Stitches West: Day One - Setup with Tactile

Today was fun...work, but fun!  I have fallen in love with the train.  Well i fell in love with the train four years ago during my first trip to Japan.  The easy life of not going through customs or having people complain i have too much Shampoo in my bag.  I was very pleasantly surprised this morning as i boarded the Amtrak in Berkeley that train life in the states wasn't too far off.  Nice quiet ride with plenty of room for me and all of my stuff.  I worked on the lace edging for my Polonaise, that has yet to be created, the whole way there and on the way this evening.  I swear lace pictures will follow ; )

Today consisted of helping Tactile setup their booth at Stitches West.  The whole Stitches West thing is new to me and i had no idea what to expect.  OMG it's huge!  Like Fanime at the SJ Convention Center huge!  YEA!!!  Yarn, Fiber, crafty bliss!!!  So the setup began around noon and proceeded until 5pm when the students got to come in and browse the floor as early birds.  The booth is beautiful and i go back to tomorrow to improve my skillz of selling and writing receipts.

Before any setup as i await my cohorts



The Booth in *most* of it's glory

Burnin' through the fiber!

Well, actually i haven't made a whole lot of progress in '09 yet, but i do have TONS of fiber still from the Taos Wool festival to use so hand spun yard will be getting made.

First item completed of 2009!

50% Wool / 50% Silk - Tactile Fiber Arts "Rainbow"

Navajo Plied

190 yards

10 wpi

I think this calls for a new scarf or hat?  *yea!!!*

Ramble, Ramble

It's been a long couple of weeks, i'm tired.  Two weeks of system testing including one week with the end users in NY.  I'm so looking forward to the Thanksgiving break!  One good thing from NY was the start of the Purple Snowflake socks.  Pictures soon...but i want to have more then 2" of lef to show before the socks are put out to the public.

I sat down for some quality time with the blanket for my parents christmas present this evening.  Good progress made, and blanket will not be knit on the plane...but my brothers scarf may be.  Oh well : )

Handspun done over the weekend: Shiny Night
50% Tencel
45% Suri Alpaca
5% Mohair Top
Spinning Method: over the fold
Date Spun: Nov 23, 2008
Yards: 166

A Yolo Experience

Today was spent up near Davis in the mild heat checking out the Yolo Fiber Mill.  Amazing stuff!  There were awesome vendors from all different categories, even a guy selling a couple of bottles of Olive Oil.  Tactile was there...and with my wheel!!!  YEA!!!  Sorry, still dancing around the house with a GIANT SMILE.  YEA!!!  Okie, that over, for now : )  Brooke helped me to assemble my beautiful new child, and then i proceeded to camp out spinning for a while.  Bliss...  I had brought some of the Alpaca i bought in Taos and it's spinning wonderfully.  Super soft and such a pretty blue/gren combo.



There was a guided tour of the Mill learning about the carding, spinning, and plying processes on the super mega giant machines.  So many awesome gear shots.  I'm totally getting excited about Steampunk Halloween (separate post to follow with a costume update).

Also managed to remember that my camera takes those moving pictures things...movies i think ; )  Here is the guy who makes the plying happen desmonstrating how it works and another showing the winding off of a skien of yarn.  It's amazing what technology has produced over the years, and more amazing to think that most of these machines were from the 50's-60's ish.

New Life to Drop Spindle Spinning

I've taken the classes, sat there for hours on end, but just never really got into drop spindle spinning.  While at the Taos Fiber festival there were BEAUTIFUL spindles from Woolly Designs.  At first i looked.  The next day i tried a bottom whirl drop spindle.  OMG, i loved it!  I picked up a heavier spindle then i currently have (1.9 ozs).  Between the low whirl and the extra weight something just clicked and i've been doing a bit each day since.

I am really enjoying my new purchase, and at just $40 it was within the budget even after the 6 lbs of roving (can't wait for it all to arrive in the mail).

I've been spinning everywhere, ncluding spinning at the Airport in Alburquerque while waiting for my flight.  An older gentelman walked by while i was spinning and said "She's making a kite!".  I'm not quite sure where this came from...

 

Clouds and Cardigan Blues

Today marked day one of the 25th Taos Wool Festival. There was roving, yarn, rugs, wheels, spindles, looms...all things fiber related. Everyone had out their best and it was good stuff. The weather was perfect with a dash of sun, but mostly a light cool overcast with the rain saved for the night.

I especially fell in love with the roving at LoneSome Stone Fiber. I bought way too much, something like 5 pounds all together. Luckily they were willing to ship it, otherwise my fellow plane mates may not have been too happy with me.

In the afternoon there was a Ravelry Meetup. A very sweet woman brought homemade pumpkin cupcakes, delicious. It was nice to meet the gang and pickup some swag (Yea for Stickers!!!).

I even got some time to sit and listen to an amazing woman playing the Celtic harp and work on my cardigan.

All great things must end

Last night was the last in a four week series of learning to spin on the wheel. This class has been awesome! Not only did i learn, i also understood it and within the month and gotten to really enjoy what i am producing. Sadness in parting with the wheel that i have been renting...but joy that in October i was become the proud owner of a Matchless by Schacht ... oh they're beautiful. October is forever away, but it's totally good timing as i will be traveling to Russia for two weeks in September along with the Taos Fiber Festival the first week of October. Both of these trips require planning and preparation that is not nearly as much fun as listening to War and Peace and spinning.

