Trenchwork

If that title doesn’t give you fair warning that I’m catching up on fibery posts, then friends and neighbors, you need that extra cup of coffee to kick start a few more grey cells!

I AM catching up, and in the spirit of truth in advertising, you may want that cuppa after all because this promises to be a long one.  There’s been rather a lot happening.

First, I did make it to the spinning course in Lillehammer, and I simply cannot say how much I enjoyed myself.  Admittedly part of the joy came from finishing an exhausting sprint of work, another part from being able to just get out of town for a bit, and another part from being able to pick up my spinning again—something I hadn’t been able to do much of in the past two months.  However, I had the chance to spin with other folks, and that—given the fact that I’ve been able to do so very little of it until  now—is worth its proverbial weight in gold.  I suspect Tove and my fellow participants just shook their heads after I left and wondered whether that odd American wench wasn’t just slightly mad, and I don’t know that they’d have been far off if they decided I was.  I felt like a kid who’d just been given permission to camp out in the chocolate factory, and I suspect I was about as dignified as one.  (In other words, not at all!)  But gosh and doggone it, I had a blast.

Lillehammer is a lovely little town, and if it tells you anything about my focus, I netted a total of two photos.  This one, just because I couldn’t resist:

That’s the back wall to a bar/restaurant, and the moose is stone.  Ain’t it just too cute?  And nope—I was too fiber-focused to go in and see if they’d arranged a head in the same spot on the inside.

And this one, which is the front of Spinnvilt, where the course was held—and the only shop in the country (that I know of) which is focused on spinning, spinners, and fiber.

There were six of us plus Tove and Eirik (Tove who led the class and Eirik who was a gallant assistant). Just big enough to be cozy and get to know the people around you.

So what did we do? Well, I did this:

I made some very ugly yarn, and no, for a change you cannot click to get bigger.  I refuse to allow it.  :-)  From left to right, there is a double chain-ply cabled back on itself; it made a wonderfully distinctive yarn with a lot of substance.  Second is a ”rutete” or “squared” 3-ply.  There’s a fat white core plied with a thin white single, then plied in reverse with an oatmeal single.  This would be ideal with three different color fibers, or at least two where the two thin singles were a different color than the fat core single.  Next is a boucle, followed by two versions of thick-thins, and finally a kid mohair novelty.  The colors here are a bit off, but I’ve allowed a photo adjustment in order to make the yarn a little clearer.  Lighting at the moment is very bad; we’re in dark days and it’s snowing, and I really DO need to arrange a light box.  Hm.  And I just realized that I’m missing the coil yarn . . . which is no loss since that one really IS ugly, but it’s another fun one that I’m going to repeat very soon.

In other words, I’ve been experimenting. I’ve been wanting to do these for a while, but there were two lessons which were high on my list. First, I’ve had boucle on my mind for a very long time. I’ve known how to do it, but have never actually tried it until this weekend. This one is really ugly, but hey . . . :-)  I’ll do it properly after I finish spinning for DH’s sweater.  (The fiber for which, incidentally, is still on the carder.  That’s tomorrow’s task.)

The second thing I learned which I really appreciated was how to do a double chain-ply yarn.  Tove and I had to play a bit before we figured it out, but I’m rather impressed.    Remember how chain plying uses a loop in a single and you just keep “chaining” the single through a loop?  Well, the double uses two singles, and you pull through the loop from alternate singles (one loop, chain A, chain B, chain A, and so forth).  That gives you a four-ply yarn (I think) in chain ply.  Chaining two singles together would give a five, if I’m counting right (and I make no guarantees on that).  I’ve no idea when I’d use it, but watch and see if I don’t try it again shortly in a colored/striping fiber just to see what happens.  I’m fascinated. 

And Tove, if you’re reading this, my homework lesson is second from the left.  :-)  For the rest of you, I ran out of time and underspun the “checked” yarn, and didn’t have a chance to correct it before it was time to hit the road, so took it home as homework.

In summary, it was a great weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The group was wonderful, Tove and Eirik were brilliant.  Now if they were just closer and not a 5.5 hour drive over curvy two-lane mountain roads . . .

And because I know you’re all wondering, yes:  I did indeed come home with goodies.  Specifically, 100 grams of a wool/cashmere/silk blend, and 100 grams of carded yak (which I’m going to blend with silk for a luxury laceweight).  Er, and a Babe Production double-treadle wheel.

