Spinning Dog Fur: A Poodle Adventure

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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!

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.

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.

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!