Striated Blending Using Mini Combs; Slubs On Purpose; EZ's Hand To Hand Pullover; Funky Faroese Socks; Leslie's Half-Gloves; and 3 Fiberish Stories

I'll bet anyone who gets involved in the creative fiber world has more than their share of stories to tell. Without any straining of my brain whatsoever I came up with three such tales. I'll try to keep 'em short and please note that you may like them even if you're a non-fibery sort of reader. Tho' maybe we need to have a talk about why you are a non-fibery sort of reader, hmmm? Might have to do something about that, eh? hee, hee.

Why I Don't Enter Spinning For Speed Contests Anymore

Back during the early years of my spinning life in the 80's I entered a "spinning for speed" contest one year at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. That particular fest used to simply be referred to as "New Boston"...kind of like how the in-crowd, hip fiber folks call the New York Sheep and Wool Festival just "Rhinebeck." Of course once the NH fest moved from New Boston to a new location, we could no longer call it New Boston anymore. Some of us had furrowed brows for years over this change and grumbled about it. Others swung happily with the new possibilities a different venue (well, two venues for a couple of years...but that's another story that might raise the hairs on some folks's backs...) presented.

The speed contest I had signed up for involved the use of one's spindle. Rules included something about spinning for a set amount of time and measuring off what you spun when the bell dinged. The longest length of yarn spun won...something...maybe a few $ or perhaps just a ribbon. There was an administrator/judge making sure no one broke the sacred guidelines set forth. I remember the contest was held in one of New Boston's barns, very near to a big, open door that let in stiff breezes. My hair was longish then, as it is now, and before I knew it my hair had blown into the spinning yarn bringing my already woeful speed efforts to a standstill. Now keep in mind that there was an audience for this event, many of which were children of varying ages with their parents. Why I don't enter speed contests anymore is because out of my mouth, LOUDLY (but quite inadvertently), came one....obnoxious....SHIT...coinciding with my hair becoming as one with the wool fibers. A dirty look was shot my way from the administrator/judge. Some of the parents looked at me in a most disgusted fashion. Several kids giggled. My hopes of speedy spinning stardom were over.

Oh and by the way, I believe there was another such trip to the New Boston fest when myself and a girlfriend used my car for transportation. Since I wasn't a strong driver even back then, she thankfully drove. On an exit ramp I do believe we either got hit from behind or we hit someone in front of us (the details are as fuzzy as a mohair cloud yarn). I don't even remember if the cops came and if the accident was written up...details, details...all unimportant details to knitters and spinners. One of the bumpers of my car was a little mangled I think. The other guy got off scott free. The really important factor was that our car was still drivable. We eyed each other with sheepish grins. I said something like, "Well, we're almost to the festival so we may as well go and have a good time, eh?" And that we did.

My Spinning Chair

I'm not sure how I even came to own my favorite spinning chair, but know that it is THE BEST spinning chair in the world. It's not beautiful nor conviently portable, nor is it even foldable. In fact, the sorry truth is that my spinning chair is ugly. Heaven knows what office it once sat in and when (1940's-50's maybe?), but it has 4 heavy metal octopus legs and a kinda-fuzzy olive green upholstered seat and back. One can, with some effort, make the seat rise up or down as needed and the nifty back can be set right where it's most comfortable (for me, that means supporting my lower back).

Once, during one of my family's umpteen moves, I noticed my chair was gone. I looked in the house we were moving from. No chair. I searched in the moving van. No chair. I looked out by the garbage bins and there my chair was surely crying. I hauled the chair (it felt like a bloody ton of bricks) and firmly placed it in a secure spot within the moving van, comforting my chair all the while (ok, I was talking to myself). Let's just say Chris will never make THAT mistake again...

Body Bags

Around the later part of the 80's or so I decided that I would no longer knit with commercial yarn at all and concentrate only on using my own handspun for projects. I made this decision because somewhere in the back of my brain I knew that spinning would play an important part in my life. How it would play a part in my life? I had no idea.

