Flax, Hemp, and a Fat Red Cat

There has been a certain interest in linen at our house lately. I've been wondering what it would be like to make a linen shell for summer wear...JoAnne has been wanting to make a linen washcloth as a way to learn stitches other than stockinette and garter....I have been fantasizing about swatching lace and lace borders in linen and calling them washcloths. So I went shopping for fiber, and, from fear of spinning twine (which is what happened last time I tried to spin flax) I carefully chose the very softest thing I could find, which was this pretty little dab of flax and hemp.

Wow. When I predrafted this stuff, I understood the term "flaxen hair". This is the vegan version of my hair, right here.

I began to spin. I was afraid it would be difficult, but it really wasn't. I used a pretty high whorl so my singles would have lots of twist. I wanted to ply, and I wanted my thread to hang together when I did. And I quickly learned that if I didn't want to be covered with this stuff, I needed a towel on my lap. Other than that, I just spun.
Who knew it would be fuzzy?
If you don't want it to be fuzzy, you can wet your fingers as your spin, but I liked the added yarny quality it got from fuzz. Maybe the tank top idea would be better with water though....but to tell you the truth, my hands were a little sore after spinning this stuff. I'm not so sure about the tank top idea.

This has been the season of new fiber experiements, and sometimes I like to have a little advice before jumping in. I posted about flax on Knitter's Review which is a terriffic place to find out about knitting things, but also has a spinners section. And that is how I encountered P. Kite, obviously a spinner way more experienced than I. Wow. Her blog reads like a fiber encyclopedia. Currently on the front page is a whole whopping lot of information about silk. Heaven only knows whats in the archives! She has answered my questions about yak, cotton, linen, flax, llama...I'm convinced she's spun it all. She debunked a few myths for me too. Thanks, Pam!
Hey, check out that groovy tensioned lazy kate! Just ignore the blue silk...does anybody see trouble coming in this picture?

Yep, that's Ben. My little helper. He particularly enjoys helping with the winding-to-the-niddy-noddy stage of spinning.


Job well done, says Ben, washing up after some hard work.

And for Robknits: yes I microwave dye in plastic disposable ziplock containers. I use them over and over. They say safe for microwave, and they don't melt.

And for Waliak: I don't know why I can't find your live journal. I would be happy to knit in Chicago with you; I only live in Madison, and I'm in Chicago pretty often.

New toy, new yarns, new schedules!

The drum carder came today!

Well, it came yesterday or Friday, but we haven't checked the mail, so Seamus went to pick it up from the apartment office this afternoon. This thing is a WHOPPER.


You can see it here in my craft area. All my wool is either behind or in that table thing, some of my bead boxes are on top, plus the swift clipped to the side. Also inside the table are more undyed fibers, some handspun yarns, and probably some stuff hidden in the back I don't know about. The ball winder is clipped to a stool and at the moment is keeping company with a guitar tuner, a pilsner glass full of beer, and a guitar slide. Seamus co-opted it to use while he restrung his guitar and played some blues for me earlier.

I had planned to dye wool and yarn yesterday, but Seamus took the day off work so we could have a 3 day weekend, and I've found myself doing things that I can work on while we're within 4 feet or so of one another. Funny how having other people around (though they're not demanding that you interrupt your schedule) can totally derail anything you had in mind to do with your time.

So, today, I spun 2 yarns.


The last of First Flush (on the right) has been transformed into a squishy and (if I say so myself) beautiful bulky singles, and the ounce and a half I had left of Deep Sea is now 71 yards of slightly-fatter-than worsted 2 ply.

Now, in an effort to inspire you and motivate myself, I leave you with photos of undyed yarn.

Blank canvases for color, ready to be dyed and become something wonderful and wearable!

Dyeing to Tell You About the Llama!

I went to my first ever spinning group meeting on Monday night! It met at Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill this month, and Anne had a huge bag of raw llama fiber to give away!

I loved sitting around in a bunch of spinners, some of whom were spinning, some knitting (like me), some crocheting, and some just visiting. I've never been to Blackberry Ridge so it was fun just looking at the beautiful yarn, and all the samples hanging on the walls. I bought this pattern to knit for JoAnne.
Immediately I washed the llama, which was dusty, and decided to dye it at the same time.





