moving to the main "house"

 

 

I will no longer be posting on this blog as of today
...but,

 There are still going to posts about my fiber journeys
...washing, dying, spinning and in general
 PLAYING with fiber. 
I will just be "moving" the posts to my main blog HERE

 

All the fiber related posts can be seen by clicking on the

 *Spin/Weave* tab
just below the banner of the main blog



what's on YOUR wheel....

This is a 4oz BFL roving that

I bought it last year when on a trip to Washington State.

I thought it would be fun because it was

dyed locally (there).

The fiber's are filling up the Jensen Tina II bobbin

...just right =)

...but, now I have to do a center pull ball to ply it. 

Doing center-pull balls to ply, ummm

...not really my favorite thing.

...or, I can try to find another single ply that will play nicely

with this one.  Taking the easy way out,I'm gonna see if I can

 find a playmate...

 I could probably alleviate this problem next time. 

 What if?... the roving got divided into two halves?

Then, I could spin half roving on each of two bobbins.

It's sooo nice when the lights go on in meee ol' brain! 

Yeah...if it only happened a leeeetle more

often!  =P

What's on YOUR wheel? or spindle, or needles, or?

Got some sheep's wool to wash?



Oh..I didn't mean a whole  Merino sheep . 

 I'm thinking... more like this.

This is a raw Merino Fleece...but, it might be called a

 "spinner's" fleece.  It's not quite as dirty as a fleece

would be sheared right from a free roaming sheep.

The raw Merino fleece came off of a sheep that wore

 a jacket for the year while it's "fur" was growing out

after the previous shearing.

Jackets worn by sheep (like the one above)...keep the

fleece clean of vegetable matter, dirt and weather elements.

Also a spinner likes to buy a fleece that has been

"well skirted".

Nope...not this kind of skirted...

Skirting a Fleece is the process of trimming off

...the less desirable parts of the fleece.  If you look at

the above picture (used from the Spinderella website)

 you can see the orange colored areas is the higher quality

part of the fleece. 

It's really nice to start with a raw fleece that is

jacketed and well skirted.  The cleaner and higher quality

the fleece is...usually the more expensive it is.  The trick is

to find a good raw fleeces for the best price.

I've washed fleeces before.  But, most recently, I've washed

a couple of fleeces and they have come out REALLY dry.

One of the fleeces actually became really mushy/weak/brittle.

All of the fleeces started out as high quality soft, fine fibers.

I couldn't figure out what I was doing.  I was using DAWN

dishwashing soap and another "suggested" laundry soap. DAWN

has long been touted as one of the best soaps for washing a fleece

that is high in grease (lanolin).  Merino sheep fleeces are VERY high

in lanolin content.  So...I thought...I was using the best soap for the job.

Maybe the water was too hot?  But, I checked websites with washing

instructions for high grease content...and the water I was using wasn't

too hot.  What, on earth...happened then?

ENZYMES!!!

Yep...Enzymes happened...!  I started reading dishwashing

liquids and laundry detergent labels.  In the last several years,

Commercial soap makers have started creating ULTRA 

grease cutters and STAIN BOOSTERS...

Most of the "ultra" and super-duper words used for adding

extra strength to the soaps...are ENZYMES...

Well...enzymes break down proteins and guess what???

REALLY??? 

OOOPS....and UH-OH...

ya, know... I shudda...

KNOWN!

Wool fibers are MADE of protein. 

This means that....

any dishsoap or laundry detergent could have enzymes

and you might not know it.  They don't have to actually list

any or all of the ingredients they use to make a soap that is not

used on humans.  Sometimes the bottle will advertise that

there are added enzymes (do not use on protein fibers).

You can find a partial list of some laundry detergents HERE 

But, also if ingredient lists aren't fairly recent, enzymes

could've been added after list was made and the product could

have the same name.

With all this "lab-chemistry" info, I was feeling a wee bit

over my head.  So, it was time for some simple kitchen-type

experiments, not too overly controlled.  I just wanted to try

a few different soaps with similar methods and see what

happened..

I tried 5 different soaps... with various results...from bad...

to good....to (imho) GREAT! 

I wish you could feel this...it feels like

a baby's soft, silky hair. 

This post has gotten...looooong.  So, I will

share my experiment process in the next couple

of days...

Meantime...I would like to ask YOU...

Have you ever washed a fleece(s)?  If so, what

soap(s) have YOU used?  Which ones did you like or not?

If you haven't washed a fleece, are there certain hand

dishwashing liquids that YOU might find to be nice

to your hands...or some that you've thought are really harsh?

Knit One...Kill Two... giveaway...

This is Maggie Sefton's first knitting mystery books and,

one of her most popular,



"Despite the fact that her aunt was an expert knitter,

Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair of knitting needles she liked

—until she strolled into House of Lambspun.