Prior to this decision I had amassed a fairly large stash of commercial yarn that I probably couldn't have totally knit up by myself within 20 years. Add to that the unspun fiber stash that was multiplying and things were getting decidedly out of hand. During that "gathering of ye ol' commercial yarn" time, I discovered that it was convenient to store my wooly stash in cotton cloth bags. I never had a moth or carpet beetle problem when I stored my yarns in these, unless the critters were already in the yarn/fiber before I stored it (sadly happened once, but I'll save that story for next time...back to the already scheduled program...) When I realize I was rudely depleting the family's pillowcases one at a time, it occurred to me to ask my Ma to sew me up some really large cloth bags out of unbleached muslin. Ma and I dubbed these my "body bags." She made scores of them and sent them to New England (where I lived) from Michigan (where she lived). I filled 'em up with my now ample stash of fibers and, of course, my abundant commercial yarns.

Somewhere down the line we were living on yet another college campus and were set to move from one dorm apartment to another. Doing so meant dragging our stuff...by car, truck or just walking...across campus to the new location. All would have been well except panic set in. What would Chris think when he saw just how much stash I really had? The only thing I could think to do was to be sneaky. That wasn't hard 'cause I'm pretty good at being sneaky. So while Chris was working during the day, I'd carry a body bag or two at a time across campus to our new apartment, finding fresh hiding places as I did so. Problem solved except I started noticing the questioning stares of students eyeing my loads. Finally one student, knowing Chris and I had a couple of small boys, bravely asked "Who" I was moving in those big bags?

Chris and I went to Brattleboro, VT for a little photo shoot the other day. Some photos you'll have to wait for the BOOK for. But in the above pic you'll find my "Funky Faroese Socks." What you can't see is that I'm balancing on a rather steep hill besides a grade school for this non-snow pic. Seriously, one has to travel many miles to find no snow at the end of March in southern Vermont. Enough with the snow already, you skiers and snowboarders! And don't even think about saying that the ski season could have been longer/better/more snow/etc. because your proclamations will fall on the deaf ears of those who believe Spring really should start once one celebrates the Spring Equinox. Geesh.

The article, "Naturally Dyed Funky Faroese Socks ~ Uniting Diverse Elements Into One Pleasing Design," appeared in Spin Off magazine, Summer 2003, pgs. 80-83. The handspun yarns are all 2-ply wool and wool/mohair blends. The grey yarn (main color), dyed with logwood and Osage orange, measured 13 wpi and 950 yards per pound. The other accent yarns were dyed with various natural dyes and natural dye combos including: sunflower heads and saxon blue; brazilwood; goldenrod and saxon blue; lichen; kamala; queen anne's lace and saxon blue; onion skins; cochineal; black walnut hulls; and marigolds. Some of those yarns were thinner than the main, grey yarn and were doubled for the knitting. The wool breeds that made it into these socks included Wensleydale, Border Leicester, Lincoln X, Romney, and Coopworth...yes, all longer-stapled luster breeds. A bit of kid mohair was carded into the Romney for turquoise heels, toes, trim and rolled edging.

Some of the yarns for these socks were spun on a wheel and some on a spindle. No doubt all the yarns were NOT spun with the same drafting technique. Let's face it...when you look at someone's handspun, do you immediately think first of asking what drafting technique was used?!! Probably not. Instead you comment on what color(s) you're looking at, how soft or not the yarn feels, what fibers are used, etc. If wool is present, I'll bet you'd sooner ask what breed was spun before what draft was used. There's a moral here about sweating less over drafting techniques, but I'll leave that for you to ponder...

