Batt-y Spinning

Last week we had some chilly, rainy days that were perfect for setting up my Louet carder on the kitchen counter.  I shipped it up here along with a wild assortment of fibers for carding crazy artsy batts.  Well six batts later, it was time to start spinning.
Each summer I get reacquainted with my trusty Ashford Tradional wheel with it's single treadle.  I thought I would miss double treadling since my Dallas wheels are all outfitted as double, but years of spinning my grand Rio Grande wheel stands me in good stead with the Traddy.  I put on the jumbo flyer and began spinning two purple-ish artsy batts.  What fun!

 Now I am waiting for some shimmery Sulky rayon thread I ordered from a little shop on Etsy to ply this whimsically  crazy yarn.

I'm hoping that thread shows up at my door this morning.  I will have two big skeins of purple/pink/ you-name-it art yarn!
P.S. Oh, and can you see my shiny new cup holder on my wheel?  I love FBN Plastics on Etsy.

Spring Lilacs makes Etsy Treasury

I still get excited when one of my Cordova Studios items make an Etsy Treasury, and it's backflips when it's a main treasury.  Please excuse the shameless self-promotion.  I love this roving and can't wait to spin this colorway.

The super-wash Blue-faced Leicester spins up like a dream.

 Cathie bought one of these last week.  She spins beautiful fine yarn.  Hope she finishes it soon.

 Mardi Gras3 become a totally playful yarn when it was all spun and plied.  I will post the yarn in the shop later this week.

Artsy Batts Morph into Gorgeous Hand Spun/take 2

This, "Dreamin'" of Spring Artsy Batt...

...became this on Terri's Louet Spinning wheel. Terri has been spinning for less that a year. Isn't she amazing? I love the shiny rayon or silk thread she chose to ply it with the yarn.

Makes me want to head down to the studio right now to card few more for the shop. Color and texture are like drugs to me. I have to have them!

Sassy Spinster Star

I know, the title shows my prejudice. And, ok, I had to have this picture first. I never thought a trip to Second Saturday at the Sassy Spinster in Lancaster with Zoe would mean she got to sit at spinning wheel.

Saint Susan had two nice ladies getting their first spinning lesson on their new Kromski wheels. Zoe was fascinated and looked on. Pretty soon Susan had grabbed this little Babe wheel, found the perfect little child's chair, and had Zoe learning to treadle. Here she is after working with getting commercial yarn on to the bobbin. Who cares if it went both directions? Then Susan gave her this roving. It was a little ropey, but hey?

She was multi-tasking toward the end of the afternoon. I think she also polished off a granola bar while she worked on her rope.

Here is the line up of ladies. Lori at the top, is an accomplished spinner who shared with the newbies.

This was in the getting-yarn-on-the-bobbin phase. I think Zoe was checking a bird's nest of yarn that was forming in the floor.

Such a full day of friends, fiber, food and just plain fun. Zoe's six-year-old self was asleep before we made the turn on to the highway.

Retreat report: Day one

I drove through hellish Friday afternoon traffic to arrive at Briarwood Retreat snuggled back into a woodsy part of Argyle, Texas. Twenty years ago I used to fox hunt up here with the Hickory Creek Hunt without seeing more that one or two little houses. Now, cookie-cutter urban sprawl has arrived. It's not pretty in my opinion, but this little retreat stays quiet with all its' little paths through the woods.

Anyway, I was spinning away within 30 minutes of my arrival with 20 other spin-oholics. Grabbed a few snacks for dinner, instead of the pizzas, and headed for the roving dying workshop. Mary had super-wash merino soaking in tubs for us. We squeezed the some of the moisture out of it, laid it out in tight zig zags, picked out colors and began painting it. I chose violet, golden yellow, yellow green. Next we put the tightly plastic-wrapped coils into roasters to steam and set the dyes. Can't wait to see it today.

Then it was back over to the lodge for more spinning, dorking out on the computers, and chatting up a storm until 10ish, which is late for this pumpkin.

Today Liz is going to demystify knitting two socks at a time for me.

The Canon DSL will be out today for sure. Pictures will be up tomorrow.

The only thing missing is my little pal, Trinket. I agree with Edith Wharton,

"My little dog- a heartbeat at my feet" .

Pushing the Envelope re: Spinning Painted Rovings

I have loved spinning hand-painted rovings I buy, sometimes at fiber festivals or on Etsy. But, after I had so much fun spinning with the luscious mohair locks, spinning the rovings as-is seemed a bit dull.

Sooooo, I started with this merino roving I bought from My 8 Kids Mom in Charlevoix, Michigan at last summer's fiber festival.

