Spinning in the Grease - Part Three (The Final Yarn)

Old Business: I have edited my post on the 3-D Printed spindles my husband made for me.  I will do a follow up post on how they spin later.

the four final skeins 

Spinning in the Grease - Part Three (The Final Yarn)

The unwashed plyed yarn.

New Business: Previous Two Posts on Spinning in the Grease are HERE and HERE

I have finally managed to get to the plying of the Cormo yarn spun in the grease.  I have two skeins of about 250 yards of fingering weight yarn.  I have some more of the wool to spin but not enough for another skein of the same size (including a batt made from the cast offs and tangled bits).  So I am going to spin a single a ply it with a far more wild single I have previously spun.  This should give me a third and fourth skein in a coordinating yarn for knitting in the future.  I personally love this kind of yarn.

Top: single ply Cormo yarn (spun in the grease) plyed with the lower yarn
Bottom: single ply yarn of silk, wool, sparkle, and sari silk (previously mentioned as a yarn titled "Mood Swing")

Washing of the finished yarn was easy. The yarn was put into a 2 yard skein on my niddy knoddy and secured.  I heated up water on the stove in the pot I have dedicated to this task (for all yarn washing).  I added some Unicorn Wash Power Scour and threw the yarn in when it was smoking hot but not even simmering.  The yarn required two washing to get it clean and I did not remove all of the grease in the process.  I may wash it one more time in a more mild soap.  It was then hung to dry without any weight on the skeins (I only use a weight on drying skeins for single ply yarns).

I will note (and I think this is a big thing when spinning in the grease) that I pulled the yarns out of the washing pot while the water was still hot.  I did this out of impatience.  Normally I would have left them to cool with the water and dealt with them in the morning but as it turns out taking them out while the water was hot was important.  I left the water in the pot over night minus the yarn.  In the morning I noticed a cold coating of grease and dirt floating on the top of the water.  If the yarn had been still in the water I would have had to skim the grease off the surface of the water before removing the yarn or risk it redepositing on the yarn.

2 ply Cormo yarn spun in the grease, being washed.  You can see all the grease and goo that came out of the yarn in the water.

I will also note that when washing the mixed fiber yarns, that there was sari silk in the blend.  This is notorious for having extra dye in the fibers that will come out in the washing and then dye the rest of the skein.  I combat this two ways for any yarn that has sari silk in it.  First I throw in a hand full of dye catchers into the pot.  These look like dryer sheets and absorb the excess dye released into the water.  You can find them in the laundry isle of the decent grocery store.  And the second thing is not to let the yarn stay in the pot of hot water for long.  Take it out and rinse it right away with as hot a water as you can stand.  This should get most of the dye out but I would expect some further bleeding of dye over the years.  Don't block anything with sari silk in it on your good bed spread.  

Blended Yarn of 50% Cormo wool spun in the grease and 50% wool, alpaca, silk, sari silk, sparkle, and baby camel.  Shown before washing.

In the end the skeins looked and felt no different than if I had washed the wool first and processed it in a more traditional manner.

Skein one: 100% Cormo wool 250 yards of light fingering weight wool
Skein two: 100% Cormo wool 280 yards of light fingering weight wool

Skein three: 50% Cormo wool and 50% wool, alpaca, silk, sari silk, sparkle, and baby camel blend; 230 yards of light fingering weight wool

Skein four: 50% Cormo wool and 50% wool, alpaca, silk, sari silk, sparkle, and baby camel blend; 120 yards of light fingering weight wool

Grand total yardage: 880

Christmas Spindles

It was a small box with a very cool gift in it.  My husband is a mechanical engineer who has a 3-D printer at work.  He used it and a copy of Solidworks, to print me three Turkish style spindles.  The largest is 1.0 oz and 8" long.  The medium spindle is 0.6 oz and 5" long.  The tiny Turkish spindle is 0.4 oz and 3" long.  He has told me that they are brittle and can break if dropped.  If they do break, he says he can just print me a new one or a new part.  He can also remove the wholes in the arms to make them heavier.  I have not tried them but I trust him that they are balanced well.  I think they are all excellent prototypes.  I'd like a little more weight on them but I favor a heavier spindle.  I'd like the shaft of the tiny one to be longer so I can fit more yarn on it.  There is a point were they just get to tiny to use well and I think this might be there.  The two larger ones are fantastic and I would not change a thing.