Before we left for the photo shoot mentioned above, I asked Chris to wear his Elizabeth Zimmermann designed "Hand to Hand" pullover, knitted many a moon ago out of some of that commercial stash I was hiding for years. I've always loved that sweater. I've particularly always loved that sweater on Chris. And for the record, I love Chris, too. The sweater is knit out of 100% wool, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you where I bought the yarn...probably Schoolhouse Press 'cause I purchased a fair amount of my commercial stash from them back then. Note also the dashing half-mitts over Chris's leather gloves. That's how I like to wear my half-mitts, too. Chris's half-mitts were knit a couple of Christmas's ago out of some handspun made from one of Bonkers's blends. The pattern itself is adapted from the "Wristers" pattern in Fox & Geese & Fences ~ A Collection of Traditional Maine Mittens, by Robin Hansen, Down East Books, Maine, 1983. I've used that pattern as a starting point many a time over the years; it's that much of a goody.

One time I set down on a bench or something a pair of my own leather gloves with half-mitts still over them in a shopping mall...on one of my rather infrequent visits to a mall, I might add. Came back to fetch them maybe 5 minutes later and poof, they had vanished. Lesson learned.

Another shot...just because...

Easter has come and gone (with snow still on the ground, I might add once again), but I thought you may get a kick out of how the Lunar Ladies celebrated not only Easter, but Ostara as well, AND a full moon called by various names such as Storm Moon, Seed Moon, and Sap Moon. Jenna was our hostess-with-the-mostess for this event (Jenna is sagedyer on Ravelry).

In the Bakriges's household, we tap colored eggs in the Greek tradition to establish who will be gifted with good luck for the year. The way it works is that you tap the end of your egg with the end of someone else's egg. Whoever cracks sits out for a bit if there are other players. In the case of the Lunar Ladies, there are 5 of us. So in the pic above you'll see (l to r) E (llamafarmgirl on Ravelry) and Maureen (greenmtnknitter on Ravelry). Then two others tap, tap, tap. Etc. Finally, the one left with no cracks on either end of their egg wins the good luck for the year. The person with just one end cracked ends up with the secondary good luck, whatever that is...

The Lunar Ladies were surprised and perhaps horrified by just how aggressive I was with my tapping. Alas, it did me no good 'cause I cracked badly right away. But geez, they were so ridiculously dainty about the whole thing and I had to show them how a confident tapper...albeit a losing one...goes about such things.


And the winner was...E, with her purple wonder of an egg! Second runner up...Maureen, with her Irish green egg! Heaven help all the rest of us this year who were all cracked up. BTW, I lost to Chris during the egg tapping contest at our Easter dinner at our own home (do you think I should change my aggressive strategy?). Well, technically I get another chance again on Greek Orthodox Easter on April 27th, but what if I lose THAT, too? eeesh...risky...

Here's Leslie wearing a luscious pair of half-gloves that are handspun, self-designed and handknit out of a small portion of the fleece of Pixie, a female alpaca, who lives at Cathy's farm (Cathy is IbiwisiAlpacas on Ravelry). Leslie hand combed the alpaca fleece with her 2-pitch (2 rows of tines) Louet mini combs. You can see her hand combed nests on the head, yes the head, of Jenna in the past post, English Wool Combing; Navajo 3-Plying On A Spindle; Leslie's Onion Skin Dyed Cardigan; Bobble-Cuff Socks; NYC Peace Of Mind.

Leslie's half-gloves are knitted with a k2, p2 rib. They sport a stockinette thumb gusset. The stitches are bound off as the knit and purl stitches present themselves...something Leslie learned to do from reading EZ and Meg's writings and seeing their DVDs.

A close-up view.

A big hiccup and you'll find Jenna, E and myself at the Boston Flower Show. Jenna had free tickets and off we went for the day to inhale the intoxicating, earthy aroma (especially important for Spring-starved Vermonters).

The sheer variety of the exhibits was memorable. Flowers. Trees. Shrubs. Herbs. And all sorts of other related stuff.

I loved the grasses and grains exhibit best of all. It honored the grasses and grains that were an essential ingredient for the development and growth of various cultures and belief systems around the world. Above is a beautiful basket holding a spiral's worth of grains. There were several variations on this spiral theme and all were beautiful.

Here come's the sun!!!

Couldn't resist snapping ever-delightful pals, (l to r) E and Jenna under this twiggy structure.

