Take A Chance With Me: Moving Out of Your Comfort Zone

Although I was proud enough of my suspended shoulder stand to post a photograph of the event (and it's a rare day when I'm in any photograph), it wasn't long before I began to critique my pose.  As wonderful as it felt to go upside down, I'm no poster child for correct alignment:

You can see that I'm holding on here for dear life, after Robin helped me up.  I wasn't strong enough to get there on my own. One of the goals in this pose is to be in Tadasana (albeit upside down), with my feet level and my legs straight and strong.  I started out that way, but at this point, I'm using the wall for support, doing an unintentional back bend.  These are a few things I see; a yoga instructor would have much more to suggest about correct positioning.  Notice that I'm critiquing my pose, not criticizing it.  There's a big difference.

In some ways, the sloppiness of my pose doesn't matter.  I got up there, which is more than most people I know could or would do.  I managed to work through the rush of panic without freaking out and I stayed in the pose for a few minutes.  I had some idea of how the pose should feel and look and I did manage to take my feet away from the wall in an attempt at Tadasana.  If I never do this again, I still have a few bragging rights. 

(Incidentally, Robin was correct-when I went up, I had a very sore right shoulder, enough to wake me up at night.  "This will help," she assured me, although I couldn't see how balancing on a painful area would relieve the discomfort.  It's been two nights now, and I haven't been disturbed by shoulder pain one bit.  Go figure.)

It's not enough.  Now that I know I can do shoulder stand, I want to improve my pose. I've looked closely at the photo, asked questions about adjustments, annoyed yoga teachers about why this and that.  I'm looking to move out of my comfort zone because that's how I learn and grow.

Comfort zones are there for good reasons.  Sometimes, it's nice to play safe, to look for the soothing tones of the familiar.  Staying in the warm, fuzzy areas can keep us happy, away from risk.  Those aren't problems, unless and until we use comfort to numb our experiences and allow ourselves to shrink from challenges.  If you refuse all challenges, you'll end up as a warm puddle on your couch, afraid to interact with the world.  You literally won't know your own body or mind.

Many fibre people take up knitting or spinning or other fibre crafts for those comfort experiences.  We seek to escape the pressures of our jobs, our families, the stresses of life, our selves.  Spinning plain yarns, knitting garter stitch scarves by the truckload help us feel good.  Not only do our crafts calm us, we make something useful in the process.  Again, there is no judgment here.  I'm a big, big fan of garter stitch and plain 2 ply yarn. We are forced to deal with stress every day; we don't have to add more if we'd rather not. 

The thing is, if we're able to do something at all, why not explore our limits?  Once in a while, we need to step outside those boundaries, face our fears head on (or down, as the case may be) and go for it.  If you always knit garter stitch scarves, consider working a simple shawl, perhaps with an easy lace border.  Continue spinning those plain yarns, but throw some deliberate designer lumps and bumps into one or two skeins.

This little shawl is nothing but garter stitch and yarn overs.

Rather than adding to our stresses, challenges will actually alleviate the pressures we face.  When you are working on something new, you have to pay attention, which means you don't have the time or space to worry about the daily annoyances which build stress.  You pick your challenge, research it and do it safely, to the best of your abilities.  Then you push a little more.  (Safety is much more important with a physical challenge. Although I've seen some impressive spinning and knitting failures, apart from a rush of forceful language and some tears, fibre flaws are rarely fatal.)

It's that "pushing a little more" that will take you places and enrich your world. So, go on, take a baby step or two.  You may soon find yourself running.

As for me, I've been behaving like a little kid all week, begging people to help "Me go upside down!"  It feels good.

Namaste.



A bit of hand spun yarn, garter stitch, some holes and a sense of adventure can take you places.  It really is okay to colour outside the lines!

(Congratulations to DaigleD, whose name was chosen for the Blog Birthday draw.)

Lifelines: Learning to Recognize Opportunities

Sometimes, it's a good thing to be strung along!

Lace knitters are familiar with lifelines, those bits of contrasting yarn we thread through our knitting to track patterns.  They mark a point in our knitting where we know our pattern and stitch count were correct, so that when mistakes happen, we can frog back to the lifeline, pick up the stitches and get knitting again.  You ignore a lifeline at your peril-refusing to use them may mean that an error in a project requires completely reknitting the project.  At the very least, it can mean you have some slow, laborious tinking (knitting back) to do.

