batts

Oops, Here Are the Rolags

by CZeitler

Okay, so I actually didn’t show you the rolags I have been making throughout September in Preparation for Spinzilla.  From left to right, top to bottom, we have:

Paradise Fibers Scarlet ‘n’ Silk, a 50/50 merino tussah blend.  This should spin up beautifully, I hope to hit a sport to worsted when I am done.

Ashland Bay Moorit- I think this is considered a heritage breed, I am looking forward to seeing how it spins from a rolag.  I have a lot of trouble spinning some of these from top and hope that the change in prep will help.

Yak Silk Blend from Paradise Fibers- I love Paradise fibers, but they try and get me out of my comfort zone quite a bit. I have been terrified of this blend ever since I received it.  So I decided to get out of my comfort zone and turn these into rolags to spin up.  Wish me luck!

Allegheny Fiber Arts, they have an etsy store.  This is from a lovely young woman that belongs to the weaving and spinning guild that I do out of Bradford, PA.  I love her fibers, I had previously purchased a roving that she called Mango and it spun up beautifully.  Now I have this batch, I forget what she called it but the colors are so perfect for an autumn spin I could not resist.  (Though I did add sparkle when I carded it, I am a sucker for sparkle).

I also created a few batts, but I think I will wait and show those as I spin them.

Wish me luck! Happy Crafting, and Happy Spinzilla!

Back on Track…Mostly

by CZeitler

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Since it is past the 15th, okay just past…boy I’ve been spinning like a dervish..I’ve started spinning my Brights Pack!

Mom likes to listen to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy or the Rosary (or both) and then Morning Mass using her EWTN App on her iPad.  Since I like to keep her company and feel the need for some quiet contemplation in the morning, but if I just listen I fall back asleep, I have been spinning while she listens to the meditations.  According to mom the sound of my wheel whirring away is very soothing.  I’m trying to tell her the fact that my wheel is making that whirring clunking noise is not a good thing, but since I cannot find the source right now we are at a standstill.  I suspect that I need to disconnect, clean, re-oil, tighten, and reassemble the footman that connects my treadles to my wheel.  But since that involves the wheel being upside down and empty it isn’t going to happen until this spin is completed at least.

Because of her quiet time I have between 90-120 minutes in the morning of almost uninterrupted spinning time I have gotten quite a bit accomplished.  I do not believe for a minute that I will be able to keep this pace up, especially since I’m usually running around doing other things in the morning also, but while it lasts I intend to enjoy it.  If, somehow, I manage to get the last of my singles spun tomorrow morning, probably not since I’ve still got almost half of my fiber to spin, then I can put each single on a bobbin, or bobbins, and ply from there.  I plan on having this be a three-ply yarn so I’ll have to see how much I can fit on my bobbins, first I think I’ll try and find my schacht travel bobbins and ply-up bobbins before worrying about putting singles on the smaller weaving bobbins.

With my extreme enjoyment of my spinning I Have not progressed very far on my knitting.  What I have gotten knit up is beautiful and I cannot wait to see the end project.  Thank goodness I cannot take my wheel to work, well I could but it would cause trouble, so I bring my knitting with me and get a couple of rows done while I am supposed to be on my lunch break, lol.  This is probably enough of an update for today, I am going to upload pictures of my breed study sheets to another blog post that I will schedule to release tomorrow.  I had a ton of fun creating them and I am already working on some variations as well as collecting some more breeds to spin!

Happy Crafting!

I’m Such a Card

by CZeitler

I, very happily, carded a couple of batts from the fiber I dyed.  I have named the Pink Batt ‘Stormy day in a rose garden’ while the other batt is ‘Sunrise’.  Both batts are entirely compromised of wool.  Stormy Day was carded once while Sunrise was carded twice.  I love the look of each batt.  I am planning on spinning the batts and wet felting small portions of each.  I will show off my progress as they are completed.

Happy Crafting

My New Drum Carder

by CZeitler

My drum carder came!  My Brother Drum Carder finally arrived, and it is all ready to go!  As you can see from my ‘unboxing’ pictures my Brother Drum Carder arrived assembled and ready to go with instructions in a lovely plastic pouch.  The intake drum and larger drum are at the right depth, though there are detailed instructions for how to change that depth if needed.  I will admit I followed directions from another website, I cannot find them again to give them credit, and did some sanding.  I took an emery board and ran it in all directions across both drums of my carder, this was supposed to take out any little burrs left by the manufacturing process.  The emery boards were all chewed up at the end of the process so I hope it worked.  The carder itself works like a dream, but it really is a good idea to be up on your tetanus shot before working with something like this.

I am having an absolute blast playing with my new drum carder.  I am experimenting with corriedale, merino, and some other colored wools.  I will post later today or tomorrow about my new batts!

Happy Crafting!