New to Me Dyer and Wheel

Laura Linneman turned me on to to a fantastic dyer, Koomasee. Laura is dangerous to my bank account.

Look at these braids!

She has a way of applying the color in a light sort smokey way, they magically have intensity without saturation. Her colors really appeal to me.

Most of you know that superwash Merino is not my favorite fiber to spin ,but I bought a superwash Merino to spin and I know I’m going to love it. It’s the upper right photo, stunning.

I will keep you updated on the spinning.

The braids on the left are BFL (top), and Corriedale (bottom). She has a nice variety of fibers, and I noticed she’s done an update since I bought my braids.

What do you think my newest wheel is?

I bet not many of you guessed that I bought more of a beginner/intermediate wheel. I bought a used Schacht Ladybug.

I'm going to be teaching brand new, only-dreamed-of-making-yarn folks how to spin, and I think the Lady Bug is a great wheel to do that on. I've never owned one, and it is a sweet wheel.

Just like every wheel I get I'm going to spin through a few braids to get to know her.

My Koomasee braids are perfect for that, and when I finish them I'll be going back for more.

Summer Sample Along: Worsted to Woolen Drafting!

It's time for a new Sample Along! My Patrons have voted and our theme is Worsted to Woolen Drafting.

Here's what we'll sample over the next few weeks:

• worsted draft, forward and back
• spinning from the fold, worsted and woolen
• woolen drafting, forward and back
• longdraw

Like our other Sample Alongs I will post every other week with techniques and tips. We'll spin, ply and knit swatches.

You don't need much in the way of materials. You can do the whole Sample Along with commercial or handmade combed top. I wouldn't reccomend a painted braid, all of the color may obscure seeing what's going on in the yarn.

Having some commercially or handmade carded roving, or any other woolen preparation would be good, but not necessary. I will be showing samples on both worsted and woolen preparations.

If you are buying fiber online and are looking for carded roving, make sure the description says that it's a carded prep. The word roving has transformed in to a word like Kleenex, encompassing a variety of fiber preparations (or tissues) not just the original type.

Interested in more information on this Sample Along? Consider joining my Patreon. I will be posting there, going deeper, the weeks between posting here on the blog.

Cleaning Handcards, Blending Boards, and Drum Carders, AKA My Patrons are the Best

Every month I gather with a group of my Patrons on Zoom, and we chat and spin. Of course, we spend time exchanging info about our best fibers and tools to buy. Spinners never gather without talking about shopping.

As well as being amazing and clever spinners my Patrons are outstanding and smart shoppers. A special shout-out to Laura Linneman (one half of The Knitgirlls) who is a human database of knitting patterns that work well with handspun.

I will admit to buying something after every one of our gatherings. My favorite tool of late is this fantastic hairbrush cleaner to use for cleaning my woolen prep tools. Really anything sold as a hairbrush cleaner will work.

I like this one in particular becasue the handle is long; it keeps my knuckles away from the teeth on my carders and blending board. I also like that it has two different sized spreads and densities of cleaning teeth.

Let's talk about those teeth. I usually don't like to use metal near carding cloth. For example I don't reccomend using a paper clip to clean cards, it's easy to nick the carding cloth.

The wire that the cleaning rakes are made of is very fine and flexible. They don't have the density or umph to nick the rubber carding cloth, but are strong enough in a group to catch all of the stray fibers on your handcarders, blending board or drum carder.

It is so satisfying getting all of my carders, really clean.

Curious about my Patron Zoom Parties? All of the info is on my Patreon page.

A New Way to Look at Fleece

I am fairly new to working with fleeces, but am finding I enjoy washing and prepping them more and more. Especially when I find quick, easy and lazy ways to do it.

Buying quality fleeces really helped me like working with fleeces more too. Just say no to those 'gift' fleeces that are just folks off-loading fleeces that are beyond filthy and full of second cuts.

The more I handle fleece through all of the stages, the more questions and curiosities I have. I am lucky to have friends that are incredibly knowledgeable that love to talk and shop fleeces. One of those friends introduced me to the fleeces of Lee Langstaff of Shepherd’s Hey Farm.

Lee breeds her fleeces for spinning, nothing new there. Lee also doesn’t commit to a single breed, she breeds across sheep breeds to get the end result in a fleece that she wants, she breeds for purpose. It is much more than a simple cross of two breeds. Mind blown and rabbit hole activated.

Here’s my example. I asked for a medium fleece.

I’m not fooling myself (yet) that I’m going to take the care that a fine fleece needs in prep, or comb a longer fleece. #drumcardingforever

This is the fleece information I got with my fleece. Incredible isn’t it?

This makes so much sense to me. It helps that I can conjure enough of the properties of each breed used to nod along while combining those properties in my head. I am hooked on this style of fleeces.

I’m not saying I will never buy a single breed fleece. I am on the hunt for a Icelandic fleece; I’ve heard that fall is the best time to buy them. Plus, I have too many fleece fanatics in my life that temp me.