There are lifelines in other events, too, although they may not be so obvious and may have a different purpose.  In times of crisis, when you're at a crossroad and unsure of the next step, lifelines are there to guide you, if you're ready to pay attention.

When I talk about lifelines, people often think that I'm going all "mystical moments" and "New Age-y," but lifelines are practical and usually come from very grounded sources. Friends and strangers  will reach out with opportunities for healing; you have only to accept their offerings. Lifelines differ from advice; people don't tell you what to do.  Rather, they will tell a story, perhaps without knowing that you are facing challenges, and you'll recognize yourself or your problem in the story.  They'll hand you a card to a place or an event which helped them or they'll speak of others who have successfully manoeuvred similar issues.  Sometimes, the lifeline is indirect, in the form of a poster you see on the street or an invitation on Facebook. 

I have to wait a while before I can take formal yoga teacher training, which left me wondering what to do in order to get a head start on the programme.  I'm taking several yoga classes, studying anatomy for hatha yoga, volunteer teaching on occasion, but I wasn't satisfied that I was on the right path.  Then the yoga studio posted an invitation to Colin's university class on yoga texts, teachers, and techniques.  There you have it-a lifeline.

I could have ignored the post.  I'd been away from school for decades.  The class is expensive; it involves a lot of reading, writing and learning to navigate formal education again.  Because it was offered outside of where I expected my training to occur, I could have missed the signal. Years of being open to signs and signals along my life path helped me to recognize an opportunity to grow and learn.  I grabbed the lifeline and away I went, into a class that's given me a philosophical grounding for my yoga practice and taught me just how little I actually know about yoga.

The wonderful thing about lifelines is that you don't have to do anything to find them.  You simply have to be open to possibilities in what is happening now.  We have to add lifelines to our knitting, but daily lifelines tend to be intuitive-you know them when you see them.  Once you learn to recognize them, they are everywhere.

The next time you think about ignoring a lifeline in that fancy lace shawl, think again.  Using a lifeline can't hurt and may save you from knitting calamity.  The next time an opportunity wanders across your path, wake up and pay attention.  It just might be the very thing you need to seize, the line that will guide you to the next step.

Namaste.

My shawl is finished: hand spun organic, natural coloured cotton in simple garter stitch with a lace edging.

Higher: On the Subject of Lofty Spinning

School is keeping me busy.  I'd forgotten how much time and effort is involved to study and participate effectively, even for a single class. 

In addition, I was asked to take over a Relax and Renew yoga class.  Although I've practised yoga for years and taught for a long time, I've never taught a yoga class.   I wasn't tapped for my brilliant asanas and instructional skills.  I was the only one available to teach this class and I was looking for a way to thank the studio for all it's given me.  So, in I leaped.

My experiences have me thinking: how did I get here?  At what point did yoga, meditation and fibre arts become my life?  How on earth did I decide to combine my spinning with meditation practice?  Why do this?

If the combination of sitting and string seems "weird" (as some so straightforwardly put it), the idea of combining the mundane with the spiritual has a long tradition, from spinning for magic and ceremonial purposes down to "The Man" himself - Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Even non-spinners know the association between Gandhi and the spinning wheel, especially the charkha.  Lesser known is the philosophy which led to Gandhi's commitment to the wheel and cotton spinning.  There is not a lot of popular literature available on Gandhi and spinning, but while I was searching for references to Gandhi and karmayoga (loosely meaning "yoga through action"), I came across a reference to a gem of a book, the cover of which is pictured above.  (I have no idea why the image insists on separating itself from the body of my post.  Sometimes the mysterious ways of the cyberworld defeat me.)

The book is apparently unavailable for purchase, but I've been able to read excerpts on line.  So far, it's the best synthesis I've found of Gandhi's philosophy and his commitment to spinning both as meditation and as a vehicle for the greater good.  The author, Mohit Chakrabarti, nicely sums up Gandhi's choice of cotton spinning as symbol and action:

Why does Gandhi take recourse to the spinning wheel when discipline is essentially a training of the mind which can be well-exercised by means of other media of exercise of the mind?  The answer, as Gandhi advocates, is quite clear.  He is quite aware of the two types of disciplines necessary for the growth and development of being viz., inward and outward.  Quite unlike other humanists, Gandhi launches his programme for introducing the spinning wheel to serve the twin purposes of inward discipline while undergoing outer discipline or discipline in the extrinsic form at the same time. (p. 11)

So there you have it: spinning, with its steady rhythm and repetitive movement is a means to draw us inward.  In the process, we make a product which can be used practically and symbolically.  In Gandhi's case, cotton spinning helped end British colonial rule in India.