Quit laughing.  I hear you.  :-)  Really, I have a good reason for the Babe.  Totally aside from the fact that a second wheel is useful and I won’t mind schlepping it around in ways I feel uncomfortable hauling around the Rose, the Babe is a perfect training wheel.  I told you I was going to grow my own spinning group, but I’ve discovered I’m a little fussy about my Rose and new spinners.  While I feel a bit selfish about that, there’s also a certain reality here:  repairs to the Babe would be easier (and cheaper!) than repairs to the Rose.  So you see, I was really being rather clever. 

With the return to normalcy, there’s been a spinning sprint.  I’ve been experimenting with Angora.

From bottom to top, there’s clipped German Angora. I struggled with this a bit until I found that it was easier for me to spin if I span from the clipped end rather than from the point end; it was easier to spread the blunt edges out a bit. Nevertheless, it’s decidedly uneven and not at all pretty, even though it feels great.

The blue in the middle is from Angora roving. Vicki at Kendig Cottage is simply wonderful, and when she found that I wanted to see how the fiber span, encouraged me to compare both the raw stuff and the roving. The roving was definitely easier to spin, but I feel as if I’d do better with the raw fiber now that I have a better sense of how it handles. The blue is much more even, and the spinning is fairly consistent.

The white on top is fake angora. I’ve no idea what that stuff really is—Vicki is still waiting for a response from the manufacturer—but I’m guessing it’s a synthetic. It was, however, wonderful to spin. It drafted like a dream, and really lent itself to a long backward draw. It feels wonderful, although slightly different than the real thing. This skein is destined for a friend as soon as I figure out what color to dye it.

The Stats
Beta 3.
Fiber: clipped German Angora from Kendig Cottage.
Weight: 2.5 ounces, finished weight
Yardage: 59; 2-ply
WPI: 13
Twist: 7
Spun on: Rose

Spin 12.
Fiber: Angora roving from Kendig Cottage.
Weight: 3.8 ounces, finished weight
Yardage: 106; 2-ply
WPI: 13
Twist: 8
Spun on: Rose

Spin 13.
Fiber: Fake Angora from Kendig Cottage.
Weight: 7.9 ounces, finished weight
Yardage: 236; 2-ply
WPI: 10
Twist: 8
Spun on: Rose

And yes—there’s a reason why I’m testing Angora.  Take a breath before you fall off your chair in another fit of laughter!  I’ll post about it all later.

Fuzzy bunny isn’t the only thing that’s been coming off the wheel.  This weekend I finished this:

And because I know you can’t really see it without clicking for bigger (which you can here), the beads aren’t all orange. They’re a purple metallic which vary between orange, pink, purple, blue, and green. This shows it a bit better:

What is it? It’s another beaded yarn.

The Stats.
Spin 14.
Fiber: BFL from Spunky Eclectic, in “Morning Glory.”
Weight: 8 ounces
Yardage: 335; 2-ply
WPI: ca 10 (it’s a bit irregular)
Twist: 10
Spun on: Bosworth spindle and Rose

The irregularity here is between the beginning and the end; too much time passed and I was a bit dumb and forgot to save a sample from the beginning to remind myself of the grist when I did have a chance to get back to it.  The yarn itself is pretty consistent otherwise, and much more so than the first beaded yarn.

I wasn’t sure what I thought of this one when I finished, but I find it’s growing on me.  I’d have liked to have avoided the barberpole effect, but to do so I’d have needed to ply a bit differently, and then the beads would not have fit.  They’re smaller than were the beads on the Hyacinth spin, and I really needed to spin the singles here at about half the weight.  It’s been just long enough since I span BFL that I forgot how much the stuff plumps when it’s finished—which means that I could have spun my singles at half their weight and gotten the correct gauge and effect.  It would have allowed the beads to show more distinctly.  Nevertheless, I think the yarn will make a lovely fabric.

Now I want to try this with silk . . .  

Nor has spinning been the only fibery thing on tap this weekend.  In light of the coming Saturday intro to spinning meeting (remember, I’m working on growing my own group), I dyed fiber so they wouldn’t be spinning plain white.  We have this:

. . . and this:

There’s about 1.5 pounds of fiber here, dyed with Jacquard acid dyes. The top shot was an immersion dye, while the bottom fibers were painted and nuked. I’m improving. Silly as it sounds, I found myself looking at the hanging fibers last night and feeling rather proud of myself. But I have one important lesson to learn, and that is that I need to use much less dye than I think I need. This is an improvement over my first attempt to hand paint (er, that was a lake on the counter top), so the next one should be much closer to target.

Whew! I do believe that catches things up.

By the way, the weather?  To leave you with a non-fibery photo, this is today.  Winter is definitely here.  It’s supposed to rain on Thursday, which means that it’s going to be nasty and slushy, but in the interval, I’m enjoying it.