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The Wrong Kind of White Fluff

denisemor 4 January 16, 2012

We have snow.

Now, this isn’t entirely unusual (it IS January), but I’m having a hard time mustering any excitement about it.

So I’m trying to concentrate on indoor pursuits!

Especially those that serve to promote toastiness.

For example,

Cobblestone, beginning to look like it might be a sweater!

It’s really hard to take good true-to-life colors in photos of really dark colored objects, and that’s about all I could manage for now. But I have started one of the sleeves as well-

You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that the charcoal-y grey blend of Chone and Spike is much more appealing in person.

And I’ve been spending a little quality time with Hank, my Pirtle wheel, spinning nice soft cushy singles-

Aren’t they fun? No idea what they want to be yet.
But I’m ok with that.

(see last post ) 🙂

Coming to Terms with the Stash

denisemor 14 January 8, 2012

I have mixed feelings about the stash.

I love the stash.
I need the stash.

But the stash exerts a subtle pressure.
It longs to be more than yarn in a cedar chest.
Or home decor.

But these days I seem to be spinning faster than I knit.
So it tends to accumulate some.

And it’s sometimes hard to part with stash, because I either had some grand idea of how I might use it.
Or it’s not quite perfect or flashy or luxurious enough to be a “gift skein” or to sell.

So I’m not making resolutions about stash this year.

No need to put pressure on the relationship.

Healthy stash, happy Denisee.

Long life the stash!

Out with the Old, In with the New!

denisemor 3 January 2, 2012

First, the sheeps helped me close out the old year, by recycling the christmas tree

They like evergreens, and it makes their breath all fresh and piney 🙂

Then in order to get the new year off on the right foot, I brought out the other herd, my spinning wheels, for a cleaning and oiling.

Don’t they look swell, all shined up and ready for 2012’s challenges?

I also dug out the partial distaff that I got with Sophie (on the right), and found a branch out in the yard that might serve as the basket-type part on top. I’m going to work on drafting from the distaff and see if I can get the hang of it.

And lastly, I got a start on my next sweater project- the Chone/Spike Cobblestone

Still have 3 or 4 more skeins to go for this one, so I’ll be working at it from both ends for a bit-

Goal completion date: end of Feb.

Christmas Card(ing)

denisemor 3 December 26, 2011

Earlier this month, I was hoping that Santa would bring me a new a carder.

Specifically, I was dreaming of a Patrick Green Big Batt carder.

Yeah, it’s pretty sweet (especially with that cool burnishing tool).

And there are some videos on You Tube of it in action that just made me think that it must be a quantum leap from my current equipment.

So smooth, so quiet. Such lovely fluffy batts.

But then there’s that big price tag. And the wait list.

I wouldn’t have gotten it by Christmas (or even my birthday) anyway.
.
.
.
.
.
So I got this

Yep, that’s still Clem. But he feels like a whole new machine since he got is Christmas tuneup!

I’d known for a while that his alignment wasn’t really right.

There was too much turning resistance.

And noise.

There was quite a lot of fiber that had gotten stuck down on the drum axles, and he probably hadn’t been lubricated in ages.

So we took him partially apart. Thankfully that’s not a tricky thing. Pretty simple construction.
But it really made getting all the crud out a lot easier, because it turned out that the wool that was building up had gotten shoved into the brass bearings in the frame because of the rotating motion.

I should have taken before pictures, so you could see how much junk came out of the poor guy.

It’s hard to keep fiber out of those gaps, but I’m going to try and be more diligent from here on out.

And while he was apart, it was a lot easier to adjust the alignment of the smaller feeder drum to get the right spacing of the tines between the two drums.

He was way too tight. The tines were meshing and causing a lot of resistance and noise.
I learned that the right spacing is to have them about and index card (or Christmas card!) thickness apart. This allows for the fiber to transfer effectively without causing a lot of stress and tension on the machine, the wool, and the operator (Go figure) 🙂

Now that I’ve got Clem all tuned up everything goes faster and easier, and I’ve been carding up a storm-

The batts are fluffier, and he seems able to do a better job on just one pass.

Not only that, but while I was looking into drum carder use and maintenance online I discovered a handy little trick or two-

Turns out a flick carder is really great for cleaning his drums

And also held lightly against the big drum for a couple passes after all your fiber is loaded, it can act as a burnishing tool as well, smoothing the surface of the batt very nicely.

Turn out Clem and I probably still have many happy years and batts ahead of us!