Birthday Spindles!

I have actually been productive. First is the batts I made from the silk/wool that I got in a swap from Carole at http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/ I navajo plied it and have 150 yards of 8 wpi so far. Still have half of the batts I carded up to go. Then there's the red fiber I dyed from Sheep Shed. I navajo plied this as well and have 200 yards of a nice fingering weight yarn that eventually will be a shawl. Then there's the green cotswold locks I carded up and plan to ply with tiny locks to make Aidan a monster hat. Hmmmm....need more spindles???? Well....

This is a Flutterberries by http://www.tiltawhorl.blogspot.com/ . It has just as sweet of a spin as my Kunderts. Ed custum made this one for me after I had admired a yellow one he had made. Thanks Ed!!! I love it!

Check it out! My Bosworth spindles from http://www.journeywheel.com/ came in! A Tasmanian Rose Myrtle maxi, a Canarywood midi, and a Bloodwood mini. I've heard everyone on the spinning groups on Ravelry rave about these and just let me say.....IT"S ALL TRUE!!! These babies spin forever! If you could only buy one spindle....make it a Bossie! Seriously. Standing up with my hands over my head and it's still spinning just as fast as when I first flicked it off my thigh. I've heard them called little whirlwinds, and it's justifiable! Just in time for my birthday tommorrow! Happy Birthday to me!

Spindle Review

Well, the new babies are in and I'm really pleased.

First up, the Golding...I'm in LOVE!!! Where do I begin? The Brass ring makes for the best rim weighted spindle ever. It's perfectly balanced. I love the notches on the ring, it makes stablilizing the yarn on the hook easier. The ridges on the end of the spindle makes it a breeze to get a great spin with a flick of the fingers. ( Rolling off your thigh makes it spin like a tornado!) Lastly...it's just plain beautiful and a pleasure to use! This one is 1.9 ozs, and while I would have like it to be a bit lighter, there are a full line of various wts to be had, so I'll just order some differents wts later. This spindle gets a 10/10!!! I have manage to get a lace wt single on it without difficulty, and have half a cop on it now. Goldings are pricey for good reason...it's the little details. The hand carved whorl is a delight to behold. Their spindles are a work of art. The engineering is pure genuis from the perfectly bent hook to the ridges on the bottom of the spindle. I just don't think you could go wrong with a Golding spindle.

The Kundert sisters are wonderful too! At 1.1 ozs, they are very light. They are very well balanced. I manage to get thread wt singles with the little batt sample Amy sent with the spindles. I should have took pics, but was having such fun. I manage to navajo ply the single into a really nice fingering wt yarn, and knitted said yarn into a headband for the baby. I love the spin, it'll spin a long time, but maybe not quite as long as the Golding. The rim weight is not quite as effective as that brass ring on the Golding. I also find it's not as easy to finger spin, and found rolling it off the thigh most effective. (Those little ridges on the Golding are pure genius!!! All spindle makers should have this!) I'm going to have to give the Kunderts a 8/10. I would reccomend them...the price is certainly an incentive...you can get 2 Kunderts for the price of one Golding.

So there you have it. So far the Golding is my favorite for sure. I'm still waiting to get some Bossies to try out'! I hear they're really sweet!

Mastering the Drop Spindle

I admit, I've always been a backwards kind of gal. After spinning on a wheel for some time now, I've finally mastered the drop spindle! Check it out...40 WPI, consistent even single on a homemade drop spindle! It was totally by accident too! I was just fooling around, wanting to see what the roving I just dyed up would look like, and it just all fell together....I was spinning on a drop spindle. I love it! So much so, that now I want some nice drop spindles to spin on! So I'm ordering 2 Bosworth spindles, and a Golding. I'm on the waiting list for a Bosworth Moosie spindle too! It'll be June 2010! Over a year long wait!!! Now I have something else I can stick in my knitting bag for the trips to McDonalds while Aidan plays! (Need more trips to McDonalds!)

Finished Object !

Off the loom, her blankie! I used Brown Sheep cotton fleece for this one. She'll be able to use it in the summer months. I really love weaving, and have the loom warped up to start weaving a bag for myself with the churro fleece I've been carding up. I'm still debating whether to spin up some chunky yarn with it, or to weave with roving. I have some cotswold locks I want to incorporate into the fabric as well. It'll be a fun project.

Then there's the fiber I just bought from www.thesheepshedstudio.com , 10lbs of the Big Bale Sale, 2 lbs of cotswold locks, and 1 lb of nylon that feels and looks like silk. Well, it covers a twin size bed, plus the box in the back is full! That's a whole lot of fibery goodness, isn't it!

I took some of it and dyed it up! Who knew that the greys would dye up so well? The gold I decided to dye a darker brown. I've got more dyeing to do too! Next time I'll be doing pics of some of the yarn I've been spinning. (Yes, I've been a busy Nana!)

Batt Pics!

Ok, I've had a few requests for pics of some of my batts I carded on my Kitten drum carder. First I'd really like to say that I'm not a professional and the Kitten is my first and only carder. I know there is bigger and badder out there, but I LOVE MY KITTEN! It does what I want it too, and that's all that really matters isn't it? I just wanted a drum carder that would allow me to blend my own batts, process a bit of fleece when the need arises. That being said....here are some of my recent batts. Above is a blend of http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/ superwash wool in peach carded with silk and firestar.

This batt is from the bird's nest I found in the Big Bale Sale from sheepshedfiberstudio. It was 10 lbs of mill end rovings for 5$ a lb. Not a bad price. Only about 10 ozs were really matted up, the rest is lovely, and can be spun as is. My kitten made short work of the bird's nest and I got 2 nice batts weighing 2 ozs. I find if I put more than 2 ozs on the carder, it starts wrapping around the licker in drum.


