Day of the Batts

Most of today belonged to one of the resident torture instruments — the drum carder of dooooooooom! (I just like to call it that because it seriously looks like an instrument of pain — not to imply that I don't like carding...)

I spent several hours this afternoon digging through bits and pieces of hand-dyed wool in a bunch of different colors, throwing it onto the drum carder, and watching the little metal teeth go nom nom nom and produce these:




They all have Blue-Faced Leicester wool, mystery wool that I got from someone's destash, and a bit of nylon firestar. I think the purple ones may have a bit of Rambouillet or Rambouillet X that I got in the fleece and dyed myself, but I'm not completely sure that's what it was, so "mystery wool" fits. ;)

Carding is hot work. It seems like it was worth it, but we'll really see tomorrow at the Etsy Craft Party, when my fresh little fiber buns (don't they look like buns to you, too? ;)) will have their debut.

Does anyone else always feel like they're eternally just a little bit behind where they think they should be? I need to sleep less and work more. Don't think it's just me who thinks so — the bills say so, too...

The uncooperative but still-creative day, and a peek at something new

Today was one of those days that just wasn't going to go as planned.

First the yarn shop was out of all but two ounces of undyed spinning fiber. I guess I'll be stash-diving — really, there's got to be something in my obscenely large stash that will work for beginners to learn on. While I was at the yarn shop, because it was just that kind of day, I couldn't even pull off a casual chat with the owner, to whom I apparently failed to convey how cool Ruth MacGregor's floating semi-rigid heddle and beaded-woven-edge project are.

Then Jo-Ann was out of stock on the little wooden wheels for making basic spindles — which were going to go with the spinning fiber from the yarn shop. DOH. If none of the craft stores I check tomorrow have them in stock, I'll just have to use some other balanced shape as a spindle whorl (two discs glued together with a hole drilled down the center? a wooden ball?).

While I was going to put together some basic spinning kits tonight, or at least make the spindles, I'd allotted enough time from the day to put them together the way I'd planned ... but not enough time to hunt through my stash for a fairly large amount of fiber that will work for beginners, or to glue together a bunch of discs and then mark and drill a bunch of holes in said discs.

So I skipped those items on my to-do list and moved on to the next one: carding some batts. Imagine light shining down from the heavens as I finally get out my long-abandoned drum carder and (literally) dust it off.


My baby instrument of torture. Well, one of them. Has anyone else noticed that fiber-processing tools are often painful if you use them the wrong (or I guess you could call it "right") way?
I was carding away happily when, due to a, er, unforeseen miscalculation growing out of a change of plans a few weeks ago (yeah, I should have seen it coming, and I would have, a few years ago — I guess I'm still not as smart as I used to be, although I'm working on it ;)), I realized I needed to make a few more samples for the Phat Fiber sampler box, and I don't have a ton of time to do it in.

By that time, I was a little fed up with feeling stymied, so I defied the uncooperative day and made THIS, which should remind you of something else you've seen on my blog lately:


Yes! It is, in fact, a very, very small shawl pin! Or really, a micro-pin, which I actually tested on a lightweight neck scarf (okay — I admit it was an unfinished triloom square) and that does work in that particular usage ... but I see them showing up as little decorative bitties on handwovens and handknits more than I see them being used as practical fasteners.

I really like making them — they're a fun way to play with shapes, they satisfy my obsession with teeny-tiny things, and they seem completely appropriate for the Phat Fiber box. AND they are my way out of the nonproductive corner the day was trying to back me into. So there, uncooperative day! You have pushed me into creating something new and cute and fun!

Which was maybe what it was trying to do all along. ;D

Edited to add: Oddly enough, I forgot that in between getting home and carding batts, I tried to test my computer's built-in camera and take some video, since I've been pondering doing some video-blogging, or maybe putting together some craft tutorials (even if they're a just a little bit ghetto until I have the money to buy a better video camera). You'd think I'd remember spending about an hour talking and ending up with about eight minutes' worth of video — not because I edited anything, but because Photo Booth is apparently completely horrible at taking actual video. It just ... pretends to take video when in fact it's saving about the first fifteen seconds of what I'm doing. Nice, huh? ;)

Blending experiment #2

Performed Fiber Blending Experiment #2 today: .1 oz the twice-carded gray spinning batt + .1 oz Berry Blue Kool-Aid Columbia roving + 2 hand carders = .2 oz cute foggy blue blend. The blue is much less loud and the gray much less severe in the blend, which is part of what I was going for. Although I was imagining a more streaky roving result (I like that not-fully-blended look), I definitely can't call this a disappointment. I think I'll card up the rest on the drum carder after I finish with Plankton, that 4.something oz of green hand-dyed Merino I bought from Ashley of Neauveau a while ago. I was planning on doing the box of Mystery Wool next, which I acquired in someone's destash, but that can wait while I make pretties, and it'll give me more time to consider dyeing it first.

For comparitive purposes, though, the blue mohair that gave me a little hand-carding trouble in Fiber Blending Experiment #1 was probably about as annoying to draft in places as the gray spinning bell was originally, though it may actually have been easier -- point being that after being carded twice, the former spinning bell was super-easy and quick to hand card with the (somewhat felted ... ::whistles innocently::) Columbia roving. Of course, I'll have to try spinning some of it before I can really pronounce this experiment a success, but regardless, it's been a pleasant ride so far. Oh, and for personal reference, it might actually be easier to card the Mystery Wool (and pull it into roving?) before dyeing, since I'll disarrange the fibers less if I dye them while they're already arranged, and then I won't end up with as many funny little lumps in my batt. Maybe?

Now, to get to finishing a project for someone who doesn't like lateness. (Too bad! I may consider running for Lateness Queen ... if I ever get around to it. ;)) Must not be bothered by other people's botherance, must be creative and enjoy the process regardless ... must enjoy ... must enjoy...

(Photos of Fiber Blend #2 forthcoming. Someday.)

My first hand-carded fiber blend

As mentioned previously, while waiting for my drum carder (::fingertaps::) I blended up some blue mohair with green Merino wool, both fibers gifts from others. Awww, isn't that sweet. ;D I haven't spun it yet, since I wanted to take a picture of it before I did that; but I have to spin it myself to see how it actually came out, since I won't inflict my bizarre mistakes on anyone. Anyway, this is how my first little custom blend looks:



I like it. :D

Blending with cards

As per the nice article on Knitty, and because I'm a spastic freak who just picked something random to do ;), I'm going to try blending some blue mohair I picked up on a whim with some kindly donated forest/hunter green Merino roving. I couldn't quite bring myself to dip into the white llama stash to add a bit of extra color to this batch of the experiment, but I may be able to convince myself later. ;)

First batch notes:

Used .3 oz of blue mohair locks and .3 oz of green Merino roving. Divided each color/type of fiber into four approximately equal parts, to card in four bits. For the first carderful, I tried putting the green layer on, then a blue layer, which wasn't the easiest to blend; then I tried alternating green "stripes" with blue ones, which also wasn't that easy. So for the last two carderfuls, I carded the mohair first, and pulled it into a pseudoroving, which did make the blending easier. I think I may like the not-quite-completely-blended look slightly better than the heathered colors look, at least as far as unspun fiber goes.

Success! I now have .6 ounces of blue-green heathery Merino/mohair roving. Exciting!

Not that I'm going to take a picture, or anything. ;) At least not right now. Laaazy. ;D