Rhinebeck adventures, and branching out

I had mentioned before about Carl and I bundling spindle sets together, and we decided to do a trial run for Rhinebeck.  He asked for a minimum of 10 to make sets, but I was shooting for a goal of about 40 batts to take, so even if people didn't buy them, they would be able to see (and squish!) my work in person.

Oh my gosh it was exhausting to prep for that.  And we had to design a display setup that would feature sets, so not just baskets.  Not just spindle stand crates.

I sent him a bunch of suggestions but nothing really seemed to come together realistically.  Finally I suggested a stand that could flat pack and assemble like my small weaving bench that came with my Lilla.  It took a couple days out of spindle production for him to build something, but he did and it worked out well.  Next year, we need better signs though because all weekend people were splitting up sets.

Picture from during setup.

I took I think 37 batts, 6 braids.  I came home with just two batts!  I figured only the paired sets would go and people would just get introduced to my wares there, but a lot of browsing customers walked through and ended up leaving with a batt.  It was such a great feeling!

I almost didn't end up going, I had a miserable flareup right before we were set to go and could barely stand, let alone walk.  It was a hard trip physically and very cold on Sunday.  But getting to meet up with Ravelry friends, including some I'd never met in person before, made everything worth it.

Oh and the Rhinebeck sweater?  I finished it Sunday morning while we waited for the first customers to show up ;)

Back to carding, and other updates

With getting back into fleece, I ended up getting really back into drum carding this year.  I'd never quit, but I kept pushing it to the side, telling myself oh one day I'll work through this pile, and a project or two would creep to the finished stack but really not much was done.

But at the end of last year I felt really called to get back into it, I couldn't even say why.  I started looking around and picking up more blendables, and making more.  I had fun, and so I made a few more.  I got better, and faster, and made more.  I put a few on etsy, and they started disappearing.

In March or so, I took my first drum carding class, an online one (paid access though), to advance my own techniques.  It was by Esther Rodgers (jazz turtle) and I noticed she was using a strauch in the class.  I kept researching and realized that for the types of batts I really liked to spin, a Mad Batt'r was going to do a lot better job.  I hadn't for sure made up my mind, but after Maryland Sheep and Wool I finally decided to just hope it was the right choice, and purchased a double wide one (so I could make full 4+ oz batts).

The excitement was tangible, the box it came in was HUUUUGE!



I did a few test batts to get any leftover grease off, the batts were gigantic.  I could fit 5-6 oz on if I actually tried.  Best of all it would pull on enough that I could really "sandwich" fancy add-ins and create a really textured airy batt, perfect for what I love!  It really revolutionized my technique too, it wasn't nearly as limited as far as how or what to feed into it so I could be more creative.  And my batts just became more interesting and I enjoyed it more.

I started blending batts for wraps, working in fancy fibers with the wool to create absolutely unique blends here in house.

We Shadows was one of the first actual batts I did on the Mad Batt'r, using commercial black merino, loaded up with sari, camel/silk, and tussah.  I loved it so much I scrapped all my plans for Tour de Fleece and spindled this.  It is one of my favorite yarns to date even!  The width of these batts though is massively impressive.  Working with my little single-wide is even more frustrating now that the world has opened up so much as far as volume and texture.

Carl and I have done sets in the past but this has allowed us to play even more with combining elements, and it's been fabulous! 

I always love gradients, dyeing and blending them, and the width gives me more space to play with gradual gradations and more color inclusions.

At this point I honestly think the Batt'r is the best investment in my fiber arts discovery and business I could've made.  Strauch has totally won me over (and no, they didn't pay me to write this or even know I exist, I'm just that smitten with my new toy).

Fleece procurement and Maryland Sheep and Wool

Last year during Rhinebeck prep, people kept asking us if we'd also be doing Maryland Sheep & Wool (MDSW) and trying to basically sell us on the prospect.  Because of application deadlines, Carl decided against it for 2018 but we agreed we would attend and scope out the size and type of traffic to see if it fit.  After Black Sheep last year being such a slow festival, we didn't want to apply, commit to, and then lose money on another beloved but slow venue.

Overall the trip went very smoothly.  I budgeted to be able to buy some fleeces, since I had not brought any (or had room to bring any) home from Rhinebeck last fall but felt comfortable tackling more after washing up the cormo x rambouillet and the pound I bought from a Ravelry friend of her cormo.

