Cashmere

Doesn't it conjure up pure luxury....cashmere......

I was very generously given a very large amount of cashmere (dehaired, long guard hairs taken out, time saver....) by a member of the HWSG. It was way to much to keep to oneself without feeling extremely selfish...sigh.....So I decided that we could have a session at Experimental Spinning playing with this beautiful fibre.

That was on Saturday and we had lots of fun. Because it is both a very expensive and very short fibre, it is often combined with other fibres. We used silk, silky wool, fine merino and even pink! Beautiful rolags were created and I can't wait to see all the resulting yarns.

I went home and decided to split my 20gms into four and spin a yarn with four different treatments.

1. Mixed with Silky wool (optim), a treated wool that I thought would work well, but it didn't really card well with the cashmere and separated a bit from the cashmere when spinning.

2. Mixed with 18micron merino. This was immediately nicer than the Silky wool and whilst there is a slight different in the pictures, both carding and spinning were much improved.

3. Mixed with Tussah silk. As you can see from the rolags it is beautiful. I wasn't sure that this would work. Even though it came in top form it was still quite long, but I suspect that the critical factor in both the carding and spinning is the thickness, or in this case, fineness of the mixing fibre. For best results they probably do need to be close in micron count.

4. I just spun the cashmere as it came.

I did wonder if I'd put in too much twist for the this skein. Too much twist and I'll lose the softness of the cashmere. I also wanted to keep the different treatments together, so I decided to Navaho ply my single, creating a relatively thick yarn.

This could be a problem as these fabulous fibres are very warm. The resulting scarf will be knitted in a very open lace. I'll show you when it's done.

Oops, forgot.....some things I'd like to try: silk noil and cashmere, what about silk waste with cashmere, fluffy around a core......what else?

Inspired colours galore

Hugely busy, in need of some gentle recreation, off to Experimental Spinning for the afternoon. Whilst the lovely Charley of Ixchel Angora Bunny and Funky Fibre gave a talk to the spinning certificate group, we carded colours to create all sorts of colours, using basic blue, red, yellow, black and white wool top.

Charley even had one of her absolutely gorgeous, fluffy Angora Bunnies to show.

So an excellent afternoon all round.

On one of my trips to Angus and Robertson in search of bargains I had picked up this book, full of the most wonderfully colourful pictures.

I chose this picture and these are the colours I managed to create.

When the rush is over I'm going to create some more and combine them into a single yarn, full of wonderfully exuberant colour.

Recharged, ready to go, thanks everyone.....

A busy weekend

Yes, it's going to be a busy weekend. Saturday is the Ivanhoe Makers Market, new name, bright new logo and hopefully a busy day to celebrate the end of Winter and the start of Spring. I'm going to have a 20% off everything sale, to celebrate. I hope that everyone comes and says hello.


These are the latest neckwarmers that I've been working on. Handspun, dyed, knit and finished with a button (of course).









And a few more fingerless mittens.









Then on Sunday, I'm part of a team that will be competing in the Sheep to Shawl competition at the Royal Melbourne Show. The competition starts around 10.30am and finishes when all the teams have spun and knit a shawl, however long that takes.

I've always wanted to have a go at competing, should be fun. It would be nice to have a cheer squad?

Preparing ahead!

Tomorrow is Experimental Spinning at the guild and we're looking at spinning fat singles, dyeing them and slightly felting them. There are quite a few of these yarns for sale in the gallery and they are bright and interesting, so I had been requested for a session.

Spinning the singles is pretty fast and easy spinning. Take wool top, decide how much you need to split to get the thickness you want, split it and spin it. There's no drafting and very little twist. You want them to hold together but not overtwist. Too much and the yarn will be too harsh, dyed or not.

The dyeing is a different matter. We spend our time trying not to felt our yarn, now I want to felt it a bit, just enough to have the yarn hold together and look a little felted but you definitely don't want it to felt to each other.

My usual random dyeing methods are a good start. I use very little water, so this time I brought it to the boil, before putting the yarn in, hoping that the shock would start the felting process without too much agitation at this early stage. (Note to self: next time put a bit more water in then you wouldn't have to top it up at this stage!)

I sprinkle my dye and usually leave it to very,very,very gently simmer. This time I just let it boil, played with it too much and hoped that this would be enough for the effect.

I wound some balls of wool and waited till I was happy and was going to leave it to cool down, but thought that as a last insurance policy effort I would cool it down suddenly, again shocking the yarn.

This done, I now have to wait for the final dried yarn. I am happy with the result though am not sure how felted it was. I'll post another picture when dry.

For Experimental Spinning tomorrow, I'd like to try:

1. the same process with a slubby yarn. I assume the thinner bits won't felt as quickly as the fat bits.