EDIT (12-27-14): I have found out from my clever husband that all of the shafts fit all of the arms; they are completely interchangeable.  In addition we are going to add a small indent in the top of the shafts for the thread to hold onto.  The surface has texture, so I'm not that worried about slipping threads like I have experienced on highly polished wood surfaces, but we both think I would look nice.  The texture also makes me think this would not be a good spindle for silk or similar fibers.  We might have trouble getting the arms out after we were done.  I will post later of course, once I have had a chance to use them.

I must say, I love my husband because this is an amazing, thoughtful, and wonderful gift.

EDIT (1-28-15): Follow up blog here

A Tale of Three Crafts Shows

Over the course of the last week I've participated in three very different craft shows to sell my hand spun yarns, hand dyed yarns, hand woven goods, some felted jewelry, and hand spinning yarn kits.  This is the postmortem for the  events.

My table from one of the events

My table from one of the events

Show One (listed in no particular chronological order)

One show was badly organized, had a high table price ($90), suffered from bad weather, but most importantly the organizers had not advertised it at all.  No website, no newspapers, nothing.  It was held in a church and I don't think the congregation knew about the fair either.  It was organized by a third party that runs shows as a business.  There were some signs on the road leading to the location but only in the day of the show. This site did not charge an entrance fee for shoppers (some events/sites do). I think we had only 30 people though the doors and only 9 vendors total.    The organizer was not on site for much of the event.

Now with the craft fairs that are not jurried, and cost less than the $200-$300 table fee, you can expect some representation from Mary Kay and similar businesses.  In this case, of the 9 vendors who attended, 3 of us were actual crafters and the rest were of the Mary Kay or Solar Power Programs sort.  So of the 30 people or so, who did come to the fair, not many would have had incentive to spread information by word of mouth on the day of the fair.  The show went from 10 am to 4 pm.  The first vendor left at 2 pm.  The rest of us left at 3 pm.  I sold one item for $15 (it was jewelry).  

On the positive side, I can say communication with the organizer was prompt and polite.  Information was complete in terms of when to show up, how to set up, and similar.  I can also say the size of the space I received for my fee was good ($90 for a 8' x 6' or $1.88 per square foot).  But, he did tell us that he advertised the fairs he ran and clearly this was not true for this event.  From what I could tell from other vendors who had worked with him before, this is a problem for all his shows.  So why were they still at this show, if they had bad results with other shows?  They had signed up for more than one show in advance for a discount on table fees.  Their money was already invested, thus they were stuck.  I had only signed up for one to see how it would go.

On a personal note, in spite of the awful nature of this show, two good things came out of it.  One was a lengthy conversation with a woodworker on how to make drop spindles and the promise that if they did try to make some for sale that they would let me beta test them.  (I will add that this couple said they they would never have found the craft show if someone else at the library book sale (1/4 a mile away) had not told them about it.  There were no no signs on the lawn of the library to direct them to the craft show.  Nor any flyers at the book sale.)  The second was that a woman who runs a fine art show in the spring (and has run it for 30 years) took my card to send me an application to vend because she liked my fine art work.

The total for this show was $90 in table fees and $15 in sales.

My fine arts works.  (Website Link)

The Second Craft Show (again in no particular chronological order)

This show is a bit of an odd ball because it is held mid week, aiming for the working lunch crowd, rather than someone on the weekend looking for something interesting to do.  It was held in a very central location, with a very high population of working adults.  So the site knows its audience, which is good.  Given the target audience this show was held over three days for a single table fee. 

The weather was also against this show, with rain mixed with snow for the three days of the event.  The site was packed with vendors which is good for pulling people in.  The set up space size was the smallest I had to work with but that too was ok, not great but ok. (6'x 3' or $5.56 per square foot which is the most expensive of the shows unless you divide that by 3 days so it is really $1.85 per square foot per day). The table fee was $75 with $25 for insurance (this was waived with proof of your own insurance).  This show also allowed me to set up the night before which was very useful but in doing so I did an inventory each evening and each morning.  The site's security was fine.

