Fiber fun!

Hand-spun, hand-knit, hand-dyed

I started working on this project a long time ago. Like seriously, a few years ago. It all started when we were up in Oregon and I found a listing online for a Mother Marion kick spindle. (Search for it and you'll find some fun videos.) I had used a drop spindle when I was in high school at a Renaissance Faire and thought it would be fun to pick up the spinning habit. So I convinced my dearest that it was a good thing for me to have and we went and picked it up. Then I found a yarn store that actually sold roving! So I picked up a bag of blue-faced Leicester wool. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing with any of this stuff, so it sat on the bookcase for months. :) Oops!

Awhile later, I was living with my grandma in Mendocino County where there is a large collection of fiber enthusiasts. And no, this is not the kind that your doctor is telling you to get more of. This is the kind that people spin into amazing yarn and work into beautiful, and sometimes uneven, items. I had renewed interest in that clunky spindle that I had to use both hands and a foot to operate. So I diligently followed along with a few online tutorials and started making something resembling a very thick cord that was difficult to manipulate.

Fortunately for that yarn, the spindle fell and broke, rendering it useless. I did find a very pretty hand painted drop spindle at a yarn store in the city we went to for groceries, though. I thought it was a bargain at $15. In reality, I paid for a piece of art. $15 for a drop spindle is ridiculously expensive! But, it spins well and is nicely balanced. We went to the Fiber Festival at the Mendocino County Fair that fall. If I haven't said this yet, my husband is an amazingly patient man who supports my craziness. I love him! He walked around with me and looked at all of the cool yarn and was supportive of my indulgent purchase of said spindle when we found comparable ones (not hand painted, but spun just as well!) for 1/3 of what I paid. He even watched the spinning competition with me! I met some people who lived near us and gathered for monthly spinning sessions during the winter. I was so excited!

Here is the spindle with some more sheep wool. The light gray is how big the balls of roving were to start. The dark gray ball is how small it got once I finished spinning a single strand. I did ply these two together to create a striped yarn, but I haven't done anything with it yet.

So I checked out more tutorials on how to use a drop spindle to spin roving into yarn. I had some learning experiences (still learning!). I also have learned that I am much more interested in spinning fine yarn and knitting lacy garments than chunky or lofty yarns. Now I'm getting too technical, I know! Anyway, for those of you who are not currently obsessed with how fine your yarn can be before it snaps, let me go over the vocabulary of this post for you.

A spindle is what spins. I use a drop spindle that I spin by hand and feed more hairs to until it hits the ground. Some people use a spinning wheel to spin theirs. I like the portability of mine. Plus, it's hand painted.

Roving is a collection of hairs or fibers from an animal or a plant that have been combed so they are all neatly lying in the same direction. This can be done by hand, machine, or a mill. I like milled roving, since it's easy to buy in bulk and I don't raise my own fiber animals yet. Though I do have big plans for angora rabbits...

 

That is a rabbit in there!

 

Fibers are any hairs or plant pieces that are being spun together to form a thread or yarn. I have used sheep wool and alpaca wool so far. I LOVE the alpaca!!!

Sheep wool irritates my skin slightly. Plus, alpaca (along with angora) is warmer than sheep wool so less yarn needs to be used for the same warmth. And I am having a blast knitting lace!

These were originally the same size. The light colored ball is unspun roving, the dark ball is a single strand that I finished spinning.

 

Back to my project. So here I was, living 45 minutes outside of a real city with jobs, with my grandma and husband, with roving and a spindle, and a group of fiber enthusiasts just down the road. I got to spinning! I ended up spinning quite a bit of yarn onto my spindle until it was so full and bulky that I could not control it anymore. Now I had to figure out how to turn it into something useable. So I looked up plying. Plying is the process of spinning two or more threads together in the opposite direction to create a stronger thread or yarn (think two ply tissue paper or picture a rope). My first attempt was with two seperate balls that left me with a small amount left from one ball. That could not have been the best method. I looked some more and found advice to wind a center-pull ball and ply from the inside and outside at the same time. Now I just had to wind a ball of yarn that I could pull both ends from together without breaking my fine thread. Hmm. It took a few attempts. I got it, though!

These two balls are the same ones pictured above after I finished spinning a single strand of each color. I then plied them together. I am thinking of just keeping the yarn since it is my first complete spinning project.

