Remembering how NORMAL feels . . .

I optimistically hoped knowing HOW to spin on my Ladybug Spinning Wheel might be a little like "riding a bike" once you learn. Several years have passed since the deaths of mom & dad. During many years of eldercare, spinning was my personal form of mental therapy. She moved into their house with me. I spun constantly. Then I knitted: mittens, shawls, bags, bears - Jacobus Monkeys! Knitting everything with as much of my own handspun as I could. Partly to control the stash. Mostly because knitting with your own handspun tells you how well you're doing. Tells you if you don't like knitting with it you might need to change something.

When I finally came home for the last time my wheel was placed safely on top of a bureau. Waiting. Waiting for NORMAL to return. Waiting for as long as that took. Turns out it took a couple of years.

Knowledge has come back to my hands almost like forgotten muscle memory. But after a very long pause since touching anything spinning, there seems to be a bit of a "remembering" period - where things are a little shaky. And like riding a bike, sometimes you tip over!

The drafting triangle is still occasionally "locking up" or splitting off into a bit of a clump. (I've practiced rejoining ends way more than I really wanted!) I forgot to oil the center spindle so my wheel made more noise than I EVER would have accepted before. I was just happy to be feeding slightly over/under twisted wool onto the bobbin again. I was afraid to stop to take things apart and risk my wobbly progress.

After the 1st bobbin was full-enough, it was well past time for a good wheel-cleaning Spa Day. A glug of Murphy's Oil Soap in warm water soon became chocolate-colored. Embarrassingly, cruddy brown! After getting all the parts cleaned, oiled (properly!) and put back together, the 2nd bobbin is full-enough now for plying.

I've decided to let them rest and spin a couple more bobbins. The fleece I'm spinning with is one that I bought at the Common Ground Fair. It was washed and dried as soon as I got it. But then it waited as well. It may have more "grease" left in it than I thought when it was washed. Part of my "remembering to spin" issues may be that I'm also "remembering" to prepare fleece for spinning.

I should probably practice plying on some of the left-over bobbins that collected their share of dust as well. Fear my hands won't remember might be part of the reason for filling more bobbins first . . .

I've accepted this 1st yarn I have spun in a long time will probably not be knit into a fine shawl. But feeling like more of my NORMAL has returned is comforting for now.

What's next on your list?

Stained Glass!

My "Happy Christmas ... Merry New Year ... 2019 Bucket List" wish was: 
I want to learn to do Stained Glass. 

I started researching what supplies were needed. Figuring all that out is almost more overwhelming than the actual doing.

In December I lucked out and found a couple in Vassalboro selling their stash. About an hour's drive each way. It had been stored in their barn since moving to a new house and she said "we didn't want to put an outrageous price on it ... we just want it gone."

The more I look through it the more "beyond thrilled" I am!

There was no soldering iron or cutter. But lots of glass, both in scraps and beautiful full sheets. Plus a glass grinder! 

I was a little afraid of the safety aspect of grinding glass. Until I put this long unused aquarium back into use! The grinder sits well inside of it and there's no chance of getting debris in the face.

All the scraps give me the freedom to experiment. Guilt free when there's an oops. There have been a few oops but it's really not as hard or scary as I thought! 

Books came home from the library (two I decided to buy after seeing) and lots of YouTube videos were viewed. A few of them should probably come with warning of what NOT to do.

My greenhouse will make a great place to hang stained glass. My first pieces will go the higher the better - so no one can see the beginner's work.

P.S. I started a new Sheep to Shawl project. May have to over-dye it when I'm finished as a lot of the inner skein barely took the dye for the more solid tones I was going for.

We'll see what happens!

February became March

AND winter stayed...

(and stayed!)

Photo is first day of spring.  

It snowed again a few days later.

I'm ready to complain about the heat & black flies!!

ANYWAY...

I went to my first Spin-In February 21st. 

In Newport there was a room filled with spinning wheels and people spinning them. 

