As the whorls go around

Here you have my latest spinning project.  It is gotland fiber and it is very soft.  Well it is soft once you wash it.  I noticed that it was just a little dirty, not much.  I found this breed to be a very easy to spin  because is a very luxurious fiber.  Long staple about 3 to 5 inches.  I got 224 grams, with about 386 yards!
 
Here is another one, this time BFL, 105 grams,  with a yield of about 198 yards.  It is very springy and cushy.  It was easier to spin that what I expected.
 
What a difference trying to make lace at a 105 grams and 324 yards of yarn.   More pictures to come. Thanks for stopping by.
 

The more I spin the more I spin

 I have been busy spinning my way to fun. There more I spin the more I realize how much more I need to spin to gather more experience. This is some of my spinning fun.  Most of it it's unknown fiber gifted to me friends.


These two in the white where lots of fun to spin and so was the dark.  Spinning should never be done in a hurry for me, it becomes sloppy and not the best quality.  I love my fiber, most of it anyway lol. 

 
This tweedy 2 ply was an interesting fiber. I thought it would be more of a lace weight and it is in parts. Is an uneven yarn, but so is Lamb's Pride, right?

 
This was a lot more fun to make and is a lot more even.


 

 My favorite blends to spin are blends with silk, it makes it a lot easier to draft and spin.  I got some "pin drafted" cotswold from Stitches West that was a nightmare.  It was a bit matted and if I saw it today, I would have not bought it.  Unspun fiber is not matted and pencil roving is not matted.  Felted roving that is a different story.  I haqve more spinning coming and some more sock knitting.  Hold on and get ready for another fun pair of socks, hopefully by the end of the week, maybe even a picture of one, if I get the timing right.  Thanbks for stopping by!

Suri Alpaca Ethereal Spinning

Just wanted to share some of my Sunday Spinning.  Spining Suri Alpaca, is it fun?  Yes, once you get the hang of the fiber.  I have not used a drop spindle in such a long time, that I kind of forgot how to handle the spindle and the fiber.  Don't be afraid, it will come back to me easily, it is called muscle memory and that is what happened today.  My hands started to remember how to spin once more.  Thanks for stopping by!

Caprica Six yarn

I have arrived from the MFKR 2012 and there will be pictures next week. It was a total success and we had a lot of fun.   I had a friend from the Retreat visiting, he is from New Zealand.  He stayed for  a short visit and his name is James. Kiwi James as we sometimes call him. In the meantime and while I get my pictures in shape and organized, here is a project I will be doing.
This yarn was purchased at an outdoor sale today, there is a lot more where this one came from.  I believe is thinner than lace weight, not by much. I tested it and it is too weak to stand on its own two plies . It weighs at 1472 grams of wool. I tested it for strength and it needs more twist, it is wool as I was able to felt the yarn you see on the Above picture by Caprica's shoulder.  What is a spinner to do? I will be filling three bobbins of yarn adding twist to the existing 2 plies, then plying 3 strands of 2 plies to make a yarn with Six strands of yarn, that have been previously plied into a two ply yarn. I have been talking to the Leobens if you wondered! lol Thanks for stopping by!

Kromski Sonata not for the masses

Sonata (1), a photo by Crafty Andy on Flickr.

I have no idea what do people think 5 years of Craftmanship Warranty means, but I can tell you that my next wheel is not going to be a Kromski. What you are seeing is the replacment post from my Sonata. IT IS NOT NEW, it was taken off another wheel, it has some dents. I will deal with it if it works. Good think I bought this will with a VISA card that extends the warranty. I will write Tim of New VOyager a letter in the next few days, to thank him, but also to give him my grievances. When you have a car and a door has a craftmanship defect or problem, the manufacturer does not send you a used door. The manufacturer or representative of Kromski should have sent me a NEW post. There is a reason why I did not buy a Kromski Harp Loom.

I do like my wheel a lot and will continue to use it for as long as it works. I am very dissapointed , yet I am glad I got something better than glue it with gorilla glue. If you are going to buy a New Wheel, Steer away from Kromski. Thanks for stopping by!

Pygora please

 
I was thinking of  spinning this by drop spindle, but the wheel is a great way of testing myself for this kind of yarn.  I am making use of the fast flyer to make a very thin single of pygora to use on a two ply or a three ply, I don't know yet. Pygora is very strong, just as I thought, this has been sitting in a bag for a while it needs to breathe a bit before I continue spinning. The fiber need to be opened and that is what I am going to do later on.  This is my Saturday project, but I do have a hat to finish.  Thanks for stopping by!