Microwave dyeing seemed expedient, so I put the wet llama in these containers, added some Country Classics Dye (which I get for $5 a color from Susan's Fiber Shop) in Tomato Red, with a dash of Maize, and some Pumpkin poured over the top for good measure. The llama was multicolored ranging from cream to beige to camel to begin with, so I didn't do any fancy painting or pouring or anything. Then I microwaved it for 15 minutes and let it cool on the porch.


After a good rinse, I spread it on the porch to dry, and in spite of a rain last night (oops) its nearly dry now. And so gorgeous and soft! Next I get to fluff it up, remove guard hairs, and vegetable matter, and eventually....SPIN IT!!

Stay tuned for the fluff, hopefully closely followed by the yarn itself!

All Quiet on the Texan Front

Not much to report since last time. Between work and social engagements and other hobbies and the interruptions of life in general, I'm slowly spinning up that batch of dyed rovings. First Flush is complete, and here she is in indirect light (for truer color) and lazing atop my herbs in the last of the afternoon sun.


118 yards of 2 ply Falkland. I can't find my wpi gauge (again), but I'd guess heavy worsted weight with occasional forays into bulky and DK weight.

Now on the wheel is the Deep Sea roving, which is looking less like the deep sea and more mysterious as I spin it. I had decided to spin it and ply it, and once I had started spinning with plying in mind, obviously I decided it should be a singles yarn. Too late, it was too twisty for that. I only had 2 ounces left anyway, having sent the remainder of that dyelot plus some Romney in those colors along to a new home. I'll see how the plied yarn comes out (stunning, from what I can tell right now), and spin singles from this combination next time I dye.

I've just started spinning the second bobbin, but the first is sitting in my workbasket with the leftover First Flush roving (destined for singles yarn). The little smidge of yarn you can see on the outside of the bobbin doesn't do the colors of this wool justice. It's really pretty stuff, even if it is just plain old domestic blend roving. Yes, that's my spinning "basket" you can see in the photo. A bright yellow plastic bowl that cost under $1 at the thrift store. When I first started spinning, I drafted several containers from the kitchen and other locations, and haven't really replaced any of them with anything nicer. I should have some pretty baskets or bowls to sit next to my sweet Miss Ashford, but I'd rather spend my money on a drum carder. Which, as a matter of fact, I just did! More on that when it gets here, though.

The only other fiber related business was the overdye of one of the undesirables from last time. You can see him in this photo in the lower right corner. I had wanted a jadey green like in this roving, but got that funky grey instead. A little leftover kelly green, a bit of judicious pouring and squishing, and a couple minutes in the microwave have transformed him into something much nicer. Still not what I had wanted, but better than what he was.


Other creative pursuits in my house this week have included bracelet making, stitch marker construction, bicycle maintenance, starting a new sweater, discovering my hatred of Magic Loop, frogging a sweater sleeve, starting over again, and inventing a new recipe for tofu. We're all about creativity here at Whorly Gig, so for all you tofu lovers, I present

Spicy Citrus Glazed Tofu:
1 brick tofu
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp dried chile flakes
6 oz orange marmalade
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 scallions, chopped
handful of chopped peanuts

Fry tofu triangles as in Soy Glazed Tofu, and remove from the skillet.

Add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes to the hot oil remaining in the pan and stir briefly until fragrant. Add marmalade, vinegar, soy sauce and stir well. Return tofu triangles to the pan and cook until sauce is reduced to a glaze, coating all the tofu triangles evenly. Remove from heat, sprinkle with scallions and peanuts, and serve with steamed brown rice and green vegetable of your choice (I can vouch for the tastiness of stir fried kale, steamed broccoli, and sugar snap peas).

Train Trip

I went to visit Mom for Mother's Day and a few days after, as you know. I gave her the blue yarn I spun (Yippee! All done spinning sweater!!), cast on, and settled down to visit.

But get this! I drove there with my sister in law, and so I had no way to come home but by TRAIN! Yes. After more than a month of insane busy-ness, I actually had an enforced 8 hrs of undisturbed, totally alone (except for strangers) knitting time!

