Tag: wool

Going batty

PiaSpinning

purple purple and blue purple

I made G put the driveband on my drumcarder before he left for the day, so I could blend some fibers for my current funyarn project, just a batch of purples that I got out a while ago and never blended. Meant to do it on the hackle – but that requires 2 thumbs as well; I’m beginning to see why dolphins never had an industrial revolution. Apart from being too clever of course. And yes, I’m still p***ed about my thumb progress which has been going backwards this past week – are you all bored to pieces hearing about it? <G> Perhaps I should challenge myself not to speak of it again until it’s completely healed….

Stephen Pressfield has an interesting take on why we get these clumsy injuries – I have to say, it certainly fits well with some of my posts! “Things” always seem to happen “to” me just when I think I’m on a roll, cruising along with the wind in my back, thinking I’ve finally found the sweet spot. Interesting.

fluff box

Anyway, After carding the two batts for the project, I wanted more. Before I knew it, a couple of hours had passed and I’d been adding all sorts of silly things. When I ran out of obvious leftover bits of top, I got my fluff box (combing waste) out and ran a few chunks through the carder willynilly. I know it’s going to be neppy and tricky to spin, but hey, learning experience, right? Yarn that doesn’t hold up well because of short fibers can be felted…

merino silk

I’ve wanted to make tweed yarn forever, I even have a bag of undyed silk noil sitting somewhere just for that. So that’s another future project for the carder. I thought perhaps I could use the fluff for tweed nepps first, with some long fiber like Shetland for instance? Right now, however, I need to spin some as part of my attempt at a structured work and study routine. And paint if I can find uninterrupted time, which I need for that. I still don’t know what’s happening with my desire to blog differently, so in the meantime I’ll just blather as usual.

neppy tweedy

Sample spinning

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Remember the fiber I bought at the sheep market? I’ve been wondering how I wanted to spin the variegated top on the right, so I decided to get all scientific about it and at least try out all the usual varieties (knowing full well that perhaps in the end I’d have 50g of samples….)

merino

So a split lenghtwise 2-ply, a chainply, a fatter single and a 2×2 cable for starters. As well as knitted swatches!! Then afterwards, depending on the results, I might look into new to me spinning methods…

Well, I got as far a 2×2 cable, real thin, as I thought it might emulate a thicker, longer yarn using the whole top. And realized that all the plying would just make me an orange yarn. (of course I could try 3×3 chain ply, but no, not this time)

flat cable

Then I thought I was real clever, and brave too, deciding to waste all my yarn on something really different (to me). Never mind all that sampling!

I split it in half, then one half split into a thick rope and a thin. The idea was to try and match the lenghts/colours when plying the two. Well, it works in theory. Except I haven’t spun for ages and I’m prone to underspinning – even when I think I’ve added extra twist. The fiber is superwash. Can you see where this is going? Yes, everything pretty much drifted apart when I tried to ply. Some bits are looking really good, but it’s definitely not the same type of yarn at both ends! I will however try this again some other time as I think it could be a really cool feature in a woven item of some sort.

The other half I spun fairly thin, and then I wanted to make a coiled yarn. Well, duh. After 20 cm or so plying, I learned that to make coils, your single should probably be somewhat thicker than your core unless you want serious corkscrews as well! I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on how to make the coils though, I just have to figure out what to do with a thin, variegated, orange single now….

superwash merino

Testspinding

Jeg har gået længe og funderet på, hvad jeg skulle spinde af mit orange fiber fra fåredagen. Spekulerede i mange nye eksperimenter som jeg ikke har prøvet før, lavede en lillebitte test med kabeltvinding, som bare gjorde det hele ensfarvet orange og kedeligt.

SÃ¥ jeg endte med at finde pÃ¥ noget for mig rigtig vildt og uvant. Og selvfølgelig mislykkes med begge dele, men til gengæld har jeg lært lidt af hvert. Det er lidt ærgerligt, at jeg ikke fik noget direkte brugbart ud af de fine fibre, men sÃ¥dan er der sÃ¥ meget….

