Dark for The Duke

Coreopsis Dyed GCNI: Fine Singles for Sanquhar Knitting

Sanquhar Knitting is traditional regional Scottish knitting. The town of Sanquhar is in SW Scotland, and its knitters are responsible for some fine patterns/designs that may be related to woven designs. The knitting is done with fine yarn on fine needles.

Recently, a group was formed on, wouldn’t you know, Ravelry. Patterns were ordered from SWRI (Scottish Women’s Rural Institute) and sent to some of the group members. These are glove patterns. This type of knitting is often done in black and white in order to show off the fine geometric designs. Here’s a link to Future Museum, where you can get a good look at the gloves we’re making.

Granted, this is not black yarn…however it is my native yarn, overdyed with my state flower. I’m using a fine natural cream single as the counterpoint.

Flowers & Fleece

Holly – Gulf Coast, Amber – GCNI, and a Border Leicester Wearing Flower Dye

Clockwise from left: Gulf Coast Dyed with Coreopsis, Purple Ruffles Basil, Goldenrod, and GCNI with Coreopsis. (Border Leicester locks in Basil and Coreopsis on Right.)

These fibers were all dyed in the locks. Holly’s fleece was washed using the fermented suint method, so there is a good deal of lanolin in the wool. The wool took the dye just fine. Amber, the GCNI, as well as the Border Leicester locks were washed with no soap Vet shampoo prior to dyeing.

Fleece Study, Part I

Navajo Churro, Cold Soaked for 6 Days

The Raw Wool Lovers, Unite group on Ravelry has been having a Fleece Study. Alice, aka shortsheepshepherd, has coordinated the purchase and distribution of a whole pile of fleeces…a variety of breeds. Last month, we received our first “installment” of 4 samples.

Fleece #1 Navajo Churro, was soaked for 6 days in a tub of cold water. I drained it and sprayed down the fleece when I got an algae bloom. The fiber is fairly coarse, but after the weeklong soak, it’s very clean, with a bit of grease…that, for me, is good for spinning.

Navajo Churro Locks, Ready to Card

I pulled off some clean locks from the pile of fluff. This stuff is long! I did card a small batt and it’s just lovely.

For the record, this fleece came from breeder Golden Ridge Farm in Vesuvius, Virginia.

Mayday Alpaca!

Alpaca – “Reggie”

Spin a yarn a day. Here. This is from Reggie’s blanket. Yes, it feels as good as it looks. 

I’m getting to the point of actually having clear decks around here. May is an incredibly busy month here…and I have big fiber goals, as well as big music committments, and a giant deal with our gardens. I’m currently making an attempt to spin all the ends of projects…dribs and drabs of clean fiber…so that I can get to some serious fleece washing, dyeing, and spinning.

Over the summer, I’ll be making Tom’s Christmas present – ahem – from last year. We’ve been working on a design off and on since forever. I need to write out the pattern, swatch, and get spinning. The dark brown CVM/Romney “Gracie” fleece is dedicated to that end.

Then, there is “All Wrapped up in Natural Fibers” that has a May 20 deadline. I need to write a pattern - some sort of scarf. I’ve made several samples, for gauge swatching. But, now, we’re gonna get serious. I’ll be using Holly’s and/or Sally’s hogget fleece.

Okay. I also have made a promise to a designer to churn out a sample for her. I’ve spun the yarn, cast on, and found myself too busy. I have to make time for that too.

You see where I’m going with this? Yes…I need clear decks. That’s what today’s spinning is about. Chipping away at fiber mountain. If I can scale ‘er, heck, I’m not concerned with making the summit…but I would like to be able to see the sky again!

Spinning CVM, Thinking of a Chicken

CVM/Romney 2-ply, 1/4 oz, 20 yd, 12 wpi

I bought this fleece to make a sweater for Tom. It is so dark brown, it’s almost black. This picture was taken with a flash, so the color is washed out. I’ll take a picture in the morning and add it to this post. The color is so amazing. And soft? Oh, I hope there’s enough for a sweater for me. I’ll lose weight, I’ll get small…whatever it takes. This is some special wool!

Update on the chicks. They are behaving like wild injuns. Wingie was always on them about staying close to her. Well, today, they were venturing out…not just out of their run, but out of the garden completely. We had a hawk scare today too. Three crows swooped in and escorted the hawk away. I think that is pretty amazing!

First Haircut for Holly & Sally

Holly & Sally Hogan Waiting for their Date with Joel the Shearer

Oh what a day this has been. The crack of dawn came all too soon. Every animal was hungrier than usual. And we had to catch 2 wildy gals who have the run of 5 acres, and no we don’t have a ramp or a chute so don’t ask. Between the 2 of us, we got ‘em into the back of the truck and drove to Morningside, where they were born.  Here they are, in the little feed pen, waiting for their date with destiny…their first shearing.

