Rose and Leaf Tam; Deborah Newton's Sleigh-Ride Gloves; Bulky Spinning Tips; Ravelry; The Spinning Loft; And Hand Exercises for Spinners

Happy Thanksgiving Day 2007!! Our celebration will be gloriously quiet and relaxed. Chris is away for the early part of the day playing jazz piano for folks in an assisted living facility. David, oldest of the spider, is spending a few days with two of his dear friends. Alexander, youngest of the spider, and I will begin cooking our Thanksgiving meal around 3:00 pm. Look for a recipe for the Bakriges' absolute favorite holiday dish at the end of this post. Would you believe it that I've never cooked a turkey in all of my married life (nearly 28 years...and don't even begin contemplate my horrific cooking skills prior to marriage...)? It's true; no turkey has ever been basted by me. Turkeys fed by me? Yes, indeedy. Remember when I told you about those 30+ turkeys who'd galavant proudly around our yard last spring?

I've previously heard the ol' adage that converts are the biggest preachers of all. What follows might just prove that maxim out, at least where I'm concerned. Ravelry. My friends tried to explain how fantastic the Ravelry site was. They proclaimed Ravelry would suit me well, which made sense in that Ravelry brings together, in a way that's hard to explain, fiber folks and yarn droolers like me. But stubborn ol' cuss that I am came up with umpteen reasons why I shouldn't join Ravelry...the #1 reason being the time-drainage factor it would take to put up a profile, maintain it, converse with folks, etc. Geesh, I'd just finally gone to once-a-month-blog-posting...did I really need to get involved in another fibery website? The turning point...where I stopped listening to the obstinate naysayer sitting on my shoulder...came when Sadelle called me one recent morning and pretty much said I NEEDED to be on Ravelry. She was correct in every sense of the word. I won't even try to sing of all of Ravelry's virtues, including the speed and ease in which you can communicate with others who love the fiber arts as you do. Consider strongly going forth to the Ravelry site and getting your name on the waiting list pronto; the sooner the better. I'm jennyspider on Ravelry. Do please let me know what Ravelry name YOU pick.

Here's a pic of my first self-designed, handspun, handknitted project that ever got published. You'll find it in the article: "Spin-Off Challenge." Rose and leaf tam. Spin-Off 17/4: 98-99 (Winter, 1993). Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Spin-Off magazine ever offered, after '93, another challenge where they actually sent participants unspun fibers via the mail. I'm guessing it may have been quite a complicated affair for the Spin-Off staff. I, myself, remember finding the whole process lots of fun...spinning the fibers they sent and adding some of my own choice; designing the tam; handknitting it and packaging the sweet-smelling, freshly-blocked tam up for mailing. Next there was the waiting to see if it would get published (since Spin-Off didn't publish everything they received)...nerve-wracking, but rather exciting.

A front view.

A close-up of the top of the tam.

A close-up of the bottom of the tam.

Here's another handspun project I sometimes take for the display table when I'm teaching. Deborah Newton, a fave knitting designer of mine, created the pattern. The gloves are called "Sleigh-Ride Gloves," and I believe were sold as a separate pattern by Threads magazine, when Threads still dealt with knitting and such (now I believe they deal mostly in sewing...yes/no?) The gloves feel delicious and fit marvelously, if I say so myself.

On looking at my documentation for the project, I see they were made with the fleece of "Freaky," who was 1/4 Suffolk x Leicester and 3/4 Romney (1st clip). I purchased the fleece from of Enuff Farm (presently near) Enterprise, ON, Canada.

"Freaky" was scoured using hot, Toronto, tap water using 3 TBS of Orvus Paste per kitchen sinkful for 1 hour. Fleece was rinsed 5 times using the same temperature as the cooled wash water. A glug of vinegar was used in the first rinse to cut suds and to help neutralize the ph.

I first combed the fleece with Viking-style fine combs; divided the resulting top lengths in half; combed one 1/2 length with a 1/2 of another length using Viking-style double-row combs. I seem to remember not wanting to obliterate the pretty color variations in the naturally dark fleece; just mixed it up a bit with the combing.

The yarn was spun using a short backwards draw. I smoothed down the fibers but didn't pinch all the air (and life) out of it. Spinning was done on my Schacht Matchless wheel, used in double drive mode; an 11:1 whorl used for both singles and plying. Bobbins of singles were set in a tensioned Lazy Kate for 2-plying.