Speaking of Jenna, you'll find her plying using all digits available. She calls it "Toe Jam" plying, for obvious reasons.

Jenna is soooo relaxed and confident as she "Toe Jam" plies, she can just about do it while she naps...almost... Jenna's lucky that Chloe, our black cat, was otherly absorbed, or else Jenna and Chloe would be playing quite a different game together..."Chase the Handspun Ball"!!

Spinning techie time...
First I'd like to show you some lustrous Louet kid mohair locks (fiber from a baby angora goat) that I knew I wanted to spin in a thick 'n thin fashion (also called a slub yarn) which would accentuate the fuzzy nature of the mohair. There's a collar for a knitted jacket I'm working on that needs such a yarn me thinks. I was going to comb these soft, but shortish, locks on my mini combs. Didn't like the results. Too much waste in this case. Instead, I hand picked out anything that was undesirable crud (there wasn't tons of crud or anything, but it could be easily seen and removed if it was there at all).

Instead of combing, I charged my Louet cotton hand carders with the kid mohair locks...

and hand carded the locks into a batt. For more on hand carding techniques, see the past posts, Hand Carding Wool Locks For Spinning, My Dad & more on hand carding and Hand Carding: Keeping Colors Clear and Fiber Blends.

The batt was rolled across the carder into a cigar.

A finished cigar!
The cigar was pre-drafted out into a little sliver...

and wound into a nest!


Time and time again I hear from spinners in my classes and otherwise that they can't ever make the slubby yarn they made when they first started spinning. Many of these folks even go so far as to tell other beginners that they'll never be able to make thick 'n thin yarn after they learn to spin a smooth, consistent singles. Hogwash, in my opinionated opinion!! Making a slub yarn is as simple as understanding the anatomy of a spun yarn and knowing where to pinch and where not to pinch.


A spun yarn, as it's being made (ie. what's going on between you and the orifice on a wheel or between your fiber holding hand and the hook/notch/etc. on your spindle), is comprised of the spun portion of the yarn that was just made and the unspun fiber that's attached to it. The spun yarn that is directly next to the unspun fiber portion is called the point of contact. If you pinch on the point of contact when you're drafting for yarn, chances are you'll get a yarn that's closer to being consistently smooth. BUT, if you pinch on the unspun fiber that's directly next to the just spun yarn when you're drafting for more yarn, there's a good change you'll get a SLUB. A slub is a thick portion in your yarn and can be done on purpose if you so choose. See photo above for a two-handed, backwards short draw where my front hand is pinching on unspun fibers in order to make a slub. To continue, keep pinching that spot and...

have your back hand draft thin-ish-ly just after (or a bit after) your pinch. Thin-ish-ly, because twist likes to jump over thick spots and settle in the thinner spots, thus accentuating the slub in all its glory. Be careful not to draft tooooo thin-ish-ly, because the resulting yarn may not be too stable and may even break. Also, be aware of the average staple length of the fiber you're working with, because if you draft back toooo far, the unspun fiber will separate from the slub itself. Experiment and practice with thinning the fiber just after the slub and with just how far you can draft back safely. Don't forget you're treadling, if you're spinning your slub yarn at a wheel as I did, as you are creating the slub yarn. I like to generally stay on one of the larger, slower whorls so my hands can have time to perform the techniques necessary for a slub yarn, without the irritation of too much twist building up quickly.

A slub...albeit it looks like a rather little one. However, once I ply it with itself, as I had planned to do, it will bloom and puff out. Of course, you can ply a thick 'n thin yarn with anything you'd like for varying results...a fine binder thread plied with a slub yarn will yield something quite different from a thicker yarn plied with the slub yarn or, for that matter, if the slub yarn is plied with itself.

Here is my thick 'n thin singles, spun on my Louet S10 spinning wheel, using a fat core bobbin with the largest, regular whorl (6.5:1 ratio).

I used a nostepinde to wind the singles into a center-pull (2-ended) ball and hand wound the two ends together on another bobbin for plying. I'm so glad Chloe was assigned supervisor of the quality control department awhile back. Nothing untoward passes by her keen cat's eyes.

