Pioneer Spinster

2011 Dye Exchange

2011-07-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

I have been busy doing a lot of spinning and knitting the last few weeks. Remember the pile of fiber from my spinning guilds dye exchange? Well it is now all spun up and here are the pictures.
If you remember the color for this year was blue, my favorite color. In these pictures I have finished setting the twist, and I'm letting the yarn dry. When I spun the yarn, I mixed up all the different rovings, and randomly pulled out pieces to spin.

Here is a close up of the color changes as it was spun. The yarn is now put up and is ready to work with.

The pattern that I choose to use for this yarn is "The Raglan Sleeve Topper" Its a free pattern from Lion Brand yarns. Here is the back. I really enjoy watching the colors change as I work through the pattern.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Etsy Special

2011-07-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

In honor of the "pioneer" spirit that is celebrated this month in Utah, I am having a free shipping special at my Etsy site. When you check out type in the coupon code "pioneer" to take advantage of the month long special.

New Online Shop

2011-06-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, just wanted to send out a quick shout out about my new Etsy shop. If you want to see what I have just look to the right in the side bar and click on the pictures. That will take to my shop where I have many more items listed than I could show on this little side bar. Tell your friends as well. Oh and watch for the "Pioneer Special" coming up in July.

Friend or Foe

2011-04-17T07:36:00.001-07:00

This is my newest fiber tool. So far it doesn't look very threatening. This is a set of English combs, and they are used to comb wool into roving. In this picture they have a protective wood sleeve over the tines of the combs. The coverings are made of wood for a good reason . . . . This is what's under the covers. These metal tines are very sharp, and long. There are 4 rows of tines, and they range in length from 4 to 6 inches. These combs came with a mounting board, and you will see in a moment why it is needed.

After I remove the sleeve, and have the comb secure, I start loading the comb with fiber.

I then turn the comb on it's side, and secure it in this possition.

I remove the other comb from the holder, and begin combing in a downward motion, being careful to only comb the wool, and not catch the tines.

I comb the wool until most of the wool has come off the stationary comb, and then using the comb in my hand I comb it back onto the stationary comb. I continue this until all the tangles have been combed out.

This is a "diz". It's made out of mother of pearl. I really like the design, but aside from being pretty, it is also functional. If you look closely you will see that there are different size holes in the design. This is not a mistake.

If I want a fine roving or sliver, I choose a small hole. If I want a thicker roving I choose a larger hole. When the wool has been combed out, I place half of the combed wool on to the stationary comb, and pull it into a beard. I take a small amount and gently pull it through the diz.

Useing both hands in a leap frog motion, I gently pull about 2-3 inches of the fiber through the diz, and then slide the diz toward the combs.

When I have pulled all the long fibers through the diz all that's left in the combs is short nubby fiber. I then gently wind the roving around my hand to make a little nest, and throw what's left in the comb away. If I wanted to use the waste from the combs I could use it as a stuffing.

I am really pleased with how these combs prepare the wool for spinning. By having only the long fibers going in one direction like this, I can then spin this wool into a worsted yarn. What that means is that there are no air pockets in the yarn. This yarn when spun will be very smooth, so if I need a yarn that will show stitch definition this will be the type of yarn that I will use.

Washing My Locks

2011-04-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try doing something different today. I had heard, and seen some other fiber artist wash their wool "in the locks". What this means, is that the wool is washed in a specific order with the butt of the wool and the top of the wool all in the same direction. In order to do this I need to keep the locks of wool stable during the washing process. In this shot I have some tulle laid out on my counter. I then take some locks of wool, (by the way this is a grey fleece) and lay the locks out on the tulle side by side, with all the cut ends (or butt ends) pointing down, and the tops pointing up. I then fold the tulle over the locks sort of like a burrito and secure with safety pins.

I set up my wash water just like I would do for any fiber, using very hot water, and my favorite wool wash. I gentle lay the packets of fiber in the water and let them soak for about 20 minutes. After they have finished soaking, I carefully rinse the packets out. I then put them in my table spinner to spin out the excess water, and then lay the packets out flat to dry.

