Friday I took another machine knitting class at Newton's Yarn Country.  This session was on punch lace (aka thread lace) and using the lace carriage.

For the life of me, I couldn't even remember how to cast on.  Had to sneak a peak at my instruction book because I wasn't going to admit it.  And still had to ask for help.  And at one critical point, I ran the carriage over the bed without adding a necessary thread and got to learn how to manually pick up and re-knit dropped stitches.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to have Newton's check out my lace carriage in advance.  It was skipping stitches and knitting some in unintended places, so I left it to get some TLC.    The punch lace, though, was pretty easy to do and I also learned a new binding off technique.  Here I'm in the process of binding off a swatch.

I'm not sure what I would use it for, but this technique makes an interesting textured fabric with the heavy yarn overlaid by a lightweight thread.

This is the purl side of the fabric.  You can see where the dark thread is is not caught consistently.  Once we added more weight to the fabric, the stitches became more consistent.Still pretty ugly, though.

I read somewhere that there really isn't a right or wrong side in punch lace - you choose based on what's pleasing to your eye - but I don't think there's any question here that this is the wrong side.










And this is the knit side.  Still don't like the overall pattern, but I like the look of the lacy thread over the heavier yarn.  We used a dark thread over a medium toned yarn to get some contrast between the two.  I think this would look interesting (in the right pattern) with a metallic thread or perhaps a different tone of the same color.

 Close-up, you can see how the yarn and thread are knitted together.





























I also learned to do a hem with a picot edge.  I think it makes a really pretty border.

Saturday was the Griffin Dyeworks  Fiber Frolic.  This is an annual (I think) event held in Monrovia, where they offer a number of classes, have a small vendor hall, and a spinning circle.   The Griffin people were super friendly and made it a fun day.

My morning class was on fiber blending with Micki Lawrence from Funhouse Fibers. Micki sells her handspun yarn and dyed roving on her site.   I already knew Micki a little from GLASG, and expected her to lead a lively and fun class.  She did not disappoint.  Even though she was a last minute replacement for the original teacher, she was well-prepared and  I would take another class with her anytime.  

Using just the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and a pair of hand carders, we worked on creating a color wheel by blending different proportions of the colors. Then created tints by adding white to each color, and shades by adding black.    Aha moment for me.  I have to admit I'm intimidated by color theory.  I know what pleases me and I know what I definitely don't like.  I tend to stick to a few "safe" color choices.  But I finally got it that by blending a color that I don't particularly like with a different color, I can create the illusion of an altogether different color.   And I really like the texture created by combining two colors. 

Micki also demonstrated using a DIY hackle to blend color.  Although we ran out of time and didn't get to play with them, she had brought along enough of her handmade hackles for each of us to use, and we were able to buy them.  These are made by attaching some plastic hairpicks to a board.  Simple.  But having drilled through plastic in the past, visions of massive hand injuries made me take no time to decide to buy one.  I'm pretty sure nearly everyone in the class bought one as well. 

Speaking of buying things, there were shopping opportunities here.  Ruth from the Dizzy Ewe was there with piles of her gorgeous fibers. I purchased some lovely cream-colored Polwarth top from her for my afternoon class.

One of the vendors was selling gently used books and I found a copy of Yarns to Dye For.   It explains how to achieve different patterning effects such as stripes and faux fairisle in hand-dyed yarns.   Having done a fair amount of dyeing using different techniques, I think book is excellent for the crafter who doesn't want to become an expert dyer or invest in expensive equipment, but who still wants to control where color goes in the yarn.  Instructions are very clear and uncomplicated. Think my next solo dyeing project will be "watermelon" stripes. 

At the Griffin Dyeworks tables, I bought a small bag of cochineal and made myself walk away. ( It's now triple-bagged and in my studio.)  Fifteen minutes later, when a friend showed me a handheld tapestry loom she had bought, I was forced to go back for another look.  And made a trip to my car with:

Not one, but two tapestry looms made by Jim Hokett of Hokett Would Works. Yes, Would.  The first time I saw the name, I thought it was a typo but it  turns out to be a pretty clever play on words.  The larger loom is 12:"x16" and is made of purple heart and padauk.  The smaller one is 7"x8" and is made of pecana (sic) negra and coyote wood.  I wish I could take better photos because this one does not do justice to the lovely wood.  Jim Hokett doesn't have his own website but his tools are sold by several fiber companies, including  Griffin Dyeworks.




