St. Seraphina Fiber Arts

Holiday Gifts - Wheels and a Loom!

2011-12-08T16:56:00.000-06:00

I have three really nice items in stock that I'm needing to move out before inventory. Do you know anyone who is in the market for a lovely little spinning wheel or portable loom?

The Louet Victoria Folding Travel Wheel is on sale for $665 ($100 off retail) plus $10.99 FedEx shipping, and I will include two extra bobbins (for a total of 5). It comes with full warranty and a Lazy Kate. This is the oak version, see my previous post for photos.

Ladybug! I've got one LB in the box, ready to fly to her new home. Regular price is $575 but I will let this one go for $524 plus $12.99 FedEx shipping. It comes with three bobbins, an orifice hook and both belts for double drive and scotch tension drive. A WONDERFUL, sturdy little wheel that can do anything the big ones can do.

Schacht FLIP LOOM, 15" Package. This includes the FLIP 15 loom, THREE reeds (5, 10, 12 dent) shuttles, pickup stick, warping pegs, table clamps, Flip Trap (cloth tray at the front) and the wonderful trestle stand that makes the loom portable from room to room or out on your sunny porch. The total for this package is regularly $522 (I include some other free goodies as well). Your price - $439 plus $14.99 FedEx shipping. This is a perfect loom for handspinners as there is very little loom waste. See photos - I've got handspun as warp so you can see what it looks like warped.

E-mail me if you have questions! Thanks for looking.

Schacht Sidekick and Louet Victoria, Side By Side

2011-12-02T09:55:00.002-06:00

I recently became a Louet dealer and one of my first purchases was an Oak Victoria. Two weeks prior to receiving it I'd set up my first Schacht Sidekick, so I was fairly new to both wheels and decided to do a comparison. Here are my findings.

Price Range - both wheels retail at just under $800 so in price they are very similar. Better prices may be found than suggested retail.

What's in the box? The Sidekick comes with three bobbins, a fast and a medium speed whorl (4 ratios total) an orifice hook and a wide carry strap that snaps onto the back of the wheel.
The Victoria comes with three bobbins and a Lazy Kate. The strap is permanently attached at the top and is used mainly to carry it from location to location. There is a padded bag with a shoulder strap that costs another $150, slightly less if you buy them together.

Weight: The Sidekick is definitely hefty, weighing in at 13 pounds, and the Victoria is a lightweight, lighter even than the Majacraft Little Gem. Total weight is 8 pounds.

Height: Folded down, the Sidekick measures 21.5 x 15 x 8.5" The Victoria fold down to 19 x 12 x 5.5"

Ease of takedown: Here is where the Victoria wins hands down. There are only a few, intuitive steps to folding and unfolding this little wheel. It took me longer to get it out of its shipping box than it did to set it up for spinning.

Even after multiple tries it took me more than twice as long to fold and unfold the Sidekick. I had to refer to the instructions over and over. This is really embarrassing in front of customers! (Don't ask me how I know) so I determined to memorize and practice. That's my point. With the Victoria I didn't have to practice.

Treadling: The treadling on the Sidekick is much like the treadling on the Ladybug, set at scotch tension. The treadles are really big - nice if you have long, or large feet! Compared to the Victoria I would call the treadling a bit heavy - it required more effort to sustain.

The Victoria's treadling was surprisingly easy. The treadles are quite small which might be a problem for larger spinners. Both are scotch tension, flyer-led spinning wheels.

Spinning: Schacht lovers will feel right at home with a Sidekick. It feels like a Schacht! Because the flyer and bobbins are the same as those on the LB and the Matchless, the spinning experience is much the same. Somewhat heavy treadling, finely adjustable takeup, standard yarn hooks to deal with.

The Victoria has sliding hooks on either arm of the flyer, which some people love and other hate but shouldn't be a deal-breaker. Both systems do what they are supposed to do and I suspect that a lot of wheel makers are moving to sliding hooks because it is cheaper and faster to put together. It was easy treadling and fast, smooth spinning.

The Carpet Test: To me, this is really important. Most wheels will work really well on a level, smooth floor. But how do they work in real life, on carpet or on a rug? For carpet spinning, the Victoria won hands down. The reason is the placement of the back feet. (See photo below). The Sidekick's back feet are very close together and on carpet, this acted like a single foot. The result was that the wheel rocked back and forth. The Victoria, as lightweight as it was (and at first I thought that was going to be a minus) was as stable on carpet as on the bare floor.

I filled a bobbin with each wheel. The Sidekick bobbin holds more yarn. I spun fast, slow, long draw, you name it. Here are my final conclusions.

SIDEKICK PROS: Extremely sturdy wheel, made to last, compatible parts with other Schacht wheels. Maple will not easily scratch or dent. Will appeal to those who own and love their Matchless or LadyBug. Definitely a member of the Schacht family! The wheel is available without flyer and bobbins for those who already own Schacht wheels. This reduces the price by $120, definitely a bargain!

SIDEKICK CONS: Heavy. 13 pounds carried on one's shoulder is a lot. Complicated folding with many steps, levers, screws, parts that can get lost. Did not pass my carpet test.

VICTORIA PROS: Extremely lightweight. Brainless fold-up and take-down. Oak is basically unscratchable. Passed the carpet test.

CONS: To be really portable you need the carry bag, which adds almost $150 to the price. Small bobbins, not compatible with larger Louet wheels, but are compatible with the Julia. Small treadles, an issue for some people. (I have size 9 feet, it didn't bother me.)

I hope this is helpful. And I hope you all know these are my personal opinions and conclusions. Ask questions if you have them!

Inkle Pattern Drafts - Free!

2011-09-01T15:51:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago I bought an inkle loom. I inkled for several weeks and concluded that...I don't enjoy inkle weaving very much. I made some wonderful bands and they are decorating my weaving room. I sold the inkle loom to another weaver who was THRILLED to get it, so the story has a good ending.

While I was inkling I created some inkle drafts in color. Here they are, free, free, free for anyone who wants to use them.

Smart Phones and Spinning Wheels

2011-08-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

My blog is now enabled for mobile viewing.

And, I've got two LadyBug Spinning wheels in stock, brand new and ready to ship. They are priced to sell, so if you've been hankering after a LadyBug, or have questions, send me an e-mail. My phone is very smart - I can get your e-mail no matter where I am...even when I'm fishing.

NOT Blog AWOL!

2011-08-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

Contrary to rumors, I am not Blog AWOL. I have just been very busy! My son got married...that meant I had to weave a bunch of towels as table centerpieces and giveaways at the rehearsal dinner.

The first set of towels was a red/pink gamp. These towels represented the harmony that can happen in a good marriage.

The second set of towels were made by using all the scraps from all of the cotlin towels I've made, both for the bridal shower and for the rehearsal dinner. I made random stripes in the warp and then wove in a twill using mercerized cotton for the weft.

These were the "scrap" towels, and they represented the times in life when everything is going wrong and we feel like all we are getting are the scraps of life - the scraps of our spouse's attention, time, love - or when we feel like we have nothing to give but scraps. Scraps are still beautiful and useful. Even the difficult times can be woven together by our Good God.

The rehearsal dinner was a great success and I gave away a dozen towels.

Then I had to make something for my nephew's wedding gift. I made fine linen napkins in a Swedish lace pattern. I made four of them all white, and one of them with natural linen weft, just to see how it looked.

Whew. No more weddings for a while!

Our spring/early summer was a whirlwind. So in July we did a lot of this.

That is me with a largemouth bass. He was not too happy about the photo and swam away with an angry flip of his fishy tail.

We've got a week at home (weaving, family visits, hot weather) and then a couple more camping trips before school starts, Hubby goes back to the grind, I mean classroom, and the weather is cooler for MORE FIBER ACTIVITIES!

Next weaving project - bamboo towels.

Stay cool!

No Sheep Shawl - Camel, Alpaca, Cashmere and Silk

2011-04-26T11:51:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd end up knitting with my handspun cashmere laceweight but I was wrong. I had almost 2200 yds of handspun baby camel/alpaca/silk (my own blend) stuffed away in a plastic bag with no purpose in life, and it had high enough twist to use as warp. I found a Huck Lace draft I liked, did my calculations, and measured the warp.

Then I sized the warp with Good Old Rabbit Skin Glue, let it dry overnight, and warped my loom.

Halfway through dressing the loom I just had to take a photo of the sheer orderliness of it all. I had no idea I could get excited about the fiddly, perfectionist activity of dressing a loom. It is nice to discover unknown things about oneself!

The weaving itself was quick. I only had two delays. First, I ran out of weft yarn when I was 14" from the end. Oops. I guess my calculations were off. So much for my newly discovered inner perfectionist. Fortunately I had more of the fiber on hand so I spun another 400 yds of the cashmere and left it to set on the bobbin while I went on a cruise with my daughter. That was the other delay. Here I am, not spinning or weaving. And yes, it is a full-body swim suit. You can buy one here if you hate sunburn and naked legs as much as I do.

When I returned the cashmere was ready to ply. Once the yarn was finished I got back to weaving, and it took only an hour or so to finish. Because of the rabbit skin sizing, the piece of cloth was a little on the stiff side. I reminded myself that sizing rinses out. That kept me from panicking. Who wants a STIFF cashmere shawl?

I tied all the fringe and trimmed it. Then I soaked the shawl in hot water with a little Woolite, spun off the water, rolled it in a towel, and laid it flat to dry.

The sizing washed out. The shawl is To Die For soft. I am please with the results and now I need an entire new outfit to wear with it.

WHAT I LEARNED:
1. I love rabbit skin sizing even more than ever. I broke exactly NO warp ends during weaving.
2. Make enough weft to start with. Plan to use more than calculated.
3. Huck usually has a plain weave selvedge. I did make a plain weave selvedge but I doubled the last four ends and did NOT like the results. I will just use PLAIN plain weave next time.
4. I tend to stretch my left selvedge. Next time I will probably weight the last two selvedges separately.
5. The most painful thing about weaving with handspun is all the loom waste. It was VERY PAINFUL to cut the thrums from the loom at the end.
6. There is a reason cashmere is so expensive. This is THE softest garment I have ever owned.
7. There is a reason most weavers buy commercial yarn. Spinning the fiber adds weeks of time to a project.
8. There is a reason some of us are crazy enough to spin some of our weaving yarn. S-A-T-I-S-F-A-C-T-I-O-N.

Twill Towels - Cotton/Linen Adventure

2011-03-11T14:46:00.000-06:00

More towels! This time I made them as a bridal shower gift. I used fibers that were new to me and a twill threading (M & W) that was also new to me.

I got a very good deal on some WEBS 8/2 Cotlin (50% cotton, 50% linen) so I bought about a dozen cones in various colors. I also had some cones of BORGS "Bomullin" which is the same fiber content but made in Sweden. I thought I'd make towels from both and compare.

I used 8/2 mercerized cotton for the warp and sett it at 24 ends per inch, as for twill. I had a cone each of white and natural so I wound them together and figured no one would be able to tell. I was right about that!

I planned for six towels, 22 x 38 on the loom with a 1 inch hem of 10/2 white cotton at each end. I also left myself some room to goof off at the end and I'm glad I did because I made a nice discovery. More about that later.

First I wove the brick red towels. This was the Swedish cotlin. Here are the close ups.

Hurts my eyes....

Next I wove two green towels using a second treadling and making them different by adding a horizontal stripe to one.

Because the person I made these for loves green, I made the third pair with olive green and brown. I used a third treadling and varied it with wide stripes.

I had my six towels and still had about a yard of warp to play with, so I used the third treadling but switched to a thick and thin mercerized cotton flake. It is quite a lot heavier and has specks of other colors in it. The main color is dark mauve.

This one wasn't the full length of the other towels but is a nice "shorty" towel for personal use.

What I learned:

The Swedish cotton/linen was far superior to the WEBS. It also costs twice as much, so if I were making a VERY VERY special project I'd be tempted to use only the Swedish. The hand of the final cloth was crisper (like linen) and it didn't make any fuzz while I wove. It also didn't need any ironing right out of the dryer. The WEBS cotton/linen is softer and fuzzier. I imagine it will not wear as well over time but the price could not be beat so I'm not unhappy with the purchase and have a lot more of it for other projects.

I learned that I have a hard time keeping track of even the simplest treadling sequences. If my mind wanders, I mess up. So, I assign a note of the scale to each treadle and sing a little song while I weave. It's boring, and the words are the numbers of the treadles, but it WORKED FOR ME.

I also learned not to freak out if the weaving doesn't look like the picture in the book. I sleyed the reed 3 threads to a dent. This created little tracks in the cloth and at first I thought I'd threaded the whole thing wrong. Nope. After I washed the towels they were perfect.

Finally, I learned that I REALLY like the cotton flake towel! The dense sett of the warp made for a nice, firm fabric. It's heavy but not at all stiff. It would make a wonderful bath towel! If I hadn't left myself room to experiment I probably would not have discovered this - usually cotton flake is woven at 10-12 epi.

The hemmed and finished towels are 19 x 34.5. I am beginning to understand why towel weaving is so addicting.

Spinning Dog Fur: A Poodle Adventure

2011-02-11T12:21:00.001-06:00

Meet Carl, the 80-pound standard poodle. Before I learned to spin he was just a great, big, furry, lovable, happy pal. Once I started spinning I began to eye him in a new way.

All those lovely black curls...

Tightwad that I am, I decided not to let Carl's coat end up in the groomer's wastebasket.

My first attempt at harvesting his coat was disaster, but I learned something important. Wash dog first. THEN clip. I assumed I could treat a poodle coat like a fleece. I clipped the dog and washed the fur very, very gently in shampoo. It turned into a mass of black felt. I salvaged less than half an ounce, spun a tiny ball of 2-ply, sent it to Spin-Off and got it pictured in the fall 2009 issue, but that was it.

Last spring I was ready. I washed the dog FIRST. Let him dry. Combed out the tangles. Then I clipped off the best parts of his coat - like a sheep's fleece, that was the neck, back, sides, and rump. I didn't bother with the rest. I took him to the groomer looking like an advertisement for mange and carried on with my fiber fun.

Despite how soft my dog feels when I pet him, his fur was somewhat wiry. The crimp is open. Because he is middle-aged there are now a lot of white hairs mixed in. So I decided to blend the dog fur with natural black merino. I carded up four big batts.

I don't remember why, but for some reason I had to set aside the project at this stage. I laid the batts carefully over the back of an old sofa in the basement and decided to get back to it when I had time. Fast forward to this fall. When I went to finish the carding, half the fiber had felted, JUST from the summer heat and humidity of my basement. I have never had t his happen, not even to rabbit angora. I threw the matted junk away and re-carded what was left. I carded it three times.

Here is what I ended up with - poodle/merino roving.

It was NOT easy to spin! I swear the fiber WANTS to felt. It felted when I looked at it. It felted as I spun. It was hard drafting but finally I finished the yarn - 400 yds of two-ply, just in time for our Fiber Guild meeting. I skeined it and made it into a yarn twist. That was less than two weeks ago.

