Do you separate fleece or blend it?

By Amelia © June 12, 2013

In my Fleece to Yarn class I get to share something I love to do, analyze and skirt a fleece.

Skirting is the process of going over the fleece and removing the bad bits. Usually, this is the outer "skirt" of the fleece, the legs and edges tend to be full of dirt and have shorter fibers. Sometimes, the middle of the back had a lot of VM from other animals dropping hay on the sheep's back. A diagram for this: 

One thing you may notice as you skirt is that the fiber changes quality. The neck area can be crimpier and softer, and the hind end -- haunches and before the tail -- can have kemp (coarse fibers) or be coarser overall.

So, do you blend the whole fleece for an overall average fiber, or do you separate and process the parts individually?

When I have a fleece with large differences, I separate and process them individually, planning specific projects to fit the quality of each part of the fleece. Something for finer wool with the neck fleece, something sturdier with the coarser fleece. In fact, when I had Shetlands of my own, I used to make 3 separate piles: the neck (softest) and the britch (kempy) and then all the rest.

But when the fleece is very consistent, I process it all together. Like this Targhee drying on my impromptu drying rack today:

Note: if I send a fleece to the mill, I give it a good skirting and bag it all up, so I could get maximum return, rather than separating it into batches.

One thing to consider about blending is that it doesn't necessarily make for a softer wool that the coarse wool alone. Blending two different fiber diameters can accentuate the differences rather than average them out. The best thing to do is sample. I've blended llama and Shetland to good effect before, nice llama from my 18 micron boy Mahogany and a local Shetland named Margee. It was lovely roving, nicer than Margee on her own. So, that worked out well, with fibers with similar hands going in. Adding fine fiber to coarse cannot stop the coarser fiber's prickle factor, though it will spread the coarse fiber around more so there is more distance between prickles. 

So, consider what uses you want to make of the fiber. Would you get more out of it if the whole fleece were blended? Or could you do something different with the softest and coarsest parts and still make good use of the rest?

This article © 2013 Amelia Garripoli, Ask The Bellwether.

Why aren't there more spindle-spinning books?

By Amelia © June 7, 2013

It seems like there are more spinning books every day.

But spindle-specific books are rare, like hens' teeth. In fact, since 2009, I've heard of four new books. Please, correct me if I'm wrong! Those four are:

1) Productive Spindling (by me, Amelia Garripoli)

2) Respect the Spindle (Abby Franquemont)

3) Fleegle Spins Supported (Susan Glinert Stevens)

4) Spinning Exotic Fibers with Russian and Tibetan Spindles (Caroline Sommerfeld)

However, there are more. Any book on spinning contains information useful to a spindle spinner. The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deb Robson is an obvious (and terrific!) resource for a spindler.

I want you to also consider Sarah Anderson's fabulous book: The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs. It is chock full of techniques usable by a spindler to create new yarns. Anderson starts out by describing fiber processing and basic drafting techniques. Then she covers the gamut of singles yarn and dives into plied constructions. 

Spindles are great for all sorts of singles yarn: thick, thin, thick-and-thin are all very spindle-able. And spindles are well suited to plying with even tension. I admit, a boucle' on a spindle is challenging, though it has been done. Boucle' uses uneven tension on the singles -- for me, that means park-and-ply. Others have devised ways to do it as well. But there are so many yarn constructions that use even tension while plying, that you may never need to explore that. Cable, Hawser, Energized 3-ply: these are all very spindle-able yarns, and just the tip of the plying iceberg!

I teach plying on the wheel and on the spindle. Wheel spinners take yarn construction in stride. They spin singles thick and thin, in either direction; and they will ply in whichever direction I ask, reaching their final yarn with almost no surprise at their accomplishment. Spindle spinners are amazed: they get 2-ply and 3-ply, but often hadn't considered their spindle for a cable, much less for a hawser or more complex construction. It's like I've shown them a part of the yarniverse they had not considered open to them before. I am thrilled to shine a light on unexplored territory for them.

So, pick up The Spinner's Book of Yarn Design, your spindle, and some fiber, and explore. You may just create a whole new yarn!

This article © 2013 Amelia Garripoli, Ask The Bellwether.

What can I use to finish my spindle or wheel (or loom!)?

By Amelia © May 15, 2013

Over Mother's Day weekend, I took a trip to pick up a loom. A loom rescue, as it were, as its owner bought it not to weave on, but as furniture... a large butler (clothes horse) in the corner of a bedroom, basically.

When I got it home, it was clear that it needed a good wood cleaning, restoring, and waxing. That was also a terrific way to figure out what might be broken or missing. Here she is now:

Aaaah. All that appears to be missing from this 1936 Bergman loom is a dowel on the cloth beam, two dowels on the castle, and the nut on the warp brake pedal. The tie-ups need some work too, I am looking forward to a test warp to get that all sorted!

