Playing hookey, dyeing and more on spindling

I ran away for a couple of days to visit an old friend and go on a beading course. Fun. Very simple design, so a nice relaxing day doing something I enjoy with no distractions like what to get for supper, or noticing grubby windows. Although a simple design, it was time-consuming to do, so I have nowhere near finished. I intend to keep going with it this weekend. Ahem.

In talking about spindles, I did own up to having completely forgotten the Spring Spin Off. I really have no idea how that all went out of what passes for my brain, but there we go, I suppose this is the future screaming to a halt at the platform. Anyway, two excellent articles on spindling, one on spinning a balanced yarn (by Jennifer Shafer) who has cleverly managed to keep the technical stuff accessible to those such as myself. The other by Abby Franquemont, on - top or bottom whorl. (Could have been embarrassing....) Read it - it's good stuff. Even though I don't agree with her on every point (how do you do a "grin" in Blogger?)

I have a really bad habit (one amongst many) of reading around something, thinking "wow, that's it, that's great" and then forgetting where I saw it. Just so with some of the information lodged somewhere in the aforementioned brain about spindling. So, I need to squeeze in some research time. Ah, well....

In ongoing "research" - or, playing around with, in real terms. I have been running a series of dye baths in readiness for my talk at Woolfest.



Here we have, from left to right: onion, alkanet, paprika and turmeric. These, and the others to come, are chosen for their...how do I want to put it? Accessibility? Not quite. I'm looking at dyestuffs and methods that are as safe and feasible to use as possible for those wanting to dip a toe a very little way into the water of natural dyeing.

But I've done a cochineal series as well.



Again, from left to right, second exhaust, in a bath that had had alum in it; colour shifted with citric acid; first exhaust; first bath (alum added). I used around 30% WOF, and 10% alum, my usual amount of mordant.

But that is not what is so interesting here, as is probably obvious. I acquired these cochineal bugs around ten years ago. A package that would only just go through my letterbox dropped onto the doormat one fine morning, nearly giving me palpitations when I realised what it was. Ed Franquemont had been staying with us earlier that same year, and had sent me a care parcel. (Of bugs? Most people would consider this odd - I considered it utterly fabulous!) But over the years, I am quite sure that the obtainable colour has changed. Where you see a true purple, I am sure I would once have got much closer to red. This by itself is fascinating. I have wondered about using it all up before any really bad changes happen, but actually simply slowly using it and monitoring the changes - if any - will be even more interesting. Although I do now need to get hold of some bugs from Peru to compare and contrast.

So, I'm more or less giving up natural dyeing, am I? Doesn't look too much like it, far too interesting. As well as the spindle research, and....and.

Can I have three more lifetimes, please?

An age-related post.

We were in York on Saturday, visiting the mater and doing a little more shopping. Actually, quite a lot of shopping in some ways, as we finally took the decision that as the spare room is used only very rarely as such, it would be much more use to change the primary focus to additional workroom that could be very nice to sleep in. So we have on order what seems to be a very comfortable futon, and some matching shelving with a nifty bureau insert.

Although that is all rather by the by.

We walked down as far as Stonegate looking for somewhere to have lunch, and I found a cat shop. And inside the cat shop, I found a wonderful toy, at least, I thought it was, although the DSM was extremely sniffy about it. I bought it - and he has had to eat his words.

This was intended, of course, for the young cats. And indeed, they have been having fun with it. Ruby most ingeniously toppled it over and proceeded to drag as much of it as possible through various holes in the box it was packed in. We are not quite sure how she managed it, but she had a lot of fum in the process.



The favourite tunnel is also used in the great game.

But the big surprise was that Neelix, all of twelve years old, has been absolutely fascinated by the thing (it is battery driven to whisk around fairly randomly) and will spend as long as we will let him playing with it. And the kids defer to him, too.



So, after York, we went to Leeds where we had tickets for the opera. Time to kill, so we went in to Borders. I found a Spin Off on the news stand, which I was convinced that I hadn't seen, but as it is the Spring one, I must have done. Seen briefly and then lost. And lo, it is full of articles about spindle spinning and top and bottom whorls. Which I had completely forgotten - duh. I am now feeling both elderly and foolish, I would have referred to it in my last post if my brain had been functioning. Ah, well.

