Alpacas!

Yesterday my friend Holly and I went to the Southwest Regional Alpaca Show in Norco.  I have to start out by saying that I'm not one for animal shows.  I adore dogs and cats.  And I love most other animals at a distance. Close up - not so much.   But after this experience, I'll go to another alpaca show anytime.

Having never seen an alpaca except in photographs, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  I had heard that they are not outgoing animals and that they tend to spit at people when annoyed, so I planned to keep my distance and was prepared to dodge missiles. That turned out not to be the case. Holly did see one alpaca spit at its handler in the showing ring, but I missed that delight.

Turns out alpacas (at least the ones at this show) are very alert and curious.  They don't like to be approached suddenly by strangers and they don't like to be manhandled.  Who does?  For the most part, they were well-mannered and friendly. In fact, I would say they behaved better than the guests at the show.  It amazes me that people will touch an animal without the owner's permission -- and even worse, allow their children to do so.  

There were about a dozen vendors with different alpaca products from unprocessed fiber to roving to yarn.  Many beautiful handmade shawls, scarves, sweaters, gloves, hats.  Handmade soaps, needle felting kits, stuffed alpacas, finger puppets.  Some articles made in Peru, but most handmade by the vendors themselves.  I thought most of the prices were very reasonable, even for the hand-knitted items.

I couldn't resist these Peruvian-made gloves.

Although I have three bags of alpaca fiber in the process of being carded, the roving was so soft and tempting.  I succumbed to this lovely blend of 70% alpaca, 30% silk roving from A Simpler Time  in El Cajon.    The alpaca fiber is from their champion Calypso Cloud and photos don't do it justice.  It has a range of beautiful gray shades from light silver to nearly black.  Since I haven't actually spun alpaca yet, I was conservative (for me) and bought only two braids of this fiber - a little over 3 oz. each.  Mistake!

As soon as I got home, I put an empty bobbin on Bunny and commenced to spin.  I have to admit the first couple of yards were difficult -- the fiber drafts so easily I kept breaking the roving and having to join it again.  But after reducing Bunny's tension to almost nothing and slowing her down a bit, I found that I love spinning this fiber.

This photo shows how fine the fiber wants to spin for me.  I haven't gotten anything nearly like this with wool, but the alpaca seems to go this fine without any effort. I've already emailed the vendor about ordering more of this roving because I just fell in love with the texture and the color. 

Now I feel a little less intimated by the bags of fiber in my studio.  May need to order more bobbins for Bunny so I can have a few different projects going at once.


Back to the show... 

After surveying the vendor area, we walked up and down the rows of alpacas.  I knew that these animals carry a range of colors and two basic types of fiber, but I was surprised to realize that no two of them looked alike.

Really enjoyed talking with the owners.  When we stopped to admire the first group of alpacas, their owner, Joe of La Dolce Vita Alpacas invited us to go into one of their enclosures and pet their alpacas.  The animals were a little shy but one stood patiently while we fondled his soft fleece.  Good thing my home isn't zoned for farm animals because I might have thoughts about wanting a herd of these guys.

I ogled this two-toned fellow, but the lovely brown boy behind him let us pet him.

The judging ring.  Could have watched for hours.

Gossip Girls?

 

The huacaya alpaca has a soft, puffy looking fleece.

The suri alpaca has a silky fleece that looks like dreadlocks.

While I was taking photos of these two lovelies...

The guy in the back kept peeking at me through the fence.

Who could resist this face?

A lot of ladies had their hair colored like this in the sixties.

Shhh...  I is trying to hide!

Finished Some Yarn!

Huzzah!  I finally finished the Ferndale Fiber "Potluck Roving" in Stormy Sea that I bought two summers ago.  Weighed a little over a pound and I have over 700 yards of finished yarn.

Started with three large bobbins of singles.

I triple plied until one of the bobbins ran out, then Navajo plied the rest.  Have to say I was thrilled at how easy the plying went -- my singles broke only twice times during the whole process.

So much yarn, there was no way I was going to skein it using a niddy noddy, so I was forced to buy a swift/skein winder.  So many choices...   I ended up with a Mama Bear Swift with a yarn counter from the Oregon Woodworker.


