Blending On A Strauch Drumcarder; Saddle-Shoulder Sweater; Wonderful Wallaby; Emi's Scarf, Alex's Move; And Beginning A Silk Latte/Wool Project

Chris and I are "empty-nesters"again. But before I could shout EMPTY-NESTERS from the highest mountain top, our house, and we as its inhabitants, were put through the wringer. Alex, youngest of the spider at 21, got one of the few precious jobs available in Brattleboro; not an easy task in this economy. Landing a job was cause for celebration especially since he got a supervisor-in-training position. Then Alex dropped the bomb that things weren't exactly going well where he lived with two of his buddies in Brattleboro. This was cause for panic because Chris and I live 25 miles to the west of Bratt and Alex has no car. Alas, back home Alex came, along with about 7+ loads worth of laundry, various and sundry furniture, and enough video games to start our own gaming store.

Now you can call me mean. Or you can call me self-centered. But there was no way Alex was going back into his old bedroom. That bedroom is now my spinning room and home of the Mac, where I do my tappings...never more to be a "pit" again. We had to draw the line somewhere and let's face it...we didn't want Alex to get too comfy for too long. However, it was a toss-up who was the least comfy as Alex took over our livingroom. Grand fun.

Alexander and I did have a good time one evening watching my "I'm Not There" video, featuring the many interesting faces of Bob Dylan (my fave being Cate Blanchett as Bob) . And then there was the night we viewed "Sweeney Todd," where I must have turned away from the screen more than I watched it, even tho' it was Johnny Depp, who I don't usually tire of seeing, singing about his ever-so-sharp barber blade as being his "friend." OK, that was weird.

Here's Alexander riding the Moo-ver, our southern VT cow-spot bus, into Brattleboro to work.

And here he is packing up his stuff from the living room floor, getting ready to move into his very own one-bedroom apartment in Brattleboro.

Chris looks pretty happy helping with this, eh?!

I'm pleased to report that Alex is settling in to his new pad and is only a few minutes walk from his work. Word has it that Emi, his fiance in Japan, already has a ticket to visit for 3 weeks in early May. Nice!

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The Lunar Ladies got together this month as per usual, but I could only make a wee appearance as it was the night of Alexander's move. I was with the Ladies long enough to snap a few pics of their fiberish projects.

Hey, those be potatoes! That's no fiberish project! Jenna kindly brought me some baby purple potatoes to act as my seeds for the official '09 potato crop. Woo-hoo!! Thank you, Jenna.

Here's our pretty E, she's been crocheting up a storm of late. Above is a cute baby vest. Tell us about it, won't you?

And here's some darling crocheted and felted baby booties. I'll bet our readers would like to know what pattern you're using, Lady Sunshine.

Above you'll find some truly lovely handspun yarn made by none other than our talented Leslie. The yellow and medium-green yarn is spun from Shetland wool and the darkest green/brown is llama. All the colors were obtained in the same immersion bath using Osage orange sawdust, with alum as a premordant. The final mitts, shown begun above, are the LAST project that will make it into the BOOK. We had to include some llama, now didn't we?!!!

Leslie brought some spiffy hand-dyed socks in progress. Spincerely Yours dyed a knitting "blank," to produce this gorgeous yarn. Leslie's doing the knittin' but I do believe the final socks are for Spincerely's sister, Elizabeth. Did I get that right, Leslie? Do tell us more about the sock pattern you're using, please.

Finally, because knitting, crocheting, spinning, and dyeing isn't all we Lunar Ladies practice, Jenna's been sewing a "Mommy Blankie." Jenna knows a very special new mommy who's not feeling too well early on in her pregnancy and could use her own comforting blanket for naps and such. Good Jenna.

Where's Maureen, last but not least of the Lunar Ladies, you're wondering? She's down below featured in the techie pics of this post.

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The past posts have featured several baby items that were worn by Alexander. But what about the oldest of the spider, David? Didn't he get special knitwear created just for him? He did! For some reason, many of the hats and mitts I made for David have gone missing. I'll keep looking for them. But in the meantime, above is a well-loved, circularly knitted, "Wonderful Wallaby," by Cottage Creations. How many of you readers have created a Wallaby? I think there's a whole lotta these sweaters just as beloved as David's. The yarn is not handspun and is a generic wool from who-knows-where. I love the hood. But then I love hoods. Do you?

This sweater was created from some commercially spun wool that I bought on sale eons ago. The design is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Saddle-Shoulder" sweater. The front cabling probably came out of Barbara Walker, but heaven knows which pattern stitch. David looked rather dashing in this sweater if I remember correctly. I can't show you any pics of him wearing the sweater because our printer/scanner died a few months ago. Haven't you been wondering why I haven't featured any old family pics of late? That's why. With a little luck we may have a printer/scanner again before April showers turn into May flowers.

