Woolybuns

SKAL

You've seen Ennea Collective, right?  It's a new online magazine designed to fill in the info gap for fiber artists: using handspun.  I like it!  And of course there is a Ravelry group.  And in that Rav group came the  call for a SKAL - spin knit along.  I joined the SKAL and my project is Sidewinder Cowl done up in Wooly Wonka's merino, silk, angora roving in McIntosh colorway.  Oh, yeah.  Next to the skin yumminess!  I bought that roving a couple years ago, so it's time to use it.  I also decided it's time for me to practice the fractal spinning technique because this braid deserves to give full voice to it's colors.  Apparently there is a Spin Off article about fractal spinning, but I don't think I've ever read it.  I probably have the issue but I've been a tad remiss in actually reading the articles.  I kind of skim the photos, thinking I'll someday get around to reading the articles.  The first time I heard about fractal spinning was, of course, at Anne's blog.  Do you sense a theme going here?  All things Anne.  :)  Well, except for the pattern.  She has a nice pattern for Cuppa Joe mitts there at Ennea, too, but they are for sport weight yarns and I'm too impatient to spin sport weight at the moment.  I'm going for the bulkier spin, faster knit.  That is so I'll actually finish this project in some kind of reasonable time frame.  I think the Cuppa Joe mitts would work up beautifully in some of my own yarns, so that pattern is in my queue also.  This project of course interrupts my progress on Tunie.  But that's sort of by design.  Tunie is a very long term project, lots and lots and lots of stockinette on tiny needles, and still some fiber to spin sport weight to have enough yarn for the project.  Tunie is such a long term project that I really need a faster one to finish.  It will actually help keep me going on Tunie to have a quicker project in such bright colors to distract me a bit.

And now, before any more fibering gets done, it's time for a visit to the mare. 

I Can Haz Leaf?

                                                             

This is a 10 week old lilac angora mutt.  According to conventional wisdom, he should not be.  Over and over, I hear "does over 2 years old who have never had a litter won't conceive."  That goes along with "summer heat makes bucks sterile."  Well.  His mother decided to have babies.  I had nothing to do with that decision. In July, during that hideous heat wave when I stashed rabbits all over the house, his mother, Bunnie Tyler, age 2 1/2 then, got out of her temporary space in the house.  I found her sitting in the living room.  Three stair steps down from the living room is my front entryway, a small space a bit bigger than one of my rabbit hutches, perfect for stashing a buck.  When I found Bunnie running loose those three steps up from him, I thought "good thing one of them didn't learn to go up or down stairs."  But.  Somebunny learned to do both because a month later, I found this cutie as a newborn along with his equally newborn brother in Bunnie's hutch.  Bunnie Tyler is a French/Satin angora.  The sire is a German crossbred with both French and English in his background.  Not a clue what this baby's coat will end up doing.  Could be a matting disaster.  Could be pluckable.  Could be softly manageable.  Curiosity has me keeping him.  His mother went to a new home yesterday so there will be no more surprises.  But mostly because she is such a sweet friendly doe, I wanted her to have full time pet status.  Now I have to come up with a name for this fella.  Any suggestions?

Sigh

About a year ago, I think, spur of the moment lust for a batt took hold while I was vending.  A neighboring vendor had a gorgeous dark brown batt of alpaca blended with copper glitz.  I petted it briefly, careful to keep the drool away from the precious batt, and managed to walk away, saved by someone petting my own fibers.  But sitting next to that available batt is kind of like Brad Pitt sending inviting looks at you.  I gave in and bought the batt.  And discovered there was a second one, too.  Of course I bought it, too.  Those batts have been sitting close by, kind of simmering while my subconscious considered their attributes.  I was thinking shawl.  Something lacy, seductive.  Last night, I gave it a test spin on Rosie.

Hated. it.  Complete, total hate.  Like Brad had become Dick Cheney.  The fibers are well prepared and just absolutely gorgeous to look at and the petting was equally wonderful.  The spin?  Cranky, mean and just yucky.  After about 20 minutes of fight, I ripped the single off the wheel, wrapped up the batt, and threw it aside.  I've spun alpaca before and enjoyed it.  What happened?  I dunno.  But that fiber will never again touch my precious Rosie.

