On the wheel.......

I decided to start spinning something new when over on the coast and hopefully not leave it sitting on the bobbins for years. Someone gave me this fiber and it's lovely to spin. it's 40% angora, 30% wool, 15% silk and 15% alpaca. The color is actually a bit prettier than this photo of the bumps.  I can't remember if I have 8oz - it's at the beach cottage so I can't check. 

This is what it's looking like on my Lendrum wheel although this picture doesn't represent the actual color - it's beautiful. I think it will make a lovely scarf or cowl. 

I'm in the process of warping up my table loom for a workshop in around a month......more to come on that. 

 

Spinning.......

 I got back to spinning before the holidays......not spending a lot of time spinning but I am spinning.  I'm working on some merino/tussah silk/tencel blend dyed by my friend Whitney of Twisted & Dyed Fibers. I got the first 2 braids spun and finished plying a couple nights ago, last night I wound the first of it into a skein. Two more braids to spin. And no, I'm not sure what this will grow up and be, will start thinking about it once I'm done and see how many yards I have.  I'm spinning it between a lace and fingering weight. I tend to spin fairly thin, will have to concenrate on spinning a little thicker after I finish this because I find so many patterns I like that require DK or worsted weight yarn. 

This and that......

Yes, been gone from my blog for quite a while again. I mean, what do I have to say, not much done around here unless I count the major time sucker of working on my cousin's house (he passed away this past January).  It has just gone on the market, hoping someone wants to buy it because it's almost brand new again and is move in ready.  And no, I didn't do all the work by myself, my hubby did the bulk of it. Hoping this frees up more time in 2022 to spend on being creative. 

Just in the past 2 months I started spinning again occasionally in the evenings.  I spun up this luscious silk/yak blend.  It hasn't been washed yet and I haven't counted up the yards so have no clue what it will grow up to be. Right now I just keep petting it as I walk by.  It was a little hard on my arthritic hands to spin as it was so slippery. What has happened with that anyhow, arthritis has been gradually affecting my hands the past couple of years, feel like I'm moving toward getting old - yikes. I have some other skeins to share in my next post that were spun recently. 

Since I'll be having a bit more free time (at least assuming so) I pulled out what I got in the ASG (American Sewing Guild) neighborhood group's brown bag challenge.  This is what I got in my bag.  I'm starting to brainstorm on what I can create. Looks kind of beachy, doesn't it? Brainstorming seems hard these days, anyone else experiencing that? I've been having such problems all year focusing on being creative......or maybe it's just focusing in general.....yep, that's it. 

The past few weeks I've been collecting fabrics in grays and teals for a quilt for the guest room trundle bed. I'm going to make it big enough to cover both mattresses when opened up. A few more fabrics and I may be ready to start cutting and sewing. 

I'm hoping to get back to weaving in the near future, like not long after the holidays. I've focused on weaving to sell for over 30 years and now have decided to retire from selling - it's hard to make that transition.......but I'll eventually figure it out. 

Even though I've been in a funk for well over a year due to family issues I'm convinced 2022 is going to be better and am looking forward to spending time in the studio again. 

 

Need some color in my life..........

This week I find I need some color in my life.  My family lost my cousin in January, he was way too young but had many health issues..........and no, it was not to covid. So now I need to deal with his affairs so am just taking it one day at a time as the process will go on for months. I'm also feeling the need to get back to something that resembles normal in my life.........I mean the new normal in covid times which other than not being able to go to a fabric store to pick out fabrics in person for a quilt and eat out it really doesn't affect me much, I'm happy staying at home. 

I just put this towel warp on the loom. This is where I'm auditioning wefts just weaving an inch of a color to see what I like. Not sold on any of them so far so will come back to this project in a day or so.

Yesterday I decided I needed to get back to spinning while we watch tv in the evenings and I just found out season 12 & 13 of Heartland were up on Netflix streaming so we've started our binge watching in the evenings. In my stash was a small amount of this Dicentra Designs roving - what fun to spin these bright intense colors.  I have no clue what I'll do with the yarn, will have to think on it once I see how much I get. I'm spinning fingering weight. 

I'm going to make an effort to post more often and maybe I'll actually have something to share. Hmm, where are those pictures of some gifts I made this year..........

Inglenook Fibers 2021 12 Days of Christmas Spin-a-long

I am late to the party on the 12 Days of Christmas Spin-a-long from Inglenook Fibers. There has been and continues to be too much going on in my life to even think about spinning.  I was to start spinning the first packet on Christmas Day, hasn't happened, not sure when I'll get started on this project. 

The label shows the photo that was the inspiration for this years spinning fibers. I have now opened all the packets and took these pictures.  At the end of the 12 packets are two companion braids I bought to either use for plying or as companion spinning. I didn't know what direction I wanted to go so I bought two different colors. Maybe it's a good thing I haven't had time to even think about spinning because I have no clue what direction I want to go in, do I want to spin these continuous like I've done in the past going from one color to another, or do I want to spin them individually either plied on themselves or plied with a companion fiber.   I'm at a loss this year so they will sit in a basket until I'm ready.  I may end up deciding on a project first this time. So for the time being these fibers will be eye candy for when I need an emotional lift. 

 

Last week's spinning......

