Fiber Fool

Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you, but I feel in serious need of a rant, and not just about yarn. I’m a bitch on the rampage, probably hormone induced so this is going to be a post with random rantings, only the first of which is about yarn.

I just recently picked up two balls of Regia Silk, being terribly excited that it was now available locally. It retails for roughly $9 a ball and two balls are needed for adult socks. Certainly not the most expensive sock yarn out there, but not the cheapest either. I was falling in love, though I wasn’t too enamored with the fact that I kept getting big masses of yarn pulling out of the center of the ball. But, that happens sometimes. Well, yesterday I was knitting along on my design tweaking of the Mash-Up Madness sock when I hit this massive rat of fiber. Not simple a knot, but a huge ratty mess of fiber about the size of a shooter marble. It’s relatively dense as well. I can’t seem to get my mind wrapped around how something this large would make it through all the mill equipment completely unnoticed so that it ended up probably less than 50 yds into my ball of 219 yd ball of yarn! Wait, that massive fiber blob probably took away at least a yard of my yarn, plus 6-8 inches for tails for weaving in ends.

I’m a spinner. I understand you can’t keep an uninterrupted string of fiber going forever. But this is not a simple knot. Not to mention, knots in a 200m ball of yarn tend to annoy me as well. 300-400 yds, I get, but it shouldn’t be that hard to have a 200m run of good yarn. *sigh*

I think I have become the witch of the neighborhood. Last year, a boy kept leaving his bike in our driveway so one day I took it and locked it in our garage and left a note that his bike would be returned when he brought a parent with him to collect it. This same boy now has a passel of boys with him daily (none of which live on our block) to play in the open space behind our house. This is an open space in which they have been trying very hard to return it to native vegetation and they are back there blithely running over plants with their bikes and running and skidding to break down the grasses and expose dirt. At the same time they are screaming at the top of their lungs. I understand, they are boys and have energy to let out, but what is with the parents never checking to see what they are up to and teach them about respecting the plants and nature and having respect for the fact that are playing right next to other people’s homes (one of which has a baby who is quite likely napping at this time) and that while they are outside they still should be mindful of their decibel levels. Grrrrrr!

Another house on our block last year had a two year old standing out in the middle of our street who did not get out of the way, nor were they aware enough to get her out of my way. I had to get out of my car and take her to the sidewalk. Well, I now see how that happened. Eveidtenly they just don’t care if their children get run over so they don’t teach them to stay out of the way of vehicles. Their ~9 year old girl just did the same damn thing. I saw she was in the road when I went to get into my car so I creeped out of the driveway and near where she was playing figuring by the time I made it up the street that far at 10 mph she’d be out of the way. Wrong! I had to come to a complete stop. I honked on the horn. I only hope the adrenaline spike I caused her will be remembered so she gets the hell out of the road next time. I realize we live on a cul-du-sac, but I’m still in a car and they are still in the street. I don’t mind if they play in the street as long as they pay enough attention to move off the street when a car is coming.

Our neighbors are not the only ones with this problem, however. Yesterday I happened to be heading home at the same time the nearby Jr. High got out. I was traveling on a very busy street with a 40 mph speed zone and was just outside of the 20 mph school zone. I was about to turn off of said busy and fast street onto a neighborhood street and there is a junior high girl standing 3/4 of the way across said street rolling herself a cigarette and much too busy to get out of the way. Meanwhile, 10 cars pile up behind me and are honking at me to make my turn because the trees are such that only the first couple cars behind me could have seen that the problem was an idiotic teen smoker who not only rolls her own cigarettes, but can’t make it 200 yds from the door of the school before she has to roll one.

I guess I’ve crossed that 30 mark and I can now say (not without feeling rather old) - what the hell is it with kids today? My parents would not have let me get away with even a 1/4 of what I see every single day. Next house - in a retirement community! Just kidding, DH, but perhaps we can be a bit more removed from elementary and junior highs next time??

Ever since I knit and felted my first Squatty Sidekick over two years ago, a pattern from Amanda Berka, I have had a steady stream of e-mails asking for me to send them the pattern or other kinder persons asking where to get the pattern. Well, it has finally been made public!

If you are already signed up for Knitting Daily, Interweave Press’ new site you probably got an e-mail about this pattern last week. Unfortunately, the photo they used does not do this bag justice. So I thought I’d share with you my versions. I do have to apologize that the photos are small. These were all finished before I was using Flickr regularly and before the big hard drive crash of 2006. So, the photos you see are all you get, but I think you’ll get a better sense of the cute shape this purse pattern creates.