Although I drooled over the more automated skein winders, no way I could justify plunking down nearly $800 for the electric model I liked best.  Not going to say I loved manually turning this winder, but it was a heck of a lot easier than the niddy noddy and at the rate I spin, I won't lose any sleep over the relatively small amount I spent for it.  And the counter made figuring out my yardage a breeze.



Then I had fun wet-finishing my yarn.  Did the usual soaking in hot water, and used the laundry spinner I bought a couple of years ago when I got excited about dyeing my own fibers.  This is the first time I've really used the spinner other than to make sure it actually worked when I received it.  I have to say I was VERY impressed.  I loaded the skeins while still sopping wet.  It took under a minute to spin out all of the excess water, and the skeins I removed felt dry to the touch.  After slapping them around a little to make the fibers bloom, I hung them up in my garage and they were completely dry within hours.

The model I have is the Laundry Alternative Portable Clothes Dryer.  Lest anyone be misled, it is a spinner only and uses centrifugal force to extract water.  It does not have a heated blower.  Ideal for this purpose.  Only thing I don't like is that the price has gone down since I bought mine.

So here are my finished skeins.  I'm still underspinning a little but much more consistent and I.m happy at how well-balanced the yarn turned out.   Now I have to figure out what to make with it!











This is my first real effort at triple plying.  I found it very easy to keep the tension equal on all three singles, but I would have liked to put a little more spin into the plying.    Here you can see how loosely plied the finished yarn came out.

This is the Navajo plied yarn.  I like the result much better -- apparently I am slow enough at making my chains that I'm get plenty of spin into it.  Or I wonder if it could be the result of the one length of yarn in the chain running opposite to the other two?  At any rate, I enjoyed the process and was thrilled not to have any of my singles break during this part, which is much harder on them than the triple plying.



Before I go, I want to brag (ok, put in a shameless plug) about my friend Michelle's etsy store.  It's called Textile Sanity, and Michelle makes card covers (including custom-sizes) and notecards with free-form felt designs.  She made these custom covers for the Moswalt hand cards that came with Thor.  Much nicer than anything I would have made and I love how she made them work with the big handles attached to the backs of the cards.  Rumor is that she's working on design for blending board covers. Can't wait to see it.

Hats and Blankets

Nearly a month since I last wrote and  time seems to be rushing past faster each day.  Guess I should consider myself lucky to never be lacking for something to do.


Still concentrating on the machine knitting.  Right after my last post, I made another hat using the techniques I learned in my Newton's class -- this time an adult-sized one.   My friend Corrinne was a good sport and modeled it for me.


Saturday Spinners met at my house a couple of weekends ago, and I could kick myself for not taking pictures.  Members shared their finished projects and works in progress.  At one point my dining room table was covered with wonderful fibery creations and I was so in awe of everyone's work that I didn't think to grab my phone and start snapping.

While moving the 360K knitting machine that weekend, I dropped the yarn mast and one of the tension knobs shattered.  And of course it was a holiday weekend.  I had planned to spend most of my free day practicing more on fair isle technique.  Didn't even occur to me to get out the MK-70 until just now.  Dagnabit!

Following weekend I had my third machine knitting class at Newton's Yarn Country.  Fortunately, they had the parts to repair my yarn mast and I was back in business.  Third lesson was a car-seat sized baby blanket.  Techniques included a weaving cast-on, using ravel cord, fair isle, hanging a hem, and tuck stitch. I learned to finish the sides with a scalloped looking trim that you make by hanging the three end stitches on needles, knitting six rows, then hanging the next three stitches and knitting six rows, until you have covered the length of the piece.

I was a complete disaster in class that day.  I kept leaving out important steps (such as switching the levers on the carriage when changing techniques or adding the contrast yarn when starting the fair isle rows).  Lost track of how many times I had to start over.  But by the end of class, I had completed everything but one side of the trim.  And I have to say that as frustrating as my mistakes were, I still enjoyed the class.  It's very liberating when you give yourself permission to make mistakes.

