Drama About A Wheel

I didn't write a post last week because I didn't trust myself not to write anything I'd later regret, you see, I was very close to commit some murderous acts on my beloved 16 year old son. Let me tell you why.

Remember Little Grace Special? Yes, the handmade wheel that I waited 5 months for and finally came two weeks ago? Last week my son broke the flyer. Huh? What?! How?! Well, he was lying on the sofa like teenagers do, and had his lanky legs dangling over the side. My wheel was on the other side. As he was getting up he did this lifting up the legs and kicking out thing and WHAM! the wheel took a tumble but didn't fall (just as well!) but the poor flyer took the full force and fell, one of the flyer arms snapped - he is a blue belt in Martial Arts!

I was stunned, gobsmacked, stupefied, speechless, and sad...  Of course it was an accident, and he was very contrite - he even offered me all the cash he had, the cash he'd been saving up for something special. But that didn't help at the time, my brand new wheel!!

Luckily Mike, the wheel maker, said that if I sent the flyer back to him he would repair it for me. And the good news is as I write this post the flyer is on its way back, so all is good. And I still love my son, dearly ♥

While I was feeling sad last week I had something new to keep me occupied, my Cricket Loom had arrived. I know I know, I was going to get it when I visit the U.S. in January but I gave in to my impatience. Well, there is another story in there but I will tell you another time, one drama a post is quite enough!

Anyway, I used the yarns that came with the loom and made a practice piece:

and here it is tied off, washed and dried :-)

The edges are a bit wonky, especially on the side where I carried the yarns and it's only short, but I am very happy with how it turned. This is so much fun!

On the spinning front as I couldn't use my new wheel I got to play on the Jenkins Turkish spindle, I already had two singles spun up so I used my new Swan to do the plying which was perfect as I found it's a little too heave to spin singles for my liking. I was very impressed with how much the Swan can hold, a whopping 118g and 163 meters in this case, wow!

Well, that's all the drama and excitement for me this week. Now it's your turn :-)

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Introducing Little Grace Special ♥

My love affair with spinning started a year ago, in fact it was last September that I started my spinning classes. I still remember the buzz when I first treadled on a borrowed wheel and the excitement when I owned my first wheel, now a year later I am a proud owner of a gorgeous custom made Little Grace Special. (I'm a little over excited so please excuse the number of photos!)

You may already know that I have been patiently waiting for months for this little beauty to be made, and now it's finally here I can hardly contain myself!

It came well packaged in a polystyrene box:

The assembling instructions included a video which was very helpful, it took me a little over 30 minutes to put it all together - could've been quicker, it helps to watch the video first, duh!

Here it is fully assembled, complete with 7 bobbins (one on the flyer, the other six held at the front):

Here are more details:

My wheel is number 842 and it's got my name on it :-).  The orifice has two attachments, one is the reducing attachment which you can see at the bottom left, for spinning thinner yarns; another is an art yarn attachment showing here on the bottom right. The arm of the flyer head has three holes to hold the two attachments and the orifice hook when not in use. Not only that, a left handed spinner could flip the flyer head and have the flyer on the other side.

It has six ratios so the spinning range is huge.

But one thing surprised me (I wouldn't say disappointed, OK,  maybe just a teensy bit), is that the "double treadle" really is a "twin treadle" as shown here:

The two treadles are actually connected and move as one, meaning when treadling I'm not using alternate foot but both feet together. I don't remember reading anything about it when I did my research, and I assumed (always a dangerous thing to do) that two treadles means alternating actions. Still, I have spun on it and I am impressed, very smooth and effortless. So overall I am happy with my new wheel and I am sure Little Grace Special and I will have many happy years together :D

Oh yes, last but not the least, my Jenkins Swan has arrived. Isn't she beautiful!