Den ene halvdel splittede jeg op på langs i en tyk og en tynd tot, som jeg så forsøgte at spinde lige lange, så det, når det var tvundet, ville være en tyk og en tynd som fulgte samme farveforløb.

Det virkede også rimeligt i teorien, bortset fra jeg ikke har spundet meget længe og har en tendens til at underspinde. Fibrene er desuden superwash og meget glatte og kan ikke filtes hvis det kniber med sammenholdet! Og ja, det hele skred jo fra hinanden gang på gang da jeg begyndte at sno det den anden vej, ikke?

Godt sÃ¥, næste lektion bestod i at lave “coils”, kan vi kalde det fjedergarn pÃ¥ dansk? Jeg spandt en tynd single, for sÃ¥ tænkte jeg at det færdige garn ikke blev sÃ¥ massivt. Efter 20 cm tvinding fandt jeg sÃ¥ ud af, at det ikke er en smart ide at kernen er samme tykkelse som garnet, men skal være meget tyndere, ellers kommer der sÃ¥ meget sno pÃ¥ at det ikke bare ligner en fjeder pÃ¥ den ene led, men at selve garnet ogsÃ¥ er en grisehale. SÃ¥ nu har jeg en lang tynd single i orange nuancer jeg skal have fundet pÃ¥ et eller andet sjovt til!

Late dye harvest

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Eager to try drum carding my Dorset fleeces (with a bit of Suffolk mixed in, they had not been separated) I decided last weekend to make a final raid on the dye garden to make it more fun than just white (I do still have a bag of white from last year of what I think is Suffolk). I know I said I was done, but I got two more fleeces, didn’t I. Same sheep – this time I only kept the best bit, perhaps a third of what I was given rather than 2 thirds. I haven’t weighed it though.

lateharvest3

And it turned out both the weld and the woad were still fine to use, green and fresh. I had dried some bundles of tansy hanging them from the stable ceiling – and left them there, so they are now covered in “dust” – mold spores. I decided to boil one bundle anyway and put some fleece in. Giving out colour just fine, but I’m chucking the other three bundles.

The last batch went in with some onion skins that were sitting on the kitchen counter anyway and a few cochineal sprinkles on one side, which oddly enough didn’t do much besides turn the water red.

lateharvest1

I used rather a lot of fleece in the woad vat, so apart from the green that didn’t turn out too interesting. But I can always dye the yarn again, or, if we don’t have any frost, go look for more plants in a few weeks.

Earlier this year I handcarded the part of the fleeces that I had acid dyed, and it took me FOREVER. My test bat on the drum carder last week took no time at all, no effort, no tired hands – so I’m very optimistic I can get spinnable fiber relatively easy. I’ll first card each shade on its own to straighten it out a bit, then I may blend.

lateharvest2

Sen farvehøstdanish

Jeg har jo længe gerne ville karte alle mine gratishamme, som jeg har plantefarvet gennem de sidste par år i bundter, både fordi de fylder ret meget og fordi det er en stor opgave når de er så fyldt med fnidder og knuder. Og så sagde jeg ja til to hamme mere i år, dog blev de sorteret med ret kræsen hånd.

Det sidste uld ville jeg ogsÃ¥ lige have farvet, sÃ¥ det er lidt sjovere at arbejde med, sÃ¥ en tur i haven og hente bÃ¥de vaid og vau, som stÃ¥r fine, friske og grønne endnu. Jeg havde hængt bundter af rejnfan under staldloftet til tørring – og derefter ladet dem hænge sÃ¥ de nu i det fugtige vejr er blevet helt dækket af et fint lag støv, eller rettere mugsporer. Jeg proppede det ende bundt i en gryde, og det farver fint, men de andre ryger ud. Og en bunke uld røg i en gryde med gÃ¥rsdagens løgskaller.

Jeg fik proppet lige lidt rigeligt i gryden med vaid, sÃ¥ bortset fra de grønne nuancer blev det lidt kedeligt – men enten kan jeg jo overfarve garnet eller ogsÃ¥ venter jeg med at karte den bunke og ser om det evt. holder frostfrit en mÃ¥neds tid endnu og mÃ¥ske jeg kan finde flere planter? Ellers har jeg faktisk en spandfuld blÃ¥ farve stÃ¥ende fra sidst.

