Hemp Knitting Underway

After much research, I decided on a knitted lace pattern that I thought would allow my handspun hemp yarn to drape comfortably as a scarf.  I prefer garter stitch lace since it is reversible and does not curl.  So, I have used both Shetland and Russian garter stitch lace patterns for scarves.  After some swatching and ripping, I selected the New Shell pattern in Elizabeth Lovick's book The Magic of Shetland Lace.  I modified the pattern a bit so that I could get three scallops and a garter stitch edge on a scarf that is about 5 1/2 inches wide.  Lovick commented in her notes on the pattern that it does well with color changes, which worked for me since I have two 2 ounce skeins of hemp in different colors.  Here is how I have done so far:

I am using size 3 needles to enhance the drape of the fabric.  The size 2 needles produced a fabric that was too firm.  It is knitting up fast and the pattern is easy to memorize.  I am carrying the unused color up the right edge and it is barely visible between the slipped edge stitch and the next stitch.  It looks pretty good now but I will steam finish it when it's done.  I hope to finish in time for our trip to the southwest in June.

Cotton Plying

I am in the middle of plying all the cotton singles that I have spun over the past couple of months.  The singles were spun using akha and top whorl handspindles, depending on the staple length.  For the dark brown cotton, I did not allow the akha to leave my hand.  The staple of the peach/white colored Sally Fox cotton was long enough for me to use a light-weight top whorl handspindle and let it leave my hand to add twist. 

I made plying balls using two singles wrapped together around the ball.  Plying cotton is easier for me using this method because the thin yarn does not tangle when taken from the balls.  I am using a heavier top whorl handspindle to ply.  Soon I will have six bobbins full of cotton, ready to process. 

Unfortunately the true colors are not showing up well in this photograph.  I have two light brown balls, one dark brown ball, one medium brown ball, and two peach/white balls (one is still on the spindle in progress as shown here). 

I have greatly enjoyed spinning and plying cotton using the methods described above.  I can spin quite a bit while waiting for dinner to cook and relaxing in the evening.  Working with the different cotton staples on the spindles has been a great practice for me. 

Spinning Hemp Again

I got a new computer and now everything is a do-over.  I hope this posts correctly.  Sigh.

I had previously spun some Rust hemp from Opulent Fibers (posted in this blog).  The yarn turned out nice but my drafting hand was sore for days. Lesson learned:  I need to spin hemp without hurting my hand.  Because I wanted to spin more beautiful hemp fiber from this source, I ordered 2 ounce bundles of a variety of colors.  In the meantime, I purchased Stephenie Gaustad's book on spinning cotton, hemp, and flax.  I read the section on hemp several times, took my Matchless wheel outside, and gave it a go with the color Soft Fruit.  Definitely an improvement but still needed work. 

Note: In her book, Stephenie issues a warning about spinning dyed hemp. But I am stubborn.

I searched the web for suggestions on spinning dyed hemp fiber.  Not much out there, but some information that proved useful.  I determined to use some of my Spring Break from teaching
to get my dyed hemp spinning under control.  Here is what I learned:

1.  Set the pulley on your wheel to an appropriate size for spinning yarn the size of a paper clip.
2.  Adjust tension for light take-up; I had my Matchless on Scotch tension and a tiny bit was enough. As the bobbin filled, I increased it very slightly.
3.  Divide the hank of hemp fiber carefully in half but do not mess with it, pre-draft it, or shuffle it around. I had to divide it because I found the whole hank was too unwieldy to spin from. Make sure you find the correct end to spin from - it really makes a difference.
4.  Treadle slowly and draft quickly. Let the wheel take the yarn as soon as it is sound enough.
5.  Too much twist will snap the yarn.
6.  These fibers are relatively short; some are very short.  I used a short forward draw but I let a tiny bit of twist enter the fiber mass to help pull out the wiry, short fibers.  Otherwise I found the yarn drifted apart. 
7.  I moved my fiber hand across the tip of the fiber mass somewhat like drafting cotton sliver.  I opened up the fiber slightly as I moved across the mass since the dyeing had compressed it. 
8.  As with cotton, hold the fiber mass gently - do not mash it.
9.  Don't let the yarn hump up on the bobbin - move it frequently.
10.  Let the singles sit on the bobbin for at least a day to get used to the twist.
11.  As with all my singles, I rewound onto a plying bobbin to distribute the twist, remove slubs, and let larger pieces of woody hemp fall out.  You see one ounce of rewound singles yarn on my plying bobbin above.

I actually started out moving the wheel by hand, a bit at a time.  Then one treadle, then both but slowly.  After I had one ounce spun, which took me an hour, I was able to speed things up a bit.  The other ounce went in less than half an hour.

I am going to ply today.  My plan is to combine this color with the Rust I spun previously for a woven scarf.  Yes I do think it will be soft enough to wear! 

Red

I want to knit a Shetland style shawl and have been collecting patterns and designs for a few months.  The color will be madder red.  It took me three tries but I finally dyed 2 pounds of Corriedale roving the right colors of red/brown that I wanted.  I have been spinning the red roving in Old Town, and it makes a striking presentation.  Piles and piles of bright red roving, turning into fine yarn.   Having filled up all my spare bobbins, it was time to ply this weekend. 