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Remember that scarf I have been working on? If you don't, please take a peek at the past post: A Spinner's, Knitter's and Dyer's Array of Shading Techniques; 3 Handknit Hats; and Spider's Present Projects. I thought it might be nice to put a few pics up for beginners on what to do with your knitwear, especially lacy knitting, when it comes out of it's gentle washing bath and looks like something the cat has dragged in.

I gently pushed (no wringing) the wash water out of the scarf (I used one of those no-rinse, pretty-smelling products) and brought it over to a towel on the table.

Here's the scarf rolled up in the towel. One can press the towel at this time with one's hands or put it on the floor and step on it...all to aid excess water removal from the knitwear.

Upstairs in the spinning room (read: NOT Alex's bedroom), I flattened a few garbage bags out onto the floor.

On top of the garbage bags were placed some towels to soak up yet more water from the scarf.

The scarf was gently smoothed out by hand on the towels...but oh no...sunlight was threatening to cause havoc with my dark grey handspun, which was naturally dyed. Best to move it from this potential fading disaster.

All is well as the scarf is now out of the sun's way. No pins were needed to block this variation of "feather and fan," even tho' it is rather lacy.

But look closely...there's Chloe, excellent black cat, pondering the scarf. She looks innocent enough, but I kid you not...later that evening I saw my 11 year old cat take a run as fast as if she was in training to do the long jump, skidding into one of the edges of the scarf, and rumpling all my work. Avoiding THAT is what closed doors are for.

A close-up.

Emi's scarf sans the beads (see lower right corner) I want to put on it. I have to get some matching nylon beading thread from our Brattleboro bead store, "Beadniks," in order to sew those little, square, Hematite beads on the edge. Using anything but nylon is asking for trouble, due to the possibility of the thread stretching. Shhhh...Emi doesn't know she's getting the scarf when she comes to Vermont this May.

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I've been wanting to make something with Silk Latte and hadn't been successful in finding just what I want to make. Well, that's not exactly true. Back up. I haven't found a Silk Latte blend I really liked 'til now.

Above you'll find a basket of handcarded rolags made from Louet's Coopworth roving and some naturally dyed Silk Latte. See the past post, Hand Carding Wool Locks For Spinning, to see swatches made from this same dyed Silk Latte, with a bit of info on what it was dyed with. Louet's Coopworth roving comes in a nice gradation offering of cream to dark grey/brown. The Coopworth gives a good stability to the fly-away nature of the Latte...at least for a yarn I was envisioning.

I was thinking about a shawl or shawlette. I've always liked Barbara Walker's "Cane" stitch (also called "Grand Picot Eyelet"), pg. 182, in her "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns." The pattern is just three rows high, and because of the "3," it looks the same on both sides. I've been into that whole same on both sides thingy of late, given that I looked for the same attributes for Emi's scarf.

Above are two larger swatches, one a triangle and one a rectangle (both incorporating the Cane stitch) utilizing some dark brown Border Leicester lamb fleece instead of the Coopworth. I loved the color when I used the fleece, but there were prickly fibers that made the hand on these swatches less than pleasant. I contemplated combing the prickly stuff out, but then that would remove much of the darkest, glossiest, fibers. Soooo, at the bottom you'll find a postage stamp swatch (see the past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for more on postage stamp swatching) of the Coopworth/Latte blend...less glossy and lighter in color (due to some occasional light fibers in the prep) than the top two swatches, but the hand was MUCH nicer. I can forgo a little gloss for something the doesn't prickle my skin.

There was a tad of trouble trying to get the Cane stitch to cooperate in various triangle and half-circle shapes. Weird stuff happens when you use 3 row patterns. Can any of you relate to this? In the end, a lightbulb went on in my head, letting me know that I wanted to make a shrug, in particular "Norma's Hug Me Tight." Norma was a good friend of mine (like a second mother) when I worked at Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto, quite a few years ago now, and she designed the shawl-ish shrug. Hopefully by the time I prep the fibers, spin the yarn, and begin knitting the shrug, I'll have a printer/scanner to show you the fabulouse person that Norma was. I'm guessing the Cane stitch is going to work just dandy in Norma's pattern.

Here's the singles of 80% darkest Coopworth roving blended with 20% naturally dyed Silk Latte.

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How 'bout a little blending on a Strauch drumcarder? I don't own a Strauch, but I borrowed the carder more than once from the River Spinners for teaching my spinning classes. I think this carder is wonderful and have recommended it to many folks in the market for a drumcarder. Do you have a Strauch? If so, tell us what you think about it and why.

