cobalt & indigo

I promise I will get to the conclusion of my tests with the Icelandic lamb’s fleece in my next post. I do have some other news to share with you first, though.

I’m very excited to announce that I will soon have a computer all my own, with a separate desk and organizational area as well. This should really help me out with organizing my thoughts and posts, as well as increase the frequency of my postings!

Up until now, I’ve been sharing with Jesse, but as he has been working on building his blog and tweaking his photography in Photoshop my time on the computer has been harder to get. One of my co-workers has offered me a free computer that he and his partner are no longer using. I got a used desk from a thrift store and replaced the drawer handles, and it’s looking great. I’m still waiting on the computer, but should be all set up within a week.

I also have been working on organizing my fiber area inside our small (18′x28′) but adorable little house in the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin. Since everything is open and there aren’t really any walls to divide the space into rooms, we have had to become a lot more creative about making areas into functional spaces. The lack of square footage has really forced me to become much more efficient about using space, too.

So here’s the latest version of Molly’s Fiber Area.

This is where I store frequently used prepared fibers, yarns, my carders, combs, and spindles, and knitting and crochet supplies. I have my wheels downstairs, conveniently located near the TV, and my drum carder and most of my wool stash out in the studio. And of course, the rabbits are outside too.

I’m particularly proud of the spindle storage I devised.

It allows me to see all of the projects I have in progress, and to admire the beautiful spindles as well. I store the fiber for the projects in progress directly beneath, in the top latching storage container.

The rest of the clear storage containers are for specific fibers. One is just for silk, one is for cotton, one for exotics, and so on.

In the adjacent corner, I have my old dresser and some rubbermaid containers.

This is the storage for all of my yarns and completed projects.

That’s all I have time to share for now.  As always, I would love to hear your comments on my thoughts!

Molly

For an introduction to this project, check out my first post in this series: Sampling a Naturally Colored Icelandic Lamb Fleece: Part 1.

Now, when we last checked in, I had spun up the thel (the soft undercoat), plied it and had wound it into a tiny skein. I had yet to spin up the two other groups of fleece, the tog (long outercoat) and the combined tog and thel.

I began with the tog. Because the ends had already been combed through when I removed the thel, I simply flicked the tips open lightly before spinning using an old wig brush that I got at a yard sale. Because the tog was a bit longer, I decided to try spinning it from the fold. It’s one of my favorite ways of drafting longer fibers, especially when spinning on a spindle. Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well with this fiber! I ended up drafting from a loose cloud instead.

I had some issues determining the right amount of twist for this yarn. I knew that if I put in too much twist it would become wiry and harsh, but I also wanted to make a stable singles that would ply into a balanced two-ply. This fiber, like the thel I spun in post 1, drafted very easily.

The weight of the 1.4 ounce Kundert spindle pulled the fiber apart as it was being twisted, so I ended up using the spindle in a supported spindle style. I set it spinning, and then as it spun on my lap in a little hollow of blanket, I drafted the fiber. It slowed the speed of rotation a bit but it also eliminated most of the weight of the spindle.

As I reached the end of the little cloud of fiber, it began to cling to itself a bit more. I’m thinking that even though I was holding it loosely, I may have started to felt it. Icelandic wool is a favorite of feltmakers! I’ll have to remember this when I start a project and make sure that I only hold a small amount of fiber in my hand while drafting.

The singles I ended up with measured 44 wraps per inch.

I handy plyed them to the point where they acted balanced. The resulting two-ply measures 24 wraps per inch.

I wound the tog yarn on my small niddy-noddy, and moved on to the last sample, the combined tog and thel.

I flicked the tips of the locks open, and thought about what I was trying to do. I had read here that if you drafted from the tip end, the tog would naturally pull the thel into the draft, but it just didn’t make sense to me to leave it to chance, especially for a sample. So I decided to predraft the locks out individually, and then combine them in an organized way that distributed the tog and thel evenly.

I took each lock and fanned out the butt end to eliminate the slight ‘clumping’ of the thel that had occurred during the washing process. I then pulled it in a diagonal motion, trying to stretch out the thel as far as possible.

Hopefully the process might be a little clearer after seeing this photo. The bottom lock is the ‘before’ and the top is the ‘after.’

I did the same thing with each of the remaining locks, and arraged them so that one would be butt end to the left, the next one would be the opposite. The idea was to distribute the tog and thel evenly throughout.

I took all of the pre-drafted locks and combined them into a single roving, which I again pre-drafted into a long strand which I wound into a small bird’s nest.

I again turned to my trusty spindle, and began spinning. I tried to capture the thel within the tog – it was a more woolen style of spinning, and I found it harder to spin a fine yarn. I tried to put only the minimal amount of twist in to hold the yarn together.

The singles measured 32 wraps per inch, and the handy-plied two-ply measures 16 wraps per inch.

All three groups of fiber, the thel, the tog, and the combined tog and thel have been spun! In my next post, I’ll show pictures of the finished yarns and give my thoughts on which is most suited to my project.

Tags: fleece, icelandic, sampling, Spinning