 

ETA: I figgered it out.  It's the staple length.  Instead of a nice long staple, it's only about an inch and a half long.  Needs long draw, which I'm not very good at.  I guess I should pull out my book charkha and make friends with it, the fiber and long draw.  Double sigh.

Working On It

After that craptastic job of spinning a wonderful fiber, I took myself to task.  That fiber deserved better.  For whatever reason, until a couple weeks ago, I just couldn't get into fiber.  I've only dabbled with felting, mostly because I had a couple workshops to teach.  I've missed a few spinning guild meetings and didn't make plans to go to Rhinebeck either.  Now, it seems like a switch flipped somewhere.  Possibly the weather. I've been working on Tunie, and am now up to her shoulders, with shaping coming alone nicely.  Yesterday's wind tantrum gave me a perfect excuse to hibernate with Tunie and an NCIS marathon, so I got about 4 inches done on Tunie (113 stitches across and increasing now, using size 5 needles=slow knit).  I'm now on the second ball of yarn and think I don't have enough, so I dug out some more of the roving and need to spin it.  With two more balls of yarn still, I'm not in a big rush so I decided to practice my spinning and bring that back up to at least not embarrassing.  I dug out some merino and angelina gifted to me a few years ago, and accidentally spilled a bit of gold glitz in it so I thought why not?  Dug out the hand cards and carded up a few little baby batts, and now about half of them are spun.  Not the best photo of the spinning but the best I'm gonna get right now.  It feels good to spin with intent again.  I'm thinking fingerless mitts for the knit.  Or maybe a cowl. 

Today, the muscles and joints need some work.  So does CC.  Guess where I'm going? 

How About That!

I finished spinning a skein of yarn.  It's even plied and washed.  It's been way too long since that's happened.  It's the mystery bump from Still River Mill, blend of merino and alpaca.  Yumminess.  After much thought about the plying options, I went the easy get it done route: wound it into a center pull ball and plied it on itself.  I ended up with about 250 yards of light worsted weight.  It's full of all sorts of colors but they don't photograph well.  You kind of have to get up close and personal to see all the colors.  It will become a Bobble Hat because I am totally in love with that hat pattern.  But not quite yet.  I went to VTSW last Sunday to teach a workshop (more on that coming), got there early enough to wander the vendors, and treated myself to one purchase: another mystery bump.  This new bump may be all merino, not entirely sure.  But it has a preponderance of the red color that shows up as flecks in my new skein.  I love that red color!  So I want to bring that out in my hat.  The first Bobble Hat I made was from 2 coordinating skeins and I am quite pleased with that color play.  And since this hat will be for me, I want the red around my face.  So I have to start spinning the new bump.  I should end up with enough yarn to also make a pair of mittens to go with the hat. 

 

VTSW was totally worth the 3 1/2 hour drive each way.  It's now located in Tunbridge, VT instead of up near Burlington, and anytime you move an event, it takes a while for attendance to build back up.  But the Tunbridge fairgrounds is a beautiful location for a fiber festival.  Surrounded by moutains and a river, nestled in a quaint little town.  Very homey and welcoming.  I taught nuno felting.  Workshop space was in the town hall  and we had the necessary elbow room, tables, and water access.  My students were a great bunch of people, with some really creative ideas.  I'm quite proud of them.  One plucky woman took the workshop with her daughter, perhaps around age 10?   And part way through the workshop, they were joined by the youngest in their family, a one year old sweet little boy who needed lunch.  So Mom dutifully nursed him while working on her felt.  At one point, the little boy also worked on the felt, but I didn't get my camera out fast enough.  One of the  students arrived wearing a pair of boots she felted.  Check em out!  Aren't they great?   I love what she did with her scarf, too. 

Note to self: felt a pair of boots.  There ain't nuthin' warmer on the tootsies than a custom fit angora wool blend felt.