2. using fleece. The problem here is that tops give you a very even yarn. The solution should be in using a drum carder. The final yarn should be different?

3. using a mix of wool top and machine washable wool top. Not sure how I'm going to spin that, and my machine washable top is a mix of grey and cream.

Enough experimenting for one day!

Fibre sponge cake

Yesterday was our last Experimental meeting for the year and I thought we could do another fibre sandwich, except that we would have a theme. With a wonderful sponge cake maker in our midst, it wasn't hard to decide on making a fibre sponge cake as a celebration of all things experimental.

These 'sandwiches' are a group effort, where everyone brings along fibre, or extras, in this case, related to our theme. The resulting batt is divided amongst the participants.



We had cake, jam, cream, icing and sprinkles on our cake.


And this is my resulting skein.








And we did have the real thing, as well. Thanks to everyone who came for making it a lovely afternoon.

Spinning Chocolate

I've had a little bit of chocolate fleece sitting there waiting for a suitable project. As it was a gift, something at least interesting was called for. Chocolate is obviously the answer.

I spun two skeins. Each created in the same way but with different chocolate crops. The first was some chocolate coloured tops. I just pulled a little out, made a soft knot and sandwiched these between two layers of the fleece, then drum carded, just the once. The second was drops of colour from some multi-coloured alpaca fleece tops.

Spinning was a breeze, as I just wanted a rough, thick spun yarn. I'd like to knit a hat, but I don't think I have enough, so I might create a third yarn using the chocolate top with alpaca drops.

Whilst working on these, I have been delighted by the way the online community works. I've been reading the lovely Kat (www.thestoryofkat.blogspot.com) purchaser of my fingerless mittens from Etsy. Entering someone else's world, a world away, is just amazing.

Bollywood yarns

This month at Experimental Spinning, we were playing with plying with a Bollywood theme. I brought some recycled sari silk yarns that I had purchased in San Remo. These provided the inspiration for colour combinations.

I'm not sure I quite achieved a real Bollywood effect, but they're very bold yarns.

There was some discussion about cable and crepe yarns. My take on this is that if all singles are plyed together at the same time, then it's a cable yarn. The yellow is my cable yarn. If the yarn is built up with successive plyings then it's a crepe yarn. The crimson yarn. They give very different effects. I think I might follow up this line with some research. In the name of accurately and consistently describing yarns, it might be worth it.

Fractal spinning

Yesterday was the meeting of the Experimental Spinners group at the HWSG. This meeting coincided with the Weaving Certificate class so we were surrounded by lots of colour and texture as they were working on their cram-weave scarves.

We were working on Fractal spinning, which was inspired by a skein called 'George' and two articles in the Summer 2007 issue of Spin-off.

Definition: A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole, “a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured."
(http://www.wikipedia.org/ – search for ‘fractal’)

For the purposes of spinning, it is applied to multi-coloured tops where we split the top into ever smaller lengths. There are, of course, variations on the main idea, and these can also be applied to any series whether, tops, fleece or textures.

I chose these beautiful silk tops, of which I only had 10grams. Enough to finish in a short time. I split them down the middle and spun the first half as it came from the top. I did a little pulling apart to try and maintain some blocks of colour, but I wasn't very precise or finicky. This was my first bobbin.

The second bobbin, I split the remainder of the top and spun half, and, continued splitting in this way until I wasn't drafting when I was spinning. I managed to split it four times (five lengths). I wasn't sure of the result, as at times, the second bobbin seemed quite different, but then at the end I couldn't really tell them apart!

I then plied these two together to get a beautiful yarn, which is quite reflective of the original tops, but far more subtle. Unfortunately, my halves weren't exact and I had a little left over, so I Andean plied that off. Having scales on hand would have been good!

I now have a small 10gm skein of silk...but what to do with it?

Recycling business shirts

Yesterday was our 3D5S meeting, where we explored recycling fabrics. This was inspired by our trip to Ceres in Brunswick. We had fun cutting up fabric, running it through the spinning wheel and knitting to create some really interesting fabrics. Good rugs, bags are in the making.

My partner's old business shirts were sacrificed to the cause....he now has a reason to buy those bargain priced good quality shirts he's spotted....I didn't get as far as knitting, but I'll get there!

The Australian Sheep and Wool show project is progressing well and slowly coming together. The next few weeks will be a flurry of activity to get pieces made. All very exciting and pictures will be posted after the judging takes place.

Newspaper and Magazines

What an interesting weekend! Friday was spent 'helping' in the Guild library. Unfortunately, we were more interested in looking at the latest magazines and chatting and realised, almost too late that we needed to do the returns in the returns box. All done, but next month I will be more attentive to the required tasks.