Today I took the UNTOUCHED skein out of the closet. The strands are felting together. Can't blame humidity this time of year - it is dry, dry dry.

What I learned:
1. My dog's fur is great for felting.
2. I don't love spinning dog fur.
3. There is a reason sheep are the primary fleece animal in the world

I probably will not be spinning any more of Carl's fur. But someone is going to get a dandy pair of felted slippers or mittens, courtesy of the family canine.

It's Official! Side-Kick Prices

2011-02-09T13:29:00.000-06:00

I just got the news from Schacht - here are the prices on their new travel wheel, the Side Kick.

The Sidekick package (full wheel, bobbins, etc) is $785.

And here is some GREAT news for those who already own a Lady Bug or Matchless - The Side Kick is available without whorls, bobbins or a flyer for $665. If you are happy to share parts between your wheels, you can get this fantastic travel wheel for a considerable savings!

The Bulky Flyer kit is an additional $260.

I am taking pre-orders. $200 down will reserve your place in line. Don't wait!

Spinning With Cashmere

2011-01-31T16:33:00.000-06:00

In 2008 I traveled to China with my daughter's college choir. While we were touring a cashmere factory I got our translator to ask the manager of the factory if I could buy just a little unspun fiber. I (and the translator) had to ask three times. "No," said the manager when he finally understood. We don't sell such a thing." He pointed to the showroom where they sold everything from rugs to sweaters to little stuffed kittens. He couldn't understand why any sane person would want the fluff. I think he felt a little insulted, too. He was real frowny.

SO since I couldn't get even a pinch of cashmere in China, I bought some here. And guess where it came from? Yep. China. Mongolia, to be exact. The following is an account of this spinning adventure.

I bought 8 ounces of cream colored cashmere top and when it arrived I just stuck my hand in the bag and touched it. It almost felt like touching NOTHING at all. I fluffed the top a bit and started to spin - using the fastest ratio on my Souped up Suzie. I wanted as many yards as possible - spinning pure gold. To make it go even farther, I planned to ply with a fine silk thread.

I found it was difficult to keep a very even draft - lots of little slubs. The fiber was fine but not slippery, and the top was fairly compacted. Had I been spinning on a drop spindle I would have had more consistency, but I was in a hurry this time.

I finally settled on a long draw spinning from a hunk of the top torn off and folded in half. I didn't fold it OVER my finger, I just folded and spun from the point of the fold. I was able to spin fast and fairly evenly.

By the time I had two full Majacraft lace bobbins I was sick of looking at cashmere. I still had to ply. I figured I'd had enough. I let it sit for a week to set the twist then plied it with silk thread.

Final counts: 4.6 ounces of silk-plied cashmere is 1693 yds. In other words, 368 yds/oz. You can see in the close up that the strands are not perfect - some are fluffier than others! The overall feel of the yarn is soft, soft, soft and very cushy.

Knitted into lace it will have a lustrous drape and will weigh next to nothing. I haven't decided if I will knit or weave it.

Side Kick - Price and Pre-Ordering

2011-01-28T09:45:00.002-06:00

Schacht has not finalized the price on the Side Kick travel wheel yet, but rumor has it that it will retail for around $800. The wheels will start shipping in May, but NOW is the time to get on the list if you want to be first in line. They already have a growing number of pre-paid customers.

For $200 down I will pre-order your wheel. Pre-orders need to be placed by the end of Feb but a queue is already forming so the sooner we get your wheel ordered, the sooner you will get it after the wheels start shipping.

Woollen Longdraw - for handspinning

2011-01-17T08:58:00.001-06:00

Here is a nice video on how to do a woollen long-draw. If you find the music distracting go ahead and mute the sound - the entire lesson is visual.

Happy Spinning!

Schacht SideKick! A Sneak Peek

2011-01-13T10:51:00.001-06:00

IS THIS CUTE OR WHAT???

The rumors are true! Schacht has been working on a folding wheel for over a year. Finally we got the announcement - the SideKick is due to start shipping in May!

As soon as I have prices I will offer the wheel for pre-sale orders.

Here are some of the Sidekick’s features:

Folds to 21 1/2" x 15" x 8 1/4".
Integrated storage of bobbins, flyer, and whorls for transport.
Lightweight at 13 pounds.
13 3/4" drive wheel allows for ratios from 4.25 to 15.25.
Long, comfortable treadles.
Uses the same bobbins, whorls, and flyer as the Schacht Matchless and Ladybug wheels.
The Sidekick can be purchased without the bobbin-flyer assembly.
25" orifice height for comfortable spinning.
Employs Scotch tension with precise control knob.
The drive wheel spins on ball bearings. The flyer turns on self-aligning bearings.
Drive band tension adjuster allows for all whorls to be used with one drive band.
The Sidekick comes with 3 bobbins, 2 whorls, threading hook, and adjustable carrying strap.

Also available: The Sidekick Bulky Plyer Flyer Package can be added at any time.

This wheel will have all the Schacht features that discriminating spinners have come to expect - solid construction, precision engineering, and good looks to boot!

For comparison, the LadyBug weighs 13.5 pounds too, so this wheel isn't lighter. Its advantage is that it can be packed up into a smaller package. And, unlike the LadyBug, it does not have the option of double drive.

Weaving a Handspun (mostly) Blanket

2011-01-04T14:38:00.001-06:00

This adventure started with a couple thousand yards of gray Romney-Mohair 2-ply, dyed blue. Read here about the dyeing adventure. I could have made a sweater but couldn't summon the Knitting Muse. I decided to weave a blanket instead, and give it to my son for Christmas. He's a doctoral student at the U of Iowa and is grateful for any and all free stuff. I knew that no matter how it turned out he'd like it.

My big loom is only 35" wide so I calculated for twice the finished length at a fairly loose sett of 8 ends per inch. I figured on a lot of shrinkage during finishing and wanted the blanket to retain a drapey, soft feel. I dyed white sport weight Bartlettyarn in three warp groups using the kettle method and two colors - scarlet red and royal blue.

After the loom was dressed it only took a few sessions to do the actual weaving. When I cut the piece from the loom it was 15 feet long and 34" wide. I zig-zagged the raw ends (which had a wool header) and washed the whole thing in the washing machine, delicate cycle, with Woolite. Then I dried it on the FLUFF cycle in the dryer. It was nicely fulled when I took it out.

I cut the blanket in two and once again zigzagged the edges with black silk thread, and then seamed the two pieces side-by-side by hand with weft yarn in an overcast stitch. The last thing I had to decide was how to finish the ends.

I thought about making a binding of some kind but the blanket fabric is quite thick and I didn't want a "hard" edge. After a couple of trial runs I decided on a blanket stitch hem along the turned-over edge.

Here is the finished blanket on my studio floor.

And here it is, on my son. (I sewed the gnome hat by special request. He's an English Lit scholar and said that if Scrooge has a nightcap, he wanted one too.)

I'm glad I took the risk on a BIG PROJECT! The finished size of the blanket is 62" wide and 74" long. It is fuzzy and has a nice drape, and is WARM! Best of all, it was Made By Hand, With Love.

Cotton Towels. Can't You Get Those at Wal-Mart?

2010-12-15T09:40:00.001-06:00

For as long as I can remember I have knitted Christmas gifts for everyone in the family. This year, I'm weaving. Here are some of my projects and what I've learned from them.

Cotton Dish Towels. When I first joined our local Fiber Arts Guild, before I learned to weave, I was struck by how many weavers made towels. Towels? I had that "can't you buy those at Wal-Mart?" moment, but once I started weaving I was intrigued. For one thing, though I knit a lot, I rarely use cotton. Using a new fiber sounded like an interesting adventure. Second, I got a really good deal on some monster cones of cotton.

The towel on the far left was made with leftovers from a color gamp kit. I had rainbow cones with a lot of thread left, and nothing to do with them! I designed this simple twill towel. It is 10/2 perle cotton set at 30 e.p.i. When I took it off the loom I was in love. After I washed and dried it, it became my new favorite. Here's a close up of the twill.

The next three towels are in a pattern draft called M's and O's from The Handweaver's Pattern Dictionary, p. 129. I used one threading for all three towels and had planned to use three different treadling sequences, but I liked #2 so well that I never got to #3. The warp is 8/2 cotton set at 20 epi. The weft is cotton flake.

What I learned.

1. I had to use a stretcher/temple for these projects in order to keep my fell line straight. Unlike wool, cotton has very little give.
2. Cotton shrinks. A lot. Really a lot. Each towel shrunk at least 4 inches in length and 3+ inches in width. Shrinking is a bonus too - any loose weave places close up. What looks like funky bad weaving disappears.
3. All Flake Cotton Is Not Equal. I got the cones of flake cotton as a bargain basement item from a weaving store. After washing it was obvious that at least one of the colors was not going to stand up to years and years of washing and drying.
4. Weaving cotton is noisier. My big loom is upstairs and the noise I made beating the cotton weft into place (two beats, one on the closed shed, one on the next open shed) drove my poor husband nuts. I had to weave cotton when he was at work. Another reason to have two looms - one with a quiet project, the other with cotton.
5. Finally, I LOVED MAKING TOWELS. While I was doing this project I "won" an Ebay sale - 20 new cones of linen weaving thread for next to nothing.
I hope my relatives and friends like handwoven towels. I can see a future in this.

Weaving With Handspun - Continued Adventures

2010-11-15T10:05:00.001-06:00

Here is my second weaving project made entirely with handspun yarn. It was also my first attempt at overshot weaving. It is a wool table runner, 13 inches wide and 48 inches long, excluding 4 inches of fringe at each end. It fits exactly on top of a walnut radiator cabinet in our guest bedroom. The colors do NOT match the decor, but TOO BAD.

I started with leftovers from previous projects. The burgundy is a fine Romney single and the multi is a merino single made from a multi-dyed roving. I had a lot of this and wanted to weave with it, but needed a stronger yarn for warp.

I spun 3.5 ounces of Romney very fine, with a high twist, and plied it at high twist also. I got 800 yds of 2-ply from 3.5 ounces.

I measured the warp and then sized it with rabbit skin glue. Eeeew. Gooey. I let it dry to a nice, crusty stiff as pipe cleaners hand, then warped the Wolf Pup LT.

I had to decide which yarn I would use for the overshot pattern, and which to use for the background tabby. You can see what I decided here. The stripes are the merino multi, in tabby. The weaving was 14 inches in the reed, 12 ends per inch. The yarn was fine enough for 15 epi, but I wanted to avoid breakage so I gave it extra room. That had consequences.

Using a less-dense sett meant the weft was more easily packed into a weft-faced cloth. I hardly beat it at all, just pressed it into place, but I ended up with almost no warp showing at all. This also made the pattern squished down and spread out. But here is the good part.

NO BROKEN WARPS. And very little wool fuzz under the loom. This means that the ends were not being abraded (and weakened) during weaving. I give myself a point for this.

This will not win any prizes but I learned a lot. If I were to do it again I would switch the two weft yarns - make the solid color the background tabby and the multi the overshot pattern. It would be a completely different look, more unified, I think. I didn't have enough warp yarn for sampling....naughty naughty me. Had I sampled I would have discovered my preference.

And finally, I STILL have leftover weft yarn, enough for at least a scarf!

Schacht Ordering Deadlines - Get it by Christmas!

2010-11-05T15:04:00.000-05:00

Want it by Christmas? I need to have your order in by the following dates:

November 11             Last day to order a Matchless
November 18             Last day to order a Ladybug, Floor Loom or Wolf Loom
November 30             Last day to order Accessories and Small Looms

ALL Schacht Looms and spinning wheels (including Matchless) are 10% off retail prices if ordered this month. Let me know!

Open House on Saturday, Nov. 6th.

2010-11-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

If you are in the area on Saturday, stop by for my Fall Fiber Open House! Wool, wool, WOOL! Wheels, looms, and a fire in the fireplace. I'll be open from 1-6 pm. Email me for directions!

A Tiny Adventure in Ikat.

2010-11-01T08:40:00.000-05:00

One of the things we used to see along the mountain roads in Guatemala was long lengths of warp threads drying in the sun, held up off the ground on forked sticks. The warps were cotton and had been tie-dyed and then dyed indigo or black. In Guatemala this technique is called jaspe. In the world of weaving it is also called Ikat, which is Japanese.

I decided to try a little ikat at home. I measured out a couple of yards of silk warp and then tied it up and down.

Then I dyed it dark green. When I took off the ties there were little white areas.

Here is how it looked on the loom.

Here is how it looked woven.

There was only one really big surprise here. I wove the silk at 24 epi and it was so tight the resulting cloth felt like cardboard, or at best, upholstery fabric and was barely shiny at all. The little white streaks were interesting but I realized I'd have to go back to the drawing board and experiment more with the sett before designing a complete project.

Once again, I am GLAD I made a sample!

Gamp and More Gamp - And What I Learned This Time

2010-10-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

Last May I bought a weaving kit from Halcyon Yarn but when it arrived I realized it was far too advanced for my skills at that time. I got it out two weeks ago and decided I was ready.

The kit used 10/2 Perle Cotton at 36 ends per inch in a Huck Lace (also called Huckabuck or Huckaback) pattern. Once I got the loom warped the weaving was pretty fast. I finished sewing the hems on the six place mats last night.

Here is what I learned. I would probably not make placemats from perle cotton again. It is too soft. I expect place mats to be a bit stiff and sturdy. These are soft enough to be napkins. If I'd known that from the beginning, I would have made napkins instead! I ended up pressing them with spray starch.

Huck Lace draws in A LOT. I spent a bit of time trying to iron the placemats into rectangles. You can see how they flare a bit at the ends where there is an inch of plain weave. If I made them again I would not add that inch at the ends.

I don't like black edges with colored weft. It seems to show every tiny flaw. The pattern called for an inch of tabby on either edge. If I did them again I would reduce this to half an inch.

With such a dense warp (36 epi) it was IMPOSSIBLE to get an even weft, no matter how hard I muscled the beater. 36 warp ends equaled an inch - half that many weft shots equaled an inch in pattern, and in tabby it was even less, more like 12-14!

The hems of each place mat were woven using plain sewing thread for weft. This made a smooth, warp-faced BEAUTIFUL shiny fabric! The color of the thread hardly showed at all. In fact, tightly packed 10/2 warp with sewing thread weft would make fantastic striped napkins. They'd have a great sheen, be smooth, and the stripes would be solid. The spool of thread fit right into a small boat shuttle so it was easy to weave.

I liked the huck lace pattern and will probably make something with all my leftovers. I will expect it to be soft, cushy, and draw in...a lot! I will not repeat the elements I didn't like but will do it my OWN way next time.

As always, I learned a lot!

Spun It, Dyed It, Wove It, Sewed It!

2010-10-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

I finished Marty's vest yesterday and he wore it to work today. It looks fabulous on him!

