OHS Level I – Small Article and Drop Spindle

I’m a little late with posting this, but this is about the latest assignment I sent off. Of course I forgot to take photos of my setup, but I’ll add that later on if I remember. This is the final spinning assignment for Level I. Now I have a paper and a grading chart left to do before I start Level II in August. I’m so excited!!!

Drop Spindle

I was given this beautiful cherry drop spindle for my birthday. After using this, I love it ALMOST as much as I love my wheel. I really do love how portable it is. Anyway, we are supposed to spin a sample skein on our spindles for one part of our assignment.

My beloved spindle and carded Blue Faced Leicester

We’re still working with woollen, so that means our yarn has to be light and fluffy. What I didn’t know is that when spinning a woollen yarn from roving, it is best to card them into rolags. That helps add more air and keep the yarn light and fluffy.

Andean plying on the drop spindle

The photo above i showing Andean plying. It’s were you wrap the singles you just spun onto your wrist. It then enables you to pull from both ends of the singles in order to ply the yarn.

Small Article

I figured the best way to show my process for the small article I made was to set up a slide show.

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I spun this yarn z/s (which is opposite of most “go-to” traditional yarn). I had read and heard from various sources that spinning this way was better for crochet projects. Even though I’m sure I would have spun a prettier, neater yarn if I went with the go-to method, I wanted to test this theory out. I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity I have now of getting feedback from those who know best. With yarn spun this way, it does not lose its twist when you’re crocheting, unlike yarn spun the other way. While I was working, I did find that my hook didn’t get caught like it normally does. This is a method I want to work with more so I can find out for myself.

The results of the slide show above:

The hat that I made with handspun/dye Corriedale fleece

So now we wait. These assignments have been sent off and I’m awaiting to see what my results are. I’m thrilled with how both projects turned out.

If you would like to make your own hat as picture above, you can get the pattern here, but Thread Softly.

Off to a Good Start!

Well, I got the second assignment back yesterday. I won’t get into the specifics of marks, but I will say this… I AM keeping my promise to Mom to do my best. I have shocked and surprised myself with what I have pulled off! I knew I had a purpose in this world. I suspected it had something to do with fibre. Well, given how well I’m doing in the course so far, and more importantly, how spinning affects my well-being on a whole, I’m pretty sure I have found my purpose.

I AM A SPINNER.

I’m sure that I will have up’s and down’s with my marks over the next 5 1/2 years. I don’t want to get too confident because confidence sometimes leads arrogance. Arrogance leads to carelessness. That’s the LAST thing I want. No slacking for this girl.

I will confess that I’m not as worried about the assignment I’m working on now as I was about the last assignment. It was a BIG one. The best way I can describe it is that it felt very personal. We had to lay it all out on the table. We had to spin 11 different skeins. There was no hiding our weaknesses in this one. It was almost like writing a tell-all book about your life.

I’m certainly not down-playing the assignment I’m working on now. It’s certainly a challenge for me. After all, I only conquered the spindle five short months ago. I’m curious to see how I’ve progressed. I’m going to be including a note in my personal comments asking the instructors to please be gentle with me. Many of my classmates have been using a spindle for years. I don’t think I’m doing too bad for a newbie. I’m actually looking forward to their feedback/suggestions because I REALLY want to master the spindle. In this portion I’m not going to lose sleep over marks. I have minimal spindle experience. Regardless of my marks, I’m going to keep that in mind.

As for the small article assignment I’m working on… I’m not sure if I’m doing a smart thing by challenging myself. There is a time and a place for it. I don’t know if this is it, but I’m going to do it anyway. I had mentioned in a previous post that I’m planning on spinning “s” and plying “z” (the opposite of most go-to spinning) because my article is going to be crocheted. My thinking is what’s the point of doing something safe, something you already know you can do? I see this as an opportunity, once again, to get feedback from those who know best. If I stuck to my go-to spinning, sure, I probably would get some good marks. But I also wouldn’t be growing or expanding my skills. I want to be a well-rounded spinner. When I do go out into the world teaching what I have learned, I want to be able to share as many experiences that I can. If this means sacrificing marks because of challenging myself, then so be it. I would rather get a 70% on a challenge with important feedback than a 90% with a pat on the back and nothing new to add to my skills.

We’ll see how this goes!

Spindle Assignment – The Process

Continuing on with the assignments, I’m now onto the spindle portion. A year ago this would have scared the bejeepers out of me. Not anymore. I wrote about my drop spindle victory last summer.

I’m far from perfect, but I’ve really come to enjoy it.

I will be spinning some Blue Faced Leicester. I LOVE this wool! It’s so soft. I just hope my spindling can do it justice.

I carded the roving first to add some air to it (thanking my sister from another mister for that suggestion!). I need all the help I can get!

So I’m off to spin some fluffy woollen yarn.