The opera - Don Carlos - was lovely, musically, but a terrible staging, dark and full of odd walls and channels and things. I could see what the designer was getting at, but I didn't feel that it worked, and that is always distracting. Posa and Carlos - especially the former - were lovely, likewise Eboli, but Elizabeth, although possessed of a good voice mostly didn't cut it for me, except when her lady in waiting was dismissed. Then, she created an atmosphere of dignity and emotion that worked well.

But I never see Don Carlos without viewing it as the story of Posa's unrequited love for Carlos, rather than Carlos's for Elizabeth. Works much better that way for me! And then of course, there are all the flights of fancy about a prince, Charles, with a father, Philip, who doesn't really rate him, and a mother, Elizabeth, who....but there I tend to get stuck!

I have been running some of the quick and easy dye baths for the Woolfest talk, with reasonable success, mostly. I'll do a proper post when it is all finished. I'm going to spend the rest of this chilly Bank Holiday with a crochet scarf I am trialling, and some spinning of silk. Wrapped up in a shalw and with the heating on!

May? May-be!

Thoughts upon spindles and spindling

There is a lot of chatter at the moment about spindles. This is a very good thing. Much of it on Ravelry, much elsewhere. Young knitters wanting to learn how yarn is made and choosing a spindle as inexpensive and accessible way to find out. Long-time afficionados passing on valuable information and views. Others who - well, maybe I should keep some opinions to myself.

I am a spindler. Back in 1994, I went to SOAR for the first time, and found that the clunky, infuriating things that I had been struggling to use could be turned upside down and become flights of fancy at the same time as things of utility. The tradition in my part of Europe was for bottom whorl spindles, and I did not at that stage know that any others existed. To talk about that aspect of spindling adequately, I would need to refresh my memory from a couple of books, but I did soon learn that top whorl spindles were widespread in the world and had indeed occurred in Britain and Northern Europe, if not as frequently as bottom whorl.

There is much talk of the physics of spindle spinning, too. I try, I really do, but to me, spindling is a tactile and dare I say it, intuitive thing, not a cerebral. There is a good article here, for those who are interested; and there is a quote from Michael Williams about his square top whorl spindles that goes a long way to explaining my point of view, maths-phobic that I am. (So, tell me, how come I ended up marrying a maths graduate?)

“The four corners have weight which is further from the axis and will produce a longer duration of spin. A square spindle with sides of a given dimension can spin up to 33% longer than a circular whorl of the same diameter and weight. (I used applied mathematics to calculate the improvement).”

Mind you, the performance of Michael's spindles is right up there with the best of the best, so he must be right - I just can't relate to it at all in those terms!



This is one that I am using at the moment. It is very small, weighing around 20gm. By a minor miracle, I still have the original label, so know that it comes from here. (And, having actually tracked them down for this post, I have contacted them...who could resist?)



The one on the right in this photograph is at the opposite end of the spectrum - big and heavy (over 50 gm, huge for me.) I fell in love with it, the feel of it in my hand and the way it spins, perfect for plying. The other is one from IST, another British maker, and also excellent.

One more before I start attempting to draw my thought into a rather more coherent form:



From left to right, a Bosworth moosie, a Spindlewood and a small, non rim weighted Golding. These represent three more makers that I enjoy and respect - there are others!

First of all, I greatly admire those that can dissect spindling into scientific and mathematical elements, and I have to accept that I cannot. Well, only up to a very limited extent, and then in subjective terms. So, what do I do?

Well, I invariably look for top whorl spindles. I taught myself to spin on dreadful bottom whorl ones, that were heavy and unbalanced. It was always necessary to twirl them at frequent intervals, and frankly, it was a miracle that I ever took to spindling at all. It is, though, only fair to say that spindle makers today give as much attention to making them as they do to top whorl - I simply have my, to me, very good reasons for not using them.

I do actually possess three - one by Greensleeves, one by Nick Brown of York Guild, who no longer makes spindles, and one by Rod Stevens of Woodchuck, sadly ditto. They are all super things, but I don't use them.

My personal preference - and note the form of words! - is for top whorl spindles. Why? Because I believe that on balance, they perform better - that you will get a longer, better balanced spin compared with a bottom whorl of similar quality. They are more efficient to use - a quick flick on the knee should produce more than enough spin for an arm's length of yarn. Winding on and rehooking is a quicker and smoother action than that with a bottom whorl, particularly if that has a notch rather than a hook (also another route to an oscillating spin.) And yes, I am ignoring the British fashion for winding the yarn under the whorl, here.

