Dye Patterns and the Process of Thinking about Color

This week I’ve been spinning and thinking about different dye patterns in braids. I don’t know that I will ever get shot of my need to study and experiment with color. Not necessarily how to make it, the dyeing part, but how colors work together in spinning, and how it looks used in knitting or weaving or stitching.

I’m not alone. There are a lot articles and books that have been written about color, and color and spinning. Yesterday I stumbled on an article written a decade ago by Maggie Casey that had I read it when it came out, it could have cut out the need for a lot of my sampling. But I don’t think I would know as much if I hadn’t done the samples myself.

I am definitely a process spinner, I am happiest figuring out how things work, and how I can make them work for me. It makes me happy to pick apart puzzles, it’s why I like to read mysteries too.

My spinning right now is working through five different styles of dyed braids. First seeing how they look spun as a singles, then working through manipulating them a little, and adding a few things in. I see such beauty in the minute changes we can make to our yarn. It’s been a wonderful week of spinning.

A Case and Little Tools for My Nano

I still am having a great time spinning on my Nano. I seem to not have a lot of the noise and take-up issues some folks have. I’m currently spinning some Cormo, usually with the Nano just sitting on my lap.

If you have a Nano, or are thinking about a Nano I’d encourage you to join the Electric Eel Wheel Group on Facebook , there is so much good information being shared.

I found a great case for my Nano, it’s a Namaste Maker’s Train Case. Right now it’s the perfect fit, for the wheel, cords, a few bobbins, and fiber. I still would like to get a small firm case that just holds the wheel, protected inside my bigger knitting bag for when I want to travel with multiple craft projects.

I’ve bought a few tools for my wheel, all were suggestions from the Nano group. I repurposed a battery from my Hansen (and got a bigger battery for my Hansen), a USB light to keep the battery from switching off, a foot switch, and some sticky mat to keep from my wheel from sliding around.

I’m using the stuff I use to keep rugs (and bigger spinning wheels) from sliding on wooden floors, but lots of people are using silicone pot holders under their Nanos.

The next time I’m at Michael’s I’ll be picking up a few beads to mark my brake band.

Stitching Again

A want-to-do for August happened with a little help from my girlie.

She said something about embroidering before we went on vacation and I jumped online and bought us each a kit from Embroidery and Sage. Her kits are straight forward,well explained, use only a few stitches, and have everything you need including a display hoop and backing felt. You do need your own scissors. She got the cactus kit and I got the forest kit.

Of course, we had no time to stitch on our vacation, but when we got home all the stitching happened. My daughter was a woman on a mission. I set her up with books, videos, a practice hoop and a stitch sampler, which she tore through until she felt she had enough stitches under her belt to tackle her kit. She certainly got the hang of it faster than I did.

I haven’t really stitched for about a year, but I remember that have-to-stitch feeling, and how relaxing it is to stitch. I sat beside her as much as I could answering questions, tying, and untying knots, and stitching.

I even revealed to her all of the preprinted samplers and kits I have in my embroidery stash, and let her rummage through all of my floss. I’m so excited that she’s stitching I let her pick one of my Fat Squirrel bags to keep her projects in.

I bought her the Dropcloth starter kit with two samplers. We took a tour through just a few online shops, Dropcloth, Cozyblue, and Embroidery and Sage. She didn’t really want to look, she wanted to keep stitching.

I was hoping to get back to stitching, but wouldn’t allow myself the time to relax into it. I’m thankful to my girl for leading me back.

I’m teaching at WEBS the weekend after Rhinebeck, October 26/27. They have just posted my classes on their site. Come spin with me!

Electric Eel Wheel Nano - First Thoughts

I’ve spun on my Nano for only a couple of hours, but I know lots of folks are wondering about how it spins.

I didn’t buy the Nano to replace my Hanson (in fact having the Nano may have cemented my desire to upgrade to the Hansen Pro), they are very different machines. I am certainly not comparing them when I spin.

The Nano is tiny, it fits in my small-handed palm. It really likes to spin fine. I spun Merino/silk and some Falkland in several different sizes. Fine was my sweet spot.

It’s very light for good and not so good. It will be lovely to find the perfect carrying box, and be able just to toss it in my bag. But, I was constantly pulling it around while I spun. I’ll be shopping for tiny bungee cords today. There are holes built into the base to help attach the spinner to something heavier.