Finally, another batt from another birds nest. I got one of these, and 2 more in black. I'd post more pics, but blogger is being stupid tonight, and it's taken me an hour to get these pics to upload. I have some churro batts, and a sari silk blend. But you can see from my pics how well blended these batts are. I put the batts through twice, and use my hand carder as a doeffler brush to help smooth and pack the fibers on denser. I use a bamboo mat like for sushi to help get the batts off too. So I hope you like my batts. I'll post somemore later. I have to get to bed now!

Addi tries on her EZ Baby Surprise Jacket

Here's Baby Addi in her new BSJ! Isn't she a doll? And of course big brother Aidan never misses a photo opt! Now we're thinking she needs some leggings!

Good God, I finished something!!!

OMG!!! I finished something!!! Addison's EZ Baby Surprise Jacket out of my very own handdyed, carded, handspun yarn!!! I'll have to wait until she wakes up to take a picture of her in it. Darn it, she's asleep at 1:00 am like a good little baby should be! I'm up because I wanted to finish her jacket before summer! I'm not that great of a knitter, but this was a really easy pattern and knits up fast. I've been working on it for a month now...off and on. The fiber is the mill end rovings I got from The Sheep Shed Studio. I blended it with lots of Angelina that refuse to photograph, but trust me...the sparklies are there. The yarn I spun up worsted weight at 12 WPI, so the jacket is heavy. It's very soft, and I can't wait to try it on her. (NO, mustn't wake up a perfectly sleeping baby!!! Her mom would kill me!)

Update on Fancy Kitty Kitten Drum Carder

I had some people ask me if I had used my Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder on unprocessed fiber. I have now broke it in good with some churro fleece I recently bought. The fleece was pretty sandy, and I wound up washing it again. I wished I had a picker with this fleece, picking it by hand is rather slow and tedious. The good new is that the drum carder had no problems at all with it. The brush attachment came in real handy for the fly away fibers. I have sucessfully carded up my first batt of the churro and am please with the results. It sure is alot faster than trying to card it up by hand. I got 2 lbs of it, and it's a lot fiber. I'll post some pics later for sure!

I was also please with my Kitten while blending up some fiber for a swap. I used purple, white, and a bit of yellow to get the prettiest heathered batt. It came out rather a golden purple and I'm really tempted to keep this one myself! Yeah...I know...pics. It'll have to wait until tommorrow. I'm going to bed!

Schacht 25" Loom

First of all, lets do an update on the grandkids! First and foremost is Ms Addi, who said it was high time she got equal billing on Nana's blog! She refuses to take a back seat to her brother! Isn't she a cutie! Ha Ha...takes after Nana!
Not to be outdone is Mr.Aidan!!! Look at that grin!!! He's happy about getting his way for sure! (When doesn't he get his way?)

Now for my new loom! Here's she is all warped up! I'm making a blankie for Addi. Amy needs a blankie that's a bit longer for nursing. It took me a while to get it warped. I did it between shifts at the hospital.

Wow! Did not realize how big a 25" loom would be. I'm glad I didn't go for a 32" Harp now. It really would have been too big for my limited work space. (Now I have to rearrange my room!)

And here's is my first project underway. It's just a plain weave because I'm still working on trying to keep my weft from drawing in too much. Truth be known, it's drawn in about 1 inch on both sides. But I still love how it's comong out. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece on a 8 dent heddle. It's very,very soft.

Dear Yarn Harlot

Dear Yarn Harlot,

I read your blog today and was intrigued by your mentioning in Judith MacKenzie McCuin's class, she said you should always add fiber to the drum carder sideways. I must admit I was thinking somebody, somewhere must of had too many of those little bottles on the airplane???
Nevertheless I decided to give 'er a try.

First of all, when adding fiber to the drum carder, I made sure I had pulled out my fibers thin enough to be able to see through to the tray. ( Drum Carding 101-If what your adding is too thick, you'll get a wadded up mess on your DC! Errrr-guess how I know this?)

Guess what? Maybe Judith is onto something? The fibers miraculously straight their little selves out, and I got a more even coverage this way! Go figure? I found my DC didn't bog down as much either. I just kept adding fiber, cranking away. It was a most pleasant experience at 4am. So much so, that at 6am, I'm blogging about it! Thanks for the tip there Yarn Harlot!

Drum roll, please...... And for your viewing pleasure....My sideway carded batt! (Of course I added some Angelina....I'm on an Angelina kick!)

Well, Ok...if it works so well for the DC...what about my hand carders? So there I went and lashed on some fiber sideways. Sure felt funny doing it this way! I kept waiting for someone with a ruler to come along and smack my hands!

But just like the DC, the carding on the HC went very smoothly, and I got excited! See...there's this Churro fleece with 6 inch staples that is difficult to HC due to the very long fly away fibers....Hmmmm!

As you can see from the pic, the little fibers magically line theirselves up. The carding was very effortless, and almost perfect after the first carding. (I did it twice....I'm OCD that way!)

From that I got my cute little rolrag! I must confess...I feel rather accomplished and may just never go back to carding my fiber from the ends again. Final jury will be out until I spin up my sideway carded goodness! (Hey, it's 6:30am, and I'm sleepy now!)

In closing, I would like to thank you for your pearls of wisdom! Your blogging has encouraged me, made me laugh, and turned me into the biggest fiber tramp there is!!! I have no less than 4 big boxes of fiber piled up in my room. Also about 6 big boxes of yarn. While I was once content to just own a set of knitpicks Options, now I have 2 spinning wheels, a drum carder, and more knitting needles that I could possible ever need! If that wasn't enough, now I want to weave! (Ok, I can't personally blame for that one!)

Your Sister in Fiber,

Mary