Sewing with my handspun was a fun challenge. (Here is a link to my post about spinning and weaving the fabric.) First I had to CUT OUT THE PIECES. The first snip felt positively sinful but after that it was fun. The fabric pattern is the same on front and back and so I was able to fit all the pattern pieces on, one layer at a time, without regard to any of that. It is a good thing my husband is skinny. I wove this on an 18" wide loom - any larger and the pieces would not have fit.

Because the fabric is somewhat coarse I had to handle it as little as possible because it ended to fray at the raw edges. Fortunately the pattern didn't call for any overturned or hemmed edges - the whole thing was lined. The fabric would not have been stable enough for an unlined garment - I think it would have stretched out of shape.

I lined the vest with rayon lining. The welt pockets were also lined with rayon. I reinforced the buttonholes with a strip of iron-on interfacing on the back side of the fabric and sewed them on the machine. Mom would have made hand-bound buttonholes, I hope she was not looking down at me from that sewing room in the sky!

How To Buy Hand-Dyed Wool

2010-09-28T11:09:00.000-05:00

My first attempts at fiber dyeing were less than stellar. I had two big problems. First, I didn't know much about the chemistry of dye/wool/heat/acid. Second, I wasn't an experienced enough spinner to know a disaster when I saw one.

The piece of roving on the left is some Sweet Grass Targhee combed top that I ruined in an attempt to make painted roving. HOWEVER, I didn't know it was ruined and spun from it anyway. My arms literally ached from pre-drafting and spinning was a nightmare. I chalked it up to being a beginner trying to spin wool that was finer than Romney. The problem was neither. The problem was FELTING.

The fiber on the right is also hand-dyed but now I know what I'm doing. It is as easy to draft as undyed top. It is soft, fluffy, and has no felting at all. This is the only kind I sell to other people.

I have attended a regional fiber festival for the last three years and have seen yards and yards of FELTED FIBER BRAIDS for sale. The braids are gorgeous. The colors are stunning. But an experienced spinner walks right by. It is only the poor beginners who get sucked into buying felted roving.

When you are examining a braid of hand-dyed roving/top, CHECK THE ENDS. They should be fluffy and the fibers should fan out if you give it a shake. If there are no ends exposed, ask to undo one and take a look at it. Feel it. Pull a few fibers. They should slide right out.

All braided top gets a bit compacted in storage - that isn't a problem. The ends will tell all. If the ends are good chances are the rest is good and all it will need to be ready for spinning is a tug or two and a good, hard shake.

If you are buying online be sure that the vendor offers a full refund, no questions asked. If they dyer is not a very experienced spinner, she may think the roving is perfect but you may think otherwise. Ask her how long she has been spinning and dyeing and be especially wary of extra fine fibers like merino, which is super hard to dye without felting at least a bit.

Finally, a properly dyed braid of roving should be fat and fluffy and soft. It should not look or feel like felt! If it does, walk away! Or prepare yourself for a serious workout at the spinning wheel.

More Overdyed Gray Wool...

2010-09-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

I was so inspired by how the blue yarn turned out that I dug all my blah gray handspun out of the closet and dyed it. You can see the results in my new blog photo! Whew! Now I actually feel like using this yarn.

I'm thinking of a weaving project!

Overdyeing: Blah Wool Gets a Face Lift

2010-09-21T10:09:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I skeined off 2000 yds of gray Romney/Mohair two ply yarn and thought, "Blech. This gray does nothing for me." The roving was scrumptious - top quality from Peeper Hollow Farm - but the yarn did nothing for me. I had spent weeks making this yarn and I wasn't about to give up on it. Dye to the rescue!

I decided on blue so I did color samples from my four favorite colors of blue dye. Color sampling is easy in the microwave oven. Here's how I did it.

I took four little bits of gray roving and put them in water plus a drop of dish detergent to soak while I got everything else ready. Then I found four quart canning jars and put labels on each one - sky blue, brilliant blue, royal blue, navy. I added one teaspoon of liquid dye, one teaspoon of vinegar, and a cup of water to each jar. Now I had 4 little dyebaths ready to go.

Each bit of fiber went into its own jar of dye. I then put all four jars in the microwave oven and brought the dye to a boil - about 4 minutes. I then set the microwave to half power, and six minutes, and let it cook. By the time the dinger went off, each dyebath was exhausted and the fiber was dyed.

I fished out the blobs of dyed fiber with a fork (too hot for fingers) and pressed them between thick layers of paper towels to get most of the water out. This is what I ended up with. From left to right the colors are, royal blue, sky blue, navy, and brilliant blue.

My favorite was somewhere between the sky blue and royal blue, so I got all my big skeins wetted down and prepared the dyebath. I had two pounds of fiber. I put in enough sky blue dye for one pound (that's all I had) and added enough Royal blue for four ounces. I filled the canner and added the ten skeins of yarn. My hope was to get a medium denim blue, also known as "Scandinavian Blue". And this is what I got! You can see the original gray fiber and yarn sample in contrast to overdyed yarn.

The luster of the Romney and Mohair is very evident in the finished yarn. It has a depth that dyed white wool could never have, as the darker fibers are still darker in the final yarn. I don't think "blech" when I look at my new yarn - Now I love it. All the work was worth it. And the dyepot saved the day, again.

Greensleeves Spindles: The Wooden Rainbow

2010-06-29T17:14:00.000-05:00

One of the most addicting things about spinning is hand-made drop spindles. Most of us start out with something kind of clunky and mass-produced. We wonder why people love spinning. We make rope. We drop the dang thing a million times. Then we start to get the hang of it, and pretty soon we need another spindle! We don't want another Clunker...so we start looking for The Spindle.

We buy something really special and think we're fixed for a life of spinning. But no, we need a lace spindle. And a one ounce. And a one and a half ounce. And a Bloodwood...

I've been selling Greensleeves Spindles for just under a year and have been thrilled witht he quality and beauty of these spindles. Each Greensleeves drop spindle is made by hand by Elizabeth and Bart Daily of Provo, UT. They are carefully turned, balanced, tested. When I get a box of spindles it is like Christmas! I never tell Elizabeth what to make me, other than a size range and how many I am ordering, so it is always the most fabulous surprise. WOODEN RAINBOW!

Here is the bouquet that came in the mail today. They are listed at my Etsy store and I expect them to sell out fairly quickly. I am always tempted to keep a few...

There is only one thing wrong with Greensleeves Spindles. They sell out almost immediately and then I have to wait WEEKS for the next batch!

Gamp Camp: Weaving With Color

2010-06-20T16:05:00.002-05:00

I'm working on spinning my second batch of warp for a weaving project. Just couldn't bring myself to mix commercial yarn with my handspun....so here we come, rabbit skin glue! It takes me a while to spin enough yards, so I thought I'd better have something going on the loom at the same time. Practice makes perfect and I have a LOT of skill-building to do.

I bought a gamp kit from Yarn Barn of Kansas. What is a gamp? British slang for an umbrella...oh yeah, and it's a weaving thing too. Here's the definition. A gamp is a systematic arrangement of warp threadings or warp color sequences in section of equal size, each section being a minimum of two inches and not more than six, and woven as drawn in. Thank you, Harriet Tidball of Handwoven Magazine!

The warp was supposed to be 36 inches wide in a 12 dent reed, and the stripes were 24 ends wide (2 inches), but my big loom is European, metric, and the reed is just under 36 inches, so I had to pull one end from each of the last four colors. The reed was FULL! Warping took me two days.

Weaving only took about four hours. I had to stop and change the bobbin in the shuttle every 24 picks, which took up a lot of time as well. There were 18 colors. If I'd had 18 shuttles, it would have been a lot faster! But I only have two.

The wool was somewhat stiff and rough but after washing it fluffed up (bloomed) and softened a lot. I am happy with the outcome, and so is the recipient of the blanket. Happy Father's Day, Marty!

And then, of course there were leftovers, which I didn't want to throw out, so...they are being transformed into a random-color, 2x2 twill plaid scarf on the Wolf Pup LT.

What I learned: I was surprised by which color combinations seemed attractive to me and which did not. For instance, I liked olive green over maroon, and rust over bright green, but didn't like any of the squares that intersected with white. Black plus color looked good no matter what color, but showed any flaws in weaving. Gray over any color cut the brightness in half. I found myself LOVING the green and blue blocks, and feeling somewhat indifferent about the yellow/orange/rust. It definitely gave me some great ideas for using color in future projects and I will be able to take a look at it whenever I wonder how specific colors will interact in a plain weave cloth.

This was a kit so I couldn't veer much from the plan, but in the future I will probably try to make at least two blankets from the same warp. It takes a long time to set up - might as well get my money's worth from the process. Finally, I was amazed at how quickly the actual weaving went. Whew. After years and years of knitting, the almost instant gratification makes me dizzy.

Bartlettyarns - For Sale at my Etsy Store

2010-06-17T10:55:00.001-05:00

I am now a Bartlettyarns dealer and have ten cones of this great yarn for sale at my Etsy store. Cones have 1750 yds (1 pound) of woolen-spun sport weight yarn, great for knitting, weaving, crochet, felting, or any other fiberart project.

This yarn knits at 5-6 sts/inch on size 3-5 needles. Weaving setts are 10-15.

Here are a few things you can do with this great yarn-on-a-cone: weave, knit, crochet, use as warp only with handspun weft. Yarn on a cone is great for spinning art yarns - use it as the core and add in fluff, locks, or other fiber. Spin in the direction of the yarn's ply twist.

Coned yarn hasn't been finished - after weaving or knitting the item should be gently washed in warm water. It will bloom and soften up a great deal.

Bartlettyarns, Inc is a working museum woolen mill located in Harmony, Maine. Yarn is made in the same way, with the same equipment used in the early 1800s. It is woolen-spun from big batts (you can see them on the rolls in the video) and most of the yarns are dyed in the wool, then spun, to create heather blends. Colors are not all available at all times - they are spun one run at a time as wool becomes available. All wool comes from US wool growers.

Weaving with Handspun: First Big Project

2010-06-10T17:15:00.002-05:00

I started this project by spinning a lot of yarn. Two-ply for the warp (1700 yds of Romney) and single ply for the weft (3200 yds of Romney lamb/alpaca). I got these numbers from my calculations of what it would take to make 5.5 yds of cloth, 18 inches wide, at a sett of 15 e.p.i. (Ends, or warp threads per inch.)

Next I dyed the yarn and sized it with rabbit skin glue.

Wound the stiff, sized yarn into many balls.

Warped the Schacht Wolf Pup LT loom for sampling.

Samples. I thought I'd weave the cloth in a houndstooth twill but I didn't like how the sample turned out (top sample). My weft yarn was a single ply and there were slight variations in thickness - the variations didn't work well in herringbone. So, I tried other combinations until I found one I liked. I had to cut off the sample, re-thread the heddles and re-sley the reed and tie the new warp onto the cloth beam.

Once I was sure of what I wanted I warped the loom and started to weave. I broke six warp ends during weaving and repaired each one according to the instructions in LEARNING TO WEAVE. For my next big handspun weaving project I'm going to use commercial yarn in the warp - I spent a lot of time worrying about fraying and breakage. I also spent a lot of time spraying starch on the warp to make it even stiffer. I don't know if it helped or not.

One week later...

Before washing my fabric measured 5.5 yds by 17 inches wide. It is soft with a nice hand and the perfect weight for a tailored wool vest. I soaked the fabric in hot water with Woolite, swished it a little, and rinsed. I laid it out flat to dry and can't wait to cut into it!

Here are my thoughts on my first big weaving project. I'll do it again, and soon. I'll use commercial warp next time and I'll double the ends at the edges because those seemed to break the most easily. I overestimated how much warp yarn I'd need and underestimated on the warp. I AM GLAD I SAMPLED. For a diehard non-swatcher, this is big.

I feel like Pioneer Woman!!! And it all started with a little Cricket Loom...

Weaving with Handspun: Sizing the Warp

2010-05-26T13:25:00.001-05:00

I'm working my way through Paula Simmon's classic book Spinning and Weaving With Wool and came to the chapter on warp. (For those of you who don't weave yet, warp is the name of the long, up and down threads. Weft is the side-to-side thread.) I'm planning to weave a piece of twill fabric that is 6 yards long and 20 inches wide, and I want to use handspun. Paula says to size handspun warp with rabbit skin glue.

Sizing is basically putting something starchy or stiff on the yarn so that it is more able to withstand the punishment of being warp - abrasion from heddles and reed, tension from the warp beam. I bought a package of powdered rabbit skin glue from the art store.

The first thing I did was dye the yarn scarlet - that's the color I wanted - so when I was finished with that I had hot, rinsed, wet yarn. While the dyepot was simmering I'd sprinkled 6 tablespoons of rabbit skin glue powder on cold water, stirred it in, and let it all sit. It gelled into a gray/beige goopy, thick mess.

I took a big bucket and poured in this goop. To this I added 8 cups of boiling water and stirred the sizing until the goop had completely dissolved. Next I put the skeins in, one by one, and pushed them down, making sure they were saturated. (I wore gloves for this.)

I carried the bucket downstairs and spun the yarn out in my washing machine spin cycle, and then removed it. I immediately ran a small hot water load of rags, with detergent, to wash the glue out of my machine.

It's a gorgeous, breezy day, so I hung the skeins out to dry. So far they still looked like regular wet yarn! The yarn is fine so it dried right away. AND it is SIZED! It is stiff, as though it were over-starched, but the strands are not very stuck together - it will be easy to wind everything into balls. There is no weird smell.

After I take the final cloth off the loom I'll finish it with gentle washing - this will remove all of the rabbit skin glue. I have that triumphant feeling - followed the directions and everything worked. The only thing I did differently was to size the yarn in skeins, rather than wait until I had it measured into warp chains. I don't know if this will make a difference or not.

It looks like the stiff yarn will also be easier to thread through heddles and reed. YAY! Now I have to finish spinning the weft yarn and I'll be ready to test my sized warp on my loom. Sizing was not a big task, was not very messy, and if it makes my handspun easier to weave, I'm all for it.

I wonder if I can buy rabbit skin glue in BULK??

Confessions of a Notorious Non-Swatcher

2010-05-20T11:44:00.000-05:00

I have never been much of a swatch-maker. If I start knitting something and don't like it, I rip it out. I don't keep records of my spun yarn. I don't try to figure out twists per inch - I just decide if I like it or not.

This habit (or non-habit) is not going to serve me very well as a weaver. Could it be that a reformed attitude is in order?

Although I am getting much faster at warping my loom, it is still time-consuming. Once the loom is set up, I want to weave. If after an inch of weaving I decide I don't like what I'm seeing, I am in trouble. It is no easy task to "rip out" a warp and start over!

So, I am sampling. Check out these two samples/practice mats. I used the same three colors in each of the projects. In the runner I used hot pink for the weft. In the place mats I used bright turquoise. What a difference. (I also made fewer mistakes in the placemats - learning curve!)

For plain weave items I can sample on my Cricket loom (another good reason to have one) but for bigger, more complicated projects I'll have to sample on the big loom. Can do. Can do! I can see that in the long run it is going to be worth it. I am going to reform. At least as a weaver!