The county fair is over for another year - we had the best time spinning everyday and visiting with the public...…and chatting and chatting amongst ourselves.  It's amazing that we never run out of things to talk about after spinning together all day long. 

I was close to finishing up spinning some other fiber so didn't want to take that as I'd have to ply and didn't feel like plying the entire time.  This is the last of my hand-dyed roving in my stash, it's a merino/bamboo/nylon blend in a colorway I call bandana. I am ready to ply 2 huge bobbins I spun on my Hansen (electric) mini-spinner which was so easy to roll in and out each day in it's Zuca rolling tote. I have no clue what it will grow up to be, it may have to sit on the shelf and marinate for a while until the perfect project comes up. I wasn't sure what it would look like spun up, I really like it. 

Inglenook Fibers almost finished......

Here is my Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas fiber all spun up. I plyed it with solid colors from my stash. I wish it could have all fit on one of my big Hansen bobbins but it didn't so two skeins it is. You can see where the gold picks up on the upper skein from the first skein on the bottom. I don't know what the yardage is yet, will figure that out after I block it.  I say it's almost finished because it won't be finished until I come up with a project and knit, crochet or weave it. I'm pleased with my decision to spin solid colors to ply it with. Interesting color progression from spinning one packet after another.......don't know if I like it or not, only time will tell...........

A bit of fibery fun.....

Got started weaving on the towel warp - only two towels woven though as we had to take advantage of beautiful afternoon weather to prune the small area of grapevines we have. Perfect cheery colors for winter weaving.


Day started out below freezing with freezing fog but by early afternoon it was warm and sunny, warm enough for no jackets. Grapevines hadn't been pruned in who knows how many years.....one of them supported with posts and wire as it should have been....the other had grown into the deck railing and fencing, never had any kind of traditional vine supports. We fixed that putting in posts and wires and after trimming winding remaining vines on the new wire - hopefully it will do well. Fruit tree trimming will be coming up soon, most probably next month. That will be another huge job as those 2 apple & 2 plum trees probably haven't been pruned in many years. Already seeing new buds on the rose bushes and trees - it's only January!

I finished plying the lime/purple spinning. I haven't blocked the skein yet, nor measured how many yards I've got yet. Not sure what it will grow up to be, will go on the shelf until an idea pops into my mind.

Finally heading back to the loom

 Yesterday I spent part of the day winding a 12 yard towel warp. It really pushes my lower back to wind this much on the warping board so I took frequent breaks. It feels good to finally be getting back to the loom. I may also warp the AVL in the next week.

 It's now wound on the back beam awaiting threading of heddles and sleying of the reed - but I'm so busy the rest of the week I'm not sure when that will get done. This warp was originally going to be white, black and blue but then I decided it needed to have a lot of color for foggy winter weaving. It will be a basketweave and twill design.

I went through my stash and found colors, blended other colors, to spin to ply with the Inglenook 12 Days of Christmas fiber. Should be interesting to see how it ends up looking when plied - hopefully it will be a success.

Inglenook Day 12

 I'm behind again - here is what the day 12 fiber looked like......

…...here it is spun

Inglenook Day 11

 I forgot to post this yesterday after I spun it 

Only 1 more day, today, left. My plan after that is to spin solids from my stash to go with all these to ply with. I've already got the majority of them together, just waiting to see today's package to finish them up. In the meantime I'll keep working on the lime/purple roving.

Inglenook Day 10

 Here is day 10 - I'm loving this 'soft' colorway

 Love it spun up too

Sunrise this morning was spectacular although this photo doesn't do it justice

Inglenook Day 9

 Here is day 9 of the Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long

 I really love this color with all the bits of color in it

Here's what else I'm spinning since the 12 days spinning is only a half ounce a day and I'm in the mood to spin. I spun a bunch of this yesterday at my spinning group and will work on it in the evenings. My plan is to ply it on itself but now I wonder if I should ply it with a solid color, like the purple......still have another 4 oz to spin so I have plenty of time to give it thought.



Inglenook Day 8

Inglenook Day 7

Inglenook Day 6

 I'm halfway done spinning......

 ....here's what day 6 looks like spun

Yesterday Bailey was getting tired of me taking pictures of fiber and the wheel and not him, he was happy finally getting all the attention. He's got a new Buster in his mouth.....a stuffed golden retriever that's almost as big as he is.......old Buster is in the mortuary. Bailey doesn't kill his babies but does constantly have them in his mouth so a favorite such as Buster eventually is pretty thread bare.

Inglenook Day 5

 Day 5 spinning done early this morning...…..

….turning towards a golden brown...….so far the colors are not what

 I envisioned from the graphic the fibers are based on...….but they're still lovely.

Inglenook Day 4

Day 4 of the spin-a-long

Here it is spun up on my electric wheel

Spinning has commenced.....

 I started spinning the Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long fiber. Day 1 is very black with bit of color...….

 …..Day 2 has the same bits of color but is a charcoal gray...…

…...Day 3 is moving into the greens...….

Day 4 spinning will have to wait until tomorrow as I can't/shouldn't open up that packet before day 4 is actually here......well, I could as no fiber police are going to come and lock me up but I'll keep with the program and open and spin only one packet a day.