Now, I don't have such lofty goals, nor do I fancy myself walking in Gandhi's footsteps.  The thing is, Gandhi was not "Mahatma" until others made him so.  Gandhi was no more or less that human, with all the faults and contradictions attached to the human condition.  Sometimes quick to anger, he was by his own admission, often unkind, especially to his wife.  Gandhi was a product of his time and culture, as are we all.  Yet he found a way to transcend his faults.  He used simple means to change his world, inch by inch, thread by thread, with a constant return to mindfulness and right practice.

Gandhi's devotion to spinning and the changes he effected is a practice worth exploring.  I'd like to go there for a while and see if I can apply some of Gandhi's ideas and actions to my life.

Let's go higher and see where we land.

Namaste.

Respect Yourself: Thoughts on Ahimsa and Fibre

Ahimsa, a Sanskrit word, is translated as "non-violence."  It is also translated as "no harm," a definition which I prefer because it encompasses more action.  (If you witness a violent act, you may not be acting violently, but if you do nothing to intervene, you can be causing harm.)  Whichever definition you choose, ahimsa encourages us to act mindfully in ways that are compassionate, without violence or harm to others.  Those "others" can and do include beings outside the human species and therein lies a problem, especially if you believe that there is some kind of life force in all things.  (I just can't imagine, for example, that a thousand year old tree doesn't hold some kind of awareness beyond its cells and I'm sure those mountains do have tales to tell.)

In order for humans to exist, other things must die.  We require food to nourish us and whether we eat meat or maintain a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, we need other life forces to keep us going. The issues increase in complexity when we consider the materials that go into our clothing and household goods and, in the case of fibre enthusiasts, the products we use for our work and hobbies.

Take silk, for example.  Currently, some people and companies are promoting silk fibres, yarns and products as "Ahimsa Silk," implying that these things can be produced without harm to the silk pupae and the silk moth.  Michael Cook, "Wormspit," explains some of the issues surrounding this fibre and why you may or may not decide to use it.  His site and this article in particular is well worth reading; Cook has devoted much of his life to studying silk through every level of production.  Whether you agree with him or not, Cook makes it clear that our choices in these matters are not simple.

Consider wool and other animal fibres.  The only way to ensure that wool comes from well-treated animals is to know the producers or raise the animals yourself.  You can't expect your local yarn shop to guarantee quality of life for whatever animal that yarn you love came from; a good shop will know its products, but can't be expected to oversee the conduct of each and every supplier.  Many companies are jumping on the organic bandwagon, but since standards for organic production vary from region to region, country to country, you will need to do your own research to ensure that products are made to your satisfaction.  "Organic" doesn't necessarily mean "humanely treated;" you can have one without the other.

A sweater knitted from a Jacob fleece I processed

What about cellulose and bast fibres?  There are naturally coloured, organically grown cottons, but cotton requires huge quantities of water to grow it and working conditions for harvesting and processing may not be the best.  Bast fibres such as bamboo, which is usually processed into viscose rayon, are often promoted as being less harmful to the environment,  but this claim may not be accurate. Flax and the retting it required for processing into linen was a notorious pollutant for European rivers; dealing with the straw has been a problem for flax producers.  Hemp production is politically charged, making the fibres and hemp textiles expensive and difficult to find.

We can turn to synthetic fibres, but many of those are petroleum based.  Fibres made from recycled materials such as plastic bottles require a lot of energy to transform them into yarns and fabrics. 

The problem grows when we look at dyes.  Natural dyes can require the use of toxic fixatives (mordants) such as copper sulphate, chrome, and tin.  Unless you know your dyer or do the dyeing yourself, you probably won't know what mordants were used in the dyeing process.  In these cases, acid dyes may be the safest, least harmful way to colour your fibres, especially for the home dyer.

"Night Hunter," hand spun and woven from naturally coloured Romney fleeces

So what is a conscientious fibre enthusiast to do?  We can approach our choices with open minds and hearts as we research the fibres and fabrics which appeal to us.  Don't rely on advice from people with a vested interest in promoting a cause, one way or the other.  Talk to producers whenever you can.  Study fibres as best you can-process a raw fleece, spin up some cotton bolls, visit a farm or mill if the opportunity presents itself. 