So, what did I use?

First, I used a furniture wipe to get the dust, bug dirts, and cobwebs off. Then, I used Howard's Restor-a-Finish to clean her up properly. I finished off with the Howard Feed-N-Wax, thicker than my lemon oils and thinner than my Howard Paste. 

If I'm just re-waxing a good friend like my Jensen Tina II, I'm likely to use the Kotton Lemon Oil.

If it's bare wood like The Bellwether Spindle, I use a paste, like the Howard Paste or another favorite, Wood Beams from Goodies Unlimited

It's always a good idea to talk to the maker if you can before applying a finish, as they know what looks the best on their products. Also, if the wood has a polyurethane coating on it, it doesn't need any wood finish, just a dusting.

If you have a favorite wood finish, let me know - I love trying new things.

This article © 2013 Amelia Garripoli, Ask The Bellwether.

Can you make a living in the fiber arts?

By Amelia © May 4, 2013

I've recently returned from pinch-hitting for another teacher at John C. Campbell Folk School. It was a terrific week; using the course description, I put together a romp through yarn design, moving from singles to ply constructs to art yarns as the week progressed. I learned a lot about how much information workshop participants can absorb, and on just how much work I can do in a week. We all had a great time; the fiber was enjoyed, the company was great, and the meals were wonderful.

Our group became close-knit despite arriving from all over America, from Alaska to New Jersey and several points in between. We've exchanged emails, and one topic that came up was, 'can you make a living in the fiber arts?'

The math is simple: how much money do you need to live on -- make an accurate budget; determine how much income can you make from what you want to do. If you can make enough to live on, then you're golden.

The ladies know that making enough income is a tough thing. They knew I was in a idle period, no workshops for a month, when I got the call asking if I was available to fill in. What was I living on, then? Savings. I have to deal with living on variable income, which means even when the money seems to be rolling in, you have to set some aside for a dry spell.

The hardest part can be evaluating the income opportunity. In fiber arts, we have many choices: sell supplies, sell altered supplies (dyed, spun, kitted up), sell finished pieces, develop patterns, write, teach, process fiber, spin for others, knit for others, raise fiber animals, make fiber tools, organize events ... And likely more. Business plans can be useful in organizing your thoughts and determining cash flow potential. I did business plans before I started The Bellwether as a retail business, before I began my fiber mill, and even when I decided to shift my focus to teaching and writing.

Each business choice has expenses (materials, tools, storage/work space, website, bookkeeping, advertising, and more). Generally your income comes from the time you put in: you have to market your wares to get customers; you need to hone your skills to grow your business; you must create products or track inventory to have goods to sell, and so on. It also comes from making good choices, examining what produces income and what does not. The income has to cover the business expenses and your household budget.

Pricing is a big issue for fiber arts. The market sets some prices: you can cruise handspun on Etsy, looking at yardage, weight, and fiber to get a feel for handspun pricing; wholesale suppliers often set retail prices on their goods; and boutiques in your area may carry other fiber artists' products already to give you and idea on pricing handwoven goods or hand dyed yarns. Those are good to take into consideration given your cost of materials, tool and location costs, and the time it takes you to make the items you sell or run the business you want to create.

Especially with service or finished items, it is important to consider that time. If it takes 5 hours to weave, finish, and package a scarf, $30 in materials, and say $5 in overhead costs (tools and location, fees, etc.) and you can sell it for $60 retail then you get $25 for your 5 hours of time. That may seem great if you have a day job, but $5 an hour is a pretty low wage to live on. Consider what you can do: get more efficient at weaving, change the weave structure, yarn, or item to something that adds more value without slowing you down or costing more to produce.

Now, truth be told, I often just wing it and hope to get something to cover the next bill. But the further honest truth is that I adore what I do. Every day is like a vacation for me. I don't tire of it. Today was a perfect day: I fixed a skirt hem, threaded a bit more of my twill warp on my floor loom, swapped looms with a lovely lady who not only wanted my AVL Workshop Dobby Loom but had the Louet Magic Dobby loom I really wanted, researched for some fall classes, worked on a workshop proposal for an upcoming show, and now I'm writing this. Better than a day on any beach on the planet.

And that is where the magic is...loving what you do. It makes you willing to find new ways to approach it. I've done retail, wholesale, services, e-books, workshops, online workshops, worked for others in the fiber arts, and will keep trying new things and fitting them into "Ask The Bellwether" as needed to keep it a success. I've researched suppliers, publishers, on line marketplaces, and wool shows, and will continue to find new sources for materials and venues for what I do. I know I love learning, and I have been amazed at how much I enjoy teaching. My deepest love is writing, though my skills are home grown rather than college-honed. My spindles, wheels, looms, and tools call to me and I adore passing along their lessons to others in the spoken and written word.