A pic of the slubby singles plied onto itself.

Above is a pic that shows just how much extra twist I put into the plying of such a yarn. This is not what I would have done if I was going to use the yarn as a 2-ply. Instead, the extra plying twist was needed because I knew I wanted to make a 4-ply cabled yarn.

To do so, I wound the highly twisted 2-ply onto a nostepinde once again, in order to create another center pull (2-ended) ball. This was a tad tricky to do because the extra, very fresh, twist made the yarn quite wily. The recipe for my yarn was: A) singles: spun Z just until stable (clockwise); B) 2-ply: spun S with extra twist (counterclockwise); C) cabled 4-ply: spun lightly Z (clockwise) until cables form. For more about cabled yarn construction, see the past post, Four-Ply Cabled Yarn & Improvising.

Four-ply cabled slub yarn on an Ash niddy noddy.

Close-up of 4-ply cabled slub yarn (prior to washing).

A little garter stitch sample of 4-ply cabled slub yarn. Now I know what you're thinking. You can't really see much of the slubs of this soft and fuzzy, kid mohair yarn when knitted in garter stitch. True. But I got just what I was looking for...FUZZ from the slubs, coupled with LUSTER running through the swatch because of the finer spun, more highly twisted sections (twist accentuates the luster). Woo-hoo! Which knitted stitch patterns can you think of that might have accentuated the slubs, had I chosen to do so? Crochet stitch patterns that would accentuate the slubs? Any other uses for a slub yarn?

A close-up view of the 4-ply cabled slub yarn swatch. I wish you could feel it...it's scrumptious.

Thought that I was done with the fiber techie portion on the blog this month? Think again. Here we go with some striated blending on my one-pitch (one row) Louet mini combs. Handcards do a fabulous job of blending fibers and/or colors for spinning. But combs can also do a spiffy job of blending fibers and/or colors, too. The important factor to remember when blending with combs is to keep the average staple length very similar of all the fibers you're using in your blend. If the average staple lengths are diverse, you'll end up separating the long fibers from the short...leaving the shortest stuck in the combs themselves, while the longer fibers play out first.

I like to call blending with combs "striating." Ever spin or at least see those commercial tops that have different colors and/or fibers running the whole of the length of the top? You, too, can produce such interesting blends with your combs.

I chose to use my handheld (as opposed to mounted combs such as the English wool combs) mini combs for this project due to the shortish, 3-4" length of the fibers to be used, as well as the fibers's relative softness of hand. Using long, coarse fibers with such mini combs will reduce the lifespan of your combs in a drastic way. For longer, coarser fibers, consider using handheld and/or mounted Viking combs or mounted English wool combs. Down the line I'll no doubt demonstrate various styles of Viking combs on the blog. For more info on English Wool Combs, see the very recent past post, English Wool Combing; Navajo 3-Plying On A Spindle; Leslie's Onion Skin Dyed Cardigan; Bobble-Cuff Socks; NYC Peace Of Mind.

The ingredients for my striated yarn include (l to r): Louet nylon icicle dyed with black walnuts, Romney X wool dyed with black walnuts, silver Angelina mylar, and alpaca fleece from Cathy's Pixie.

Since the Romney X wool is going to make up the "noodles" of my lasagne layers on the comb (more on this in a bit...) AND since the Romney wool is going to be of a higher % in amount than any of the other fibers, I have chosen to first comb the Romney X by itself.

Lash (lay) on the Romney X locks onto one of the mini combs, making sure very little fiber is sticking out on the handle side. The great thing about Louet's mini combs is that they're not overly sharp. They'd still be lethal if you fell on them, so keep kids, cats and parakeets away when you're working. And it's a good practice to set them down, handles pointing upwards, when not in immediate use and store them away completely when you're done combing for the day. I love these combs because they're so light weight and don't overtax my oh-so delicate, little, hands...heh, heh.