But I will be buying more fleeces from Lee (look at the crimp, and perfect locks) , and will be searching for more shepherds who breed fleeces in a similar way.

Plying Sample Along: Let's Look at Swatches!

L to R: Singles, 2-ply, and 3ply

I knit all three of my yarns into three swatches, stockinette, lace, and a cable. I used the same needle size for each yarn, but not the same needle size accross the three yarns. I did not spin to match finished yarn sizes. Someone always asks.

Looking at the swatches above where they are grouped by yarn, not stitch pattern, they look similar. Probably even similar enough to be interchangable. When I group my swatches by stitch pattern, something else happens I see variations that can make a difference to a project.

I’m sure you’ve heard and read that if you look at a yarn from the end with the aid of magnification, the different plies have different shapes and behave differently. Singles are round-ish, and soft. 2-ply yarns are oval shaped and the plies tend to open, roll apart, and flatten. 3-ply yarns are round, push together and up.

L to R: Singles, top - 2-ply, and bottom -3ply

My singles stockinette swatch (left), has pretty good stitch definition, I can easily count stitches, and they look soft not crisp. To me the 2-ply (top right) and 3-ply (bottom right) look very different. The surface of the 2-ply is very visually busy, and the individual stitches are harder to see, that’s those plies pushing apart. The 3-ply stitches have crisp edges and the stitches and rows line up in straight lines. I like texture and visual motion in my knitting and this explains to me why I’m always reaching for a 2-ply yarn for stockinette projects.

L to R: Singles, top - 2-ply, and bottom -3ply

My singles lace swatch (left), shows the lace pattern evenly, and holds a block well. I always like how light lace knit from singles is too. The 2-ply (top right) and 3-ply (bottom right) have different qualities. They are not bad or good, I just choose what I like for a particular project.

The rolling away quality that made the 2-ply stockinette swatch look busy, keeps lace patterns open, and helps the stitch pattern look balanced. The crispness along with rolling together, and pushing up of a 3-ply yarn makes lace look like it could be a alternate stitch pattern. It’s not, all three swatches are English Mesh.

When I look at lace knit from a 3-ply yarn, my eye goes right to the decreases, they really stack up and the holes are rolling closed.. The lace pattern is not as uniform as the 2-ply swatch. To my eye it looks like a more complex stitch pattern, like a combination of lace and cable that I’ve seen in Japanese stitch pattern books.

L to R: Singles, top - 2-ply, and bottom -3ply

Texture and cable patterns are all about lift and clear edges. My singles cable swatch (left) doesn’t have much lift and the edges are very soft, the cable is more of a surface pattern. The 2-ply (top right) gets a little higher, but notice the blurriness of stitches in the stockinette part of the cable, that makes it look kind of soft.

The 3-ply swatch (bottom right) is the cable champion here. The stitches have edges, the cable looks carved, and really stands up off of the background.

I hope you found some interesting things in your swatches, and I hope this Sample Along helped to shine a light on some knitting mysteries too.

We’ll be doing another Sample Along, as soon as my Patrons choose a new topic!

Spring Is Doing Her Best

This morning I had my tax appointment and it snowed. That's kind of how life's been these days.

There has been senseless violence and shootings, and somehow even though more people are getting vaccinated the covid numbers are climbing again. Where I live in Michigan, they are really spiking.

Everyone is exhausted, more than a little on edge, and social media has become a battlefield. Many of the things that used to help us get through the days (and months) aren't working anymore.

But we are keeping on, fighting for what's right, supporting each other, and keeping safe. We are doing our best.

This afternoon the snow disappeared and I went for a walk. It seemed like most of the flowers in the neighborhood bloomed. I spent time strolling and taking pictures, taking the time to slow down and look for beautiful things. It helped.

I hope these flowers lift you a little today. Keep doing your best and keep looking for beauty every day.

Plying Sample Along: The Knitting

Once you have your yarns plied, have your singles to stay singles spun, and all of your yarns finsihed, it's time to knit some swatches.

What you knit is up to you. I recommend using the same three stitch patterns accross the three yarns, stockinette, a texture stitch, and a lace stitch. I use a simple cable for my texture, because I like to see the how the ply effects the lift of the cable. I use a small (around a 6 stitch repeat over 8 rows) lace stitch that's easy to memorize.

How big you knit your swatches is based on the size and amount of yarn you have spun. I try to knit a 3"-4" square with at least two repeats of the pattern stitches. Sometimes I don't have enough yarn, and I have to rip and reknit. That happened this time with my 3-ply yarn.

Knit your swatches, and block them. Next time we'll study the magic of how ply effects stitch patterns.

Links from My March Newsletter

Somehow all of the Links I Like, links from my March newsletter became intertwined and all go to Sarah Swett's blog.

Sarah's blog is a delightful and inspiring place to be, but you might want to read other things.

Here are the links going to their corract landing spots.

Navigating an online fleece sale

The plus-size knitters who are solving an inclusivity problem

Sarah Swett always inspires me

12 female textile artists transforming space through textiles

The seven types of rest you need

Bricks made of discarded fabric