One Crazy Fiber Lady

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I hope your day was as nice as mine. My day started off much later than it normally does. I didn’t wake up until the phone rang at 10AM, which is about 3 hours or so later than normal. Oh there is the rare weekend when I get to sleep until almost 9, but this was a luxury! It was almost too much sleep! As a result, I did a bit of lazing around.

Yesterday I finished up the Campfire singles on the Bordua and plied it with the Womack. Surprise surprise, I even pulled out the skein winder and wound it off the bobbin without making it sit around for ages. I did that with the other two bobbins of plied yarn that had been living on my dresser. Waiting. Here’s the trio of new yarns awaiting a bath:

From front to back:

3 ply Crown Mountain Farm in Shala, which has been aging in stash since 2006  It measures 314yds and is a fingering weight.  I spun it on the Tina using the standard flyer and the faster whorl.

Next is Freckleface Fibers in Denimy, I believe.  It is two-ply measuring 374 yds also spun on the Tina.  I’m pretty sure I started this the Catskill spin-in in February but my memory is a tad rusty.   Whatever it is, I’m liking it

Finally, the two ply from SeeKay, superwash merino in the Campfire colorway.  If memory serves, I purchased it at the Catskill spin-in in February.  This ended up being 358 yds.

I’ve got some Into the Whirled falkland wool on the CPW now.

I didn’t spin today, however.  I know.  If you’ve been around here for previous mother’s days, I usually spend the day outside with the kids and a wheel.  Not today.  To darn cold.  Brrrrr.  And windy.  Not great outside spinning weather.  Didn’t mean that I didn’t do anything crafty.  Oh no.

I decided it was time to quit being a wimp, break out the warping reel that I bought on eBay and get busy on those towels I’ve wanted to weave since I got the Baby Wolf. The 24 ends an inch wasn’t the daunting part, but the fact that I needed to measure out 442 ends.  {Shudder} That’s alot of ends!  I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything that intense.  Probably cause I’m a wuss.

So while the twins played with the Wii:

I got busy winding:

442 ends at 6 yards each.  That’s a lot of yarn.  After having measured out 350 ends, counting them into 50 end bundles, I finally figured an easier way of counting.  I pulled out one of them clickers I used to use for knitting and held that while I wound on.  As I turned the peg at the end, I’d click.  The last 92 ends went far faster that way.  Hopefully I’ll remember this approach the next time.  No.  I did not dress the loom yet  That’s a monster for another day. I’m weaving a pattern that I got from Webs.  It has been sitting around in the box long enough that I can’t remember what the weft color is!  I think it might be a cranberry red, but I wouldn’t put money on that.

So now I’m going to kick back, fold some laundry and watch the Sox hopefully take ONE from the Evil Empire.  Hope you all had a good day.

Craft on!

The new girl and I have been doing sone bonding over the last two nights. What with the baseball season in full swing and MLB Extra Innings on Fios, I’ve been spinning while watching the Sox battle the A’s.

Notice I did a little rearranging of the wheels in the corner of my bedroom. The CPW is In the corner that the Reeves and Van Eaton used to occupy. I found that if I sit sideways on the pang chair that i can easily treadle the wheel with my left foot and see the tv . Here she is in her corner.

The fiber I am spinning is some superwash merino that I bought from Carolyn (Seekay). The color way is Campfire.

I finished the first bobbin (2oz) last night. Look closely at the wear marks on this flyer. This wheel has seen some significant use over the years!

After finishing this bobbin, I pulled out the best friend of a wheel with only one bobbin: the electric bobbin winder. I used one of my Schacht bobbins temporarily while I wait for the cardboard storage bobbins that ordered to arrive.

I’m ready to do the second two ounces tonight

Craft on!

It’s that time again.   This weekend was MDSW.  This year I went down on Friday afternoon, with the kids.  We stayed with a family also comprised of twins and a SMC (single mother by-choice) who live in the suburbs of Baltimore.  Saturday the other mom kept all the kids keeping them busy, fed and safe.  This enabled me to hit the festival unencumbered.  Good thing!  It is becoming more and more of a zoo each year.  The 88F temperatures didn’t help.  This is the first year I’ve gotten a sunburn at the festival.

Did this stop the shopping?  Not a chance.  More on that in a bit.

Today, all six of us hit the festival for a few hours before the Phillips clan headed back north at 1pm.  We had a great time.  It was nice to spend the weekend them and a yearly tradition might just have been born.

Okay, so this is what my kids looked like just before I hit the Delaware Memorial Bridge on the way home.

Would you believe how much you can jam into the trunk of a Camry?

We don’t need no stinkin’ minivans to get wheels home! In that trunk are 2 bicycles that my friend’s kids outgrew and passed to my pair, the scooters we went down with and a nice wooden wheel, amongst other hand-me’s.  Boots.  Knee pads.  Elbow pads.  Fiber

My purchases were small in number but not insignificant:

The purchases:

• 4oz Mulberry silk from Little Barn
• 4oz dyed fine wool also from Little Barn
• Alpaca fiber (about 3oz)
• 34g Bosworth Moosie (need to find the tag in the trunk to get the shaft wood but it is dark)
• Frederick Bordua marked 30″ Canadian Production Wheel from The Merlin Tree

Yes i know, this makes 4 years in a row that a wheel came home.  But but but… it’s a tradition ya know!

This does mean that I do have a wheel for sale  This time it is the 27″ CPW that I bought a few weeks ago.  Pictures are here.  Its not that there’s anything wrong with it, I just wanted a 30″.  I know.  Crazy.

I’m off to bond with the new kid.

Craft on!