That's more than enough to keep me busy! Now it's your turn :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Minty Fresh Lace and two new projects

Happy Fibre Arts Friday! Sorry I missed posting last Friday, I was running from pillar to post and by the time I thought about it it was late and I hadn't taken any photos. Anyway, I've got a few things to show you this week.

I have been playing with my mini combs, these are the fibre nests I made with baby wool and alpaca, both dyed some time ago.

These nests were so easy to spin, I was able to get a lace weight with ease. I love hand combed tops!

I started on two new projects this week, yes I know, I should really work on my WIPs but it's more exciting starting new ones!

The first one is Tric by Åsa Tricos, this is the adult version of the little Trici jacket I was making for my goddaughter. I run out of yarn on the Trici and my friend is trying to get more of the same yarn, so in the meantime I cast on for the adult version for her.

The yarn is the Bendigo Woollen Mill's Murano with long colour repeats. Sorry about the picture, I missed the daylight again so I had to cope with the terrible indoor lighting. The most tricky part of the pattern is the beginning where you start with one half of the collar band then work your way back to knit in the opposite direction for the other half of the collar band, then you start working on the back, and pick up to work down on one front side and followed by the other, and simultaneously working on the sleeve caps too... phew! just talking about it makes me dizzy, I'm about half way through the sleeve caps which means the complications are almost over!

The second project I started is the Rosemary Cardigan by Cassie Castillo, I'm using Country Silk by Cleckheaton which has been in my stash for a couple of years. The needles are square which should be interesting, I've never used square one before. This project is a treat for myself, but I suspect it will take a while as other projects will no doubt take precedence, but I'm in no hurry :)

Now what have you been up to this week?

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Expecting Little Grace Special... no, I'm not having another baby! ... not the human kind anyway ;)

Today I am very excited to announce that I am officially expecting Little Grace Special. If you are a spinner you might have heard of it, if not, please allow me to introduce this little beauty:

These wheels are individually handmade by Mr. Mike Keeves of Wakefield, New Zealand. I have been on the lookout for a second wheel for a while, after much research and deliberation I settled on the Little Grace Special because I fell in love with it the moment I saw it on a forum in Ravelry.

Here's a picture of Mr. Keeves in his workshop: (photo credit: GrannyCraft.com)

Mr. Keeves doesn't have any online presence, luckily he is contactable by email. So after some email exchanges I am now officially on the waiting list, currently stand at five months. I feel very privileged to be on the list as Mr. Keeves has been making the wheels since the 1970s and he is now in his advanced years.

There is a very interesting interview with Mr. Keeves on GrannyCrafts.com which can be found here.

I am so excited!!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and Natural Suburbia. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

I've Got Wheel!!

At the beginning of the week I was feeling a little sad, because my spinning class was coming to an end and I was going to hand back my borrowed wheel. Then everything changed quite suddenly... I have been on the look out for a secondhand wheel without much luck, on Tuesday afternoon I searched again on eBay and found a listing for a vintage Ashford traditional that looked in reasonable condition. So I clicked on it to read the description, to my surprise and delight, the seller only lived 30 minutes away from me, and she welcomed anyone who wanted to go for a test drive! I immediately contacted her and cajoled her to let me have a go the same evening, she agreed. The rest, as they say, it's history... someone was looking after me that day ;)

Introducing Charlotte- my first wheel, isn't she beautiful! Charlotte came with a lazy kate and seven bobbins, she's in very good condition and spins smoothly. When I brought her to my last class my teacher told me that the style of her maidens suggests that she's circa 1965-1970, she and I could be sisters :)

Charlotte also came with the original assembly instructions and some leaflets:

I haven't had the chance to read these yet, but they look rather interesting don't you think?

