The first batch of Easter-egg dyed yarn is off the wheel.  Not a bad attempt, and I can see a lot of improvement from the beginning of one bobbin to the end of the next.  And the girls enjoyed drafting from time to time, or putting a foot on top of mine and helping me treadle.  Little Hen was able to spin some of the scraps by herself (she’s a great drafter), although it’s pretty difficult for her to keep the wheel spinning.

After setting the twist and hanging the yarn up to dry, my bathroom smells of wet sheep (thank you, husband and children, for not complaining even once about the “Eau-du-wool”!).

(There are many methods for setting-the-twist in handspun yarn – some involving vinegar or weights or dishsoap and potato mashers, but with my spindle-spun, I’ve had good results with soaking in hot water for 20 minutes, shocking in ice cold water for ten, whacking the skein against the shower wall a few times, and hanging it up to dry, so that’s what I did this time.)

A bit underspun (this picture was taken while plying on the wheel), but I’m learning, and it’ll make some nice little socks for Firecracker.

On to the next batch from my stash – 1/2 a lb of purple-grey merino that will eventually be a vest for Little Hen.

We’ve been studying a lot about map reading and map making, and yesterday afternoon I brought out a huge sheet of posterboard and let the children create and label their own “treasure map”.  (Little Hen’s idea is to re-create the map in real-life in the backyard and then use their map to find the “treasure”.   Pretty clever idea, actually.

My only concern is creating the “grape soda lake” they drew on the map…  

If the rain holds out, I think the girls will have a great time with their treasure hunt this afternoon.

I was feeling a bit under the weather, so while the kids worked on the map, we all listened to some Grimm’s Fairy Tales on book CD, and I had a chance to sit down and rest and work on the wheel.

The roving is some Brown Sheep mill-end roving we dyed with leftover Easter egg dye (for instructions, see here.)  I’ll ply the singles and it’ll make a nice pastel sock yarn.

Here’s what I got done yesterday.  Not too shabby for my second attempt at using the wheel (after some serious practice with scrap roving), don’t you think?    I hope to get some more done later today as we listen to the rest of Grimm’s:

My dad, who has made me all sorts of great spindles and fiber tools,  made me a new spinning wheel flyer to replace the broken one on my Louet-S10! (It arrived just in time for my birthday.)  YAY!!!!

It’s rainy and yucky out today (although, I’m grateful, because the seeds we’ve planted need the water), so I think it’ll be a great afternoon to listen to our new book on CD while the girls finish their altered book project and I try out my wheel!

Those bags of fiber upstairs are calling me.  Can’t wait to get spinning…

A quiet afternoon yesterday – now all of us are feeling under the weather and we are doing our best to cultivate an atmosphere of peace and foster wellness.  The girls were snuggling in their bed, reading Highlights and Ranger Rick,  and Tum Tum was napping.  A rare opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee in the front room, watching the rain fall.

Also a perfect opportunity to get out some spinning (because anyone who knows me knows I can’t just sit and sip coffee without some handwork at the ready).  I’ve been so busy knitting socks, I’ve gotten behind on my spinning, and frankly, my hands are tired of double-points and need a rest.  So, I grabbed a basket with some mystery pencil roving (from the large bag of fiber that was thrown in on my Craigslist purchase of a fixer-upper Louet S-10) and one of the drop spindles my dad made me a while back.

I like spinning standing up, so I can spin a much longer length before I have to wind it up, so there really was no “sitting and sipping coffee” about it.  But I find spinning a very restful, meditative experience, even if I don’t put my feet up.

This spindle, made of maple, has a large whorl, but spins very evenly, and is one of my favorites.

The fingering-weight singles.  I’ll ply it when I’m done for a heavy sport-weight that will become more gift socks.

Wishing you a peaceful  and productive afternoon as well.

This is my newest drop spindle!  It was thrown in as a sweetener on a purchase I made off of craiglsist (more on that in a few days).   So, far I really like it – it is quite small, fast rotating, and spins a nice even lace-weight.  (I’ve been working on this very soft top, which came with the spindle  (It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it’s a beautiful black wool with cotton multi-colored threads throughout).  It will eventually become a 2-ply, but I have no idea what to knit out of it yet – there may be enough for a pair of socks – fingers crossed.)

Can’t wait to snuggle up with the family tonight and watch a movie and get some more spinning done on this little beauty!

Blessings on your long holiday weekend!

I have always wanted to dye my own roving (mostly because of the Twisted Sisters Sock Book!!), but wanted it to be something the children and I could do together – something safe, easy, and non-toxic.  So, when I was pregnant with my son, the girls and I dyed 2 lbs of white Brown Sheep mill end roving (super economical!) with Easter egg dye bought at 75% off after Easter.    The needed ingredients are food-safe dye, vinegar and water.