Luckily I found other Sweeties basically as soon as we got inside - I hit up the fleece booth first thing and ended up right behind Jill from Hipstrings in line.  I had to put down bags bigger than me and claim hugs right away of course.

My overall impression kind of continued from the first moment inside.  Crowded.  Uncomfortably so, it was almost panicked pushing kind of crowded.  Someone else attending told me that they thought the crowds had outgrown the venue and I have to concur.  I'm sure vendors did very well and people were in generally high spirits, but it felt hard to move and the kids did not enjoy not being able to see anything.

With that said though, Carl did decide to apply (with such limited space it will be interesting to see if he's accepted), we had a reasonably good time even with the kids losing their minds, and my goal of fleece procurement definitely happened.  I bought a red ribbon winning cormo from Roclan's (Giselle), a black merino, and a "questionable" $7/lb rambouillet that looked good but really hid a ton of sandy gritty VM and a slew of very very short cuts.  Lesson learned.  I'd gotten the rambouillet to drum card into cloudy batts and didn't mind the overall short staple, but upon discovering the grit, am not willing to sacrifice my carder.  Hand cards that will be.

The haul:

The fleece that will probably spoil me for every fleece to come:

Swoon worthy cormo from Roclan's giselle

What has been hereby labeled as the "questionable rambo"

Short stapled but ultra luxe (and fragile) black merino

Finally fleece

Two years ago (maybe 3, who's counting?) I was able to get a proxy shopper to select a fleece for me.  I listed the breeds I was interested in, and we agreed we would actually split something.  She picked out this ribbon winning cormo/rambouillet brown fleece that is honestly just amazing.  Tight crimp, ultra soft, exactly what I had hoped for.  I even had managed to barter for a pair of mini combs.  

(Pictures of some sorted locks from the fleece)

Between the move, getting caught up on life, struggling more with autoimmune flareups in the white north, and let's face it, anxiety over ruining an expensive and beautiful fleece, it sat.  It sat covered in lanolin, in a bag, becoming naturally very stuck to itself.  

At Rhinebeck last year, I so very nearly bought a natural/white colored cormo fleece, and talked myself out of it, partially because we had no space in the van coming home, but also because I felt guilty.  I hadn't processed this one yet.  What business did I have shopping for another one?

I promised myself, since we had decided to scout out Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, that I'd get one then, if and only if I had processed "the fleece".  I'd had two partial targhee fleeces in Oregon, and learned some from them, but honestly not enough to feel comfortable with the luxury fleeces I really wanted to work with.  Only one way to really learn though.

At some point I bought a copy of a "learning to comb wool" DVD, and watched the part on 2 pitch combs and technique.  I watched youtube videos on viking combs.  I read tons of wash recipes, re-read through the fleece thread in Sweets off the Wheel, researched wool washes, and washed up some samples.

I pinned them in a mesh bag and washed with a drop or two of Unicorn Beyond Clean (the unscented version of Power Scour).   They came out a little fuzzy but overall, locks were intact and the grease was shockingly well removed.  I'm not remotely a fan of spinning from grease and these were almost dry enough to be a challenge to comb.

(washed locks)

The combs I have are Louet minis and overall I felt like they were doing the job pretty well, but a few neps were managing to find their way through despite my best efforts.  I chalked it up to newness (and that might be part) but twice in the last week, I've seen mention of cormo and cormo crosses requiring extra fine combs.  I'm going to keep going with my minis for now, but I'm absolutely shopping for some extra fines, hopefully at MDSW.   For now, I'm inching along, one small basket is full of combed nests that are almost, but not quite, nep-free.

Supernova, and new-to-me fibers

The Great Competition of (babywearing) Weavers

The most exciting/nerve-wracking event of the year.  How to be noticed, but be anonymous... well this year I did REALLY WELL on the second half.

The process was really organic this year - I churned through a couple ideas.  Seasons (obvious, too obvious, which is why I discarded it quickly even though I love it).  Cerridwen the enchantress - I almost did this one, and got really into the development of the idea, but when I set my mind and heart on parallel threading and network treadle to mimic feathers, I knew I'd run into issues with the deadline.