The Greatest Work of Art - Kids!

2010-05-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

I had to take a break from fiber to watch my daughter Jody graduate from college. (That cord around her neck means she graduated Summa Cum Laude.) She is now an official Bachelor...of Music.

Ok, back to weaving! I am working on a table runner now. It has mistakes. It has wavy selvedges. AND I LOVE IT! Hope your week is off to a good start!!

Learning to Weave: Overcoming the Perfection Barrier

2010-05-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

My daughter Jody will graduate this weekend with a degree in music performance (pipe organ). She is a talented young woman, and very accomplished, but while I was listening to her senior recital I kept thinking back to the little girl who sat at the piano and cried at least once a week - because she knew how the music was supposed to sound but couldn't yet play it.

When I heard her crying (or pounding the poor old piano in frustration) I would sit beside her on the bench, put my arm around her, and remind her of all the music she had already learned; how she had not been able to play those pieces perfectly the first time; and that with practice it was certain she would learn the new music. I wish I had a dollar for every time I had to give that pep talk, but it worked. She didn't give up. She learned to love the process of learning as much as the accomplishment.

When I tell people that I'm learning to weave I often hear some horror story about warping a loom. In fact, I have found that it is one of the things that keeps people from this ancient and wonderful craft. "Oh, but the setup, I've heard it's awful."

One of my Ravelry friends, who is a self-taught weaver, calls this "the Perfection Barrier," and I think that is an apt title for the main reason more people don't weave. They are afraid of failure and frustration so they don't even try. They know how the music is supposed to sound but they never get around to making it themselves because they are so afraid of the process.

Our fiber guild doesn't meet in the summer so I am on my own. I got a book, Learning to Weave, and a Schacht's newest loom, the Wolf Pup LT. When the loom arrived I assembled it myself in just two hours. I've never touched a floor loom before, but I had studied the book and knew the terms and parts. Yesterday I warped it for the first time, following the lesson in the book.

I had to retie the warps more than once to fix the mistakes. I had to color-code the heddles with Sharpie so I knew which shaft I was looking at. I don't have a bobbin-winder, so I wound the shuttle bobbins on my sewing machine bobbin-winder. By the time I had the loom ready to go it was late, I was tired, but I couldn't wait.

Here is what I wove before bed. It is not perfect. But it is a great beginning! I'm weaving!

I refuse to be stopped by the Perfection Barrier. In fact, I have made a vow to myself - I am going to learn to LOVE warping my loom, and I am going to give myself permission to weave many imperfect things and to embrace the learning process. Someday I'll be a good weaver. And maybe I'll even be a great weaver!

Don't let the Perfection Barrier stop you from trying something new. Get a book, take a class, JUMP IN!

Schacht Ladybug - Special Introductory Price $539

2010-05-11T15:08:00.000-05:00

In March I picked up the Schacht dealership for my area. At first I thought I would just carry looms. "We would love it if you'd carry the wheels as well," they said. I said, no thanks, I didn't have room.

Well, I made room because I thought it would be nice to give my customers a choice. Schacht has a spotless reputation, the wheels are made in America, and hey, I have room in my heart to love more than one kind of spinning wheel.

I am going to place my first order for Ladybug Spinning Wheels at the end of this month. I'd like to take this opportunity to offer the wheel for $539 (plus free shipping) to anyone who orders the wheel between now and May 27th, 2010. Delivery will be at the end of June.

E-mail me if you'd like to take advantage of this offer. The Ladybug isn't a new wheel but it is new to my workshop, so we'll call it an introduction. I'm hoping the size and quality will make it a big seller.

Here is what the Schacht website says about the Ladybug:

The Ladybug Spinning Wheel is friendly to entry-level spinners, easy to treadle, easy to take with you, and…as cute as a bug! The Ladybug has the characteristic solid Schacht construction and its unique design is both functional and charming. Designed-in carrying handles in the legs and light weight make the Ladybug easy to pick up and transport. An optional attached tensioned Lazy Kate integrates into the front leg and makes it easy to take along, too!

The Ladybug Spinning Wheel uses Scotch tension, and can also be used in double drive mode. The Ladybug comes with medium and fast flyer whorls; the slow and high speed whorls can also be used for a wide range of ratios.

Included with each Schacht Ladybug Spinning Wheel are a poly drive band, threading hook, three bobbins, medium and fast whorls, and double drive band. Each Ladybug Spinning Wheel is unique - somewhere on your wheel is your very own Ladybug pal.

Majacraft Aura: At Last! Photos and a Review

2010-05-01T10:18:00.005-05:00

The Aura arrived here in Minnesota on Thursday. I invited my spinner friend Kerry over to help me assemble the wheel and take photos, so THANKS to Kerry.

First impressions: The box was much smaller than the boxes that the Rose and Suzy come in. Here is what I saw when I opened it up, removed the top piece of styrofoam.

I lifted up the wheel and gasped. It is GORGEOUS, SOLID bamboo, and very heavy. In my opinion it is the most beautiful of all the drive wheels Majacraft makes.

Next we unpacked the pieces. The treadles are lovely, and have a curvy new look.

The spinning head has been completely redesigned. The only thing that looks the same is the shaft. There are two whorls in place of the one whorl in previous models. They rotate independently.

The jumbo flyer has the aerodynamic wooden crossbar, jumbo sliding hook, and a unique orifice called a "pigtail". It is very easy to thread and has options for threading fine or lumpy yarns. It is quite easy to spin at an angle to the pigtail.

The jumbo bobbins are bamboo! That was a surprise.

And of course the signature at the base is very important.

Here are some photos of the wheel after assembly.

And here is a close up of the spinning head with the pulleys and whorls and drive wheel connected by bands.

The white band is not stretchy. It goes from the front whorls (which rotate at the same speed as the bobbin) to a "holder" pulley (small pulley on the opposite side) and then down to a special, deep groove on the drive wheel. The green stretchy band goes from the whorl groove to the wheel, as in the other Majacraft wheels. This whorl is very large and has three grooves.

The tensioning requires a paradigm shift in thinking about how spinning FEELS. Adjustment of the white band controlls the amount of pull, or tug on the wool during spinning. The green band adjusts the speed of the takeup, and the difference in size between the first and second bands is how one arrives at the correct tension/pull/takeup for the wool one is spinning.

Here are some answers to common questions about the Aura.

Q: Will my other Majacraft bobbins work on the Aura?

A: No. The Aura bobbins have holes that fit into pins on the spinning head to keep it in pace with the first (white band) whorls. I tried to drill holes in one of my lace bobbins in order to make it work - first attempt at mod was not a success, but I haven't given up. Right now, the only bobbins that are designed for the Aura are the jumbo Aura bobbins. The wheel comes with three jumbo Aura bobbins. Additional bobbins cost $45 USD. BUT these are such large bobbins that having many extra bobbins is not essential.

Q: Will my high-speed head fit on the Aura?

A. No. The spinning head on the Aura is mounted with a bolt that passes through the head.

Q: How is the tensioning different from other Majacraft wheels?

A: Scotch tension requires tweaking as one spins. As the bobbin fills the pull and takeup change and tension has to be increased in small increments. With the Aura tension system, one only has to set it for the type of yarn and GO. No readjusting.

Q: Is the Aura only for art yarn?

A: No. The Aura can spin anything, although as it is set up now (huge bobbins, large whorls) it is perfect for art yarn, bulky yarn, or worsted weight soft singles. I was able to spin laceweight once the bobbin was half full. More about that later!

Q: Would this be a good wheel for a new spinner?

A: YES. More about that with the review!

Q: What does the Aura cost?

A: It is listed at $963 USD. It is definitely the top of the line now.

Q: Will Majacraft make other whorls/setups for this wheel?

A: Yes, but there are not dates on this yet. Glynis mentioned to me that they will probably make a lace flyer with standard orifice next, but she was thinking out loud, not announcing a fact. Right now they are busy getting the pre-orders out!

Ok, my review!

Kerry and I spent about four hours spinning, between the two of us. Kerry spun fine merino top from the fold. I spun Romney, Romney blend, mohair, merino, CVM from rolags and merino/bamboo. We spun as fine as we could and I spun fat art yarn. We took it up to speed and raced it (my job), and we tested how leisurely we could spin (that was Kerry's job). We also brought over Kerry's son Josh who is 15, and has never been able to get the hang of spinning on the family Rose. He was able to spin immediately.

It took a while for me to adjust to the new feel of the wheel. I did a lot of adjusting. Like I said above, spinning on the Aura requires a change of mindset. The side knob controls how HARD the wheel pulls against the wool, but NOT how fast it takes up. Changing the position of the green band up and down the whorls changes how fast the yarn takes up. I am not used to thinking of tension and takeup as separate functions, so...being middle-aged, it took me a while to stop breaking the yarn.

Once I got the hang of it I found my sweet spot setting and was able to spin for an hour solid making perfect, even Romney singles that would knit at about DK. I was AMAZED at how smooth the treadling and tension are. When I speeded up my treadling I was able to make consistent sockweight, laceweight singles, though this was nearly impossible until the bobbin was half full. The bobbin is so large that the slightest pull would snap those fine singles. Once the bobbin was essentially a "fat core" the fine spinning was possible and easy.

Bulky spinning was great too - no overtwisting. I didn't have to work so fast that I lost control. I could make slubs, twits, add in fluff, whatever, at a nice, steady pace. The orifice can handle all manner of blobs with ease. This wheel will make the art yarn spinners jump up and down but the rest of us have plenty to be happy about too.

The wheel is slow. It will require gearing up for me to spin lace at the speed I want to go. I can spin lace, but not fast. This would be a good wheel for a tense person (that would be me) because the pace is so relaxing.

I'm just getting used to Aura but I give her a hearty thunbs up. I know Majacraft is going to expand the wheel in time and it will be THE spinning wheel everyone wants to have because of the versatility. Right now (May 1, 2010) it is already PERFECT for 1) spin control 2) soft, even singles 3) bulky, funky, lumpy, happy yarns, 4) learning to spin/draft 5) leisurely spinning of very fine yarns, once there is a bit of a core built up on the bobbin.

Please feel free to comment, to ask questions, or e-mail me for more info. stseraphinaknits at msn.com

Schacht Cricket: Stash Reduction Part Two

2010-04-29T11:40:00.002-05:00

The Aura is in a box in my workshop. Just thought I'd let you know :-)

Here is all the stash reduction I have been doing with my Cricket Loom over the past couple of weeks. I have scarves, coasters, and even made fabric for the Little Hippie Vest.

I was not sure I'd like weaving because compared to my passion, (lace knitting) it seemed very boring. BUT I was wrong on both counts. It is a lot of fun - very relaxing. I can finish a project in a couple of days rather than a couple of weeks. I can use up yarn - it takes much less yarn to weave a scarf than it does to knit one. And I can carry on a conversation while I work (unlike lace knitting DON'T TALK TO ME I'M COUNTING!!)

Yesterday I got a delivery of looms from Schacht. I have 6 Cricket Looms, a 15" Flip Loom, and a 20" Flip Loom. If you're interested in learning to weave and prefer to own the best quality rigid heddle loom available, send me an e-mail or give me a call. The Crickets are $140, 15" Flip is $235, and the 20" Flip is $255. All of the looms are portable and easy to assemble. They're made of beautiful, SOLID maple and the kits include a warping peg, 8 dent reed, heddle hook, shuttles, and instructions for warping and a couple of practice projects. FREE shipping! And the Flip looms come with a free gift of yarn and a lovely "how to" book with multiple small projects. Stash Reduction Rules!!

Aura Fever

2010-04-28T23:13:00.002-05:00

Grandma says, "I have Aura Fe-vah!"

My Aura is on the way, shipped last Thursday. That could mean...TOMORROW! I've seen photos, some specs, diagrams, etc, but I really, really, really want to get my hands on that wheel.

Today I received a delivery of nine Schacht looms - 6 Crickets, two Flip Folding Looms (really gorgeous looms!) and a Wolf Pup. Nothing is assembled. My house is full of cardboard boxes, heddles, shuttles, and raddles, but i will clear a space for Aura when she comes!

Yeah, the workshop is kinda crazy! My daughter gives her senior recital tomorrow night, I've got a house full of company, but when Aura gets here, MOVE OVER LOOMS AND PEOPLE! My espeically handy-with-tools girlfriend Kerry will come over and help me assemble it, and I'm sure we'll both try spinning. I'll try to get in at least a couple of hours of spinning, different fibers, different kinds of yarn. Then I'll write down what I think and share it here. I'll be really honest. I will pull no punches. You will definitely get my first impressions. Might be Saturday, might be Sunday. It will depend on when the wheel comes, and how much time I can carve out.

BUT I AM SO EXCITED!!!! I'll keep you all posted!

FRIDAY!!!!

2010-04-23T09:57:00.001-05:00

Kid or lamb? I can't tell, can you? All I know is that this cute little critter is HAPPY! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Handspun and Handwoven: What Can I Make?

2010-04-21T12:00:00.001-05:00

I love my Cricket Loom!!!!! It's small and portable and quick to warp. I don't use a lot of yarn for a project, and the weaving goes much MUCH faster than knitting a similar scarf or piece of fabric.

I've made scarves, plaid coasters, more scarves, a belt and (sound of happy dancing feet) enough fabric to make a toddler-sized vest. I call it "The Little Hippie Vest". I lined it with soft, washed linen and made a pair of little khaki shorts to match. Now all I need is a little hippie.

The yarn I used was the same corespun alpaca as I used in the scarf only this time I warped the loom with a finer yarn (Aunt Lydia's Crochet Bamboo) and used a higher sett (that means, more stitches per inch). After washing and drying and ironing the piece, I laid out the pattern pieces and CUT my weaving. Ok, yes, it felt evil.

A few hours later I had this outfit. And I had used up a very so-so orphan yarn. And I had moved one step closer to TOTAL addiction to a wonderful new craft.

Suzie/Rose Cozy: A No-Sew Wrap for your Wheel

2010-04-19T10:47:00.002-05:00

Here is a quick, inexpensive way to wrap your Suzie or Rose for transport.

You will need 2 yds of polar fleece fabric, medium to heavy weight and a pair of sharp scissors. You will also need a Rose or Suzie spinning wheel. If you don't have one yet, call or e-mail and I will be happy to help you remedy the situation.

Lay the fabric out on the floor and set your spinning wheel toward the end that is nearest to you, as you would face it to spin. Loosen the wheel knob and fold the wheel down so the handle is sticking up, then re-tighten the knob to secure it. If you have a Suzie, bring the close end of the fabric up and poke two holes where the bobbin holders are, and slip the fabric down over the spindles. If you have a Rose, snip a hole big enough to accommodate the wooden knob on wheel assembly.

Next, take the corners of the fabric closest to you, and tie them in a big square knot at the back of the wheel, covering the conrods.