There are many inspiring blogs out there to help motivate you to follow your dreams. I enjoy Wakeup Cloud, in part because Henri is himself discovering his own passion in what he does, and applying it directly in his blog. His enthusiasm is infectious!

And, as my partner Chris says, some people make the music and some people listen to it. He is a professional listener ... always in the audience, never in the band. Someone has to be! So if fiber arts are your hobby, I thank you for that. Without folks looking to simply enjoy the fiber arts, those of us who pursue it as a lifestyle would not have an audience. Thank you for listening to my music :-) it brings me great joy to make it, in all its woolly goodness!

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This article © 2013 Amelia Garripoli, Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog.

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The pictures are from the workshop: supplies, my necklace of textured yarns, and the circle of wheels in our classroom.

Really, a metal spinning wheel?

Dear Toni,

It was really great to see you and your amazing spindle and wheel collection when I was in Colorado last summer. Thanks for asking then about my Columbine wheel ( www.r-e-solutions.org/Columbine/about.html ). The bright yellow was a good choice for me -- very cheerful. There are several color options available, including a much more sedate forest green and a yummy plum. These are unique wheels, being made from metal rather than wood.

I'd compare it to a Louet for spinning feel, despite it being a double drive wheel. In my experience, most double drive wheels have fairly soft draw in. But then, most have cotton drive bands on wooden grooves. The Columbine has poly drive bands on metal grooves -- very much grippier (is that a word?) than the traditional cotton on wood. So, the draw in is very strong, like Louets' Irish tension tends to be.

Since I like Louets, I felt comfortable spinning it. I am tempted to try a hemp drive band to see if that softens the drive band -- but you know me. If it took me 6 months to write this to you, it could be another 6 before I try a different drive band material.

The bobbins are immense -- though not much wider than traditional bobbins, they are easily twice as long as Ashford's. So they hold a lot! I spun up a 4 ounce skein and even the full plied 4 ounces looked like not much on the bobbin. You can say the beauty of the yarn is from the skill of the spinner, but the wheel also had to contribute, as I spun a yarn outside of my default yarn, a plump, soft, squishy two-ply. As you can see from the skein-shot, it turned out really well -- I attribute that to the quality of the wheel as much as to the talent of my hands.

One thing I had to get used to -- you cannot lift the wheel by the bobbin/flyer, as the flyer's rod (the spindle) is resting in a bracket at the back, rather than being pushed into a holder. Sure, it's not wise to lift a wheel that way in general, so I'm happy to have to correct a bad habit. My other wheels will benefit.

I got my Columbine with the matching lazy kate. The bobbins are extra-tall, so I'm not sure if they would fit on my other kates. They do have a very wide center tube, so the rod diameter would not matter. But you would want a long kate rod (how long, you ask? ummm... I will follow up with that info). I am a plyer who likes to position her kate away from her wheel, so that works well for me. And I can "store" the kate on the wide treadle of the Columbine, so it is pretty easy to tote along with the wheel. There is also an option for an on-board kate, which would be appealing for bobbin storage at least, if you have a kate for plying on hand already.

My past experience with Columbines before this wheel was helping a lady with one get it to spin well. She needed to set and then refine the tension, it didn't take long to get it spinning well. It was enough to make me interested in the wheel, so when the maker had a booth near mine at Black Sheep Gathering, I trotted on over to see cost and if I could carry them to offer them to my spinning students.

Being me, I ended up taking one home. Nothing like a skein or threes' experience to tell me how a beginner would take to the wheel. It is a good beginner-and-grow-into wheel. I would feel comfortable teaching someone on it, and would know they could have an entire spinning career on just this wheel. There's a decent range of ratios, it's sturdy and travels in cars well, and bobbin size is a big plus. It has the modern amenity of sliders instead of hooks on the flyer -- the best improvement to wheels in the past several decades.

I continue to be a big fan of castle wheels in general, and would love to find a Louet S-90 like yours with its lovely painted wheel. My teaching herd (Louets, Spinolutions, Ashfords, a Babe and a Sequoia) is happy to welcome in the cheerful yellow Columbine.

Until we meet again (will I see you at Blacksheep Gathering? I'm teaching there this year!),
Amelia.

© February 28, 2013 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog

How can I get more on my spindle?

By Amelia © October 9, 2012

Getting more yarn on your spindle requires great skill. Luckily, itis a skill we all possess: recognize natural beauty. A balancedspindle-full of yarn looks nice. It's naturally appealing in itstidiness, order, and symmetry.

