Woven Scarf Planning

You might have seen that I bought quite a bit of yarn for weaving when I was at Maggie Casey's shop a couple of weeks ago.

Here's what I bought: a little Merino/silk, a little Harrisville Shetland, and some alpaca.

What am I going to do with all of that yarn? I'm going to weave scarves until I feel really comfortable on the two looms I have. Everyone needs a scarf, right? I want my woven scarves to be like zucchini in high summer, I'll have so many that I'll be sneaking them into people's bags and leaving them on porches.

Merino/silk

Before I start much spinning for weaving I need to get weaving for weaving stuck in my head, basic weaving - rigid heddle and maybe a little twill. This plan feels good, much better than when I was going to try to figure out weaving and spinning for weaving at the same time.

Alpaca

You did notice that I got multiple colors of all of the yarns didn't you? I'm not one for solids and I'm curious about the interaction of color in weaving.  I'll do a little playing with color as I scarf my way through fall and winter.

Harrisville Shetland

What's up first? Something for me in my signature Willy Wonka colors, purple and lime. A little Harrisville Shetland on my Cricket. I want to do something stripey with the colors, easy and fun.

8 Tips for Spinning with a WooLee Winder

I frequently get questions about spinning with a WooLee Winder.

I have two and I use them a lot. I have a Schacht compatible WW, and I move it between the Schacht wheels I own (Matchless, Sidekick, and Flatiron) with zero problems. I have one for my Hansen MiniSpinner and I typically don't spin without it.

I am definitely a WooLee Winder fan. If you are thinking about a WooLee Winder, or newly spinning with one here are few tips to help you like yours as much as I like mine.

1. Try before you buy. Like all tools that cost more than a couple of bucks, I suggest that you try a WooLee Winder before you buy one. Try to test drive a WooLee Winder on the same type of wheel you want use; they feel different on each brand brands a models of wheel.
2. Start slowly. Spinning with a WooLee Winder feels a little different, make sure to start slowly and make adjustments to your wheel along the way. 
3. Turn down the tug.  A WooLee Winder adds extra pull to your spinning because it's winding your yarn on for you. For some people (especially spinners who make very fine yarns) this is a deal breaker. I have to turn the uptake on my Scotch tension wheels down significantly when I use my WooLee Winder. I cross lace on the arm of the flyer, especially if I am spinning fine with a woolen draft. 
4. Oil her to keep her happy. I put a couple drops of oil on the travel screw for every couple of full bobbins I spin. Do not over oil. If there is too much oil  the excess oil will be flug all over the room as you spin, ask me how I know.
5. Watch the wrap. If you find your yarn won't wind on no matter what adjustments you make, check to make sure your yarn isn't looped around the eyelet that travels up and down the flyer. For me this is the answer to yarn not winding on 95% of the time.
6. Make sure the gears are lined up. This is the answer to yarn not winding on the other 5% of the time. Make sure the nylon gears on the bobbin and on the flyer are meshing, if they aren't nothing will turn. 
7. Be focused when disassembling. If you need to take your WooLee Winder apart, be very focused. There is a great tutorial with pictures on the WooLee Winder site. Sit at a table in good light and lock yourself away from kitties. When I do a disassembly I work in a sheet pan with a lip to contain the parts, and on top of a small towel, so small parts won't roll away. The reasons I've had to take my WooLee winder apart were the same each time, a small chunk of fiber dropped into the winding mechanism and wound itself around, making the winding on uneven.
8. Bring the pretty. Akerworks, the company that brings the pretty to spinning, has WooLee Winder compatible bobbins. There is a special kind of joy I get choosing what color bobbin to use for a new spin.

Have fun spinning and plying with your WooLee Winder!

Spinning at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins

I had such a great time teaching at Maggie Casey's shop in Boulder that I took almost no pictures.

We had a sugar gliders as guests in class one day. They are so soft and cuddly. 

Apart from teaching I spent some time goofing and talking fiber and weaving with Stephanie Flynn Sokolov. That's her up there at the Fancy Tiger sale table. Maggie took me to the most fantastic restaurants, including the Boulder Teahouse. We even managed to go on a little hike.

I taught for three days, heavy on color. My students were focused, curious and creative.

They spun like the wind, some even knit their samples in the evening after class.

They were the type of group that gave and as much as they took. There was so much fiber knowledge in the room.

But what did I buy, you ask? I bought two more Sonya Philip"s patterns at Fancy Tiger. I bought some 4-H raised cashmere at Maggie's. I  fell down hard on the Shuttles part of Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins, two cones of Harrisville Shetland, four cones of Jaggerspun Zephyr, and four ounces each of four colors of alpaca. I'm feeling it's time to stop dreaming about weaving, and just sit down and weave. I'm starting with scarves, and I'm very excited.

I'll leave you with a moment of Zen from Boulder.

Sometimes Tiny Vacations Are Best

This summer has been busier than usual. Andy has to travel more for his job, the kids are busy doing the things kids do. and I'm gearing up for a fabulous fall teaching tour.

I didn't schedule a family vacation, usually we camp or cabin, but there was no time to wedge in four days in a row with everything else going on.

So we went on a spectacular mini vacation, an overnight to Cincinnati. Why Cincinnati? Because our family is a little in love with Fiona the baby hippo. 

We went to the Cincinnati Zoo and met Fiona, we ate out, we went to a great bookstore, and just hung out together. 

It was great and just what we needed this summer. I want to plan a couple more little vacations before the year is over.