I am in love though. I was introduced to a new magazine 'VAV magasinet' - a Swedish weaving magazine. This was wonderful and I'm going to explore it more, find out how much...it is available through Glenora Weaving....and....

I have been looking for a good weaving magazine, this could be it.

Saturday was Experimental Spinning and we were going to explore newspaper and wire. Unfortunately, newspaper took up all our time and the wire will have to wait for another time. There was some fantastic spinning, unfortunately not by me. Everyone was very amused by my repeatedly unsuccessful attempts to spin the newspaper. Every time I would start, there would be a break, by the time I rejoined, I was back at the start. I got angry and so desperate, I was starting to blame the wheel....always a bad sign...

Anyway, I was determined to do this as I was quite intrigued by the array of information on the subject that had been sent to me, and the possibilities. I went home and as the boys watched 'The Godfather' (I don't watch 'The Godfather') I sat spinning paper.

I did start with a firmer paper, more a magazine weight. However, I am getting the feel of how wet the paper needs to be and how to approach various tasks such as joining (squish it yourself), rethreading after a break (don't expect the paper to slide, grab right at the end and pull through).

There are still a number of questions to be tested/asked. Firstly, it seems obvious, but it would be better if the paper is cut in continuous lengths. Secondly, how do you moisten a lot of paper? Would a steamer work better?

Food for thought on a Sunday afternoon.

Generosity and kindness

It always makes me feel happy when people respond to the different activities that I participate in. In response to the upcoming newspaper and wire Experimental Spinning day in May, I've been sent two references to the most amazing people who spin newspaper and then weave and knit it. ( www.dezeen.com/2007/10/21/yarn-from-old-newspapers-by-greetje-van-tiem/ http://www.artnest.it/ )


A lovely gentleman came all the way from Traralgon to the Guild meeting on Saturday to give me a bundle of telephone wire he had collected many years ago when hiking! We're going to call any resulting yarn 'Telecom yarn'.

And at the guild meeting, I was given an old catalogue from Coogi. They were an amazing knitwear company and the catalogue is just incredible. There are articles, like socks and ties, I didn't know they made, and the most wonderful designs. Unfortunately, in part because of the cheap copies that came out, they no longer exist. I guess we all have to remember our purchase choices do make a difference.

It was good going to the meeting. We taught an actor to drop spin for a play! Showed off the bridge cosy, which got good responses. And, of course, friends and fun.

Incubated

A pretty busy couple of days. Friday, I finally went to in.cube8r and rented a cube. I do need to go back and have a good look. I

only had an hour parking spot and it took all of my time to sort myself out. Lovely helpful young lady at in.cube8tr made me feel welcome and I'm hopeful that both ventures will be successful.

The first meeting of the 9x5 market working group also took place. Now we have to be serious about making this a self-sustaining market. A good number of people have volunteered and I feel very hopeful.

Yesterday was Experimental Spinning day and we were playing with beads. What alot of glittery fun. I did alot of talking and showing and only managed to produce this very small sample. However, it is very useful on several counts. Firstly, threading the beads on a core yarn and then wrapping the core was successful. Secondly, knitting it up was great as it really is fluffy and round. I could have used bigger needles, but the 5mm needles were all that was available.

Coffee, then Thai food finished the day.

NOTE: in.cube8r gallery: www.incube8r.com

A new bag

Yesterday was quite a busy day. Both boys started their tennis season in the morning, 7.30am start, on a Saturday! Youngest won his singles, which after the last season was a good start, the team lost by a game. Oldest won and the team won. It was a good win and he was high as a kite! Having now reached sort of serious levels this was great. I went out for the day to arrive back to partner ringing to say he'd made a 100 at cricket on the day the club was celebrating their 80th season, so he spent the rest of the night celebrating!

My day was good, but less eventful. I went to Rose St. market to have a look around. It's interesting and quirky, great spot, just off Brunswick St. I'd like to share a market stall with friends here. Need to check out more. The website is http://www.rosestmarket.com.au/. Went there not expecting to buy anything, maybe a pair of earings, I'm really not much of a shopper. Ended up buying this great backpack. I love backpacks, leaves my hands free and saves my back. They're usually boring, this isn't.

Then went on to Experimental Spinning at the guild. We were looking at odd fibres. The ones we could find in the Craft outlet were: Carbon fibre, Ramie, Bamboo and Milk protein. I carded mine all together, though I didn't quite finish spinning, so that's for later. I hope to dye the resulting yarn to see what happens. They're interesting fibres, the grey is the Carbon fibre. Not very elastic, not sure what to do with them, so interesting textures.

Coffee afterwards, a good day.