This site advertised well.  The fair was organized by the venue itself, so there was a website, radio, and print advertising .  They encouraged  me to spread the word as well, link to their website etc.  They also had signs and flyers.  The site was very well organized and the staff was helpful throughout the 3 day event.

I used a knitting stitch counter to track table visits for this event (not people though the door).  I should have thought of it sooner.

• Day one:  16 people stopped at my booth    1 sale (Nor'Easter Hit on this day)
• Day two:  23 people stopped at my booth    5 sales (Weather was rainy but manageable)
• Day three: 36 people stopped at my booth    5 sales (Weather was light flurries)

To spite the limited hours of operation and the awful weather, I did make money on this show.  A few people came to the booth on all three days to "visit" the yarn.  I handed out a lot of business cards and it seemed like the majority of the items were gifts.  Several people told me they were very happy to find things for the hard to shop for crafters in their families.  In other cases, I overheard people mentioning that the yarn was overpriced.  Its hard to compete with machines.  I wish they had asked me about the prices so they could at least understand the cost of the yarn but I understand why they did not too.

The other vendors at this show ranged from cheaper crafts to high end crafts to fine art.  I did not notice anyone selling Amway.  I found a few Christmas gifts too.

The total for this show was $115 in expenses and $250 in sales.  So not a lot of profit but still good to get my name out, learn about other shows from other vendors and so on.  I will repeat this show if possible.  

The Third Craft Show (again in no particular chronological order)

This show was also organized by the venue that hosted it.  They knew their target audience, the show had good advertising, and it had a high turn out for people who attended.  To start at the top, the site was a well known location that had high traffic on a normal day, never-mind during one of its many events (not all craft shows).  This site did not charge an entrance fee for shoppers.  The booth sizes ranged in size and price but the both were reasonable ($70 for a 10' x 4' or $1.74 per square foot).  The event was full with only a few cancellations by vendors.  Vendors ranged from the Mary Kay type to the majority being crafters with some fine arts present as well.  The show was big enough that it spilled out of the main hall and into every hallway they had.  

I suspect that the turn out for the site was 500-1000 people.  I'm not really sure since I was not close to the front doors.  The weather for this day was cold but fine.

There was on site food available for shoppers and vendors.  This is always a plus for vendors who normally pack a lunch, and guests who might stop shopping because they got hungry.

Advertising was very well done.  Signs went up around the neighborhoods near the site a month in advance.  There were a lot of signs on the day of as well.  The congregation also knew about the sale.  Vendors who signed up in advance were sent cards to hand out or mail to customers.  These mailers were free of charge.  There was also more traditional print advertising and a website. Communication was good, organization on the day of was excellent with a bonus of hand trucks available to help load in and out.

I found that if I was knitting at my booth, fewer people stopped to look, than if I was using a drop spindle.  This is not that surprising since most people don't know how their clothes are made and I've seen it happen time and time again at shows.

I had 8 sales for a total of $271 (not including deductions for table fees).  This is not a great sale day, I've done better but it is still better than a weekend of $8.75 an hour ($8.75 * 8 hours).  It was also far better than my recent Etsy sales.  I handed out almost all of my business cards, and had a number of great conversations with knitters, crocheters, and weavers.  I might have gained some students interested in private weaving lessons. I told many people of the wonders of Raverly. The typical sale was about $40 or one skein of yarn.  In some cases the items were gifts for knitters and crocheters and in some cases customers were feeding their own stash of yarn.  I think this split was about 50/50.

EDIT TO ADD: In addition one man, who had seen the booth, and taken a card at this show, called me back to order Christmas presents to the tune of $350.  Which now makes all difference.

I will repeat this show next year.

A similar set up at another show

A Few More Things and To Sum Up

Locations that host their own craft or fine art shows have a vested interest in its success and do better advertising.  Look into this before you sign up.  Do your own part to promote yourself and the show as a whole.