Below is a series of pics taken when Maureen was over to my house many months ago, carding for one of her projects for the BOOK. If you've never blended on a drumcarder before, perhaps some light will be shed to help you get started.

Maureen decided on a 50% Tencel and 50% Perendale/Romney wool top for her blend. Her aim was to make a yarn for a very elegant dickey. Don't tell Chris that a dickey is making it into the BOOK. His mom used to make him wear them to school and she couldn't understand why he always lost them. But no regular dickey is this! It's designed by none other than EZ herself.

Above is a pic of weighed clumps of the two fibers. How much to weigh totally? Well, it depends on what will comfortably fill your large drum. Do a test run and weigh a batt that you think works well. You may want to test out percentages for your blends on handcards to see what pleases you. You even may want to spin for a postage stamp swatch to see how said blend knits up...if in fact you plan to knit with it. Sampling, sampling, sampling...

"Sandwiching" is one way to go when blending on a drumcarder. In this case, a length of the wool top was spread out in a thin layer to cover the feeder tray. Perhaps the one thing that will bung everything up faster than anything else when using a drumcarder is feeding in too much fiber...especially when feeding in too fast. Consider aiming for less fiber, not more, at a time.

A side view.


Maureen doesn't hinder the fiber from going in, via the little drum called the "licker-in," as she cranks clock-wise. She may guide it or very gently keep it in order, but she doesn't hold the fiber hard and fast. If she did hold back on the fiber too much, chances are it would fill up the licker-in rather than transfer to the large drum. Note the neat brush attachment that smooths the fiber as it goes onto the large drum and keeps it from straying or halo-ing too much. If there's one thing that's worth every penny, it's getting such a brush attachment for your drumcarder. Folks have actually e-mailed me to ask if they should buy such an optional attachment and I always respond with a big YES.

Once a layer of wool (or the fiber that will give you the easiest time transferring from the licker-in to the drum) is on the drum, the slippery Tencel is dragged directly onto the large drum. This avoids the slippery fibers from acting up, as they may do when going through the licker-in. Sometimes these slippery fibers simply don't like to transfer nicely. Thankfully we can put such fibers on directly by slowly turning the crank counter-clockwise when needed, as we fill the drum.

Maureen's about to put another layer of wool on top of the Tencel. The wool layers act as "bread" to the Tencel's "peanut butter." If Maureen wanted to, she could have begun with a layer of wool, then Tencel, then wool, then more Tencel, then more wool, etc...with how much depending on what the big drum could accomodate. Beginning with wool and ending with wool makes for easy removal of the fiber from the drum.

Strauch sells a Knuckle-Saving-Batt-Picker that works great to separate the fibers of the batt along a recessed area of the drum, enabling for easy batt removal. Consider separating the fibers in small batches at a time across the recessed area, instead of trying to separate the fibers in one fell swoop.

Continued separating. For some reason I've no pic of Maureen actually removing the once-through batt. Basically, grab all the fibers of the end of the batt as you would a goat's beard, turn the crank counter-clockwise, and ease the batt off the drum's tines. See the past post for pics on how to remove a batt from the drum: 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.

A blended batt that's gone through the drumcarder only once. We decided that another run-through was needed. Sometimes several trips through the drumcarder are needed, depending on how homogenous a blend you're looking for. We wanted the Tencel to really pop so we opted for only two run-throughs.

To get the fiber ready for it's second trip, Maureen split the fiber in half horizontally. She broke each piece in half again, this time vertically, to make sure the fiber amount that was to go through at one time was on the light side. Remember, less fiber going through at a time is often better than more. If you think you'll save time shoving lots of fibers through your drumcarder at a go, you'll find yourself going worse-than-backwards with mucked-up fibers lodged in your drumcarder, rather than progressing forwards with beautiful batts.

Consider predrafting the fiber length you're about to put through. It's not a MUST (geesh, is anything I recommend a must? I think not!) but you may like the results. Also, for this second go-round, I like to feed the fiber diagonally across the tray going one way, then heading diagonally going back the other way, etc. until all the fiber is drawn in. Continue with the rest of the fiber lengths until you've filled your big drum once again. This diagonal feeding helps fill up the big drum nice and evenly.

A blended batt that's gone through twice. Pretty! We liked the obvious Tencel streaks. Again, if homogeneity is wanted, put the fiber in as many times as needed.

That's all for this month folks. Happy Easter! Passover Blessings!! Oh, we can't forget that ol' April Fools Day!!! 'til next time...