My knitting has suffered a great deal in the last month or so due to my new found love, but I'm still chipping away (slowly) at some WIPs. I did complete a new project though, mainly because I needed it for show and tell, it's my first homespun item:

It's a simple crochet scarf, the pattern is free and can be found on Ravelry. I only had about 140 meters / 150 yards of the yarn so I just kept going until I almost run out, then did a simple shell border on each end. It came out rather cute I think :)

I really must catch up on more knitting next week, if Charlotte will let me ;)

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A Test Knit and A Chance With A Spinning Wheel: Part III

Hello there! It's Friday again and that means it's time for some fibre arts fun. Before I continue the story of my spinning adventure I want to show you a small project I just completed, it's a test knit of a new pattern from the talented Shui Kuen Kozinsky. I love Shui Kuen's designs, to me they are poetic and each tells a story of romance, nature or a reminiscent of the bygone years. I was chilling out on Ravelry one day and saw the call for test knitters for the Gentle Beauty Cowl, both the name and design spoke to me so I put my hand up and got started straight away, and here is the finished piece:

It took me six days to complete and only used less than 40g of kid mohair blend in lace weight. The grafting was a little tricky in mohair but a little uneveness is hardly noticeable in this yarn. The design is really simple yet elegant (tick all the boxes for me!), I think it would make a wonderful gift or I might just keep it for myself :) ... In case anyone's interested, the pattern is on sale at half price until November 15th and there is a KAL in the Fans of SK Kozinsky group.

OK, now about spinning! In this week's lesson we learnt about different types of fibre, if you are a seasoned knitter/crocheter you will already know that there are animal fibres and plant fibres. From a dying perspective the fibres are categorized in protein, cellulose and manufactured, we were told to pay particular attention to these as each type takes to the dye differently. Talking about dying, I resolved my last week's dilemma of whether to dye my lovely first handspun - I decided to keep that skein as it is but I spun another one with the stained fleece to use for the dying practice in the next class. Thank you all for your advice and suggestions, as it turned out it wasn't just me, everyone had the same problem. Apparently that fleece was donated to the Guild and if it was sold commercially the stained bits would have been removed.

We had a lot of fun in class experimenting with different fibres: alpaca, cashmere, silk, bamboo, soy... There are so many possibilities one could spin, it's mind boggling but very exciting! Things I learnt from this class:

• Alpaca fibre is hair, not fleece, hence it's non-greasy.
• Angora is harvested by brushing the rabbits everyday.
• Tussah silk is from wild silkworms whilst mulberry silk is from domestic silkworms. 
• A silk hankie is not something you blow your nose on ;)
• Bamboo breathes easily and has deodorizing properties (perfect for socks!!).
• Possums are culled for their fur, they are considered pests in New Zealand. 

This is a mini skein I spun using some practice fibre I got from the class, it's Corriedale Romney cross, both are natural colours. When I was plying I watched the two colours came together to make the new yarn, it reminded me of the book I just finished: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This is not the sort of books I normally go for, but it's the book of the month from my book club and I am so glad I read it.

In the book an (quite) ordinary young man called Richard Mayhew helped a fallen young girl out of kindness in a London street, unbeknown to him his actions set certain things in motion and got him inadvertently involved in a world he never knew existed: the London Below. Eventually he teamed up with the girl he helped, who was on a quest of her own, and began his journey of finding his way back to his old life in the London Above. Neil Gaiman is a master story teller, his unequivocal English sense of humour gave me giggles and I found myself feeling quite nostalgic for London: the long underground passageway between Monument and Bank stations (I used to walk that passage quite often), the announcement in the Tube stations "Mind the Gap", Earls Court, the British Museum, and even the occasional rats one sees next to the underground tracks...  all the familiar sites of London took on new meanings in the book, you recognised the names but it's not the London as you know it,  yet somehow the human tragedies - betrayal, revenge, honour, bravery, loyalty, love... are just as real in the world Below as in the world Above.


Well, that's pretty much my week wrapped up. Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

A Chance With a Spinning Wheel: Part II

They say time flies when you are having fun, that is certainly the case this past week. Remember last week I said that in this week's spinning class I was going to learn to ply and scour my yarn and fibre? Well, I did just that and now I can present you my very first finished handspun, drum roll please... tah dah!