Table location on a site can matter but not half as much as the number of people who walk in the door.  If a show cannot give you attendance numbers for the last few years don't book.  Don't book if its low.

My Etsy card reader worked just as advertised.  Taking credit cards made the difference in more than one sale.

Every sale relied on getting into a conversation with customers about what they liked  to make, what kinds of yarns they worked with, what allergies they had, and who they made things for.  Every sale.

Spinning at the table gets far better results than knitting (even if I made good progress on Christmas gifts).  If you have a craft that can be done at the table then do it.  There was a one man with glass & a torch and he was making small figurines.  He always had an audience.

There is nothing you can do about the weather in December in New England.  Then again, no one can do anything about that either.

I need a large sign for the name of my business with a logo.  I also need a sign that says "Please touch the yarn!" since I constantly had to tell customers to do so.

For all the business cards I handed out I have not seen an uptick in site views for my Etsy store. However it has only been a few days since I completed these craft shows.  And in the end it just took one to make a huge sale.  Never underestimate the power of a business card and personal connection.
None of these were fiber festivals and so they were not quite the best target audience for my items. 

Lable All The Things! (The Craft Show Post)

50% Silk and 50% Baby Camel Hand Spun Yarn

The craft show season is upon us!  It is at once my favorite and least favorite time of the crafting year.  Farmers markets are lovely and slow moving in the summer (I'm not a farmer so I can safely say this) but the holiday rush is fast and done in less than a month.  Over the next 3 weeks I have at least 3 shows to attend and sell at, possibly 2 more.  I've posted the schedule below in case you are interested.  

I love spending the time with customers, educating them on my products, and listening to their stories.  The set up beforehand is exhausting in the tiny details.

I sell hand spun yarns, hand dyed yarns (commercially spun), occasionally hand woven goods like scarves and shawls, fibers for hand spinning, and tools for knitting, crochet, & spinning.  These are not your typical craft show items but I do it for two reasons.  The first is that these items always sell better in person than on Etsy (I do have an Etsy shop but its slow).  Yarn really needs to be handled.  The second reason I sell at craft fairs is the kind of customer I am able to reach.  People who go to craft fairs are also, in many cases, those who like to do their own crafting.  They appreciate, and are willing to pay for, handmade items because they understand the amount of time it takes to make things.  Sometimes I reach the spouse of the knitter or crocheter, and these are my favorite customers.   Having a crafter for a spouse is hard because what we really want is supplies to further our hobbies.  And sometimes the spouse is either aware enough or brave enough to give him or her yarn!

• Trumbull Holiday Craft Festival- Saturday Dec 6th at The Grace Episcopal Church Hall, 5958 Main St. Trumbull, CT (10am - 3pm)

• JCC Arts and Crafts Fair - Sunday Dec 7th at the JCC of Grater New Haven 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge, CT (10am - 4pm)

• 2014 Holiday Shopping Fair - December 9th through Dec 11th (Tuesday to Thursday) at Connecticut's Old State House 800 Main Street Hartford, CT (11am to 3pm each day)

Hand Spun Lace Weight Yarn (Wool and Silk)

• AND PERHAPS

• Shelton Holiday Craft Festival- Sat Dec 13th, at Hyatt House Hotel, 830 Bridgeport Ave., Shelton, CT (10am to 3pm)

• Holiday Carousel of Crafts Showcase, Sunday Dec 14th, Trumbull Marriott, 180 Hawley La., Trumbull, CT (11am to 5pm)

EDIT (1/15/2015): Follow up post here (A Tale of Three Craft Shows)

What Came Off The Loom Yesterday

A while ago I warped up my loom with 6 yards of lace weight wool.  (2 ply lace weight yarn from Hide & Hare: Romney, Corriedale, & Merino cross)  (EDIT: Since someone asked, my loom was set up for an even weave/twill with 18 epi.)  The idea at the time was to weave several samples for a long term historic weaving project.  I will post more about this in the future.  At the end of the 5 samples I still had a lot of warp left.  In truth, one of the samples was suppose to be yardage but weaving with a weft of cobweb weight (2 passes for each shed) was getting to me.  I will write more on this soon, I promise.   I used the rest of warp with 3 separate wefts of different yarns. 