This what the locks look like after they have dried and I have removed the tulle.

These are now ready to use on my newest fiber tool that I recently bought. I'll show you what that is next time.

Trickin' Out My Ride

2011-03-23T15:09:00.001-07:00

I can sure tell that winter has been around way to long, so to bring some light heartedness into my day I decided to make this. . . .

That's right, it's a spare tire cozy. My co-workers and husband think that I have to much free time on my hands, and I would have to say that they are right. The pattern is really a knitted doily, but when you use bulky yarn, and size 10 knitting needles you too can make a stunning, eye catching, tire cozy. Some of you might recognize this pattern from Jared Flood. It's the Hemlock Ring Doily Throw. I made it just as the pattern instructed, but then added loops around the outer edge and wove in 1/2 inch elastic.

Also, last Wednesday was the fiber exchange at my spinning guild meeting. This is the eye candy that I brought home. Everyone was really intrigued with my sheepdog fiber and many came back and traded more of their fiber for another ounce or two of it.

I just love the vibrant, blue, jewel tones of the these. I think I will be spinning it up very similar to what I did with last years exchange, but I do have a pattern in mind for this fiber. Hopefully with the full two pounds I will have enough to make it.

New Toys

2011-03-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here are my two newest toys.

This first little beauty is a box tape loom. I purchased it new, but it was made to replicate ones that would have been made in the 1800's. These were common in households to make narrow bands of woven fiber. If you ever needed something to tie up a bag or use as a strap you would simply go over to the box loom and cut off what you needed.

The body of the box is made from green popular, with maple trim. And the reed, is made from canary wood.
It is a very simple loom to set up, and you can weave when you have time, and then either wind the finished tape on the dowel behind the reed, or let it gather in a basket on the floor. I think it is going to be a fun little loom to have up at work this summer. I think I might even let guests try it out.

The maker of this loom put these cute inlaid hearts into the loom as well. This heart lets me know that this is the back of the reed.

And since it's going with me to work I needed to make sure that it had my mark on it as well.

New toy number 2.

I thought having a small table loom that would be easy to carry around and do demonstrations on would be a good thing to have. So I went on Ebay and found this little beauty. This one is not a replica, but I'm not sure how old it is. When I did some research on similar looms I found that these were made as children's looms to learn how to weave. The size is 12" high, 15 1/2" wide, and 14 1/2" long.

The wood was very dirty and needed to be cleaned and oiled, so that was the first step in the restoration. The string heddles were also in very bad shape, so I threw those away and made new ones. In the above picture you can see that it is missing the dowel to tie your warp to. That also was an easy cheap fix. The reed however was in very good shape. No rust at all. Many of the other little loom like this one had very rusty reeds, and the wood on them looked like cheap balsa wood.

Here is my new loom all clean, oiled, with parts replaced, and all warped up.

I also did some light sanding with a fine sand paper and steel wool. The wood is now smooth so as not to snag the fibers, and it works as good as it looks.

I already have two demonstrations to do this week, so I'm happy that I bought these looms.

2011 Fiber Exchange

2011-03-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year when a splash of color gets added to a long grey winter. Next Wednesday is the Wasatch Woolpack fiber exchange, and this is what I did. First off as a reminder of the rules, the president of the guild decides on a color or technique. This year the color is "Hues of Blues." If you choose to participate, you dye 2 pounds of ready to spin fiber, and then divide it up into 1 ounce bundles. The bundles must have your name, type of fiber, and color of dye.

So this was what I started with, 3 colors of blue dye.

Two pounds of some unique fiber. I like to call it my "Sheepdog" fiber because it's 50% Malamute dog undercoat, and 50% Corriedale sheep wool. This has been in my stash for long enough, so I decided to use it for the exchange.

The fiber is soaking in a pot of water with some vinegar.

As the water and fiber begin to heat up, I sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of each dye onto the fiber. I don't stir or move the fiber in anyway at this point.

As the temperature begins to heat up, the dye melts into the fiber. Still I don't stir or move the water in anyway.

