WolfWeave

Wow! What a weekend I had—I was lucky enough to attend a 2-day session of Camp Pluckyfluff led by Lexi Boeger and held at Loopy Yarns on Printers Row in Chicago.

Me, Lexi, Esther

It was an awesome, amazing, eye-opening, breakthrough kind of weekend, where I learned to spin all sorts of art-yarns (which I’ll show you below). I also learned to be more comfortable with my spinning wheel and not to be afraid of using up my precious fibers or colored rovings; in other words, my spinning is satisfactory enough to use all the wonderful colors and the special fibers I have, and the things I can now do with them are nothing short of amazing! I learned how to conquer my fears, which opened up whole new vistas. Suddenly, spinning is exciting instead of rigorous or regimented. This is what I’ve been looking forward to ever since I decided last year to take up spinning again (after my 25-year hiatus) and bought my new wheel. Thanks Lexi, for taking me through the looking glass!

There were approximately 30 of us in the “camp” from all over the midwest—St. Louis, Michigan, Indiana, etc. (one woman even came up from Texas!). Lexi is from California, while her hostess, Jazzturtle (Esther) flew in from North Carolina. Many of the campers had been planning this get-together for a year on Ravelry. One of the campers was a 13-year-old boy who proved to be as enthusiastic and perhaps a lot more knowledgeable about sheep, wool and wheels than some of us! The downstairs workshop room was crowded with all of us and our spinning wheels, a large table with 4 drum carders, a table full of threads, fabric and goodies for sharing, and a whole side room filled with fibers (donated by Lexi and others) that we were welcome to use.

One of the first things we learned to do was to card a “Crazy Batt” on the drum carder by blending all sorts of colors, fiber textures, sparkly bits of Angelina or Firestar, cut strands of yarn, tiny balls called neps, etc. Sandwich it all between layers of wool and crank away! Here is a photo of one of my Crazy Batts:

And here is the skein I spun from another of the Crazy Batts I carded:

Lexi demonstrated how to do most of the techniques from her book Intertwined and some special techniques that she hasn’t yet put into print.

She was an incredibly open and sharing person, and lots of fun too. We learned how to make coils, granny stacks and pigtails:

We made yarn out of fabric:

We spun fluffy transparent mohair yarn:

We learned how to create nubs and crescents:

and Lexi demonstrated tailspinning, which is spinning a yarn out of individual locks of wool by holding on to the tails until they are wound together, but letting the tips of the locks hang free:

Mine didn’t turn out quite as well!

We also learned how to add feathers, beads, felted balls, shapes of felted wool, bits of fabric or ribbon by spinning them right into the yarn. We discovered how to wrap a core yarn with cassette tape or with a glittery thread. And we learned how to spin a bumpy yarn from a whole strand of partially felted wool locks.

Nothing goes to waste: with a little ingenuity, pretty much anything can be spun into a skein of yarn. Here is a full photo of all my class project results:

There is a flickr pool titled Camp Pluckyfluff Chicago 2009 where all the workshop members are putting their photos; so, if you’re up for more, you can go there to browse and get a little more taste of our totally wondrous weekend.

And, as if the past two weekends weren’t enough, Friday I head up to Madison, WI to attend The Midwest Felting Symposium and to take the long-awaited Dimensional Landscapes workshop with Andrea Graham. Whew—3 intense fiber weekends in a row!!

I also meant to show you the 1/2 bobbin of Corriedale wool that I spun in an overtwisted attempt to make a thin single for plying. Not good, it feels like string:

Another supply we have to bring to Camp Pluckyfluff this weekend is some felt “nubbies” or beads, so I spent this morning winding some lovely dyed Falkland wool into balls and then trying to felt them in a sinkful of hot soapy water by rubbing and rolling them in between my palms. Fail. The wool unwound from the ball more often than not and the balls refused to felt down. I had to leave the house so I finally squeezed them out and left them on a towel. Tonight I broke down and am resorting to using felting needles to attach the fibers. Maybe I should have started this when I was first winding the balls because “break” is an appropriate verb! So far 3 felting needles have snapped as apparently some of the wool did indeed felt hard enough. Once I have the balls stabilized, I think I’m just going to throw them into the washing machine (if I could just find where I hid that mesh lingerie bag!).