Okay, I hear some of you groaning. You didn't like to tidy your room,and you still don't like housecleaning. But this isn't that. It'swinding yarn on the spindle, which is a celebration. Each time youwind on, you have created a new length of yarn.

For the past year, I have lived with wood stove heat. I like beingwarm, so I chop wood. I have a choice I can make -- I can throw thewood in an untidy pile that falls and expands when new wood hits it,or I can stack the wood in an organized wall that leans on itself andstays put. The organized pile looks better. Beauty of the woodpiletranslates to compactness, keeping more wood dry, and giving easyaccess to wood. With summer arriving July 5th here, we've workedthrough several cords of alder this spring, all chopped by me. I feelquite accomplished, taking my messy piles and putting them neatly inthe woodpile for use in keeping my family warm.

Similarly, as I work through a spinning project like themerino/yak/silk blend I spun up at Black Sheep Gathering, I feel quiteaccomplished as I get 1 ounce, 1.5 ounces, and then the full 2 ounceson my top-whorl spindle with no appreciable wobble.

How far can you take this? The most I've put on a spindle is 4 ouncesof singles and 4 ounces of plied yarn. I've seen flickr entries with 7ounces of singles on a spindle, and Andean womens' spindles seem quitea bit fuller than my 4-ouncers.

Practical advice to achieve beauty in your spindle-full:

Wind on tightly, maintaining tension between the newly formed yarn andthe yarn already on the spindle shaft. If you wind on in a closelyarranged series of rounds on the shaft, every once in a while switchover to an X-wind on to hold down the rounds and keep the rows fromcollapsing into each other. You can look for artistry in your cop likethe Turkish spindle windings that appear on flickr, or you can strivefor a balanced shape and surface of the yarn on the spindle withoutlaying bands of color on the spindle shaft.

I like to put 2 ounces on spindles as singles, and then ply thattogether into a 4-ounce spindle-full. If I'm spinning thinner, I mayput less on the spindle. Consider the final spindle weight. I spinfine yarn on a 1/2- ounce spindle, and I don't want it to get muchover an ounce in total weight, so I only put 1/2 ounce on it. I spinthicker yarns (DK singles and thicker) on a 1.5 -ounce spindle; afterthere's an ounce on it, it's 2.5 ounces, which starts to feel heavy.At 3.5 ounces it's heavy enough that I'm done, even if the spindleisn't wobbling.

You may be able to tolerate a heavier spindle - or you may want tostop at a lighter final weight. It's a matter of preference, part ofyour spinning personality.

Plying goes so quickly that I don't mind doubling two 2-ouncespindle-fulls of singles and piling on 4 ounces of plied yarn. It'ssatisfying to see how closely I can match the length of each half ofthe fiber, a bit like trying to see how few blows it takes to chop around into burnable logs for my woodstove. And it's really satisfyingto see that huge cop of yarn on the spindle!

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Yes, I have been posting less. That's because this past year has been full of studio building! It's done and workshops are underway. I post schedules to my email list (contact me to be added), on Ravelry's Spinning Workshops forum, and on Ask The Bellwether's Facebook page.
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© October 9, 2012 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog

How do weavers find inspiration?

By Amelia © January 18, 2012

With the new year, I am looking to re-inspire my fiber arts. Writing is always a joy, but life has kept me from pursuing activities as much as I would like. So a chance run-in with a local weaver and invitation to their guild meeting was too lucky to pass up.

And can you believe it, the topic was finding inspiration! A few of my fibery friends were there, and one handed me the feather you see above. The table was full of yarn, so finding colors was pretty easy. We chatted as we made "wraps", to sample color combinations and decide what colors were in our inspiration.



Wrapped samples like this are a common tool among weavers. They are a great way to sample colors and proportions. As I was winding mine to "match" my feather, it started working its way into my mind, firing off ideas of what to weave.

The feather and the colors reminded me of a color-and-weave I have not yet done, so I took the idea and worked with it, weaving a sample to see how it would look:



Plaid. Yes, not a 2/2 twill that would make it an authentic plaid, but symmetric stripes with border colors. I like it!

The fun part of the project was also the instant gratification -- one of the ladies cut matt board for us, so we can mount our inspiration and our sample weaving, frame it and have a new piece of art for our weaving corner. That is where mine will hang...

You can find inspiration in anything -- a rock, a feather, a picture, last year's calendar, furniture, the snow on the trees, a sunset. Look at it, explore its colors and textures, wrap or sample and wa-la! you will have made a new fabric that is all your own.

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© January 18, 2012 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.com/blog