#samplealong 2 : Naturals and Solids

I had questions right at the beginning of #samplealong2 from folks that don't use painted fiber, and from some that only have natural and solid fiber in their stashed.

I told them I would spin some samples using naturals and solid colors.

I pulled these natural colors and weighed out enough quarter ounces for two 2-ply yarns. I further divided and paired up fiber for my drafted together samples.

Here's what the yarns look like. As usual, I like the drafted together yarn the best. I would like a sweater's quantity of that yarn. The fibers I used were Corriedale, Shetland, and a mixed BFL. I will admit, I had a couple of moments when I changed fibers that I had to make myself readjust my twist and drafting, epseically when I moved from BFL to the very short Shetland.

I pulled six solid colors I had in my upstairs spinning nest, obviously I need some bright colors right now. It's been grey days in Michigan. I narrowed the colors down to three and did two quick spins.

Because I only used three colors and spun big-ish, I knew colors would match up a bit in the plied yarn, but I still like it. It makes me want to experiment (I know you are shocked) with matching and marling with a little more intention. I might even add in bits of drafted together yarn too. I've done this with singles that stay singles, but not in plied yarns. Hmmmmm......

When I divided my three colors for drafting together, for some reason I divided each color into three pieces instead of two. I ended up with nine pieces, which doesn't pair evenly for drafting. Don't ask, I just wasn't focusing. Instead of leaving out the extra piece of fiber, I drafted all three colors together. I do love playing.

I hope this gives you more ideas to make and spin minnies!

Don't forget to post and tag your photos #samplealong2 on Instagram.

#samplealong 2: Minnies and Minnies

Minnies plied together, L. Minnies drafted together, then plied, R.

How is everyone doing? I hope everyone is healthy and able to find some peace, and even little spots of joy in their days.

We’re starting #samplealong2 with two yarns spun with just minnies.

Divide your minnies

Before you start spinning make sure you have your minnies divided and set aside for four yarns. I know when I start spinning minnies, it’s like eating straight out of a bag of Doritos, blink and they’re gone. I have to portion out my minnies (and hide them) before I start. Sometimes I forget.

How you portion your minnies is up to you. If you use 4 minnies for each of your yarns, your minnies+painted braid skeins will be bigger. If you use 6 minnies for each of your minnies+minnies yarns and 2 minnies for each of your minnies+painted braid yarns, your minnies+minnies skeins will be bigger.

My 12 minnies for my first yarn.

I been gathering a stash of Into the Whirled Odds and Ends since I started using their fiber to teach. I also make more minnies with braids leftover from teaching. I have a bunch.

For these two yarns I’m using 12 minnies each. This is to explain why my skeins will look bigger and have more colors than yours might. I was originally going to use only 6 minnies per yarn, but I forgot to hide my minnies and just kept spinning.

Spinning minnies is a exercise in randomness, which I found surprisingly hard at first. I kept trying to make colors go together, and match in the ply. It took me a bit to get used to just grabbing and spinning.

Yarn number 1: minnies plied with minnies

Minnies plied with minnies

Our first yarn is minnies plied with minnies. Divide your first ounce of minnies into two, spin each group onto it’s own bobbin and ply them together. Try to grab your minnies randomly for good color mixing. The idea is for colors not to match up in the ply, though some inevitably will.

Mixing colors more

If you want to mix your colors more, you can split your minnies vertically before you even divide them for your two yarns. There is quite a bit of fiber in each minnie and sometimes they get compacted in the process of dividing and winding. I take some time to fluff out my minnies, and they are usually two fingers (or more wide), enough fiber to divide in two.

L to R: Two minnies, minnies open, and minnies after being split vertically (see, there’s plenty of fiber)

An ounce of minnies is usually 4 minnies, 2 minnies per ply for a 2-ply, which will get you a good amount of color mixing. But if you divide all of your minnies in half the long way you can choose 8 differnt half-minnies, 4 per ply for a 2-ply, and that gets you a lot more colors mixing. How you do it is 100% up to you, but I always like to give options.

Splitting minnies gives more color options

Yarn number 2: Drafting together minnies

Minnies drafted together and then plied

Minnies divided and recombined into nests for drafting.

Our second yarn is minnies combo drafted (drafted together) then plied together. Split each mini vertically (the long way). Divide your fiber into two groups, one for each ply. As you spin each ply, choose two half-mini strips of fiber that aren’t the same colorway, hold them side by side and draft them together like they are one fiber. Ply your bobbins together. I talk about drafting together more in this post from our last #samplealong.

You can also set up your drafting-together bundles ahead of time, that’s what I do, so I can just spin.

Drafting together then plying minnies really combines colors, it does give a little less crisp look to color than just plying together. Usually, everyone has a favorite look.