As before, when I demonstrated using my English wool combs, I generally worry not which direction I lay on the locks, from a butt or tip standpoint. If you wish to worry about this by laying on all the tips in one direction and the butts in another, proceed happily and with confidence.

Continuing to lash on the locks.

I like to fill the comb about 1/2 way up the tines.

A spritz of plain water helps keep static down. Too much water makes for a straggly mess.

Combing proceeds by using the working comb (comb presently without fibers) in a perpendicular fashion to the comb holding the fibers. In the above pic, note that one comb (the working comb) has its tines pointing downward, whilst the comb holding the fiber has its tines pointing sideways. When you begin to comb, consider first going into just the tips hanging off the comb holding the fibers. Make a complete pass for best results. Work your way inward, combing a little more fiber at a time for each full pass.

Perhaps you've noted how worn the wood on my combs are. There's even one missing tine on one of my combs. Poor little things. Please note that I've had and used these combs A LOT over many years, not to mention letting my students have a go at them, too. They've lived a good life and will no doubt, have to be replaced sooner than later. But while there's life, there's work to do...

Now the reality of my working techniques with mini combs is that I like to point one of the tines upwards (yes towards me, but not by my face or my neck or anything puncturable!) and one of the combs sideways. This working technique just happens to make for dandy combing FOR ME. For you, I suggest you try different variations...always keeping in mind that the combs must be perpendicular to each other to be used and to transfer fibers properly.

Continued combing. The fibers that were lashed onto the comb at the beginning are being transferred to the working comb. That is as it should be.

Another combing shot. One thing I failed to show you is that it sometimes helps, after a combing pass, to lift the fibers you have yet to comb a bit off the lower edge of the tines (where the tines meet the wood base). This especially helps you to remove the last of the fibers so they transfer more easily onto the working comb.

Repeat this whole combing process with the original working comb now becoming the comb that's holding the fiber. Repeat as many times as needed until you're satisfied that the fiber is well-combed and free of crud.

Oh, and for the record, I usually find that the original spritz of water doesn't have to be repeated again. At least that's what I found. You be sure to do what pleases you, however.

Eventually, you can comb no more off the comb you originally layed the fibers onto. I've not shown a pic, but there will be short, noily fibers left in the comb once holding all the fibers originally. Remove them and put them into a pile near you. I call this crud. I guess I've got a thing with crud. You can call it what you'd like and do with it what you'd like, but to me it's crud.

In the above pic, I'm showing how to pull the just combed fiber off the comb it's now on. Keep in mind the average staple length and pull no more than 1/4 to 1/2 an average staple length for each "pull." You can c-clamp the handle to a table for pulling off of the fiber, or just hold it as I have shown with your hand.

The pulling motions that I like to use are as follows: 1) Pull with thumb on the top of the "goat's beard"...yes, it does look like Billy's beard, don't you think?

2) Pull with thumb on the side of the "goats beard." Repeat 1) and 2) until you can pull no more fiber off the comb. Short crud will be left in the comb that you can add to the pile you already started. If there appears to be some "good" fiber in your crud pile, save and use accordingly if you'd like. Some folks like to put such fibers back on the combs and pull off as much "good" fiber as they can.

When you pull off your combed top, for that is the form of prep you get when you comb..."top"...there is sometimes crud that has crept into the end of your top.

I like to pull it off and add it to my crud pile.

Here's a nice pile of crud (ok...there's probably some "good" fibers in there, too).

Oh...right...I still need to show how to striate, don't I? I like to think of this kind of striation as making lasagne. It's probably about the closest I'll ever get to making real, homemade lasagne.
Begin by lashing on a layer of the Romney X top you just combed. Think of this layer as your first noodle.

Catching the fibers in the tines. Again, watch that not much fiber sticks out on the side of the handle end.

One of the ingredients of the "filling" of my lasagne is pretty Pixie...an alpaca staple.

Lash on Pixie.

Ooh, now for some glitz...a tad of silver Angelina. A little goes a long way, is my advice to you.