The first photo uses less than one skein of Araucania Nature Wool. The second version uses scraps of light worsted yarns from various companies doubled and knit on US 13 needles for a purse that holds a bit more than a wallet and keys. I also knit one using the called for yarn, but per my sister’s request knit more straight rows for a Not-So-Squatty Sidekick.

Those of you interested in closure options might like to check out that category on the old blog to see what I did. I am often stopped and asked about them. You’ll also want to pick up the new felting special issue when that is released as they will be including some fun closure options as well.

Not only did I have Friday Night Spinning (okay, more day than night…) but Saturday was all about spinning as well.

My poor wheel hadn’t gone any farther than the shade of our ornamental plums in the backyard since I took the Intermediate spinning class at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in August of 2005, shortly after I got her. On Saturday, Cathy kindly invited us to lunch and an afternoon of spinning at her house. We tried to get together about a month ago, but I had inconveniently gotten ill so had to postpone it.

Those of you that travel semi-regularly with your wheels - ever notice how much it is like traveling with an infant? You put it carefully in the car, keep the sun off it, buckle it in and then have a “diaper bag” of accoutrement - extra bobbins, fibers, wpi tool, oil, etc.

I got to see Cathy’s lovely garden (not the only fantastic garden I toured this weekend that put our yard to shame, but more on that later in the week) and all of her fantastic curtains and free form crochet. She took me fiber stash diving and sent me home with many samples to play with. While there I finished spinning up my samples of the engineered fibers (just the singles) and made good headway on the lovely merino from Wooly Wonka (aka Anne) that Margene had sent for my birthday.

However, when I went to spin yesterday morning the wheel was upset. It was discovered when I was taking the spinning class that first summer that the axle of my wheel was bent. It should have struck me as no surprise as there were a few pieces that were dinged in shipping that needed replacing. But it was discovered because in the folding and unfolding the orientation of the axle changed such that the wheel was rubbing on the carry handle when you treadled. At the time, re-folding and unfolding a few times usually did the trick and I never really folded it again after the class was over so it hadn’t been a problem and we hadn’t gotten around to swapping it out. Then, if you were around last March you may remember the hard drive crash woes. The instructions on how to swap out that axle were a casualty of that and I kept lamenting writing Woolly Designs and admitting I hadn’t yet changed the axle and needed the directions sent again so I was stuck yesterday.

During our visit, Cathy had been picking my brain about what I thought of my Suzie Pro as she wasn’t really feeling the love for her Schacht Matchless, even after what I would figure to be a plenty ample period of adjustment. We exchanged some e-mails on Sunday morning about some improvements/adjustments Mike helped her make Saturday evening and I shared my woes of being without a working wheel. She kindly met Drew and I at the south side Fort Collins Farmer’s Market yesterday and has lent me her Schacht to put through the paces while my wheel is out of commission.

Early this morning I had the instructions for swapping out the axle awaiting me in my inbox so the Suzie Pro shouldn’t be out of commission for too long. I don’t think we will have time to get it up and running this evening, but this week it should get done for sure. In the meantime I’m enjoying trying out a single treadle and double drive set-up.

Okay, so there are several pictures to this post, but I suspect only the spinners among you will find it to be eye candy, LOL! You’ve been warned!

Above you see a small sample of 4 different fibers along with an example of staple length. In all cases the staple length was around 4 inches. This is a great medium length that makes the fibers relatively easy to spin (keep your hands a bit further apart than the staple length when drafting for easier and smoother spinning) or easy to blend with many wools. The fibers are all in top or sliver form, meaning that the fibers have been combed and are all aligned and ready for worsted-type spinning where you do not let any twist into the drafting zone. I’ve included from left to right real tussah silk sliver, soy silk, silk latte, and natural bamboo.

I suspect this is not the highest quality Tussah silk as there appear to be noils and it is still quite gummy. The feeling of it kind of gives me the shivers like touching unfinished leather or fingernails on a chalkboard. It feels somewhat similar to combed cotton. I don’t recall the silk sliver we spun in my Intermediate spinning class to have had those properties, but that will soon be two years ago so… In sliver form the silk does not show much luster, but it has definite crimp and softness as well as light cream cast to it.