The top one has a weft of Berroco Boboli Lace (42% Wool, 35% Acrylic, and 23% Rayon)

The middle has a weft of Plymouth Yarn - Mushishi (95% wool/5% silk, Colorway: 13)

The bottom has weft of hand spun teeswater wool.

All examples are pre-washing (photos of washed fabric are below).

Most of these are going to be Christmas presents for family.  I suspect that they will become table clothes and place mats, and perhaps an infinity cowl.  The fabric started as 22" wide but has shrunk between 21" and 18" wide.  Each is about 1.5 yards long.

Oddly enough the teeswater weft which was highly twisted and single ply, made the fabric do this after it came off the loom.  The corners curled up wildly on their own.  I was a little worried and thought that this would be forced to become pillows.  However it has relaxed almost completely after washing and hang drying.  During the middle ages c. 1350, many fabrics were woven with a warp of single ply z-twist and a weft of single ply s-twist to create a balanced weave with single ply yarns.  Here is a perfect example of what happens when you don't do that.

Above: Before Washing

Below: After Machine Washing

The fabrics all softened a lot after washing and they got a lot more fuzzy. The fabric in the middle, shrunk the most and fuzzed up (bloomed) the most but the colors in the weft are now a lot more visible.   And unsurprisingly the one that shrank the least, and bloomed the least, was the one with the wool/acrylic blend yarn. The historic weaving samples have washed up quiet differently and are more pleasant to work with and to look at I think,  Its more like a nice wool fabric that you might buy than the "novelty" weaves if this post. Having now washed all of these I suspect they will all become infinity cowls for Christmas presents.

Perhaps a List Would Be A Good Idea

The Current Project List (Running Post Updated Often)

Mostly this post is to keep track of too many projects.  Some of these are no more than random thoughts, plans laid by mice & men, or half baked ideas.  If it is in red text then the project is done. Links to Yarn & What Knot blog posts and Ravelry pattern pages are provided for easy reference.  

1. 1 lb of Cormo wool spun in the grease
1. "Spinning in the Grease"
2. "Spinning in the Grease - Part Two"
3. "Spinning in the Grease - Part Three (The Final Yarn)"
4. Bobbin One, Two, Three, Four
5. The sweater project (??)
2. Weaving Projects
1. 5 oz of Teeswater wool spun and woven - Christmas present for Mom
1. "I Digress"
2. "What Came off the Loom Yesterday"
1. Cowl for me
1. "What Came off the Loom Yesterday"
2. Christmas present for Mom
1. "What Came off the Loom Yesterday"
3. Hand Woven Table Runner in Rainbow Cotton (Breaking in the the New Loom)
3. "The Textiles from the Account Books of Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, 1350-1351" 
1. Test of "Apple Blossom" colored wool
2. Test of rayed (striped) twill of various types of wools/sizes/colors 
3. The final list of fabrics to be woven
4. The Golden Fleece Project (Otherwise known as 7 lbs of THAT ROMNEY FLEECE)
1. "The Golden Fleece"
5. Random Hand Spun Yarns
1. The Loud Batt - Mood Swing (this was mentioned very briefly in "the Golden Fleece" post but I need to write up something more when its done.
1. Spun, Plyed, Knitted
2. Screaming Orange Yarn (Alpaca and Silk)
3. Rainbow Yarn (50/50 Merino/Silk)
4. Teal Yarn
6. Random Sewing Projects
1. a curtain for the studio
2. Dress for the little cousin
3. Hoodie for the little cousin 
7. Linen Waistcoat (Jacket) c.1630 based upon extant examples
1. This jacket is almost done. I need to finish writing this documentation.  
8. Half Baked Knitting Projects (By this, I mean half done projects)
1. Scarf out of rainbow cotton yarn as Christmas present for Miss L with a bonus headband
2. A bunny out of handspun for Miss E
3. Cowl out of Noro yarn 
4. Lacy Scarf out of alpaca/silk handspun lace weight
5. Something out of Malabrigo Rasta yarn in super bulky - color Archangel
6. Scarf for my sister in law
9. Round 10 Stitch Blanket project for the house made of handspun (the thing that will never be done - ever.)
1. yarn one (spun - knit)
2. yarn two (spun - knit)

Like a Hole in the Head-A few observations I had while spinning

Originally Posted on an old blog of mine: on September 26, 2010 by Elizabeth Ives

This is the current list.  I'm always taking suggestions for more observations about spinning (proper credit will always be given so send them in).