Finished the blanket the very next day and here it is:

Proceeded to start another blanket using the full width of the machine the very same day.  Found out the hard way that I didn't have a single ravel cord long enough.  Faked it (which in hindsight turned out not to work but I didn't know at the time).  Got all set up for the first fair isle row and forgot to add the contrast yarn.  Again.    The pattern I chose had only one contrast stitch in the first row, so I thought perhaps I could pick up the dropped stitches and proceed.  Wrong!  The more I tried, the more stitches I dropped, until I just had to give up.  But the good news is that if I had been able to proceed, I would have invested a lot more work and a lot more yarn in the project only to find out at the end that there was a gap between the two pieces of ravel cord I used and I would have had waste yarn stuck in one hem.  Found someone selling ravel cord on ebay and ordered myself a bunch of it. 

A friend asked me if she could pay me to make another car-seat sized blanket for her niece.  Absolutely made my day.   I will love making another this weekend but I'm not going to charge her for it.  Having her admire it enough to want one is payment enough.

Last night's TriCommunity class was a treat.  I'm still spinning the same  "Potluck Roving" from Ferndale Fiber in "Stormy Sea" that I started last April when Bunny Watson joined my spinning wheel family.  The same fiber I have been spinning at every class and every guild meeting with just a short break for the Tour de Fleece.


I'm down to just one or two yards of roving left.  At Saturday Spinners we announced our resolutions for the new year - mine is to finish spinning this and actually make something with it.   I may actually be able to keep this resolution.

A few weeks ago, some fellow Inland Empire Handweavers Guild members and I ordered 1-foot square pieces of carding cloth through the Spinsters on Ravelry.  They're a Puget-Sound based group that put together a large order from Howard Brush for a DIY blending board project.  They generously allowed others to participate.  The carding cloth arrived last week, and last night my friend and teacher Gail surprised me with my finished blending board!  She had some beautiful wood cabinet doors left over from a remodeling project, and cut them down to size.  The wood has been nicely refinished, and Gail added a handle, making the board easy to carry.  She even added a dowel for rolling the finished rolags off the board.  Now to get Michelle at Textile Sanity to make us some blending board covers.

Then dear Kathleen arrived and presented me with two of her late aunt's machine knitting books:




Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters.

I mentioned this book a few months ago, when I borrowed a copy.  And have been lusting after it ever since.  This book has a really clear explanation about how knitting machines work, various tools you might need, and the basics of casting on and binding off before it gets into the more exotic and decorative stitches. After taking a few lessons, I'm getting more from the second reading of this lovely book.





The Harmony Guide to Machine Knitting Stitches.

Includes a very well-illustrated explanation of machine stitch basics, cast-on and cast-off, increasing, decreasing, and finishing techniques, then explains how to use the included patterns to make punch cards, graphs, or hand-manipulate individual needles.  Topics include Fairisle, Motifs, Tuck Stitch, Tuck Lace, Slip Stitch, Weaving, Cable Panels, Cable Patterns, Lace (using two different types of transfer carriage), and Fancy Lace.  So now I get to try punching my own cards (a moose on page 18 and a hedgehog on page 19 are calling to me), and I have a bunch of patterns to choose from now when my lessons get to the laces and cables. 

Time Flies When You're Knitting

Happy St. Distaff's Day!

Can't believe a over a month has gone by without posting.  It certainly isn't because I haven't been having fibery fun.

There have been some excellent distractions.   Beautiful sunsets like this one...

that have left me standing on the porch with mouth agape just staring at the beautiful colors on several occasions.

And some irresistible cuteness...



This is my little Tallulah who is humiliated on a regular basis by being made to don costumes when we're making cards for all the major holidays (and a few minor ones).  And by having to wear a zebra-striped jacket on cold days.  Egregious use of dog picture, but but I can rationalize it by admitting that I'm saving her hair trimmings to spin. She's 2 1/2 years old and I already have at least half an ounce of her hair. (!)

And last, but not least, getting to spend quality time with extended family and friends over the holidays.  Who would not appreciate having their photos in my blog, so I will abstain.

