Found it Friday

My husband found this image, presumably on The Chive, and I laughed.  I kind of identify myself as a hipster (a little bit, but maybe more of a wanna be ;) ). And I've not once, but twice, sat in the Dodge dealership spinning cotton on a Tahkli spindle. (see, that's why I'm not a hipster, I drive a mini van ;) )

So while the statement obviously doesn't apply to me, I love it none the less.  It's like a whole new awesome level of hipster. 

~Kara

Crisp fall air - Wordless Wednesday

I'm jumping on the band wagon.  Wordless Wednesday.  okay, so those are words, but this is the first and last time there will be words in posts like this.

~Kara

P.S. click to see it full sized ;)

Free pattern from Leethal? Yes please!

do stuff! » Fall pattern giveaway!! And lots of updated patterns!

It's no secret that I LOVE Leethal knitting patterns. They are fun, a mild challenge sometimes, and some are pleasantly simple, and al+l of them are wonderfully attractive.  Further more, her PDF's are incredibly detailed, and the instructions are quite clear.

Now go get one.  Now! before she takes them down!

~Kara

Unbalanced

 I just spent the past 4 days waking up at 6 am to spin enough silk to do 1 assignment. And despite the math we learned in level 3 that I did to figure out just exactly how to balance this yarn and it ended up out of balance in the end anyway.  Needless to say, this was really frustrating for me. It was 1 hour of spinning every morning. And after all that, and while the yarn is really quite even, it's outta whack.

There is this theory we were taught in level 2 about how to identify the problem in a plied yarn.  When you hold your skien up and it twists, that is a sign of unbalance. Well, of course it is, you say.  But did you know the way it twists will tell you about exactly where the unbalance sits?  Like if you spun your yarn zzS (single single PLY) and it twist in the Z direction then your yarn has to much ply or to little single twist.  And if your yarn, spun the same direction, twists S direction then your yarn has to little ply or to much single twist.  Confused yet?  Well, it confused me. It still did until this morning.   So I did an experiment.

I took a chunk of commercial top and split it (Sorry Marg!!) into four strips.  With two of them I spun the ever livin' love out of them.  There were snarls and kinks and it felt like rope in the single.  I then plied it sooooo lightly to force it to be outta whack.   And I tell you, it is.

The other two strips I barely spun.  I think I put 1 treadle into 2-3 inches.  Not much twist at all.  Then I plied it beyond rediculously tightly. I think it nearly has an angle of 90'.  This most certainly will make any yarn unbalanced as well.

Well, there they are. Two samples that are way out of balance. They are clear, tangible, examples of that theory.  I get it now.

I'm going to be able to run my silk back through the wheel to correct my imbalance.  It wont be completely wasted time after all. Though I can't help but wonder, where did I go wrong?  Did I miscalculate? Did I miscount treadles or ply in shorter makes then I was supposed to?   Sure I can correct it, but at what point did I make the mistake?  Trial and error, and more coffee, I guess.

~Kara

Take the Thel outta your Tog

So, I heard that there was a method to separating the Tog(long) and the Thel (short)on a double coated fleece with a drum carder.  So I tried it with a Scottish Blackface fleece I had.

Method:
Hold the tog in one hand and the thel goes against the drum of your drumcarder as you spin it. The thel is pulled out by the teeth of the drum carder, leaving you with just the tog in your hand. This method gives two types of prep, with 1/2 the effort it would take if you did it the traditional way (combing the long fibres out for a top, and then carding the short ones for a batt or rolags)  The down side: my drum has 120tpi. It's intended for fine fine fibres, and not a double coated fleece. As such some of my teeth are bent :(  If you have even a 72 tpi drum, then I think you'd be fine to do this and have no harm to your carder.

~Kara

Found it Friday

Oh look! It's a Friday, and there's a Found it Friday! ;)

Spin, it makes the world turn.  And apparently makes tiny 4 macro meter sized spheres vanish? 

This article: http://www.cosmonline.co.uk/blog/2013/09/01/physicists-smash-man-made-spin-speed-record 

explains it succinctly , with enough comedy to make science fun! 

I came across this article through the Spindle Lore group on Ravelry. 
The folks over there are having a pretty deep conversation about spinning and 
zen and why spinning seems so inherently centring.  I don't know about you all,

 but sometimes I feel like I 'vanish' when I'm in the spin zone. 

Happy reading!

~Kara

Found it Friday!

On a saturday... again... oops.

This is just a fun video of two of my favourite creatures. Sheep and a bunny. Enjoy!

~Kara