Buy local.  In my area, there are producers who raise sheep, angora rabbits, alpaca, llama and goats for cashmere.  All the producers I know welcome the opportunity to talk to their customers; many of them are happy to have you visit their farms.

Mickey will give up his fur for my causes, but only when he's in the mood.

Once you've made your choices, know that you have done the best you can with the knowledge available to you, allowing you to act with the least harm you can reasonably manage.  Do not judge others who choose differently than you do.  Behaving with self satisfaction or smugness about your "superior" choices goes against the principles of "ahimsa."

Most of all, take comfort and value the fibres, yarns and textiles you do use and remind yourself of the wonderful choices we have available to us.

Morris approves of spinning.

Namaste.

(Note: Wikipedia is not necessarily the best source for reliable information, but the sources cited here will give you a starting point for your own studies.  There are many good reference books on textile production; detailed internet searches will give you a variety of opinions.  No matter where you do your research, consider the source.)

Makin' It Work: Using Your Art Yarns

At the beginning of this series of articles, I explained that I don't consider my art yarns to be art in themselves. They require craft and care in the making, but my intent is to use them in projects.  If you are happy arranging your yarns artfully in a bowl or basket and leaving it at that, that's fine.  I often do this, but in that case, I'm spinning meditation yarns.  The purpose of spinning meditation yarns is to stay in the moment, without looking to the past or the future.  Depending upon the meditation exercise, I'm not necessarily concerned with form or function when spinning those yarns.

 For everything else I spin, theoretically, the yarns I make will be transformed, for better or worse, into something else.  I'll give you a few tips and ideas for projects in which to incorporate your art yarns.

Silk boucle yarn as trim on a scarf

Consider the weight and texture of your designer yarns.  Many of them will be heavy and many will be very textured.  A little goes a long way here, especially if, like me, you are short and have a small frame.  Tall people look dramatic draped in art yarn projects; I resemble a short, colourful Sasquatch.   You may want to use these yarns in small projects or as trim on a plainer piece.  Do remember that art yarns don't have to be "big."  Many of the yarns discussed in the previous articles can be scaled back to suit specific projects.

Meditation wrap knitted with hand spun Polwarth wrapped and looped with commercial cotton

Detail of meditation wrap

If you decide to make an entire piece from art yarns, keep it simple.  Cables and complex patterns will be lost using these yarns.  Now is the time for garter, seed, and stockinette stitches.  You can balance the weight of a heavy yarn by using large needles or simple yarn over lace patterns.  Remember that crocheted pieces tend to be heavier than comparable knitted pieces, so go up a hook size or two.

Magical things happen when you use art yarn in freeform projects.  Wraps, hangings, blankets, bags-all these and more can become one of a kind designer projects, with a special touch only you can give them.

Freeform scarf with looped respun sari silk yarn

Scarf detail

Designer yarns are perfect for weaving.  They are usually best suited for use as weft yarns because the texture can catch in the heddles, causing abrasion and breakage or poor shedding.  The warp supports the weight of a heavy art yarn, in contrast to knitting or crocheting, where the yarns must support their own weight.

Spend some time working to balance your art yarns when you spin them.  If your yarns are not balanced, as is often the case with coiled yarns, do some testing before you use them in a project.  You may want to sew that coiled yarn onto your scarf, rather than knitting or crocheting it in, which can cause the entire piece to skew and bias.  Heavy yarns such as coils can make fantastic art pieces or funky baskets when you coil the coils.  For more examples, most of them bolder than what I've suggested here, check the Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners group on Ravelry.

Just as you did when spinning these wonderful yarns, allow yourself time to play and find the best use for your designer yarns.  While you're doing that, arrange those yarns artistically in that bowl or basket and put them out to be admired!

Neck piece knitted with sari silk and wool hand spun yarns

Namaste.

Mama Told Me There'd Be Days: Four Reasons to Meditate

The Frankensocks are finished, yarn mostly gone, and not a pair in the batch.  Sock #4, at top right, doesn't even match itself: the leg is completely different than the foot and there was a sudden change of grist.  Hmm.

If I had planned to do 400 metres of no colour repeat yarn, I couldn't have done it, but I did it with this yarn.