A palm-side version if the Sleigh-Ride Gloves. Note the silver bells from India useful as bling at the edge. The I-cord loops for hanging are included in the pattern.

Another view...

And a skein of combed and spun "Freaky".

On to what was THE MOST FUN teaching gig that I've ever been part of in all of my years of teaching. Why was it so fun? Because I'm at my best when I can be myself...crazy wild-woman that I am...and never before did I feel so at home as I did with this very special group(s) of participants at... "The Spinning Loft," in Howell, Michigan!!! The owner, Beth, decided to fly me in to teach at her shop, after liking this very blog that you're reading presently. THANK YOU, Beth!!!!!

Here's Beth, herself. It wasn't easy catching that spritely, spirited, redhead in a pic. Beth is a whirlwind of activity and in most of the pics much of her is a blur. But above I've caught her in an uncommon, sit-down moment...without her feet treadling on a spinning wheel.

The above pic shows an inkling of the incredible gift that awaited me when I went back with Beth to her home for the night. Since Detroit, Michigan is where I was born and raised, Beth had her own way of making sure I felt comfortable "back in dah hood". Note the Detroit Tiger mug, with screw-on top, so useful for when I'm teaching. And the Michigan maple syrup...does anyone else see the witty irony in giving a now-Vermonter maple syrup as a gift? And finally there's THE PEN. Not just any pen, mind you. Noooooo...this pen plays the University of Michigan fight song when you click the top...which I inadvertantly did...oh, heaven knows how many times...when I simply wanted to use the pen as a pen...a not-to-be-forgotten gift, if there ever was one. Thank you, Beth...you're truly one in a million...no zillion...

Take a LOOK at the "Wall of Fleece" in The Spinning Loft!!! These various breeds of grease fleece are just some of the fibery delights waiting for you when you visit.

What follows are pics of delightful participants in the three, one-day spinning workshops I taught at "The Spinning Loft." I do apologize if I've missed anyone. Don't think I did, but ya never know!

Here's Cindy spinning some of Louet's "Northern Lights" wool top. Beth's got a great selection of Northern Lights colorways in her shop. Great fun to spin!

And that's Lee spinning some Northern Lights, too. Lee travelled all the way from Indiana to be with us.

Here's Mary!
And that's Jofran, friend of the spider from our days together at the University of Detroit in the 1970's. Do NOT believe that she is still 28 as she claims. And do note that I don't think one swear word slipped from my mouth over the whole of my three days of teaching...Jofran cursed enough for all of us!!! Ha! Love you, Jofran...so did the rest of the class!

Above you'll find Michelle.

(l to r) Lisa and Michelle. Lisa is wearing a lovely sweater she knit. But the day before, she wore another smashing sweater that she designed, spun the yarn for and knit...sadly somehow missed that photo opportunity, however.

Kat!!!!!! Her laugh will add sunshine to any day!

From (l to r):
Maple, Sylvia and Pam. Pam came all the way from Canada to be with us on Saturday.

Here's Roberta.

And Genie.

And last but definitely not least is darlin' Shannah. Shannah is modelling her very first spinning and knitting project...a scarf long enough to earn the "Dr. Who" title. The fiber she spun was one of Ashford's slivers (not sure exactly which fiber, since Ashford offers a few types).

Here's Shannah in a really, really cool shrug. She knit it from Artfiber's Tsuki silk/mohair; 500 yds/40 g; loosely based on the Knitty shrug pattern, "I Do," by Jody Prival.

Above you'll find three bobbins of Shannah's handspun. (from l to r): white heather ~ Graty (llama) and Merino X Rambouillet (from PA); dark brown ~ Llannie (llama) and black Shetland (from MI); light brown ~ Lacey (llama) + Switzer (llama) and golden Shetland (from MI). Please note that all llama fibers are from Shannah's own flock.

In fact, here are some of the wonderful items Shannah sells, that she kindly gifted me with. Thank you, Shannah! For more information, please contact Shannah Clarke at Distelfink Farm, Perry, Michigan; sohopixie@tds.net; obsidiankitten.etsy.com

Now it's not typical that I sleep over in the very same room I taught in, but if you take or teach a class at "The Spinning Loft," especially if it's more than one day in a row, there's a chance YOU, too, may be asked if you're interested in a sleepover. In fact, doing so will make you eligible to join the Ravelry group, "Wool Shop Sleepover," a very elite group, don'tcha know?! Above, you'll find Shannah, sound asleep by somewhere in the 9:30 pm range. The rest of us stayed up decidedly longer. Me? Fell asleep around 2:00 am...AND I had to teach again the next day. Worth it!! Definitely worth it!!! Lack of sleep might have had something to do with the fact that I "mimed" the instructions for Andean plying around 4:00 pm the following day, tho'.