Now take the rest of the fabric from behind, and drape it over the front of the wheel. Pull the fabric slightly so that all is taut on the back side. Poke another hole and fit it over the front knob. It should be a snug fit. Once the fabric is secured to the knob, find the handle and cut a hole slightly smaller than the handle but big enough for the handle to poke through. Be careful not to scratch the handle.

Last, gather up the remaining two corners of the fabric, bring them around to the front of the wheel and tie another square knot. Your wheel is snug in its cozy and you're ready to go!

Fiber Orphans, Part One

2010-04-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

Our church crafter's group made Prayer Shawls during Lent. Our goal was 40 shawls during the 40 days of Lent, and we made 47! They will go to the local nursing home. It was a great project and a lot of people contributed, both money for yarn and time spent knitting, crocheting and praying!

I made four adult-sized prayer shawls and while I was knitting and thinking about the dear old folks who would receive them, I thought I'd like to make a little prayer shawl for a four-year-old little friend of mine. She is very girly and loves pink, loves to cuddle and still sucks her thumb. I had a 4 ounce washable merino roving that was part of my orphaned fiber stash (dyed, but no plan) and so I set myself a goal of seeing how fast I could do the project.

I divided the wool in half and spun it with a long draw, paying little attention to grist. I spun what I spun. After one night on the bobbins, I plied the two together. Time spend spinning - 3 hours. I finished the yarn and once it was dry, I started to knit. I had just under 300 yards of thick 'n thin.

We were using a triangular shawl pattern that called for heavy yarn and size 13 needles. I figured I could make a mini version using size 7 needles. I cast on, knitted the shawl, and cast off. I had ONE YARD of yarn left! Whew! Time spent knitting - 3 hours. It was exactly the right size for a little girl and I have been informed that it lives in the pile of snuggle blankies on my little friend's bed.

I am working at using my orphan fiber. I've got rovings, carded batts, and a lot of yarn that never made it to a project. Please tell us about any orphan projects you've recently completed, or you plan/strategy for using up stash!

More about Fiber Orphans in upcoming posts.

MAJACRAFT ROSE: A Thorough Review

2010-04-12T08:43:00.004-05:00

My friend Kerry sent me this link. It's a very nice review of the Majacraft Rose. Keep in mind that the review was made in 2007 - several improvements have been made since then, for instance, the flyer bars have been made more aerodynamically efficient. The standard orifice is now made of stainless steel, and the bearings (which were always great) have been improved. Hinges have been upgraded...AND the price has definitely gone up :-)

It is still one of the nicest "everything" wheels available. Dollar for dollar, I believe it is the best spinning wheel in its class.

This month every Rose wheel comes with ALL the Majacraft whorls. Spin thread, spin rope. You choose!

Weave It Away - Super Stash Reduction!

2010-04-09T09:26:00.004-05:00

If you are like me you have many, MANY skeins, balls, yarn-cakes, cops and other blobs of yarn. You spun it, you bought it, you stored it...sometimes for a long time.

I am finding that learning to weave is a very quick and easy way to use up odds and ends.

A while back I did an experiment with core spinning. I dyed a pot of alpaca - just squirted in three colors of dye and let it sit. When I was finished I had a bag of multicolored alpaca locks. I also had a cone of very fine silk 2-ply. I decided to grab bits of alpaca on the fly and spin it around the silk.

The results: 1200 yds of somewhat oddball, thick and thin, fuzzy and smooth alpaca multi. I knitted a swatch. I felt it was somewhat blah, so it sat in my bin. Until yesterday.

I warped my Cricket Loom with a store-bought bamboo-silk yarn and wove the alpaca right as it came off the ball. It took half an hour to warp the loom and about an hour to weave a 6 foot scarf. The MINUTE it was off the loom my husband claimed it. It is heavy, soft, drapey, and the bamboo/silk warp shows through enough to give the whole piece a nice sheen.

A yarn that was ugly when knitted is beautiful when woven. Weaving was fast. I didn't have to buy yarn. And best of all, I have at least half of the alpaca yarn left and will try it with another, finer warp.

Learning to Spin, Learning to Weave

2010-04-06T12:40:00.003-05:00

I never cease to marvel at the difference between how children react when they see me spinning and how adults react. Here are some typical responses.

Kid Questions: Is it fun? Can kids do that? Was the sheep purple? Why did you take off your shoes? Can I try it?

Adult Questions: Is it hard? How long does it take to make yarn? Why would you spin when you could just buy the yarn? Did it take a long time to get good? Oh, I could never do that...

Guess which group of people is harder to teach?

Is it worth pondering. Why do so many adults approach new tasks with the certainty of failure? Why are they so discouraged by the fact that it takes TIME and PRACTICE to master a new skill? Our brains are marvelous! There is no real barrier to learning a new skill - except attitude.

I am living proof that 1. adults can learn new skills, and 2. adults can MASTER a craft if they will put their minds to it. In under three years I have gone from never having touched a spinning wheel to being able to spin anything I want, spin on any wheel, take a wheel apart and put it together again, and teach others the skill. I am not some kind of craft genius. I am an ordinary middle-aged woman, but when I decide to learn something, I throw myself into it like a child. That's the key. Be a kid.

I CAN learn. I WILL improve. NO TOOL is smarter than I am. I call this the Crrafter's Mantra!

I am learning to weave. (Why not? I have a LOT Of yarn around!) In fact, I have added a Schacht Loom dealership to my business. So far I have made three scarves and nine coasters. I have also spun up 4 ounces of merino with the intention of using it for weaving. Right now I am a Child Weaver, with less skill than the tiny girl in the photo, but that is going to change. I am going to become a GOOD WEAVER. Not overnight, not in a week or a month. It will take AS LONG AS IT TAKES!!

More about Schacht Weaving products later! Contact me if you want a loom and I'll make you a deal you can't resist :-) In the meantime, whatever your craft, say the Crafter's Mantra a few times each day.

MAJACRAFT - The New Wheel is Coming!

2010-04-02T09:45:00.003-05:00

Here is all I know. It makes yarn. Seriously. The only info I could get out of Glynis was that I would not need the high speed accelerator any more. "The ratios will be adequate for your spinning," she said.

Will it be purple? Will it have spokes like the Rose? Will all my other Majacraft goodies work with it? For now we must remain in the dark.

Mum. They are SO mum.

I will have my new wheel the first of May. Once it has been unveiled at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (Glynis will be there in person!) I can post photos and tell you about it.

Glynis assures me that I will have it in time for the Minnesota Shepherd's Harvest Festival on May 8 and 9. I'll have a booth there, all my Majacraft wheels, lots of wool, and some Schacht looms. Come and see me (and the new wheel) if you are in the neighborhood!

MAJACRAFT PIONEER: UPDATED!

2010-03-23T20:56:00.004-05:00

Some spinning wheel companies create a wheel and never change it except to use cheaper and cheaper parts over the years. I will not name any names, but you know who they are. Majacraft craftsmen and women are constantly working to make the best possible spinning wheel in the world. If they can make a part better, they do it. That is one of the reasons I'm a Majacraft user and dealer.

Here is the breaking news - just came in tonight! The Pioneer has a new look. I've got one on the way and can't wait to put it together.

From Majacraft:
Majacraft as always, are trying to make craft tools that work great and look fantastic too. So based on this philosophy, we have set about changing and improving the aesthetics of the Pioneer.

The base and pedals of the Pioneer are now in solid pine (pinus radiata), similar to the stem. It is a heavier wood than the original plywood so the overall look of the wheel is much more solid. We have changed the finish from a cream wash to a warm honey coloured oil which accents the natural lustre and grain of the timber.

It also comes standard with our new aerodynamic flyer and 5-ratio whorl. And as with all Majacraft wheels it has the ability to fit all of our accessories.

All of our pine timber is sourced directly from our NZ supplier, which is all grown sustainably here in New Zealand.

Lace Knitting: A Form of Insanity

2010-03-01T10:39:00.003-06:00

Handspun, home-dyed, hand-knitted. Why do I do this? My friends can't understand it. I could be knitting warm hats or useful socks but no, I spend weeks making things like this.

Here are some of the reasons knitting lace is fun.

1. It is a huge challenge. Call it the Olympic Knitter in my heart.
2. It requires incredible concentration. This is good for my brain. Alzheimer's Prevention.
3. I get to make something big with a small amount of luxury fiber. This appeals to the tightwad in me.
4. Makes good gifts. Yeah, yeah, it might end up on the back of someone's sofa. Who actually WEARS these things? But it is a gift guaranteed to be appreciated. It is unique and beautiful.
5. Forces me to do math in my head. CONSTANT math in my head. See #2 above.

For this shawl I spun very fine singles of Cormo, alpaca and bunny angora. The alpaca was dyed pink and blue but the Cormo and bunny were white. I got a somewhat mottled, light pink yarn. I plied the singles with fine silk thread.

After knitting this gigantic thing (6 feet across) I realized I didn't like the color. So before blocking I put the whole thing into the dyepot with one tablespoon of burgundy dye. The color is EXACTLY what I wanted and the white blotches were fixed.

I plan to wear this shawl to my daughter's senior recital. Now I need a new dress.

That is the other reason to make a shawl.

Souped-Up Suzie for Speed Demons

2010-02-23T09:50:00.005-06:00

The other day I had a very pleasant Skype chat with fellow spinner James Perry. He showed me his version of the Souped Up Suzie - he'd replaced the large whorl on his high-speed head with the regular Suzie whorl and upped his ratios significantly.

I thought I could do one better, and so this morning I replaced the large whorl on my high speed head with...the SLOW WHORL. Putting it to its opposite use seemed ironically funny to me, as well as sensible.

The small secondary drive belt that comes with the high speed head was not big enough to fit my new setup, so I made a new small belt, 45.5 cms long. It fitted perfectly. In the photo you can see the difference between the regular high speed whorl and the slow whorl.

Next I figured the ratios. I put a small piece of tape at the top of the drive wheel, and, turning the drive wheel slowly with my right hand, I counted how many times the shaft rotated by counting how many times the grub screw on the brass sleeve came around. One rotation of the drive wheel gave me (are you ready?) 39:1 with the secondary drive band on the larger of the two small shaft whorls, and (drum roll) 47:1 with the secondary drive band on the smaller of the shaft whorls. (The drive band was in the largest groove on the main drive wheel.)

Now the REAL test. Could I spin at those rates?

I put on the lace flyer and an empty lace bobbin and threaded it up, adjusted the tension, and grabbed a bit of Dorset roving.

YESSSSSSS! Spinning was WONDERFUL, treadling at about half my regular frenetic pace using a fast long draw. It spun into a very fine, even strand. Since I am lately obsessed with lace, I couldn't be happier.

So, here is what you need, fellow tinkerers. The high speed head. A slow whorl. A homemade secondary drive band that is 45.5 cms in circumference. I think the lace kit would be best - it is much easier treadling with a smaller flyer - but might not be absolutely necessary.

I have renamed my slow whorl. It is now the Speed Demon Whorl.

Tender Fleece - What Are My Options?

2010-02-22T10:10:00.006-06:00

I recently purchased several raw fleeces at top dollar from a reliable wool grower I know. Before purchasing I tested each fleece for soundness - I took small staple samples from at least three places on the fleece and snapped them hard. All seemed strong and sound.

After washing one of the gray fleeces I was surprised to find pale creamy-colored neps (wool balls) throughout the fleece. I tested several more locks and discovered that the fleece was tender. Those neps were the tips of the wool, broken off during a very gentle washing. BAD NEWS!

The photos above are the Before and After shots of a staple of wool with tips, and with tips pulled off.

I called the farmer and she instantly refunded the cost of the fleece.

First of all, how did I miss it when I first tested the wool? Here are a few possibilities. The wool was very greasy. That high amount of lanolin could have given a bit of strength to the staples. I may have tested too large a hunk of fiber at a time. And finally, I REALLY wanted that fleece. So, I probably didn't snap as hard as I should have.

Second, what makes a fleece tender? My farmer friend said MANY things! That particular fleece came from a sheep that had had an infection in her udder while she was trying to nurse twin lambs. Then there was a weird April blizzard - sheep were eating snow while nursing lambs, yet another stress to the system.

Anything that stresses a sheep can cause a weak spot in her fleece during the time of trouble. A sheep can get a tender spot in her fleece if she gets sick, nurses triplets or quads, has a very difficult birth, etc. For a few days, the fleece doesn't grow well and it consequently weak at that place in the staple. This is a good reason NOT to reserve fleeces from farmers ahead of time - a fleece that was perfect one year may have faults the next, even with the very best care and feed available. It is also a very good reason to buy ONLY from a farmer who will give you a money-back guarantee of quality.

So, what are the options? If this fleece is carded as-is, the tips will break off and form balls all through the wool. The resulting batt or roving will be very, very lumpy. Nasty. The two options are, tear off all the tips by hand. This can be done. If the rest of the fleece is sound it might be worth the time. The tips can also be snipped off with scissors, but one would have to be very careful to cut below the tenderness. Combing might get out most of the tender bits but most is not good enough for most of us spinners!

I don't have time to snip or pull off bad tips or comb an entire fleece. I took my refund gratefully, and sadly said goodbye to that fleece.

Maybe next year!

ULTRASOX: Sock wool for Everyone

2010-02-18T10:16:00.003-06:00

Most, if not all of the commercially available sock fiber blends use merino as the main wool. This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons. First, merino is harder to draft than other wools. The tight crimp makes the fibers cling to one another - that's why the fiber can feel "sticky" and hard to control. Second, beginning spinners are often sock-knitters, and socks are a GREAT little spinning project! So, here are all these beginning spinners, drooling over merino sock blends (and paying high prices for them) only to feel frustrated because their skills are not up to merino yet.

I've come up with a solution. ULTRASOX is my own carded blend of superwash Corriedale and nylon. ULTRASOX GEM has the fun addition of Angelina fiber. I dye the tops and the nylon to match, then blend them in combos that spin up into a very nice heather yarn.

ULTRASOX can be spun very, very fine. In fact, you could use it for laceweight. It is soft but much sturdier than merino, and is EASY to draft! That's the best news of all.

I took a 4.5 ounces of ULTRASOX and spun it into 695 yds of 3-ply fingering weight yarn-plenty for a pair of knee-high socks. It could be spun in any weight, even worsted, for chunky socks. I include a 3-sizes of yarn sock pattern with each sale.

Tell your spinning friends! Spinning for socks just got easier.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

2010-02-08T08:51:00.001-06:00

I just got back from shearing in Iowa - more later. In the meantime, here is a sheepy fun video. Night herding competitions! I laughed out loud. Sheepdogs rock!

Majacraft Millie (in the Middle)

2010-01-11T15:33:00.004-06:00

That's Millie in the center, between Suzie Alpaca and Little Gem. It's my latest spinning wheel adventure!

Several months ago Glynis Poad and I made a private arrangement. I'd send some signed first editions of one of my children's books for her grandkids, and she'd send me a discounted Millie, unfinished, in parts, so I could finish it the way I wanted and put the WHOLE thing together.