These looms are warped by running a thread across the length, through the first notch, and back through the second one.  I'm told that the finished product can be removed from the loom by just pushing the warp threads up the notches.   Can't picture how that would work if there's enough tension on the warp but guess I'll just have to see.

Here you can see the loom partially warped.  Below are sections of the front showing threads alternately going into or coming out of each slot, and the back, showing how the threads are wrapped around every other peg.

Then I found this tiny tool called a barb beater.  It's just 1"x2.5" - a perfect size for working with small areas on one of these handheld looms.  Also made by Jim Hokett.

Finally, I fell for this beautiful nostepinne made of mahogany and poplar.  This is used for winding yarn into a ball.  Who could resist this lovely tool?  I don't know who made this one.

 My afternoon class was on dust dyeing, taught by Elena Dent.  I love, love, love any form of dyeing.  And Elena  made it very simple.  She had a dozen or so different salt shakers filled with Cushings dyes cut with cornstarch and a pair of commercial steam table pans filled with hot (not boiling) water simmering on the stove.  We added some vinegar to the water, put in a piece or two of fiber, and started sprinkling them with the dye powders.

Elena was knowledgeable and informative, and did a good job taking the mystery out of the process for the class.  Only thing I would change is to have a monitor to make sure people took turns nicely.  The pans were large enough for two people at a time to share one.  Most of my classmates were considerate, but we had one person who shoved her way in front, and filled one pan with her fibers.  Then took that batch out and started another before anyone else had a turn.  At one point she had one entire pan filled along with half of the other while the rest of us waited our turns.  And of course we were all too polite to say anything to her.  Maybe drawing numbers would have helped.  But I don't think anyone let this ruin the class for them, and I would definitely take another class from Elena.

Some people mixed the colors in the pan and ended up with fairly monochromatic results. One of the women had some silk scarves that she slowly dipped in the pan repeatedly, and ended up with some lovely ombre effects.   I wanted multi-hued fibers, so I sprinkled several different colors on my roving.   I tried not to agitate the water, so the colors would pretty much stay where sprinkled.  This is the first time I've done dyeing where the result was pretty close to what I was trying for.

Despite the care we took, somewhere in the process I managed to felt the fibers a little.  But I'm going to spin this if I have to card it again!  I'm so curious to see what the colors do when spun.


All in all, it was a great day and I look forward to going again.

A New (to me) Drum Carder!

More to talk about than seemed right for a single post, so here goes post number two of the day.

In other news, I found another piece of equipment I've been lusting after and it's now in my studio.  I've been studying up on drum carders for several months, and after trying out a friend's machine recently, had made up my mind that I would really like to have one for all the fiber I have dreams of processing.  After studying up on all the different carders available, I had decided on either a Pat Green, Strauch Finest, or a Fancy Kitty carder. All seem like good quality, well-built machines.  And users of all three are very happy with their products.   I finally determined that a Fancy Kitty "Big Tom" motorized carder was the one for me.  The biggest selling feature is that the drums are interchangeable.  So I could start with the standard 120TPI carding cloth and eventually purchase other drums with finer or coarser cloth depending on my needs.  Still expensive because the carding cloth is the costliest part of the machine, but still better space-wise and pocket-book-wise than buying multiple machines. 

I also lurked in the Fancy Kitty forum on Ravelry and was impressed with the customer service.  It seems as though every time someone mentions that they have a problem, Ron is there immediately to answer questions and even asking them to call so he can walk them through the steps.   And there are frequent follow-up posts saying that Ron spent considerable time on the phone and helped them solve their problems. 


So I had made up my mind what I wanted and decided to set aside a chunk of my paycheck every month until I had saved up enough to order directly from Ron.  In another moment of serendipity, a lovely lady from Missouri named Erin posted on Ravelry that she wanted to sell her Big Tom with not one, but two drums (90 TPI and 120 TPI) at a hugely reasonable price.  At the same time I had a windfall - not enough to buy the new drum carder, but enough to buy Erin's gently used one.