Oh...one more thing about Shannah...she and I wear the same style engagement ring. I so wish I could show you all a pic of our two hands together showing this, but unfortunately both pics taken were too blurry to actually see how close to each other our rings are. This may not seem to be anything unique or worth mentioning...except that my ring was my Ma's engagement ring from the 30's and Shannah's was her husband's (named Chris, like my husband) grandmother's
ring from the same time period. Neat, eh? Will just have to fly back to MI again sometime to take clear pics of our rings in order to show you....

On the evening of the sleepover, Jofran and I went to dinner at Noreen's home, also in Howell, MI. Noreen and I hadn't seen each other in over 30 years. Noreen lived across the alley from me on the east side of Detroit in the 1960's. Noreen picked Jofran and I up, drove us to her lovely home where we met her handsome husband, Art, and her three, very polite, very nice boys...AND...she fed us a very healthy and delicious dinner. Thank you, Noreen!! It was great to catch up on all the years we hadn't seen each other. Happily, the fun continued because Noreen joined us for the sleepover at Beth's shop. Above is a pic of the two of us in our jammies. Noreen is in lavender and I'm the one with the moon and star jammies.

Now please note that Noreen is NOT one of us...yet. She IS, however, one of two girlfriends back in Detroit, who taught me to knit. I'm not sure how much Noreen knits presently or how much she knit over the past 30 years, but I definitely know she doesn't spin...yet. Understand that the fleece set besides her is due to Beth's wool-pushing attempts. Beth embarks in something she calls "woolhuffing"...that's where she sticks particularly gorgeous grease fleece under your nose and tells you to sniff deeply. Her strategy is to get you hooked using the "good shit"(as we used to call other such leafy substances in the '70's...but I digress). Not sure if it worked on Noreen...yet...but time will tell when she can't help herself as her car makes its way into The Spinning Loft's parking lot.

My experience in Howell, MI wouldn't be complete without showing you Beth's wonderful family. Here's another handsome husband, Lou, with Beth wearing a very pretty, bling-ified top.

And above you'll find a real sweetie...Maggie. Maggie amazed me with her thoughtfulness, keen observations, older-than-her-6-years conversations and fiber talent. Yes, fiber talent. Lookee at that needle felted mitt she created as she quietly sat in an adjoining room to our classroom. Wow!!

Above is the incomparable Ryan. Ryan turned four years old while I was visiting. He's a real cutie...a busy bee...and then some. We got to play floor hockey in the kitchen together. How cool is that?! In the pic above he's fanning his mouth with one of my presents from Beth...the blue words that light up as the fan goes 'round say, "Go Blue!"...for U of Michigan hockey, just in case you didn't know...

I couldn't resist this pic of Ryan being his bee-like self, as Maggie vacuumed...without being told!!! Alexander, oh 20 year old of mine...do you see this amazingly resposible endeavor that 6 year old Maggie is performing?!!

I can't forget to tell you how naughty I ate during the majority of my stay in MI. I ate french fries every night. Even on the night of Noreen's wonderful, healthy dinner, I had eaten chile cheese fries for lunch. I'm just a hopeless potato freak.

The above pic shows a beloved, long-time friend of mine, Ernestine. Ernestine picked me up in Howell, MI last Saturday evening and whisked me back to Novi where she now lives. Ernestine and I go back to our University of Detroit days, just like Jofran does. We both took our art classes (we both majored in art and I tacked education on, as well) at Marygrove, which used to be a consortium school of U. of D. Any other Marygrove art students out there? Ernestine and I went out that evening and had a pleasing dinner (yes, I did have french fries then, too) and afterwards headed back to her pad for a delightful, long-time-in-coming chat. Nice!

The next day (last Sunday) Lou, Beth's husband, dropped me off at Detroit's Metro airport. What a memorable trip! What a wonderful group of people to spend time with! Thank you, Beth, for making it possible!!

