KnitMe

Gig Harbor review - Drumcarding with Deb

I have nothing but respect for regular bloggers. Blogging is time consuming! Time that could be spent knitting little swatches:

Domino swatch from 6-color batts made into roving 2 ways: (bottom) z-stripped (top) rolled and pulled

But I am having so much fun with this, I must relate how it came about.

A week ago, my friend Kate and I took a class from Deb Menz, called "Drumcarding for multicolored yarns", at the Gig Harbor Winter Retreat. This was a whirlwind introduction to some of the techniques presented in her excellent book, Color in Spinning, which is finally back in print. She normally teaches this as a 2- or 3-day workshop, with a more structured progression of samples, but the 1-day version and the book were definitely enough to get me launched. She used to bring her own hand-dyed wool for the class, but this time was experimenting with using commercially dyed rovings. There was a selection of 40-50 colors, plus white, black and some grays for blending. This saved us the first step of carding each color you are going to use into an initial batt.

The first batt we made used six colors in an analogous range (in the same quarter of the color wheel): 2 thin layers and 4 long stripes. One thin layer of color is carded onto the entire drum surface. Then each long stripe is carded onto a narrow section of the width of the drum, overlapping slightly. Finally, another color can be put on as a thin layer across the full drum.

These two batts were made with the same 6 colors. One had dark green as a thin layer on one side, and a yellow on the other side, with the other shades as 4 long stripes. The second batt had thin layers of yellow and orange, with a different set as long stripes.

Two 6-color batts made from the same colors in slightly different arrangements

Once you have your multi-colored batt, there are two ways to make it into a spinnable roving: (1) roll and pull, and (2) Z-strip. Roll and pull is a bit harder to do, but the result is more uniform color throughout the roving. You roll it lengthwise around a dowel, then very patiently pull it out thinner and thinner into a roving. All the thin layers and all of the long stripes appear thoughout the length of the yarn, but the long stripes will be a little more concentrated than the thin layers. For Z-stripping, you tear the batt into narrow strips from one end to close to the end, then "turn the corner" and go back the other way. Then you pull the result out further into your roving. A z-striped roving will have the thin layer colors throughout its length, but each long stripe appears only once as a long repeat (more or less, it depends on how closely the width of your strips match the width of the long color stripes).

Z-stripping one of the 6-color batts

If you look at my domino swatch at the top of this post, the bottom row was knit left to right from the Z-stripped roving (spun into yarn) and the top row was knit right to left from the Rolled and Pulled roving (spun into yarn). She had us spin singles, as it preserves the color progressions better. Kate and I were a bit skeptical about how nice this yarn was going to be, but it is really quite nice - I may be a convert! If you do ply, use another color singles (as those of you in the Plying for Color class learned!). If you ply the same multicolored single with itself, it just muddies the colors.

Our next batt was 9 colors, using a split complement color scheme. We made 2 batts, one with thin layers and long stripes, and one with thin layers and the third technique, short stripes. Here is a shot of Deb demonstrating short stripes, in which the wool is applied directly to the drum and then carded in before applying the next, slightly overlapping color:

Deb Menz demonstrating the application of short stripes

Lots of color makes for a more interesting yarn, but to keep the colors clear, put no more than 6 colors in any single batt, and make stacked batts to be layered and pulled out together.

One thin layer and the layout for long stripes to be applied across the drum

The resulting 2 batts are layered on top of each other, and then made into roving using one of the 2 methods. Rolling and pulling can get pretty physical, but if you want a more uniform color throughout, it is the way to go! Note also that with color applied to the drum as short stripes, if you roll and pull then each short stripe shows up only once along the length of the yarn. With z-stripping, the short strips come and go more frequently.

Two batts, one with long stripes and one with short stripes, to be stacked and made into a single roving

Finally, Deb showed us how she spins a low-twist singles yarn, spun worsted or semi-worsted.

Spinning a low-twist singles yarn

The possibilities are endless, and somewhat mind-boggling. I was excited to realize I could continue to experiment using commercial dyed rovings, as I am not quite ready to take on the whole dyeing thing yet! And finally, I cannot recommend Deb Menz's book, Color in Spinning, highly enough.

Katie

Gig Harbor review - Spinning with Judith

I spent 4 wonderful days last Thursday through Sunday at the Winter Retreat at Gig Harbor (Washington State), which is on the Kitsap Peninsula just west of Tacoma, WA. This is a conference put on by Madrona Fiber Arts every February, with the main focus on knitting classes, but also including other fiber arts. There are perhaps a couple hundred participants, and a nice mix of national and local instructors. We have a lot of truly excellent local talent here in our neck of the woods!

