Another rainy day--a great time to work on the magazine article

Rain predicted any minute now and I'm excited. I snuck out early this morning and got the French fingerling potatoes in the ground. And I'm wondering why I didn't think to put in more kohlrabi and spinach seed. But I digress....

Rainy day means that I can catch up on several things inside. Like updating my Etsy shop with several new yarns. I've gotten the photos done, just need to tune them up in PaintShop, print out labels, write the descriptions and list the yarns. Some of the yarns need to re-skeined because I spun them at my southern studio and only had my small sample niddy noddy to wind them off and wash them. They look quite scrunched as little skeins!

I also need to finish spinning the Poppies yarns and another lavendar/purple/variegated top that's in the middle of the living room. A good time to binge-watch The 4400.

Then there's the work for the magazine article. There's sampling to complete, a prototype project to finish, and yarn to spin. This is the main focus for today, with the other chores scattered throughout the day to break up the work on the article. I find I can only keep my attention sharp for an hour or so at a time, so having a few projects to circulate keeps me on my toes for each of them. Well, that and a pot of coffee......

Be well and enjoy having today to play with.

Some new handspun yarns this week

I've finished up the Christmas gifts here at Chez Feisty. How are your projects going? Think you'll be finished in time to wrap your handmade gifts and put them under the tree? And I have photos but can't show them just yet because the recipients read this blog on Facebook.

However, I also managed to get some yarn spun this week in between visits to the garage, the hair stylist, the guild gathering--I had something going every day last week so the weekend came as a welcome respite. Before I decided to close the Etsy shop, I was working on a line of Tiffany-inspired braids. As I designed each one, I made two for sale and one for me to spin. If the color combination was ugly, neither the braid nor the yarn was going in the shop. Iris made the cut. The braids are listed but the yarn hadn't been washed and labeled before the closing sale. Here it is, although I'm not sure yet what it will become (suggestions welcome!):





















I had also been working on a series of gradient batts for the shop. One of my friends has a weak spot for anything purple, as do I myself, and I came up with a teal-blue-purple-berry transition and threw in a handful of white silk noils for interest. I spun up a fat singles for him as a gift, and just finished a fine singles for myself.

I got 392 yards out of 1.8 ounces of fiber and intend it for a Moebius with an undulating stitch pattern. I'm excited to see how it turns out, so am taking it along on my Christmas travels. Moebius knitting is so relaxing and mindless for travel.

And as if that wasn't enough to keep me busy, the weather here is warming up and the contractor called Tuesday night to say that he would be here bright and early this morning. This old house still needs some work to make it energy efficient, or as energy efficient as a 101-year old house can be, and so the basement windows are being replaced by double-pane windows. No glass block down there, I like to open the windows in the summer so the breezes can blow through and help cool it down in the evenings. The window cleaners also called last night to say they'd be stopping this afternoon, so I've already taken down the plastic pine boughs along the fence so they can access the windows. So today is my day to stick near home, wrap presents and bake Grandmas Cranberry Bread.

Stay warm, enjoy the holidays and I'll see you all in the New Year!

Why use handspun yarn?

I had a customer ask how to care for one of my handspun handknit hats, thinking it would be difficult to care for wool. And I realized that not everyone has been immersed in wool for 37 years like me, and may not realize the advantages of naturally-grown, naturally-processed fibers. So I'm climbing up on my soapbox and giving a lecture on why natural fibers and handspun yarn are very good for you.

1.  That difficult-to-wash thing? Nope, not at all. It takes the same amount of time for me to handwash woolens as it does for my machine to go through a load--40 minutes give or take a few minutes. You throw all your laundry in the machine, add detergent/soap, select the cycle and walk away.The machine beeps when it's done. For woolens, you choose an appropriate-size container (sink, basin or bathtub) for the items, fill with warm-to-the-touch water, add a wool wash product or a good shampoo (I like shampoo for colored hair as it tends to safeguard the color in dyed woolens), push the items down into the soapy water and walk away for 30 minutes. Then you gently squeeze the items a couple of times to release the dirt, squeeze out excess water, empty the container. Refill it with warm water, immerse the items, squeeze gently a few times to rinse, squeeze out excess water, roll in a towel and lay flat somewhere (a waterproof place like the top of your dryer or a drying rack), and walk away. Hint: Don't lay your woolens where your pets can find them or you'll be picking dog/cat hair off your precious woolens. That's Kitty Mercury's favorite trick, sleeping on a drying sweater.

