38 posts tagged “spinning”

When a LARGE animal dies at one's home the question of what to do with the beast arises.  In our case, with really hot weather approaching (100 degrees F +) we simply could not wait.  We called the renderer, now the company calls itself &*^% Commodities.  I don't want to use their real name.  They do a much needed service to the community and the guy who drives the truck couldn't be nicer.  But, COMMODITIES?????  I guess it's better than the old Monty Python "Bring out yer dead, bring out yer dead!".  So we said our final goodbyes to our dear Sassie.  What a waste.  She was a beautiful animal with a personality to match her name.  Our last ride together we seemed to start to have that horse/rider connection.  It was wonderful.  I will miss her.

In other news, spinning course level 4 is coming up next week.  I get to travel to Beautiful Alberta.  From looking at Google Maps the place I am going to appears to be all mountains and valleys.  It looks lovely and I love this time of year.  Days are long enough to see what's what after classes so there should be some sight seeing going on.  I have never been to Calgary so I'm excited to go.  Also, friends from last year will be there.  I will meet up with Angela at the airport and Mary will be there as well.  Spinning flax this year as well as using commercial dyes.  Dyeing up your yarn is always fun.  Watching white turn all sorts of lovely shades.  We also have to give a 15 minute mini lesson suitable for beginning spinners.  I haven't quite decided yet what I'm going to talk about.  I think I will talk about carding from washed locks to rolags or rovings.  I guess I need to pack some Romney.  I am taking my wheel, a distaff (made from an old music stand) my lazy kate, a ball winder, carders, combs and an assortment of other oddments one needs to spin. 

By the way, did anyone read the editorial in the last Spin Off?  It was by Abby Franquemont and she has described exactly how I feel about spinning.  It's hard to imagine that spinning, knitting, weaving etc were once something done in almost every household.  Imagine a life without twisted fibers.  Just think about how societies were 'enmeshed' in the trading of everything from wool, silk, cotton etc.  Wars fought, monies made.   Do read it if you can.

There seems to be some sort of charity walk-a-thon going on over at the middle  school behind our house.  Our southwest corner is at the northeast corner of the football field and it is covered in tents and chairs and someone has set up a sound system.  I wouldn't mind so much if they would play something decent.  But alas, it is a jumble of country, easy listening, 80's rock guh.  I suppose it's easy to walk to, and it has a nice beat.  I give it a 67.  I don't know how many of you used to watch Dick Clark's Bandstand on Saturdays.  We did.  Like what happened in the musical "Hairspray".  All those polished faces and smiling and everyone dressed up.  Then the British invaded.  Thank goodness.  No more Neil Sedaka.  Yikes.  Well, time to pack a few more things.  Maybe make up some cheat sheets for my 'lesson'  Hope everyone has a good week end.

Lazy Kate that is.  I just finished a prototype of what I am calling a "traveling" lazy kate.  I need one that will hold at least four bobbins and lay flat in my suitcase.  Here it is

Spinning 001

Right now it is hanging on the wall, nice for keeping it out of the way.  To use, I place it on the floor.  It has notches for the dowels that hold the bobbins and fixed dowels below each to help with tensioning.  I will be adding a scotch tension set up next.  Here's a close up of the notch.

Spinning 002

This is only 3" deep without bobbins.  It is 8" wide and 24" long.  This one is made of poplar but once I get the bugs worked out of the design, I think I will make it in oak.  It really is just a take off on the old shoe box type of lazy kate.  I know that there are kates like this on the market, but I just like doing things myself.  I guess that's why I spin!!

As those who know me will tell you, I am ultra organized about some things, totally unorganized about most things.  This can be a problem.  My house is usually a wreck, but I can usually put my hand on things that are important.  Now, I can put my hands on my sample skeins for Level 3 with no problem.  They are neat and tidy, and are even alphabetized.  I tend to go overboard on things.  For instance, for this project I started out with 3' x3" plastic bobbins that I was going to attach to 5" by 8" index cards along with all pertinent information.  Way too bulky.  Then I decided to try using 3" x 3" little plastic zippy bags on the cards and then using small format binders to hold every thing.  Too bulky and the bags were too small.  So, I hit on using 4" x 4" zippy bags, which I got at our local Craftwarehouse, and used double sided tape (I couldn't have done my library job without it!) to tape the bags to the cards.  Then into the wonderful filebox with these great plastic dividers.  Whew!  A bit of effort, but well worth it.  Let's take a look. . .  .

