Dying to Dye

Instead of dyeing Easter eggs this year I thought I'd give yarn a try. I know, you're shocked. It was at Gauge, and taught by Doug from White Bear Fibers. I was rather excited about the class - there had been other yarn dyeing opportunities, but the timing had never worked out. I had taken the indigo class, but I hadn’t gotten to play with other colors. And so, when I learned I could bring my own yarn, I took time out of the baby blanket making (pictures coming) to spin up some white superwash merino. As with any crafting project that requires wearing rubber gloves, I was a bit sketchy on taking pictures.

The yarn has to be soaked in an acid bath* before you dye it.

What's in the buckets?

Spaghetti yarn!

The dyes are made up of very small particles that turn your lungs all sorts of different colors, and do nothing good for your health. So, Doug had an apprentice making up all the dyes for the class in a back room.

Dyerista?  No, no let's not call anybody that.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to make the dyes ourselves, but can’t argue much with safety. Not mixing the dyes meant that we could focus on color combinations and the different possible dyeing techniques.

The table before the dyeing.

Before the class I’d taken some pictures of the wildflowers as reference for a combination of colors for a skein.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good shots of the bluebells mixed in.

Hand painting was one of the techniques I wanted to try; I thought it would work best for the wildflower skein.

Almost finished. I added blue for the bluebonnets, even though they weren't in my photo.

If you are hand painting yarn, and using complimentary colors, you want to wrap up your yarn like a sausage. If the complementary colors mix, you get an icky brown - wrapping the yarn keeps the colors from touching.

Not the best lighting; the yarn is actually purple.

If your yarn colors aren't going to make an icky brown mess, then you don't need to wrap it.

Hand spun, hand dyed. Yeah, it's awesome.

Then you stick your bowl, or yarn sausage, in the microwave to set the dye. Use caution, people! According to Doug hot yarn is like hot noodles**, only worse.

Isn't this the coolest rack? When you are done you can slide the sticks back in for easy storage. The yarn is pretty cool too.

The yarns I dyed. Not that I'm proud of them at all. No sir, not me.

I love my wild flower yarn, especially after I reskeined it. It is not like anything I’d usually buy, but I can’t wait to knit it up. I’m dying to see how the color changes work together. I didn’t put as much planning into the other skeins. I dyed one in the dye and highlight technique. The other I dyed the dye and hand paint technique. Those turned out fine. I haven’t reskeined them, but I’m sure I’ll like them more once I do.

Of the three techniques, I preferred hand painting best. It took longer, and I had to remember to flip the skein, but I had more control.

Now the big question – what am I going to knit?

*No, Mr. Yarn, I expect you to dye.
**DH thinks Hot Noodles sounds like a J-pop band. I think of this NPR piece that has scared me away from ever eating instant cup o' noodles again.

I can't stop partying, partying...

Friday night we went downtown to see the Minor Mishap Marching Band. The doors were supposed to open at 9:30pm, Antone's didn't let us in until 10:30. Not a big deal, except that we were supposed to be at a different party at 11pm. So we didn’t get to see the band, but hanging out in the line was a lot of fun.

We left downtown to change into our superhero costumes, so didn’t make it to the party till midnight. We left early (3am), and then came home to crash. V&K spent the night, but we were asleep when they got in.

Saturday morning I ran around like a chicken with it’s head cut off. But I found my calm when I got to yoga just after 1. I basked in the calm for an hour and a half, and then returned home to hang with DH and V&K. Around 5 we decided it was time to eat. So we met up with some of the superheroes from the night before, and we all headed down to Driftwood to eat our weight in Barbeque at The Salt Lick. (If you haven't been you are missing out.)

On the way back we stopped in Goodwill so V could find a costume for the party that night. Then we headed home and zoned out, each in our own food coma. Once we shook off our stupor, we planned the rest of the evening. V&K would head to the costume party and DH and I would meet them up later as we had a previous engagement.

DH and I went to N’s to hang with some of our besties around a fire pit. Erin had made marshmallows (yes, she made them - they were delicious) and we roasted quite a few. I ate until I hurt, again. Then it was time to head over to that night’s costume party.

We got there a bit after midnight. The cops had already come and gone, so the bands were no longer playing outside. However, there were DJs inside spinning great music. I got my second (fourth) wind and danced till 2am.

Sunday I was sore; I hurt in places I haven’t hurt in years. So, aside from spinning and plying a bit, I did nothing productive. Most of the day was spent on the couch watching White Collar (my newest TV love). It was the perfect day for it - cold and dreary. I'm glad I had a day of down time to rest up for the week. I hope your weekend was as party-filled, or as chilled, as you wanted it to be.