And, I really only wash my sweaters once a year, before I store them for the summer. That's probably because I have so many that each one isn't worn enough to get really dirty.

2. Wool and most animal fibers are better for the environment than acrylic. This is not to say that acrylic yarns should disappear, because they have many uses. But animal fibers are renewable whereas petroleum is not. Animal fibers will biodegrade in our landfills (or around my fruit trees where I use leftovers as mulch);  acrylic and plastics will remain for perhaps a thousand years.

3. When my handspun handknits are no longer serviceable as sweaters/hats/mitts, I can recycle them. Mostly I throw them in the washer and felt them, which means the cat gets a new snuggly cat bed or the living room has new coasters on the end tables. Make coffee sleeves, sew the felt together for a scarf or new mittens/hat, let the kids cut them out and glue them to bulletin boards in their rooms, cut felt Christmas tree ornaments, etc.

4. Wool isn't necessarily itchy. My personal feeling is that this urban myth came about from WWII when the soldiers were given blankets made of "shoddy" wool--wool that had been sourced from wool rags that were mechanically torn into shreds, respun, rewoven and felted into blankets. We had a couple of those blankets when I was a kid and they were nasty nasty nasty! If you're really allergic, with the sneezing and itchy eyes, there's not much you can do. But not all sheep are the same, some breeds grow tough rug wool while others grow spongy soft stuff that you can wear next to the skin. Those who want a soft wool should look for Merino, Rambouillet, Corriedale and other wools that are known to be soft. Handspinners source their wool from local growers or from mills that realize handspinners will only buy/spin the soft stuff.And this is why all my skeins are marked with the sheep breed (if known) so you can buy with confidence that it will be a soft yarn or a yarn suitable for outerwear.

5.  The most important criteria for me? I can have whatever color, whatever texture, whatever size yarn I want. And when I make it into a garment, no one--NO ONE--will have the same garment. Because every spinner is working with her hands and heart and brain, and those hands/heart/brain will make design decisions that are different in some way from mine. My friends, using the exact same raw materials, will spin differently and knit or crochet or weave or felt something completely different from my work. Handspun, handcrafted items are one of a kind (OOAK) and should be treasured, cared for, used, reused, and used up. It's one of the reasons we have few surviving textiles--they were hand made with a lot of work and love and were considered too precious to toss away.

Buy handspun yarn, work with handspun yarn, support the creative folks who have chosen to design and produce lovely yarn and lovely hand made things--they are giving you their heart and soul.

And that's the end of the lecture. Hope you enjoyed it!

Spindle Spinning classes at the festival, photo session

Phew! What a long weekend it was, but so much fun. The Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival took place last weekend and I was tapped for judging the fiber competition in addition to teaching Spindle Spinning both days. Lots of great entries in the competition and we were stumped several times on which entry should take the blue ribbon in a category. If you make something (or many somethings) this coming year, you should consider entering them in the festival. Entry fee is just a few dollars and everyone loves to see and be inspired by the creations. It's one of the ways we can keep our fiber skills alive, by showing off and inspiring others to learn our craft(s).

For example, we had absolutely no advance signups for my spindle classes but past experience told us that I'd get a few students at the festival. I had two students on Saturday but once the Fleece to Shawl competition started, the class registration skyrocketed. I'm so happy to have hatched all those new spinners, whether they spin for pleasure or because they have sheep and want to know everything about the process.

Once I caught up with the dishes, laundry, orders and emails I was able to meet with my photographer for a photo session. Can't say specifically why we did this, but watch this space for upcoming news! At any rate, we lucked into a cloudy day on Thursday--just right for photography. Unless the sun keeps moving and the shadows move in the opposite direction and you have to keep dragging the picnic table into the shade to avoid 'burn out spots' on the pictures. We see those gorgeous photos of models wearing the latest fashion in romantic settings and think it's a wonderful sexy life to wear the clothes and travel to faraway places, but it's also a lot of work getting those shots! Much more work than I do since I'm just a small operation and don't usually use live models or romantic settings. I think we wasted an hour on capturing one particular shot that I wanted--nothing seemed to show what we wanted in exactly the way we wanted. But I always learn a little more about what makes a photo interesting in terms of content, lighting and balance. Here's a taste of what we did:

Celebrate Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday with a SALE!!

Celebrate Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday--Starting immediately and through midnight on Monday, Nov. 26, all items in my Etsy shop will be discounted 20% when you use coupon code Cyber2012 when checking out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/feistywomandesigns

Buy fiber for your spinning friends, buy yarn for your crafting friends! And have fun shopping!

