Spindle Spun

I've been emailing with Tammy over at 365 Days on a Farm in Eldridge,IA, and we've decided to do a drop spindle class in her store next Saturday, June 25th.  She's had several people interested in learning to use a drop spindle and we talked about that quite a bit when I was there several weeks ago.  I'm not positive what the final participant fee will be but if you're anywhere near the Quad Cities area (or want to drive over from further afield), we'd love to have you join us.

The class will focus on beginning on a drop spindle but I'm sure we'll have some folks that will be ready to take their spindling on to greater heights.  If you're interested in the class, give Tammy a call at 563-285-9985.

Speaking of spindling, meet my newest spindle:

In case you don't recognize it, it's a vintage-looking door knob that I found at Hobby Lobby.  You have to make sure the hole goes all the way through the ceramic handle then take the hardware out.  You also want to try to make sure it's as balanced as possible.  I've got another one I did that's okay but not really great. Just a little unbalanced but it makes a difference.  Put it on a dowel that fits snugly, shape the top and bottom of the shaft and, woohoo, you have a spindle.

You can't see the top but I've just done a simple notch near the top so I can attach the yarn with a half-hitch.  For the bottom, I just sort of smoothed it out so it would spin nicely.  Then I sanded the shaft a bit, dipped it in some tung oil (and wiped off the excess).  It's the most amazing supported spindle I've ever seen for spinning.  In my little bowl, it spun last night for more than 90 seconds.  Perfect.  I've got some cotton on it right now and the spindle exceeds my ability to do the long draw but it's certainly helping me since I'm not having to draft AND fight to keep the spindle spinning.  It's my new favorite spindle.  Plus it's pretty!

The new spindle is posing with some bamboo yarn/thread that I spun on my Symphony last night.  I've never enjoyed my bamboo fiber spinning experiences but last night I got an inspiration to try it on the Symphony and it was love at first site, fiber to wheel, wheel to fiber.  My fiber wasn't well prepared (by me) so there was some diameter issues but I think I know how to solve that.  Now I want to do enough to make a little bobbin lace project.  I think this will work really well with bobbin lace.  This picture isn't very good but it shows a little more how fine it spun up.

Doing too much

You know you're doing too much when you get up in the wee hours of the morning to go to an event 3 hours away and get halfway there before you realize the event is NEXT weekend.  So I've been doing a wee bit too much and I was hoping to slow down a bit this summer but somehow that doesn't seem to be happening.  It wouldn't be so bad if my day job weren't getting in my way. 

And in case I get bored this summer, the Lace Knitting class at Three Sisters Folk Art School  has been rescheduled for August 19-21.  We're going to be able to spend a whole weekend exploring the knitting of lace.  Whether you're ready to stick your toe into the pond or if you've been knitting lace and just want to take it a bit further, come join me for the class.

I have, however, been able to get a few things done. 

One thing I've done is found a new yarn shop in the Quad Cities area.  They've just had their grand opening and it's definitely worth popping in for a visit.  It's called 365 Days on a Farm.  They've got some really nice yarns and are also going to carry fiber and spinning equipment. I had a really nice visit with them and may, if we can get it scheduled, do a couple of classes with them later this year.  Their focus is going to be on American-made yarn and fibers.  They hope to be able to highlight fiber and yarn made from fiber from local farms as they build their inventory.  Really nice folks. (They're at 116 W Davenport St in Eldridge, IA.  Go.  You'll thank me later.)

While there, I saw the funniest thing I've ever seen.  A young local knitter decided she wanted to make her featherly-challenged chicken a sweater so Tammy decided to help.  She had pictures that she'd printed out from some blogs.  Have a look here...and here.  I laughed and laughed and laughed.  A chicken wearing a sweater.  You can't hear but even now I'm laughing.  A chicken wearing a sweater.  Sounds like the punchline of a joke, right!

Speaking of lace, I'm getting along with my lace doily.  The main section was 106 rounds of lace knitting.  With 576 stitches on the final section, that's a load of knitting.  I've been debating whether to continue on with the edging the pattern calls for...