The other project I’m working on (slowly) at the moment is Kat Coyle’s Linen Top Pattern out of some Claudia’s Hand Painted linen in Caribbean Blue. This should be a quick knit but I hardly ever have time to work on it and have only achieved this much:

It does make for a pretty picture though, doesn’t it?

I ended up filling a bobbin on my spinning wheel tonight with fluffy white Romney spun into thin yarn, which is undeniably getting more consistent.

I plan to take it to Camp Pluckyfluff this weekend to use as a core yarn (just one of the supplies we need to bring along). It seemed to work better with a somewhat altered version of the long draw. I also needed to put up those photos of my 2 skeins of coarser DorsetXJacob yarn, which should be dry by now…and here they are:

Singles:

Plied:

But, in the meantime, in honor of Claudine Hellmuth’s MabelCat surviving her ultrasound procedure today and with fingers crossed for favorable test results, here is a pic of our Mitzi’s favorite new resting place:

So glad we don’t bother buying her expensive furniture! As for playthings, her favorites are twist ties!

This past Friday through Sunday was The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair in Crystal Lake, IL. I drove up Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday evening. The Fair was almost as good as last year’s premiere event. There were plenty of vendors selling everything from wool, yarn, felt, books, knitting supplies, spinning wheels, looms, and fabric to jewelry and pottery. It was hard not to spend some money but I did manage to restrain myself. In one of the outside tents, there were 2 live alpacas on display. There were food vendors (though the variety was less than last year), a wonderful art exhibition, demonstrations by various guilds, and lots of live music.

Friday morning I took a class in “Drum Carding: Beyond the Basics” with Carol Wagner of Hidden Valley Farm and Woolen Mill (where she and her husband raise 200 Coopworth sheep). It was a great workshop: we able to familiarize ourselves with the workings of our drum carders (and I wasn’t the only one whose carder was fresh out of the box! I’d had mine for a year but another woman had bought her’s 3 years ago and hadn’t used it yet!!) and Carol was generous in sharing with us bags full of colored rovings and locks of Coopworth. We also learned different methods of blending colors, mixing fibers, adding in tussah silk noil, layering colors, making roving from batts, etc. It was a jam-packed 3 hours of instruction and practice:

and now, with intense concentration, I’m not afraid to use my drum carder anymore!:

At lunch that day in the cafeteria (the weather outside had grown cloudy and cold), I listened to a lecture by Darlene Miller about body shapes and clothing styles. An image consultant for over 30 years, Darlene has written a book and designed numerous clothing patterns for each of the four body shapes she espouses (not the usual pear and apple)–triangles, squares, circles and ovals. Once she has determined which body shape a woman has, she is then able to predict which types of clothing will best flatter her shape. Later, visiting in her booth, I was quite surprised to learn that I am a triangle (instead of the circle that I thought I was). Darlene’s website will give you information on these concepts. I was able to put the new ideas to work the very next day during the fashion show as I spotted jackets that I could see would show my triangle figure to advantage and, yet, which I would never have considered knitting before.

Friday afternoon I shopped and toured the exhibits. That night, exhausted, I watched movies in my hotel room. I checked out Saturday morning in time to get to the Fair for Maggie Jackson’s fashion show. A reknowned knitwear designer originally from Ireland, Maggie put on a lively show of many of her famous garments, including some of her newest ones. Maggie was available all weekend long in the Yarns by Design booth, showcasing her books, yarns, and her new knitting needles in flat, triangular and square shapes—all handcrafted from reclaimed woods in the United States and infused with aromatherapy oils. I bought a pair of the flat ones because they were so light to hold and were interesting to knit with; they are equivalent to a size 10 or 10.5 US needle.