Tidligere på året håndkartede jeg jo den del af hammene som jeg havde pulverfarvet, og det tog en evighed. Men det testbat jeg kartede på maskine sidste uge gik som en leg, så håber på jeg kan få de her kødfår i hæderlig stand rimelig nemt og hurtigt. Jeg tror jeg først karter hver nuance for sig og så kan jeg blande i anden omgang.

Drumcarder – I haz one

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

I’ve been so amazingly lucky recently that family members have chosen to share some abundance with me. Not only did my mum replace my 10 y.o. camera with a shiny new modern gizmo, I also have a new fiber tool. While being an owner in itself doesn’t ring my bells very loudly, I’m whooping at the thought of all the stuff I can DO with these toys. Never mind that I’ve hardly had any new clothes in a decade, I’m warm, clean and not too offensive.

The large drum is easily removed and replaced, so you have the option of coarse or fine cloths. I’m mordanting the last of my Dorset fleeces to be dyed and then everything gets run through the machine. Among other things.

I’ll be in the wool room if you need me. (aka living room aka paint stoodio)

drum carder

Kartemaskine

Lykkens Pamjulefis, det er mig! At blive tildelt overflod bare for glæden ved at give og modtage, ikke for ejerskabets skyld som sådan, men alt det man kan udrette med det rigtige værktøj og godt humør. Og nu mangler jeg hverken det ene eller det andet! Den store tromle kan nemt skiftes, hvis man vil have en grov- eller fintandet.

SÃ¥ hvis ikke I kan se mig, sÃ¥ ved I nok hvad jeg laver… Der er sat en gryde bejdse over med det sidste Dorset rÃ¥uld og sÃ¥ skal hele balladen ellers igennem maskineriet. Og naturligvis foreviges med det fine kamera, jeg har fÃ¥et af min mor, da det gamle var ved at stille træskoene.

Weld – reseda luteola – farvevau

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weldI wasn’t actually sure if my weld plants would grow big enough the first year (my previous batch didn’t), nor whether I could use the leaves from the rosettes, or have to wait for stalks.

Turns out the first year leaves dye just fine. In fact, so well that most of the dyestuff from the first pot ended up on the synthetic tulle that I used to submerge the plant matter! I use a large canner for plants that need a controlled temperature, and it has a hotplate IN the water, so I figured I need to keep the plants away from it.

As you can see in the top and bottom photos, the plants thrive much better in my prepared, watered and weeded patch in the garden than the rough living in my overgrown abandoned veggie garden.

weld2

weld3

So anyway, the yarn afterwards looked really bleak compared to the tulle, so I ended up picking more leaves and just tossing them in on top. I just did 2 wool skeins with some cotton tests, then did another batch with a strainer over the hot plate instead for the rest of the wool. Much better.

vau2013

Also a single copper skein, rhubarb, and some in blue pots, one of each type.

weld4Weld likes chalky water and temps below 70 C. Solar dyeing on silk wasn’t that great a succes though, at least not with just the leaves in the jar and no artificial heating.

Big bag of dried weld from last year in my closet, so I may elaborate at some point during the winter, if not I guess it’ll grow back next summer.

Not my most exciting dye adventure to date, I hope to do more with weld in the future.

GUUUL!

Jeg var faktisk ikke klar over, om førsteårs rosetterne var noget at farve med, eller om man skulle vente på blomsterstilke, men det viste sig at gå glimrende. Dog satte det meste af farven sig på den tylpose jeg havde lavet for at holde planterne væk fra kogepladen inden i den henkogningsgryde jeg bruger til planter som ikke må overstige en vis temperatur.

Anden omgang gik lidt bedre og jeg fik checket bÃ¥de rabarber, kobber, jern, vaid og japansk indigo. Et par silkefed blev det ogsÃ¥ til, jeg viser kun det ene, for det solfarvede kan knap nok kaldes lysegult, snarere tonet hvid….