Frankenstorm II

Not quite as much achieved today (spinning) - I have moved on to the dark brown alpaca and have half a skein spun.  I mixed that in with some working out of the amount needed for the final scarf (in three stripes), and tidying up the rather spread out mess I had created on the dining room table!

Back to work tomorrow so it will only be an hour or two a day until the weekend, although next month will see us away almost all but the last two weekends.

I'm still awaiting the linen to get the Macomber dressed ready to make the next set of placemats - hopefully won't be long.

Frankenstorm I

Hurricane Sandy plus the other events, used to equal 'Frankenstorm', but that has now been changed to 'Super Storm' - given the Halloween reference/timing, I prefer the former.  So, with the Federal Government shut down today, I had a day of fiber work plus a few other bits and pieces (a walk, in the rain, to top up our bread and eggs not that we really needed it, but it was nice to get out).

The Alpaca spinning has gone well with nearly half the 8oz spun into 2ply. It's very enjoyable to spin and ply and has filled a pleasant few hours today.  We are off again tomorrow so no doubt there'll be more progress.

As supplied (bottom) and finished skeins (top)

And of course the mountain of flicked wool has grown with my small pile of combed wool growing only a little.  I like to take a break from spinning after 30-40 minutes to do something else, so did some combing in between.  I've enough combed top to spin another skein (like the blue ribbon 3 ply) and will keep going until I have enough for a larger project - mainly driven by the fact I have a very large bag of the best of the long staples that Anne sorted while picking through the washed wool.

Return from New York

We survived New York (the city may never sleep, but I needed to after the first couple of days :-) - had a great time up there for 4 days.  No textile connections barring a close study of some excellent clothing and rug examples in the National Museum of the American Indian.

So getting busy again I've discovered that my efforts at preparing wool fall far behind Anne's.  She is churning through washed locks - flicking them open ready for drum carding and can sit and watch TV and create a pile. In the time it took her to do [lots - not sure of weight etc] I was able to only comb and diz two insignificant balls of roving top.

Anne's to the left, mine to the right (actually only one ball at that time!!)

After that discouraging start: luckily a distraction.  As I had decided to liven up the final scarf with some stripes - I sent off for some more alpaca roving.  Linda at Crooked Fence Alpacas via Etsy was very helpful and quick and I now have two 8oz lots of roving ready to spin.  And it is superb - grade 1 and 2 (it's the micron count - I had to ask), and so so soft, and clean.  It spins like a dream so it won't be any time at all before I have some more two ply skeins to start weaving on scarf number three (it will be the white/cream and chocolate from Crooked Fence and the remainder of the coffee colour from NZ as weft stripes - I haven't quite worked out a sequence yet, but will)

The two colours from Crooked Fence - spinning already.

Close up of the alpaca singles

Clun Forest singles to compare

The two different singles look the same - there's no comparison in the feel.  The alpaca is very very soft and silky to the touch. 

Great viewing

While progress on the alpaca scarves has been steady ( I have about 12 inches to go on number two) and pleasant.  I've taken a break over the last three nights to view the video I downloaded.  It is "Three Bags Full" by Judith MacKenzie and is all about selecting and processing wool from fleece to yarn.  Absolutely loaded full off great tips and guidance.

It's pleasing to see we're not straying too far from the norm in processing the Clun Forest amongst others here - although as I have her book and another of her videos I guess I paid attention early on.

Highly recommended and can be found at: http://www.interweavestore.com/Spinning/DVDs-Videos/Three-Bags-Full-DVD.html?SessionThemeID=23&a=blacksheep

2nd Alpaca Scarf

I began the second scarf this morning; weaving with the temple in place this time.  So far it is all going very smoothly.  The draw in is approximately half and inch, but with the temple the reed is hitting the fell line with all the warp threads parallel thus no stretching, a nice even selvedge, and no broken threads.

Weaving alpaca on the Dorothy loom (with temple)

So far I am about 1/2 way though the second scarf - having had the day off (Columbus Day).  I also took some time to darn in all the ends (from broken warp threads) on scarf number one.

Alpaca scarf number 2

To use all the alpaca two-ply, the number 3 scarf may have some stripes - I'll have to work on some colour schemes.

Selvedge Theory

Well into the alpaca scarf #1 and I've really been struggling to keep a neat selvedge on one side (sometimes both sides).  My normal approach of a double floating selvedge yarn under tension just isn't doing it.  As it turns out I'm pretty sure I know why - and what the solution is.

Close up of left selvedge

Both selvedges (and broken threads woven back in)

First off I didn't start with a temple (this is my 'chain' temple with weights on either side in these pictures), so of course there was an expected draw in. In this case the 'in reed' width was 10" and the drawn in width was 9.25"  I thought that seemed reasonable.  But it is home spun 2 ply...  with the draw in and the extra 'stretch' as the outer (including the double selvedge) threads were pushed out as the weft was beaten into place meant the 6 or so warp yarns on the outside were slowly stretched. My hand spun is strong, but will eventually pull apart if you give it lots of little repetative stretches. The obvious factor should have been that I've broken quite a few of the same outer warps threads since I started and NONE of the inner warp at all.  The stretching made it looser and consequently make it very hard to maintain a straight selvedge.

The latter use of the chain temple, and careful throwing of the weft have kept it (barely) under control.  The obvious fix is to use a proper temple set at the correct (10") width when I start the next scarf.  That will remove the extra stretching pressure on the selvedge and hopefully lead to an even edge.  The draw in will happen after the temple.

I have about 15" to finish this scarf which will now become a gift or a keeper, before I try out the 'fix' above.

Who knows....