Spring Flower Fever has struck!

I've been overjoyed at the spring flowers everywhere. Perhaps it's because the deer ate my hibiscus buds just before they bloomed, and 'trimmed' my rhododendroms severely this winter, but I NEED some color and scent this spring. My Easter azaleas (Husbeast and sons know that I love spring flowers and buy me some each Easter) are in the ground and have survived several frost warnings. A good friend brought me a bunch of blue hibiscus yesterday to cheer me after the deer damage to my own. And the one flower the deer don't seem to like for dinner are the wood violets that cover large portions of our lawn. So I went a little crazy in the studio last week and tried to reproduce some of my favorites, although I'm not quite sure how to mimic hibiscus flowers. Here's my results, available in my Etsy shop:

Wood Violets

 

Azaleas

And the thick 'n thin yarn spun from one of the batts, which will also appear in my Etsy shop as soon as I print a label with weight, suggested needle size, etc.

Azaleas yarn

And don't forget the Great Lakes Fiber Show in Wooster, OH. Tomorrow, April 30, is the last day to sign up for workshops and there are some great classes this year.

New yarns in my shop!

Sorry, not much doing here on the home front this week. Other than washing the windows, doing laundry, making home made spaghetti sauce--but that's not what y'all want to hear, I'm sure.

I've just listed 3 new handspun yarns in my shop. Cherry Divinity and Peppermint Twist are bulky yarns, and Stormy Waters works up at a worsted gauge. I think Cherry Divinity would make a wonderful holiday hat. And I have more of the spinning batts here so may be forced to spin up some for myself and knit up a quick hat!

Peppermint Twist, 3.2 oz, 160 yds, Bulky

Cherry Divinity, 1.7 oz, 100 yds of Bulky yarn

Stormy Waters, 1.9 oz, 110 yds of worsted weight yarn

 We're heading for a drive in the country tomorrow to pick up our meat for the freezer. Should be a spectacular drive on a fine autumn day. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Oh yeah, GO STEELERS!

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled travelog.....

....for this important harvest message.
I'm having a squeefest here! This is the third year I've planted a garden and the first year I've had any kind of yield--because the groundhog and the birds wiped me out every year. The groundhog found at least five different ways to dig into/climb over the fencing despite our changing the fencing twice and he/she leveled all the plants, including the raspberries; the birds attacked the blueberries and left us with 8 berries to ourselves last year, and pulled up and ate a lot of the seedlings. We now have a 10' fence around the garden that extends 4' underground, and 100 yds of bird netting over the berries and sprouts. I HAVE BERRIES AND LETTUCE AND PEAS! THE KOHLRABI AND CABBAGE AND CARROTS ARE GROWING MADLY!

Blueberries, black raspberries and snap peas picked this morning

Black raspberries from Monday

Rutabega sprouts

Catnip startings--I must be crazy to think the neighborhood cats will leave these alone

 Having started my seeds indoors in late February every year, it's disheartening (to say the least) to have the wildlife consume my work in a matter of hours in June every year. I have tried different fencing systems, I've run outside uncountable times to shoo them, I've used a paintball gun to shoot over their heads and eventually to shoot at them (paintball guns are notoriously difficult to aim, so hitting anything smaller than a human was impossible--but so very satisfying to see purple paintballs splat on the ground where the animal had been). I've finally beaten them! Yee-haw!

I also washed the newest yarn I've made. Not sure if these will go out for sale or stay with me. I really like the three white/blue/green skeins as they will make a marled knit fabric and there may be enough for a vest for me, the yellow/green and red/blue/lime/white skeins will be enough for scarves for abused women who have gone to a shelter for assistance--it's a charity close to my heart.

The second of my summer spinning workshops

Spinning Colored Yarns

In this 4-hour workshop, you will learn how to put multiple colors in your spinning without buying handpainted roving. We'll explore different carding and spinning methods to achieve mixed-color yarns and space-dyed effects and discuss the results and their uses. Students should be comfortable enough with a wheel or spindle to make well-constructed consistent yarn.

Supplies to bring with you:
--Spindle or wheel
--Handcards if you have them (one pair will be available to share)
--At least 3 bobbins for your wheel; spindlers bring a storage method so you can wind off yarns as you make them
--Spare drive band, oil, any other “tools” you usually carry when spinning
--Please bring your own lunch; coffee/tea/water will be available

July 10, 2010—10:00 to 2:30 with 30 minutes for lunch
$60 includes materials and handout

Payment Information
Register early by contacting me through this blog or on Ravelry (I'm feistywoman) to reserve your space. Payment can be made via Paypal (I’ll send you an invoice once you’re registered) or personal check. At this time I’m not able to accept credit cards. Payment in full is expected three days prior to the workshop.