What does this have to do with meditation?  Well, there was a time, not so long ago, when an experience like this would leave me wild with frustration.  I'm an experienced spinner and knitter.  I know how to knit socks and match them up.  Certainly I can and have spun sock yarn which, when worked, provides me with something resembling a pair.  How dare this happen to me?  All that time wasted!  All that effort gone!

The horror.  My ego would be bruised, my stress level elevated, my mood running to anger.  And for what?  Socks that, despite the colour mismatch, are warm, comfortable, nicely worked and, dare I say, interesting?  If socks could cause that much trouble in my life, think what major problems were able to accomplish.

Now, I laugh.  Instead of throwing aside the yarn and needles in frustration after the first two socks didn't work as expected, I was eager to keep knitting, to see how the story ended.  Rather than stuffing the socks in a drawer, never to see the light of day, I show them around, amused. I'll wear and enjoy them. They're just socks.

This is the way the benefits of meditation manifest themselves-not in monumental changes, but in the ability to handle the experiences life throws you, big and small.  Other people usually notice the changes before you do, but with sincere practice and time, you'll find that events, people, etc. that used to bother you are not so earth-shattering.  You'll settle, remain calmer, even in the face of stresses more challenging than mismatched socks.  When you, or someone else, are confronted with whatever life sends your way, you'll find that you remain calmer, more neutral.  You'll be able to focus on the situation, empathize with the problem, without getting caught up in drama and emotion.  Oh, you'll still become angry and frustrated (trust me), but the emotions will pass more quickly, bringing clarity to what is actually happening now.

These Frankensocks are a gift, concrete evidence that I can take things in stride and not become sidetracked by expectations.  I can, in fact, enjoy the unexpected.  That's a pretty good return for a few days work, some yarn, needles, and a regular practice of mindfulness meditation.

Namaste.

(Just to ease my curiosity, send me a note, if you like, telling me which socks you think make a pair.  I'm undecided.)

Halloween Howl: Frankensocks

I spun this rather lovely sock yarn last year.  The wool was Merino, too soft for socks to suit my tastes, but I spun it tightly and chain plied it.  It's firm, knits up into socks that fit both Birks and boots and the colours are very pretty. 

The socks turned out well, too, mostly.  I knit them up on small needles, with 2/2 ribbing for the legs so that the socks will stay up.  The heels and their turnings are padded and the socks fit tightly on my feet; these socks won't slip and creep.  They're finished nicely-in theory, I could wear these babies inside out. 

There's one small problem:

Yup.  Completely. Totally. Mismatched.  Not even close.  In a world where it's perfectly acceptable to knit fraternal socks, these would be the orphans in the bunch.

Do I know what happened?  Not a clue.  You see, I didn't bother to label this wondrous sock yarn, so I don't know how I managed this impressive feet  feat. 

Sock #3 seems to be knitting up differently yet again.

I'll wear the um, pair?  They're still nice socks.  I can amuse people by my apparent incapability to dress myself.  Who knows, by the time I finish knitting up all the yarn, perhaps I'll have something resembling a matched set. 

Either that, or I'll have the nicest dusting mitts/socks around.

Happy Halloween!

A Little Help From My Friends: Support Yarns for Art Spinning

Top skein: Romney over cotton wrapped elastic
Bottom skein: Mohair over same core thread

           

When I stand in tadasana, sit in meditation or practise yoga poses, I bring attention to my spine and my core.  An elongated, balanced spine and strong centre allow me to focus on my meditation or bend and stretch safely in the pose.  I use a similar approach in preparing to spin art yarns.

Many designer yarns are spun using a base or core yarn to support a hand spun singles or plied yarn.  Think of that base yarn as the “spine” of your finished product.  Although the core may not be visible, it holds your yarn together.  If the core is weak, your yarn may break, drift apart or collapse, so it’s a good idea to spend time selecting suitable supports for your designer products.

A commercial lace weight yarn can provide strength to yarn without adding much weight or grist.  (Many art yarn spinners discourage using thread as a core, but while thread may not work well in coiled yarns, I have never had a problem using sewing thread as a ply or binder.)  If you work with heavier, denser supports for yarns intended as garments, you may find that your finished product is too heavy to be comfortable and may stretch from its own weight.  On the other hand, that heavy core may be just the thing for bags, rugs or anything subject to abrasion.