So, how do I choose a spindle?

I see a spindle - eye appeal alone will make me pick it up. But even at that point, something about the weight and/or balance of it will make me put it down immediately. If not, I will try it out with a little bit of fibre - funny how I always seem to have something about my person.

I can't pin down what I mean - but that spindle has to also "feel" right in use. Yes, I want it to spin for a long time, time enough to allow my hands to form as much yarn as my arms can accommodate. And yes, I do know that there are ways to extend that "arm's length" and I do sometimes employ them. But in the main, people are spinning in surroundings that are restricted in one way or another, so a simple arm's length is all I ask. The spin should be as wobble-free as possible - wobbling, or oscillation, seems to waste energy and will shorten the spin time as well as "feeling" odd. Sometimes with a top whorl spindle, you can gently touch it against your leg and the oscillation will stop - that is if the wobble is due to operator error and not an inherent fault in the spindle.

The spin itself has to feel right. Now, this will vary depending on the weight of the spindle and the fibre you intend to spin on it. Silk and cotton require a very fast spin, but if you want to make a more woolly yarn (relative term - if I want a really "woollen" yarn, I would rather spin on a wheel) then a long but slower spin would be what I looked for. The size and weight of the spindle does not necessarily determine this. I imagine this is where the physics might come in - density of wood, dimensions of whorl and shaft - but I will gauge it on the fly. The whorl and the shaft have to look right together. Although you can get caught out! Last year, I was given a spindle to try that had a small, thick whorl and a short, relatively thick shaft. I expected it to be dreadful, and it wasn't - on further inspection, I found that the whorl had brass weights sunk in to it, and this will have made the difference. Still not my favourite spindle, but nice - definitely more than adequate!

An intriguing thing that I notice over and over as I teach or sell spindles is that the tingle factor will draw an individual spinner to an individual spindle. sometimes, a succession of people will try one particular spindle; most of them will reject it; someone will exclaim and fall in love. this, I suppose, is where the science fails. There is always the variable of the individual. The length and strength of someone's fingers can't be pre-determined, nor can the effect of their fondness for cocobolo or purpleheart, the scientific and the subjective.

I think I may have rabitted on for long enough for now. Not to say that I won't revisit....Lets give you a gratuitous Ruby photograph, who enjoyed helping me photograph the spindles.



And let us reflect on just how good it is that we have these lovely little things to play with, no matter what the orientation!

Monday, Monday - and I am one step further down the road to old fogeydom

It is raining. Actually, it is lovely. When it has been dry for days on end (admittedly a rare occurrence around these parts)that first freshening of rain is a joy. You can feel everything perking up, and there is a delicious smell of the new.

Actually, generally followed by a positive volley of sneezes from me at the moment as there is also the odd allergen around.

OK, so that is the nice. Now the rant.

First, a bit of background for those who don't know. Many (many!) years ago, I was a librarian. And those are skills that are kind of fundamental and you don't forget in their entirety. So, when I visit a library, I am coming from somewhere ever so slightly different from most. Now, I mainly use the little travelling library van that stops at the top of the lane every other week. Jolly useful, and of course I am aware of the limitations. The latter being outweighed by the former. So, when I wanted a particular book a few weeks ago, I made the request on the van. (Insert twiddling fingers....)

Today, I asked about progress. Sheepish look from the assistant. The "relief" had not passed the message on. OK, slight miffedness, but I could be nice. Especially as she went on to the computer to arrange it then and there. Except - the computer was telling her there were no copies.

Now, this is a book about a very well known Britsih literary lion by a very well known and well-respected British serious literary biographer. It is fairly recent and in print. NOT HAVE IT??? In a borough this size??? Is it any wonder that I am ranting? (I did manage to retain sefficient self control to not actually scream abuse at the young assistant, who was very apologetic and ashamed.)

I shall now step sideways. The advice was to make the arrangements through the library in town. This is now a spiffy thing, the old and attractive building sutiably located in the centre of Hebden Bridge considerably tarted up at great expense and reckoned to be the bees knees.

It looks lovely.

If you have young eyes that can cope with the state of the design art fancy lighting units. And want to use a computer or watch a giant plasma tv screen or two (sic). If you want books, well, you might have to hunt a bit. The pretty new curvy shelves are only half full in the fiction area (once you have decided if you want crime, SF, Romance, a classic or(I kid you not) chick lit. Non-fiction is now known as "Information", and although Dewey is still used, there is no guidance on the shelves, and although I was assured that the shelves were laid out in order, it is no order recognisable to this woman.