After the water starts to steam, I then cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. After that time I carefully flip the fiber over in the pot to make sure all the fiber gets some dye on it.

After the fiber has cooled, I rinse it out and hang it up to dry. Then comes the long boring part. I then weigh the fiber into one ounce bundles, and put my tag on them.
And here is the finished product. Two pounds of fiber ready to be exchanged.

And since I had a little more than two pounds, I decided to spin up the left-overs to see what the yarn would look like. Not bad, and did I mention that blue is my favorite color.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has done because I already have a project in mind for this years fiber exchange roving.

Odds and Ends

2011-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's almost that time of year again. That time when the fiber exchange at my spinning guild comes around. Knowing that I had to make some room for this years exchange, I looked at what was left from last years exchange. I had been spinning some of the fiber for smaller projects, but I still had quite a bit left unspun. This is it, a basket of odds and ends. So what I did was divide up the the one ounce strips into smaller sections, and placed them all in a basket.

Then I turned on Netflix to watch movies, and randomly pulled out the small strips of roving and spun them up. It took me only a couple of nights of this to complete.

I then plied the bobbins together not trying to match anything, I just let the randomness of the threads come together. This is what I ended up with. About 1300 yards of beautiful yarn.

I really like how this come out. I was going to knit a sweater out of it, but I'm afraid that I might come up just a tad bit short. So, the yarn is waiting for just the right project, or maybe I will make many small items out of it.

It does feel good to have that basket emptied, and next month it will be full of different hues of blue. I think I'll do the same thing this year, only this time I will have enough for that sweater.

Ready For Spring

2011-02-12T07:31:00.001-08:00

I have a bad case of cabin fever. I'm tired of the snow and cold. I am so looking forward to warm days, and green grass. So as I was looking through some of my pictures, I found some green grass along with my favorite sheep grazing.

This handsome fellow is Sam. He is the most sociable sheep of my flock. He is very gentle, and took to halter training very quickly.

This ewe is Bella. I love her wool. When all the sheep where sheared last year I sent their wool to be processed into yarn, and when it all came back hers was the softest.

This is Lottie. She doesn't like to be handled much. In fact when the vet came to give everyone some shots, she was the only one that had to be lassoed. I still like her though, and she is an important part of the flock.

The last of the group is Annie. She is the mischief maker of the group . . . well next to Bella. She is a clown and has the cutest wiggle in her tail when a fly lands on her back. I don't use her wool because she really doesn't have wool. But she is a sweetie and she also likes to come with me on the halter, though she is a little more skittish.

All in all the flock loves to be with me. To the point that they will come into the house if I'm out of their site. One day I let them out to graze in the yard and went into the house through the back door to get to the front of the house, and the next thing I knew here came the whole flock running through the house, out the front door, and onto the front porch. Those that saw it about fell over laughing.

Well, spring is only a couple of months away, and it won't be long before me and the flock are out playing in the sun and the grass again. Hope I can hang on.

Here We Go Again

2011-01-22T10:10:00.001-08:00

Just as I said, as soon as I wore my sweater again Gary was reminded of the sweater that he wanted. He changed his mind about the previous sweater because two other people in our neighborhood had the same sweater, so he chose another one.

We placed the order and in just a view days this box arrived with all the goodies to make his new sweater.

This is a close up of the sweater. The color in real life is a navy blue and silvery cream. It is a much easier design pattern than the last one so, I don't for see any problems with this one. Another big difference is this one doesn't have a zipper. I simply need to sew two clasps at the neck. I think the most difficult thing about this sweater is the name. It's called "Eivindsplass". I can't even begin to sound it out. I will be starting it today.

Stay tuned for updates and progress.

Yes, These Can Be Used For Knitting

2011-01-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a way to organize my circular knitting needles for quite some time, and I finally found the perfect organizer. I didn't find it in my local yarn shop, but in a sporting goods store in the fishing department. Can you guess what it is? Yep, its a worm binder. You know the kind that fishermen use to store those plastic worms and lures.
It has 12 plastic zip lock pages that are attached by 3 rings. They are strong, see through, and are easy to open and close. I printed labels with the size of needles that are in each page so it makes it very easy to find the needles that I need.