Isn't This the Coolest Thing?

 We talked on the phone several times and agreed on the price and shipping details.  A couple of clicks on Paypal, and the drum carder was packed up and on a UPS truck before I even caught my breath.  I emailed Ron at Fancy Kitty to ask if there were instructions on the carder.  He charged a very small price for the copies and I had them in the mail in two days.  That's good customer service.

I had decided that since it was such a big ticket item, and since Erin would want the delivery signed for, I should have it shipped to my office.  First mistake.  Wednesday morning bright and early, I got my text message from UPS saying that my package had been delivered.  Huh?  Not to my office.   Some searching on the UPS site and a live chat later, I learned that the truck driver opted to deliver to Central Receiving rather than to the building and room specified on the label.  So Central Receiving accepted it.  And put it on their truck for delivery to me that afternoon.  And of course my department was their last stop.  Just before close of business.  So much for my plan to unpack, assemble, and make sure it worked properly before taking it home.

Rushed home and before going to my Wednesday night class, I had just enough time to assemble it and briefly try it out. I did have a few tense moments at first. The big drum motor worked right off the bat but the licker in didn’t. Fiddled with things and found one plug that wasn’t all the way in. So got both motors working and put both drums in according to instructions I got from the Kitty people. Turned it on and nothing happened! Somehow I had managed to turn both of the speed dials all the way down.  Phew!

I tried it out on the Dorset wool I’ve been preparing and it was a disaster! I think the carder was working fine but the fiber needed more prep (or may need to be a felting project).  This photo shows the batt that refused to come together.  Lumpy and slubby and yuck.

 I thought the Dorset was not a fair test of the drum carder and certainly not a fiber for learning to fine-tune the drum placement, so I decided to try out some of my alpaca.  Since I had already successfully made several batts on a friend's drum carder, I knew what to expect.

First I took a few minutes to pick the fiber because there were loads of intact locks.   Used my Kaydessa picker, and it quickly turned the clumps into fluffy clouds of softness.

Don't think I've shown what it looks like.  It's an interesting and fairly innocuous looking box.


















Then you open it up and it's a lethal weapon!


















Here it is in action:

So I ran the picked alpaca through the carder, and still had problems getting smoothly from the licker-in to the big drum.  I certainly need to do some studying and adjusting before I get this right, but once I do, look out!  Major art batts coming soon.

Here's the first pass being taken off the drum.  Left behind quite a bit in the carding cloth and need to work on that skill as well.

And here's the finished batt - after two passes through the carder.  Not quite a smooth as the ones made on my friend's machine but pretty good for a first try.  But you can clearly see that there are tiny (and some not-so-tiny) bits of VM throughout the fiber, despite vigorous cleaning and picking.  Guess I really do need that fiber tumbler.  Hmm...  wonder what my beloved woodworking nephew is doing this weekend?

More sulking, fermented fleece, one finished object!

In our last episode, our intrepid heroine was recovering from a bad cold.   Not!

Cold turned into sinus infection and bronchitis.  Toughed it out at work for three days, succumbed and stayed home on Friday.  Started antibiotics and hoped that I would feel better by Saturday, but NO!  I had to miss my spinning guild's field trip to an alpaca farm and fiber processing mill.  Major disgruntlement.

Between naps, I finished the apricot colored scarf on the rigid heddle loom.  Not knowing for sure the fiber content, I cautiously wet-finished it Saturday night.  It looked like the fibers were blooming and I was going to lose the lacy effect of the loose weave I had done, but the bloom pretty much disappeared as the scarf dried.

I was slightly disappointed, though, with the finished product.  The fibers I had used were pretty soft and I thought the scarf would drape nicely.  After drying, the scarf was very, very stiff.  I'm not sure what caused this -- I rinsed it thoroughly, and the weave structure is fairly loose so...    Will revisit this some other time.  Also debating about the length of the fringe.

I finally tackled the Dorset fleece I had soaking in tubs in the back yard.   But so far it has not turned out well.