Parts is what I got. Wooden parts and metal parts. And all the little bits of hardware in a baggie. No instructions, nothing labeled, nada. Since this is my first Millie, it was a quite an adventure.

I started by pretreating all the wood with wood conditioner, especially the edges of the drive wheel where the MDF is exposed. They told me at the paint store that MDF couldn't be stained but a bit of googling proved them wrong. Then I wiped on three coats (over two days) of oil-based stain in a dark teak color. When that was completely dry I wiped on a coat of poly finish, sanded with steel wool, and rubbed on another coat. Then I had dark brown parts, and a bag of little bits.

I've put a lot of Majacrafts together but those wheels all came partially assembled. I had to figure out what went where (drive wheel bearings, flyer shaft bearings) and how to install them. I dragged a few hints out of Glynis despite the fact that they are still on vacation down under...and was able to put it all together over a couple of days.

There was some trial and error. For instance, I set the treadles back too far and got a severe wobble. Out came the screws, off came the hinges, and back to the drawing board! Then I had to figure out how to set the drive wheel. I had a bolt, some washers, and a nut. What order? What washers where? Trial and error again, until everything was going around smoothly.

The flyer shaft was a puzzle. It was easy to see that it slid into place between the bearings in the head, but how to secure it? Loctite! Glynis said to use green (609) but I couldn't find any so I used "weld" and it worked fine.

I put it all together, put on a bobbin, and spun up some Dorset. YIPPEE! So, let me tell you how a Millie spins!

It feels a lot like the Pioneer. Everything is smooth and easy and quiet. The drive wheel is much lighter than my Suzie wheel so it has less momentum, but the bearings are so smooth that it isn't tiring. The close-together treadles didn't bother me one bit. In fact, I found myself sitting back farther from it which was more relaxing. Maybe I'll become an easy chair spinner!

You can see from the picture that the Millie isn't a miniature wheel. It is nearly as big as a Suzie. It is much lighter, however, and the footprint is considerably smaller. Like the Pioneer and the Little Gem, it can't take the high speed head but other than that, all Majacraft accessories will work with it. It doesn't fold but has a nice little handle on the front for picking it up and moving it around. I like it very much!

Don't start bugging Majacraft for a teak-stained Millie or I'll get in trouble! They are very proud of their native Rimu wood and unlike some competing wheel makers, don't have any reason to cover up the wood. This one was my little project and I learned a great deal from it. I learned how EVERYTHING goes together, and I learned to appreciate the Majacraft shop personnel even more. Assembly from scratch is nothing like assembling a wheel that is ready to go to a customer. When I take a wheel out of the box ALL of the difficult and precision work has already been done. YAY for Majacraft!

The Prayse of the Needle

2010-01-06T11:39:00.004-06:00

I recently bought a Fiddlesticks pattern from the Needle Arts Book Shop and when I received my order this sonnet was printed on the receipt. I loved it so much I wanted to share it with all of you. It was written by John Taylor, who lived from 1580-1653.

The Prayse of the Needle

To all dispersed sorts of Arts and Trades,
I write the Needle's praise (that never fades)
So long as children shall be got or borne,
So long as garments shall be made, or worne,
So long as Hemp or Flax, or Sheep shal bear,
Their linnen woollen fleeces yeare by yeare;
So long as Silk-worms, with exhausted spoyle
Of their own Entrailes, for man's gaine shall toyle;
Yea, till the world be quite dissolu'd and past;
So long as least, the Needle's use shall last.

Woolcombing Part 1

2010-01-04T08:52:00.001-06:00

There are four parts to this lesson - well worth watching several times. I emailed Amanda to thank her for these videos and she wrote back. She lives in Cornwall.

Wool Combs and Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T08:40:00.004-06:00

The weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year have been incredibly busy, but I AM NOT DEAD. I made dozens of batts for a arts fair, spun up a load of angora/alpaca/corriedale laceweight, did all the holiday things...and learned to COMB WOOL. It's true. I've avoided it for some time now, reveling in my Supercard Powers, but I do SELL wool combs, so it makes sense that I can show another person how to use them. Plus, it is fun. It generates as much static electricity as rubbing wool slippers on a nylon carpet. Shockapalooza.

I found the BEST videos on YouTube and will post them next. I also found a link to a small shop in England that still makes the full-sized wool combs, if you are interested. Majacraft makes "mini" combs which can be clamped to the table and used like English combs. They're great for smaller batches, blending, etc, and cost a fraction of the big wool combs, but if you want the big ones these are the best I could find.

Spinning Cotton on a supported spindle

2009-11-30T09:57:00.002-06:00

I am cotton-phobic - don't like the feel of it in my hands, can't imagine wanting to spin it. Still, when I watched this video I had a hankering. Who knows?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T16:09:00.003-06:00

This is the first time we've had both kids home for Thanksgiving since 2001. I am SOOOOO happy to have them around, even if only for a couple of days.

I love getting older. I'm finally figuring out what really matters most :-)

God's blessings to all of you!

Kris

Wild Flyer for Wild Spinners

2009-11-24T09:09:00.005-06:00

I didn't think I'd ever need a Wild Flyer. Then I decided to make uber-chunky fat yarn with globs of fiber stuff. I couldn't use my Majacrafts because the yarn hooks weren't big enough so I used the Hippie Wheel, the giant Louet. That worked fine, but I missed the double treadle! So I ordered the Wild Flyer.

I had no idea it had a rainbow orifice!

This is a VERY cool tool. First of all, I can get just about any fiber thing I want through the giant and super-slick orifice/yarn hooks. I have heard that there are spinners who add strings of sequins and buttons and silk flowers to their yarn. Any of that would pass through these openings with ease.

The jumbo bobbin is a plus - I can really pack on the fiber. I think it will be great for plying as well - longer yarn = fewer joins while knitting. I like that.

I'm glad I picked this up. I'm definitely a fan!

If Life Gives you Lemons, Make Felt

2009-11-20T10:54:00.002-06:00

I bought a fleece sight unseen...something I tell other people not to do. I paid for processing....the wool turned out less than so-so. I know the mill owner and she has done beautiful work for me, so the fault was the fleece, and me, for buying a pig in a poke.

So, what to do with neppy, merino fleece? MAKE FELT! I whipped up some super-fat 2-ply, dyed it Kermit Green, knitted two giant mittens and felted them. Then I showed the yarn and mittens to my spinning students and gave them a steal of a deal for Felting Merino. Actually, I sold it for less than it cost me. Several of them do a lot of felting. Everyone was happy.

There is ALWAYS a use for wool. Sometimes that use is compost or mulch. Other times it is felt. I've got bright green mittens to remind me not to buy a fleece w/o getting my hands on it first (unless I personally know the farmer). Happy Ending. Lesson Learned (again).

News From Majacraft

2009-11-11T15:37:00.003-06:00

I just got a notice from Majacraft that all orders shipping to the USA have to be in by November 30th. They will be out of the office after Christmas until mid-January, so if you need something - accessories, bobbins, or a wheel, PLEASE contact me ASAP!

Deb's Deluxe for Sale!

2009-11-09T16:05:00.003-06:00

I've had surgery on both elbows, one wrist, and both hands. I think I need to start thinking like the middle-aged person that I am!

Sooo...I have decided to buy an electric drum carder. BIG SPLURGE! My elbow is worth it.

I'm selling my Deb's Delicate Deluxe and both drums (Fur Drum and Production Drum), plus all the tools that came with it, the original shipping boxes, the instruction booklet, and a partridge in a pear tree, for $650, plus actual shipping. Everything is less than 2 years old, and I take VERY good care of my fiber tools.

Know anyone who wants a Deb? Pass it along! E-mail if you want more photos.

Pluck a Bunny, Spin the Fur!

2009-11-06T11:05:00.002-06:00

Nice, short video on how an angora rabbit's fur is harvested during the molting period and then spun into delicious, soft yarn. No boring chit chat. Just what I needed on a busy Friday!

Happy Spinning!

Old Hippie Spins in the Grease

2009-11-04T08:56:00.003-06:00

I bought a beautiful Romney fleece from Peeper Hollow Farm. I've bought a lot of fleeces from Peeper Hollow, all clean, all exactly as described, well-skirted, from coated sheep. This one is downright spectacular.

Not a speck of visible VM. No second cuts. Gorgeous crimp and luster. In fact, this was the Grand Champion at the Iowa State Fair! I decided that it was time for me to play Old Hippie and spin in the grease. It wasn't going to get any cleaner than this.

I watched an old episode of Miss Marple and flick-carded a big pile of locks. My hands got sticky. My carder got sticky. The locks were fluffy, and sticky.

The next day I sat down at the old Louet I just refinished. I wanted to use a period wheel for hippie spinning, and the Louet fit the bill. I also did NOT want to get my Majacrafts all...sticky.

I spun up 300 yds of bulky 2-ply. Wow. Sticky. What do people use this greasy yarn for? Waterproof mittens? You can see what this wool looks like scoured from the white (not sticky) sample in the photo. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT STICKY YARN? PLEASE TELL ME.

It took a while to clean the orifice of the Louet, the hooks, the flyer, the bobbins, AND MY HANDS. No more hippie wool. No thanks.

I hope there is an old hippie out there who will buy this lovely, lanolin-rich, natural, yarn. I'm going to list it and cross my (sticky) fingers.

Old Spinning Wheel Gets a Face Lift

2009-10-30T08:28:00.005-05:00

I sold a spinning wheel last week and took in an old Louet S-10 as a trade. It worked well, and was made before Louet switched to cheaper parts. Heavy. Reliable. Slow. The customer warned me that the finish was bad, that she had bought it used in that condition, but since I'm now hooked on refinishing, I told her I didn't mind.

First photo you can see the disassembled wheel in its box. The stain had been slopped on in a very haphazard manner. There were drips and blobs, and some spots with no stain at all. Ewww.

First, I took all the hardware off and sanded. And sanded. And sanded. I couldn't get down past the bad spots of stain. I tried staining a sample area and the old stains showed through. Scratch that idea.

Majacraft paints its Suzie wheels with enamel paint and it's HARD. So I bought two colors of enamel and painted. First I primed each piece. Then I started layering on the paint. I sanded between coats, and even sanded after the final coat. Then I stenciled on the roses and put it all together.

The old girl spins like a dream! It will be a good wheel for spinning soft, low-twist singles. The wheel is so heavy that I'm not tempted to speed (treadling a Majacraft is like driving a race car - I MUST go FAST!). I'll keep it until someone falls in love with it, then I'll reluctantly let it go to a new home!

New Addiction?

2009-10-28T11:53:00.004-05:00

After years of perfecting my skills, I have discovered Instant Gratification Yarn Making. I also found a way to use up my scraps. YEEEEEE-HAW!

I ordered a Wild Flyer yesterday...

Variety in Spinning

2009-10-26T10:24:00.002-05:00

My first session of spinning classes ended last Thursday and I realized something. During the entire four weeks, whenever everyone was busy spinning, I sat down to my Suzie and worked on...the same yarn.

Yes, I have spent over a month making 1600 yds of Dorset 3-ply. And it is white. (See photo.) It is WONDERFUL! It is springy, and VERY white (I'm going to dye it) and will make a beautiful sweater.

When I reeled off the last bobbin of white Dorset I decided I needed to do something different. So I threw together some "art yarn" i.e. scraps and dyed locks, leftovers, plied with green silk (also leftover). The art yarn took me two hours instead of a month. I am definitely going to make some more!

I am not sure what people do with art yarn. My daughter tells me some quilters use it for art quilts. People sell in on Etsy. Maybe I'll list it! Anyway, it is all part of the spinning adventure. One of the reasons I LOVE SPINNING is because there are always new things to try.

I'm off to spin some more!

Plying with Silk Thread

2009-10-14T09:51:00.004-05:00

I have a cone of very fine two-ply silk thread and want to ply it with singles to make laceweight three-ply. The first thing I had to do was discover the direction of the thread's ply. It was plied S, counterclockwise. I used a 10x magnifying glass to get a good look at it - it was too fine to see otherwise.

Once I knew that the thread had been plied S, I wanted to see what would happen if I plied it with a single that had been spun Z (clockwise), plying them both together S (counterclockwise). Are you with me?

The rust-colored sample is the result. The fiber is an alpaca/Rambo blend. After finishing it bloomed all right, and is a very kinky, still-energized 3-ply.

The pale brown sample is CVM, spun S (counterclockwise) and plied with the silk thread Z (clockwise). The result is much smoother, even after finishing. There is no residual twist energy.

So - silk two-ply (plied S) plied S again with Z-spun single equals lumpy, bumpy, fluffy, twisty yarn.

Silk two-ply (plied S) plied again Z, with S-spun single, equals smoother, even three-ply with no residual twist energy.

If you understood this the first time through, give yourself an A+!!

Majacraft Wheels Size Comparison #2

2009-10-10T10:17:00.003-05:00

Spinning Friend Kerry M. brought her Majacraft Rose over for a spin the other day. We lined up the girls and took a photo - so you can see the difference in the sizes.

From left to right: Suzie Alpaca, Rose, Little Gem, Pioneer.

Now all I need is a Millie!

Ashford Traveller, Single Drive, Single Treadle

2009-10-07T10:53:00.002-05:00

We did it! Marty and I put the little Traveller together last night. I told him what screw went where and he did the manly labor. I've filled one bobbin and have to say that switching to a single treadle was much less of a big deal than I thought. Perhaps my brain just knows "TREADLE" and doesn't care if there are one or two. That was a pleasant surprise. I was ready for lots of back treadling and frustration.

I've ordered a polycord stretchy drive band for it. I don't much like the string. Once I install the new belt I will do a comparison with my Pioneer, which is also an entry-level spinning wheel.

Spinning Wheel Anatomist

2009-10-05T09:21:00.006-05:00

When I was shopping for my first spinning wheel I had absolutely no interest in a wheel that came as a "kit" or needed "assembling." I was horrified at the thought of having to "finish" the wheel, as well as put it all together. What kind of manufacturer would make customers do all that work? And what kind of crazy people would WANT to do all that work? Think of all those parts! Think of all the screws and bits.

Well, I have joined the crazies.

I found an Ashford Traveller on Ebay, single treadle, still in the box. Ashford doesn't make these anymore, and apparently it had sat in someone's craft room untouched. (See? if you buy a kit it MIGHT NOT turn into a wheel!) The wheel was part of an estate sale. The box was beat up but everything was intact except for a couple of washers and one screw. Not bad for a ten-year-old spinning wheel! And for some reason, now that I'm putting together Majacrafts all the time, the idea of finishing and assembling was kind of fun. I've been wanting some practice on a single treadle anyway, and then this came along.

I've spent all weekend finishing this wheel and I have to say it has really been FUN. The stain I chose is called "Red Chestnut". I had no idea staining a new piece of furniture was so easy! After two coats of stain I applied two coats of wipe-on polyurethane finish. I learned how to sand with steel wool! And I found a use for my collection of straight knitting needles, which I never use but couldn't throw out.