It has two mesh pockets. One in the front and one in the back so I can store all my other small accessories like cable needles, crochet hooks, measuring tapes, stitch holder etc... Did I say how much I love this new tool. It is small and I can keep it with my knitting. No more having to run upstairs for different size needles or other tools. Yep, this is my new favorite knitting tool and it came from a sporting goods store.

Next new tool that I just love. This is a laundry spinner, but what it really comes in handy for is, after I wash fleeces or other fibers I simply put the newly washed fiber in a small pillow case and spin out all the water. The fiber comes out mostly dry and it take almost no time for it to finish drying. No more rolling fiber up in a towel to squeeze out the water.

The drain just goes into the sink and all the water that is spun out of the fiber goes right down the drain. Now, I don't only spin out fiber I also use it to spin out water from my hand knits and other delicate fiber article. Because there is no agitation there is no felting and everything comes out just wonderfully.

These two tools have really made things much quicker and easier, and that leaves me more time to do what I really enjoy doing with fiber.

Gary's Sweater??

2010-12-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

When Gary started looking at the Dale of Norway sweaters, this is one that he kept going back to. It's called the Lake Louise 2001. I told him that it wouldn't be any more difficult than the one that I made for me, but that he better make sure it was one that he liked because, 1) the kits are expensive. $195.00 to be exact, and 2) there are a lot of knitting hours in one of these sweaters. I'm guessing well over 100
He was all set to order the sweater, and then we went to a Christmas party and one of our neighbors had this exact sweater on.
The sweater in really life was a bit of a disappointment because the white yarn was more of a cream and the black and red didn't pop like the picture.

I think he has lost interest in it now because I haven't heard him mention it, so until he sees my sweater again I think this project had been delayed until further notice.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-26T08:13:00.001-08:00

After the presents were opened, Gary and I walked outside to see the presents that Mother Nature had left us. The weather has been a little different this year. We would get a good snow storm, and then it would warm up and rain. After the last little warm up it got quite cold and we had some wind. As the drippy snow began to freeze in the wind this was what was left on the trees for us to admire.

I think this was my favorite Christmas present this year. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

A Whole Summer In One Post

2010-12-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, after looking over the pictures that I took over the summer and didn't post, it might take 2 posts to get caught up.

Here it goes.

Do you remember the little oxen calves from last summer? Well it's almost been one year latter, and look how they've grown. Gibbs and Booth are in their yoke and are being run through their paces.

Becky is helping Troy with the boys today. I think that Troy was trying to train both the oxen and Becky on the ins and outs of oxen driving.
Potty break. Hey everyone has to go sometime.
Now it's the other one's turn.
I really didn't mean to take the boys picture at such a private moment. In fact I didn't know they where "going" until I put the pictures in the blog. But they still look good, and so do Becky and Troy.

It's Finished!!!!

2010-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

I finished it!!!

I finally pulled this sweater out of hibernation. I had finished knitting all the pieces last May, but by then I was so tired of the sweater that I had to bag it up and put it away. Besides, I knew that I won't be able to wear it for a few months anyway. My husband reminded me of it so, on Monday I pulled it out of time out and attached the sleeves and the zipper. Shazam, in two days I had a gorgeous sweater that fits great.

My husband was so struck with the sweater that he now wants one for himself. He has been studying the Allegro Yarn web site and I think he has made his decision.

Want a sneak peek????

Check tomorrow

Spinner's Retreat

2010-08-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh retreat, this was just a wonderful week end up at Park City Utah. We meet in a small meadow with a grove of large trees, and just relax.
I am a member of the Wasatch Woolpack Hand Spinners Guild, and this is our once a year get away. As you can see we do a lot of spinning and visiting. It was heaven. The retreat started on Thursday, but I didn't get there until Friday night. There was about 50 women and a few husbands.