I was there by myself - a little frightened - when some lovely ladies welcomed me into their group.  They all raised angora bunnies and were the friendliest bunch! 

Lots of vendors were there selling fiber.

I came home with a roving in fall colors, some alpaca, llama (that I won) and some green dyed locks (which I would have left had I known how awful it was.)  Almost impossible to pull apart. Felted. Cotted? Don't know! Whatever it was... it kind of sucked. I managed to get 2 skeins spun of 3-ply by spinning thicker and letting the lumps and bumps go by.  Sort of. It's not really in my nature to let that perfectly awful clump stay put. NOT stopping every few inches to pick it off was a challenge.

It should be good for making some more felted bags and I'll consider it another lesson in not basing purchases on "ooh pretty!"  

I really need to be more picky when buying fiber. 

What I really want is a fleece fresh from a farm. Cut out the middle man and do it all myself.  Some WARM weather for drying it outside would be nice.

I finally got brave enough to try food color dyeing!

I also learned "pretty colors" blended together can make muddy, not quite what I expected colorways. It looked like a copper penny while spinning it, but the green of one of the plies really took over. 

I found a free felted bag pattern that I followed the 2 color striping sequence for.  

They are really quite addictive.  I've made 4!

I've been using some of my early handspun including the 20 year old stuff I practiced with. 

I also made one of these bags in fleece from the 2 Lagrange farms locally. 

Picture to follow next time camera is out.

I crocheted a bit...made 2 bunnies with requested purple sweaters. One still needs the face finished.

And I cast on for a sweater out of handspun. Hoping it fits.  A free pattern until the end of March.  My sweater attempt has become a UFO about to be ripped out as a bad idea. Not to mention freaking boring.

HAPPY SPRING!
(hope it begins soon ;)

 

January Review

Finished things . . .

There's a beast in my Yarn Bowl!

I kept busy for the month of January and got lots done . . . more than I thought before I gathered pictures of things to blog about.

Wild Thing by Susan Claudino is a pattern for sale on Ravelry. I made one before Christmas in thin sock weight yarn on size 1 needles. 
A couple of weeks ago I decided to make one in thicker yarn on size 3 needles.  CUTE! 
I followed the pattern a little better the 2nd time around. He's the beast from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are.
 
I got LOTS of spinning done - 7 skeins of 3 ply during the month of January!!!

My drum carder got a good workout. 6 of the 7 skeins were fleece I put through the drum carder. The light gray was some I hand carded last fall from the Common Ground Fair.
I got it all washed this morning to "set the twist". 
It's drying on the back of an old easel.

I found a free felted bag pattern with a braided strap that I'm thinking of making with the brown/gray Tom gave me for Christmas.
Except it's only in German! 
Think I got it figured out with the help of a group on Ravelry. Once I studied the numbers and the picture it sort of makes sense even without understanding all the words. 
(That's what she said! We'll see.)

I enjoyed spinning with fiber from my new drum carder better than just about any I've purchased so far.
MUCH EASIER TO SPIN. 
Very happy with the decision to buy one.

It did need a bit of unexpected maintenance. Fibers had built up on the inside axles of the drums.  It started turning harder for a day or two and then it wouldn't turn at all. There is so little space between the frame I had to remove 5 screws  from the side panel in order to get it cleaned out. 
I had remembered seeing the diagram for taking it apart  when I first took it out of the box. 
Hoping not to have to do that too often!

AND. I've KNIT 2 pair socks already!
Okay... Size 5 needles with thicker yarn goes faster than a fancy pattern in size 1's. 
BUT they're from my own early hand spun yarn!
One pair was dyed in Orange, Red and Yellow Kool-Aid. They're a little scratchy but not sure if it's because of beginner spinning or maybe 20 year old fleece?  BOTH!

The market bag is a UFO I dug out of hiding. One of my 2015 goals was to finish things I've gotten bored with and left sitting around. PLUS:
Knit with hand spun.
Finish processing fleece I own ... before buying more.

So far so good!

 

Another New Year ...where was I?