As you can see, the edging is a ruffle.  But, honestly, can you ever see me getting it to ruffle properly?  In case you don't know, I'll tell you.  No, I wouldn't.  I was contemplating doing it.  Really I was.  But then I realized that to start the ruffle, you have to double the number of stitches and the thought of knitting 40 rounds of 1152 stitches made me realize that if you're never going to get it to ruffle properly, you probably shouldn't attempt it.  Plus I'd like to finish it before the end of the decade.

So I had a look through my other books and here's what I came up with...

I'm quite happy with how this edging goes with the pointy-ness of the doily pattern.  In fact, after it gets blocked, I think it will suit even better than the original pattern.  Even if it's not 1152 stitches around.

What I did on vacation

Life has been so busy this spring that I've hardly knit a stitch but I got some vintage magazines given to me the other day and came across a knitted doily that I just couldn't pass up.  I started this on Saturday:

It's been a lot of fun and I love the fact that there's some variety in the textures in each of the petals.  It's worked in size 30 thread on US size 0 needles.  I'm debating about doing the ruffle.  It's pretty in the picture but in what universe am I really going to be able to get it to ruffle right?  We'll see.

The other main thing I've been working on is a great big ole square of garter stitch.  Okay, it's not a square yet but it's going to be a square.  Normally I hate knitting garter stitch but in this hand spun yarn with the movement of colors, it works, I think.  The problem is that I've run out of yarn (twice).

Actually, I knew that would happen but, whereas I'd kept up with the spinning and knitting, I have now run out completely.

I don't want to go too far with the spinning, though, because I think I'm going to do something a little different with the border and the edging.  I'm almost ready to start plying for my third round of knitting but I think I need to add a little more of the brown back into the second bobbin of singles.  I have to say, though, that I'm really loving the whole process of spinning and knitting this shawl.

I did find some turquoise merino roving at the KY Sheep and Fiber Festival that I've started spinning.  I'm wondering about using that for the border and then spinning the browns that I've taken out of the second bobbin of the singles for the original yarn for the edging.  I think I'll have to have a think about that.  I'm just thinking the solid turquoise would show up the lace knitting so much better and then the brown will ground it all in the edging.  We'll have to see.

Home again, home again

But can't wait to go back.

I’ve had a fabulous long weekend.  I was in the beautiful city of Lexington, KY, for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival. But since I was going to be all the way over there, I decided to spend some time just enjoying the area. Last year when I came, there wasn’t much time to see anything.

I drove down on Thursday, a nice leisurely drive down. On Friday morning, I headed down to Berea, an area that is famous for folk art. While there was beautiful woodwork, pottery, glasswork and some quilting, I’m a little surprised that there are not more textile arts in this part of the country. I’ve visited several folk art places in Kentucky and haven’t seen even very much weaving, never mind knitting or other textile arts.

After Berea, I headed over to Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. I’m in love. This is the most wonderful place and the most wonderful people. This was a strong, functioning Shaker village that was active from about 1805 until 1910. At its height, there were approximately 450 people in 5 or 6 communities. In 1910 it closed down but it wasn’t until the 1950s or 60s that the non-profit was formed and they started buying back the land and restoring the village. Amazingly, the buildings that are there are the original buildings, not reproductions. There were all kept standing and have been turned into, not only display places but also guest rooms. There were wonderful crafts and room displays, etc., but the most fun was a little ride through the village in a horse-drawn buggy with an interesting fellow that was able to give all the history of the place and has been there for many, many years. You can easily see how connected the staff is to the place.

The biggest highlight, even more than the buggy ride was the sheep shearing demonstration. The guy who did the demonstration is 77 years old and some of the younger guys who shear with him say that he can still out work people half his age and that he is a living legend in the shearing world. He was quite the character. The sheep he was demonstrating on were Polypay sheep, which is a relatively recent breed developed from crossing Dorset, Rambouillet, Finnsheep and Targhee. It was fascinating to hear him tell the story of why each of the breeds were worked in – have a look here for more info.

(That's my fleece he's holding up!)

Of course, the reason for the trip was teaching a class at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival on Spinning for Lace. I had 6 ladies in the class and everyone seemed to have a good time. The basis of the class was looking at the 3 elements that will set you up to be successful at spinning lace:

• Equipment – getting your wheel set up so that you’ve got lots of twist going in and very minimal pressure on the yarn being pulled onto the bobbin.
• Preparation – preparing your fiber to give you the best set up for spinning a light-gauge singles.
• Technique – using a technique that will either complement the fiber being used or achieve the sort of effect you want for the finished yarn.