I took up spinning a little over a year ago, and took classes at Gig Harbor last year from Judith MacKenzie-McCuin. I was able to continue my education in my new interest this year, with the added advantage of a year's practice under my belt.

My first two days were again spent with Judith MacKenzie-McCuin. All I can say is, if you are interested in spinning, fiber preparation, raising animals, textile history, weaving, or just about anything related to textile arts - run, do not walk, to take a class from this woman.

Day One was "Choosing, Preparing and Spinning Shetland Fleece." Judith brought an assortment of fleeces for us to look at, and we were able to take away a handful of each to play with later!

This is a primitive breed with (usually) a double coat. The outer coat is hair like, the undercoat downy and soft. We learned a lot about raising and shearing these sheep. The wool tends to not be very greasy or waxy due to the double coat, which keeps the sheep dry. The outer coat stays constant, but the inner downy coat sheds out once a year (called "rooing"), they used to shed all year round but are now bred to shed the coat in a 2-week period in late spring. Judith said it is best to shear after the "rise" when the wool twists and makes the "roo line". When looking at a fleece, try to identify the roo line, which is ideally close to the cut end, as anything below the roo line will pull off.

"Discontinuous growth" is a primitive trait and is genetically linked to interesting color in the fleece. Therefore, Shetland sheep that have been bred to be more single coated (to make for easier processing of the wool) also tend to lose the interesting color variations. There are at least 8 colors found in the double coated sheep, ranging from chocolate brown, true black, white, and gray (which is the most rare color, called "emsket").

We were put to work spinning some roving from the flock that Judith manages in Montana. This flock of 450 sheep is the largest in the U.S. of this breed. She had us spin semi-woolen, in which you let the twist run into the web (roving or fiber mass) but pull up into the wheel with your other hand. You don't draft back with the hand holding the fiber, as with true woolen spinning. This was new to me and I needed a lot of practice! I also needed to learn to adjust my spinning wheel to pull in a lot more gently. Judith said this is a good method for any crimpy, downy fleece (3" or shorter fibers) when you want loft, as for knitting yarn. She also wants us to make a 3-ply for knitting, which means I need to learn to spin the singles finer!

She told us a lot more about how to choose a fleece, how to wash it, and demonstrated different ways of preparing the fiber for spinning, including how to blend with alpaca and silk. She brought in her big motorized drum carder and showed us how to use it to separate the hair-like outer coat from the undercoat. She just held on to the outer coat end, flicked the cut end onto the carder, and let it pull it out.

The outer coat fiber can be spun worsted and used for anything that requires a strong coarse fiber: crochet bags, weaving into baskets, carpet warp - or sails!

On Day Two, I took 2 half day classes with Judith. The first one was basically "all about Turkish carpets." In her past, Judith has done a lot of textile conservation work, including repairing many fine hand-tied carpets in Turkey, and has traveled extensively in Turkey and Spain. She gave us a slide show, then talked about the different types of fiber and spinning that must be done to create the warp, pile (tied knots), and filler yarn in the weft that is used between rows of knots. We were able to tie a few knots as well. I don't know if I ever want to make a carpet, but I came away with a knowledge of what to look for when buying a carpet, and an appreciation for the incredible amount of work and tradition that goes into this craft.

In the afternoon, there was another class called "Spinning with Yak." Actually, we spun with yak, camel down, American bison, cashmere, and de-haired llama. These are all the undercoats from these animals, and amazingly fine, soft and short fibers. We again spun semi-woolen. I was having a h*ll of a time with this stuff and finally Judith came and adjusted my wheel for me (she did this for a lot of others in the class, too). I have been spinning with way too much tension in both the drive band and the tension spring. Once she took all the tension off, and working with a much smaller whorl than I am used to (to slow down the take-up) I was able to spin a very fine thread indeed.

There was a lot more to this class, including how to hand card the yak fiber (more a tapping than a carding motion), how to make a "puni" off the hand card for short and fine fiber, adding short cut bits of sari silk to yak on the hand card to create a novelty yarn, how to finish the yarn, etc.

All of this, both days, interspersed with many lovely and interesting stories! Also, a visitor from Florida:

Unfortunately, the picture of me with the visitor came out with me looking like a drunken sailor, so no you aren't going to see that one!