A week of spinning

I'm rather amazed at the amount of spinning I've been doing lately, especially with all the renovation I'm dealing with! This past week I finished off 2 skeins of Delicate, a superwash and Merino wool and silk yarn. I was playing with an idea for sock blends that would be different, and while this yarn probably isn't appropriate for socks I still love it. (The silk waste formed clumps in the spinning which would not be comfortable as socks but is still way cool.)


When I plied the bobbins I had quite a bit left on one bobbin and, not to be a wasteful slug, I plied it on itself. And THIS is the yarn I absolutely love and exactly the one I was looking for when experimenting with carding those batts! I call it Marbled yarn because the colors melt into each other in much the same way as marbled paper. It's suitable for socks, and as soon as I can get enough carded up it will appear in my Etsy shop.


During the recent spinning-and-carding spate, I also got some Posy Toes Bamboo batts carded up. The yarn I spun from these batts isn't photographed yet (it's raining outside today so photos will have to wait for the sun to reappear). However, there's 3 lots of batts in the shop for those who want to celebrate Spring or the next St. Patricks Day by wearing green socks. Hopefully I'll be able to get more carding done this week and will be able to offer the last of the Bamboo sock batts, Petunias. Then it's on to the Marbled series--I can't wait to play with this and see what colors I can create.


Take care and have a lovely weekend!

What was I thinking? Renovation of a money pit

Yeah, it's the family house that we've owned since 1943. Built in 1911. We were doing the last bit (we thought) on the diningroom, then finish the flooring installation in the diningroom and kitchen, and have Sears install the oven/cooktop. Then we could move in and enjoy the acre of trees and the garden. It. Ain't. Happenin.

The second floor of the house has not had the wiring replaced since 1911, and we thought we'd do that in the future. However, we discovered an exposed junction box in the diningroom ceiling that had to be rewired so thought we should have the second floor rewired while everything was exposed anyway. Unfortunately, the electrician and I discovered this week that the rooms that had been rewired in 1968-70 were done in the 4 years that electrical wiring had to be made of aluminum because the copper mines were on strike. The 1911 wiring is very dangerous to say the least. The aluminium wiring is only marginally less dangerous. sigh.......

The diningroom ceiling--junction box in question is at the point where the two heat ducts meet.


However, I DID manage to get lots of skeins of yarn finished and put into the Etsy shop this week. There's 6 skeins of a pastel beaded yarn called Hibiscus Patch (so-named because the deer have eaten all the ones that popped up at the house, and I just needed some hibiscus somewhere!)




And a skein of DK/Sport weight sock yarn in my Posy Toes Bamboo, Sunflower colorway.







The Hibiscus Patch is tempting me to knit a spring shawl. But I already have at least a dozen shawls and 35-40 WIPs sitting around. Do not need another shawl/project. If I say it enough, perhaps I'll convince myself.....

New stuff happenin--I'm excited!

I'm re-energized this week, coming off the "Cabin Fever" months of January and February and having lots of good things happen in my life. Last weekend during a nasty windstorm/cold spell that kept me inside hibernating, I finally came up with a solution to an art project I've been wanting to do for years. Back then I thought I had to draw or paint the idea, but realized that it would work best in cross stitch. It's about my family and is very internal and private, but cross stitch is a medium Grandma and Mom would have used and understood perfectly. I really don't want to go into the entire backstory or show the finished project, but I can say that it's been incredibly cathartic to finally get this thing out of my system. I'm sure some family members will not appreciate it, but hey! it's not always about YOU, folks!




And, most exciting of all, there were 3 fiber art connections this week. First, KnitDance on Etsy had purchased a skein of my Jordan Almonds yarn to make fingerless mitts for HER shop. Here they are, and didn't she do a wonderful job?



I was also invited into the Fiber Friday Carnival over on Alpaca Girl's website. I consider it an honor to be included with lots of great textile creations and creators.

Lastly, I've decided to become a sponsor of the Makin' Cookie's forum over on Ravelry. They've formed to knit socks from Cookie A's upcoming book and are soliciting prizes. I'm donating a bag of my sock batts (enough to spin yarn for a pair of socks) which will be included in a gift basket with other items to enable (my favorite word, 'enable') you to make a pair of Cookie A socks from scratch. I think it's a lovely idea and would like to thank Theresa for initiating and running the forum. If you're not on Ravelry, you should be! Go there now and request an invitation!