Holly in the Shear Position

Now, I do know how much you want to see all the grim details of their shearing. But you get one picture. My girls would be horrified to think of the indignity. Ahem. Actually, Joel the Shearer has been plying his trade since he was 12 years old. His sister is his assistant, and more than able is she. He shears a sheep in about 3 minutes. Flawlessly.

Nekked Holly & Sally Evaluating her Sister’s Haircut (“OMG, I’m Next?!)

Holly Fleece. Smell that Lanolin?

I couldn’t wait to get home and unroll those sheets. I took a couple locks from each fleece to measure, to wash, and to …. SPIN.

Holly & Sally Blend – First “Skein”

I did take pictures of Sally, but I am in a total hurry…more on that in a minute. May it suffice to say that I washed a bit of each fleece, then dried it in the hot afternoon sun, then carded and spun a fine single, and plied it. This mini skein is only 8 yards long. But, ain’t it grand? This is some whisper soft lamby fleece, I tell you. Washed, the locks were over 4″ long. For Florida gals, I believe they did real good.

Now, Tom and I have to drive to Barberville, because we are set to play the last dance, at 10:00 tonight. Right now, we’re fighting over staying overnight. I can’t see it…everyone needs feed and water in the morning. But, it’s 100 miles each way…and we have to play there again tomorrow at noon. What would you do?

Wind and Rain and Wind = Tired Out

Stormy day. Wind and Rain started last night. The chickens were all at risk. Wind tore off a coop door, blew off a coop roof. We worked in the dark in the lightning resecuring our charges. Finally, there was a break in the storm and we all slept. But, this morning, the wind was back. Couldn’t decide if it was a west wind or an east wind, a north or a south.

Look at this. You decide.

 

Oak Tree Dancing with the Wind

Oh, what does a spinner do when she can’t sleep? Correct, Queen Friday, she spins. I didn’t want to coax fiber into rolags or roving, I just wanted to spin. I have a 3 oz roll of Gulf Coast Native roving that I pulled a while back. So, there, I had something to work with.

This fiber is so springy, stretchy, that it really looks crummy sitting there on the bobbin. Looks like big fat airy yarn. This is a very fine single. I’ve learned not to spin the GC singles too firmly, the resulting plied yarn will be hard.

This singles yarn will, hopefully, contribute to a wonderfully springy soft sock yarn.

Good stuff can sometimes come out of storms.

This One’s for Ray

Remembering Ray

Last night, in the wee hours, I finished spinning a tweedy yarn for my father. Thirty-six years ago, my father died. He was a textile guy. My earliest memories were of sitting in the old Studebaker parked on the far side of the bridge, looking down at the waterfall at Westerly Woolen. Every few weeks, he would leave the mill with a gift of a few yards of some wool they were weaving…something he thought was awesome. My mother designed our coats and sewed them from those woolens.

My most special birthday present ever was a pic glass – his old pic glass, a magical tool of folding brass. Of course, the present came with a hands-on tutorial. Along with thread counting, he showed me how to graft, how to reweave, and of course, how to knit. He was the master. No shaky hands on that man.

So, on the morning after Easter, on the anniversary of his death, I spun him a yarn. One I think he’d accept. I doubt that he’d love it for it’s technical perfection, but I know that he’d love that I spun it for him. I plied that yarn with some fine old string that I’d spun a long way back. Yeah, he’d dig it.

Happy Easter Yarn

This morning, I took a break from the beautiful Eliza, and spun some garbagecan batts. My scrap heap never seems to diminish, and it is quite beautiful, shimmering and shaking and lit from within with a roguish warmth. I couldn’t resist.

So, in the midst of piles of creamy Border Leicester, I succumbed, in my most Happy Easter style, to the charms of the basket of odds & ends. Eliza, steady and true, waits for me, confident and peaceful. This crazy stuff, though, needed me this morning. Hollered out to be touched and tamed.

Happy Easter!

Progress on Bulky

April 11 Progress on Bulky Eliza

This is working out pretty well. Carding and spinning in the wee hours before bed, then winding off after I feed the critters in the morning. The peace of spinning late at night, with just the sounds of the night birds as music, is stellar. Serenity. Then, the morning payoff, seeing a finished product from that late night sojourn.

This picture shows the first skein, 78 yd and 5 3/4 oz of Eliza the Border Leicester. The 2nd skein is a 2ply spun from the singles that were left on the bobbins after making the first skein – plus 4 more little balls of roving. This skein is 44 yd 3 1/4 oz. The baggie full of fleece contains the remainder of the first washed pound. Today, after fiddling at the block party, my goal is to card those locks and start spinning the final leg.