Silk and self care

After an enforced day off from spinning, because I forgot to stop and my shoulders were complaining, I did a bit more today.

An introduced a snappy new tool into my dizzing array. I'd been using a crochet hook to thread the roving, but noted that some kits come with a wire threader. 

So I searched for my fine gauge copper wire, used for mixed media including wire knitting.

And here's a loop at work

You see the dizzed result in this lovely heap of color, along with the gold and orange rovings yet to be dizzed.

The shreddy yarn on the spindle is Indian sari silk, rescued for spinning, lovely to feel as it glides through your fingers. There was just a scrap of this. I love that it was saved from pulping, or just discarding, to reuse.

 I think the slippery gold and orange colors are probably silk, too, judging from how they feel and handle, and the saturation of the colors. I spun a bit last evening, to try it out. It's partly covered on the spindle by the sari silk.

I'm being more conscientious now about taking breaks and stopping before I get carried away. That's the plan, anyway.

The roving came home

 The second I'd published my last post, I got an alert saying my order had arrived.

So here's what was in the mailbox

That's a Post-It, to give you an idea of the small size.

And inside, three little lunch bags. Doesn't look like much? Wait..

There. Wonderful colors and textures, all sprang out at me. 

I plan to just play with it a bit now.

Rehab for early attempts at spinning

 It occurred to me today that I have quite a bit of leftover handspun and hand dyed from yarns which went into tapestries and other weaving. The leftovers were early learning and I respun some of it, drafting with a bit more skill. It was cheering to see that I have improved.

And to realize I know more about roving now. I started out with a fleece I processed from straight off a friend's sheep (dirt, grass, hayseeds) to yarn, washing, carding, combing, drafting, dyeing, spinning. That worked out pretty well, and I think I've used all that yarn.

However my next venture was a rope of Spanish merino, which I was told was a good beginner's roving to spin from.

 It was discouraging to find I now had trouble drafting and spinning evenly, slippery, resistant.

 I ended up using most of it as roving, woven as is into mixed media wallhangings. Later I found that it's better for a spinner with more experience, which was not me. If I'd known about dizzing, that would probably have helped.

Then I got a mixed lot of dyed roving ends, from Goats Magosh as a low budget experiment,and found some of them practically drafted and spun themselves. So it wasn't me after all. So I cheered up again.

Anyway I'm going to incorporate quite a bit of this yarn, 

some I'll respin a bit to even out the twist, and ply together. I'm glad to rescue this yarn. It's like being a teacher looking at student work and knowing how to fix it and why it didn't work so well before.

While I was at it, I did a bit of spit splicing to join small amounts up for eventual plying. Knitters know this way of bonding two wool yarn ends together. But if you're not a knitter, you might like to know this. It could work on wool crewel yarn, too. Has to be wool. 

You separate out the fiber ends of the yarn

Then spread them together, overlapping them and keeping the fibers in line

Then damp them. Some people use a drop of water on their fingers, some use a bit of saliva, your choice.

Then roll firmly back and forward until the fibers bond permanently. Takes a minute or two. It's the combination of damp and friction that does this. It's similar to felting in a way, but only about an inch of the yarn is affected. Once you can't pull the joint apart you know it's bonded.

Jeans are the best surface for this, but today I was wearing fleece, and it worked anyway.

Very useful meander down Spinning Lane.

First results of plying

 Plying is a great visual experience, as you work, you see the colors flying past. This is the second time only that I've done it, and I'm starting to develop beginning skills.

Plying is done by attaching two spun single plies of yarn then spinning them together using the spindle in the opposite direction from the way you spun the singles. So since I spun clockwise, I  ply counterclockwise. There are various cute bowls and boxes, with cute folksy names,  to feed the yarn for plying but I didn't bother, just let the yarn balls lie on the floor, yarn behind my wrist, while I stood to ply. You have to stand because plying is lightning fast and the spindle is down to the ground, yarn plied,  before you know it. And gosh is it a shoulder exercise. By the time this was done, my arms refused to go up and down any more!

I noticed at first weird little tails appearing and realized that the two plies were not taking up at the same speed, one was plying back on itself, so I paid more attention to that, to get them paying out together  evenly and managed to do better. No tails after that.

Views of the yarn to show you the various colors happening. Once they're wound into balls the colors tend to vanish. But it will be interesting to knit, or possibly weave, i have a new idea, and see them reappear.

As you see, chunky yarn and it's wonderfully soft and warm. It will take a long time, and keep me occupied, always a good thing. And I'll improve my plying just as I'm improving my spinning.

I already have a good idea of the design of the top, rectangles with dropped sleeves, and the front and back will be partly knitted diagonally. I'm also thinking of the option of creating a cardboard loom to the bodice shape I made for the Joanne jacket and weaving on there. There's plenty of time to consider that, since this is slow and labor intensive process. And the top can be a knit and weave combo. 

But first I have to produce the yarn. It's so good to have a continuing project going. Good for your spirits at a difficult worrying time.

Stitching in sleep mode

Everything's waiting till I turn to it again. I need to have one project out of sight when I'm in another. It's visually tiring to have it out. It also blocks thought needed by the other work.

So it's resting quietly, till its turn comes.

It's time for Liz to diz

The needlework peacock feather motif is done and only needs to be appliqued to the robe, so I'm taking a little break from close work, and since we've had a light frost, I'm spinning.

The connection is that my allergies make it almost impossible to spin or knit or do anything wool related, but the first frost usually sees the end of swollen, itching eyes and sneezing, yay.

So I can start what might be a winter project, dizzing, then spindle spinning, then plying, then knitting a top for which I already have an idea how to design and proceed.