In most cases, you will want to work with coned yarns, or yarns on spools or bobbins.  These types of packaging provide drag on the yarns, allowing more control over tension and rate of feed than yarn coming from a ball.  If you use core yarns in balls, wind them tightly and be sure there are no loops or kinks.  Work from the outside of the ball and tuck the centre yarn into the ball, so the extra end doesn’t spiral up and snarl your work.

Left to Right: 2 ply wool, cotton/acrylic thick and thin, silk singles, 2 ply cotton weaving thread

Plying direction is critical in core yarns, especially if you are working with singles.  Determine the spinning and plying direction of your support yarns and mark them on the cones.  That way, you will know whether you are adding or subtracting twist from the core as you spin.  If your core is Z spun or plied and you are plying S, you will be subtracting twist.  Wrapping techniques and coiling require a lot of twist, so your core may drift apart, along with all those beautiful coils.  Conversely, if you use that Z spun core as a base for core spinning a Z yarn, you will be adding twist, which can cause your finished yarn to kink more than you expect, leaving it (and you, perhaps) somewhat unbalanced.

Texture and elasticity are also important.  If you want “grip” when making wrapped yarns, use a thick and thin or slightly rougher support yarn.  Do you want to slip, slop and slide your way to a boucle and coils?  Then use a slippery core.  If your yarn is too elastic, you may have loops where you don’t want them. (You can produce an interesting yarn by plying wool with cotton or silk covered elastic thread.)  If your support has no give, you could end up with limp yarn with no body. 

Ideally, all my commercial support yarns would be spun from natural fibres, but for some techniques, I admit that synthetics do a fine job of adding structure to designer yarns.  (I dare not say, “better.”)  Often, you are holding your support yarn under tension while adding a lot of twist.  Yarns with a high acrylic and nylon content tend to be stronger than 100% cotton and wool of the same grist.  The exceptions are plied silk and plied linen, which are very strong; however, if I’m working with 100% silk anything, I want it to show in all its glory.  I do not want to bury it in my art yarn.  The same thing applies to linen, with the additional caveat that linen tends to make very stiff art yarns.

A yarn with too much strength can be a problem.  I have trouble with core yarns snapping when I’m making coils.  I thought I had solved that problem by coiling over a cone of nylon upholstery thread.  My supercoils didn’t break—instead the upholstery yarn sliced neatly through them. 

Although your core will be hidden most of the time, do give some consideration to colour.  No matter how carefully you spin, your core may show in some spots.  If you’ve used that screaming lime acrylic as a base for fuchsia supercoiled hand spun, you may have to wear sunglasses when using the yarn.  Wrapping a greyed purple yarn over a light yellow base can result in something rather unappealing—dryer lint, if you’re lucky, dog poop if you’re not. (Of course, if dog poop art yarn is what you want, by all means, go for it!)

Spend some time getting to know your base yarns.  Do some testing before you settle at your spinning wheel.  Think of this as warm up stretching, “yarn tadasana,” if you will, and make it part of each spinning session.  Then twist and turn to your heart’s content.

You thought I was kidding about the fuchsia yarn!

   

You Spin Me Right Round

I attended "It's Our Nature," an exhibit by The Saskatchewan Weavers and Spinners Guild, held at the Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre on the weekend.  It was a lovely display of spinning, weaving, knitting and stitchery.  There were tapestries, rugs, jackets, accessories and much more, made by women from across the province.  It was impossible to choose a favourite, although a fine, painted scarf woven from bamboo by Heather M. was right up there, along with several handspun pieces.  With permission, I took photographs of a few items in the show.  You can click for details:

Susie's Handspun Socks Dyed with KoolAid

Susie's Handspun and Dyed Doily

Dora's Amazing Handspun Gloves

I thought my angora yarn was finely spun, until I saw Dora's gloves, knit from her 3 ply angora.  She let me try them on and they are oh, so soft:

Dora's Gloves

There was much, much more-Sara's handspun cotton neckpiece, a wrap in handspun qiviuq, a handspun silk cowl.  It was wonderful to see how much yarn people had spun themselves and, if you wanted to give it a whorl yourself, Hilary and Susie were there to demonstrate the art and help you get started.

The Regina Weavers and Spinners Guild had a display in the hallway outside the show.  They are having a sale on October 15 and 16, at the Balkwill, so if you're in town, check it out.