Now, in the first in a brand-new series, she learns

 how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind

 her aunt's murder."   --excerpt form back of book

I'm listening to this on audio-book and am REALLY

enjoying it!

You can read more about the author and her other books...

HERE

~~THE GIVEAWAY~~

enter to win* by doing...the following

 -ONE ENTRY to win-

 - Please, leave a comment...do you like (not like) to

knit? or have you never tried, but want to? Beginner"

or very accomplished knitter?

and...

-THREE ENTRIES (more) to win-

 - if you blog about it and leave a separate comment

 that you did.

Giveaway ends...next Thursday November 24th midnight MT

*to win, must be a follower

Wasatch Woolpack Spinning Saturday

Last Saturday, about 10 of us got together for

some fun fiber chatter-ee and eats.

I wish I had taken more pictures!! I will have to

be more diligent behind the lens, next time.

There were 6 different spinning wheels, someone using

a drop spindle, a couple of people were knitting too.

We did show and tell...each object shared would

garner a ticket to win...there were 4 little goodie bags to win.

Here one of the ladies was sharing a knitted

purse/satchel that she was going to felt.

And, here are some very fun and whimsical

"thigh" high striped socks. 

(sorry the picture is so blurry)

We ate some yummy vegetable chili and

had chocolate dipped banana and apple slices.

I learned soooo much from all of the talented

knitters/spinners that shared that day!

====   ===   ===   ===   ====

This is some great fiber purchased at

Oregon Flock and Fiber this last September

4 oz of roving

50% Merino ~ 25% Bamboo ~ 25% Tussah Silk

spun single ply...eventually to be 2 ply.

I'll show the plied yarn... in a future post (hopefully!)

The thought is to make a small neck scarf.  It's

so soft and even tho, it will be light weight,

it will be very warm.

====   ===   ===   ===   ====

Did EWE know?

Sheep were domesticated 10,000 years ago in

Central Asia, but it wasn't until 3,500 B.C. that man

learned to spin wool.

spin...dye...stitch... Oh! My!

Oh...MY...this is one of my favorite fiber-eee books!

This is a grrrrr....reat book by Jennifer Claydon.

If you want to make your own one-of-a-kind yarn, then,

this is the book for YOU!

But, even if you don't want to dye your own fibers...

this is still a great book for the fundamentals of the

spinning wheel and spinning. 

The pictures are all wonderful. Instructions/explanations

of different aspects of spinning and creating yarn

can be clearly understood even for the beginner.

If you don't see this book at your local fiber shop...

check out Amazon...where you can look inside the book.

So...let me know with your comments...are you

a well "seasoned" spinner, a beginner, or have you never

spun on a spinning wheel?  If you've never spun...do you think

you would like to try someday?  What would need to happen

to get you on the road to starting to spin?

I LUV spinning!  It is one of the most relaxing hobbies

that I have ever encountered...and, I have met up with

MANY a crafty hobby...fur shore =P



Friday's Fiber Play...Oct 28th

It started out looking like this...

It's a roving of Yak, Merino and Bamboo.

This combination is really soft and when spun it

has a kind of springy-ness.

To help you see where the fibers were "born"

read below.  =)

Yaks have a course outer coat that is used

for making things like rope.  It's the soft undercoat

that is mainly used for spinning. The softness

is often compared to cashmere.  But, the fiber

is short.  So, it is blended with other fibers

like wool and/or silk.

Merino...

 is very fine and very soft...in the realm of sheepdom.

It is a wool used to make garments that will be next to

the skin.  It is quite greasy tho and can become matted

easily.  So, processing it into fiber to spin...takes extra

effort and care.  But, imho, it's truly worth it.  I will post

more about the wide range of wool/sheep, in the future.

  And, about the wonderful and unique properties of wool.

Original Bamboo...

The bamboo content in the roving

I have pictured above - the one in the brown bucket,

...actually came from the bamboo plant.  Isn't that

amazing?  It's really hard for me to think that

the VERY soft shiney fiber comes from the stalk

of wooden-like bamboo.  This fiber has been

compared closely to silk.  But, it is less expensive,

a bit shinnier, and slippery-er.

Hanging around waiting for it's warm bath...

* two things learned*

I found out after the fiber was washed and

dried to set, that I tied the turquoise figure 8s,

that I tied too tight.  There were lines when

I took off the ties.  =( .  I think that if I rewash,

the lines might come out. I'll let you know.

Another thing learned from the last few

fiber-to-yarn experiences is that:

If I want to spin equal amounts onto the

bobbins, I need to divide the roving into

equal parts firsts BEFORE I start to spin.

Why would I need the bobbins to have equal

amounts of single ply yarn?  Well, when plying the

two single ply yarns...some would be left

on one bobbin, while the other would be empty.

Is that clear as mud? Or does it make any sense?