I still found time to work on some projects.  In early December, I took my first machine knitting class at Newton's Yarn Country.  The Studio 360K I received from a friend was all cleaned with a new sponge bar, and worked like a charm.  The project for the first class was a small scarf -- techniques learned include e-wrap cast-on, fair isle knitting using the 24-stitch punch cards, back-stitch cast-off, and mattress stitch seams.  The scarf fabric came off the loom all rolled up a tube, then we steamed it (relatively) flat.  I'm in the process of stitching the two long edges together using mattress stitch, but the purple color is so dark it's a struggle to see what I'm doing.  So finishing the seam and adding the fringe is on hold until I get myself under a good lamp with a magnifying glass.

If you look closely, you can see a couple of flaws in the pattern knitting, but since this was more for the training than for the finished object, I didn't go back and correct them.  Somewhere I read that an artist should always include at least one small error in his art to prove his humility to God.  I've decided to be grateful that I probably won't ever be in a position to lack humility.

But right after the lesson I went home feeling a little too full of myself and ready to create a larger, more complex scarf.  Wrong!  I succeeded in setting up the machine properly and that's about it.  I could not do anything right.  Kept dropping stitches, forgetting to change a setting and not getting the pattern where I wanted it, getting yarns caught on the stand, carriage jams, you name it.  After about the third time I confidently "knitted" across a row and had the entire project come off the machine, I told myself to step away from the machine and put it away until after Christmas.

Next time I got out the machine, it was a different experience.  I got out the instruction book and  followed it in excruciating detail.  I think a lot of the problem I had earlier was because I was just a little too excited about what I had learned and I was forgetting to flip a lever here, check my tension there.  Things new knitters simply have to make routine.  I practiced the easy stuff first -  casting on, plain knitting, changing yarn colors... 

This is just a simple striped scarf in my school colors -- it knitted up easily and very fast -- a matter of under an hour even with all the color changes.  Will probably take me longer to stitch the back seam and do fringe than the knitting took.

Then I switched to Fair Isle.  By following the instructions one step at a time, I did get this scarf fabric finished.  I don't much like the pattern - something about the solid red parts are just visually disturbing to me.  But the knitting still had some major errors -- a few spots where the white yarn got picked up in the knitting where it didn't belong, and one big spot where I dropped stitches without realizing it and had to darn by hand later.  

You can see in this photo how obvious the error is, and a little bit of my clumsy darning.  By the time I was learning to knit and sew, darning was already a lost art, so I completely bluffed my way through this one.

And in the photo below, you can see how long some of the floats were  - on some patterns the floats can be nearly the width of the whole fabric, so learning to control these is important.

I tried a couple more Fair Isle patterns - thought this one would be really fun for my greatnieces -- but ran into the problem with misplaced stitches.  Frustrated, I set aside the Fair Isle until I could show the problems to my teachers at Newton's.  I learned in my second lesson that if I pull the first stitch on each row forward, it helps to keep the yarn that should be floating from getting into the pattern by accident.  I also learned that I need to pay more attention to keeping my weights closer to the top of the knitting.  

I needed to do something totally different.   I've been intrigued by the mesh yarn used to make ruffly scarves and wanted to play with some.  Since I couldn't visualize how to hand-knit this, I decided to try it on the knitting machine.  After a few false starts, I cast on 20 stitches, and ran a row of the mesh across every six rows. 

It took a bit of getting used to looping the mesh over the needles.  If you don't maintain tension on it, the loops just pop right off the needles.  I ended up pulling down on the mesh with one hand while moving the needles out and hooking the mesh over them with the other.  It helps to be ambidextrous when you have to switch directions every other row.

This is what the scarf looks like on the "front" between rows of the novelty yarn.  Since the mesh ranges from a very pale shade to a dark one, I figured a mid-range would be suitable.  You can't even see it through the mesh.  One thing I didn't count on, but should have, is that the scarf would have a solid back. 

Here's what the back looks like.  Although I like the extra weight the yarn gives the scarf, this is going to look junky if it flips over.  So I'm going to stitch the edges together to make a tube completely surrounded by the mesh.

I have another skein of the mesh, and think next time I will try a much loose tension.  Would like the scarf to be a little less weighty and would also like it to be a bit longer than the first one.  