This is my bed, Cherly Stratton was kind enough to allow me to share her tent. It was a very roomy tent, I think she said it was a 10 man tent but for the two of us it was perfect. Yes I did bring an air mattress, and under the sleeping bag there are real sheets. I get to confined in a zipped up sleeping bag.
The outside of the tent.
It did rain on us a couple of times but we stayed dry inside our tent.

The restroom area.

Further back behind the potties in the trees is where everyone had their wheels and canopies set up.

The kitchen area.

What was really nice for me was that the meals were already planned out. I didn't have to pack any food except for some drinks. When I arrived at the meadow I was asked to sign up to help with one meal. That's it !! just help with one meal. After meals were finished everyone washed there own plate and utensils, placed them in a mesh bag, and hung it in the trees to dry. No stacks of dishes to wash.

When everyone had finished eating and cleaning up a bell rang, and that signaled "Prize Tent" time. Everyone lined up and as we walked by the prize tent we were handed a prize of some sort of fiber related gift. Of course we all contributed to the prize tent. I had many items that I had bought. It was a simple matter of cleaning out my stash. I had some things that I thought I would get right to but after 3 years if I hadn't spun it up then it needed to go. So into the prize tent they went.

A couple of our members dye roving and sell it. We always love it when they show up with new colors and fibers to spin. Yes I bought a lot to help support the cause.

I had a wonderful time. The only regret is that I didn't go up earlier. That won't happen next year. I plan on taking time off work and going first thing Thursday morning.

Busy Summer

2010-07-20T07:40:00.001-07:00

I thought I would give you an update on some of the projects that I've been working on.

Here is the first one. I did a dye pot last week using Coriopsis flowers. The wool is even brighter than it looks in the picture. I was really surprised by how bright the color was just by using a natural dye plant and citric acid for a mordant.

I wanted to make a fabric that was a common home spun in the 1800's. This is what I came up with. It called Linsey Woolsey. The warp threads are 20/2 linen and the weft is my handspun wool. I dyed the wool as roving and there was variegation to the wool, so I decided to spin it as was and got a very pretty blue variegated thread. When this fabric is finished I hope to make a blouse out of it.
On the other loom I decided to use up some of the handspun wool from last year. So I put on a cotton warp and chose a weft faced pattern to make a shawl. The colors are hard to see in this picture so I'll just tell you that there is grey and then greens dyed from yarrow and dock. I have some yellows that will be added to the fabric as well. So far it seems to be working up fine.

This project in on my loom at home. I wanted to make some more dish towels and see if I could use up some odds and ends of other threads. I remembered this pattern when I took my weaving class so this was how I used it. I really like the pattern, it's any easy treadling, and I can use up my small amounts of warp. I plan on making more of these.

And now for the last of the big projects. About a month ago we had the sheep in the village sheared. I got a call from Lynn at Spinderella's and she let me know that my order was ready. This is Sam's wool all spun up and drying. (I needed to wash out the spinning oils) Bella and Lottie's wool looks much the same. I'm very happy with the results, and I can't wait to start knitting or weaving with these yarns.

My Sheep

2010-07-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since my last post but that doesn't mean that I have just been slacking off. I've been very busy. About a month ago a family donated 4 sheep to the village. There is a corral at the back of the my site so, since I deal with wool this is a perfect match. Let me introduce you to my flock.
This handsome 6 year old Columbia whether is Sam. He is very gentle. The baby in my arms is my granddaughter, and even though she is not to sure about Sam, he let her sit on his back.
As you can see it didn't take long for her to warm up to him. Here they are looking for the best grasses in the lawn.

The next sheep in the flock is Lottie. I think she is a Columbia - Suffolk cross. She was a little more skittish around strangers, but she has warmed up to me, especially if I have grain in my pockets.

When the sheep arrived they had not be sheared for the year, so we made arrangements for Mr. Will Cory to come up and take care of them.

The sheep that he is working on here is the next ewe of the flock. This is Annie. She is a Dorper sheep. She was not bred to be a fiber animal, she is a meat variety of sheep. She has very course hair, and not much wool, but we still gave her a trim.