Next time: Swatches!

February Resolutions

I’ve been a bit off lately. Not down, just a bit off. There are different possible causes for this feeling. I’ve recently developed a taste for coffee and, since we acquired a single serve coffeemaker, I’ve begun to indulge my taste by having a cup in the morning. It’s not a lot of caffeine, but I’m instantly awake rather than slowly waking up over a cup of tea. Another possible cause is not going to the gym as often as I should. There are a whole bunch of excuses I could site here, but they aren’t important. I’ve not been in over a week, and haven’t even done any yoga since last Tuesday. Add a few parties, and too much rich food, and I guess it makes sense that I’m a bit off.

To fix this feeling, I’m going to start going to the gym every day after work, except Tuesdays when I’ll be doing yoga. I'll actually do some cardio. (I haven’t done cardio in months.) That should work for the body part. For the mental part I’m going to bring the spinning wheel back into the living room and spin at least once a week. I’ll do go to yoga class once or twice a week. And I’ll continue to focus on my shawl, as well as designing the baby blanket.

Last of Kid 'N Ewe... spinning classes.

Oh my goodness, is it December already? Okay, quick wrap up of Kid N Ewe, and then back to knitting.

On Sunday I got up fairly early, made even more early by having spent the previous night at Wurstfest, and headed back into Boerne. I got there just in time to pull out my wheel and set up at the Spinner’s Workshop.

This is not my wheel, but it's pretty.

I mentioned having hurt my shoulder from spinning too much, which distressed the teacher to no end. She insisted that I learn how to do the long draw drafting method. As it was one of the many things I’d been looking to learn, I was not opposed to the idea. So I spent the class practicing the long draw, and spinning with different fibers. I had the most success not reverting to the short forward draw when I was using merino. She said that, while I am still perfecting my long draw, I should use the best prepared fibers I have because then I can focus on technique.

Fiber I brought and wanted to try out.

Of the different fibers we tried, the sari silk and the flax left the biggest impression. I carded and spun some of the sari silk I’d bought months ago. It had scared me, I loved the colors but I was afraid of messing it up. Being in a class setting gave me the courage to give it a try. Spinning flax, which once spun is called linen, was very different from anything I’d tried before. You spin flax wet, which kind of blows my mind. Spun dry it’s really hairy; spun wet it’s not nearly as fuzzy and much stronger. The class covered how flax is made but, while it was interesting, the earliness of the hour had an affect on my retention.  It's from a plant. We'll leave it at that.

After class I had a quick bite to eat then headed back for my last class of Kid N Ewe, Spinning with Cotton. We were greeted with a bag of goodies, a tahkli spindle, and a bowl or glass of some sort.

Bag o' cotton and little bitty spindle.

In our bag of tricks we had a bunch of different types of cotton: ginned fiber, sliver, punis, boll cotton, and even a cotton ball. We learned about the difference between cotton and wool cards, the different types of colored cotton, how to plant and take care of cotton plants, and how to spin using the tahkli spindle.

The tahkli is a supported spindle; you attach a leader, set it in a bowl and spin it like a top. It feels different from a drop spindle because instead of holding the fiber and pulling downward with gravity, you pull up and away from the spindle. Unlike a wheel or a drop spindle, the only pull on the fiber is the spinner. This causes a tendency to over spin, which is helpful with such a short staple length.

I love how small and portable the tahkli is, and when I got back to Austin I spun on it for quite a while. By the third day of spinning, my left wrist was telling me to take a break. Like any other spinning that I’ve obsessed over, you can hurt yourself if you do it for too long. I’ve backed off but I already have a few baby skeins.

Aren't they cute?

As much as I love the portability, it is still a spindle and my wheel is just so much faster. I may try spinning cotton on my wheel again, but not until after Christmas. I’ve been neglecting my gift knitting and if I want to get any done I'll have to set the spinning aside. Yarn Harlot has a post that perfectly explains the gift knitter's motivation. It also happens to include what to get a knitter. (Hint: more yarn is always better.) So I’m off to go work on that baby blanket. But if it’s not done by the end of next week, I'm setting it aside until after Christmas. The baby isn’t due till February, and I’m hoping it's not in a hurry to be born. I’m knitting as fast as I can.

Pictures!

You know the glut of fiber photos I keep talking about? Well, here they are:

Yes, I live in Texas.

Wish I’d gotten some of the gray, but it was gone by Saturday when I bought stuff.

These are silk hankies.

Silk hankies are silk cocoons spread out on a square form, one on top of another. They are dyed together and then the spinner pulls them apart to spin with each individually. Knitty has a good explanation of how to spin with them.