Something triggered a memory of an old colorway I'd done on wool, based on Kepler's supernova.  It immediately struck me, what could be MORE of a change, than a supernova?  They're stunningly beautiful, a bit sad, but universe changing.

(photo of Kepler's supernova courtesy of Google images)


I considered black warp with handspun weft but the issue of anonymity was a huge problem, being one of very few weavers who makes handspun baby wraps to begin with, and add on to that the already problematic time frame.

Until this I'd never done a *baby wrap warp* out of anything but cotton.  I've done scarves, shawls, etc out of other materials but always cotton for baby wraps.  So I knew I needed something not cotton.  I settled on rose viscose from Saltwater Rose Threads in the UK, and then decided I wanted something that would take a neon color (splashes of neon pink to be precise) for the weft.  I ended up discussing with the owner of Saltwater Rose to try to get a good idea of the yarn weight and balance, and decided on her silk bourette.  It came from the UK to UP Michigan in less than a week!

Again because of time, I did a pretty short warp.  I wound it using my warping reel Carl built, and measured it in just 3 chains in the span of an hour or two.  I wound a mini skein to see how the rose would take color (to make sure I could get rich, dark colors) and was amazed at how quickly it absorbed water, and dye struck within a matter of an hour or less. Win!

I did soak the actual warp overnight.  I went back and forth so many times about snow dyeing it, but just couldn't figure out a place in the house where we could spread the warp, and it would freeze in the garage.  Instead, I laid it out, unchained, and swirled in supernovas with dye.

After the initial color swirls, I went back and filled in the dark space with navy, deep purples, and rich blues. I used I believe 22 dye colors all in all.

I carefully chained it and kept it chained for rinsing and drying.

I was told that the Lilla was "built" for back to front warping so I went with it again.  It was basically a mess.  Rose is a bit like warping rubber bands.  It just stretched and stretched and then bounced back and tangled in itself more, strumming was a mess.  I think sectional it might have been ok, if it had never lost tension, but beaming was probably the longest step of the whole process for me.

Slowly though, I got it on.  (And that's the last warp I've beamed back to front since! Made for it or not, the Lilla warps just FINE front to back!)

I chose three weft options, not really knowing what I'd submit until I saw the yarn on the warp, but I had a good idea that I'd proceed with the bourette for one of the pieces anyways.

The bourette I dyed for pooling, and used different degrees of fluorescent dye to achieve a blacklight glow as well as "rings" on the weft - to mimic the circular pattern of a supernova of course.

Then I dyed up a muted silk/nettle option

Both had variation between skeins of how much "accent color" was on each skein.  I also then dip dyed a sparkly merino/silk/stellina (which I ended up not using because it was too dominant to show the warp)

The pooling rings of the fluorescent bourette silk.
This is the one I ended up submitting.  While I worked on it for some reason, I kept thinking of Doctor Who, Doomsday.  It was not in my mind when the project started, but I couldn't shake it.  David Tennant, he was whispering in my ear as I wove, I swear it.  "I'm burning up a sun, just to say goodbye."  Aaaah Ten, he gets me every time.

And so my chameleon warp became "Burning Up a Sun", an unintentional but fitting tribute.  Ultimately it was the most interesting piece I'd woven to date.  The structure was complex and a long treadle pattern.  As you moved away, it became blue/purple dominant, but closer, the bursts of color emerged and almost had rainbow explosions where each painted supernova was.  (See the bottom right corner of the collage compared to the outdoor pictures).  And of course the blacklight reaction changed it further.  The bourette was grippy, but soft.  The rose was shiny but bouncy and lofty in an almost wool type of way.  Paradoxical.

The sister was far more introspective.  It was a reflecting pool.  It was deep and flowing.  It was internal and dark.  I just called it "Reflections" and put in random handspun silk blessing threads/inlays scattered throughout.

The silk/nettle made this piece all luxury and drape.  Again, close up the bursts of color would emerge, but the piece as a whole was just a bit more quiet and elegant.

In my race against the clock, I ended up cutting off with a single day to spare.  And February would end up being a mental break for me, having woven something like 50 yards over the previous 5 weeks.