Next up is some soy silk that Rebekah kindly sent me. We had a discussion about it back in April and I had mentioned that I’d only seen it at one shop and it was very expensive (~$23 for 4 oz) so she kindly offered to send me some, then she refused reimbursement! It is very smooth and silky feeling and has a nice rich almost dulce de leche creamy color to it. It is an extruded fiber made from the by product of making tofu. As mentioned earlier, the staple length of all of these fibers is about 4 inches. There is an obvious wave to the fiber, but on closer inspection there is a bit of smaller crimp as well. It isn’t really well defined or of great definition though. You can tell just by handling it that it will lend a lot of luster and nice drape to a fiber blend.

Next up is silk latte, a fiber made from milk. I know it is an extruded fiber like the soy silk, but I have not run into any info on whether it uses waste from some other milk-made products. At first glance this fiber appears to have no crimp, but there is some slightly defined small crimp. In the form of top, the feel is much like that of the soy silk and I suspect the results of spinning or blending it would be comparable.

Last we have bamboo, which differs from the previous two fibers because it is made from plant/wood fiber in a fashion similar to rayon, tencel, and ramie. This is the whitest of the fibers and I believe there is now a white version available. This fiber also appears to have the most defined and smallest crimp of the three fibers. Like the others the staple length is about 4 inches and it is extremely soft, shiny and full of drape. I did pick up another ounce of this in carbon, a nice rich charcoal gray color.

I hope to play with small bits of these fibers on their own tonight as part of my Friday Night Spinning. I’m also itching to set up a DIY Hackle and try blending each with some wool to see how it goes (see the Spring 2007 Spin Off for more on using hackles to blend, it’ll make you want one). I’d just hand card it, but I really prefer tops for their smooth yarn when spun worsted as it allows the stitch patterning I enjoy to stand out the best. Plus, I think the properties of these fibers would be best served in a sliver/top rather than rolags or batts.

A couple months ago one of the three yarn shops here in Fort Collins closed its doors. However, another has opened, but in a little bedroom community North of Fort Collins called Wellington. The new shop is Nanytutu’s (I’m guessing the site is still under construction, but the address, phone number and hours are available there) and is housed in an old building on the main street in town that used to serve as a bar and restaurant. Nancy, the proprietor, was filling in another customer on the history of the building while Knitter Sans-a-blog and I were browsing. I believe she said the building was built in 1906. It has a fun ambiance with the stained glass detailing in the windows and the gorgeous bar.

When you first walk into Nanytutu’s you see the bar. However, if you turn to your right, there is a little fiber corner that contains a lot of locally produced fiber. There is tons of gorgeous llama and llama blends from a nearby ranch as well as some beautiful and colorful fiber blends of Alpine Meadows Fibers. There was also a nice selection of the engineered fibers, including natural and carbon bamboo, silk latte (milk), and soy silk. They were all packaged in 1 oz lots which I find wonderful for sampling or if you were going to do a low percentage blend with wool, but if I would decide I wanted to do a project that required more I’d be a bit put off to have to buy them in 1 oz lots - that’s a lot of sandwich baggies and labels that are unnecessary. I hope in the future there are also 4 oz packages available or even the ability to call ahead and order a larger lot would do. I did do some sample buying though which I’ll share with you tomorrow. There were not too many spinning supplies aside from the fiber at this point, but it was a fantastic start for a shop that was less than a week old! There was also a bit of weaving stuff available.

Nancy did a good job in researching what was available in the area and like Woolen Treasures in Loveland did not double up on many yarn lines that are already available. I *love* it when shops are smart like that. It gives me local access to many more yarns that I would likely otherwise purchase on the Internet. There was a fair emphasis on more luxury fibers - lots of alpaca and alpaca blends were there, as well as silk and silk blends. But the basic wool yarn selection was great too, with Cascade and Galway. There is a small room that is marked as baby, but don’t skip it. Much of the yarn in there is soft enough and/or easy care for baby, but it isn’t strictly “baby yarn” in color or fiber composition.

Overall, I was very impressed with the shop. It is quite small and there isn’t too much more room for adding new merchandise, but the products are presented nicely. I am excited to watch this store evolve. There was an awful large selection of singles yarn. I understand, lots of singles yarns are highly attractive due to the clearer color and such you get from not plying, but I don’t care much for knitting with it these days unless I’m going to be felting. But there was a nice sock yarn selection (though only a few color selections from each line), some really nice luxury yarns, and good selection of basic yarns as well.

If you are in the area, it is definitely worth the drive to Wellington to check it out. It will be a great addition to the Northern Colorado yarn crawl.

ETA: Got a note from Nancy and she added this, “Just so you know, we have available larger quantities of the rovings, just haven’t had them out yet. Also, we have Louet, Ashford and Schacht, so can special order what ever.”