After I plied the yarn I had to block it. Some people have fancy niddy noddies. I have a husband who used to install floors and has lots of tools. We bought a piece of 1" pvc pipe and some fittings and cut the pipe into pieces. I now have a niddy noddy with an adjustable length so my skeins can be different sizes. I have the choice between 12" and 18" for the length. I prefer the smaller size since it's easier on my arms to wind the yarn onto, though the 18" allows for accurate measurement of the length of the yarn in yards.

Sometime in this process I got bored with just spinning. It also gets tiring on my hands. My thumb gets exhusted since I'm basically snapping my fingers with a piece of wood between them! I began to look for a pattern that would show off my beautiful spinning work. I found a lovely lace scarf pattern on Ravelry that I started working on. My chaos was turning into something amazing! I spun until my right hand was tired, then I knit for awhile until I ran out of yarn, then I spun some more.

Eventually, I finally finsihed this beautiful piece. After putting it against my neck, which is how I like to knit scarves actually, I decided it was not for me since it felt too scratchy and uncomfortable. My mom watched me make quite a bit of it since somewhere in there we moved in with her. She loved how it looked and I know she appreciates all of the effort that has gone into the making of this particular scarf. I decided it would be for her. However, anyone who know my mom know that white or off-white is just wrong for her! I found this amazing post on how to dye cotton hot pink. Of course, I used plums from our friends that are orange/yellow flesh and I dyed wool, not cotton, so I did not get the same results.

The above left is the scarf in the salt bath required to help set the dye. The next one is the plum skin solution that I strained to make the dye.

Below are two pictures of the scarf after an overnight (about 24 hour) soak in the dye and rinsing in cold water until the water ran clear. This is the final color of the scarf. Not quite the hot pink I was hoping for, but much better than the plain off-white it was!

Now all I need to to is weave in the ends of the scarf and I'm finally done!!! I am so proud of myself for this amazing effort. To see the pictures of the plain roving and know that I actually went all the way through a garmet is pretty incredible. You're welcome, Mom! :) This winter she will love it, I'm sure.



Homemade Whipped Body Butter

That amazing wonderfulness is how I chose to spend my morning. Well, that and my yarn spinning. But that's another day! I have seen a few different recipes for whipped body butter on
Pinterest lately and it inspired me. Basically, the recipes are equal parts of cocoa butter and oil, melted, cooled, and whipped. The goal is a rich and creamy moisturizer that will stay in this state despite rising summer temps, unlike whipped coconut oil that will melt above 76 degrees (or 85, or 95, depending on the brand or who you ask). Living in the Central Valley of California means that our first 90 degree day was in April, so I need something that will stay semi-solid for after my showers. Welcome to whipped body butter heaven!

My recipe is pretty similar to others I've seen, but I added in some vitamin E oil and left out any scent so it is very gentle. I have a nasty sore on my left ring finger from the A/C in my truck and I wanted something that would hydrate and protect my skin. Believe it or not, the sore looked way worse this morning before the butter was done! :)

Here are my ingredients.

 



And this is what was left after I filled one jar completely. It looks like frosting!

I filled one jar completely but had some left over that I put into a different jar. The full one is in the fridge for storage, just in case. The smaller amount is in the bathroom and let me tell you I smell like a chocolate dream with super silky skin! I love this stuff!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cocoa butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup pure jojoba oil
• 5 vitamin E capsules (I would say between 1/2 and 1 tsp, if using liquid)
• essential oil for fragrance or any skin issues, optional (I left mine unscented)

Directions:

1. Put a small amount of water into a small pan. Set a glass bowl into the pan so that it does not touch the water. Set on low to medium heat (I used heat setting 4 out of 9).
2. Add cocoa butter and coconut oil to bowl. Allow to melt, stirring occasionally.
3. When completely liquified, remove from heat and add jojoba oil. Puncture (carefully!) the E capsules and squeeze them in as well. Stir to ensure even distribution of all ingredients.
4. Place a trivet on a shelf in the fridge and set the bowl on top. Allow to cool for a few hours. I left my bowl for about two hours, though I probably should have waited longer. The idea is to have the mixture starting to solidify, but not be too hard to whip. Mine was too liquidy so I set the bowl into another bowl filled with ice. It worked perfectly!
5. Whip the butter/oil mixture with a hand mixer until it is evenly softened and fluffy. I am quite sure that this would work with a stand mixer. I don't have one so I used a regular hand mixer. I would not recommend a stick (immersion) blender since part of the whipping is to incorporate air. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that the harder butter is getting mixed in, too. Transfer to storage containers.
6. Apply liberally whenever and wherever skin feels dry. This does leave an oil coating on the skin so rub it in well. All of the excess oil will be absorbed soon. Enjoy!