Glass sculptures!

I am afraid that I don't have too many fiber topics to discuss today. I have finished one sleeve on my Grapevine sweater but I need to start the other one. I am hoping to have it done this weekend but there are so many things going on that I don't know if I will be able to or not.

Being away at the workshop and then having the first full week in August fly by meant that I had to spend a good bit of time in the garden this week. There were weeds everywhere. I have managed to weed everything but the flower bed by the mailbox. I hope to get to that tomorrow. I thought I could do it today but it rained last night and I don't want to compress the wet soil by walking on it.

A couple of things arrived by mail that are interesting. I bought a sifting litter box from Petco to wash fleece. I haven't used it yet but it fits nicely in the laundry tub and I think I will end up saving water by using it.

It stacks nicely together for storage. My idea is that I'll fill one of the pans with hot water for washing/rinsing, put the fleece in the sifter in lingerie bags so it is easy to move around, and then soak it by putting the sifter in the pan of water. When it is time to remove the fleece from that water, I can press out the water using the other pan and then put the sifter in it to drain while I change the water. It is about 4-5" deep.

Next up, I bought an almost new Züca bag on Craigslist. I haven't put the minispinner in it yet as I have been too busy. We had guests all last weekend and they only left on Monday.

It is really pink! but the black and white bag sets off the pink rather nicely. The price was good so I am embracing the pink.

The last item is an amazing prize I won in the Tour de Fleece. It is exactly something I was thinking of buying so getting it as a prize is really awesome.

It is a purpleheart 2-bobbin kate from Hansencrafts! My lazy kates are all 3-bobbin so I was thinking of getting this one for workshops as it is lighter and smaller. The bobbins can be held vertical or at a 45 degree angle.

Now on to the eye-candy. Yesterday, we went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden. They have a Chihuly Nights event every so often as part of the exhibit and that is what we did. No commentary here, just photos.

It was really beautiful at night because there was very little ambient light except for the gorgeously lit glass sculptures. The NYBG had an interactive map that showed where I was and where the sculptures were, along with the walkways. So I could navigate using my phone. When I got near a sculpture, it popped up a description of the sculpture and the name and a photo of it in daylight.

I was able to lay out the collapse weave project based on warp and weft calculations and my yardage. It will be a scarf as I don't have enough weft for a shawl. I hope to warp it next week and also finish the Grapevine sweater. 

Locks and locks

Last weekend, I spent some time spinning on one of my new Spindolyn spindles. I also pulled out the Nano Trindle that was repaired last year and started spinning on it again. And I continued to package up fleece for washing. So 3 new spinning things in one weekend. That is what happens when you have a 3 day weekend.

First up the Spindolyn. I took one of the pieces of fiber that was used to pack them and started spinning to see how it worked. I am quite impressed with my own speed. Since I don't have to support the spindle with my hand once it is spinning, I can use both hands for drafting so I am able to draft top much faster and with a more consistent grist. Usually I find this goes slow on a supported spindle. Roving and rolags or clouds go much faster as the supported spindle is really good for long draw. If I spin from top, I usually do it over the fold and that takes time as I run out of fiber and have to grab another staple length to fold.

Here, I just drafted straight from the length of fiber and kept going. So it went very fast. I am impressed. Next up, I am going to try some silk I have which I want to spin thin to go with some Corriedale that I spun on my supported spindle when I was learning. I will ply them together and make a scarf or something.

 That was in about 2 hours

This was at the end of the weekend, after a few more hours. You can see the difference in the length of fiber attached to the cop.

I spun a little on the Nano at my sister's where we went for dinner. The dog thought the spindle was her toy so I had to stop shortly after. She's a bit exuberant to say the least and doesn't have very much self-control although they are working with her. When she gets excited, she forgets all her training.

That is the Nano and the fiber with a coffee mug for scale.

Finally, I continued packaging up the Finn lamb fleece I bought over the summer. One of my guild members raises Finn sheep. She had brought in a fleece for someone who didn't want all of it so she offered me the remainder. I thought it was 2 lbs but I'm not so sure any more. It seems endless!

I started packing clumps of locks into laundry bags as I thought I might want to spin from the lock. This preserves them the best so I have the widest set of options for further processing. I can spin from the lock, comb or card. But previous experience has taught me that if I just put the into bags they all get jumbled. So I thought I'd sew them into the bags. I did the first lot on Memorial Day weekend.

 That is the fiber. It is a lovely brown color.

 This is my first set of bags with the sewing. My first thought was actually barrettes. Clip on and clip off. But they didn't hold. So I sewed with a polypropylene thread so I could just unravel it when I was done. It took too long! I only created 4 bags in the course of most of a day. All the supplies are from the dollar store.

I took a picture of the locks outside the bag as you can see the crimp and lovely lock structure much better. It is very soft and crimpy.

After that day, I needed more bags and I thought of safety pins! So I went and stocked up at the dollar store. This is faster. I make 4 pockets side by side across the bag with the pins, put the fiber inside, close up that set of pockets with pins, make 4 more and repeat.

In a couple of hours I had 4 more bags filled. But there is more fiber! Once they are all packed up, I can pull out a couple of bags at a time and wash them in the evenings when it is dark. The VM and bits of stray stuff gets tossed outside rather than having to be swept up inside.  It also keeps the smelliness outside.