The last of the flock is Bella. She to is a Columbia - Suffolk cross like Lottie. She is also a gentle soul, but every once in a while she gets that look in her eye, and you just know that she is up to something. Usually that means she wants to get in my garden.

When all the sheep were sheared I took the fleeces of Sam, Lottie, and Bella to a local fiber mill here in Salt Lake. The name of the mill is Spinderellas. Since there was so much wool to be done, I thought I would let her wash, card, and spin it up for me.
So that is my flock. So far I have had a great time working with these four and learning about their individual personalities. They have really brought new life to my site.

I Hope Summer Is Here To Stay!!

2010-05-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Remember on the first day of spring season, I came to work and there was 4 inches of snow on the ground? Things are finally looking like spring has come. The apricot trees that where covered with snow now have small apricots, and lots of them.
My garden is looking very green as well. The plants all survived the winter except for one of my Hollyhocks, but the rest are coming up and growing.

This is the first time that I've been able to see Coreopsis growing for two seasons in a row. Figured it out last spring when the rabbits kept eating this plant down to the ground. A little chicken wire and some stakes helped keep the plants safe, and this year I will have golden yellow dye from the flowers.

This is a Rose of Sharon. It has some lovely periwinkle blue flowers on it. I haven't had enough flowers to dye with before, but maybe this year I will get enough to see what color I can get from them.

This is Yarrow. It grows like crazy, and it is the most beautiful soft green right now. I've used this plant as a dye before, and when I use copper as a mordant I get a very pretty green.

This week I'll be planting my annual plants. I have two colors of Marigolds. I've already planted the Zenia's and Sun flowers. I'm also going to plant a tomato plant. Not for dyeing, but for fresh tomatoes to eat. I love BLT's with home grown tomatoes

Looms Are Like Potato Chips

2010-05-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yep, like the title says, looms are like potato chips.
You can never have just one.
When I first started weaving I noticed that many of the weavers that I met had more than one loom. I couldn't understand why you would need more than one loom. A floor loom can do many things and other than not being portable you can do most any weaving project on one.

Well that was a nice dream.

Then just when you're not looking, wham it hits you, the bug for another loom. Well this is my latest purchase. It's a rigid heddle loom made by the Schacht Spindle Company. It's called the "Flip" and it's wonderful. This little loom makes it so easy to play with my weaving. I can warp it up in about 30 minutes instead of hours. I can play with different yarn combinations. And best of all this little loom folds up even when it's warped, and goes into it's own travel bag.
This is the result of my latest play time. I was curious to see what would happen if I spun up some kettle dyed roving into long color sections. I then set the yarn without plying it in order to keep the color changes true. I then warped up my loom, and wove with the same hand spun yarn.

You know how something looks really good in your head, but then when you try it it doesn't work? Well that was what I was afraid would happen with this idea, but it didn't. The colors softly change thoughout and the scarf turned out beautiful.

This picture was taken before the fabric was washed. After washing the open weave of the fabric closed up, and made it even better.

Love my newest loom.

Faith, Hope, and Charity

2010-04-19T15:33:00.001-07:00

I've been busy inside this last week setting up looms. This takes a bit of time, especially if you're not really sure about a couple of really old looms.

This first loom was donated to the village late in the season last fall. From what I could tell about the loom, it was built in the early 1900's. It had been in someones barn or shed for many years, and was in bad condition. The loom came with a warp still on it and rugs from the last person that wove on the loom. The old warp was very dirty, and you could see where mice had been all over it. Needless to say that had to come off. The reed was very rusty as were the headles.

This spring I decided this would be my first task in the house. As I was working on this loom I thought how much faith I must have in this old loom. It did after all come with warp on it, so I knew at one time it worked, but would it work for me? I wouldn't know until I had put a new warp on it. So that is how this loom got it's new name, Faith.

I replaced the reed, and the headles, and warped it up with 5 yards of yarn, and holding my breath I slowly opened each shed. Yeaaaa, I had a clean shed on all 4 shafts.