Of competitions, deadlines, and dye shenanigans

Regulations on baby wraps officially went into effect on Jan 30, and there was a huge rush within the community for everyone to squeeze in some last fancy fiber combinations.  (Short version is every fiber combination must be retested, and a full size sample has to be submitted and returns cut/unsellable.  All the fancy fibers that aren't going off to the labs had to be done prior to Jan 30.)

Everyone in the community had hoped Loom to Wrap would host a final Great Competition of Weavers before regulations, but as time ticked closer and there was no sign of one, it looked unlikely.  I planned to do my last handspun piece, copper patina, and then work on pieces we would test for the labs.

Someone suggested an unofficial competition based on geeky fandom characters, and after some flip flopping amongst strong female characters, I decided on Briene of Tarth from Game of Thrones.  A friend said she was going to do Tormund, and there was giggling and planning and things were coming together.  Testers got nudged back.

Then suddenly, Loom to Wrap announced a "quick" competition, to finish up 2 weeks before regulations.  Everyone had very short notice and most of us were plotting lab testers, if not also the character showcase.  Panic.

Loom to Wrap's visibility is huge - and wraps seen there give a huge marketing advantage to anyone who participates.  The hype is immeasurable for these competitions, not even for the winner but just because everyone outdoes themselves and uses it as a chance to go outside their personal box.

It wasn't a matter of IF I would participate, it was how.  My friend delayed Tormund, and I didn't feel right doing Briene without her.  So I thought, planned, considered bumping up my Dark Crystal wrap, but it didn't feel right to do a single character.  Then I realized.

My kids.  Their movie.  2 sons of Adam, 2 daughters of Eve.  I needed to travel to Narnia for the character showcase.  But... how to make it fit in my time constraints?

I split the warp for Copper patina.  I dyed two thirds of it as I'd planned, in coppers, greens, blues, and browns.  The other third I dyed totally differently.  I speckle dyed forest greens to make it look like pine trees peeking through snow.  I streaked burgandy and gold for Lucy and Tumnus.  Tiny pops of blue for ice. 

I ended up playing with a 6 shaft crackle, and switched out the treadling only.  They looked so different I didn't think anyone would be able to peg me based on design similarity. 

  The blue highlighted was the Narnian "icicle" pattern,  while copper patina was done in the below version.  Both used 6 shafts and had a plainweave selvedge.

As woven, you can see the transition between the dyework on copper patina (towards the camera) and Spare Oom in the back.

I was skeptical but would absolutely have not finished in time had this not worked, and the piece was exactly as I'd envisioned!

Countermarche success, finally!

Ah Lilla, why couldn't you have been my first countermarche experience?

After all of my Bergman struggles I had so much anxiety about getting this loom going.  Compounded of course by the advice that I really should warp it back to front.  I loathe back to front without a sectional, I get extra tangles and it's slower and just. Ugh. But I figured I would try, since ergonomically, this definitely is not meant for front to back.  It just isn't. 

So after spending about 4 times longer than I should have getting the warp on, I was ready for tie ups.  (Cringe).  Tarah had to remind me which way they go (upper lamms in front of the lower!) and I have to say, anchor peg adjustments are much much harder on the hands than arrow peg adjustments.  As arthritis worsens I can see this becoming impossible.  For now, it is the smartest way to do it so I'll just be glad it's not an extraordinarily frequent job.


I ended up creating a hybrid draft for the project, basically to see how much it was going to bother me to treadle network on the new loom.  Short answer, a fair bit.  The treadles do shift sideways enough to be a little irritating and my ankles got a few bruises.

Here it is all tied up!  I left the middle 2, rather than the outer 2, untied to hopefully help me keep track of treadles better.  I may still go back and number them with masking tape, we will see!

I discovered when I got under there, that the treadles have 10 holes.  Strange right?  I didn't get a definitive answer, but was told to tie up as close to centered under the shafts as possible, so the front and back holes aren't in use.  (A few people insisted they were for plainweave which at least I can be certain is not what they're for!)

The draft combination, a 3/1 network treadled twill.





And the finished towels!  They finished narrower than I thought and I realized after the project was done that the 12 dent reed I bought isn't a 12 dent, it's a metric reed that is closer to a 13.  It was pretty significant but knowledge is power and I'll not make that mistake again!  A new leclerc 12 dent is ready and waiting for next time.