Katie

Recuperated

It's been a long three weeks here at the Tea. We fell victim to the FT pneumonia and while that only temporarily slowed the knitting, it slowed everything else much more. Bet you didn't know it was possible to spread germs from the Pacific Northwest to the Mid-Atlantic via the internet, did you?

Anyway - this means some catching up is required. In no particular order here's what's been doing.

New socks.

These are knitted out of a gorgeous sport-weight bluefaced leicester yarn from Paradise Fibers (you can find them in the sidebar under 'Shopping'). I love them so much I went back and ordered 2 balls of each of the other available colors. There are only a total of three colors and I had to have them all. This one is called "Elliott."

A new hat.

This uses a pattern I found a couple of years ago at Frugal Knitting Haus for a simple ribbed cap. The yarn is my first wheelspun yarn, natural bluefaced leicester in a sort of chunky weight. This is the most wonderful warm hat, and although the yarn is far from perfect it made a chewy fabric I love.

New stuff for Emmy.

A scarf from Plymouth Dreambaby DK and a hat from Wendy Velvet Touch. She loves the scarf and keeps it on all day at school, it's so adorable.

She obliged with a side view so you could see the interesting spiral effect in the hat.

That Velvet Touch was the oddest yarn. A sort of chenille, I guess, a little width to it like a ribbon - all I could think of while knitting it was the torn bedsheet ropes that supposedly facilitate escapes from prison. But it's made a very soft, lightweight hat, and the colors look much better than they did while I was knitting and I couldn't see the spiralling.

New WIPs.

This is the beginning of a triangular shawl in that spindlespun recycled sari silk from Nepal that I swore I'd never get into. Someone at work had a shawl from it and the fabric had a wonderful weight to it that I found irresistible so I went and got some. This picture doesn't do it much justice. It IS pretty hairy so I may take the sweater shaver to it when I'm done just to smooth it out. It sheds like mad while I'm knitting it, so I'm trying to just knit it at work where the shedding blends in with the oddly colored carpeting. I'm following the fundamental shaping of the 'Wool Peddlers' shawl from Folk Shawls (yo increases at each edge and either side of the center stitch), and I'm going to knit until it's long enough and then stop.

A moebius out of Silk Garden:

This is hard yarn to photograph. I'm using a 'mistake rib' pattern that doesn't really show in the picture. I started off with brioche stitch, which was making a nice fabric but eating yarn, and I only have 2 balls in this shade. It'll be a nice little accessory to have and continues my trend of trying to knit up a bunch of small things.

BUT, I'm going to have to decide what big thing I want to do next, because SAGA ROSE IS FINISHED!!!

Bwahaha, you were just thinking this is another boring WIP entry, eh? Well, it went on the wooly board this morning. It was started on October 3, so it's been in progress for some time, and it kept getting set aside to push to finish something else. But except for the week I had pneumonia and only knitted what could be done in bed, I've stuck with this for the last month and finally made it.

The pattern has some errors, which you can find on the errata page over on the sidebar. In addition, there were two other things that probably don't count as errors but that I noted. One is that I went just over into an additional hank of Dark Navy. I ran out in the middle of the first button band. So, if I were talking to someone who wanted to make this, I'd say get an extra hank of that color. Also, the directions have you pick up for the sleeves with one shade of navy, then immediately switch to the other shade to begin working the sleeve. I didn't see any reason to do that, so I picked up in the same shade of navy that I was going to begin knitting the sleeve with. This seems to be more a matter of opinion than an error.

This is the third time I've made a cardigan with a corrugated-rib button band, and I have to say I'm still not satisfied with any buttonhole method I've used. This one calls for yo K2tog, which to me made a buttonhole that's much too small and is crossed by the other color yarn in an odd way. I'm not sure what size button I can shove through a yo done on size 2 needles. The others I've done called for binding off two stitches, then casting on two on the next row. These also are inconvenient because they are crossed by the carried color on the next row, so buttoning and unbuttoning can be a headache. What kind of buttonhole do you like in corrugated ribbing??

I also was thinking as I did my finishing today - my stuff would be laughed out of the TKGA masters programs, even level 1, because of my finishing. I am perfectly content with what I make but it would never pass muster.

I had no trouble picking up the right amount of stitches up the front for the bands, but I could see as I sewed the edges together to block that I was not consistent enough that the sides match perfectly. Either the ribs line up, or the main designs line up, but not both. Sigh. The more I knit the worse I get. Or the more I understand about how much I fudge. Or something. Anyway I will make it up with the button placement and forget it very quickly I'm sure.

Now if you'll excuse me I have some dirty fleece in the washer...