I have some Cormo fiber I bought at Rhinebeck last year that needs the same treatment. But it is only 1 lb. I will have to weigh this after I am done to see if my 2 lbs was on target or not.

It is supposed to be nice tomorrow so I might try and finish this up then. If I have bags left, I will move on to the Cormo. Else it will have to wait till this is all washed and out of the bags.

Finally some eye candy from my train trip yesterday along the Hudson river.

 These two are around Bear Mountain bridge.

 That is Bannerman Castle.

Going under the Newburgh Beacon bridge.

That's all for today! I've been very chatty.

Over-due update on fiber activities

I have been very negligent in reporting on my fiber activities. I've been very negligent in blogging and that is mostly because the travel related stuff takes a lot of time. I take many hundreds of photos on a trip and sorting through them to tell the story takes time.

Fiber stuff is easier - or so I think. :-)

Spinning

If you remember, I bought part of a Gotland fleece at Rhinebeck last year. I washed it over the winter and am now combing and spinning it. There is a decent amount of waste from the combing but it looks like excellent carding fiber for future use. I am spinning this on the Jensen Tina II and falling in love with the wheel again. I had not spun on her since I left for China.

 That was the dirty fleece.

 This is the sample skein I spun

Next up fibre combed and spun into a single. I have a little left to comb and finish. It is hairy but quite soft. I am trying very hard not to add too much twist as it can get wiry if I do.  I made a 2-ply sample which I really liked. But I am thinking of plying with this beaded thread that I bought in China.

It looks like this when unwound from the bobbin.

I will sample and see if I like it. In any case I am spinning onto 2 bobbins so I can do a 2-ply like my original sample. 

I finished spinning a Lisa Souza alpaca/silk on spindles and plied it on my Hansen e-spinner. That is it on the bottom. 

I combined it with most of the yarns on the top (I removed the bright yellow and the one on the extreme left which is my 3-ply sock yarn sample) and made a shawl. I just finished it. Pictures are in the knitting section. 

I started spinning a roving from Handspun by Stefania on a larger spindle to practice long draw on the spindle.

That is on a new Snyder Spindles 3-D printed spindle. I bought 2 just to try them out. The other one is a small Turkish spindle. I finished the cop on that one and started another one on a Forrester spindle that I bought at Rhinebeck. I thought it would be good to have a couple of less expensive spindles for travel.

And last but not least, I got another Hansen e-spinner. This one is the Pro model and I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet. I've been busy with vacation and business travel and garden work along with putting away CSA produce each weekend.

Isn't that wiggle in the grain cute? 

I didn't participate in the Tour de Fleece this year. There was just too much going on so I sat out.

Knitting

The aforementioned shawl. I had to knit most of it twice. This was the first attempt. I thought I would make a curve to sit on the shoulders. I made it on the wrong side. So I ripped it out and re-knit it. 

This is the second version. Much nicer but it is very long. I wore it and it wraps nicely around the neck and shoulders. I love the way the colors ended up on the final shawl.

I also started and ripped out half a sock. A friend gave me 2 skeins of Drops Delight to sample. It is too loosely spun for socks and I had a tough time with it. I started them 2 at a time and the tip on my Karbonz needle came off. That should have been an omen. But I had dpns and switched one sock to the dpn and knit it to the heel turn before I decided I really hated it and ripped it out. The yarn has become this.

It is a narrow but long cowl to wrap around the neck a couple of times. You could also call it an infinity scarf.

I have also been venturing out into jewelry making and photography. 

Jewelry

The jewelry making started innocently with this.

And then the following materialized

The next one was created to showcase the fabric flower that I got in a swap. It was a pin but I rarely wear pins. I found a tutorial for an Anthropology knock-off and used it for inspiration. The other two items are buttons layered on buttons.

I also played around with the chains I bought in China and made this one

And lastly made this for a friend. The other two pearl items and the peacock feather one also ended up as gifts.

We were in Prague on vacation and I had some time on the last day. I found a bead shop and bought some Czech glass beads to make a couple of necklaces and I have some more ideas in the works. But it has to wait for winter when I have more time.

Photography

I bought some photography classes from Craftsy. I haven't watched them all yet but concentrated on the mobile photography ones. My album of trial pictures - homework as well as learning to use my iPhone camera are here. I learned about a lot of apps that can help mitigate the effects of the fixed focal length lens in the phone. I also invested in a good lens system for it. I had bought a cheap macro/wide angle lens combo but hated the photos because the lens quality was not good. The new lens system is made of high-quality optical glass. I have a 2x telephoto, a super wide-angle and a macro. I mostly use the 2x telephoto but occasionally the wide-angle. The macro is seriously neglected because the built-in phone lens works well in macro mode. 

Next up I am going to work on the DSLR and learn to use it properly instead of just in automatic mode or with a manual focus. It also has a lot of features that I don't know how to use and practice is the only way to learn.

That is a quick catch-up on hobbies. I am pondering my next knit and I will probably do a post a week on my antics from now on. Next up is probably recent acquisitions. Fiber, yarn and the beads.