My beloved spindle and carded Blue Faced Leicester

A New Spinning Assignment and Some Hard Lessons

Happy new year!

That was just a whole lot of insanity over the past couple of months! Lots of good things happened. There were some pretty painful lessons too. I’m now in a position where I have no choice but to make sure that orders are paid for up front before I start working on them. I lost over $200 out of my grocery money during the Christmas season because people either “changed their minds” or just simply did not pick up their orders. It breaks my heart that I trusted people and ended up getting burned. I can’t do that anymore. I just don’t have the funds for that. I know my turnaround time was long because of what I have happening, but I did make it clear about what was going on. I’m fixing that too by only accepting orders when I know I’ll be able to get them out in a timely fashion (and if they’re paid for, you know darn well I’ll be sticking to that). I bit off more than I can chew. I’m burned out. I can’t and won’t do that again. I’m so upset about this that it may even get its own post. The intention would be to warn others about what happened. I can see now why payment up front is common practice in the art world.

Anyway, onward and upward…

My next spinning assignment is due on February 16th. The bulk of it is drop spindling and spinning yarn for a small article. I have purchased some Corriedale fleece for my small article. All I have to say is that I’m glad this isn’t the first fleece that I’ve processed because it would set an impossible bar for standards! I would walk past it while I was in the laundry room and I would just want to dive in. I couldn’t at the time though because of the orders. I’m so glad I can now!

I washed and dried the fleece while I was working on my Christmas orders. I’m on the winning end now as a result! In the past, I’ve worked well under pressure. The last assignment that I did was a slap in the face. I won’t be doing that again! I’m going to give myself as much time as I can. With that said, I’ve got my practice fleece carded and working on my first bobbin. I call it “practice” because if it doesn’t turn out, I won’t be frustrated. But heck, if I can get it on the first shot, go me!

I’m going to be challenging myself with my small article assignment. I won’t be doing the traditional “spin “s”, ply “z”” yarn. I’ve heard on a few different occasions that if you’re planning on spinning for a crocheted project, it’s best to spin “z” and ply “s”. This is my plan (thus the reason for the practice fleece). I’d also better get good at this method of spinning because my crocheting friends are excited about my yarny endeavours hehehe

Here’s some photos of the process I’ve done so far. When I get my small article done, I may just do a post about the beginning to the end. It still blows my mind how it goes from dirty fleece to something so beautiful!

This is as raw as it gets! Straight off the sheep

Fleece about to be washed

Washed and dry, waiting to be processed

On the carders

Carded Corriedale Fleece

This is just the beginning. I’m planing on dyeing the yarn before I work it up as well. I’m undecided about colours at this point, but I think it’s going to probably involve purple, pink and/or blue.

Spinning “S”, Plying “Z”

I know I still have some catching up do with documenting my OHS spinning journey. I will get there and probably back date it. Anyway, I figured I should take a bit of a breather and do something a little different with my hands to help avoid injury from repetitive motion. It is that time of year between the spinning and the crocheting orders. So I figured now was a great time to update my progress.

Today I decided to give some “s” spinning a shot. It’s part of the next series of assignments. I must confess that I don’t spin “s” very often. I don’t think many people do. I am interested in exploring this method more though because I have heard a theory that yarn spun “s” (plied “z”) works better for crocheting .

Spun “s”, plied “z”

I’d better take a step back here because if you’re not a spinner, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about! “S” and “z” are in reference to the direction the wool is spun.

Spinning yarn counterclockwise is adding twist in the “s” direction
Spinning yarn clockwise is adding twist in the “z” direction

How I remember is z=clockwiZe

While I was spinning “s”, I discovered that I needed to treadle faster and put more twist in. It was breaking on me, even when I was just spinning the single. And then when I went to ply, it broke on me again. This is the part where I would LOVE to bust out ye olde fast flyer, but I won’t. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to in this course at this point. Even if I was, I still want to get a feel for the effort I need to exert to achieve the desired results with my regular flyer.

So obviously I have some more practice to do. And that’s okay. A friend and sister student had used a term in her post that has described my experience to a “t”… Perfection paralysis. I think it’s so important that we remember that really, in the grand scheme of things, we’re still newbies. We ARE going to make mistakes. Our spinning is NOT going to be perfect. It if was, then what the heck are we doing taking this program? I just got to the point where my attitude is “I’m giving everything I have and if it’s not good enough, I still know I did my BEST.” I know I have a lot to learn, so if it’s not perfect, I don’t give a damn. It just means that I need practice. Marks, schmarks. This is the part where I just need to focus on becoming a better spinner. I’m not spinning to get high marks. I’m spinning to learn as much as I can so that I can pass it on. I think the very humbling experience I had in the Fibre Arts course has helped me stay level. I know I keep saying this, but it is my mantra… Mom always said “All you can do is do your best.” I’m on it Mom!