There are a bazillion computers, which double as catalgues for the entire library service (I can see a point to that somewhat, I admit) but there is no dedicated card catalogue that would be quick to use for the branch.

So, that's it. I am officially old.

>>Rant off<< Sigh........

In much, much better news....

Friday at AH, really nice day, a little gentle natural dyeing with them, which has prompted me to do a proper project to form the basis of my talk at Woolfest and maybe even an article to send somewhere, who knows. I shall enjoy it, whatever. There is a pot with hibiscus flowers simmering on the hob even as I speak.

Saturday, chores, a pleasant coffee in town watching the world (and the most beeootiful yellow, green and scarlet mohican walk by!) and then a nice supper with DB&SIL.

Sunday, pottering, inside and out. The DSM sowed lots of seeds, and I reorganised the workroom a bit, to facilitate a plunge in to effectiveness this week (no sign of that on the horizon, yet, funny....)

Any minute now?

Spring has sprung

Spring, young cats, and good weather makes a dangerous combination. For some.

Worms every morning, lovingly brought in to the porch for the DSM to admire. Cats flying in all directions when outside, in hot pursuit of bees, wasps, anything flying really. So far, no-one has been stung, but it can only be a matter of time. It is the teenage rite of passage for moglets.

They have been spending a lot of time, outside. I tried to keep them in today, so I could get on with stuff, but the wailing and gnashing of teeth got too much to bear, and I gave in. I need to watch Ruby's ear, the one with the white stripe. I think she is getting sunburned!

There has been fibre activity. Saturday, "teaching" needle felting to the group in South Lakeland, turned out to be great. They very much seemed to like what I cobbled together for them, and were most inventive. One member spent all day needling several mauve flowers and loads of leaves to adorn a rather wonderful mauve lace hat she was making. I felt quite honoured!

We spent quite a while afterwards pottering back towards Kirby Lonsdale, enjoying the wonderful day, and then had a meal in a pub we like before heading on home. And as the DSM had had a super walk whilst I was working, we felt it had been a most successful day.

Yesterday was just as good weatherwise, and we spent it in the garden, not doing all that much work but being self-indulgent. Good for us, so why not? And I finished this....



This is a scarf knitted from the top that I used first in the dye experiment. Most of the yarn was spun fairly fine, apart from a few yards that were lumpy bumpy. I'm really please with how it turned out - a simple little thing (yea! for garter stitch scarves!!) but nicely funky.

Because of that and the colourwork sock just barely on the go (several false starts....) I haven't been doing all that much spinning, but might well indulge tonight. I definitely get twitchy if I go too long without spinning.

Other stuff on the go - but more of that later, I need to go get supper.

The trouble with being busy.....

....is that there isn't time to blog.

Easter at home is always a lovely thing, and this one was better than most. So, what was we up to?

Friday, it rained. I was pleased. I had wanted a rainy day to force me to stay in and do a complete sort of the dye shelves. I say "I" - I confess to needing the DSM to help because said shelves were very likely to be home to several large spiders, and whilst I am much better than I was, I do still have an aversion to reaching in to dark areas to pick something up and getting more than I bargained for. In the event, they were all either scarpered or dead - at that time.....

I had decided some time back to totally review me and dyeing. Did I still want to dye? Yes, both "natural" and "synthetic". Did I still want to do workshops in natural dyeing? No. So, I had far more equipment than I was ever going to need again. I had already passed on some of it, and it was high time to go further. In future, small-scale, limited operations.

Such as - dyeing chained top in the fish kettle. This is the second exploratory attempt.



As is obvious, I went from using too much dye liquid to using too little. OK, so I am learning the process here, so I am happy, but I didn't want to waste 150gm of good Falkland top, so I gave it another run through to get rid of as much of the white as possible.



Please do not judge me on the colours used - this was purely for experiment only! Although, I am already spinning up the first one, and will use this as well. They don't look too bad when spun. And even going through two dye processes, this one didn't felt, so the method works a treat.

So, on to Saturday. To York to visit the mater, a much better visit than the previous couple. Short and sweet works very well for the both of us. The DSM and I then went on in to town for lunch and a little shopping. Yes!! Even him. I was so proud....