Two weekends ago, I put one of my purchased fleeces in two tubs of water, intending to give them an overnight soak.   The next day, the water in both tubs was absolutely filthy, so I drained and refilled the tubs, figuring that another soaking would help reduce the amount of yuck that ended up in my sink.   Then I figured another day or two of soaking wouldn't hurt a thing and planned on processing the fleece over the next weekend.  Then I came down with the plague and didn't care much one way or another about the fleece.

When I finally started feeling human again yesterday, I decided to see about finishing the cleaning process.  Here's what I saw when I opened the first tub.

 

And a close-up:

Looks like there is a layer of scum floating on top of the water here -- but it's actually a huge blob of slimy goo suspended in the water.  Have you ever had a bottle of vinegar that wasn't completely pasteurized develop a "mother?"  It reminded me very much of one of these:

Yuck.  I couldn't get it out of the water.  In hindsight, I should have been patient and used a strainer on it, but I'm not sure even that would have worked.  So when I gave up and lifted the fiber out of the water, the yuck seemed to follow the fiber and clung all over it. 

Other aspect of this was the odor.  Strike that word.  The STINK!  Now I have had a very poor sense of smell since childhood.  Added to that, with my clogged sinuses, I wasn't smelling very much of anything.  But the stink that emanated from this brew was incredible.  So much ammonia that it was like walking into a 1960's beauty parlor times 10.  I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the authorities on me.  Picture a few dozen hazmat-clad, gun-wielding g-men descending on my back yard.

I've been reading up on different methods of cleaning fleece, and it sounds like I stumbled onto the "fermented suint" method.  Basically, you put a very greasy fleece in a tub of rain water (theoretically more free from mineral content than most other water sources) and let it sit for days until it ferments.  The chemical reactions between the water and the suint (sheep sweat) combine to loosen the lanolin (sheep oil) from the fleece, which becomes some kind of soapy concoction that you then use to soak future fleeces for a day or two.  Theoretically it is a "greener" process because it requires far less water to clean a fleece.

Perhaps if I had not used garden tap water, I might have accidentally had a better result.  But here in my part of  SoCal, we very seldom have enough rain water to do more than water the lawn a bit, so I've never looked into collecting rain water.  And now that I know how bad a fermenting fleece smells, I don't think this cleaning method will motivate me.

So I set the fleece on a big screen to dry in the sun.  Not pretty.  The yuck from the water dried to a rusty pink film that I could not separate from the fleece.  And the smell is pretty bad.  So bad, the hundreds of birds that live in my back yard haven't gone anywhere near it.  Come to think of it, I haven't even seen a bird since I opened up the tubs.

Figured that this fleece is probably a total loss, so might as well experiment on it.   I put some into a couple of lingerie bags, and soaked in hot water -- one with Unicorn Power Scour and one with Dawn.  Neither one dissolved the pink yuck, but I think the Unicorn may have pulled a bit more dirt out of the fleece. 

Let the two bags dry overnight.  The good news is that once dry, the smell seemed to disappear.

You can see that the fleece is now a lot whiter, but it's covered by these little pinkish specks.  Still not pretty.  So I put some of it through my Kaydessa Lil' Dynamo wool picker.  It took several passes and a time out to let some fibers that were still a bit damp dry thoroughly, but the pink stuff is flaking off.  In fact, here's what the bottom of the picker looks like after putting just an ounce of fiber through two times.

The inside of the picker was immaculate before I started picking.  All those specks that look like sawdust are actually flakes of the yuck that came off the wool. 

And after two passes through the picker, the wool looks like this:

Still some pink stuff in there but much cleaner and whiter.   I tried washing some of the picked fiber again yesterday to see if it would come any cleaner.  Just waiting for it to dry thoroughly before making any decisions about proceeding.  

They say that Dorset fleece can take some abuse without felting.  Guess I'm going to find out just how much it can take.  I doesn't seem to be that difficult to pick.  We'll see how it cards and then spins.  If it's ok, I may just experiment with some dyes to cover up whatever stains are left behind.  Or maybe the whole lot will just go to the giant compost heap in the sky.