How Mary got the VM out of her fleece or The Virtue of Hand Combs!

Well, the first picture shows some newly acquired fleece, California Red. Rather confusing since the wool is beige, huh? Well, the lambs are born red and as they mature, the fleece turns beige. The sheep maintain the red in their legs and their face. Anyway, I got a pound of this really soft fleece. The seller had it bargain priced because it has some VM (Vegatable Matter). I also ordered some hand combs, so I thought I give it a go. See all the little flecks, that's VM.

Handcarders are usually expensive, like a $100 or more. I found these on Etsy from a seller, catskillmtnfibers. They were only $45 and are 2 pitched,(2 rows of tines). I ordered them on Friday and had them by Tuesday. They are really nice and feel good in my hands. I gave them a thorough trial.
The hand combs work really great! In a short time I was able to get all this nice fluffy fiber ready for my Fancy Kitty Kitten drumcarder! Soon it'll be nice soft batts all ready to spin! That will be my next post. Something new is being added. Ron has made a motor base for the Kitten that'll I'll be trying out. I can't wait and will be giving a thorough review!

Here you can see the combs will the fiber on them after combing. It gets out the VM and also the second cuts...the little short peices that come from passing the shears over the sheep after the first cut. It will cause my yarn to pill, so we don't want that! The soft fluffy longer side is the keeper side!

See all the VM that magically falls out as you comb and separate the fibers? So much easier than trying to pick it all out peice by peice! I give the hand combs a 8 out of 10!!! They're well constructed, not too heavy and work very well. I just wished the tines were a tiny bit closer together.

Current Projects

Here is the super bulky yarn I spun up for the Tour De Fleece on my Schacht rigid heddle loom. The weaving went remarkably fast and I was very surprised how much further actual yardage goes with weaving as opposed to knitting.

Fresh off the loom, I wound up with 1 1/2 yards of finished fabric. I love the way the colors pool. I used a 8 dent heddle and used beige cotton Peaches and Cream for the warp. It'll make either a nice recieving blanket for the new grandson I'm expecting in November, or I could cut the fabric into a nice bag. I haven't decided for sure, but I'm leaning towards the baby blankie. It's almost too nice to cut. My only concern is laundering since the weft is wool. I'd really hate for it to felt. I think the wool is superwash, but not 100% sure.

Then there is the Simple Prairie Shawl I'm knitting with some hand spun Llama. It basically a simple garter stitch with a Y/O increase at the end of each row before the last 5 stitches. It's 2/3's complete, so hasn't been blocked yet. It's totally rustic,simple and I'm going to love wearing it when it gets cooler. My kids and I have different temperature settings. They keep it too cool in the house during the winter for my tastes!

My next posting will be some drumcarding my my Fancy Kitty Kitten! I have some projects in mind. I have some of the Jacob fleece ready to process into batts for a coat project I want to start soom. Then I have some experimenting on 2 tone batts into rollrags I want to try out.

Jacob Fleeces

I picked up two Jacob fleeces last week. Boy, are they ever full of VM(vegatable matter). Which is a royal pain to pick out. The wool is very soft though, and I think they'll be worth the effort.(I hope!)

I first tried to comb out some of the VM prior to washing....nope, the lanolin makes the VM stick to the fibers worse I think. So I filled the tub with hot water,

Dawn detergent, and Woolite. I let them

soak until the hot water got cold, drain,

and rinsed with hot water again. I was

really careful not to aggitate the fiber.

They both came out pretty clean after one wash and one rinse. After draping the fleece on a clothes rack and allowed to dry, I found that the VM combed out much easier. Hopefully my next blog will be of my progress on the fleeces. It may be a while, because it really is a lot of work! I really love Jacob though! The lady I got the fleeces from let me come out and take Aidan and Addi to meet the sheep. Aidan was afraid, but Addi fed them Wheat Thins. (Nana forgot her camera too!!!) Oh well, maybe next year, if the VM doesn't scare me off. I paid $25 for each fleece, and they weren't skirted. The VM is excessive, and I'll wind up losing about half of each 6lb fleece. If I manage to get 5lb of fiber from both fleeces, at 10$ a lb, it's not much of a bargain when I can get processed fiber 16$ a lb. (It would save me weeks of work!) But, I got them for the experience of taking a raw fleece to finish, so there you have it!

My Tour de Fleece Yarn

Well, I didn't get as much yarn spun up for the TDF as I wanted to, but I did manage a 150 yards of semi worsted weight super bulky 2 ply. I'm generally pleased with it. I was also pleased with the bulky flyer I have for my Fricke spinning wheel. It really holds a lot!

The finished product is very squishey soft, and I have plans to spin some more for a bag I plan to do on my Flip Loom. So there you, I have been somewhat productive. I've been redoing my bedroom, so the spinning has been on hold for a couple of weeks. I now have my room rearranged and organized so I can more easily spin and weave. (Someday I will have a craftroom of my very own!)

Tour de Fleece on Ravelry.

I'm spinning in the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. A little something someone cooked up to do while the actual Tour de France is going. I'm on 2 teams. For Team SSS fiberlovers, I'm spinning some Punta that I dyed myself on the drop spindle. It's very merino like, and I love how it draws.

Then for Team Frickin' Wicked, I'm spinning some turquoise/black/white mill end roving I got from thesheepshedfiberstudio. I'm trying really hard to spin a super bulky single without over twisting it. I have decided to make it 2 ply, and plan to use it to weave a bag. I have 2 lbs of this, so I'll have plenty to spin for sure!

Progress!

Lots of progress in the spinning department! First is the pound of natural grey Jacob I got from www.spunsilverdesigns.com . It's 450 yards super bulky semi worsted navajo plied. I really love the way this spun up, and plan to use it for Aidan a EZ Tomten jacket. I have some black to spin up to use for trim. I think Aidan looks dashing in grey!

Then to show you can be very productive on a drop spindle, I have 300 yards of bulky wool/silk blend in the peach, 300 yards in fingering weight in the ruby, and 100 yards of fingering wt in alpaca/tussah silk in chocolate. Yummy!!! I love spinning on the drop spindles and have them sitting in a bowl by my bed for spinning a bit when I'm watching TV or trying to relax a bit before I got to sleep. It's amazing how fast the singles accumulate. I also love the control you can get with drop spindles.( I tend to overtwist on the wheel)

It's especially helpful with the silk/alpaca...it's harder to spin and control the draw on the finer fiber, then the silk doesn't always want to draw smoothly. I find it helps to talc my hands beforehand to keep the fibers from sticking. (Silk is so catchy...it hangs on rough skin!)

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!)