1) I needed a new hobby like a hole in the head (this observation was made many years ago now but it still holds true.)

2) Don’t walk away from cooking bacon to spin.  You will burn the bacon.

3) Twisting new fibers into a broken thread is best done at high velocity

4) When I’m done making yarn the only think I can do with it is look pleadingly at friends who knit (unless I choose to weave it.  I just don't love knitting.)

5) What spins clockwise un-spins counter clockwise if your not paying attention

6) Having a spindle for each roving you own is overkill but really nice (I don’t, by the way, but I know someone who does.)

7) Spinning reduces stress : having a small helper (cat or child) increases stress

8) My arms are not long enough

9) You can’t snack and spin at the same time so maybe spinning is good for a diet

10) Admiring the large quantity of teal wool you have just spun will not get your sewing done any faster.

11) A fine appreciation of woodworking is not excuse for new spindles just more expensive ones

12) Spinning is not sexy to your spouse

13) Do not tell your husband that you dream of fabric and spinning

14) But do tell him it’s ok to by the lathe so he can make you spindles.

.

15) Having your husband look at you while spinning and say “that looks tedious and time consuming.  Maybe we should buy you a wheel” may result in his premature death when he turned down funding on a table loom the week before. (I've since solved both of these problems and now own a wheel and a floor loom!  I even still have the husband.)

16) Thinking of these rules while spinning results in uneven thickness and a solid thunk on the floor

17) There are some weddings that are too fancy to take a spindle to.  Truly I have taken my spindles to a wedding before but in my defense it was for the lady who got me addicted to spinning and it was just that kind of wedding.  Also I have not taken my spindles to many weddings and REALLY REALLY wished that I had.

18) There is nothing quite like getting someone else addicted to the fiber arts.  If you sit down by me for more than five minuets, ask what I'm doing, or stare like you want to ask but won't, I WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO DO THIS.  You have been warned.

19) Fiber nuts will "huff" raw fiber because we like the smell of it.  Don't ask us why, we really don't know. But raw wool smells so good! (usually.)

20) The best questions come from kids.  This one came from an adult: "Where did you get the pink sheep?"  (That one is right up there with questions about Tomahawk missiles vs. real tomahawks.  But hay, some scientists have genetically altered fur to glow under black lights, maybe the pink sheep is not such a bad question after all.)

21)   Adding another survival skill to the post-apocalyptic skill set is not a good excuse to take up spinning but who cares.  Who am I kidding, that is a perfect excuse.  As if you really need one.

22) Do not turn around and look, when, having just handed your friends a bag of fiber to fondle, they shout and point "Oh look! A flock of flying turtles!".  Just saying that if you do look, that bag of fiber might not be there anymore.  

Golden Fleece Part One

Since Last Time:

I took a break from the Cormo that I was spinning to spin two more colorful yarns.  One was Teeswater wool you saw in my last post.  That is now being woven to make a shawl for the Christmas pile.  The second was an attack of frustration and color.  I had a bad day where it felt like none of my projects were working correctly.  In response I carded a batt (I have a double wide Staunch drum carder) of wool, alpaca, silk, sari silk, and baby camel.  It came out bright and colorful.  Loud actually.  I spun it up in a long evening and it made me feel much better.  It is also destined for the loom as soon as I find or come up with a suitable warp (there is not enough of it to be the warp and weft so I will have to combine it with something else).  

In the mean time I will go back to the Cormo and my current warp.  I've also begun to think about my next large project.

Spinning in the Grease Fleece Two

This is a full (7 lbs) Romney fleece.  Not just any fleece mind you, but one that won both the Best Of Breed for Romney and Best In Show at the Big E, 2014.  Its stunning.  And I have plans for it.