One more hurdle to overcome was that this loom is a counter balance loom so now I had to attach the treadles and see if the balance was correct. If the shafts aren't balance you won't have very much luck weaving.
Again my faith was rewarded and I was able to weave on this old Cambridge Loom.

This is the other loom that is in my house. This loom was built in 1885, it too is a counter balance loom. We did a little weaving on this loom last year, but it wasn't set up correctly. So I am now working on this loom, and I hope that I can get it up and running again. So the name of this loom is Hope. I found several missing parts in the upstairs of the house, so instead of a two shaft, I hope to restore it back to it's original four shaft glory.
Now, I know what you're thinking, you can't have Faith, and Hope without Charity, so meet my dependable little spinning wheel Charity. She has never failed me. She is my go to wheel, and she has always spun up a mighty fine yarn every time I've sat in front of her.

So there you have it. If you're ever in Salt Lake come up and visit Faith, Hope, and Charity.

I'm Back !!!!!

2010-04-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

Yea it's spring????? Can you believe this weather? It's April 13th and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Spring season 2010 has begun here at This Is The Place, and that means that any type of weather can happen here in the Rocky Mountains.

This is one of the apricot trees that is in my yard. It's really hard to see the apricot blossoms, (what with all the snow on them) they where just starting to bloom. I hope the snow wasn't enough to damage the blossoms. These trees produce some of the best apricots and this year is suppose to be a good year for the trees to produce.
I won't be sitting on the front porch today. The village looks more like it's getting ready for Candle Light Christmas than spring season. My neighbor, Sister Andrus won't be in her house for another month, but slowly the houses will all start to open up, and air out after a long winter. My dye garden will have to wait a few more days before I can begin the spring planting. Many of the plants in the garden are perennials, like Day Lilies, Sage, Lavender, Irises, Golden Rod, and Madder. But I do need to plant a few annuals such as Marigolds.

The wild Canadian Geese like to come to the village as well and raise there goslings. If you listen carefully you can almost hear what they're saying.

Dear, are sure you read that map correctly?

Do you think we went to far north?

I could have sworn that the GPS told me to take that last right.

I knew we should have asked for directions at that last pond, but nooooo, you said you knew the way.

I hope you're happy now.

The good thing about getting snow this time of year, is that it melts quickly. By tomorrow it should all be gone.

Yippee, Fiber Exchange

2010-03-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Last night was the most fun of all the guild meeting for the year. You guessed it, it was the annual fiber exchange meeting. Maybe I should change my description from Christmas to "Trick or Treating", that's what it felt like last night. No tricks just some fun, colorful, treats. When I emptied my bag out on the floor this is what I came home with.
I think the challenge of natural dyes scared some people away, but for those of us that faced the challenge head on with courage, had a wonderful time. One of the ladies liked her wool so much she didn't even come to the meeting cause she didn't want to give any of her wool away, so said her partner. We all got a chuckle out of that. I really didn't see anything that wasn't interesting or beautiful. Some of the ladies made it very difficult to choose, because they tried several different dye stuffs. I learned some new things as well. For example, Judy made a dye bath using a gallon of vinegar and several steel wool pads. She poured the vinegar into a bucket, and crumbled the steel wool up in it, and then let it sit for several days. She saw this on the DIY network for making a wood stain, and thought that if it would stain wood it would for sure work on wool. You can see her wool at the top. It's in a plastic bag, light tan with a smidgen of rusty brown on the tip. (go figure) The wheels are turning on what I can make with these little beauties, but for now I like to just look at and pet them.

If you're wondering how the sweater is coming along, here it is. I've almost finished the body. Only a couple inches, and then it's on to the sleeves. I've really loved working on this sweater. It's nice to have a big project, that is not on a time line to finish. I don't think I'll have it finished in time to wear before warm weather hits, but come next winter this sweater will keep me looking fashionable and warm.

Happy or Sad?