That afternoon, I took a class with Mary Libby Neiman of On the Surface on “Lacy Bead Crochet Jewelry.” We used some very strong metallic thread that she helped develop and size 6 beads to make multi-strand bracelets and/or necklaces. I actually managed to finish my bracelet during class and am very pleased with it:

(photo here)

I had a great time at this year’s Fair and hope it continues next year with more of the same great vendors and an interesting variety of classes.

Another week about to go…well, you know where.

Today is the 15th and I haven’t given another thought to the Use the Muse Beading Contest II—looks like I’m not going to have an entry finished by the 7/18 deadline after all (as a matter of fact, that’s a 100% bet). But I still love all the colors so will eventually make myself a lovely necklace from the parts. I have almost completed the necklace for my friend’s daughter’s graduation, but was interrupted on that again. Hope to finish it up this afternoon…mainly because we need my “jewelry studio” for a guest bedroom this weekend, so I’d like to get the desk cleaned off.

I managed a few more rows on my linen open-weave summer top on the drive to and from IKEA but IKEA took up the better part of Sunday (and was a colossal disappointment—the store looked run-down, shabby even, and they were woefully short on stock; maybe because it’s the end of the summer sale, the new catalogs aren’t out yet, and they’re remodeling?). We bought the Lack shelving that we already had but later found out how much it has changed in 5 years. Our carpenter noticed, when he came to install the shelves and pull out some cabinets, that the new shelves did not match the old, being made of a thinner and different colored “birch” wood. Also, the shelves were slightly thinner and the brackets were a good deal shorter, thinner, and less substantial than they used to be. I guess every little bit of metal or wood saves IKEA money. Highly disappointing.

I spent way too much time cleaning out and rearranging the family room so that the carpenter could work against that one wall; and there is so much more to do. Needless to say, the boys are doing everything in their power to accomplishing their share. I’ve given them a deadline and when it comes, I start tossing their stuff.

I also spent a day with my mother, who was lonely and wanted to go shopping, so one more day gone this week. Then, I joined Facebook over the weekend but had a huge email fiasco when (unapproved by me) it emailed every person, group, or thing in my entire gmail account, inviting them to join me on Facebook. Spent most of the weekend answering flaming emails and begging yahoo groups not to ban me for spamming. What a nightmare. On the bright side, I have re-connected with a number of old friends and made some new ones.

I tried spinning some of my fleece-worth of white Corriedale but spun it up too tightly so that it looks like string. I have since received lots of helpful advice from members of the Spin-List on what I did wrong. Unfortunately, most of it involves sampling which, like swatching in knitting, just takes time. Yes, time I don’t have right now.

However, tomorrow I leave to drive up to Crystal Lake for 2 nights for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair being held at McHenry County College with classes in all sorts of fiber crafts. I am taking a Friday workshop on learning to get the most out of your drum carder. You could say that I need it since I have yet to take mine out of the box and I bought it last summer! I’d like to take my spinning wheel along too, since I’ll be in a hotel for 2 nights and could conceivably accomplish some spinning.

Well, again…let’s hope next week is on a more even keel and I can carve out more time for creative activities, because the following weekend is Camp Pluckyfluff and I’d sure like to have my creative juices flowing by then!

Due to circumstances beyond my control (are they REALLY beyond my control? Well, maybe if I were a more aggressive person, more protective of the time I need for myself and my crafts…maybe if I weren’t so tired all the time from dealing with various family issues…etc.) I am falling behind on the Tour de Fleece.

I have only been able to find time to spin every 2nd or 3rd day and yet I do feel that I am getting better, that my yarn is becoming more consistent and that I am learning more about my wheel and how to spin. I am still working with the DorsetXJacob fleece that came from the sheep I adopted last year: The roving is a bit lumpy and difficult to draft smoothly and the resultant yarn is fuzzy. I filled 2 bobbins and then plied them together and, since it was my first time ever plying, found it very difficult: I had a great deal of trouble keeping the spinning wheel going in the opposite direction and the treadling required a great deal more effort, as the bobbin grew heavy very quickly (however, I have since learned that I should have lowered my maidenhead so that the wheel cord wouldn’t be stretched so tightly). Also, I really had to tighten my tension to get the yarn to draw in quickly enough and it was very hard to ply consistently. Still, it was my first time, so I’ll give myself a pass on this one. Then, since the resultant yarn looked so fuzzy, I thought this roving might be better suited to a low-twist single-spun yarn, and I filled a bobbin using the long-draw method (also for the first time). This worked well and it does look a little more smooth. I need to skein and wash both to see how they will turn out. Then I think I’m moving on to a different breed to for another attempt!