Dyeing Fail… Or WAS It?

Go big or go home, right?

Yeah, that doesn’t always work. I was SO EXCITED to get working on my dyeing assignment that I made a few rookie mistakes. Mistakes that deep down, I “know better than that.” But sometimes you need to make the mistakes yourself to see the results first hand. We’ll go with that… hehehe

Blank canvas

My studio/work station… Not kidding when I say that I have a small area to work in!

Cooking

This photo doesn’t do it justice, but things are so pink that it looks like Pinkie Pie threw up!

So… This is one of those cases where it looks like smaller is better. I decided that I was going to add some fibre to my dye pot to bring it up to 2oz. I’m not sure what it was that caused the unevenness to happen, but it could have been a few things. I know that I initially didn’t add enough vinegar. I also think that the fibre composition of the roving played a huge part (especially since the roving took all the colour). On the positive side though, I did end up with a beautiful “happy accident.” I guess when you mess up in dyeing, the only mess-up is if you’re striving for certain results. The only thing wrong with this is that it wasn’t the results I was after. I can’t wait to get this spun up!

Totally NOT what I expected. While it won’t work for my assignment, it’s better than I expected! Now to get this spun up…

My Third Spinaversary: You’ve come a long way, kid!

I’m not feeling so hot, so this post is probably going to be shorter than I would have liked. I’m not even feeling up to posting photos… Perhaps I will edit this post later on when I do get feeling better. I do feel compelled, however, to get a few thoughts out before I curl up in a ball and call it day.

So today marks three years since I first sat down at the wheel. It’s amazing just how time has flown, how things have changed. I am now in Level 1 of the OHS spinning certificate. I know I had mentioned about looking into it… Well, here I go again! I know I said in my first post about spinning that we worked with the drop spindle. While that is true, my mind was too scattered at the time to fully grasp the concept. That changed this summer when I took Level 1. It’s like something clicked. Now I’ve been using my drop spindle just because I can. I really do enjoy it! I’ve taken it with me a few times while I was waiting to pick my Goober up from school. I love how my productivity became even more portable than it already was.

I’m still spinning on my Lendrum, which I got back in December ’11. I love it even more now than I did then.

This past week I joined the spinning and weaving guild in my area. There seems to be more weavers than spinners there, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Weaving will be my next challenge. I was blown away with all the books and magazines that were there. There are also 2 different spinning wheels there that I plan on trying out.

I had the honour of having coffee with a friend that I had met at the spinning course this summer. It was so wonderful to see her again! It was the perfect way to celebrate today. We discussed possibly going to the Woodstock Fleece Festival and the Royal Winter Fair to go fleece shopping. We also need to work on our sheep breed book for our course, so it’s probably a good idea to go.

And of course I’m thinking of Mom today (as I do everyday). One thing I have learned is to make sure that it’s not too late to let your kids know how much you support their choices before it’s too late. When I first told her that I was going to take fibre arts, I knew she was skeptical. She’s from the generation that associates the word “art” with the word “hobby” or “play time” (I still run into that A LOT… Time to wake up and realize that not every “job” is 9-5 and slaving away to somebody else). I know she was worried. At the same time, I know that she wanted to support me and cheer me on with everything I do. Well, I didn’t know how supportive she was of my spinning until about a week before she passed away. That was when she told me that she was going to pay for the first level of my course. It makes my heart ache that I can’t physically hear her cheering me on or that I can’t get a congratulatory hug. But I do know that I’m making her proud and I will continue to do so.

So while I’m now three years in, this really is still just the beginning. And I’m so excited about it all!

Here are the blog post from the past 3 years:
A Brand New Chapter
Happy Spinaversary! One Year Later
Spinning: Two years later

They Call it a Drop Spindle for a Reason

I must confess I’ve been using my drop spindle a LOT these days. It’s a lot more convenient to spin on the spindle while waiting to pick my Sweet Pea up at school than it is to haul my wheel. This has seriously bumped up my productivity! There’s also the part where I get so much satisfaction from it because I still feel victorious conquering this in spite of my world being shaken up the day I was to initially learn. I’m also doing it just because I can. Because I enjoy it. And because I want to have the awesome-est skein I can muster to hand in for my homework!

I’ve been using the Dorset fleece I was generously given a little while back. I washed the fleece up and carded it myself. Here are some of the rolags I made to have handy:

Hand carded rolags from a Dorset fleece

Here are my first three times with the drop spindle. I don’t know about you, but I can see an improvement. I think I need to ply my latest one a bit more. It looks under-plied. But hey, it’s a learning process, isn’t it? (and now a blank canvas for some dyeing experiments!):

My very first attempt with the drop spindle. This is from Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) roving. It’s so soft!