I keep my Ashford Traveller set up for plying.  You will note that I moved the spring to the right side of the wheel for plying.  This is easy to do and makes a big difference.  You might have to open up the screw eye a little to remove the spring from its normal position on the left side of the wheel, but then you can simply drape the brake band across to the other side.  In this position the spring is able to provide resistance behind the flyer, which is moving counterclockwise (to the left) for plying. 

I used several different colors of Cushing dyes to get the red and warm brown tones I wanted, but I have planted some madder for future projects.  I ordered seeds and had good luck getting two out of three to sprout.  The plants are vigorous and I anticipate harvesting the roots in 2-3 years.  Since they are invasive, I put a barrier in the garden to confine the growth of the plants.  I also added agricultural lime to the garden soil as well as some compost.  Thank you Rita Buchanan for the information on growing and using madder (A Weaver's Garden, Interweave Press).

The first Blue Moon Sock Club project for 2014 is a really great pattern called Lantern Luck.  The yarn is spectacular and the pattern is very interesting to knit, but also easy to memorize.  I quickly finished the pair of socks.

 

No my feet are not super tiny.  The sock fabric is very stretchy and they fit perfectly on my size 9 feet.  There was an error in the foot chart as originally sent out by Blue Moon - they sent out a revised pattern immediately although it was an easy error to spot and fix.

 

 

The previous photo is a little too blue; there is a lot of aqua green in the sock yarn.  The colors in the second photo are better, I think.  Frida decided she had to have her tail and rear end in the picture. 

 

I am still spinning a lot of cotton.  I bought pounds of dark brown and peachy white cotton from Sally Fox.  This fiber is easy to spin and rich in color and texture.  I had been using a very light weight top whorl spindle for my cotton.  I now have two ultra light Akha spindles which I find delightful to use.  I am using the top whorl to ply the cotton singles from a plying ball.  





Fall Colors

Inspired by a couple of hikes in the nearby mountains, and photographs taken by friends who visited the east coast, I dyed some Corriedale roving with fall colors.

Hmm, looks a little like the chili peppers we have growing in the back yard garden.  I am pleased overall with the way the colors turned out.  As I have been doing for the past few months, I dyed this fiber in an enamel pot over a wood fire.  I also dyed some wonderful blue roving, which I will spin in Old Town.  Enjoy the fall colors!

Ply Time

After several weeks of spinning in Old Town, I found that all my bobbins were full and it was time to ply.  I don't ply as part of the interpretive program, despite many questions about the process.  The reason is that it takes a while, is rather boring to watch after a minute, and requires a lot of space behind me which I don't have.  So, I demonstrate mini-plying by pulling some yarn out of the orifice and letting it twist back on itself.

This also addresses questions about why it appears that I am spinning thread or too-fine yarn.  When I double or triple the single, the visitor can see how thick (approximately) the final yarn will be.

On the left is two-ply wool that I dyed in color sections that seemed too pastel to me at first.  I decided to spin it and see what it looked like.  It came out with more attractive blue coloring than I thought it would, and when I plied the two singles together, ignoring color bands, it came out rather nicely.  And the texture is very springy and lively.  So, don't dismiss an unsatisfactory dye job until you spin and ply!

The center three-ply is chain plied.  More bright green than I wanted, although one visitor said it was nice, she liked green.  OH-kay.  The chain plying preserved the contrasting color blocks I made in the dye pot.  The skein on the right, also a three-ply, is more to my liking in terms of coloring.  The contrasting colors are bright, interesting, and not too green.

Despite the cooler fall weather and end of summer vacations, we still have quite a crowd touring Old Town. School groups have replaced tour groups.  We have also attracted some repeat visitors, who come back with visiting family or just to see what we are doing again.  Tonight we are going to do some handspindle spinning at Dia de los Muertos in Old Town while we are hosting an altar.  I made myself a waist distaff from a discarded oak branch and I will try it out tonight with BFL roving wrapped around the top.

Carded and Dyed Locks

I got a few pounds of fleece from a BFL/Lincoln ram (Powell Sheep Ranch), and I have been dyeing the locks.  My objective is to spin a fat single that has color and texture running through it.  I dyed some of the locks in a dye pot that was burnt orange and yellow and one end, and blue at the other end.  The locks came out in varying colors including some interesting pale greens.  Today I carded some into rolags for spinning.

You can see on the left how the colors in the dye pot turned out.  I like this sort of thing, so the color mixing does not bother me.

I will elongate the rolags to spin them.

Tonight I will dye another batch.  Since the weather is still warm, I'll cook outside tonight, then dye the locks in an enamel pan over the coals.  I leave the pan on the coals overnight, then in the morning it's all done.  I think the real challenge will be getting me to spin the fat singles....

The San Diego Yarn Crawl has been happening over the past few days.  Since the last thing in the world I need is yarn, we visited the two alpaca ranches that were participating.  A Simpler Time is located in Crest, and La Dolce Vita is in Ramona.  A Simpler Time also has a working mill, and we were given a tour.  I had never seen a fiber mill in operation, so this was a real treat.  I hope this event grows and continues.