Shave 'Em 2 Save 'Em, Chapter 4: Gulf Coast Native

Way back in July I ordered some Gulf Coast Native fiber from Pioneeer Fiber Mill. As I was knitting, I thought it would be fun to try some natural dyeing. I was inspired by Marce at Hey BrownBerry to try out some avocado pits and skins.

The dye comes out very pink!

To make more of a variated color I left half of the yarn in the pot to get a little darker.

After I pulled out the yarn, I threw some older tea into the pot. It smelled amazing, the kids even remarked on the lovely aroma.

The tan above is the tea-dyed wool, and the pink is the avocado.

After spining, I threw about 70 yards into a dyebath of red wine (I keep trying to like wine, but I guess I'm just a whiskey/ginger ale kind of girl)

I was browsing through Ravelry for fair isle hats, and came across the Colours of Norway Hat by The Dutch Sheep

Her hat was rainbow, but I thought the natural ombre would work beautifully.

I ended up with plenty of extra yarn, so I whipped up some coordinating mitts.

I really enjoyed working with the Gulf Coast, it made very springy yarn. This combed top was really clean and free of vegetable matter.

New Niddy Noddy

So, I had this lovely old chair, which completely gave up the ghost. 

As I looked over its sad bits and pieces I had a brainstorm: How about trying to make a Niddy Noddy?!

I pulled three rungs out of the legs and got to work. 

First I gave everything a quick clean with a steel bristle brush, then a cursury sanding.

I have a mini vise table, which came in super handy.

I lucked out with these rungs, they had a center ridge so I had a super easy place to drill.

I have some larger drill bits, but none were exactly the same size of the third rung of my niddy noddy, so I had to whittle down the end.

The construction of a niddy noddy is very simple. two perpendicular ends and a central piece. 

This was the original mock up, and it wasn't super easy to remove the hank of yarn. I decided that the ends were too long,

Back to the woodshop area, and I trimmed off the end inch or so on each rung, and sanded it down. 

I also gave everything a coat of spoon oil. 

Here's the final(ish) form of the Niddy Noddy. The only thing I don't love about this version is the finish from the original chair which is imbedded in the grooves. I could certainly get it out with a lot of elbow grease, but this was a fun project just for me so I may just overlook the gunk.

It works!

 

Shave ‘Em 2 Save ‘Em, Chapter 3: Horned Dorset

My third foray into a new fiber was Horned Dorset. It’s a lovely lofty wool. 

It came as roving, so I jumped right into spinning it. 

Since I had just finished up the Jacob shawlette, and I thought my wardrobe could do with a little color, I thought I’d try some dyeing before I knitted this up.

I had an ancient jar of cochineal dye in my craft cupboard and I threw the yarn I had spun, along with the remaining roving into a couple of pots, just to see what would happen. 

The dye was about two years old, and had become fermented. The smell was awful.

I threw it back into the bath, and then looked into how one neutralizes odor in dyestuffs, and the answer came up vinegar.

Well, when you add vinegar to a solution you’re changing its chemical makeup and that turned my purple yarn into this peachy affair. 

Very cool. 

After it sat around for a couple of months, the wool has settled into this very light pinkish situation. 

So, remember when I said that I dyed the roving and the spun yarn separately? They turned out slightly different in tone, so after I stared at the resulting yarn wondering what to do for a bit, I plied them together to make a 4 ply. 

What seemed like an impassable color difference blended together nicely in the four ply.

Now that my yarn was settled I could get going on the project.

I made a bunch of braided crown hats for my craft fair adventure last fall. 

I adapted that pattern a little for this yarn, and got knitting.

Part of the Shave ‘Em 2 Save ‘Em challenge is to use at least 4 ounces of wool. 

The hat was getting pretty nearly done last night and I had a giant glob of yarn left, so I punted and put a big ass tassel on the back,.

Since I was making this up, I have a couple of additional ideas for the next time I make this hat in a larger gauge. I think I’ll make the braid a little wider, use a longer cable, and maybe go up a needle to make it fluffier. 

Overall I am pleased with the end result, and think this hat will be a cozy addition to our family winter hat basket.

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Morning Summer Walk

Nature's fireworks were on full display this morning. 

Honing My Spinning Skills (the one with all the parentheticals)

Since I made the commitment to the Shave 'Em 2 Save 'Em challenge, I have been researching spinning techniques, and trying out new things. It's been a lot of YouTube and podcasts: Becks at Tiny Fibre Studio, the Two Ewes Podcast with Kelly and Marsha are a couple of my go-tos, but if it's spinning related I'll pop it on just for the info and the visuals (in the case of videos).