I bought this to hold my sock project.

I bought this to hold my knitting, CD player with book on tape, and lunch. Ok, yes, there is chocolate.

I taught a young girl to knit during my train change at Union Station in Chicago. She borrowed sock needles and yarn, but I didn't let her keep them. I might have if they had been big needles and bigger yarn, but it was too cruel to give a beginner 2's to keep! Not to mention my freshly spun sock yarn!

And, even though the pattern slows me down, I made a lot of progress on the sweater.




I promise, my next post will actually be about spinning. I'm home now and I have my eye on some linen/flax blend top!

Roving, how I wronged thee!

I take back all the mean things I said about the rovings I dyed last Sunday. Well, almost everything. One of the batches is still plagued by a much rustier brown than I had in mind, but it's nothing a judicious overdye won't fix.



Click any of the thumbnails for a larger view.

Mr. Ugly is on the far right, top row, if you were wondering. On the wheel right now is First Flush, the roving that I said was going to be brown and muddy. That's her on the lower right corner. Sometimes I like being wrong, and this is one of those times.



A couple entries ago, I couldn't find the will to spin, and now I resent everything I have to do that keeps me away from my wheel. Ahh, the power of color to inspire!

Sudden WIPs

Over the weekend JoAnne and I did an art fair. Now is probably the time to mention that I'm a glass artist by day, and fiber is my spare-time pursuit. So. The weather was predicted to be crummy, which indeed it was. There we were in the rain, with a booth full of glass pens, knitting needles, garden orbs, framed little vegetables, and whatnot. Bored. Cold to the bone, and wet feet as well. Nothing to do but whine.

Wait!! Knitting needles! We had a huge supply of glass knitting needles, which probably needed to be demonstrated, right? Just for sales purposes? And I had thrown some yarn into my purse. It was homespun because all we have in the way of yarn at our house is homespun. So we spent the day pleasantly, sitting in our art fair chairs in our rainy booth, completely swaddled in warm wooly clothing, trying to stay warm and looking out over blooming gardens (this art fair was in a botanical garden), visiting and knitting. I knit the side to side fringed scarf out of leftover this-and-that, and JoAnne knit the lavendar/blue/green thick-thin yarn I had no idea what to do with. Occasionally a customer asked to try the needles, and we just handed over our knitting to them.

Project Romney + Dyeing Day!

Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with some of Romney (still undyed, but let's not talk about that) to get a feel for how it would spin. Out of curiosity, I didn't predraft like I usually do, but instead just split the roving a couple of times lengthwise so that the fiber mass would be easier to handle. The results?

It spins FAST. So fast, in fact, that I was so involved in marveling at the speed of my spinning that I paid little attention to the weight of my yarn for the first half bobbin, happily using my extreme-lounge-long-draw approach to spin yarn at a remarkable rate. When I noticed that the single I was spinning would Navajo ply up to approximately telephone cable weight, I started thinning the single down. When I got to about fingering weight, I concentrated on that for the rest of the bobbin so that I'll be ready to spin my perfect sock yarn when I get to the real deal. The resulting yarn isn't nearly as scratchy as I thought it would be, though it is hairier than I expected. Next time, I'll pay attention to smoothing any errant fibers down into the twist as they head up to the orifice.

Yesterday's yarn was parrot approved.

That's my 6 year old White-capped Pionus, Oskar. He's fascinated with the wheel, and loves to sit on my knee while I spin. Occasionally he hops over to beak the yarn (as in the above photo), but mostly just he watches the wheel spin. The flash always washes out his colors, and since I'm a proud parrot mom, I'd be remiss not to show you a better photo.

Today was dyeing day, so as I type this, it is with multicolored fingers and permanently stained fingernails. I think it was worth it, though.


I'm not thrilled with most of these, and I have no idea what I was thinking using that fluorescent pink on everything. Well, I do have some idea... I mixed up all the dyes and painted everything, and then realized how insanely bright the pink was after all the rovings were rinsed. Oh well. Spinning should tone most of them down, and now I know only to use that particular dye when I'm feeling like a 1980s flashback.