A big hiccup and on to some spinning topics. After teaching one of my "Thick, Medium and Thin" classes at The Spinning Loft, I thought readers might enjoy some chatter about spinning bulky yarns. Remember please, take everything suggested below with a grain of salt. The #'s mentioned regarding wraps per inch and twist angle are compiled from various sources. Your own good judgement and tastes should be kept in the forefront as you spin. That said, here's some bulky tips that may prove useful to you:

• To spin very thick yarns: Less than 12 wraps per inch, with 3 or fewer twists per inch in the finished yarn.
• To spin medium-thick yarns: 12-20 wraps per inch, with 4-6 twists per inch in the finished yarn.
• 5-15 degree twist angle.
• Consider using a drive ratio of 3:1 - 6:1.
• General rule of thumb: The thicker the yarn, the less twist is needed to make the yarn stable.
• Even a tad of overtwist will make a thick yarn into rope.
• No killing the baby bird - fibers must be allowed to slip past each other. For more info on the baby bird, see the past post Please Don't Kill The Baby Bird.
• Stronger draw-in tension is needed to pull in thicker yarn.
• Hands should not hold on to the yarn too long. Hands need to allow yarn to move towards the bobbin. Hands may need to work quickly.
• Treadling may need to be very slow. Treadling speed is dependent on whorl size used (ie. if you only have a 9:1 ratio to use, you'll have to treadle at a snail's pace in order to avoid overtwist in a bulky yarn. If you have a 3:1 ratio available, you probably still need to treadle slow-ish to make very bulky yarn, but it will not be anywhere near as slow as with a higher ratio. Get those hands 'a-moving!)
• Adjust the size of the fiber mass to the bulkiness of the yarn you're spinning.
• Well-prepared fiber will be ESSENTIAL, especially if you want a smooth, consistent yarn.
• Consider pre-drafting, especially for commercially prepared fibers, in order to insure the fibers will slip past each other nicely.

Readers...any other bulky spinning tips that have worked well for you? Thank you for any and all comments.

Above is a pic of two differently spun yarns from the same Polypay wool fleece. I first dyed the scoured fleece with the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. The bulky skein was comprised of blue and yellow fleece carded together. The bulky skein is a 3-ply yarn, but it could have been made the same bulky size of yarn if it was spun as a singles, a 2-ply, etc. The finer spun skein is made from red and blue carded together. The finer skein is a two-ply yarn, but as in the bulky skein, it could have been made the same finer size of yarn if it was spun as a singles, a 3-ply, etc. Remember...I'm from the potato camp of spinners. For more on the potato camp, see the past post Sunny Bamboo Handspun & Tips For Spinning Fine Yarn.

The above skeins were spun for Meg Swansen of Schoolhouse Press for our collaborative Spin-Off article in the Spring 2001 issue. They are all spun from the wool of various breeds: Gotland, Icelandic lamb, Border Leicester lamb, Spelsau, Coopworth and Romney. The finished yarn was about 14 wraps per inch and had a 15-20 degree twist angle...in the medium-thick range. I spun these yarns on my Schacht Matchless, set in the Scotch tension mode, with the slow speed whorl at a 7.5:1 ratio (a smaller whorl...with a higher ratio...than I usually find comfortable for thick-ish yarns!!). I used a short, backward draw for the singles, coupled with slow and even treadling. The bobbins of singles were plied using a tensioned Lazy Kate.

On to another spinning topic:
A friend and former customer of a natural dyeing company that I once co-owned, Meg (not Meg Swansen mentioned above), recently asked about hand care for spinners. Now please note, not everyone is capable of doing the following exercises, no matter how gentle they practice the motions. So please us common sense and do ask your own doctor if such exercises would be useful to you as a spinner who practices techniques that could definitely be referred to as repetitive motions. I try to show participants in my classes at least a few of these exercises, which can be of a definite aid for stiff or aching joints. Nimble fingers are happy fingers, at least where my hands are concerned.

Please remember that all of these exercises should be done slowly and gently. Above, to help cut down on pics, I'm showing two different motions...one done after the other generally. On the left, open up your hand and fingers and hold for a count of 5 or so. Then, go on to the opposite motion with the same hand...shown to the right in the pic, by closing your fingers into a fist and hold for another count of 5.

Chris, my pianist husband, demonstrated a helpful exercise that he uses regularly and that spinners can benefit from, too. Basically, it's just a matter of touching each thumb to each finger...back and forth, if you wish...slowly and gently.

Consider gentle wrist rolls, first one way and then the other way, as a help to combat stiffness. IF you have carpal tunnel or other wrist/forearm problems, be sure to check with your doctor before trying wrist rolling.

What are your favorite hand exercises?