A side view of my lasagne after I added another noodle of the Romney X.

The final filling ingredient...nylon icicle. Gotta have me some icicle, don'tcha know?!

A noodle topping of Romney X and a side view pic.

Note that I have not weighed any of these fibers for a comb's worth. In this case, it's not needed because I don't mind at all if I get more of one fiber per comb's worth or not...this is due to the type of yarn I'm planning to spin from it. You'll see in a bit...

Proceed with combing.

Some transferring has taken place. Etc., etc., etc......

For my striated blend, I did two complete combing sessions...in other words, I combed until I could comb no more for one session. Then the working comb was filled with fibers and I combed them again. I could have continue, but I didn't want a completely homogenous blending.

Here's what the fibers looked like prior to pulling them off into top.

Thumb on the side pulling the goat's beard.

Thumb on the top pulling the goat's beard. This switching of the thumb position helps insure that all the fibers pull off equally and avoids any fiber "degutting" problems.

The striated top pulled off.

Sometimes I like to split the top in half (break it apart equally). Then I pre-draft the two pieces side-by-side into one, singular top again. I do this because just in case some fibers ended up on one end more than another, they get distributed more evenly this way. This is optional but it is what I often do. Plus, it doubles the striations, I think, over the length of the top.

The final, pre-drafted, striated top. Enticingly pretty, if I say so myself. This top was inspired by two things. 1) I love my husband's greying hair. It's sensual, at least to me. So that's why the light grey alpaca was included in the blend. 2) On Ravelry there was a thread where someone was contemplating how to make a silver and gold yarn. I pondered this myself and thought glitz would be the perfect answer. I suppose the icicle I used was more coppery than gold, but you get the idea...

Winding the top into a nest. I know I've showed you how to do this in past posts, but I couldn't resist including the glitzy pics.

Pulling the end through the nest.

Pulling up the "egg."

A completed, striated nest.

Do these look like chocolate truffles or what?!!! They're outside in the snow...what's new?...

A close up of nests.

A swatch from my resulting yarn. No, the instructions for how to make this core yarn are not in this post. I think you're going to have to wait for the BOOK...I get dirty looks from my personal peanut gallery if I share too much.

I've often said I'm not much of a novelty spinner. Well, all I can say is you can teach an old spider new tricks. And that old spider is LOVING the whole adventure.

Bloody cool, if you ask me.

On to some last this 'n that...
Received an e-mail from Glen, who saw my past post on using a picker, Teasing Wool With A Picker; Simple Drum Carding; Shaded Lattice Hat And Mitts; Four Layers Over The Ears Hat; The Potato Party;and a Pee Story, and was in the process of making a picker for his wife. Whatta guy!! Glen wasn't sure what was going on tine-wise on the upper, swinging bed. I took the pic above and sent it to him, holding up the picker swing with one hand and taking the pic with the other (no one else was around at the time to help!). I've included the pic here in case anyone else wants to make a picker for that special spinner in their life.

Glen wrote:
Thanks for the pic! I'm assuming that the right side in the picture is the feed tray side, right? (spider answers: yes!) It's funny- our house looks just like you'd imagine for two people (both with lots of hobbies) that don't exercise any system of checks and balances. We both encourage each other, so the hobbies run rampant! I suppose sheep or goats are next. :-)

The fleece falls from the shears into the picker, then drops into the dyepot, dries on it's way to the drum carder, rolls off in a stream to the spinning wheel with the bobbin removed because the yarn's going right onto needles getting knitted into mittens that once felted, keep my hands warm while feeding the sheep that's being sheared...