Then, on the way back out, we stopped to window-shop futons. And all of a sudden, were greeted by name from within. What? Turned out that someone who had attended one of our workshops on spindle spinning worked there, had recognised us and rushed over to chat and to thank us for turning her into a complete addict, I mean enthusiastic spindler. We were very touched - it is lovely to get feedback like that and to hear that we are getting it right.

Sunday, the sun shone all day and it was warm. Fabulous spring day. We worked outside for the greater part of it - the DSM up a ladder clearing ivy from the gutters and under the soffits, me planting stuff out. That chased spiders back in to the house, much to Barni's delight if not mine, but t least they were of manageable sizes.

Unlike the one that I suddenly saw on my beloved's back, as he turned around to go indoors. So huge that I couldn't help.....well, squeaking a bit. So there was I frantically looking for an implement long enough for me to be able to approach the monster to remove it (too close, and it would, of course, leap off on to me, you understand...) and him leaping about trying to shake it off. Which he did succeed in doing, only for it to take to lurking around the doorway, pesky thing. If it comes in, Barni is welcome to it....please!

And yesterday? Still pretty sunny, but more of a chill breeze, so after I had done some more planting (I now have a fair number of herbs potted up) I came in to play with beads for a while. Not really all that successfully, so nothing as yet to show for it. I have done so little of late, and it is really telling.

Now, back to reality. I have loads of paperwork of one sort or another to do, not to mention laundry.

But always some time for a little knitting, spinning....world don't go round without it.

Goings on

I've been busy. Outings, innings. Spinning, knitting, dyeing. And as spring continues to be pretty springy, getting more done in the garden, too.

First up, a finished pair of socks. the thicker, Araucania ones, cast on as a speedy knit, and so they proved to be.



I was galloping towards the toe on the second sock on Sunday at the Bear knitters group, when someone said that the finished one seemed to have a pointed toe. Indeed so - I have pointed feet. But it would have been nice if they matched, I suppose. Here we have a prime example of what happens when you don't write down exactly what you do, count rows and follow your own instructions. Yer toesies don't match. But as they feel perfectly ok on, and if anyone is grovelling down by my feet and risk a comment - well, they will get what they deserve! Meanwhile, the Jitterbug pair march on at a slow but steady pace - the picot hem has been completed, the rest will follow.

So, to dyeing.



Yup, more goose shit green. Actually, more of a pale yellow, and deeply unexciting. This was some purchased lichen, that I think I acquired somewhere along the way. I wouldn't bother again.



These two are somewhat better, though.



Logwood and madder. I have to admit, I am being rather underwhelmed with the colours I am getting. I think that me only rarely doing natural dyeing - well, any dyeing - is showing. Utterly gorgeous colours can be obtained from natural dyes, but you have to devote yourself to it, experiment, make it your main focus. And I haven't done that and in truth, don't want to. I remain fascinated by it historically, but as a practitioner, maybe not so much. I'm going to be doing more over the next few seeks, though, and it could be that my opinion will change again, and why not?

More dyeing. I was reading somewhere on teh interwebs about how all the super indie dyers prepare their fibre by "plaiting" it, which I interpreted as chaining it as one would a warp. So, I had me a go. And for an extremely quick and dirty trial, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I used too much dye solution, so my colours merged too much, but I got good penetration with minimal disturbance of the roving. More work to be done. It is going to be a bit of a pain to accomplish though, as I had some help from the young cats as I had rather feared that I might, and they had too much fun. Ah, well.



Look closely, and you will see - two beautiful Spindlewood spindles. A box arrived this morning with my order for Woolfest - lovely spindles, and their packaging was a work of art, too. And not only did they fly here at practically the speed of light, but they managed to whizz straight past Customs!

Speaking of cats....





It still seems strange that there are only three......

The exhibition at Temporary Art Space had changed last week. I shall be interested to see if viewing it again this Thursday will make any difference, but I wasn't as enthused as with the first one. Just my taste, I guess.

There is one very large installation that is a hut made from old radiators that I quite like, particularly getting up close - I took this shot that I like.




The one I did very much like - and I'm not sure if it is for the right reasons? Whatever they might be.... (That sentence has gone somewhere and convoluted itself.) Well, I can't show you it, which is one chad taken form a printed sheet, in a very large frame. That I like of itself. But this is what you get when you photograph it hung, and that I like even more.



You see, I know the chad is there.