Spinning and other things.

Mostly spinning!

I make pretty good yarn now :) 

Yarn I don't mind knitting with - although deciding what to knit takes ages as I seem to go round in circles deciding what would make a good match.  
Is there enough? (usually NOT!) 
Is it too thick or too thin?  
It's been thick & thin more often than not. But it's getting better.

I started AND finished a pair of socks this week in some merino I bought from Bountiful last April. They are really more like croc socks or slipper socks as I spun it last summer and was still doing 2-ply. Not sure how well they will stand up with wear. They should make nice, warm spinning socks as I don't wear shoes EVER while treadling my Ladybug.

I decided to save towards a drum carder for Christmas 2014. 
My beautiful daughters took the $400 I had built up and added the rest. It came a week before and I dutifully left it right in the box until Christmas day.
Once again I chose a piece of equipment sight unseen. I had never touched a drum carder but I decided I wanted one. Once I picked which one a family friend tried to talk us into driving several hours away to test some out. 
It's winter in Maine and driving tends to suck quite often. There were blizzard like conditions at the time and so I convinced the girls NO.  
I want what I want! 
(Free shipping, no taxes if comes from out of state AND there was a sale!)

I LOVE IT!  
I've spun 3 new skeins in 2015 already. 
Two of them I processed through my new Ashford Drum Carder!

I was afraid it was beginner's luck or a fluke that my first test run through the carder was spinning so nicely. The next batch is spinning nicely as well. 

I  had grabbed some dyed purple locks from One Lupine and after finger picking and putting through the carder it was like spinning cotton candy!  I told Tom I wanted 4 purple sheep in whatever breed it was. Turned out to be Romney. I didn't to ask at the time I bought it but a quick email solved the mystery.  

Tom gifted me with 2 big bags of washed fleece also from One Lupine. All he remembered was that it was washed once and came from a farm in Lagrange. I bought my first half fleece at the Common Ground Fair in September 2014 ... also from Lagrange.  Turns out the lady farmers are next door neighbors. I WANT TO BE THEIR FRIEND. Or volunteer apprentice :)

I also discovered NEEDLE FELTING a couple of months ago! Lots of snowmen were made, complete with knitted scarf and hats.    
And the frog from Woolbuddies.  I borrowed the book from the library and decided it was a keeper. Sara gave it to me for Christmas!

I have made a few New Year Goals including reviving my African Violets (down to 2 trays) and blogging occasionally. PLUS Finishing more of the things I've started. 
More to come...  Happy New Year!

The Slippery Slope.

I never knew I wanted to be a spinner.  

Through the years old spinning wheels were regularly seen in antique shops around here; usually broken, with missing parts even to my untrained eyes. I remember carefully reaching out a finger and daring to poke wheels to make them turn a bit whenever we came across one.  
But I never really thought, "gee, I want one of these." I can make yarn now! 

Yarn I look forward to knitting or weaving with. 
And soon I want to try dyeing some of this creamy, off-white freshly hand spun yarn into lovely new colors.  NEXT!

In April my cousin Mark gave me 3 bags filled with old fleece from long ago when he raised sheep. 
I couldn't remember how long it had been, but I did know Sara & Steph were still young when they went next door with Grammie to see the baby sheep. 
I dug through some old photo albums and found pictures dated 1991. 
OLD  FLEECE.
He doesn't remember what kind of sheep they were.
Except one was named Gloria and one Jane!    
One of them had silky long locks and in hindsight should have been kept separate.

A wiser person would probably have passed on this gift, rather than be so quick to jump in with both feet. 
Who teaches herself to process fleece with less than 2 months of practice, learning to spin?!
"I don't know what I'm doing!" has been uttered many times now.

I dumped it all on a tarp. There were rips in the bags it had been stored in. If there was anything making a nest inside I figured it was better to find out quickly. Outside!