take care, Glen

Received another nice e-mail from Rheba:
Thank you for being so generous with your information to all of us. I am a beginning hand spindle spinner, just beginning to dye yarn and I am contemplating whether to buy a wheel. I live in a rural area with no spinners, and therefore no teachers. Your blog entries have been helpful and fascinating. One question I have been unable to find answers to when I Google it is can one avoid the crinkly hard little over spin areas when using a hand spindle? They usually occur when the fiber gets a bit thin, but not always. I have tried letting out some of the spin by letting it unwind, but then that destroys the good areas. Over and over I see spindle spinners advised to add more spin after the twist goes in, and if one has the little overspun areas (mind you, others areas may be without enough spin—I am a beginner as I said) it compounds the problem. One can hardly slow down the spin with a hand spindle or mother Marion kick spindle unless one just twirls the spindle with the fingers. I have finished my first skein (a burnt offering, believe me J ) and some of the overspun areas evened out a little but some remain. That beautiful evenly and fine spun quiviut you showed left me in awe. I do not expect you to answer this personally, Jenny, but if you think it important enough to address in your column I am sure other beginners have this problem. Thank you again. Rheba

Spider answered Rheba via e-mail: I will address your question right on the March blog post (near the end of the month). It's an excellent question that a lot of spinners can relate to! But the quick answer for you is...twist likes to jump over thick spots and land in thin spots. If you put more twist than is needed for your yarn (overtwist), the thin spots will get hard, cork-screwed or pig-taily...as you have found out! The key here is to work on your drafting to aim for more consistency. Check out my hooky stick info (just pop the words in search right at the top of the blog) and you can practice your drafting without having to worry about over-twiddling a spindle. Or go back to the park and draft method of spindling (again search on the blog for this) in order to keep the drafting separate as you're learning to be more consistent with it. Worry not about putting in "extra" twist before winding singles on to your spindle (as some books/spindlers advise) UNLESS you need the extra twist (you can test your singles by pulling on two ends of it beyond the average staple length of the fibers and checking that it doesn't pull or drift apart...if the fibers are still slipping, it's THEN that you add a tad more twist to make the singles stable...but don't do so unless you deem it necessary). Also, if you plan to ply, do a ply-back (search ply-back info on blog) with your freshly spun singles to see if the yarn is suitable for what you had in mind from a twist-perspective.

I would like to address Rheba's worry about not being able to slow down the turning of the spindle, which in turn is putting twist (in her case, excess twist) into the yarn. What seems to be happening here is Rheba's hands are learning to draft, but not drafting fast enough to keep up with the twist being inserted by the twirling spindle. Are locking of the drafting fibers (ie. you're being prevented from drafting) occurring as well as the overtwist problem, Rheba? Readers, any advice for her? For one thing, know that you can absolutely stop the twirling spindle from inserting more twist if you need to do so at any point. Hmmm...also, do please tell us more about what spindle you're using and what fiber you're learning to spin on. Reader's any advice for the fiber and tool you'd suggest for a beginning spinner? Thank you all for anything you can contribute to help Rheba and all the new spinners out there.

On a different note, it's come to my attention that Kathleen, of Maybelle Farm in Wardsboro, VT is spearheading an exciting "Fiber of the Month Club." The cost for the Fiber Club is $20 per month and includes shipping and 5-6 ounces of an already prepared, selected fiber. All the fibers are from farms in Vermont and New Hampshire. Offerings include: black Shetland (for February, but you can select this still...shown in above pic); naturally colored Coopworth for March (also shown in above pic); Border-Leicester/Cotswold for April; Cormo X for May; alpaca for June, etc. An entire year's subscription is available at a discounted price of $220. This package deal gives you one month for free! For more information, contact Kathleen via e-mail at maybellefarm@hotmail.com or call 802-896-6218. Best wishes on your new venture, Kathleen!!

And finally, my dear friend Janice has begun writing for her fantastic new blog, "The Healing Room." Janice has sooo many talents I don't know where to begin telling you about them all. She's a master Reiki practitioner and is interested in alternative healing methods. She's an incredible Tarot reader and has studied Astrology, Psychology, Numerology and so much more.
If you're someone who suffers from Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue...her first posts key in on these insidious illnesses. Check out her blog at: The Healing Room. You'll love her thoughtful writing, her warm personality and the vast knowledge she so willingly shares with all.

Sending you all warm, sunny thoughts from bloody cold Vermont! 'til next month...