Rose Grey Alpaca

Sometimes what amazes me about spinning is how things turn out.  This Rose Grey Alpaca was perfect, some vegetable matter, twigs only, but clean very clean otherwise.  The water that I used to set the twist with was clear and that made me happy.  Alpaca is one of those fibers that is perfect for the beginner spinner, longer staple and very forgiving of mistakes.  This is a two ply with 178 yards at 112 grams, which is perfect.  This is half of the 8 ounces I purchase on EBay.  There is another 4 ounces that I am hoping to spin sometime this month, maybe next week.  I say August started with me Finishing projects left and right and accomplishing goals and that is a great way of entering a month.  I wanted to share this with you before I went to my crochet and knitting, they need some time as well.  Thanks fro stopping by.

Welcome to Agust 2011

Just a short video to say goodbye July 2011 and Hello August 2011. Welcome to a month of exciting things and some spinning. I am hoping to finish lots of projects this month and Make the Earth and Sky Mystery Shawl from West Knits aka Stephen West. Thanks for stopping by!

The Three Twins of Gemenon

This was a very interesting project. I was able to kind of blend the mohair with the Falkland as I was drafting and spinning, so each single was actually a two ply.  In the end I ply three two ply yarns into a three play yarn, making it a six ply yarn in a three way fashion.  Don't get confused it is all part of the game.  Thanks for stopping by.

Jacob and Falkland spinning

This is Jacob's wool and even though is a bit rough to the touch is very soft after setting the twist to it.  It is very easy to spin and drafts like a dream. One of the things that you have to learn about your spinning , is what kind of yarn is normal for you.   It is hard for me to make a thick yarn, but I can make it by plying multiple strands.  I really like the two ply, but the three ply is very handsome.

Yesterday I was able to make this happen.  This was the Falkland wool and let me tell you, it is a dream to spin.  I was mixing it a bit with mohair, and it is fantastic.  Mohair can be a bit of a mess, but if you manage it correctly it will give you a nice halo to the wool that you are spinning.  I like mohair to spin, I guess it would be fantastic in the blends of  Brown Sheep  .  They sell their mill ends and if you want to spin a great fiber, this would be a nice fiber to spin, I have not done it yet, but I can tell from the  Lamb's Pride yarn, (from Brown Sheep), that I have used in projects, that it would be a good experience.  Mohair is pretty and it has a long staple as well.  So I am going to spin myself to the end of my fiber stash and it will be all published here, with a critique on each fiber.. So far Falkland and Jacob have a thumbs up in my book.  Thanks for stopping by!

Silken Road to Wonderland

The end of March and the Beginning of April is finding me spinning.  I do have so much fiber that I bought or was given to me by someone, that I have decided that I am going to spin all of it.  On my wheel  my favorite fiber to spin is silk as of today, silk is very easy to handle and it is very  easy to join.  Silk can be very thin and still keep a lot of strength. Silk needs a lot of twist, so I have spun these singles on my fast flyer on the fastest ratio at 18:1. Here is my latest which I am going to play later tonight and then set the twist.  I am hoping to dedicate this month to spinning with the wheel.  I have bamboo, milk, different kinds of sheep wools, I really did not like spinning camel down on the wheel, I think I would have prefer to spin on a drop spindle. 



If you don't spin a particular fiber you won't know if you like to spin it or not. Practice, practice and more practice, and the plying is as much fun as spinning. I hope to offer you more of my spinning in the week to come. Thanks for stopping by!

Inviere Colorway of the Natasi yarn

So I have had the most productive weekend of spinning, and more and more I realize how much more practice I need.  I can tell you I have plenty of fiber to play around with  my wheel. It is fun, I am hoping to share more with you in the near future. I did not like this fiber much when I spun it, but it was a lot loftier when I bought.  I definitely like the color a lot.

The material below, is silk/camel and it is a very difficult blend to play with, but very rewarding. I love the smell of silk, and the touch to your hands is very specific.  Silk has a stickiness to it, you may have to moisturise your hands in the middle of your spinning. The Tussah Silk has this honey like color that is amazing and when combined with the camel it gives you a very nice golden color like you see in the picture below this one here.

This is the honey color of this silk blend and it is so pretty and soft.  I have a bit more of this blend and I am hoping to make a two ply yarn instead of a three ply.

Here I am sharing with you a bit of my spinning and showing you the drafting zone. Thanks for stopping by.