We followed this Kathryn Ivy tutorial, using spray bottles, brushes  and spoons to experiment with different patterns of adding the dye to the roving.   We worked outside, putting down lots of newpaper,  so we could make a huge mess, and have fun.  The girls had a blast squirting different patterns into the white roving, and were surprised at seeing the final results after it the roving was steamed, rinsed, and hung to dry.

It takes a LOT of  very concentrated dye to get the vibrant colors in the tutorial, and mine came out very pastel (as you can see).   It spun up nicely (you can tell this is some early spinning, however – it’s pretty uneven), but after we set the twist (just singles), the hanks have just been hanging out in my yarn dresser, because I haven’t been much in the mood for pastels.  With the wave of friends/family having babies the last several months, now is a perfect time to crack into that oh-so-pastel yarn!

So far, I’m really enjoying knitting with it, and when it’s all used up, I think we’ll try it again, but with more concentrated dye for more vibrant colors.  Who knows, maybe Little Hen will be old enough to spin some up herself by then. 

If you’ve tried your hand at home-dying fiber, I’d love to hear about it and any advice you can offer.  If you’ve posted about it on your blog, I’d love to share the link.  Thanks!

(Only 3 days left to enter the giveaway!!)

With the cooler weather of the last few days, we’ve found life has slowed down a bit, and we’ve been hanging around the house more and more.  The girls have been playing more quiet games,  and we’ve all been reading through our latest haul from the library.   I’ve gotten a chance to finish spinning some merino/mohair roving bought at a spin-in ages ago.  The twist has been set (which really brought out the loft in the yarn – it’s so fluffy!), and these singles are ready to knit.

Also off the another spindle are the last few ounces of 85 wool/15 mohair Brown Sheep mill end roving (1 lb total takes a while on drop spindle, so I’ve been doing it in batches).  The final product is a dk weight – some careful dividing of the roving resulted in hanks that are in strikingly different shades of white/brown/grey/black.

Now, to get knitting with them…

If you have any recent spinning, please share the link with me – I’d love to see what you’re working on.  Thanks!

(Don’t forget to stop by my giveaway post, and leave a comment, too!)

A lovely family from our church welcomed their second child, so the children and I took them dinner yesterday evening (well, afternoon, really…) Thought we’d include a little something for Baby Nicolas.   How about ribbon-tie baby shoes?  (Yes, I realize that’s a thumb in the bottom of the picture.  Please just ignore it.  I wasn’t up for photo-shopping.)

I know they aren’t the most practical gift, but there’s just something about baby booties – they are my favorite thing to knit, they make a good keepsake, and they’re small enough that I can utilize some of my spindle-spun yarn.

These are a merino/mohair blend that was a dream to spin.  I love how setting the twist (scroll down toward the bottom) added a lot of loft to the yarn and brought out its mohair halo.  I purchased the roving at a Spin-In on the Central Oregon Coast over a year ago, and wish I had gotten more than 2 oz!  (The white accent yarn I spun from a mystery-breed sheepswool roving that Fredda at the Yaquina Fiber Arts Guild gave me).

There are a whole bunch of babies soon to be born at church and in our homeschool co-op, so there will be lots more bootie knitting in the coming weeks!

Some spinning I was working on as we drove to Hood River this past weekend.  It’s 100% Oregon wool that I bought while volunteering with my guild at the Spin-In when we lived on the coast.  The roving looked so pretty, but I was a new and inexperienced spinner, and I realize now that there were too many colors in it – burgundy, purple, forest green, grey, orange, and a little yellow –  and it looks muddy when spun up.  I think it’ll make okay baby booties or an edging on a baby sweater.  Overall, I’m not too impressed, but I feel like I have to finish it before I can start the gorgeous fawn alpaca top I bought in Hood River.

(my father handmade me this lovely maple spindle, btw.  It spins smoothly and evenly and produces a nice worsted weight yarn.  He’s also made me one of oak and one of walnut that are great for sport and fingering weights)

also,  i stumbled upon a huge number of giveaways today (what’s up with that?)-

Grosgrain is giving away a cute red ridinghood jacket – check it out.

BeckyKnitsToo requested cute halloween costume ideas and a linkback for her contest – my favorite was when Firecracker was a bumble bee for her 4th halloween (which also happened to be her third birthday).  She wore black a leotard and tights, black and yellow leggings i had knit, wings, antennae and a black and yellow striped stinger that was safety pinned to her bum.  She ran around “buzzing” all day.  The best part was when a kid at preschool bumped into her, and immediately leapt backward and shouted in surprise, ”ACK! … Hh, whew.  For a second I thought I was going to get stung!”

really great baby sling giveaway at here.

soap giveaway at Sweet Figments.

also a giveaway at Noodles and Milk

cute birdie letter set giveaway here.