  

Had my second lesson last Saturday, and it was SO much fun.  First, we talked about my "issues" and Helen gave me some really good pointers for dealing with them.  Since then, knock wood, the only problems I'm having happen when I get careless and don't check my settings.  In the second lesson, I learned a weaving cast-on technique, and learned to decrease rows by moving stitches from one needle to the next and taking the unused needles out of action.  Got a little more practice with the Fair Isle technique, and didn't have a single problem with it. Huzzah!  At the end of the lesson, I had a completely finished little infant's cap.  This technique would actually make wonderful caps for chemo patients -- because of the way it's folded and the seam is mattress-stitched, there is no edge inside to irritate tender skin.  I'd like to get some really soft yarns to make more of these.


































My Studio MK-70 was all repaired, cleaned, and ready to come home.  It is such a cool looking machine, I'm not sure I would care if it didn't knit worth a darn.  But it does.  Although I'm taking my lessons on the Studio 360K and plan on sticking with it until I'm comfortable with all its bells and whistles, I couldn't resist trying out the MK-70.  This one also is capable of Fair Isle, but the cards are 18-stitch, so cannot be interchanged with the 360K cards.  I have just the five cards that came with the machine, one of which is not intended for Fair Isle knitting.  Here are the four patterns I do have:

Three geometrics...  I like the top one, am so-so about the middle, and really dislike the bottom one.  And one that looks like heart-shaped flowers.  Sorry - my photo is a bit blurred -- but I really like this pattern. 

I 'd really like to find more18-stitch pattern cards or at least some  blank cards to someday make my own.  You'd think that the dozens of 24-stitch cards I have would keep me busy with the 360K, but the MK-70 can knit with a bulkier yarn and I would like to have the versatility.

But for now, MK-70 is back in her box, waiting patiently while I attempt to master the 360K.  This month I'm concentrating on switching from Fair Isle to plain stitching and trying to get a handle on visualizing how the pattern on a card will look knitted up.  I've already had a couple of surprises.  And this is becoming so much fun!  

Some Catching Up

So in my last post, I ran out of time to talk about all the fun I've been having the last month or so.

Received a shipment of knitting machine equipment for the Studio 360 knitting machine:  ribber, intarsia carriage, automatic linker, rib transfer carriage, 4 color changer, garter stitch transfer bar, lace carriage, shadow lace transfer tool, seven sets of punchcards and some blank ones, a few assorted books, and a punch machine.  I have no idea how to use most of these things but hopefully the classes  I have scheduled with Newton's will educate me.

The PM-10 punch machine is really cool, and if I ever get to the point that I'm ready to punch my own design cards, will sure make it faster than using the little punch tool I already had.  Rather than trying to explain it here, I found a YouTube video that shows exactly how it works.





Spent one Sunday taking a lesson from a local spinning teacher, Ruth, a.k.a., the Dizzy Ewe.  My friend Susan made the arrangements and we held it at my house (hooray - I didn't have to drive anywhere!).  There were just five students plus Ruth, and we had a great day.  Ruth offers several different classes on different spinning techinques, dyeing, carding, and combing.  She put together a custom workshop for us on selecting fleece, several methods of preparing it for spinning, and a little bit of spinning technique.

After the Dorset Debacle, I needed the instruction.  Ruth brought six raw fleeces (or parts thereof) and we learned the etiquette of evaluating a fleece at a show, how to look for breaks or canary stains, and how to divide the fleece into locks or clumps for washing. 

Washed CVM Locks

We then moved on to actually washing some of each fleece - either by the lock or in clumps.  We started with HOT water with just a few drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid.  For the locks, we held each individual lock by the tip, swished in the water a few times, took hold of the other end, and swished again, then laid on a rack to dry.  I was working with some CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece. Rather than going into breed characteristics here, since I would only be quoting others and not speaking from my own knowledge, I'm linking each breed name with a website that tells a bit about it.