Yesterday before class was a dash to wash the haul from this week. I love yarn on the back railing...

Finished skeins...

I ran this one back through to give it a bit more twist. It came out wonderful and is currently the favorite.

In the final class i think i finally got Andean plying. I'm still cutting off my circulation, but not as bad, and i was even able to ply the yarn without it getting caught on itself. YEA!!! Last night there was talk of different kinds of classes to potentially be offered. All of which sound awesome. Some ideas thrown out were:

• A Carding Class (Right of the animal/plant...help?)
  
• A Fleece Class (I bought it...now what do i do?)
• A Natural Dye Class
• A Novelty Spinning Class (Beads, sequins, ribbon, oh my!)

All of the classes sound awesome and i can't wait to for my next class with Brooke and Maia (Tactile Fiber Arts). They are both amazing teachers with awesome patience and mad skillz.

Other News:
1) Massive amount of fiber were purchased last night at the end of class (my credit card hurts). Update once pictures and inventory has been taken.
2) I still have at least 35% left to finish on my mom's socks before her birthday, which means before i leave for russia, which means in less then two weeks. Ahhh!!!

Long Draw Color

Spinning is awesome! I totally didn't know what i was missing. This weekend i focused on spinning up the 4oz's of Merino in "Kelp" i bought from Tactile. At some point on Sunday i decided it needed to be plyed with some black. So off i went. I found a super nice Alpaca/Mohair blend by Louet at Article Pract. 4oz's of that came home with me : ) Everything was spun. The two were plyed together and... I like it! The top is all Merino. The bottom skein is a a mix based on each ply. Both feel great to the touch. The bottom could have used more spin during the singles to help it ply onto each other better.

Tonight i started into some more of the fiber purchased from Lambtown. I picked this up at the booth and but it down atleast 5 times. I very walked away, outside of the building only to realise that i had to buy it. I'm not a "pink" person, but it called to me as too crazy to pass up. Long draw spinning and it's coming out pretty good. I'm getting better at the width consistency on the singles and really enjoying the crazy pink wool.

It all comes down to Plying

Week two of "Beginning Wheel Spinning" down and my new skills consist of:

New Spinning technique
Over the Fold: I find myself spinning like this all of the time on the drop sindle and it was nice to make the connection on the wheel. Still a bigger fan of the long draw when possible

Two Plying techniques
Regular Plying: This is what i had been preparing those green wool singles for and it was awesome!

Navajo Plying: This was a good trick, that i can definitely use more practice on, where you can use just the one bobbin of single and create a 3 ply type yarn. Nice...

After class i came home and plyed up the rest of the above BFL and immediately began spinning some Merino i purchased from the Tactile ladies after class. It's soooo pretty! 2oz's down...2 more to go...and then playing and pictures!!!


Today i washed the plyed yarn in the bathtub. First with a bit of soap and then a rinse.

After the rinse the yarn was rolled in a towel to squeeze out the excess water prior to being hung out to dry. Literally...hung outside to dry. End result is beautiful yarn!

Finished Hand-spun Yarns:

Lambtown Green/Brown Wool (98 yards/64 grams)
Tactile BFL (46 yards/43 grams)
Tactile Corriedale (11 yards/18 grams)

Spin, Spin, Spun

The first bobbin of Green Wool has been spun! One more to spin before class on Thursday night. I think i am starting to get the Long Draw method. I was able to spin the entire ball of the green wool roving without the fibers separating AND most of the time not moving my right hand up the fiber. I feel much more comfortable on my drop spindle too! The wheel is definitely helping me build confidence in my spinning : )

My 1st Wheel Spinning Class

Last night was the first of four fantastic evenings i get to spend learning to spin on a wheel. I am renting a wheel, a Julia by Louet. So far it's great! Last night we started with the Long Draw method. We starting spinning with Corriedale. Super smooth! Awesome to work with, especially as a super beginner as it just wanted to be drawn out and spun through. Next we were given some BFL, good stuff! This proved to be a larger challenge. I spent about 10 minutes in class where when trying to spin the single got too thin and pulled apart from the roving in my hand at least 10 times. I did get super good at re-threading everything ;p I decided to give it another try this morning between conference calls (yea for working from home). I made myself relax, played with the tension, and just tried again and again...and then it started going. It's not amazingly even, but it looks good! I can't wait for next week. The goal is to spin up the two ounces i have of the green/black wool onto different bobbins for each ounce by next thursday to learn plying!

Wheel and Stash


First Bobbin!!! (about 2 oz's)

Oh the Spinning i will do...

Last weekend at Lambtown i purchased a BUNCH of roving to get me moving with my drop spinning to ensure that the wheel spinning class won't overwhelm me next month. Unfortunately i've been spending my time drooling over spinning wheels on line. I really need this right? :) It's super hard to justify the $900 when i don't even know where it would go! The house is already super packed, busting at the seams with yarn and fabric. Adding a full time, non-collapsible wheel to the mix may send the boyfriend over the edge...not good thing.

How did i get myself into this mess? Well here are pictures of the pretty pretty pretty things that call to me to buy a spinning wheel