Attempt number 2, also from BFL roving

Attempt number 3 from a Dorset fleece I’ve processed. I can see where it’s under-plied

I had my spindle in to the Kinmount Artisans Marketplace a couple of weeks ago when I was helping out with one of the kids’ workshops. A girl saw me working with it and she was just fascinated. She asked me if that was something we could add to the workshops next summer. I think I’d really like to see about doing that. My plan is to experiment over the winter to see if I can do something with polymer clay and a dowel, while keeping the costs down (the workshops were only $3 this summer). We shall see… I would LOVE if I could pull it off because that will help me work towards my goal of passing spinning on to the next generation.

It’s looking like I’m going to be doing some guest blogging very soon. Stay tuned for details and links!

This Gal is Starting to Feel Her Age (or maybe I’m just THAT busy)

So it was with good intentions that I was going to post everyday that I did the in-class portion of the spinning course. Well as you can see, that didn’t happen. There were a few contributing factors including lack of internet access and being overwhelmed to the point that my poor brain couldn’t remember everything (somebody was asking me about the different days last Friday and I drew a blank on many of them). In addition to the course, I was pet sitting until a couple of days ago and had a to drive a fair distance on both Friday and Saturday during the course. I was then without computer access until the night before last and had worn myself out. I spun at the Kinmount Fair on Friday as well. Okay, I am THAT busy. Age has absolutely nothing to do with it. Yeah. We’ll go with that.

We got our assignments and I’m so excited (and a bit nervous)! We have three due dates. The first one is really not that far away… At the end of October. We get to play with colour right off the “batt”! hehehe

I plan on posting with the materials we were given for the course and some of the other stuff I’ve needed to acquire. I will also be working on the dying assignment in the next few days. I think I’m going to go get some roving later on. We do have the option of dyeing commercial yarn, but what fun is there in that? Oh, wait… Yeah, that’s fun too! I want to spin my samples though because I want to practice as much as I can for the spinning assignments I have due in November. I do have a Dorset fleece I could spin up (which I’m working on), but I think it’s a great excuse to go out and get some more wool hehehehe

Day 3: Say My Name, Drop Spindle!

Today we started off carding with Julia. We worked with flick carders and hand carders. I didn’t take photos of my carders because I’m sure there are photos of them floating around here (if anyone is curious about what they look like though, leave me a note in the comments and I’ll be happy to snap a photo of them).

Now, there was a lot of “butt” talk today. No, I’m not talking about fannies. The butts we were discussing was in reference to the part of a lock of wool that is closest to the body of a sheep. But I couldn’t help “butt” giggle… If you know me, you know how much I LOVE the Minions. This is all I had going through my head today whenever I heard “butt”…

As much as I enjoyed the carding portion, the BIG event happened this afternoon. We were shown how to use a drop spindle. There’s a reason why this was such a big event for me. I’ll even go so far as to say a VICTORY…

I won’t go into full detail, but here’s the short, condensed version. The day we were to learn how to spin during the fibre arts course, my ex decided to be a major wanker (even more than what he usually is). Let’s just say that there was a very upsetting situation unfold. The worst part was that it impacted my ability to concentrate in class and I was busy “putting out the fire” when Wendy was teaching about the drop spindle. There wasn’t any time to go back since the course was so compressed, so I felt like I missed out. I was angry because of the situation and I was so disappointed. I never bothered learning though because a) it brought back too much garbage associated with that day and b) I knew I’d be learning anyway because of taking this course. So when I was spinning on the spindle today, not only was I excited about my newly-acquired skill, but it also felt like I was flipping a certain so-and-so off. He may have won the battle that day, but he did NOT win the war.

So I spun my first skein on the drop spindle today! I wanted to break out into a happy dance. The really cool part is that it’s even more portable than the wheel. I said that I now have a new addiction. One of my classmates corrected me and said that it wasn’t a new addiction, it was just a different delivery of the current one LOL So don’t be surprised if you see me walking around town with a spindle in my hand. You know, just because I can…

I’m doing it!!! I’m doing it!!!

Not bad for a first try!

There was one more thing I wanted to mention… I think it’s just amazing how a beautiful thing can come out of a tragedy. I’m sure I mentioned that Mom made this course happen for me. I can’t thank her enough. She knew I needed this. What she didn’t know though, is that I have found a new friend. She is such a joy to be around! We share a passion for spinning and carrying on the art, among many other things. One other thing that we share is that we’re both taking this course because of our moms. She lost her mom a couple of months after I lost mine. This course has brought up a lot of emotions for both of us and we’ve been able to lean on each other. She understands how I’m feeling and she gets me on a level that many can’t understand unless they’ve been there. I’d like to think that I offer the same to her. I know both our moms are smiling down on us, proud of how we’re carrying on. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new friend better. She smiled at me yesterday when one of the instructors was talking about how she had been teaching for over 30 years and said “That’s going to be us!”

You know it girl!