I learned that I do not have the patience to wash a lock at a time and will opt for the clump method in future.  For this, we spread a smallish clump of fiber as evenly as possible in a thin layer in the lingerie bag, placed it on a rack, and set the whole thing in the sink or a tub.  Then walked away.  No poking, not swishing, no wringing.  Nothing.  About 20-30 minutes later, we lifted the rack out of the water and let it drain.  Again, no handling the fiber!  Repeated this until the water in the sink was clear, then gave a final bath in HOT water with a dash of vinegar added.  Then we spun the bag in a salad spinner to remove excess water and laid it out to dry in the sun. 

Unwashed CVM Clumps

Each of us worked at her own pace, and with so few students, Ruth was able to answer questions, lend a hand, and share information as we worked.  I have to confess that I did not get a lot done other than the washed locks because I was so busy seeing what everyone else was up to.

After lunch, we learned about combing and carding fleece.  I'm already a so-so carder, but I've never used woolcombs.  I bought a set of  used single pitch Viking combs a d few months ago and never found the time to try them out. Found out I LOVE combing wool.  Even with the fear of skewering myself on those lethal looking tines.

Ruth provided some washed  CVM/Wensleydale X fleece.  I spun up the combed fiber before I thought about taking pictures, but the result was just lovely.  This was also the first long-wool fiber I've spun and it was so much fun -- it pretty much drafted itself and I've never spun anything so fine before.  I didn't get around to spinning the carded fiber -- it came off the cards in puffy clouds and I think it will make a lovely woolen if I can get over my worsted habit.

Carded CVM/Wensleydale X

Spinning Combed Fiber

A few other breeds of wool we discussed (ok, fondled) were Mohair (our only non-sheep fiber), Shetland, Texel, Navajo Churro, and Romney.  We received samples of each type in varying states of washedness.  Ruth also gave us each a large portion of pin-drafted CVM/Romeldale. 

Mohair

Romney Locks

Navajo Churro

Shetland

CVM/Romeldale

Texel

So we had a wonderful day, packed with information and filled with laughter. And soaked up enough lanolin from the raw wool that I didn't need to use hand lotion for the next two weeks.  I have at least a day's worth of washing and some serious spinning to do now.  Oh, and last weekend I got rid of the demolished Dorset fleece without the least bit of compunction.

By the way, fleece comes with all manner of unsavory biological matter in the raw state and if you're squeamish, you may want to stick to already prepared roving and top.  But you're going to miss half the fun that way.  If you do process fleece at home, be aware that any sink you use needs to be thoroughly disinfected afterward.  And please don't use any containers or tools you use for processing fleece for cooking afterward.  Ever.  You might also want to make sure your tetanus booster is up to date.   

In other spinning news, I want to give credit to the HansenCraft folks for excellent customer service.  I was spinning at my class Wednesday night when my miniSpinner suddenly stopped turning.  After a few minutes of panic over potential motor failure, we figured out that the join in my drive band had come apart.  Of course I had to post immediately on the Ravelry group asking what I might have done to break the band.  By the time class was over, Kevin had replied that the join was probably defective and offering to send me a new band gratis.  Got notification last night that it has already been mailed.  Now that's customer service!

In the bonehead department...  I signed up for a class at Newton's to take place today (November 30).  Put it on my iPhone calendar, but the entry disappeared.  This is not the first time I've had this happen and I learned recently that it's a common problem that's supposed to be solved by updating the device OS, which I did just last week.  But that's beside the point. 

So I THOUGHT I remembered signing up for Friday, November 30, and emailed Newton's a few weeks ago to check.  They confirmed Friday, November 30.  I proceeded to enter the appointment on my desktop calendar for Saturday, December 1.  And have looked at it several times since wondering why I thought I was scheduled for Saturday, since I had wanted to take the Friday class.  And not thinking to check my email.  Because it was on my calendar and therefore it couldn't be wrong. 

Just called Newton's a few minutes ago to make sure my Studio 360 is all ready for me to work on (it is) and was asked why I wasn't in class.  Hunh?!  Yes, I was supposed to go today and I have been blissfully ignorant of the fact.  They were very nice about it and rescheduled me for another class in mid-December.

But I also got some good news from Newton's.  A piece of the plastic needle bed for the MK-70 (this machine has no spongebar and the needles are instead supported by plastic) was broken when I took it in to be checked out.   They were able to find a replacement part so the machine can be fixed!