Then I went snorkeling into my stash of dyed locks - mohair, Wensleydale, whatever. I grabbed some shades of angelina. After all, one has to have bling.

This is the first jumbo bobbin of this painted roving/dyed locks experiment for me. It is loads of fun with a whimsical, no-rules result.

I think I need a bit more of the gold in the locks but the enhancement of the roving is to my liking. I will ply it with some sort of glorious thread so all the texture remains the focus.

Talent: Texas Twisters' Style

Yesterday's spinning therapy session with the Texas Twisters had inspiration off of every wheel. Above is Teri's first spinning efforts. She's a natural.

Laurie dyes yarn like we cook dinner: all the time. She dyed the yarn on these hefty bobbins as roving and then spun it.

More Laurie handspun: The grey is done with locks plucked from the bins of Kai Ranch's dyed mohair locks. We are addicted to these.

Brenda is working on this pima cotton beaded scarf. I covet this one. It's glorious.

Always generous Laurie surprised Maryann, and gave her this roving " just because". It'a hefty 8 oz. of merino. Maryann was beyond thrilled. It was a good day.

Apologies for the photos. I wasn't at my best with my Canon point-n-shoot today.

Spinning Therapy

Today is Texas Twisters weekly spinning day. It has become a much anticipated event in my week. I get to spin, share and clear my head of other concerns. This group has talent, generosity, kindness, acceptance, and reassurance to share in a most unthreatened way. I think it's my version of the '50s sewing circle. We share fiber, equipment tips, techy computer stuff, and along with business and family concerns. And, some days like today, we will even share homemade pies, this time by Laurie. Wish I knew which flavor she is bringing.

Remember the Spinning-with-Locks Project?

Boerne, Texas and the Kid and Ewe Wool Festival back in November was the beginning of it. I bought the lusciously dyed mohair locks from Kai Ranch, then found that merino bump of roving in pale, pale peach and started learning from Laurie, a spinning maven friend. Well, I am in love with the lock spinning.

I ended up with three skeins spun on jumbo bobbins on my Kromski wheel. These are big fluffy skeins wound on my 2-yard kniddy-knoddy.

I plied it with correspondingly pale mercerized cotton thread so as to let the full craziness of the locks be preserved.

I'm still deciding if these are going into my personal stash or if they will go into my Etsy shop. I've been posting lots of newer hand-spuns there for fun. If I keep these lock-y skeins, I'm thinking one of my lacy triangle shawls with ruffle edge or maybe just a simple rectangular shawl to let the yarn stand on it's own.

Meanwhile, all kinds of ideas of how to incorporate locks into to my spinning are tumbling around in my complicated head. Using the locks keeps the spinning interesting for me. Beautifully painted rovings are lovely and all, but I do get a little bored sometimes. Hmmmmm, bet I could ratchet that up a bit with my new

lock-love?!

Ah, to Spin is Zen

Finally, finally I have my Sonata spinning wheel set up again in front of the fire and am surrounding myself with glorious rovings. I love it when I can remind myself to sit back in my spinning chair and relax into the process. Above is a "Cassatt Mother and Child" roving from Taos Sunflower plied with the merino/silk. Below is a random roving I think I dyed,
also plied with Louet lichen green merino/silk. I am in love with this color. Can you tell?

Here are the finished skeins ready to be soaked in Eucalan and then hung to dry.
They are pillow-soft and smooth. I am thinking maybe another shawl is in the making or a Capotis scarf for this truly frigid January in Dallas.

Spinning, Baking, Friends

Somedays I wake up thinking I am so lucky to have the life I have. Today is one of them. First I load up my knitting and head to Lancaster for a Second Saturday with the Over the Wheel Gang in Lancaster. I haven't been able to go for months so I will have lots of catching up to do.

Then I head home to bake Christmas cookies cookies with #1 daughter. We have pledged to not be overly ambitious and just bake three kinds: 1) Aunt Betty's shortbread, 2) Rachael Ray's Fudge, (she made it on Oprah, even) 3) obligatory sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

Then, I hope to have dinner with my "Thelma and Louise" nurse friends. They let me travel around with them on some wacky adventures. Tonight we are celebrating a birthday (nope, not saying how many).

I LOVE December.

The Fascination Continues: Peggy's Mitts

Peggy just kept pulling her versions of fingerless mitts our of her tote yesterday at Texastwisters Wednesday spinning group. Look at all the gorgeous handspun she used.
According to Peggy she casts on, knits some ribbing, does a little increasing for the thumb, then decreases a little before she knits the garter stitch at the top. I think she has the general pattern in head, don't you, as you look at her work? BTW, these are all for an order she received at a craft show last week. You go, girl!