Index box

Index card

I learned my score for my level 3 workbook the other day.  I was not prepared.  I earned a 97%!! 

Things I learned while doing my Level 3 workbook for the Master spinners program:

Unless I concentrate, I tend to make one size of yarn.  Fine

Spinning is all well and good, but if you don't label things right away you'll forget what the heck it is and then you'll have to do something all over again.

Be thoughtful and mindful while you are spinning, it makes better yarn.

Unless you are a beginner, sometimes it's really hard to make a slubby yarn.

I can make a boucle yarn!! 

Make sure you triple check stuff that you are sending away. 

10 yards means 10 yards.  Not 9 and not 11

Spinning cotton is not hard, but it isn't easy either.

I really don't like ramie.  I thought so.

Some times I get distracted and don't do what I should be doing.

Books on CD are a great way to read and spin at the same time.

I need a studio.  Even though I have a small wheel ( a Louet Victoria) it is still too big for our small living room.

Dogs like mohair. 

Don't leave mohair where your dogs can get into it. 

People actually like the things I spin and then knit for them.

I feel like 20 # have been lifted off of the back of my neck.  Today I boxed up my Level 3 work book for the master spinners program.  It will be in the mail tomorrow!!!  I can't begin to tell you what a relief this is.  One other thing that was finalized yesterday was the approval by the school district to buy our vacant property.  The proceeds of this will go to buy a much larger piece of property that has finally gotten cleared up through a lengthy court process from a previous owner.  It is now free and clear for us to purchase it as soon as we get the money from the school district.  This opens up a great many possibilities for us in the coming years.  The new property is in a growing area of the state and I'm sure its value will greatly increase in the not too distant future.  The property is in Walla Walla county in Wa state and is along the Touchet river, on the return trail of Lewis and Clark.  It is river bottom land and is sooo beautiful.  But, we aren't sure if we will live there yet or not.  Time will tell.

Now, to get ready for Allison's visit and Hawaii. 

I don't know what it is about animals, but if you're outside with them a stranger will stop by to talk to you.  It's happened a couple of times now, while Tom and I were out with the horse and mule.  Today was like that.  We met a fellow named Rory who does ceramics (just down the street from us, it turns out) and he does raku and wanted some horse hair for glazing.  We didn't really have any just yet, it isn't quite warm enough for shedding, so I gave him some wensleydale wool roving and some churro.  He said he would make us a wedding pot for helping him out.  How cool is that?  I wasn't quite sure what a hair glaze was so google to the rescue.  Really pretty stuff.  I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

In other news. . . . .  Spring is here.  Barn owls have laid eggs, herons are making nests, maples are flowering.  Forsythia is out, my official sign that spring is here.  I am putting the finishing touches on my workbook.  Making sure all the skein tags are filled out, proofreading my papers, etc.  I've come along way since I started with my little home made drop spindle.  A looooong way.  I think my favorite yarn for this book is a polwarth wrapped with tussha silk.  After washing it looks like a spiral yarn.  Fluffy, bumpy, but with that little silk sparkle. 

I am soooo close to finishing my workbook.  Soooooo close.  And yet.  Not close enough.  A bunch of notes and a few more skeins to do.  I redid my  silk weaving.  This one looks so much better than my first attempt.  Experience and practice.  Today, Tom and I were listening to NPR TOTN program and the topic was a study that found in 72 out of the 80 countries in question and 2 million surveyed, that there really is a "mid-life" crisis.  Seems that when most folks hit 45 or so, they are at the bottom of the bell curve for happiness throughout life.  I suppose there are a number of factors.  In my own life, now that I am on the other side of 50, I have found new purpose in things I would never have guessed when I was 25 or 30.  All my life I have looked for ways of artistic expression.  But it seems once I 'figured' out what ever the thing was, for example, tatting, pysanki egg decoration, painting, printing.. . . . that it now longer held attraction for me.  With spinning, I am constantly finding new and interesting things to wrap my head around.  I think I have finally found what I've been looking for.  And for me, it helps that my husband is supportive and curious.  It somehow gives me the feeling that this is worthwhile, while other endeavors seem to have fallen short.  I don't know why I need that affirmation, but I do.  guh