I must be off to get some work done today. Am having minor surgery Thursday morning and so won't be able to attend the Spinner Central gathering at the shop that evening. I do hope to make the Ewe Guys spin-in on Friday though--I miss Ewe Guys (pun intended)!

Six Hands: End of the story

So, Dottie has finished and listed both the scarf and cowl on her Etsy page. They are both lovely and ON SALE! Go take a look at the Garden of Colors scarf http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18681691 and the Garden of Colors cowl http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19310653 Truly lovely work! This was a collaborative project between Whirligig Yarns who dyed the alpaca roving in such colors that I couldn't pull myself away from her site for 3 days, myself who spun the alpaca roving and plied it with Merino wool, and Dottie at CCDZS who pulled it all together with her crochet hook and imagination.

Six Hands: The yarn is finished and heading to the next artisan

I finished spinning and plying late on Saturday, washed the yarn on Sunday and let it dry while watching the Steelers football game. I will not comment on the game except to say that I'm happy we won and that perhaps the NFL should insist on more extensive training for the officiating department--which is MUCH nicer language than I used during the actual game!

The yarn is firm due to the nice tight spin and ply, yet soft and supple due to the Merino/alpaca fibers. Just the right yarn for a long-wearing yet soft garment. The yarn is being forwarded to Dottie at http://www.ccdzs.blogspot.com/ Let's see what her creative mind and talented hands can do with this yarn.

Six hands: It may LOOK easy to make yarn, but….

…getting it right is sometimes it’s a royal PITA. Here's the first bobbin of luscious alpaca spun up on my Reeves double-treadle chair wheel.










I’d planned to use some of my own combed top with the Whirligig Yarns dyed alpaca, and I chose the wrong colors for it! Well, not the ‘wrong’ colors as there really ARE no wrong colors, but the wrong colors for the end product I was trying to achieve. Here’s the waaay too bright yarn—









And here’s the waaay too bright yarn being stripped off the spinning wheel bobbin so it can be un-plied and respun onto the bobbin. It's a good thing that the cats had gone outside to climb the apple tree--they think I do these things just for their amusement.









And then I had to spin another color that would be closer to what I wanted and ply the alpaca with it. It took me the better part of an entire day to unply, respin, spin and re-ply the yarn. The first successful skein is finished, so it’s onward to spinning the second skein the next few days, washing both of them to remove spinning and hand oils and give the alpaca a little ‘bloom’, and then they go onward to the next craftsperson. Check back to see what happens….

Six hands make a project

I’m a member of the Fiber Arts Street Team on Etsy.com—we call ourselves Etsy FAST for short, and it’s also the tag we use for the Etsy search engine so we can find each others’ work. We encourage, advise, and support each other in our creative paths and the team includes artists in most fiber mediums. Spinning, knitting, crochet, weaving, felting and embroidery are techniques that pop to mind although I’m sure I’ve left out a bunch of others (blame it on low caffeine levels today). We have monthly ‘challenges’ where we choose a topic meant to inspire us to create something that defines or describes that topic. We’ve done the Olympics, heroes, harvest, candy and others. Decembers challenge is teamwork, meaning we’ll do a piece using materials from another team member. Since I’m primarily a spinner I wanted to take it a step beyond simply spinning fiber from another member and suggested that some members could form a trio (or more) and work on a project. And I thought it would be fun to watch my trio progress toward the final goal, so I’m putting up pix of the fiber I’m working with. I stumbled onto this combed top at Whirlygig Yarns while wandering around the team sites and I managed to resist it for about….oh, 2 days maybe? It arrived home on Thursday and I couldn’t wait to get my hands into it. It’s 3.7 oz. of huacaya alpaca dyed in a soft rainbow of colors.

















I’ve just started spinning it, and it’s just lovely to work with. The colors when spun up are clear and change frequently and the color changes are subtle which is just perfect for the end use. I’ll be combining this with some of my own fiber and will hopefully get about 600-700 yards of sportweight yarn. I’ll be posting photos of the yarn being spun and the final plied and washed yarn. And at some point we should be seeing the finished product. I already know where the yarn is going and she’s a wonderful artist, but you’ll have to wait to see what she does with my yarn!

And on another topic completely, Pitt tromped all over Louisville yesterday, Penn State was beaten by Iowa (snort, chuckle), and the Steelers are set to beat the Colts today at 4:15 EST. Life is good…..