I learnt to ply two singles in the opposite direction to the one they were spun to make a balanced yarn, oh I love plying, it's so much faster than spinning! And then because my yarn was spun from the greasy wool I also learnt to scour and wash it to get rid of all the grease and grime. The transformation was amazing!

Project:  my first hand spun on a wheel
Fibre:   raw corriedale fleece
Yardage: 98 meters / 107 yards (2 ply)
Yarn weight: DK (11 wpi)
Amount: 70g / 2.5 oz

I am so pleased with my first hand spun, it's not perfect but I love it and just can't stop petting it. The next question is: What should I do with it? What should I make? And there's another point, I'm not sure I want to dye it - that's part of the lesson plan in a later class, but I really quite like the natural colour, it's so yummy... decision decision...

On a slightly down note, my attempt at scouring the raw fleece did not go quite so smoothly. I prepared my fleece as instructed, like this:

... then I scoured it, washed it and laid it out to dry:

 

 

For some reason the stains on the tips did not quite come out, I don't know if this is because I didn't use hot enough water or not enough detergent, but there it is. I spoke with the lady who runs the class, she told me not to panic and that she's going to scour some of this fleece over the weekend and see how it will come out, "maybe it will look better once flicked" she suggested. I think she's just trying to comfort me, but let's hope so! I'm waiting for the fleece to dry so I can find out whether I'd made a complete boo boo of this beautiful fleece.


Wish me luck!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

A Chance With A Spinning Wheel: Part I

After much anticipation my spinning classes started this week, hooray! The classes are being held at the Handweavers & Spinners Guild of Victoria, there are five sessions all together and each lasting 3 hours. The first lesson was about learning the basics, how to adjust the wheel, how to flick the fleece, how to get started and all that.

Since I don't have my own wheel (yet!!) the Guild loaned me one to practice on. It's a traveller single treadle by Ashford, there are larger traditional wheels available but my beloved little Honda Jazz could only handle this small wheel :)

What I hadn't expected was that we'd be handling raw fleece, well I knew we'd be learning about fleece but for some reason I just didn't consider handling raw fleece, complete with vegetable matter and erm, well, you know, things that get stuck on a sheep's coat... how naive was I! To be fair, the fleece we were given was quite clean, I was assured that there were worse ones. Anyway we learned to turn this corriedale fleece:

... into this: (I do love the sheen!)

... by using a flick carder like this: (yes, I bought my own carder :)

To be honest, at this stage I'm not entirely sure that I like handling greasy wool, maybe I'm just being a typical squeamish city dweller. On the other hand isn't this what it's all about? Learning where the wool/yarn had come from, how it came to be, like growing your own vegetables and making your own bread. In fact, come to think of it, knitting one's own garment is also part of that process of Make It Happen, it's earthy qualities serve as a constant reminder that that's what distinguishes us humans to the rest of the animals, that armed with tools and knowledge we can make it happen.

And make it happen I will, spinning on the wheel that is! It's easily said than done though, just when I thought I'd had the spindle under control, more or less, the spinning wheel is entirely a different kettle of fish! For you seasoned wheel spinners I solute you for making it seem so easy, so fluid, so serene, so transfixing... but to coordinate two hands and a foot while drafting/sliding/treadling is like trying to make a pair of puppets dance cha-cha!! Yes, yes, I know, practice makes it perfect, I'll drink to that! ... maybe I'll drink another one to that!

Next week I will be learning how to ply on the wheel and how to scour the wool, to do that we need to complete our homework of spinning two bobbins worth of yarn. This is my progress so far:

Actually this is my second bobbin - I didn't fill the first one mind you, it's just simply too ghastly to see. I've set it aside as a reminder of "how NOT to do it" whilst at the same time I can have a look at that and give myself a quick pat on the back and say "there there, you're making progress". By that, my friends, I will say good-bye for now because I have some real work to do.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!