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

I did not come home with a bag of unwashed fleece. It was a near thing though; it’s hard turning down that much merino fiber for ten dollars.

I love this little bear.

He’s sitting on the shelf above the white bear fibers yarn. I know the guy who dyes these, he's very nice, you should give him money.

I didn't end up getting a spindle from these guys. But aren't they pretty?

Lots of merino fiber.

There's cotton, camel, cashmere, carbonized bamboo and other wool.

This is from the Spinning Silk into Gold stall. I got a bunch of fiber from them.

This is a silk lap.

This was also at Spinning Silk into Gold stall. It’s like a giant hankie, expensive but so pretty.

I love the way they set these up, from cool to warm.

It's good to have options.

This is fiber from the Rainbow Dyeing in One Pot class.

Next year, I may buy myself one of these pots and take the One Pot class.

I loved every color combination at this stall. I'd have loved to walk home with most of these.

This is the box charkha that I talked about a while ago.

This was at the Yarnorama stall. Once I get a whole lot better at spinning cotton, I’m thinking about getting one of these. Maybe.

Me at my wheel... wait a minute.

This was kind of cool, kind of creepy, but not something you overlooked.

I love how steampunk this sock knitting machine looks.

This is the bad hair day hat, knitted out of art yarn with large mohair locks. Isn't it great?

Goat on a rope.

This goat is where the mohair comes from. He was very soft, and wanted to eat the flag that was covering the table next to him.

This is a drum carder.

 It’s a fast and easy way to mix colors and fibers into a batt. Notice the adorable little spinner waiting for her batt.

Yes, the bearskin rug is knitted. No, I have no idea how they added the teeth.

Considering all the wonderful fiber that was there, and all the fabulous yarn, I think I was fairly constrained in my purchases.

Angora, baby suri alpaca, bison/silk, camel, cashmere, cotton, carbonized bamboo, mohair white and dyed, merino/cashmere/silk superwash merino white and dyed... I think that's it.

Kid N Ewe. I can't wait!

I’m almost ready to go to Kid N Ewe. The classes I’m taking on Friday are Indigo Dying and Creative Soap Making. If all goes well I may be giving out handmade soap for Christmas, if not crochet it is. I'd like to take Etsy 101and I Love Color, but they are at the same time as the Indigo class and dyeing wins out.

Saturday... I'm not sure what I'm going to do. My sister is getting a group of people together to go to Wurstfest but she’s not planning on leaving San Antonio till 7pm. I could go to Kid N Ewe that morning and meet up with her in the afternoon, but there just aren’t a lot of classes I want to take. There's a Beginning Tatting class that I'm interested in, but that's pretty much it. The One Pot Rainbow Dyeing sounds great, until you read the required gear list. It includes bringing your own heat source and large enamel pans - that’s not going to happen. The other idea is hang out in San Antonio and play Killer Bunnies until it's time to go eat sausage. I guess I'll see how I'm feeling that morning.

On Sunday, I’m taking A Spinner’s Workshop. I’d rather take Spinning the Exotics, but the Exotics conflicts with the class I’m really excited about, Cotton Spinning with a Tahkli Spindle. I’ve got a bunch of cotton that I’d love to be able to spin without fighting my wheel.

I’ve signed up for the classes on Friday and Sunday, so I have a reserved spot. If I do end up going on Saturday, I’ll probably be able to pick up a class or two. Either way I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures. I may bring home some fiber, and some yarn. I know, you're shocked.

Renaissance Festival

This past weekend a group of us got together and headed to the Texas Renaissance Festival. We arrived Saturday morning,  set up our tents, changed into garb, and headed in. I could go on about the mead (very tasty), and the food (so bad for you, fried and usually on-a-stick), how beautiful the weather was (until it got cold that night), but really I'm here to talk about drop spindling. And fiber, of course.

I walked around the fest with a bunch of fiber tucked into my skirt and a drop spindle in my hands. I took in the sights, talked with friends, and thoroughly enjoyed myself - all while making yarn. And fairly decent yarn at that. I had some brown Coopworth fiber that lent itself to the spindle nicely.

I haven't used my spindle much since I bought my wheel. But I think all the practice I've had spinning on the wheel has helped. I'm getting a much more consistent yarn.

 
On the way to the festival I cast on for the Southern Lights Hat using my bright blue handspun. I finished that evening at the campsite. Well, when I say finished I mean it was wearable. The ends weren't woven in, it wasn't blocked, and it was missing it's pompoms.