If you look closely you can see the colors combined in the single and ply with combo drafted minnies.

Next week, I’m going to show some yarns made from minnies I made from naturals and solids, spun in the same ways as these two yarns. Spoiler alert: the colors are bigger blocks. These yarns are for the folks, who don’t have painted braids or minnies.

The week after will be our last two yarns, combining minnies and a painted braid.

If you have any questions leave them in the comments, or email me. Please post your fiber and yarn photos on Instagram with #samplealong2.

I hope everyone is well in every way!

#samplealong 2: Our Yarns and Making Minnies

As I'm wiritng this it is actively snowing outside, on April 15. I am very much in the mood for some color spinning!

Our four yarns for this #samplealong are:

1. Minnies plied together.
2. Minnies drafted together, then plied together.
3. Minnies plied together with a braid
4. Minnies drafted then plied together with a braid.

Each yarn will use one ounce of minnies, and there will be half of a braid leftover. If you bought more than four ounces of minnies, or plan to make more, you can spin bigger, more colorful yarns, using more than one ounce of minnies per yarn.

Making Minnies Minnies are about .25 ounce. I do not weigh each minnie. I divide a four ounce braid into 16 pieces. Here's how I do it:

• Divide braid into four chunks horizontally (the short way).
• Divide each chunk into four strips vertically.
• Wind each strip into a little ball.

Use a variety The more braids you use ifn different colorways the more varied your color selection wil be. I approach this in the opposite way of a Combo Spin - where braids that are similar colors are selected. I want lots of different colors.

When ITW makes up their Odds and Ends they use as many as 16 differnt colorways. That's 8 pounds of minnies - I don't really need that right now. I use lots of leftovers from other projects and samples. When I make minnies from whole braids, I use a minimum of four braids in four different colorways. I can always find a use for a pound of minnies.

Before you ask, the braids for minnies do not have to be the same fiber or blend. I might not toss a Wensleydale braid in the mix with mostly fine wools, but Romney and BFL would work just fine.

Solids/semi-solids/naturals I've had several people ask about using solid, semi solid, and naturals as minnies and braids for this #samplealong. You can, but you won't get the same type of colorful yarn that the folks using painted minnies will. You will get long stretches of not-as-many colors, instead of sprinklings of lots of colors.

I do know that most everyone is working out of their stashes right now. So what I will do, is add in some photos of samples that use solid/semi solid and naturals.

I'll be checking here and on Insta for questions. Don't forget to post your photos and tag them #samplealong.

#samplealong 2: More Color and Into the Whirled Odds and Ends

I’m ready for another #samplealong are you? This one will be fun, easy and colorful, and it may or may not include some shopping.

I will note two things here before I even start talking about this #samplealong

1) Into the Whirled is having a shop update filled with fiber, including their Odds and Ends (minnies) Friday night. That’s April 10, 8 pm EST.

2) You DO NOT need Into the Whirled fiber to do this #samplealong. I know you all have stash and money may be tiiiight right now.

If, however, you can and want to support a small business, Into the Whirled, has had many of their money-making shows canceled for the year, they would appreciate your orders.

We’ll be making four samples for this #sampleslong. The stars of this #samplealong are minnies, tiny bits of handpainted braids. Into the Whirled called them Odds and Ends, becasue they started out as left overs from dyeing braids, other dyers call them other things. I call them minnies and babies in my classes.

There is never a more exciting moment in one of my color spinning classes than when I pull out big bags of fiber babies for color combining. I have had to instigate a special way of handing them out (one at a time) because these glorious little puffs have actually caused my students to be crabby to each other.

The minimum amount of fiber you’ll need for this #samplealong is a 4-ounce painted braid and 4 ounces of minnies. If you want to make bigger samples, you’ll need more fiber.

I would recommend having more than 4 ounces of minnies because you’ll want to keep spinning them.

If you do not have minnies from any dyer, do not fret! I will teach you how to make your own. To make minnies you will have to sacrifice a few handpainted braids. This is a perfect thing to do with braids that you aren’t so in love with anymore, and any pieces of braids you have leftover from a project.

We will be making combo plied and combo drafted yarns (plied together, and drafted together then plied together). I’ll be posting the how-to for each yarn here on the blog, and posting photos on Instagram. I hope you will post your photos on Insta too, tagged #samplealong. I like to tag the dyers I use too.

Next week I will talk yarn specifics, and making minnies. That will give those of you who did order from Into the Whirled, or another dyer, time to get your fiber.

I am ready to get a little spinning done, I hope you are too!

A Little Spinning: Hello Yarn

I am going to keep saying that I am finding it hard to spin, knit, or craft at all right now. I want people who are feeling the same to know they aren't alone. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the crafters who are kicking out sweaters and spinning whole fleeces, you aren't alone. And it's ok.