The other day I watched a video Becks made about making striping yarn, (link above) and I thought I would try out her technique. 

I happened to have an old pack of needle felting roving in natural shades from Fiber Trends. 

                                               

I knew I wanted to try chain plying, so I spun all the fiber straight through onto one bobbin. 

I wish I had taken more photos, but it was late at night (darn you Grantchester, and the hunkiest, broodiest, ginger vicar around [I'm behind a season or two]), and I had a margarita so my photos (and, as it turns out, my plying) were not super hot (definitely not as hot as Sidney Chambers).

When you chain ply, you're basically making a long crochet chain, which you're also spinning. It's a bit of a tricky situation after tequila, but I had tried it in a smaller sample a couple of weeks ago and it was really slick.

Here we have the yarn in its hank

and in its ball. It didn't end up to be very much yardage, I think it was about 2 ounces total.

Since the roving was intended for needle felting it was not very soft. I decided that what I needed was a little basket. 

I started with a flat circle on the bottom, and once it got to the size I wanted I stopped increasing and went straight up. 

By the time I reached the bright white I started decreasing every 5 stitches or so to slightly pull in the top. 

I had a little bit of yarn left, so I added a little handle, which made the basket perfect to use as a yarn bowl.

The majority of the stitching is half-double crochet, and the very last row was single crochet because I was running out of yarn. 

I began my fiber life as a crocheter, and I always forget how easy it is to improvise. 

This project was quick and easy, and I think it will be pretty useful. I may even make up a little yarn bowl for every project I'm working on (that's quite the list, I have a problem with starting projects and then starting more projects, monogamy is not for me, fiber-wise) 

What's on your needles (or hooks) lately? 

Long Overdue Finished Object

I started this quilt a couple of years ago, and kind of pooped out on it because of the hand-quilting. 

Quilt top assembly is really where I find the most enjoyment, but the finishing always takes me a very long time. 

Of course, it's a mental game, since it's not the finishing, but the convincing myself to do it, that takes the time. 

Well, this week I pulled it out from its craft limbo, and quilted while I watched the news, and was able to finish it up on Friday.

Back two years ago, I fell in love with this floral print, and then I went through my stash to find coordinating pieces to use for alternating log cabin squares. I used the main fabric for the center of every square, to have a continuous theme.

 

It's backed in this fun purple print, which coordinates with The Youngest's paint in her room. 

It got her seal of approval, which is all a Mama could want.

What's on your needles (of any sort) this week? 

I started up a facebook group to share projects and creative inspiration, come by if you like!

New Lazy Kate

I learned to spin about 4 years ago, but I'm very much still a novice. 

I don't have a lot of fancy equipment or accessories.

For the last couple of years, my set up has been this lovely wheel

and an improvised lazy Kate for plying.

This morning I got a bee in my bonnet to upgrade the Lazy Kate, so I went hunting in my wood pile and got to it. 

I used a couple of scraps of plywood for the sides, and a bit of a 1x6 for the base. 

First, I knocked off the corners with my mitre saw, then I marked out my holes, and drilled through both pieces of plywood. If I had it to do again, I would drill one and then mark and drill the other, because one hole is pretty wonky. 

I popped over to my parents' house to do a little finishing work with their table saw, and then I was ready for assembly. 

Some glue and a few nails later, I had my frame. 

I used 9 inch size 7 straight needles that I had in my stash to act as posts.

As a stop for the needles, I cut some small leather tabs and folded them. The first ones were too loose, so I cut new ones and made a slightly smaller hole with my super punch.

Since there was a little space beneath the bobbins in my new set up, I hoped that I could slide in a little box or basket to hold a pair of scissors, my wheel oil (when I find it, my space is a little wild at the moment), a pencil, and some paper to label the hanks of yarn as I finish them. 

The space was too narrow for a cigar box, and I didn't have a basket the right size, so I built myself a  caddy from leather. 

The only piece I had that was big enough had a flaw,

 

 but I found some inspiration online, and cut around the broken part to make a rounded edge caddy.

I folded the straight sides up, folded the rounded sides around, punched holes, and sewed them together. This project was super quick, and ended up pretty cool.

So, it looks a little like a shoe...

         

For winging it, I'm pretty pleased. It just fits a little notebook, a pencil and a small pair of scissors. 

Next, I'm going to cut out some heavier paper labels to store in here too, along with some scrap yarn. 

The best part is that it slides right into the Lazy Kate, without bumping into the bobbins. 

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