I haven’t even had a chance to think about my Use the Muse Beading Contest II necklace (and the deadline is only 1 week away!)—I hope to devote some time to that this weekend. I also have not finished the graduation necklace for a dear friend’s daughter that was promised 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t satisfied with my wire wraps, so I cut them all apart and started again. Unfortunately, I started during Bead Group yesterday and finally got to the point where I was making perfect wire wraps. Unfortunately, distracted by the conversation, I kept forgetting to attach the chain or charm before completing the wrap! Fail!

I’m no farther ahead on the baby cardigan and have only been able to knit about 18 rows on my linen open-knit summer top: Linen Top Pattern by Kat Coyle which I’m knitting in Claudia’s Hand Painted Linen in Caribbean. Slow Fail!

Issues keeping me from all of these pleasurable crafts have included our attempt to forge a plan to regain a portion of the family room from our college-age sons so that my husband can have more space for his books and interests (which involves storing, giving away, or dumping years-worth of toys, games, figurines, out-of-date computer games, etc.); coming up with a solution to organize my husband’s mail; problems with my mother and her loneliness; having family members over for dinners; doctors’ appointments; visiting ill friends; regular errands and tasks; and spending way too much time on the computer! It’s not that I resent these so much as that there is only so much time in a day.

It adds up, people! One starts out the week full of hope and plans and the next thing you know…it’s Friday and nothing has been accomplished, let alone started! Next week: will it be better or worse? (Oh, wait, we have to spend Sunday going to IKEA to look at bookshelves for the family room—there go Sunday’s plans!)

As you may have noticed from the new button just to the right on the sidebar, I have joined this year’s Le Tour de Fleece. The annual Tour de Fleece spin-along occurs at the same time as the Tour de France bike ride. The concept is simple: they spin, we spin. A real spinning themed spin-along. A spinner can join a team (I joined Team Rookie, since I am mostly a beginner, and our jersey color is white), set their own goals, etc. but the idea is to spin some every day while the Tour de France continues from July 4th through July 26th. We only get 2 days of rest, same as the bicycle riders: Monday, July 13th and Monday, July 20th; and on Wednesday, July 22, we are to spin something challenging while the bicycle riders take on The Tour’s densest mountain stage with 5 mountain passes.

It’s fun but it’s also discipline and I decided to join as it coincides exactly with the time I need to be improving my spinning proficiency in order to be ready for Camp Pluckyfluff on July 25-26 in Chicago. (I don’t want to look like an idiot in the class, nor do I want to waste time not taking advantage of all the teaching Lexi Boeger has to offer. I’ll need to be able to keep up. I was worried about my skills, since I haven’t really used my new Lendrum wheel much since I bought it last summer and there’s only so much you can learn from books and dvds. But spinning novelty yarns is why I decided to take up spinning again (after a 25-year hiatus) in the first plaace, so I can’t blow this opportunity.

I sat down the other day with the wheel in front of the tv (watching The Closer) and even though my brain was tired and otherwise occupied (maybe it was better that way), my hands and feet seemed to remember the motions. After a few falst starts, I began drafting almost automatically and had filled a full bobbin of not bad fingering-weight yarn by the end of the program!

Of course, it’s far from perfect: it has slubs and bumps and sections that are fatter or thinner than the main body of the yarn, but I’ll keep trying. Tonight, watching “Saving Grace,” I filled nearly another bobbin and this yarn was more consistent. The wool is a DorsetxJacob fleece off a sheep (“Mitzi”) that I adopted last year and is a bit coarse, but I’m working my way up to the better stuff.

Onwards and upwards! You can cheer me on during the Tour de Fleece, starting Saturday!