Today we decided to take the mule and the horse for a walk.  Just a short one.  Up the street to our vacant property.  Sassy was so excited she danced all the way there.  Then, a horse across the way saw her and started calling to her and racing up and down the pasture.  I guess she didn't realize there were any other horses near by.  She started prancing like the princess she is.  Bud took all in stride.  When we got back home, she started calling to the other horse, running back and forth.  You'd think she'd just seen the love of her life!!

Hope you got to see tonight's total lunar eclipse.  It was a bit cloudy here, but the viewing was still pretty good. 

He is stopped.  For the moment.  Today was the day we installed the electric fence.  It's not a hot wire like in a pasture.  It is a wire around our yard (yes, all 1+ acre) that sends out a high frequency radio signal to a collar that delivers a small static shock.  I know, I know, I hate the idea too.  But over the last week the rascal has left the yard an average of 3 times a day.  This morning when I fed Bud and Sue he and Buddha were playing like there was no tomorrow.  I went inside for about an hour, came back outside to start stringing wire and he was gone.  After driving around the neighborhood for about 15 minutes, I even had to stop for gas, I got home to a message that he was across the street at our neighbors' house.  So with leash in hand I went and got him. 

Now that the fence is on he gets too close and a warning noise emits from the collar receiver.  If he really gets too close he gets a different noise and a shock.  Right now he whips his head around looking for the bee that has stung him.  But it seems to be doing the trick so far.  We are keeping our fingers crossed. 

In other news the Cascade passes are still closed due to avalanche danger.  I have lived here for 30 years and I can't remember the roads being closed this much.  I would love to go to the west side to visit, but right now, it's not in the cards.  But that leaves  plenty of time for. . . . .

Level 3 work book.  I started going through my sample skeins last night and matching them up to what I have to send.  Also writing notes about different yarns and fibers as well as a small bit of research.  So far I'm pretty happy with the direction things are going.  I even created my own stand alone flax distaff!!!  It is a ballister that I got at Home Depot, a metal lamp finial that is fixed on top and a round pine disk that the ballister sets into.  It's pretty cool.  I also made a portable one out of two lamp harps, a lamp finial and a telescoping rod from a cleaning implement.  I'm replacing my lazy kate and the new one will have a place to set the rod in.  So, all in all things are going as good as can be expected. 

First, let me get Bacchus news out of the way.  The hurt foot hasn't hurt his jumping ability.  Twice today.  Luckily both outcomes resulted with the rascal back home.  What to do, what to do.

Now, down to knitty gritty.  The workbook.  Let's talk count systems.  Why, oh why do we humans have to quantify every thing?  Human nature, right?  If it has to do with money. . . . .  When the girls were younger and they wanted to know why they needed math I always answered, are you going to have a job, are you going to get paid for this job?  You need math.  Even yarn needs math.  For level 3 we have to be able to explain different methods of "count".  This all has to do with weight to length and length to weight ratios of fiber and how much you can get out of a certain amount or how much does a certain length weighs.  Still with me?  Needless to say with different measurement systems around the world things get complicated when you have to start converting from one to another.  Multiplying, dividing, measuring, weighing.  It's enough to make a girl's head spin.  Oh yes, it also depends on how you spin it and what you spin.  So you can't measure a worsted spun wool the same way you'd measure silk or cotton or linen.  Well, you can, but then you have to use a whole different measuring system.  Lucky for us some smart folks wrote all the formulas down and they keep getting passed on to us dumb folk.  Since I am still a 'hobby' spinner I like to use Wraps per Inch.  That is of course until I become a 'master' and start selling my wares!!!