Below are some beautiful, dyed-fiber pics by reader, Loraine. Loraine e-mailed:
Jenny, If you EVER get out to Oregon you HAVE to let me know - I'd LOVE to take a class with you. I took two dyeing classes last Saturday at my guild's annual dye day and I've become a dyeing demon with a lot to learn ! We did dyeing in a crock pot and also some natural dyeing. Here's some of the dyeing I did during this last week - enjoy !!!

Another e-mail from Loraine added:
These were the result of a crock pot dyeing class I took with Judy Ness that was offered by my guild (Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild) as part of their annual class day. Judy also teaches this class at Black Sheep Gathering and OFFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival) along with a natural dye class using extracts which I also took. For the crockpot dyeing class we filled the crock pots half way with very hot water, added a "glug" of vinegar and then packed it with roving. The trick was to have a good roving/water ratio so there was not too much water for the dye to float around. While we were letting the roving cook a little Judy talked about color theory and how not to create mud and also the importance of proper safety when mixing powder dyes. The dyes she uses are Landscape or Mother McKenzie's Miracle Dyes. We used a little of both having a choice of Red, Cyan, Magenta, Turquoise and Yellow. We mentally divided the pot into thirds, chose 3 colors and put a little of each color in the pot taking care not to let them touch. We used some finished chopsticks to poke the color around taking care not to agitate the roving too much. We then let the pots sit for about 30 minutes waiting for the dye to exhaust, occasionally poking gently to move any remaining dye around to light spots. I packed my pot too full of roving so the dye barely went anywhere resulting in dye on the top of the roving and nothing underneath. I gently turned the roving over and dyed the other side. That's the roving in the bottom right corner of the picture of four. We still had some time to dye another batch so I did more - this time leaving more room for water movement and got a gorgeous red/orange/magenta roving. When each roving was done we gently dumped it into a colander in the sink to let it cool. Because we were using an industrial sink, we draped it over the edge to help the cooling. After the roving had cooled we rinsed in warm water, used a salad spinner to get the extra water out and hung it to dry. The other rovings in the picture are ones I dyed when I got home. The very fall looking one started as saffron yellow colored superwash roving that I over dyed. That's my favorite so far. I've been spinning since January on a Kromski Sonata that I adore. I like to Navajo ply or 3-ply my yarns and have mostly been making socks with what I've done. Of course, I haven't taken any pics of the socks because they get snatched away before I can. I started dyeing because I wanted to make my own color combinations. It was a great compliment from Judy Ness when she said I should think about selling what I make because she says I have a great eye for color. Who knows ! My boyfriend has a porch on his house that he never uses - maybe I can turn it onto a dye kitchen.
Thank you for sharing, Loraine! Take a look below for a feast for the eyes!!


And finally...a Vermont sunset taken at the beginning of November in my backyard. More inspiration for dyeing fiber?!


Oh, I almost forgot to give you the recipe for our favorite holiday dish. I think it's safe to say that spanakopita...Greek spinach pie...is THE only dish I know how to make really well. In fact, if there was a spanakopita contest, I'd enter it. How's that for brazen cockiness?

Spanakopita3 pkgs of chopped, frozen spinach (thawed, but with a few ice crystals left)
A bundle of fresh, chopped parsley (remove stems)
About 2 lbs of Feta cheese crumbled (that's alotta Feta, eh? Mmmm...)
One small tub of skim Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp dill weed
1 Tbs onion powder (NOT fresh onions, please)
Ground black pepper to taste (I like quite a bit)
20 Filo pastry sheets to fit bottom of a 9" x 12" pan (not glass)
Two sticks of melted butter
pastry brush

Using a colander within a big bowl, drain spinach, pushing water out with a potato masher. I like it when the spinach still has a little ice crystals on it...the final texture of the pie seems to turn out better that way. Remove colander and drained water. Place drained spinach in bowl. Combine drained spinach with Feta cheese, Ricotta cheese, chopped parsley, olive oil, onion powder, dill weed and pepper. Set this mixture aside. Remove Filo from package and cover sheets with a clean cloth to keep them from drying out. Place a sheet of Filo in the bottom of the pan (not glass), brushing the entire top of sheet with melted butter. Continue with nine other sheets; one on top of the other; one at a time. Spread spinach mixture over buttered pastry in pan. On top of the spinach mixture, butter ten Filo sheets as before; one sheet on top of the other; one at a time. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the top of the Filo is flaky and a deep golden brown. Cool a bit before serving. Cut into portions as you'd like. ENJOY!

Until next month...Cheers, jennyspider (Ravelry name...remember?)