Caprica Six a yarn that is bold and Complex

Sunday I was able to spin , ply and set this skein of yarn.  It is corriedale and it was already dyed.  I will have to say that if you buy some fiber to spin , it is better if you spin it as soon as you can because time sometimes makes fiber funky.  This was Navajo Plied and I am learning more and more as I spin. I don't know if I got this from watching Judith MacKenzie McCuinn, but I can tell you that once you listen to her in a class or a video, your whole perspective about spinning fibers takes a quantum leap. When you listen to her what I always hear is that spinning is something that is very intuitive and it is not a science, but it has its mechanics.  Spinning has a lot to do with your equipment, your attitude , the fiber and how it was prepared, what kind of fiber you have  and ultimately it is the merging of you and the fiber that you are spinning.

One of the things I have learned while learning to spin is :

1.   Look at your fiber, really look at it , see the character that it has come with.

2.   Feel the fiber, get a sense of the preparations that it has, and the character that it has as well.

3.  Don't fight the fiber, I believe each fiber has a perfect yarn density that it wants to be, you can force it, but you may not like the results.  The fiber will let you know by the way it takes the twist.

A friend of mine Naomi, did such a wonderful job blending this camel/silk  blend for me, yet I have to respect the fiber and the quality it has come with.  Camel is such a short staple and silk is the opposite, so this will create a very interesting hand spun yarn, it is so far a very luxurious blend, I am going to do a two ply and see what I get from this blend.  What I like about the silk blend is, that it is a very forgiving fiber to play with.  I have to try to spin silk by itself and I do have the perfect fiber for that and maybe a bit of Tussah silk or maybe some bleached completely white bombix silk to see what kind of trouble I can get myself into.  I enjoy spinning because it allows me to quiet my mind and allow my inner artisan to come out and play. Thanks fro stopping by.

Sunday Spin in the Twilight Zone

This is a Sunday Spin in the Twilight Zone, come and join me in the fun.

Natasi Colorway and Spinning

Natasi was born from the reading of the Novel by Jeffrey Carver, Battlestar Galactica. The red symbolizes the red glow of the cylon Caprica Six named Natasi. Little do you know that if you read the name Natasi backwards you get her story right away. The skein above is 83 yards and 95 grams and it was done on purpose the way it is, very uneven, but definitely a lively yarn.

This other skein is lighter gauge at about 145 yards with only 69 grams of fiber.  I really enjoyed doing my spinning and it is something that you have to experience for yourself.  Whether is by drop spindle or by wheel, spinning is a lot of fun.  You can give the right twist to that yarn you got that is spitting. There is a bit more spinning going on this weekend before I put my wheel away for a bit.  The Men's Fall Knitting Retreat is next week and we have a very busy schedule of fun and knitting to do.  Thanks for stopping by.

A Stitch in Time

A Stitch in Time is the Latest EBook that I have been reading and it is a great read.  Andrew Robinson is the Actor that played the main character in this novel.  Garak is his name, and I thought that it was a very nice possibility that this book was a great success as it is written by someone who knows the character very well.  SO far I am not disappointed.  I am using my Nook, from Barnes & Noble, to read it and I can tell you that the Nook is a great device for me.  I take it everywhere I go and it serves me well. 

ON the other hand I have been doing a lot of spinning for the Stitch In Time in the future, lol.  I have a lot of fiber and I am planning to spin as much as possible  to learn more.  It is amazing how your hands get the aha moment and transmit it to the brain.  The yarn that you see below is the first yarn that I consider  to be "Show Worthy" , well almost, I still need to work more on the twist and the spinning, but there is no hurry.  I find that I can spin while watching a movie at home, it keeps me sharp.  I hope you had a great Labor day weekend and soon I will be departing to the MFKR 2010 at Dumas Bay Center in Washington State.  I am looking forward to the retreat.  The last retreat was not much fun for me due to many reasons, one of them is cleared out of my system lol.  I was taking an anti anxiety medication and let me tell you the tapering off and the getting rid of the remnants of the medication from your body is a pain.   Nonetheless it served its purpose and is no longer needed.  This is Crafty Andy thanks for stopping by!

The Spinning of the Fabric of Space

Above and below the pictures of this sentence you find cotton spinning, drop spindle above and wheel below. It is not quantum physics, but it is ruled by the laws of nature and thus the laws of physics.  Little did you know there is a science to my madness, Mr. Hawkins taught me well, thank you.  I decided to give it a try on the wheel as I spin very good in thin singles.  Believe it or not cotton is not the best fiber to spin, yet it has a peaceful effect on the soul.  When I am spinning I feel like the world actually stops and I transport into a different dimension where everything is possible.  My hope is to spin cotton in the next three months and then ply it.  I will spin a single on the Drop Spindle and some singles on the wheel.  The one thing I can say about cotton is that you know very fast if it has sound structural integrity , because otherwise it will come apart.  On a drop spindle you need to practice 30 minutes each day to gain skills and memory for you muscles. Yes your muscles start to learn what they need to do to draft the fiber to make the yarn you want.  You have to go without fears and dive into the fiber with all your heart, no expectations but to create something.  I believe spinning is in our gene code memory, your mission is to wake it up and let it express itself.