I even got a little weaving done in the car. I'm intrigued by this book, has anyone read it?

What adventures have you ha this summer?

Tour de Fleece Sock Yarn, It's Fine

For the first time in probably forever, I hit a spinning goal. Of course, my goal for the Tour de Fleece was to spin one braid of fiber into yarn to make socks.

A small goal met is still a goal met, and it was really satisfying. What wasn't as satisfying to me was how inconsistent my yarn is. 

I was hoping for a nice fingering weight, about 14+ WPI. Instead my WPI ranges from 10-14, sport to fingering. I have 300 yards, so making a pair of shorty socks will be no problem.

What made my yarn so inconsistent? Laziness and that phrase that all makers use, "it's fine". That phrase is the crafter's version of my southern favorite, "Bless her heart". It's 100% code.

When anyone making anything says, "it's fine" or "it will be fine" what they really mean is, "this is probably f'ed up, but I don't want to figure out why or how to fix it, so I'll keep on, and change my plan as I go."

Which is exactly what I did. I dreamed of 400 yards of sock yarn, fingering or finer, to make a pair of plain vanilla socks, but got 300 yards of fingering to sport. So I changed my sock idea to short socks at a bigger gauge. Of course I haven't knit a swatch yet.

What bit me was spinning a yarn that's not my default and not checking in more with my yarn along the way. I checked my singles against my control card, but stopped checking against my plyback sample before I was even halfway through my braid. My twist went back to my default, instead of the extra bit of twist I wanted, giving me a bigger yarn.

Even though it's not exactly what I wanted, I'm happy with my yarn and I'm still going to make one very pretty pair of socks!

I hope all of you who spun in the Tour ended up with yarns you love!

A Little Love Affair with Grey

I know I'm known for loving all of the colors in the world, but lately I've been staring longingly at naturals, most particularly greys, especially the warm, warm greys, the ones that are almost brown.

I think everyone has a natural that's their favorite. For me I know it will never be white, though I can see the variations. There is something about white that makes me jumpy.

I used to be all in for brown, dirt. I still love it, but now I'm shifting a step toward the greys. Concrete grey, dove grey, that spectacular grey with lavender that is the underside of clouds, ash in the smoker, even angry sky grey. I'm seeing and appreciating it everywhere.

Grey has my heart lately in fiber, there are so many variations within that one color, cool,  toward blue or green or warm toward red, there are even some that I swear have a brusie-y purple cast.

The color that's Oatmeal BFL may be number one for me. I used to think it was just brown, but the more I've looked at it and spun it the more I see that it's grey, a warm, warm grey. 

I can spin these warm greys and not get sick of them and should probably plan a something using several. Using them to mix and blend with other colors at the wheel really does me in, they mellow and enrich other colors like other naturals can't.

All the stones, elephants, sweatshirts, the perfect grey cat. my grey hairs, and so many sheep.

What natural is your favorite?

Favorite and One Not So Favorite Books of the Year, So Far

It's a little more than halfway through the year, here are the books I've most enjoyed so far, in random categories. They are all fiction, because that's what I read most. I'll put links in for each book; I am terrible at describing books in medium detail. I can do it in paragraphs or in a sentence or two, nothing in between. I'll add my couple of sentences, but if you want to read more, click on over to Good Reads.

Fiction: The Immortalists by Chole Benjamin. Four siblings grow-up knowing the date they will die. Best cover of the year so far too.

Audio Fiction: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. An absolutely original take on one woman's madness, heart wrenching and brutal, especially if you or someone you love has any mental illness issues. The book is read by the author, brilliantly.

Best Mystery: IQ by Joe Ide. A sly and well-crafted nod to deductive reasoning. This Sherlock is young,lives in a dangerous LA neigborhood,and out smarts them all.

Best YA or Book to Live Up to the Hype: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. It seems that any children's or YA book that has a group of kids and magic gets compared to Harry Potter. For me this is the only one that lived up to the hype. It's the right mix of magic, mystery, brutality and adventure. It also manages to shine a light on our current world and politics.

I rarely speak negatively about books. Everyone has their own opinion and sometimes I can just be in the wrong mood for a book. I recently read a mystery that, well, at the very least, proceed with caution. There was so much hype about this book I should have known better. There was nothing I liked about The Woman in Window by A.J. Finn. From the traumatized, addicted, unreliable narrator, to the twists that I could see coming for a mile. I listened to this and the reader was a bad fit too. I'm not sure why I finished it.

What are your favorite books so far this year?

Dreamy Indigo Dyed BFL

A couple of weekends ago I went out to my friend Carla's for a natural dye day. I decided to just focus on indigo and dyed a shirt, some yarn I thought had no acrylic in it (I was wrong), and some mixed BFL fiber.

The yarn was dissapointing, it turned a blue-grey at it's most saturated and then 98% of the color rinsed out.

The BFL fiber, however became the most beautiful blue. The BFL fiber started as a mix of oatmeal and black. I dipped it just once and the oatmeal turned to a warm light blue.

I spun and knit a little and I am so happy with the result. The dark parts of the BFL weave in and out of the blue making a beautiful semi solid.

Since I have a couple of pounds of the mixed BFL in my stash I want to go back to the indigo pot and dip some 2x and some 3x and use the tonal yarns in a single project. Sigh.

A downside I always find any time I dye fiber is how roughed up the surface of the fiber gets. My dyed fiber always looks like a cat has dragged it around the house after vanquishing it in battle.

Do you have tips for keeping the surface of my fiber tidy when I dye?