As I've been working I've learned what every part of this spinning wheel is, and what it is for. I've gone over in my head how it all fits together and when I'm ready to assemble it I don't think I'll have any trouble. The other day I assembled a Majacraft wheel for a customer - now I wish she'd had the chance to assemble it herself. Yeah, it would have been a bit of a hassle, but she would have learned valuable anatomical lessons, and she would also know how the wheel comes apart, as well as knowing how it went together.

I am now wholly in favor of spinning wheel kits, and of customers putting together their own wheels. It is satisfying AND educational. And it adds to the bond of spinner and wheel. I was thinking I'd finish this Ashford and sell it. Now I am not sure I'll be able to part with it.

Clun Forest Sheep - Wool AND Cuteness!

2009-09-29T08:54:00.003-05:00

There is something charming about a white sheep with a black face. And what about those little stick-up ears? The Clun Forest Sheep is definitely a sheep worth knowing. The breed originates in the same area where fictional Brother Cadfael went about curing the sick and solving murders - the borderlands in the area of Shropshire, England and Powys, Wales.

Clun Forest Sheep are hardy and disease resistant. The ewes are good mothers and don't need assistance with lambing. They often produce twins or triplets. The rams are naturally hornless.

Clun Forest wool is lovely to work with. It is a down wool, which means it comes from one of the breeds of English sheep that originated in the downs region - the south of the country. Down wool is generally of a medium coarseness with good crimp and blocky, medium length staples. It has a lot of bounce and loft, and makes great socks, mittens, sweaters and hats. Industrially, it is often used to stuff futons.

Clun Forest Sheep don't produce big fleeces so it isn't economical to raise them for wool on a large scale. I have only been able to buy the wool directly from farmers. It's worth the hassle of finding someone who will sell you a Clun Forest Fleece or roving - working with down wool is a treat, and very different from working with a longwool (Romney, Blue-Faced Leicester) or a finewool like merino. I'm a big fan of good down wool - Dorset and Clun Forest are my favorites.

More Pioneer Art

2009-09-23T09:39:00.005-05:00

WendyE stenciled her Pioneer with climbing vines. Doesn't it look GREAT?

Whenever I sell a Pioneer I tell my customer that this is a wheel that cries out for decoration. Wendy took me seriously, and all I can say is WOW!!

If you have decorated your spinning wheel send me a couple of photos and I'll post them here.

Woolen Laceweight. Does Anyone Do That?

2009-09-18T12:03:00.004-05:00

A question arose in a Ravelry discussion about whether or not anyone makes lace weight yarn from rolags, using a long draw. I was right in the middle of this project, so I added my two cents' worth...er...one cents' worth.

This is a two-ply made from CVM. I carded the wool, made rolags, and spun it with a long draw. I spun the singles with a very high twist, then plied somewhat loosely. This is the result. I plan to make a Shetland-style shawl with it. It won't have the drape that a worsted-spun prep would have, but it will be warm. See all the fuzz? Fuzz equals warm. In northern Minnesota, in winter, Warm trumps Elegant.

Pioneer, Suzie Pro, Little Gem - Compare Sizes

2009-09-16T15:01:00.005-05:00

Today a fellow spinner contacted me and asked for information about a couple of Majacraft spinning wheels. She wanted to know how the Little Gem and the Suzie compare in size, thinking perhaps that they weren't that much different. After all, the Suzie is marketed as a "folding" wheel, and that makes it sound very portable.

I took this photo and sent it to her. Yes, the Suzies (and the Rose) SORT OF FOLD, but they are heavy and cumbersome to move around. The Gem (and the Pioneer, to a certain extent) are much more portable. Both come apart in two pieces, and the Gem folds in half.

FYI!

The Spinning Workshop - Almost Finished!

2009-09-14T11:39:00.005-05:00

Here is what I've spent the last month working on - remodeling my enclosed front porch so it can be used as a spinning workshop/classroom. I'm still waiting on the new front door and the electrician. My husband says it looks like a dance floor. Ok, spinning and dancing. That works for me!

Classes start Sept. 24th.

I'm also working on spinning up some dark brown (black) CVM and it is looking like THREAD! My 2-ply samples turned out finer than anything I've ever spun. CVM has quite a lot of crimp so the yarn poofs up after finishing. I'll take photos when I finish plying the first two bobbins.

Rams And You

2009-09-08T14:49:00.003-05:00

Fall shearing time is almost here and that means another batch of fleeces on the market. A lot of farmers shear the sheep they're going to sell because there is no reason to send wool to the butcher. Others shear their rams in the late summer or early fall, just before breeding begins. If you're buying a fleece online, especially from someone new, be sure to ask if the fleece comes from a ewe, a lamb, or a ram, and ask when it was sheared.

Why does it matter? Here are some of the reasons.

You always want to know WHEN the fleece was sheared from the sheep because wool grease gets harder and yellower with age. An older fleece can definitely be cleaned but it might be more work. Also, fleeces that have been stored may have dried out a bit, or may have been infested with moth eggs/larvae.

A lamb's fleece (first shearing) will have sticky tips that are a bit of trouble to deal with. Again, it's not an impossible task, but it's something to be aware of. Lamb's fleece is typcially softer and finer than adult fleece, and often has finer, more frequent crimp. BUT, you'll have to scour and then comb or flick the tips. I send lamb fleeces to a mill.

A ram's fleece may be wonderful, or it could turn out to be the foulest, stinkiest thing you ever brought into your home. A lot depends on 1) how the ram has been cared for, 2)breed, 3) WHEN he was sheared. Some breeds are smellier than others. If you get a fragrant ram's fleece you may or MAY NOT be able to get the smell out. Vinegar helps but isn't a cure-all. I have only bought ram's fleeces from farmers I know who will give me a refund if I find it too stinky.

One of the reasons that farmers shear their rams in late summer/early fall is that during the breeding season rams are especially smelly! In their urinary tract they have a special structure that forces small amounts of urine to spray, rather than to pour straght out onto the ground. It isn't clearly visible - not like a dog lifting his leg - but the ram gets a lot of urine on his woolly belly, and ooooooh, the ewes love it! But we do not. Shearing the ram BEFORE breeding season allows him to spray his (basically) bare belly before the coat has grown back. And then, over the course of the year, the rain and sun take care of the rest of the smell. Hopefully. Maybe.

Be a savvy spinner, ask a lot of questions before you buy a fleece.

Photo Break

2009-09-05T18:29:00.002-05:00

I've been knitting like a maniac. The weather is gorgeous, the sky is blue, my husband is home from work, and what do I do? Knit.

And not mindless knitting, either. Not the kind I can do and also carry on a pleasant conversation. I'm going the "SHHH! I'm counting!" kind of knitting. I'm knitting lace, and lace is CRAZY-MAKING.

So I needed a break. Took the camera outside on the front porch to see what I could snap. I got this photo, and also an awesome close-up of my dog's nose, but I'll spare you that one.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for Asking! Baby Camel/Silk/Alpaca

2009-09-02T08:02:00.002-05:00

Okay, here it is :-) There were three categories for handspun at the county fair - dyed yarn, natural-colored yarn, and a knitted or crocheted garment. This little skein took first place in the natural-colored yarn division. I plan to make a BIG lace shawl with this yarn and enter it in next year's fair!

Baby Camel Down - A Little Goes a Long Way

2009-09-01T11:43:00.002-05:00

I entered some skeins of handspun and a couple of handspun knitted garments in the county fair this summer. I got blue ribbons for everything, and a big rosette for the shawl, but the yarn I was most proud of was a tiny skein of baby camel down blend.

I bought four ounces of baby camel down (brown) and blended it with white bombyx silk and a bit of fawn-colored alpaca. I spun it very fine and then plied it somewhat loosely. Right now I've got almost 1700 yds of it, so I think I can quit now...I've still got roving left!

The fibers in the roving I bought were about 2-3 inches long, very fine, like baby alpaca, with no crimp at all. Baby camel has a micron count of 15-20, and has no luster. I started the project by making three skeins on the drop spindle - this gave me a 'slow motion' idea of how the drafting would go. When I was happy with the results I switched to the wheel for high yardage, fast spinning. I think if I'd been spinning JUST camel down I would have had less frustration but with the long chunks of silk in there, it was quite a task to keep the drafting even. Still, I am thrilled with the results. I plan to make a shawl.

Marty has gone back to school, my studio space is ALMOST finished, life is getting a bit back to normal. It's mushroom season! We'll be doing some camping and foraging, but I'll stick to edibles this time. And NO staining fungus!

Natural Dyeing? Not for me.

2009-08-21T08:55:00.002-05:00

I received the book The Rainbow Beneath My Feet last week. I live where there are a lot of mushrooms in the summer and fall, and I love to collect them. I also love to dye wool so I thought it would be a natural marriage of interests.

Wrong. Here's why.

Dyeing wool with mushrooms requires a step called mordanting. During this process the wool is conditioned (simmered for an hour) in a chemical bath that does two things. First, it makes the wool ready to permnently bond with the dye molecules. Second, it creates the conditions that will cause a certain color to come out. After the mordant, the wool still has to be dyed. So, natural dyeing adds another cooking step. That takes water, chemicals, and heat energy. Natural dyeing COSTS MORE.

It was very interesting to find out that one kind of mushroom might give five different colors, depending on the mordant used. Who wouldn't want purple, green, or blue wool? I love colors! And the samples in the book were mouth-watering. But, of the five mordants listed for each mushroom (five colors or shades of colors) THREE OF THEM ARE HIGHLY TOXIC! Natural dyeing, with certain chemicals, is BAD for the environment.

In fact, the book said to do the cooking outside if possible, and NOT to dispose of the mordant chemicals down the drain or in the yard - they have to be disposed of at a toxic waste collection center! These three include tin salts, chrome salts, and copper salts. And of course, the BEST colors come from those three evil chemicals. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to wear a MASK while I work! Natural dyeing can be UNSAFE for humans!

It gets better. After the toxic mordant step, I then have to make the dyebath. This might include other smelly stuff, like cups of ammonia. Oh yeah, and BEFORE I get to this step, I have to get the mushrooms ready with yet another boiling and simmering step. And I need (according to the book) the same weight of dried mushrooms as wool.

You read right. One pound of wool? One pound of dried mushrooms. Since three ounces of dried mushrooms is equal to a whole pound of fresh mushrooms, we are talking about over five pounds of fresh mushrooms per pound of wool! Talk about raping the environment! The woods need mushrooms too.

Give me non-toxic, quality-controlled, dependable, safe, color-fast acid (vinegar) dye. I will continue to collect a few, edible mushrooms for my own enjoyment, but I will leave the natural 'shroom dyeing to hippies with gas masks.

Dressed to Kill

2009-08-18T12:24:00.002-05:00

My husband snapped a shot of me and our friend Richard working on sanding the room. Eeeeew. What the photo doesn't show is that it was 90 degrees and about the same humidity. This is Northern Minnesota. We do NOT have air-conditioning!

Over the weekend I dyed 24 skeins of Hippie Feet Sock Yarn...and took orders for THREE spining wheels and a lace kit. Busy busy!

I'll post photos when the room is finished. Back to that can of paint!

Back in a Few....

2009-08-14T08:44:00.003-05:00

We are remodeling my spinning studio! YAY! So far we've knocked out a closet, ripped up the carpeting, decided the floor wasn't worth refinishing, bought a new front door, ordered flooring...yeah, and all this during the only heat wave of the summer.

I'm painting, picking out lights, and sweating! My spinning wheels are packed away, which feels very weird.

AND on top of all of that, I've sold a record number of Majacraft wheels this week. When it rains, it pours, but I am having a ball. I'll be back with photos, reports, spinning stuff, sheep stuff, and yarn stuff. Now please excuse me while I pick the paint spots off my glasses.

Fungus Adventures

2009-08-10T09:21:00.003-05:00

I found some bright yellow mushrooms on our last camping trip and identified them as Suillus americanus, commonly known as the Chicken Fat Suillus. It's an interesting fungus - it ONLY grows under Eastern White pines, so while we were hiking we looked for pines, then looked underneath them. I collected about two pounds.

One of the identifying features of this mushroom is that it is slimy, and the slime stains fingers. What the books don't tell you is that the STAIN TURNS DARK BROWN AND LASTS FOR DAYS AND DAYS. My fingertips are STILL brown. Ewww. Worse than getting mahogany wood stain on my hands.

Yeah, they're edible. Not great, and they didn't agree with Marty. But that red stain got me thinking. Could I dye wool with these mushrooms? I cut one up and put it in boiling water with some white wool yarn. (Of COURSE I had yarn on a camping trip!) It turned the yarn pale yellow. That was enough to convince me to clean and dry the mushrooms when we got home. Now I'm waiting for my "How to Dye With Mushrooms" book to arrive.

In the meantime I've tried a few other mushrooms and wool, plus vinegar and boiling. Got pale tan from Gyrondon merulioides, and bright golden yellow from Innonotus obliquus! We've had a cool, damp summer up here - perfect for mushrooms.

Are we having fun yet? (YESSSSSS!)

Rolag Rainbow

2009-08-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

My friend Dee of Peeper Hollow Farm sent me samples from several of her CVM Romeldale sheep. I've been turning the samples into rolags for a couple of days and here are the results.

The dark gray and the black came from the same sheep, a ram named Hosea, and I had another sample I mixed in from a black ewe named Gem. The brown came from a ram named Hodgkins. The white is from Callie, and the light gray is from Heidi. Heidi's fleece will be competing at the Iowa State Fair.

So far I LOVE THIS WOOL. It is downy soft. In fact, the brown rolags feel weightless in my hand. It is also very, very fine, but doesn't have the extreme crimp of Cormo, so it was easier to card into nice, smooth rolags, free from noils.

I'll be spindling up some yarn samples over the next couple of days.

Any time I get a chance to play with a new kind of wool I feel like a kid in the candy store. When the wool comes in rainbow colors...better yet!

Suzie Gets a New Look!

2009-08-05T08:38:00.004-05:00

NEWS FROM MAJACRAFT: New Suzie Drive Wheel - Kowhai Flowers

At last, what you've all been waiting for - Andy's latest creation using our new laser engraver - The new Suzie wheel, adorned with stylized Kowhai flowers (pronounced 'Kor-fai'), which is one of New Zealand's most beautiful native flowering trees. Click here to learn more about the Kowhai tree!

Not Dead! It's just Summer!

2009-08-04T16:44:00.003-05:00

I am not dead, just doing summer things with my husband. Whew.

News: I've posted August prices of all Majacraft spinning wheels at my blog site, in the left margin.

I got blue ribbons for all of my hand-spun at the county fair! I entered a natural colored skein, a dyed skein, a handspun knitted shawl, and a hand-spun knitted sweater. The shawl even got a pink rosette ribbon for "Grand Reserve Champion", which means it was second place over ALL the handcrafts except quilts. I got beat out by a hand-knitted lace tablecloth. The knitter used (are you ready?) thread. No joke. She deserved to win.