In the picture below I am trying to create my first fingering light fingering quality singles for plying, so far I am having success.  Should I tell you the secret?   The secret is practice , I have been practicing for an hour , at least an hour, yet  sometimes I have been spinning for  two or three or four, It is magical, there is no hurry, it is poetry in the making, you look at it, you feel it you count for a while, but then you trust the way it feels, then you let it go to the bobbin.  It is magical I tell you, you are creating a living yarn because this yarn will have your energy and enthusiasm.  It's all about fun, lots of fun.

Below you see 125 yards weighting 170grams, It is not very even, but it was fun to make.  The yarn is very soft and I am hoping to make a Tunisian  Crochet Bag with all this yarn that I am making, or maybe gift it away if people really like the yarn.  I bring it to my Monday Night Knit Group to show and tell.  It is about the journey, what's your hurry?

This yarn below is a bit more yardage, is about 182 yards  weighting 180 grams, is a bit thinner than the one above.  At this time in my life and in the learning experience, I am just letting the yarn be, I try to see if I can get something that I want, but in the end the yarn wins, it becomes what it wants to be and I will allow it to find expression through my hands and through the wheel or Drop Spindle. It is poetry in motion then it plies upon itself like a little caterpillar or like we say in" Puertorrican colloquial Spanish "gongoli" .There is more to come, but this is what I have for today, thanks for stopping by.

WIP and Some Spinning

Is it time to jump and find a new Planet to live, I guess not right away.  In the meantime I will be doing some spionning and some knitting.  I have been practicing my wheel spinning and I have learned a lot by just doing.  Some peolpe do not get what spinning is all about.  Even though you can produce lots of yarn, you can never compete with a mill.  It is possible to make enough yarn for a sweater, just not that fast and then who is in a hurry.

Here is a bit of a silk and wool blend. It is amazing how silk really spins and how you can tell when something has silk in the mix. I will say that I enjoy spinning silk, it is one of my favorite fibers to spin. I also like to spin wool, but I have not decided which breed is the best. I am hoping to spin one hour a day for this week, but I started Sunday and I have had some aha moments in which I have seen my spinning making big progress.

I have seen how my spinning has changed and how my patience and hard work is paying. I have plenty of practice wool, there are more colors to come, I have some Alpaca to spin in the near future, but for the moment I am working slowly.

Anyway I am also doing some knitting and crocheting , because I don't want to overdo my spinning, it is easy to just spin and forget everything else. I think that it is one of the most peaceful actions one can do to be at one with the world. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday Spinning "Lords of Kobol"

A little spinning on Saturday after a friend of Mine posted a video on Flickr, I thought I Would do the same.  Happy Saturday , music by Bear McCreary and Raya Yarbrough, Long Live SyFy, thanks for stopping by!

I Cord, Navajo PLying et Facebook

I Cord, Navajo Plying et Facebook and Blogger of course have something in common, Crafty Andy. There are many things that are great with facebook, but one of them is not the greatest. Facebook has no real appeal to me besides getting to see what my friends are up to, but I can do that in the internet anyway.  There are also game after game after game, but nothing like a true craft such as knitting, crocheting are.  Facebook the same as Second Life have a place, but nothing beats an exciting real life, which I do possess and keep on making every day.  If facebook goes for pay, It will be a great experiment, but I will be one of the free floaters.  I may indulge in the virtual world once in a while, but there is nothing like knitting and crocheting with my friends at the Cafe Trieste, the park or one of the Men Knitting Retreats.  I have take a break from Facebook, but this feed will be posted there from my personal blog.  I decided to take a break from Facebook, because is ok to be away from it lol!

The I-Cord rediscovered is a great piece of knitting.  I was in need of a cord for the hood of my jacket, somehow it had dissappeared with the washings.  I decided I will make it out of omega nylon  thread  and here it is.

Last Saturday I was lucky and able to take a trip  to A Verb For Keeping Warm , in Berkeley , where I was able to attend a Class with WonderMike from Fiber Beat.  The Class was on Navajo Plying while making yarn on a drop spindle, which was a very easy task and you can do it on the go, once you are done you are done.  I will have to say that it will not be possible to do this task the same way on a wheel, it would not be possible without a lot of maneuvering if at all possible.  Navajo Plying gives you a nice three ply yarn that is is very strong, after all it has been done for many , many years.  I believe that if it is done properly , you will have a well balanced yarn that will respond with strength and beauty.  A three ply yarn s very rounded and has a beauty of its own.  Thanks for stopping by.