I'm a little in awe of the thing actually.  Its the biggest project I've ever taken on and most likely, the most ambitious spinning project I've taken on.  A few years ago I challenged myself to spin 30 yarns in 30 days (yarn being defined by one bundle of process top or roving, usually about 4 ounces). I managed to do 27 of them in 30 days I think,  This project seems so much larger than that for some reason and I don't even have the self imposed deadline. I want to make every inch of this yarn lovely and perfect.  And then weave it perfectly.  I suspect that I will lose a few ounces to trial-and-error and experiments but with 7 lbs to work with that should not be a problem.

EDIT: Fiber people are funny.  We think the smell of lanolin and hay is delightful and wish it came in a perfume.  We stick our heads in bags full of fiber and smell the stuff.  When I was pulling out some of this fiber to work up a sample at a living history event I was attending I was thinking just how wonderful it smelled.  Earthy.  When I got to the event several fiber folks wanted to know what I was working with.  I would hand them the bag and sure enough they would stick their heads in and smell the stuff, often before feeling it.  Apparently I'm not crazy.  I have said it before, but not here, I love textile geeks.  Of course my husband does not quite agree with the perfume idea.  

So the details of the fleece are this:

Farm/Breeder (where the real credit goes): Smiling Sheep Farm

Website: www.smilingsheepfarm.com (the site has not been updated in a while but the contact information is good)

Purchased At: Fiber Festival of New England, 2014 from Smiling Sheep Farm's Booth

Staple Length: 5.25-5.5 inches long  (Just look at the crimp on that fiber! Whomever sheared this boy was just a master.  There are very few second cuts.)

Weight: 7 lbs

Color: Dark Chocolate (I'm sure it has a name in the breed coloring but I don't know it.)

Greece Content/Veggie Matter: Light in both cases (he was jacketed)

The Current Plan (subject to revision, better ideas, and mood swings):

I plan to spin several samples so I get the hang of working with this fleece.  Once the spinning method and prep method (if any) is determined then I will divide the fleece for warp and weft.  How much goes into each pile will be determined by the practice skeins and their weight/yardage.  The weft will be blended with teal, blue, and purple silk on the drum carder.  I'm adding silk both for the color and to extend the amount of yarn I will get.  I will then spin it all, wash the yarn, and weave it into a blanket probably in an overshot pattern.  I thought about weaving in the grease too but I would love to get the yarn pre-shrunk first (something the test skeins will also tell me).

Of course I need to finish the current projects first.

I Digress

I have taken a break from the natural colored Cormo I've been spinning in the raw, to work on something with color.  I'm in love with color.  Color make me happy.  So I needed to take a little 1 bobbin/yarn break.  I choose the ball of Teeswater wool roving, dyed in blue, light blues, gray and purple.  I spun it up over two days (5.5 oz) in a nice lace weight.  

Teeswater wool is usually processed as locks for tail spinning (Spin Art: Mastering the Craft of Spinning Textured Art Yarn by Jacey Boggs, page 44-49) but this was processed as top.  I love that the fibers are very long and have a high gloss to them, therefore they reflect light and color almost like silk.  However its not a next to the skin type wool.  I may end up weaving with it for the fun of it. The yarn is very strong and perfect for weaving.  It would make a good warp thread but in this case it will be a weft thread.  

Single ply Teeswater yarn waiting to be plyed.

As I sit here writing I am wondering if I even need to ply it to weave with it given what is on my loom right now for a warp.  I may be better off if I leave it as a single ply.

In any case, I won't weave itself.   

Spinning in the Grease - Part II

I have had a few more thoughts along the way on this project.  I took the time to go though my bag of wool last night to separate out all the nice pieces of wool from the second cuts and tangles.  This was the result.

As you can see the vast majority of the fiber from this fleece ended up in the nicely organized bin rather than the tangles on the right.  In all about 1 oz of tangles were separated.  Remember that is with the weight of the grease in it so its actual weight is less than that.  For a full pound of fiber I think that is rather good.  I can still put that last bit though my drum carder if I need to.  The real credit of course goes to the breeders and sheerer.  