I did a spinning demo at the fair and had LOTS of company, including a little girl who insisted on learning to use the wheel! Good thing I had my trusty Pioneer along. Several said they would definitely sign up for a fall class. And, I found out that I can look at someone, spin, and talk at the same time. Woo hoo!

I've got a couple of new videos planned - how to wind yarn from a spindle onto a nostepinne and then ply right off the stick, and how to make an El Cheapo but good Lazy Kate for your spindles.

And, today I ordered my first Bosworth spindle. I can't leave spindling alone, no matter how much I love to spin on my wheels!

Pant, pant, pant. What else? Finishing a sweater, finishing up 1800 yds of 2-ply laceweight, hand-carding some CVM samples, collecting info for an article proposal, and getting ready to go camping. Laundry, grocery shopping, coffee with my daughter. Life is good, summer is too short!

Accelerator Head - Rip Through That Roving

2009-07-27T19:17:00.003-05:00

When I got my first Majacraft spinning wheel I was a bit confused about the lace kit/accelerator head distinction. I wanted to spin fast and fine. Did I need both? Was one better than the other? If I only had one accessory, which one should I choose?

Now I can answer the question and I want to walk you through it.

The accelerator head raises the ratio of flyer rotations to drive wheel rotations by adding another gear. You can see it in the photo. The flyer head uses a whorl (interchangeable with any whorl - but it comes with this one) which is the whorl on the left, and then a second, smaller whorl, which stays on the head. The drive wheel turns the whorl, which turns the second whorl. Result, fast. How fast? I counted 1:28 using the whorl that came with it. I haven't tried it with my fast whorl. 1:28 is fast enough. The improvement in my long draw is stunning. I needed that extra boost of speed to get a good rhythm going.

The accelerator head can be used with any flyer - delta, fine fiber, etc. But it works best with the lace flyer. The reason is this. The wheel is already doing a lot of work by turning two whorls and a flyer at a very high speed. The lace flyer makes that job easier because it is smaller and a single rotation requires less energy than turning a bigger flyer.

So, which is best, lace kit or accelerator head? I would say accelerator head plus lace flyer and fat core bobbins for the very EASIEST fine spinning, but if you could only have one thing, I'd say go for the lace kit first and when your treadling can't keep up with the speed of your drafting, THEN get the accelerator. Today I've been plying some very fine laceweight at the highest speed I can maintain without sweating, and that wheel is HUMMING. I'd be working a lot harder if I were trying to use a big flyer, or the Woolee Winder. I'm plying from a lace bobbin (fat core) to a baby bobbin (small bobbin with a skinny core.) Perfect!

Woolen, Worsted, What's Up With Those?

2009-07-24T09:13:00.004-05:00

When I hear the word "woolen" I think of something made out of wool - anything. Could be mittens, could be longjohns (itchy ones). When I hear the word "worsted" I think of that medium weight yarn I learned on, the stuff that isn't bulky, isn't sport, and definitely isn't baby.

For spinners, woolen and worsted have specific meanings. Each word describes the manner in which a strand of wool is prepped and spun. I'll try to make it simple.

Woolen - the individual fibers are every which way in the strand. Fibers enter the twist without being smoothed out. A lot of air is spun into the strand, and the resulting yarn is poofy, fuzzy, sproingy, you get the idea. The yarn at the top of the photo is woolen-spun.

Worsted - the individual fibers are parallel to one another. They enter the twist with as little "fuzz" as possible. The resulting yarn is smooth, sleek, not as puffy.

To get truly WOOLEN YARN, we must spin from a carded rolag. (Above photo) and use a long draw spinning technique. The fibers are all over the place, none of the fuzzies are smoothed out. Since most of us don't have time to sit and make rolags all day, we can get a semi-woolen type yarn by using batts carded on a drum carder, either at home, or commercially. Carded fibers are semi-straightened - there is still some air left, and messy fibers. And, carded fibers can be spun the short way - i.e. rolled into fake rolags. It works!

Typically, or traditionally, wools used for woolen spinning are shorter staple wools - down wools, like Dorset or Clun Forest, for instance. The woolen sample I made is from Dorset. Woolen spun yarn makes GREAT mittens, hats, vests, and children's wear. If you'd like to try Dorset, I've got some dyed rovings at my etsy store.

WORSTED YARN is typically prepared by combing. The fibers lie parallel to one another and the spinning technique keeps them that way, tucking in the stray fibers JUST before the fiber enters the twist - short, two-handed draw, for example. Worsted yarn is less fuzzy, has less loft, more compact, and usually has more drape in a finished garment. Traditionally, longwools are prepared and spun in this way - Romney, Lincoln, Blue-Faced Leicester. The example worsted yarn above is from combed Falkland Wool top.

If you think about wool fabric, picture flannel (woolen spun) versus gabardine (worsted spun); woolen hunting jacket vs. Pendleton worsted blazer.

Having said all that, please spin your wool any way you want.

What is Roving, Exactly?

2009-07-18T10:41:00.003-05:00

The word "roving" is used in a generic way to designate any rope of spinning fiber. For instance, I've got dyed, combed tops for sale on my etsy site, and I call them "rovings" which is inaccurate, but everyone knows what it means.

So what is ROVING actually? (top of the photo) Roving is a strip of a carded batt with a little bit of twist added to it. Commercial mills can make miles and miles of roving from gigantic batts. Home carders can make little rovings, but the main thing to remember is, the true roving comes from a carded batt - that means there is a mix of fiber lengths in it. Carding only mostly straightens out the fibers, like running a brush through very curly hair. And it doesn't remove the short bits. It's all there, short, long, and maybe some neps and little bumps.

Top is a long rope of combed fiber. (Bottom of the photo) Commercial top is thick - home-combed top is usually thinner and more airy. When fiber is combed, either at home or in a mill, the short fibers are removed and everything that is left is perfectly parallel and aligned. If you have some undyed top at home, see if you can peel it open and see the comb marks. Often they are still visible in the fiber.

If you send a fleece to a mill for carding, you'll get back everything you sent in either a batt, or a roving. If you send a fleece to the mill for combing, you'll get back combed top, and also a bag of noil - the short leftover stuff. The short fibers have been removed, the long fibers have been combed until they are parallel.

Next time I'll talk about the different uses for the two preparations.

Spinning: A Batt? What's That?

2009-07-17T16:12:00.001-05:00

Among the thousands of do-it-yourself spinning videos on YouTube, I believe mine is the only one to use NEON GREEN wool. That should count for something.

The Sheep That Wouldn't Be Sheared

2009-07-16T09:52:00.002-05:00

This is Shrek, a merino sheep that hated shearing so much that he ran away from home...for several years. (I have not let my poodle see this article.)

What I want to know is, how much of that fleece is PURE GREASE?

Read the whole story here: NZ's famous sheep gets TV haircut

CVM - The Sheep With a Sci-Fi Name

2009-07-14T09:49:00.003-05:00

California Variegated Mutant. It sounds like a good topic for an episode of X-Files. In reality it is a rare breed of sheep that originated right here in America. Here's the story.

Around the turn of the 20th century a California rancher named A.T. Spencer started cross-breeding Romneys and Rambouillets. He wanted to develop a breed of sheep that had long, fine wool for the wool market, and a hefty, fast-growing, hardy body for the meat market. He wanted ewes that only gave birth to twins and didn't have difficulty giving birth, and rams that were vigorous, enthusiastic breeders. From this crossing, and subsequent selective breeding, the Romeldale Sheep was developed.

Fast forward fifty years. In the 1960's, rancher Glen Eldman found a single multi-colored ewe lamb in his purebred Romeldale flock. Instead of culling her, he kept her. Two years later a multi-colored ram was born. Eldman got ideas.

Over the next fifteen years Eldman bred the mutant sheep and found that the color patterns stayed consistent. He selected for the spinnability of the fleece, twinning, and lambing ease. He eventually registered the breed under its new name: The California Variegated Mutant Romeldale.

In 1982 the flock was dispersed. Some ranchers bought CVMs and kept the bloodlines pure, others used the CVMs to breed with other sheep to improve the stock. In 1990 the breed was put on the "critical" list, with fewer than 200 purebreed registrations per year and a total of only 2000 purebred animals in existence.

CVM fleeces are highly sought-after by spinners. The wool is soft (64 ct is not unusual) and comes in a rainbow of sheep colors - red, brown, black, spotted. CVM Sheep typically have a "badger face" as shown in the photo above.

Last year I had a farmer send me samples of CVM fleeces she had just skirted. By the time I got the samples, washed them, and decided that I definitely wanted the black one, the brown one...they were sold. If you can get a CVM fleece, don't hesitate!

Recycle Your Woolly Scraps

2009-07-13T09:15:00.003-05:00

Cut the leg off of a pair of old pantyhose. Stuff all your leftover woolly things (you've been saving them, right?) such as bits of batts, roving you decided to hate, yarn mistakes, into the toe of the pantyhose. Stuff it REALLY tight, then tie a knot above the ball of wool.

Toss the whole thing into the washing machine with a load of jeans or dark bath towels. Dry it in the dryer for at least one cycle, maybe two. Let it sit in the sun until it is thoroughly dry. Cut off the nylon pantyhose.

Voila. Felt ball. This one is the size of a small melon and just a little firmer than a Nerf ball. If you have a dog that likes to fetch (as opposed to destroy objects) this would be a nice dog toy. Kids like these too.

And I like them because they are made from garbage.

Spin in the Woods

2009-07-12T13:48:00.003-05:00

When I bought my Little Gem it was the middle of winter. I was teaching English Composition to bored college freshmen. There was a lot of snow on the ground. Buying the LG gave me something to look forward to - spinning in the woods. The fantasy kept me grading papers and giving quizzes until May.

This past week we took a few days off and camped at a state park on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Our campsite was on a cliff next to the lake. I looked up from my spinning a couple of times so I know we had a good view! Now I have 1200 yds of alpaca/angora lacweight 2-ply, spun in the woods. My fantasy has become reality!

A Request From My Dog

2009-07-08T09:03:00.002-05:00

Dear Kris.

You have been spending too much time staring at the glowing box and I miss you. How 'bout taking a little break? We can sniff trees and stuff. Maybe try to catch squirrels or go for a swim. I'm sick of being indoors. There are so many smells this time of year, and I'm missing out. Please? Read my body language. Let's go fetch. Love, Carl

(Be back Monday!)

D.I.Y. Spindles for you or your class

2009-07-08T08:37:00.002-05:00

I made a dozen spindles for a class and thought I'd share a little info about them. I used 12 inch oak dowels and 2-3/4 inch wooden toy wheels. I didn't bother to finish them, but used rubber stamps to decorate the tops. I used the smallest cup hooks I could find.

After I put them together (they didn't need glue because the fit was already VERY tight) I tied on some leaders and spun on each one, tweaking the hooks until the spinning was straight and fairly true. These aren't Goldings, but they are VERY good for teaching!

I like the extra long shaft because it facilitates spinning in the lap (park and draft).

My source for materials was American Woodcrafters Supply.

Urban Myth Busters - Super High Speeds?

2009-07-07T08:41:00.004-05:00

Cathy Z. and I set out to test an urban myth - we had both heard that it is possible to get lightning fast speeds on a Majacraft by putting the drive band around the flyer shaft, sans whorl. You can see my setup in the photo.

Here is what we found out. Cathy set up her little Gem this way and got a ratio of 17:1. Fast, for the LG. Except that the band kept falling off.

I set mine up on my Suzie. I got a ratio of (drum roll!) 34:1. And it worked! Ripped the fiber right out of my hand. The band stayed put. But here's the real truth - it wasn't easy to treadle, and the treadling was jerky. I couldn't get up a good, fast treadling rhythm. So yeah, you could do it in a pinch, but I wouldn't want to spin a pound of merino this way.

The lesson? It is fun to mess around with spinning wheels. Try it. Maybe you'll come up with a myth that turns out to be solid fact.

Bye-Bye Salad Spinner

2009-07-05T21:28:00.002-05:00

If you like to wash your own fleece, or spin the water out of finished yarn but don't have a big top-loading washing machine, this little eco-friendly gadget might be just the thing for you. It holds up to two pounds of clothing (fleece or yarn) and spins at a very high rate, extracting water much better than a salad spinner! And it is so STINKING cute! It would match my crock pot...

Mini Countertop Spin Dryer

Another Reason To Love Your Spinning Wheel...

2009-07-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

...no bicycle maintenance required.

Have a great weekend!

How Many Microns?

2009-07-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

The Bradford Count System is at best an approximate way to distinguish fine wool from finer wool. Modern technology has given us an accurate way to classify fibers by using photometry to measure the actual diameter of a fiber.

So, you may wander into another Etsy store and see this listing: "Baby Alpaca: 16 microns." What does that number mean and why should you care?

A micron is a metric unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter. In other words, small. Testing companies take photographs (sometimes x-rays) of sample fibers and come up with an average for a whole fleece. Fine wool has a smaller diameter than coarse wool. Smaller number=finer wool=more yds per pound.

Here are the same wools as in yesterday's Bradford post, but now described in microns. Lincoln/37-40; Romney/31-36; Blue-Faced Leicester/24-28; Corriedale/22-34, and Merino/18-22.

I hope this helps to improve your wool-shopping experience.

Info on photometry came from the Australian Wool Testing Authority, Ltd.

Bradford Count: What Those Numbers Mean

2009-07-01T10:48:00.004-05:00

When I started doing research for this blog entry I made a big discovery. Bradford isn't a guy. It's a place, and a woolly place indeed.

You're shopping for wool. You happen to wander into my Etsy store. You see a listing for "64 ct. merino". What does that number mean? How is it different from microns? Who made this stuff up, anyway?

The Bradford Count system was developed in England as a way to grade wool. Some wool is coarse. It is good for carpets. It is also worth less per pound. Some wool is very, very soft. It is good for baby clothes. It is worth more.

The Bradford Count is a skilled estimation of the number of 560 yd. hanks of single-ply yarn that can be spun from a pound of clean, combed top. One pound of 64 ct. merino could be spun into 64 hanks or 35,840 yds. of yarn by a very skilled spinner. Higher number=finer wool=more yards per pound. Lower number=coarser wool=fewer yards per pound.

Here are some traditional Bradford Counts for sheep wool. Lincoln/36-40; Romney/44-48; Blue-Faced Leicester/56-60; Corriedale/46-62; Merino/60-80. The Bradford Count system was developed at a time when wool mill owners stuck their hands in the greasy wool, pulled out some staples, and offered a farmer a price for the whole clip. The number is arrived at by looking at a number of factors - crimp, breed of sheep, and lots of experience judging fleeces.

And, as for Bradford, it is a town in northern England that was at the center of the woollen mill industry during the 19th century. In 1800 Bradford had one woolen mill. By 1850 it had 129 mills and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. Bradford was famous for its cheap, mass-produced worsted cloth, and was known appropriately as "worstedopolis."

Tomorrow, microns.

Information on the town of Bradford came from the book Employers and Labour in the English Textile Industries, 1850-1939, by J.A. Jowitt and A. McIvor.