sweetgeorgia

Junky Love

How about some Thursday morning yum? Here you go:

This is some of the thrums, scraps, bits & bobs, and leftovers that I’ve collected for nearly a year. Every time I get a bit of junky leftover fibre that I don’t want to try to incorporate into my spinning, I set it aside in a little strawberry container. The container was getting pretty full, so last week when our class drum carder was available, I carded the whole shebang into this little batt. I should do this more often.

Where Carders Come From

Yesterday morning, we took our little mini-road trip to Chilliwack, stopping only for coffee and doughnuts at Tim’s (because that’s what Canadians do on road trips). The drive was easy and we enjoyed the amazing sunny weather that is unusual for Vancouver in February.

Patrick and Paula win the prize for most adorable couple, ever. Paula showed us parts of her massive garden (raised beds for asparagus) and even gave us a couple homegrown apples. They helped unpack my new drum carder, plug it in and show us how to use, maintain and repair it. Since we came to pick up the carder, they included a few additional toys (I mean, tools) — a flicker and a double-sided “side flicker”. Patrick was happy to show us the other equipment that they are working on, including the Supercard and Triple Pickers — Richard was so impressed with the workmanship that he even said on the drive home that my next drum carder (whenever that might be) can be a Supercard — remember, you are all witnesses now!

So this is what I got, a Patrick Green 3-speed Powered Fancicard:

And here are the bits and pieces that accompanied the carder:

Of course, I started playing with it as soon as we got it home — I blended some green Border Leicester and blue Coopworth into…

So. Much. Fun.

Louboutin vs. Green

Have you ever met something so beautiful, it a) made your heart stop, b) make you feel sick and lightheaded, c) gasp audibly, d) all of the above? I’ve felt it… with a pair of shoes, nonetheless.

A few days ago, I saw (and, unfortunately for me, tried on) the most beautiful pair of Christian Louboutin shoes — they made me want to lie down and cry, they were so gorgeous. Strappy, sandal-y and classic, I could wear them everyday, forever. More than once that day, it crossed my mind that I could take all the pennies I’d been saving for my drum carder and blow it all on this one beautiful moment with the shoes.

However, in an attempt to curb potentially bad shopping activity, I called up Paula this morning and ordered my drum carder. That’s right, there’s a drum carder out in Chilliwack with my name on it and I’m going to pick it up this weekend…

Because fashion is fleeting and drum carders are forever, right? Right?

Spinning New Fibres

What is it about new fibres that is intimidating? I bought little bags of ingeo, firestar, bamboo and soy silk last year on Salt Spring Island — did I spin it? Nope, not really. I dyed up a bunch of soy silk and started spinning it, but didn’t really like the feel… until…

Last Wednesday, through the Greater Vancouver Weavers and Spinners Guild, I attended the “Spinning New Fibres” workshop led by Kim McKenna (who designed the Salt Spring Island colourways for Treenway Silks). From 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, we spun everything from Viscose Rayon, Tencel and Bamboo to Ingeo, Soy Silk and Silk Latte. Most of the day was spent spinning samples of white/cream coloured fibres, making blends with merino and comparing samples. By the end of the day, we started playing with the coloured fibres in our goody bags and were mixing different coloured merino wools with various kinds of Firestar, Flash and Angelina. My blends were all made with my little Forsyth mini-combs and spun, worsted, directly from the comb.

Each of these “new” fibres has some interesting or beneficial feature. Although 100% handspun “Blending Nylon” or 100% “Fake Cashmere” might not be appealing, blending a bit of it with wool makes the final yarn stronger. Soy Silk on it’s own isn’t really fun to spin, but blending it up with wool makes it easier to spin and produces a loftier yarn. Even adding a bit of Viscose to a blend gives the yarn a slight glittery, shimmery look.

One interesting point though — for the same weight of fibre, natural silk is still less expensive than Silk Latte, Ingeo and Bamboo.

And speaking of new fibres, my Gotland fleece arrived already! I washed a little lock of it last night with some Dawn and hot water and it’s super clean and shiny. The fleece isn’t really smelly at all — I checked several times! Yum.

Edited to add: I was so excited about uploading these photos that I forgot to mention my favourite blends! One of my favourites was Ingeo — it seemed to give loft and structure. Good for blending with wimpy fibres (like adding crispness to alpaca). I liked the merino/Silk Latte blend — smooth, drapey, shiny — but expensive compared to real silk. And my absolute favourite — the deep chocolate coloured merino plus auburn alpaca plus copper flash. Yummy like dessert!

Getting raw.

Treenway Silk has their 2006 fleeces listed now and I just bought one. This will be my very first raw fleece — it’s 2.3 kg Gotland ewe fleece that is “cream with light grey tones”. What better marketing for this fleece than to have it featured in the “Lord of the Rings”? Shall I spin and weave this into a cape for myself? Hmm, the possibilities…

Edited to add: Wow. Here is a way better link to the use of Gotland fleece in the costuming for Lord of the Rings.