The first bobbin is full now.  As I'm working its very tempting to take a large bundle of fiber in my hands so I don't have to stop very often.  I have found this does not work well with this fleece.  A bundle of wool about the size of a quarter at one end is the most I can really do at one time. Otherwise it tangles and I get waist at the end of the bundle.  This photo also shows how tightly some of the fibers are stuck together at the ends.  Just a little fluffing at the ends and it is fine.  If the fleece were old or had a lot of grease in it this would be a tedious, perhaps impossible task.  The longer the lanolin sits on the wool after sheering the stickier it gets.  Therefore this fleece which was light on lanolin and dirt to start with is able to be spun by this method. 

Actually as it turns out there is almost no veggie matter in this fleece and its very clean. I've had to pick out more hay out of commercially prepared, dyed, top than this fleece. I have a few bundles that are a little dirtier than others but mostly its just really nice wool.  I cannot wait to ply this up and wash it.  

Spinning in the Grease

Over the years I've had a number of blogs and as such this one is no different than the others.  The focus remains on my exploration of history and textiles, preferably but not always, in the same project.

I've been spinning yarn since 2010 when I decided that I should know enough about spinning to demonstrate it to my students of fashion history.  I wanted them to understand how much effort when into many any piece of clothing before the industrial revolution.  As it happens I got addicted to spinning.  It was a perfect blend of artistic talents, productivity, & mediation.  

In the beginning I hated the idea of working with raw fibers; those with the grease still in them.  I still hate the idea of washing a fleece and combing it out afterwards.  It is just not my cup of tea.  So I've begun to investigate spinning wool while the grease is still on the fibers.  Please don't mistake me, some fleeces require washing and processing just to be useful.  Some animals don't, such as alpaca, which is washed after spinning.  In the last two weeks I have bought not one, but two, unwashed fleeces.  Each were picked for qualities that made spinning in raw, not just a possibility, but a better choice then traditional processing in my opinion.  Traditional processing would work but I think I will get a better yarn if I don't wash them.

This first entry are my notes on the first of those fleeces.  

Fleece: 1 pound of Cormo from Foxhill Farm Fibers & Sheep

Color: Buff or light brown

Purchased at: The New York Sheep & Wool Festival, 2014

Staple Length: 4 inches

Grease Content: Light to Medium

Veggie Matter: Very Light (the animal was jacketed) 

Crimp: Light

Sample Yarn Notes: 2 ply, very springy, great drape, came clean in the wash bath with hot water and a light does of Unicorn Scour (the same detergent as you might use on a raw fleece).  I spun it to lace weight to get a two ply fingering weight yarn.  I think this will lend itself to a nice blanket or throw later.  I should also note that the in the grease yarn was smooth before washing and very fluffy after washing.  This is in part, I believe, due to the nature of the Cormo fleece which tends to bloom when washed, even with additional twist in the spinning.

Other Notes: The reason I picked this fleece was that it was very clean from veggie matter, the wool was consistently 4" long throughout the bag, the color was amazing, and the majority of the fiber was in these nice neat clumps (shown above).  Why process this?  The grease was not so bad that it irritated my skin, nor did it smell.  There was not a great deal of dirt or other matter in the wool.  The purpose of combing or carding wool after washing is to get all the fibers unmatted and lined up again.  In the case of this fleece it came that way.  These clumps pulled apart in my hands very easily and pulling off individual fibers for spinning was easy, either from the tip or the side.  I would not want to let the fleeces sit in the bag for a long time or it would mat on its own.  

I was able to spin it very easily from the side, almost like spinning from the fold (see The Intentional Spinner, page 74 for spinning from the fold.)  This is a semi-woolen spinning method that accentuates the natural spring of the Cormo fibers.

I am currently though most of the first 4 oz bobbin.  I do not want to try and ply this yarn from a center pull ball.  I think it would lead to disaster.  I will instead spin a second bobbin and ply it.  Afterwards I will determine how much second cuts remain in the fleece, separate the second cuts and spin the remainder. 

One last additional note: the smell of the lanolin makes the cats want to "groom" the fleece.  Not at all good for the beasties or the fibers.

There will be more to come on this yarn as I work on it.