Finally got what I needed done for lab this week. Eep and ugh.

Here’s some dyeing I’ve been squeezing in in the evenings.

Tussah first…

An older colorway, in a new fiber, very different effect. Fascinating. Hard to photograph because it’s dark.

That Old Black Magic – 1oz x 2 – Combed Tussah Silk Top

Like a soft nudibranch, with delicate ruffled gills swaying in the currents…

Glossodoris – 1oz x 2 – Combed Tussah Silk Top

Some more Clun Forest, lovely downs wool with little to no luster. Deep red and almost black orchid flowers…

Deep Orchid – 4oz – Carded Clun Forest Roving

And finally, soft ripples of the current set reflections rippling, seaweed swaying, and fish scurrying for cover…

Tide Pool – 4oz – 80/20 Merino/Angora Combed Top

And that’s about it. Paper still on track for going out for review sometime next week.

I’ve got some Finn in a new colorway “Flabellina” (or “Spanish Shawl” if you prefer) drying, some more finn waiting to be dryed, and a few ideas to be made real.

~The Gnome

Well, sometimes… Monday comes at most unexpected times. Like 6:00 PM on a Wednesday.

Two days of experiments totally failed, so I was stuck here in lab until 10:00 PM instead of going to knit night and/or spinning, relaxing, and um… eating dinner. It was one of those days, two detours on the way home, it started raining as I walked out to the car, I dropped glass pipettes, dumped the very last of my tea down my front, stuff like that. Oh right, and my lovely downstairs neighbors who can’t park for garbage have decided that the stairs to our apartments are apparently they’re personal storage place. Great evening. Then of course I couldn’t sleep. WHee!

One little thing I did get done (because even though I try to go to bed at 10:00 I had to wind down some, and while waiting for gels and thigns to re-run), was my 2oz spindle cop.

Well that was nice. 2oz (57g) on my Bossie mini, which is only 25g. I learned some about spinning finer yarns on heavier spindles too, which was a good lesson. I also achieved my orginal goal with this cop, which was to have a cop that was larger than the whorl. Only by a little, mind you, but still a goal is a goal. So, here’s a 2oz cop of cormo/alpaca/angora. Half the fiber. Now to figure out how to get it off. I think the straw method might lead to collapse on the upper end.

I’d say this qualifies as sucking less, since this is only my second large cop.

Hopefully more fiber out tomorrow. Drying is slow in this weather. And the late packages are getting shipped today, sorry for the delay.

~The Gnome

Sleeping, who needs sleeping? Oh right, me. Damnit.

Got a little dyeing done, lab’s eating my brain right now, sorry guys. But it comes first.

Spun a little more for the TDF. More of the Polwarth/Silk, which I’m pretty sure is destined for a scarf. I’ve decided to let go of the insane desire for perfection I had on it, and allow it to have the tiny (really tiny) slubs that come from being not perfectly evenly carded and my not having the focus to always catch them. They’ll just make a nice soft texture on the scarf.

And lest you think that’s no progress, here’s the bobbin from the night before. You can see I did spin quite a bit more. About… an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours.

Two things dryeing, two in the pot I didn’t have time to hang this morning.

That’s it for now. Upcoming, Merino/Angora, Silk, Clun Forest, and I think I might dye some Finn tonight.

~The Gnome

So this weekend I went down to Baltimore to spend some time with some good friends down there for July 4th.

Special report:

TDF:
Team: Suck Less
Special Agent Codename: The Gnome

I started off with a TDF warmup lap in the Providence airport, spinning more of the cormo/alpaca/angora on the Bosworth Mini. It’s always fun to see people watch, and the airport especially so, when they have nowhere else to go and many have nothing else to do (how do they DO that?). No one had the guts to ask, so I just sat and spun away. And no, I didn’t have any trouble with security. Not even a little. The spindles were in their bags with their fiber in the water bottle holsters of my backpack.