Color Feast: Kai Ranch Kid Mohair Locks

Getting to touch and gasp over the colors of Kai Ranch's Lisa Shell's dyed kid mohair locks was the highlight of the Kid N Ewe Wool Festival. For me, Lisa's sense of color is truly inspired.She sets up her booth with bins of color lit by her special lamp. I scoured the booths looking for a roving to spin with the locks. Texas Fiber Mill had fresh colors in their mohair bumps. I quickly purchased one and scurried back to Lisa's booth to make my own mix to spin.
Laurie coached me on lock spinning and I was off. After spinning bobbin after bobbin of thin rovings for plying, I was ready for a little creativity.
Ok, but where is this spinning? That will be my next post.
I just wanted to share the color banquet of the locks in this one.

Packing for Boerne

Tomorrow a.m. Maryann and I will head southwest to Boerne, Texas for The Kid N Ewe and Llamas Too Festival. For two years I have been unable to go at the last minute, but it looks like launch is eminent this time, even though a strep diagnosis for me popped up this week. What! almost-senior gets strep??? Anyway, Z-Pac is working it's magic.
I am going to start packing the car today. I haven't decided which workshop I want to join: sock-machine, dyeing cotton fiber, felting feathery merino scarves, spinning with locks. The temptations are many. I'm packing spinning wheel, duh, jumbo flyer for it, fiber to spin, yarn to ply, several knitting projects, cameras and sketching stuff. Oh, and my credit cards and cash, of course. Gotta be ready for all the tempting fibers. I'm especially drawn to gorgeous batts and rovings.
The other plus of this trip is pin-balling through the small towns on the way. I hear we must stop in Hico, Texas for the pie lady. Yum. The rest will be serendipitous.
The Texas Hill Country has a charm I have yet to experience in depth.

Over the Wheel gang capers

Never dull, Never! Second Saturdays at Sassy Spinster with the Over the Wheel gang never disappoints. This Saturday I sat spinning next to John, outfitted in Wranglers, a nice white shirt and worn cowboy boots, who was quietly spinning his Angora goat roving. He tells me he then weaves it into shawls on his Baby Wolf loom. He wanted me to teach him how to make better fringe. The first shawl he wove went to his daughter-in-law, as she gave him one of her kidneys a year ago!

Big Bob is seen at his wheel retrofitted for spinning rope fiber. Harland, seated, retired MD, knits socks on two circular needles. His darling little wife, Virginia, was not there this month as she was off hang-gliding, or something equally scary in Colorado.

Lynne chats with the canary that Virginia gave Susan. Seems Virginia rescues and then breeds the little singers. Bring her a cage and she'll bring you back a canary!

Lunch was down the street for homemade Mexican food this time. Will try the great from-scratch desserts at the new cafe next time.

Summer retreat with the Fam

Each summer we retreat to a family cottage in magical Wequetonsing, Michigan. Kids can ride bikes, hit the beach, learn to sail and find out what tennis is all about. It's ok to ride your bike around the block without a parent hovering. Great freedom. Lake Michigan is only about 65 degrees, so adult swimming is scarce, but Zoe and Sophie have been doing cannonballs off the Weque dock and swimming out to the raft with great zest. They are both old enough for the sailing program at day camp. You see them here out with their ten-year-old skipper.

Yesterday was chilly and cloudy until noon. My big kids ventured out on the Third Steet dock to check out the sailing classes. Eliza, my daughter-in-law and in-house professional photographer, was busy shooting away. I hope I get to share some of her shots of the area in my next post.

I never want to go home from this place. Friends come visit, I spend time with friends I've made up here that live all over the country. Lots of books get read, yarn gets spun and the knitting needles click away.

WWKIP at Sassy Spinster, and, of course, YART sale update

As promised, here are pics of  Lancaster, Texas's version of WWKIP  day.  Actually the day fell on the third Saturday, when the Over the Wheel gang meets at the shop to spin, KNIT, and chat.  It was breezy and pleasant in the arcade of shade trees even in the 90+ degree heat.  Evelyn played her dulcimer to add to the ambiance and the lady in the red hat brought her Auracana fresh eggs to sell.  I love this group. 

Photos:  Ann and Sherry each alone knitting, Susan holding court knitting, Ann and Maryann at their spinning wheels, Evelyn and her dulcimer and  the egg lady.

YART SALE:  Last day for free shipping!  Stop by and see new items in YART Sale section.

http://cordovastudios.etsy.com