It only has so much power. Of course, I turned it up as hight as it will go. This is not the machine for spinner who want super fast high twist yarns or giant heavy yarns. I could get high twist and fat yarns on the Nano, but it took more time.

It is so clever and so quiet. The motor is close to silent, it hums. The bit noise from the spinner comes from bobbins rattling slightly on the bobbin shaft. The controls are intuitive for me, and it has magnets to keep the tiny orifice hook in place. I am always losing my orifice hooks.

I bought the Nano for a couple of reasons, to demonstrate how yarn is made when I teach knitters about yarn construction, and to spin yarns to stitch with. Right out of the box I knew the Nano fit the bill perfectly. I’m looking forward to getting to know her a little better, and will write more then.

Also it’s SO CUTE! Even my husband and son who are immune to the siren song of any new fiber tools, were drawn to the Nano’s adorableness.

Here’s a short video of me spinning on it. I’m holding my phone with one hand, so I’m doing a little long draw. You can hear that it’s quiet, I like the little chugging sound it makes. You can see see that when I wind on and try to pull back, the spinner wants to come along. Plus you can see how adorable it is.

Adventuring

As I write this the kids are still sleeping. We are on a family adventure in the southwest. We’ve explored Mesa Verde and now we are in Santa Fe. This trip is showing me how hard I’ve been working, and how much I will enjoy my August slow down.

I may post here every so often in August, but I’ll be back in full weekly swing in September.

I hope you find a way to recharge this summer!

Taking a Little Break to Recharge and 2020 Teaching

Neighborhood Fiber Co, Alice Gadzinski on Polwarth, left and BFL/silk, right

I’m doing something new this year; I am intentionally taking time off to recharge. Our whole family is going on vacation after I teach at the Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango, Colorado. We’re headed to Mesa Verde and Santa Fe, suggestions for food and fun are welcome.

When I get home I’ll be putting plan Recharge into effect. I’ve worked ahead as much as I can; I’m not organized enough to get a whole month ahead, but I will be reducing my work week. I’ll work two or three days right in the middle, so I can have a stretch of three or four days to make and meander.

Here are the things I want to do, spin four of the braids I’ve bought recently that keep waving at me from their basket, knit a whole something (finishing something counts), weave a scarf, wash my fleeces. I plan on spending several hours every day making something. I’ve been head-down working, and teaching non stop for almost two years. I love the work I do so much I frequently forget to fill my bucket back up.

Non-making things include exploring Detroit, reading at least 4 books, working on our yard (it’s a mess!), clearing out closets and corners, making a lot of lists, and taking a break from social media.

I am excited.

My 2020 teaching calendar is full. Unless someone cancels, I’m not taking any more gigs. If you are interested in me coming your way in 2021, shoot me an email. I’ll keep it in my teaching queue until I open my books for 2021 in February. I will update my teaching calendar as soon as I can officially announce things.

Hospitals Are a Great Place to Knit, Unless You're Me

Everyone always says hospitals are a great place to knit, what they don’t tell you is that you probably won’t want to. My husband was in the hospital for three days last week and I brought my knitting ( and some spinning, and embroidery) but I barely touched any of it. I can’t stress craft. I couldn’t do much more than just stare at him, just in case.

He is fine. He developed an infection that required IV antibiotics. He almost never gets sick and had a weird pain. He went quickly from Urgent Care, to the ER to being admitted. We are lucky he caught it really early.

Now I’m catching up on work, getting ready for a teaching trip, and a family vacation to the southwest. But I’m still watching him out of the corner of my eye, just in case.

Hug your people, and if you have a weird pain, go to the doctor.

DM Fibers - Meet Sasha and David

If you’ve taken a class with me in the past year or so you will have spun fiber from DM Fibers. All of the solid colored Corriedale that we spin into gorgeous marls and draft together with variegated fibers comes from DM Fibers.

You’ll have heard me talk about what wonderful people Sasha and David are, how easy they are to work with, and how they make my teaching life so much easier by always getting my order right and delivering on time . Plus all the fibers they have are :chef’s kiss: fabulous!

When I was at TNNA (The National Needlework Association convention), I managed to get a picture of Sasha and David, so you can see their smiling faces. They love making spinners (and teachers and shops) happy.

They gave me a sneak peek of new colors of Corriedale. Deb Robson and I have been asking for awhile to get some brighter colors, and Sasha and David came through!

The photo is close with the colors, but what looks like red in the photo is actually magenta.

Starting this July, these colors will start showing up in my classroom ‘s rolling stash.