Then I got to spin at 30,000 feet, though that was much slower since there’s a lot less freedom of movement. But still, spinning at 30 thousand feet on a plane? Awesome, right? The very bottom of the cop started to loosen up a little from the inning and outing of the spindle bag though. An advantage of the holster model, I suppose.

Friday and Saturday I pulled out the new Loki and traded the yak (just not right for the spindle and my skill) and the “Bronze and Wood” tussah silk I dyed myself. I haven’t spun much tussah, and I’ve never spun it on the spindle. I’m liking it.

July 5th morning I spun a little more sillk…

Sunday (July 5th) evening, it was time to fly home, which meant more spinning in the airport. So I added more to the Bossie, managed to stabilize the loose bottom a little, but it’s still looser than I’d like. Trying to decide exactly how far I want to try to push it. The spindle itself is 25g. The cop is now exactly twice that, at 50g. I’m tempted to see if I can add 6g more so it’ll be an even 2oz.

Last night I was a little less adept at the “Sucking Less.” I got some spinning done, but I kept getting distracted.

This is the Polwarth/Silk that I’ve been working on. Still haven’t decided if I want to weave with it or ply it for laceweight. It’s very slow progress, because I’m spinning it superfine.

I’m hoping to make more significant progress on that tonight. I may try to make Saturday my Mile Day (spin a mile in a day), or I may try to spin my Abbybatts (I have peacock, xocolotl, and green green grass) which I plan to use for weaving a scarf for myself (I know, something for me? Perish the thought!).

In Gnomespun news…

Right now I have silk and merino/angora drying. I’ll be picking up several pounds of heathered grey Border Leicester this week, which I plan to set to dyeing… and… oh right, I should be hearing back about the 40lbs of fiber from the mill any day now. ::crosses fingers:: I’m also hoping to get in an order for more of the Cashmere/Tussah shortly. And I need to get a box out to Holiday Yarns, because that was supposed to happen ages ago.

P.S.

Does anyone have “The Doozer Knitting Song?” I must have it. I have it on DVD, but I want to be able to put it on my iPod.

That’s it for now. Back to experiments.

~The Gnome

Hey everyone, I’m back. Which means some catching up on Back(b)log.

So, some of you may know of this thing called “TDF” or “Tour de Fleece” which runs when the Tour De France is running. I really don’t care about the Tour, but I DO love to spin, and this was a good excuse to spin more. I’m on Team Suck Less. Updates on that will come in a bit.

First, I’ve got some dyeing to show you. Including a new dyeing method, and a new fiber!

First up, new fiber!

Clun Forest, reviewed in the Spring Spin Off magazine. A downs breed, which means a spiral crimp, shorter staple length, and lots of spring. Clun, specifically, is a little softer than the Dorset I’ve been dyeing, though this batch isn’t as soft as the Suffolk I still have to send out. It’s resistant to felting, but not as impervious as Dorset. I’m still mastering dyeing this fiber, as it takes a little differently than anything else I’ve had.

Bryophyta – 4oz – Carded Clun Forest Roving

And now a new dyeing method, I’m still mastering the nuances of, but which I think came out well on this one.

Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride, uh huh, uh huh. Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride uh huh, uh huh. Froggy went a courtin’ and he did ride, sword and pistol by his side, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…

Froggy went a courtin – 4oz – Carded Ramboulliet Roving

A little more rambo, deep blue green, swaying with the tides as the water shifts back and forth, in light and shadow…

Seaweed – 4oz – Carded Ramboulliet Roving

An experiment that went horribly horribly… right. Now I have to figure out if I can duplicate it. The photos don’t do it justice.

Bismuth – 4oz – Carded Dorset Roving

And some lovely Tussah…

Paeonia – 1oz x 4 – Combed Tussah Silk Top

And that’s about it for now. The last of this batch of Cashmere/Tussah will also be up in the shop.

Back to the paper. Trying to finish off the last experiment for the paper today/tomorrow.

~The Gnome