But it got rather chilly that night, so I was glad to have it. The hat is a bit small, so I'm going to block it bigger. If that doesn't work I'll rip back the decreases, knit another inch, and then do the decreases again. It's very quick knitting, so I don't mind, but let's see if we can block that sh*t out first.

When we were comparing notes that evening, I realized there was a stall with yarn and fiber that I'd missed. I had to go! So the next morning after breaking camp, we headed back in. And after a bit of searching, we finally found the lady with the wool. Her name is Sunni Florance, she was from Flat Rock Farm.

She also had goat milk soap, and spindles for sale.

 

There was also handspun yarn.

But, I only had eyes for the fiber.

This is what followed me home.

It's Shetland roving.

 Oh, and there was a goat. It was dressed up for Halloween.

A friend of mine bought a spindle and Sunni gave her a quick demonstration.

After that we played on the giant swings, caught the last bit of the Dead Bob show, and then it was time to head back to Austin.

On the way home we happened to go through Navasota, so of course we stopped by WC Mercantile. I may have gotten a bit more fiber.

The blue is Merino and Tussah Silk. The yellow is Superwash Merino. The green, blue and brown one is Falkland Wool.

I also picked up a new whorl.

I'm hoping this larger whorl will help when I spin silk or bamboo. I hope larger whorl will spin slow enough to prevent me from making overspun yarn when using long staple length fibers. Although, considering the bounty of wool I've recently acquired, I might not have to worry about that for a bit.

Good friends, camping, dressing up, fiber, yarn, and meat on-a-stick - sometimes the world is perfect.

Back at the wheel

This past week my ankle has been feeling better so I've been spinning a bit more. I've taken the blue Corriedale from this:

 to this:

I've misplaced my wraps per inch tool, but I'd say that it's approximately 236 yards of worsted weight/bulky yarn. And that's more than enough for a hat. I think that's what this yarn has decided it wants to be. It's squishy, but not as soft as I would want for a scarf.

I've been knitting like my friend's baby is due any minute, but I've got a couple of months. So I think I may turn my focus more to spinning. All the new fiber I've collected is calling me. Also I'm really looking forward to spinning the purple and silver merino that I got at the same time as the Corriedale. I think that if I start now I can get a little spinning in before we need to go to yoga.

Tonight is the last night in partner yoga and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll miss going on Monday evenings, but that does leave more time for spinning.

Noir and Western

This past weekend was a mix of lounging around watching Darker than Black, productive bursts, and going on Erin’s birthday party adventure.

Darker than Black is a noir anime. It drops you in the middle of a world where there are "Contractors" and a "Hell's Gate" with only bits of explanation. We are almost done and I'm still not sure who the good guys are. It is slightly reminiscent of Cowboy Beebop: the noir softened with silly, the search for a missing loved one, and the “Syndicate.” It might be these are themes that run through noir anime and I’ve only just picked up on the connection between these two. Still, Darker than Black is its own show with mesmerizing characters, a twisting plot but not one that loses you. DH and I have the last four episodes to watch and I can’t wait to see how it ends.

I spun a bit while we were watching. I’ve been out of practice so I worked on some easy wool, and then plied some singles I’d made before we went to Paris.

That's the blue that wouldn't do anything right plied with a multicolored single spun from scrap left over from Spinning 101 and Spinning 201.

I also tried Navajo plying a single I’d made a while ago.

The rest of the scraps from Spinning 101 and 201.

It’s ok, but the yarn starts thick and ends thin. When you Navajo ply (the link is to youtube, skip to 47 seconds in) you ply the yarn on itself in short sections. This maintains color changes, but tends to multiply any inconsistencies rather than smoothing them out as when you ply using two singles. Still, I think the yarn will be pretty if I use it as an accent in a bigger piece. I want to continue to focus on getting an ever more consistent single so I can Navajo ply more often. Unfortunately, my shoulder has been hurting a bit since I last spun. So I’m going to take a bit of a break, and focus on knitting for a while.

Erin’s birthday was great. And I could go into detail, but she's already got a great post with pictures and everything. Check it out here.

Sunday DH and I got up, did a bit of laundry, cleaned a bit of the house and then headed down to my parents' place to look at a table that had been in storage. We decided to take the table off their hands, and Dad and my sister helped us move it into our house. That evening we went to Alamo Drafthouse and saw Cowboys and Aliens with Dad. (Mom is out of town and my sister was packing to go back to school.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I’d heard an interview where someone discussed using the western tropes to keep the spirit true while adding in the alien element. I think it worked quite well. A stranger comes into town, causes a ruckus, and then has to save the day. I won’t say any more because you should go see it.