They did such a great job and it was a lot of fun to see the excitement in their faces when they achieved a yarn they never expected they’d be able to make. To me, that’s the joy of teaching. That grin and giggle and excitement is what makes me love to teach.

It’s been hard not to include 43 photos here because the countryside was so beautiful and the Festival was so much fun. So here are a few that will give you a taste. You really need to plan on hitting this Festival next year, for sure. This was only their second year but it was so well done and with so many interesting and varied vendors. There were demonstrations and animals and fleeces and fiber and wood and so much more. The organizers did a fabulous job.

I also want it known that I showed steely self control because I did not come home with a mohair fleece, nor with a Cormo fleece, nor with a Jacob fleece, nor with any other fleece except the Polypay. I did not come home with a new spinning wheel (although I finally got a chance to try out the Spinolution – which has the most clever travel wheel you’ve ever seen. Not sure how much I liked it but it was definitely interesting) nor with a handmade table loom or shuttles or baskets. If that’s not an iron will, I don’t know what is. I am, however, planning to go again next year to get all the things I missed this time!

This time for sure

I tried several times during the week to post but blogger was down for a couple of days and I'm still having trouble uploading photos.  Hopefully this will work.

I just got back from Chicago where I was doing a tatting class for some of the folks from the LACE group.  There's going to be a beaded tatting class at the Lace Days on June 18 (actually this class is going to be the day before - see info posted on the above link) and some of the folks wanted to get in a lesson on tatting before they got to this more advance class.  There were also a couple of sisters who joined us, one of whom I met at TLD Designs where she was teaching an enameling class.  They were all the biggest hoots.  We laughed all day long.  And the best part is that every single one of them tatted.

It's not all going to be comfortable the first day you learn something new like this but they did fabulously!  Practice makes it more comfortable.  I love it when you get a room full of people who are willing to try just about anything. 

Our hostess, Nancy, was definitely the hostess with the mostest and I deeply appreciated her offer to put me up on Friday night so I didn't have to drive up and back in one day.   Thanks, Nancy.  You're the best!

Before we got started, we got entertained by an acrobatic squirrel:

In case you can't see, he's got his back leg hooked over one of the stands for the birds.  He was in high cotton, you can bet.
The table was set up ready for the gang:

We were moving too fast to get actual class in action photo (for some reason, I never think about taking photos while I'm running around the table!).  But we did get this one photo before everyone headed off:

I can't even tell you how much we laughed.  That's definitely the way to have a class!!!

Next up, the last event in my busy, busy spring, is the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY.  This is a new event with this being, I believe, only the second annual.  If you're anywhere near, you definitely want to come out.  There are a ton of vendors, demonstrations and classes all day Friday and into Saturday morning.  I'm doing a Spin for Lace class on Saturday morning and there are only a few places left. I'd love to see you there!

Little bit of lace

One of the things I got on my trip was a dvd on bobbin lace and I've finally gotten around to watching it.  It came with 5 patterns which she goes through step by step.  It's been a great help.  Here's my first project from it:

Again, the first part of it is a bit rough but I'm really sort of pleased with the rest of it.  I'll have to find a wee square of linen to sew this onto and it will be my first real project. 

I Learned Something

I learned something last night.  I was watching a video on bobbin lace when the teacher described how to tie bobbins together after you've taken them off of a previous project.  Sometimes you still have plenty of thread on the bobbins and you don't want to waste it.  Here's what she said to do:

You've got two ends of thread that need to be connected up.






Take one of the threads and make a slip knot in it.



Now that you've got one slip knot, you're ready to attach the second thread.



Insert the second thread through the slip knot, leaving a short tail.

Pull the end of the slip knot until the knot is pulled tight.  You might even feel the knot pop as it incorporates the second thread.



Now you've got a nice tight almost unnoticeable knot.  You can trim the ends very short and go on with your work.



Pretty nifty, huh?  It seems so cool although I'm sure that everyone else probably knows the trick already.  It was new to me and I'm dead chuffed to have learned something.