Not everyone can do that. I'll admit that I felt a little shame that I can't because it seemed like everyone is crafting through the crisis (unless they are baking bread). Then I looked closer and noticed that it's the same people over and over. This is how they are dealing with it, it just works for them. It doesn't work for me right now, though I am circling it.

Everyone is adjusting to many things all at once in their own way.

I have done a little spinning. Last time Adrian did a big update I bought some fiber. See that giant pillow of an envelope (POÄNG chair for size comaprison), that's my idea of some fiber from Hello Yarn.

I finally scored a Patchwork Kit, a pound of a variety of colorways and fibers that coordinate. This is the spinning I need right now. No plan other than a 2-ply, no deadline, and beautiful fiber, really beautiful. I divided the fiber into two piles, and set it all beside my Hansen. Every once in awhile, I will sit in my chair or roll my Hansen to the couch and spin a little. I haven't done much, but am delighted that I've done any.

I noticed right away that I'm spinning much finer than usual with a tighter twist. No lofty worsted weight yarn right now. It makes sense to me and feels right.

I've done a bit of carding and spinning for an article, deadlines keep me moving slowly forward. It does feel good to touch fiber and yarn. I am enjoying winding commercial yarn into balls by hand.

It's sunny today, and after I work, I'm going to take my wheel outside to see if the sun will help me spin.

Are you able to spin or knit? What are you working on?

An Unexpected Pleasure of Doing Taxes

I did my taxes this week. It was one of the few things I could focus on, those little excel cells. I wanted to get something done, and taxes had a clear start and finsih point, I thought it would be doable.

What I didn't expect was the flood of joy and gratitude I had as I got to replay all of the fiber events of 2019. I took a moment with each month I entered and thought about my students, the events, and the friendships I have with other teachers and other fiber folk.

After I finished I made myself this collage, it made me teary with happiness about our community.

I am grateful for all of you, and hope to see you again soon!

How are you all holding up this week? What are you doing that is soothing or uplifting?

How's Everyone Doing? My Essentials and a Free Concert

How is everyone doing? Are you working from home or still going in to work? Tryiing to get your kids to do school work? Trying to get your housemate to stop whistling off key? Keeping yourself as mellow as you can?

I always work from home, unless I'm traveling. It looks like I won't be traveling at least until the summer. I am an anxious person, and I'm finding work tough, it's hard to concentrate, really hard.Everything I do I'm having to redo at least twice. It's even hard to knit or spin. I am awed by the folks getting all the things done now. It is amazing.

I'm trying to do a little of something everyday. A little work, a little walking outside, a little reading, a little crafting. Some days it's very little.

The things that are working for me right now are in the photo. A puzzle, reading, movies, making lists with fancy pens, listening to stories and podcasts and noise canceling headphones. I'm also cooking and crafting.

Here’s what’s not working for me right now. I’m only talking about it in case it’s the same for anyone else, so you know you are not alone. The big rush of things folks are putting up on the internet, the constant - look here, no look here - is making me more anxious. Though I could watch Yo-Yo Ma play everyday. I know I will get around to watching the streams and even making my own. But right now, I’m approaching things at a slower rate.

I am going to watch some of this Willie Nelson and Friends playing from their homes concert tonight on Twitich.

Tell me, what’s working for you and what’s not working for you?

What Are Your Plans?

Everyone is worried, some more than others (hello anxiety). We’re home with all of our families, we’re missing work, and losing money. We’re not sure if we (or our loved ones) are or are going to get sick. That and more are all a given.

But what am I going to do? Given that so much of all of ^ that^ is out of my hands, it always helps me to have a plan. I have a list of things I’m doing for other people, shopping, cooking, maybe some visiting and dropping off books.

But what will I do for me? I have never been happier to have a stack of books and a stack of projects. Fiber and books have always calmed me. But of course, nothing in my current pile appeals to me right now. I need to have light entertainment and projects. I may just wind yarn by hand and watch Jane Austen because it’s soothing to me.

I’ve started making a list of things I could do to keep my mind and hands just a little occupied. Just making lists helps to settle my fretting. A list is an anchor, and I need that now. Here are the first tangible fiber things on my list, wind yarn for gift socks, and practice spinning thicker yarn on a spindle. Practice on my dealgan spindle, full stop. I also have some swatch knitting, mmm, little squares of different stitches.

I need to settle a bit inside before I move on to other things. I have fanciful dreams of a major stash purge and fleece washing.

You can be sure that there will be another #samplealong sooner rather than later. Anyone have a topic?

I hope you are all safe and not too scared. Don’t forget yourself in between taking care of other people. Do what settles you, no matter what that is. I’ll be watching Pride and Prejudice and swatching.