I sorted using my own grading system:
Gross. Grosser. Grossest.
Grossest went to trashcan with no looking back. This has not been a job for the squeamish. Veggie matter is a polite description for what these critters got stuck to themselves long ago. 
My first two skeins were done using a regular comb and a washer as a Diz. 
By the end of April I had my new Hand Carders from Paradise Fiber.
I look forward to my next fleece being not quite so vintage.  
Slippery Slope!!







Practice.
Practicing with this old fleece has been freeing in a way. For as much work as it takes to get it ready to spin, I don't worry about wasting money on the expensive bags of fiber I bought, still waiting because of this new distraction. I get to figure things out and if it doesn't go as well as I liked, I get to pull a bit off and try again.  Like joining new ends smoothly.
 
There's no more anxiety or guilt for the time I took until I was ready to begin spinning. Simply anticipation of the next slot of time I happily give to my spinning wheel. Sometimes a bobbin will fill.  Another bobbin might be started and before I know it an hour or more has passed.  
I actually enjoy the process of plying many spinners seem to find a chore. 
It feels like accomplishment to me!
As I go about my daily routine now, my Schacht Ladybug sits in the corner made by our couch and a small thrift-store end table that I sanded, buts still needs finishing.  
Just out of the traffic flow of the living room. 
(No, it's NOT a projector!)


Jax shoves her half-peeled soccer ball under my elbow to coax me into doing something different after I've hardly gotten started. She lays her head on my left knee and makes it feel as heavy as she can until she gets what she wants. I tried to take a picture of her face looking up at me and keep treadling. Doesn't work too good. She's worked out how to get her way:
Lunch, a walk, or peanut butter, please!

 
Darling Blue Trail in bloom. (Distraction from first use of my new bread machine: FAIL.)
Note to Mrs. John: wait til you see one of my Tiger Trail plants!!

So, where was I . . . ?

Catching up with myself!

(There's been spinning... eventually.)

During the winter of 2013 the great Fox Project was begun. Fox Mittens were knit madly, in time for the holiday shopping rush. Every order that could be filled in time for Christmas gift-giving would be knit. 


There were many pairs sold, as well as the pattern on Ravelry! 

It paid for my new spinning wheel, and then some, for which I'm so happily grateful.  

I was also exhausted by the time this big box arrived. Plus, there were still mittens to be sent before learning to spin could begin.

And then something most unexpected, and a bit frightening, happened in January and part of February.  There was a bit of a delay before I pronounced myself ready to learn to use my wonderful new spinning wheel.  Exhaustion from not sleeping well and worry over several older relatives, combined with holiday blues and the never ending winter left me as close to a nervous breakdown as I ever want to get. It didn't help that I gave up caffeine and was experiencing withdrawal symptoms I didn't even recognize for several days. I actually went to the internet to see if it was a "real" thing. It was suggested symptoms could last a week or two. I couldn't see straight half the time and went so far as handing over the car keys and refusing to drive or be responsible for anyone's care besides Tom and myself.

(And the dog!)  We did a lot of snowshoeing, although half the time my surroundings were a blur as I focused on one step at a time. My spinning wheel sat on a desktop, safely out of harms way until I was ready. I watched lots of online video for beginners and went to the library fiber festival February 22nd just so I could stand behind a lady spinning to watch what her hands were doing. It was helpful. Drafting is a bit of a mystery until it finally clicks and just starts happening.  That was the morning I officially began teaching myself.  I got off to a bit of a shaky start, but always kept it in my mind learning how to spin could take as long as it took.  Even as I muttered laughingly to myself several times "I might really suck at this!" I never believed I would not figure it out.  Happily, I am now making "yarn"!

Okay... the first couple of skeins were more like rope! 
This was my first 2-plied carded Romney from the Woolery, spun quite thick in some places; too thin in others.  I made myself knit with it, using the thickest skeins as the bottom layer of soles for my favorite felted slippers. My arms ached from knitting with it, but it might have been a good lesson: I needed to spin thinner and more consistently so knitting would not hurt!  The slippers are finished - using all my own hand-spun! They still need to be washed to see how well they felt.