March 30, 2009 at 5:16 pm (Uncategorized)
I have an amazing new blog home (and HC, & Etsy, and website) thanks to Cynthia of Webwurkz! I can not pimp her out enough. She is so great to work with!
So please, check everything out over at http://www.cajunfiberco.com/blog I won’t update this one any longer
March 23, 2009 at 9:25 pm (Video/Pics, Yarn-Making)
I am currently fighting with my camera, trying to figure out settings. So please forgive the poor format of the pictures.
This is on the wheel right now, it’s Shetland wool dyed by Bohemia Yarn Co. I have just about half of 8 oz spun up. It will be a 2 ply yarn. Shetland is so fun to spin! It goes so easily and quickly. Lots of squoosh factor
Next up is one I’m not so impressed with, I guess it is my first art yarn. This is a batt from Butterfly Girl Designs. It consists of bamboo, superwash merino, and firestar, in her Tuscanny colorway. I intended it to be a singles yarn, but halfway into it realized the staple was not long enough. So I continued on, and then ran it through again, adding more twist (apparantly not enough though), then plyed it with a gold metallic thread.
This next one is a singles BFL that I dyed with dye leftovers. I intended to sell it, but it became quickly apparant that while getting to know my new roaster oven (which I use to heat set) I felted the fiber. I got so frustrated I chucked away half of the roving and just wound off what I had.
I am so in love with this next yarn. It is a 2 ply, 1 ply is white mulberry silk, and the other is pure bamboo in crushed cranberries by Exclusively Linda Lee. This was my first time spinning pure bamboo and I do believe it is my new favorite fiber to spin! It practically spins itself. I think this will become a calorimetry.
And finally, my Celeste colorway on a merino/tencel blend roving. I can’t seem to capture the colors in my lightbox – but they are pale blues, white, black, & pink.
March 15, 2009 at 10:42 pm (Buy my Goods, Dyeing Out Loud, Fiber is good for you!, Video/Pics, Yarn-Making)
Firstly, check out the wonderful fiber goodies to be had at my congo, Indie Dyers on Hyena Cart!
Now, onto the custom. I am doing this as a trade for some website design, and I can’t wait for it to get to it’s destination so that she can get started!
My Ella, on custom spun superfine merino
March 11, 2009 at 4:32 pm (Buy my Goods, Dyeing Out Loud)
Yes, judging from my last post, I apparantly can not spell. But I already knew that lol.
It's so sneaky, the picture is even overexposed!
March 10, 2009 at 12:14 am (Dyeing Out Loud)
So my DH is on a mandatory vacation this week (explanation? economy) and is being Mr. Wonderful by doing all my housework and child-rearing for me! Well, mostly. So that means crafting for me!
I did up some new colorways this weekend, and hope to get even more done this week, but I’m running out of yarn so they may have to go on roving.
Sneak peaks soon, I promise!
March 3, 2009 at 10:08 pm (Buy my Goods, Video/Pics)
Tonight I say goodbye to some friends. Almost babies, if you will. And as I send them off to their new homes, teary-eyed, I can not wait to see what they will become.
Yes, friends, today was the grand opening of my congo, Indie Dyer’s Cooperative. I am very happy to report that it was a success.
Good-bye my loves ... parting is such sweet sorrow.
February 24, 2009 at 12:05 am (Uncategorized)
Ok as I write this it is midnight, and I should head to bed. But I thought I would write up a few of my ’secrets’ to spinning a nice, as-consistent-as-possible single, and a nicely balanced plied yarn. Just bear in mind I’m dog-tired right now, in case something doesn’t make sense, mmk?
Starting with your roving, I like to split it. I take the entire piece of roving, 4 oz lengths are good – and split it in half after un-seaming it (find the seam, and unzip it with your fingers). Take a half, and split again, one of those halfs and split again. Keep splitting until you’ve split the entire piece of roving, oh about 12 times or so, and the pieces are about as big as a pencil. Thus, pencil roving! I find that this helps me to spin more consistently. And it’s a heck of a lot easier and less time-consuming than pre-drafting.
Another secret I’ve figured out with singles, is that you always want to spin them smaller/lighter than what you really want. If you want a 14 WPI single, spin it at 16-18. Because when you’re finished with the yarn, and you wash it, and set it, and dry it, it will fluff up. So if you want a 2 ply worsted weight yarn, spin 2 24-28 WPI singles instead of 2 22-24WPI singles.
Now, I’ve found in singles, if you’re going to ply the yarn, you want to overtwist the single a bit. Why? Because when you ply it, you’re letting out some of the twist. You don’t want that single to fall apart on you or have barely any twist at all once plied do you?
When I ply, I treadle, and count the number of times one foot treadles. I treadle until the yarn looks good between the orfice and my pinch finger. Then I stop treadling and loosen the tension in my hand, so the yarn lays relaxed. Does it twist on itself right away? Too much twist. Is the plying really loose? Too little. If you relax the yarn enough, it will twist back on itself lightly, and this is ok. You’ll straighten that out later when you set the yarn.
I hope some of my tips will work out for you. I’m no expert, but I love to share some of the knowledge I’ve discovered to help others.
February 20, 2009 at 3:02 am (Buy my Goods)
We open March 3, lots of beautiful fiber and yarn to be had! My shop will have a 3 day aucion and a free for shipping lottery!
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