currently spinning....

i don't often buy roving dyed by other people, since i'm perfectly capable of dying my own, but this one caught my eye a while back when i was wandering around at darn yarn.   it's different from my own typical colorways, and maybe that was the attraction.

it's an unidentified wool, labelled 'US wool top' and isn't particularly soft,  but i thought it would be great for a sturdy pair of socks.    but the spun singles are looking a bit more pastel than i anticipated. 

which would be fine for easter, i suppose...but not really my style.    so i decided to dye some corriedale roving, picking up on the turquoise in the colorway, in the hopes that it'll brighten it up a bit.  my plan is to ply a single of the turquoise with a single of the colorway.

i'll post pictures once it's all spun and plied.

peeps

my friend, rachael, needed to go to ohio today to pick up some newborn chicks from a hatchery.   she had ordered some previously,  and had them shipped,  but there were a few that needed to be replaced, so she decided to drive over rather than risking shipping on these.    i was excited to be invited to ride along.  :-)

the hatchery is about 2.5 hours away.  we had a great time chatting on the way.   there are always lots of things to talk about...spinning,  weaving,  dying fiber,  and of course, chickens.  lol.    the hatchery is waaayyyyyy out in the boonies, in amish country.   we saw lots of horses and buggies,  the occasional amish pedestrian,  and a flock of sheep.    when we arrived she was presented with these little balls of fluff.....

it was too cold to stand outside taking pictures,  but i got a few of the hatchery through the car windows....

this is how far out in the boonies we were...

kinda reminds me of my home town in michigan....


and there was this cool, single lane tunnel....

i rode home with a small box of peeping baby cuteness on my lap.   i kept catching myself talking baby talk to them.   but oh my.   what cuteness, lol.

Cotton....

I've been spinning yarn since the late 1970's. i've used bottom whorl drop spindles, top whorl drop spindles, and a variety of spinning wheels. i can spin just about any type of fiber..... but cotton has always been my fiber nemesis. it has a short staple (each individual fiber is short) and requires a lot of twist to hold the yarn together. i had tried drop spindles and spinning wheels, but just couldn't get the hang of it---couldn't produce a yarn with which i was happy.

A year or so ago i saw a cotton fiber sampler which included a tahkli down at darn yarn needles and thread. a tahkli is a small supported spindle, often made from metal, that is traditionally used for cotton spinning in india. i read that it was invented by ghandi in the 1930's but haven't verified that bit of info. i kept wondering whether this specific little spindle would make the difference for me.

I had been thinking about this sampler ever since, so thursday afternoon i bought one. i was amazed that i was immediately able to spin a fine, fairly consistent yarn. i had never had any interest in supported spindles before, but now i find myself searching youtube and drooling over russian supported spindles on etsy lol. this has the potential to turn into my next fiber obsession.....

So far i have spun less than an ounce of the cotton but i already have visions of weaving dish towels from naturally colored cotton.... i'm partial to the green. but the shades of brown are also nice. I also have a few seeds for green cotton that were shared by a nice person on ravelry. i'll plant those in the next month or so and see whether, by planting in containers indoors, i can create a long enough season for the bolls to mature. i wonder how long it will take me to spin enough yarn for a couple of dish towels using my little tahkli..... Maybe i should save up for a box charka...

posted from Bloggeroid

so...   it takes me a couple of hours to spin the roving that it took ALL DAY yesterday to comb.

sigh.

lots more combing to do.      this frigidly cold weather is the perfect motivation to stay in the house and comb wool.    how's that for finding a silver lining, lol.    :-)

the weather has finally turned cold.   i used to love winter.   i suppose i still do...i'd be happy to have more snow than we've had the last few winters.    i'm noticing this year, though,  that my joints get more stiff and achy as the temperature drops.      i need to figure out what my body needs to prevent this.    

i was talking with a friend, recently, about dietary stuff,  and she said that her father's kidney doctor told him that high fructose corn syrup causes the kidneys to not be able to properly process toxins, which then build up in the joints, causing joint pain.  hmmmm.   i have some kidney damage, so mine are already inefficient at processing toxins and such.  no wonder high fructose corn syrum makes my joints hurt.       i knew it was true for me.  but i am happy to now know why.

so, back to the cold weather.  last night i brought in my chive plant (which was a gift from a friend this summer).   my cat is thrilled.    little miss weirdo, who won't eat anything except dry cat food (known around here as 'kitty crunchies'), has been happily choping away.    i wouldn't have thought she'd enjoy the onion-y flavor, lol.

yarn along

i thought i'd participate in Ginny's 'yarn along' on her Small Things blog.   each wednesday she invites others to write a blog post about what they are knitting or crocheting,  and reading,  and link to hers.

i am, as usual, in serious fiber adhd mode.   and, as usual,  have way more ideas than time or energy.  i've been dragging pretty badly as the weather keeps changing (which seems to affect my lyme stuff more in the fall than any other time of year).     but i am chugging along on several projects.

This time of year most of my spinning and knitting is stuff that will be for sale, either at Bottlebrush Gallery for the Arts or the Harmony Museum Weaver's Cabin.    This pair of mittens is being knit from yarn i spun from one of Lisel's sheep.   I'm not sure which one,  but it's a medium gray Black Finnsheep/Lincoln cross. 

i'm also washing, dying, combing, carding and spinning like a madwoman.     weaving ideas abound!  now,  if i just had the energy/time/loom availability to bring all of them into the light of day....  

currently reading Spin to Weave: the Weaver's Guide to Making Yarn



click on the yarn along icon to see ginny's post.  :-)

i am one of those people who longs for acres of land to grow food and raise livestock...    my grandparents all grew up on farms,  and my maternal grandparents continued to homestead even though my grandfather worked in the automotive industry.   my mom grew up drinking goats milk and almost everything they ate they had produced themselves.   by the time i came along,  they still had several acres of garden,  a small apple orchard with at least half a dozen varieties,  a couple of tart cherry trees, a pear tree,  and 5 damson plum trees.    there were strawberries in the garden,  and wild blackberries in the woods.  there were chickens who laid green eggs.    i learned to can at the side of my grandmother, mother and aunts.

i always wanted a homestead of my own.   when i learned to spin and weave in college,  the need to have sheep was added to the dream.   over the years,  i've never lived anywhere that could qualify as a homestead.    i've had gardens, here and there, and the occasional fruit tree,  but never had the ability to have livestock of any kind.  well,  i had an angora rabbit for a few years,  but he was more of a pet than livestock, lol.

for the last 9 years i've been living in an apartment where,  while there is a pretty large yard,  i'm not allowed to plant things in it.   so my garden has been limited to what i can grow in containers.   this year i have rutgers and marglobe tomatoes,   and a heirloom eggplant, whose name i've forgotten....
it's my first time growing eggplant.  people keep telling me it's difficult to grow and prone to insect pests.    just recently i've noticed very small holes in the leaves,  but the eggplants are growing like crazy.   i'm very pleased.  :-)        the tomatoes have not been as happy with the weird weather this summer,  but i have one rutgers tomato that is nearly ripe.    and quite a few green tomatoes which will hopefully have time to ripen.  






pretty eggplant :-)

 

and lovely tomato :-)