There are 2 more that didn't make it into this photo, but neither of them turned out the way I had imagined, either, so I'm just hoping for an Ugly Duckling to Swan transformation after Miss Ashford works her magic. I usually dye either in the microwave or hot pour on the stovetop. Both of those methods have given me really good control when using contrasting or complementary colors of dye. Today, I tried to streamline dyeing days with oven dyeing. As I mentioned before, my estimation of the results is less than stellar. The dyes migrate a lot, and the color combinations I love best turned muddy and dark. The worst roving (one I was most excited about, sadly) looks like it will spin up to a yarn shaded with every color of brown.

Surely I know someone who would love a brown hat for Christmas...

Navajo Plying and Kettle Dyeing

Here's proof that I finished spinning Mom's sweater yarn. I didn't bother to set the twist before dyeing, because I figured that I'd do it after. Its SO SOFT!!

This has all be made possible by JoAnne (who is truly a goddess) who sat down with me and helped me think through the mathematical labrynth of gauge conversion. I have to confess, I haven't done that before with anything where it really mattered. Hard to believe? Put it down to avoidance and denial. But this time? I went all the way. Because I had to know when I could stop spinning!!

Does this photo frighten you? Is it that my kitchen is a mess? Is it that I dye right on my stove? Or is it that I have the Hugest Friggin Dyepot in the Whole World?? If I have to stir all the way to the bottom, I have to get a stool. If I have to stir at all, I have to stand on tiptoe.

That's a lot of blueish greyish tealish dye.




And while that was cooking, I decided to ply the other sock-worth of the sunrise-on-frosty-field colorway you might remember from my last post. This is me navajo plying. The discerning viewer will note the fabulously good looking spinning wheel; I named my spinning wheel Annemarie. A Reeves 19" frame. Yes. I've been in love with this wheel since its arrival just before Christmas. (Another nod to the fair JoAnne, giver of very fine gifts, and more than deserving of more socks!)

Here is my second sock. I'm sure you'd like to see what's up with the first sock, but its not time yet.

You see, I only have this much of this yarn per sock, and I want to use it all. So the only solution was toe-up socks. Did I do the round toe? No. I consulted Twisted Sisters most-fabulous sock book and am making a double-increase regular kind of toe, starting with a provisional cast on of 16 sts. rrrrr.

I'm about to drive a tiny size 2 dpn through my heart getting the damned toe done! Ok, maybe my gauge is a little snug. Maybe I'm a little tired. For sure I need reading glasses. Enough said.

And the blue yarn is done. It has color variations that I hope will be winsome and fetching in the knitted state.

I let it stew for a little while, then I weighed it down so it was all immersed and let it sit all night to cool. Rinsed it this morning, and spun it in the washing machine. Now its all hanging from the shower rod.

Its beginning to look like I'm going to be able to give this to Mom for Mother's Day! I even have the needles!

Plagued by UFOs

I want to spin. Really, I do. My wheel is in working order, I have plenty of fiber from various breeds and species of animals, both dyed and undyed. I've got a nice chair, and lots of music or movies that I could put on to listen to while I relax with my dear friend Miss Ashford.

Why am I not spinning, then?

For a few weeks, I've been having something akin to writer's block. There are some ideas happening, but when the time comes to translate them into yarn, things aren't going so well. My last experiment was spinning mohair from the lock. Things didn't go the way I planned. Granted, that was my first time spinning anything from locks, and slippery mohair might not have been the best choice, but my desire to spin wouldn't have fled entirely due to a single failed experiment.

No, I think it's something else. Part of the problem is that I have an enormous backlog of handspun from my honeymoon with Miss Ashford. I could not spin enough, and I had so many ideas that I needed to try, and techniques to work out, and fun new plans to help me improve at my new hobby. It was great fun. But now there's all this yarn. Just sitting around, and I feel guilty about delaying all these skeins on their way to their final destiny as a knitted or crocheted object.

