Insanity, fluff, and endless tiny squares

Today it felt like I wove a million tiny squares on my 2-inch Weavette. It was really only 25, but I think I've discovered the limit of how many minuscule handwoven squares I can make in four slightly brainless hours. ;)


Why the tiny-square-weaving insanity? Well, I'm going to the Etsy Craft Party in Tampa on Friday, and the little squares will be showing up in a goodie bag near you. Near you if you're near Tampa. Which, okay, hardly applies to any of you. ;) Quick, look at squishy fiber to make you feel better!


Mini batts containing BFL wool, Merino wool, Tussah silk and nylon firestar. The sparkly stuff really is in there somewhere.
Those are some of the samples that are going to be in the Phat Fiber sampler box this month, and guess what that means? Any item you buy from the Star and Crossbones Etsy shop this month gets you an entry into the superbox giveaway on the Phat Fiber Ravelry group! Yayyy! The thread for posting your purchases isn't up yet, but keep watching. It'll go up after this month's sampler box goes on sale, I think.

Anyway, enough talk. More fluffies!


More samples that will be in the Phat Fiber box. This is hand-dyed Merino wool and Tussah silk, no sparkles.
And look how cutely I packaged everything up this month, too:




...had enough? ;)

In other news, my first official spinning demo did indeed occur on Friday, and despite some, er, unfortunate events that prevented me from actually appearing on time, I had fun, and I hope all the people who showed up also had fun. Thank you very kindly if you're reading this and you were there — I really appreciated your support as I sorted my brain out from the Quite Weird events of the day. I'm still recovering from said events, which is the real reason for the use of the word "insanity" in the title of this post. Wish me better luck for this Friday as I make my debut as the host of the local Etsy party's fiber arts station!

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? ;)

Oven dyeing wool and a peek at June's Phat Fiber goodness

I finally got off my butt and dyed some more fiber, this time in the oven — one of my favorite methods of dyeing so far because it feels like it takes less watching than kettle-dyeing, even if not being able to see and poke at the fiber is a little weird. Not being able to see or poke at it also means that dyeing each batch is also a little like giving myself a surprise gift, since I don't know precisely what the fiber will look like until I open up the foil wrapper on the outside of my little baking pans.


Wool fiber after it came out of the oven.


Yet more post-oven wool.
My motivation to finally get out the dyes again was the need to make another contribution to the Phat Fiber Sampler Box. June's theme is "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and this is how my Puck-inspired fiber came out:




It's still waiting to get carded with the sparkly fibers I just received from Blue Mountain Handcrafts, for a more properly fairy-ish feel. ;) What happens after that is actually a bit of a mystery even to me right now; it's going to depend on how many batts I end up with in the end, probably. I'm pretty sure I'm spinning some of it, but I might actually put some in the shop in fiber form ... which would be the first time I've ever put batts in the shop — actually, it'd be the first time I've ever put any form of spinning fiber in the shop. Weird, huh? But I could just end up spinning all of it and putting it in the shop in yarn form. We'll see.

In case you want to know about my dyeing method, I present...

The Quicksilver Crafter Oven-Dyeing Method

...as of May 2010. ;)

This is just how I did it this time — you can obviously make your own tweaks based on what you have handy or your own preferences. And, of course, the general conensus among dyers is to not re-use dyeing supplies with food. I just went and bought some cheap stuff to use only for dyeing.

Materials needed:

• wash tub(s) (or you can use baking pans) — to pre-soak fiber before dyeing AND to rinse fiber after dyeing
• aluminum baking pan(s) — to dye the fiber in
• acid dyes (I used Jacquard)
• white vinegar — acid for the acid dyes
• aluminum foil — to cover the baking pans while they bake
• plastic cups — to mix dyes in
• face mask — to prevent accidental inhalation of dye powder
• ...and of course you need fiber or yarn to dye, and an oven ;)

Steps I followed:

1. Soak fiber/yarn in tubs of water with a little vinegar for 1/2 hr to 1 hr.
2. Put on mask. Mix dyes in cups to desired colors, following directions on the type of dye you're using. I put a splash of vinegar into each cup because I didn't put any new water into the baking pans with the fiber and didn't know how much vinegar was still in the fiber. (I was pretty lazy and mixed my dyes right before I poured them onto the fiber, and reused the same two cups to do it. You can also pre-mix each color in a different cup or glass jar or what have you.) You can take the mask off after you're done mixing.
3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
4. Gently squeeze most of the water out of the fiber and place fiber into baking pans, trying to keep it in a single layer. There will be some water in the baking pans. This is good.
5. Pour dye on the fiber in the baking pans. You can do it in a pattern or randomly; I was pretty random, and just tried to make large sections of color rather than small splotches, since I knew I was going to card the fiber afterward and wanted some fairly solid areas of color.
6. Put aluminum foil over top of baking pans. Press foil in place to seal around the edges, which will prevent steam from escaping. This keeps the heat sealed into the pans, where it can set the dye, and also prevents the water from evaporating and leaving you with dry fiber. It's probably nice to keep the dye steam inside the pans rather than floating around the oven, too, at a guess. ;)
7. Put baking pans carefully into oven. Bake for 1 hr.
8. Let pans cool until they're comfortable to touch before lifting foil or removing fiber from pans.
9. Fill tubs with cool water (or water the temperature of your fiber, if you're impatient and didn't wait for the fiber to cool completely) and gently place fiber into tubs to soak for 15 minutes or so. (This is indeed the "rinse" stage even though it feels a little passive for that particular verb. ;)) Lift fiber out of tub and gently squeeze the water out of it. Dump rinse water and repeat rinse step until used rinse water is clear.
10. Let fiber dry. Pet. Admire. Use fiber. Be happy. :D

Woo! If you try it, feel free to let me know and post links to your results here! I'm always interested in seeing you guys' crafty doings. :D

Today's Snapshot: (Fast) Phat fibery goodness

Ordered this on Sunday, and it got here today — Wednesday. Three days later?! What does Jessie do, teleport them?

Mystery number two is how the heck she gets all that fiber in the box ... I sure can't get it all back in now. Guess that means I might have to spin it ... ;)

(Want your own Phat Fiber sampler box? Go forth to the Phat Fiber Web site and sign up for the "drop" announcement — you'll get an e-mail telling you about the secret drop date and times. But don't leak the drop details to anyone — that would negate the purpose of keeping them secret!)