Who Ya Gonna Call? Stashbusters

I have quite a stash collection.  You tend to accumulate a few fibres over several decades of spinning, knitting, and teaching.  It has occurred to me that this "stuff" is only important to me and that I will be leaving a room full of unwanted fluff when I leave the planet, no matter how long I stick around.  The fibre piles don't decrease by much when you spin lace weight or worsted weight yarns and then replace those fibres with new, gorgeous roving.

Despite the unseasonably hot weather, I know that fall, frost and snowy winters are on their way.  What better way to stay warm and decrease the stash than by spinning lots of bulky, lofty yarns which, conveniently, are currently in fashion.  (And I am nothing if not known for my fashion forward sense!  Yeah, right.)

The thing is, lofty bulky yarns are not that easy to spin well.  They are not the dense, compressed thick singles we get when we first learn to spin.  Ideally, it's nice to wear garments that aren't so heavy that you feel and look as if you're wearing a yurt.  Yurt wearing is hard to carry off, especially if you're five feet nothing.  Off I went in search of the perfect thick, soft, but light yarns.

When Joanne T. was here for her Master Level 6 course, she showed me her gorgeous 2 ply bulky yarn, spun woollen from BFL tops.  The singles were spun with minimum twist and drafting, then plied and intensely fulled.  Joanne told me her secrets, so I started there:

The sample at the top is a merino/baby camel down/silk top, spun z, plied s on a Louet Victoria.  This is a small, fast wheel and not suited to bulky spinning, but I had spun the yarn at a workshop using this wheel.  I cabled the 2 ply z, then soaked the skein in hot water and wool wash.  The result is a soft, pretty piece of rope at 5 wraps per inch (wpi).  I needed a bigger wheel.

Sample 2, on the left, is the same fibre, this time spun on my massive Lendrum Jumbo Head.  It's the original large head Lendrum made for the single treadle wheel and it's huge.  Lendrum doesn't make their large head this big any more and that's a shame.  The flyer has ratios of about 3:1 and 4:1.  I spun this drafting back slightly at a 4:1 ratio and then plied it at 3 twists per inch.  I agitated the skein in a hot water bath and then gave it a good whacking.  The yarn is soft, but at 24 metres per 93 grams, and 3 wpi, it's far too dense and overprocessed.

Ever so slightly better, at 30 metres per 96 grams, 4 wpi, the third sample, far right, is merino/silk 80/20 from Celeigh Wool.  I spun this like Sample 2 but fulled it with less agitation.  Again, it makes pretty rope.

I switched to an alpaca/flax roving from Golden Willow, spun and plied it like the first samples, but I made an effort not to compress the fibres.  I soaked the skein in hot water, no agitation and gave it a light thwacking to finish.  This skein is 60 metres per 98 grams and 4 wpi. It's much softer and lighter and will actually work in a cowl without making me feel as if I'm wearing an iron chain link necklace.

On to sweetgeorgia tops I bought at Art of Yarn in Kelowna, BC.

 

This time, I spun the merino/bamboo/silk blend at a 3:1 ratio, but drafted back as quickly as I could and took care not to compress the fibres. I plied quickly, then washed the skeins in hot water, no agitation and just a light thwacking to straighten the skeins.  The 100 gram skein on the left measures 75 metres and 5 wpi; the one on the right measures 90 metres, 6 wpi, so I am drifting off into slightly finer yarns.  Both are wonderfully soft, light and stable.  I think I might be getting somewhere.

Last up and just for fun, because I was getting tired with plain plying, is "Puff," a sample for an upcoming art yarn class I'm teaching later in the fall.  I spun a thick and thin yarn from a Golden Willow blended batt.  The slubs are very lightly twisted, just enough to hold the yarn together.  I plied this yarn s with a commercial silk singles weaving yarn, pushing the slubs up into loose puffs, locking the puffs above and below with the silk yarn.  The locking action is important; if you don't do this, the slubs slide up and down the silk binder.  This yarn was severely fulled, with hot and cold baths, agitation and thwacking to felt the puffs and make them stable enough to produce functional yarn.  50 grams of batt gave me 60 metres of a soft accent yarn which doesn't shed its fibres.

There you have it-over 500 grams/1 pound of fibre spun here and there over a course of a couple of days.  I'm overjoyed-if Sharon doesn't blend any more batts or dye pretty colours before I go into to work on Saturday, I'll have only about 100 kilos or so left to spin. 

I'm kidding.  I hope I'm kidding.