Another part of the problem is that I have lots of commercial yarn. And I have lots of ideas of things I want to make. So many things, in fact, that I have a notebook of ideas and fledgling patterns and notes on patterns and an order in which I think things should be done to best comply with seasonal wearability. Unfortunately, like most people, I have limited crafting time due to my necessary but inconvenient full time job at which knitting (even while performing actual work) is frowned upon. So I prioritize. At the moment, my priority is on finished goods. On following through with items that have been wandering around the house, from basket to basket, still impaled on needles many months after their inception.

I love yarn. It's why I started spinning in the first place. Indeed, it's why I took up crochet and then knitting. Yarn is amazing stuff. I wanted to work with it and to make things out of it and then to be able to make it myself, controlling all the variables. But, as great as it is, yarn isn't a finished product. Outside of making something else from it, it's not something that I can use in my everyday life, like socks or mitts or a potholder. Until it becomes a finished object, it's just string. Beautiful, soft string, inherent with so much promise and potential...

But I digress!

Starting a new project right now (like the Romney socks) would be just another way of putting off finishing all those poor, neglected socks and scarves and mitts and sweater swatches. That's right. I have unfinished swatches. I'm not going to lie to you about it.

I need some closure. Time to go make that happen.

Socks, and more socks

I finished the socks! JoAnne is wearing them right now, and they look like this! They also look mighty fine with her clogs. This is the first time I've tried the Twisted Sisters stretchy cast on, and it totally ROCKS. It is SO stretchy, and looks great too. I highly recommend it.

In other news today, I had some bold (to say the least) superwash roving lying around, and I decided to spin it up for socks, since I now have no socks on needles, and need a small project for when I need to avoid Mom's sweater.

This roving really looks like that; its orange, yellow, magenta, green, pink, coral. I was a little bit frightened and if anything I thought it might spin up to be even brighter, after navajo plying and whatnot.

Wow! Imagine my surprise. Probably this stuff doesn't happen to other dyers, right? Its not exactly EARTH tones, but...well. It calmed down considerably. As singles spinning around on the bobbin it was a terrifying olive/khaki kind of thing, and I decided to navajo ply it to try to preserve some separate colors; I plyed with short loops, maybe 4-6 inches long in the hopes of avoiding the seemingly unavoidable olive drab fate. Its like sunrise over a wheat field right after the first frost or something. I have to cast on soon! I'm dying (dyeing?) of curiosity...I wonder what the knitted fabric will look like.

And ok, since you asked, I did make progress on Mom's sweater. It just FELT like no progress at all; I spent a long long time swatching and obsessing over patterns, and the winner is:

From Knitter's Magazing Winter 2004. Picture it short; ending a few inches below the breast. And then believe me when I tell you that the fabric, when knit from the yarn I am spinning, is very very stretchy. Also a little drapey, super soft, and very light, but also stretchy like 2x2 rib, and that's true even though the stitches have room to breathe, which is important because this is a wool/alpaca/silk blend and it has a little fuzz and will likely bloom when I wash it a few times. I'm thinking of making the back a little smaller at the hem, letting it get bigger over about 4 inches, so it will not get stuck between Mom's butt and her chair as she pulls it around her.

Her only stipulations were: summer weight, and no warm collar. This just about killed me because I have to say the yarn is so fuzzy and soft. But I can make a cuddly shawl-collared thing in the fall if I want to. For now, I'm gonna knit this for her. I've looked at kazillions of patterns, obsessed till I'm cross-eyed, decided over and over to design something top-down and be done with it. No baggy loose old-lady thing would do, my mom has complicated gorgeous expensive sweaters she bought overseas on trips. She wears tailored jackets, exquisitely fashinonable sharp clothes. The pressure is just horrible. If she doesn't like it, for sure she's not gonna wear it. It can't be dowdy or slouchy, and she has to be able to put it on really easily without getting up or twisting around.

So..I'm kind of excited about how this pattern is actually already WRITTEN, because I don't have time to fuss around with this. Mom is ill, and I feel like I need a sure thing. I can't just frog it and start again if she's going to have time to wear it. So...I have a pattern, I have (almost) enough yarn, and I'm hoping to cast on my Mother's Day.
And let me just pause for a moment of silence regarding the big deal it is to design yarn for and spin a sweater.

Yep, that's the swatch. I'm thinking some sort of tealish color.