Dizzing is the process of drawing roving, the fluff which eventually becomes yarn, through a fine aperture to make spinning a consistently even yarn easier.

You can spend money getting all carried away buying various sizes of diz for various thicknesses of yarn, or you can just find a handy button and a fine crochet hook, and go from there.

Like this

You can spin from roving or combed top without dizzing, and I have, but I find the extra step gives me a more consistent yarn. It's like predrafting only for me it works better.

So this is where I am. 

The plan is to spin a lot of single ply in one color range, here pink/red/rust, then spin another lot in a different colorway, then ply them together to make a chunky variegated yarn. You spin clockwise, ply counterclockwise.

Plying has been a bit of a comic scene around here, since it's so much faster than spinning, the plies just hurling themselves around each other, it's like being in a speeded up movie. And you can't laugh and ply at the same time. I know this.

 I've ordered a fairly large supply of mixed ends in merino and bamboo from Goats Magosh through their Etsy shop, since they're open for business again. 

These are like what you see above here, plenty of variety in color and texture. 

And shopping for ends rather than a large amount of roving in a pre blended mix is not only cheaper but more interesting, to mix my own color sequence. My experience with Goats Magosh has been good, so why not.

The stitching project is just taking a break. It will return!

And I can now bring some yarn related work to my knitting group.

 

Robe, goldwork almost done

 I need to let this be for a day or two, to see if it's finished. Then I'll press out the drawn blue lines.

A display solution courtesy of the dumpster

Found this old halogen lamp at the dumpster, cut off the cord and arranged the flex neck, and here's a handy display stand for the Robe.

I'll do a bit more with it, but for now, it's fine. Certainly better than hanging in the coat closet between work sessions. The base is unobtrusive, but heavily weighted,so it's pretty stable.

Happy dumpster diver.

Robe, almost finished this section

 Just another little line of silver thread on the right and this section is done

Then the chevron shapes which I haven't yet decided on. I'll see after I've looked at this a while. The drawn lines are irrelevant at this point, and will vanish under a warm iron. They were really just the starting point. I've discarded my notes too, 

This is how art goes, when the work takes on its own life and earlier ideas have served their purpose and can be discarded.

Robe silver work

 This is how I'm making the transition from the curves to the straight bands. 

Instead of the brilliant silver of the curves, I'm using the softer thread I used earlier in the eye.  Nice echo, and it gives more body to the shift from curve to straight..

Robe, gold and silver work and silk

 Here's the worktop today, toys galore

And this is where we are.

You'll see an asymmetrical movement, more interesting than the static original to me. This kind of close work is very engrossing until I realize I can't see very well, eyes tired. So I have to take a break.

Robe,, silver and gold work

This is slow work, but so good to handle, laying down the metallic thread right next to its neighbor, sliding in the needle into the fractional space between them, drawing it through and back through the same place. 

My eyes now need a break.

Back to fancy

 Embroidery is slow, but such a pleasure. Here's the next section. Silk turquoise thread couched with silk thread in gold color.

As you see, my design is departing from the original idea. Next I think I'll work in silver.

Top in action

The top is finished and the wrists worked well. Boat neck okay, too.

And there are a few punctures and runs, from the late lamented Duncan, so I'm stitching then wabi sabi style, to decorate, not hide them.  I've done several, all different, a bit wobbly but who's counting.

This can definitely be worn in the daytime, and I have to see about making a second one, now that I know how. After I finish decorating all the punctures. It's very soft and comfortable, more so than the shirt I used as the template, softer kind of jersey. 

I may not hem this one, just let the fabric roll up as jersey does. I've shortened several bought shirts this way, and they look fine.

It would be easy to make short sleeved t-shirts with this pattern, or nonpattern. Or any length of sleeve, really. 

This idea worked okay.

Back to plain

After all that fancy stitching, I need to do a bit of plain.

Can't get much plainer than cutting up an old fitted sheet that doesn't fit any more, to make a couple of comfy tops. I thought of this idea as I was drifting off to sleep, Miss Marple wittering away quietly. 

I needed a couple of long sleeve tops for sleeping, or, if I like them enough, waking.

I was lying on a jersey sheet at the time and remembered an old fitted jersey sheet in the linen closet, too small to be comfortable on this bed, with various punctures from dear departed Duncan climbing up the side of the bed to join me. 

A source of fabric. So after a few tries, I found a layout that would work, using a top that fits, as a template. Resting on the fold, T shaped top, slit for neck, seams only for sleeves and sides. Simple design. No measuring and drafting.

And I found that my wingspread, wrist to wrist, is the width of the sheet. This means I have elastic wrist bands already made, yay.

So I marked it with one of those vanishing pens, seam allowance not critical, given that it's stretchy and won't fray.

Pinned it up, tried it on.

 Not bad.

All that's left is some peaceful stay stitching at the neck,  backstitching around the sides, to the accompaniment of Post Captain or whatever he is.  If I find little holes left by Duncan, I might do a bit of embroidery and make them lovely.

Not a bad couple of hours. And there's enough fabric left to make another if I like this one.

Robe, goldwork

Some more stitching, silverwork and goldwork.

As I've been working on this I've started to aim for a more fluid design than the original, which is a bit rigid.

That's because it was intended for a dress, molded round a human figure in action, particularly dancing. So there was no need to build in movement. Mine is different, smaller, and will be more static, so I'm making it flow more.

For one thing, I think I won't break the color as the original did, meeting gold against silver. I'll probably stitch the curves continually in one color. But I'll alternate the colors. Then maybe I'll break the colors in the arrowhead shape at the bottom.

We'll see.