I mentioned in my last post that the mods to the eSpinner were the second frenetic project of the year. This is the first one. The first spin of the year was a really unusual one for me.
Back in 2016 or 2017, a friend gave me a couple of shopping bags of llama clippings. This is literally clipped from the animals with scissors. I stored them for some time while I decided what I wanted to do with it. As you do. Continue reading A first and a last at the same time
As the year comes to a close, I had one last project to finish. Back in September, I prepared some rolags out of waste fibre when I was carding the Finn/Gotland locks. These were not the full of chaff and yuck parts. Just stuff that stuck in the cards but wasn’t short or full of neps.
I started spinning them on a cross-arm spindle shortly afterwards. It drafts beautifully and smooth despite being waste wool.
I thought I’d try something a little novel for this blog. A short post.
What? It could happen. Maybe a “shortish” post for now.
Back in July, I started a supported spindle spin that ended up being a far larger project than I imagined. See, I usually spin just to spin. Then the yarn gets put on the wall where it may take me years to use because I spin more than I knit or weave combined.
I talked about this project back in August and showed a bunch of in progress pics. Well, around late September I got it in my head that maybe I could finish it by November 10th and have it blocked and dry in time for the Edmonton Fibre Frolic. I do these things – putting unnecessary pressure on myself. Still it was only a couple of rows a day, as long as nothing went wrong and if I could keep up with the spinning. It also depended on how many repeats of the penultimate chart I decided to do. As written or one repeat, it was doable. The knitting alone though was a huge undertaking. True lace (no rest rows) and shaping I’ve never done before. Some days a row would take me 2 hours – especially if I had to go back and find an error or fix one in the row below. Continue reading An accidentally epic finish
Along with the Shetland fleece I posted about the other day, a skein winder and a spinning wheel arrived at the house. Both were in dire need of some attention. Based on what I was told, the skein winder may be turn of the century. I suspect it was made in someone’s garage or barn from found wood as it’s a mix of several different species but it’s well made and the mortise and tenons are well executed either way.
It does have a maker’s mark but it was barely visible when the winder arrived. Click on the pic to see the full reason why. Continue reading Keeps on turning – some equipment restoration
It seems like every 2 to 2.5 years I have to remind myself why I don’t process spinning fibre from raw fleece anymore. I gave this up in the summer of 2020 when I did some rough mental math and realized it was taking multiple chiropractor appointments to undo the damage I was doing to myself.
I thought I’d share my reasons that I can very easily justify paying someone else to prep my fibre these days.
In the middle of September, I found myself in possession of a new vintage or antique spinning wheel needing some rehab, an antique skein winder and Shetland fleece. The fleece is potentially as old as me. Continue reading Never Again, at least until next time