2010-03-06T08:10:00.001-08:00

I received a package in the mail last month from The Griffin Dye Works and Fiber Arts company, and I've been having a ball with it. I purchased their American dye kit which contains dye materials that where used by Native Americans as well as early colonists and pioneers. One of the dyes that I used was fustic. Fustic which is also known as Dyer's Mulberry is a hardwood. The fustic came ready to soak as shavings. I made the dye pot, put in some wool and this is the color that came out. I didn't need to use a mordant, so the color that I got was a very sunny yellow. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

The kit also came with several different mordants. One of the mordants was Iron. Iron saddens the color of the dyes, so I thought I would see how sad I could make this happy yellow fiber. I used some more wool and mordanted it with the iron. I then added the mordanted wool to the same dye pot that the first wool came from, and this is the result.

The wool turned into a very pretty olive green. It's really fun to see what different colors I can get from the same dye pot by just changing the mordant. There are about 7 or 8 different dyes in this kit along with 3-4 different mordants. The kit has been well worth the cost, and it's been quite fun to learn about the plants and mordants.

My Littlest Loom

2010-02-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I started attending a new weaving class. In this class I'm learning how to do double weave, which means I can weave two fabrics at once. I know, my brain trys to leak out of my head every week at the end of class. Needless to say my floor loom has warp on it to do the home work that I need to do for class so, I can't do any other projects for awhile. I noticed the other day that I started to twitch, and knew that I needed to do a little weaving. So I thought now would be a great time to get acquainted with my newest loom the "Inklet" from Ashford. I bought this little inkle loom in order to work with some finer threads, and it is a bit more portable than my bigger floor inkle loom.
It's only 14 1/2 inches long, and 7 inches tall. I really like it. This is my second inkle band that I've woven on it.

The warp that I've put on is just sewing machine thread. This so far is the finest thread that I've worked with, and I hope to start weaving with silk threads soon.

This is a close up of all the warp threads. I used four different colors for this band.

This what the woven band looks like. The width of this band is 1 inch, and it will be about 50 inches long. I really like working with this loom. I've been thinking about what I can use the bands for and this is a list of things that I've come up with so far.

Hat bands

Garter Ties, (re-en actors really want these)

Shoe Laces.

Sashes

Belts.

Straps for bags

Guitar straps

The loom is so simple, that the possibilities for designs are almost endless, and because of it's small size I don't feel intimidated to experiment.

Go Team USA

2010-02-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

Last Friday the 2010 Winter Olympics began. To coincide with this wonderful event I found a memory project to work on while I watch the Olympic games. I ordered the kit, and on Friday, (yes on the opening day of the Olympics) my package arrived.

Inside the box was 22 balls of yarn,

and the instructions to make this. . . .

I really like this sweater for a couple of reasons. One it was named after the 2002 USA winter team, second that was the year that the Olympics were held in my home state of Utah, and third the colors and design are just stunning. The company that makes this sweater and others like it is Dale of Norway, and I bought the kit from Allegro Yarns.

So far it seems to be coming along nicely.

Baby Blues

2010-02-11T15:02:00.001-08:00

Remember this roving? I spun this up about a week ago, and I showed you the finished yarn. Well here is the finished project
This little baby sweater turned out really cute. The yarn after it was spun, was plied in a way that it made self striping yarn. The sweater was knit from the top down, in a raglan style so as not to interrupt the striping pattern.

This sweater is a for 0-6 month old baby. It's squishy, soft and warm.

Now that this project is finished it's about time to start a new one. I received a large box of yarn in the mail today, so I'll let you see what's new in the next post.

Pop Goes The Weasle

2010-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

This is some roving that I purchased at the fiber fair last September. It is wool from a corriedale sheep. My friend Judy Gunn is the dyer, and the color is called Outlaw's Playday. There is about 4 ounces here, so I thought I would spin it up. This is my wheel that I use at home. I really love this wheel. It's made by the Schacht Spindle Company of Denver Co. This is my first wheel and only wheel I like it that much. When I was looking for a spinning wheel to buy I tried out many wheels, but this wheel just seemed to fit my style of spinning. I also wanted a wheel that would grow along with me as I learned to spin. I have never regretted buying this wheel. It does everything that I need a spinning wheel to do.

This wheel is a castle style wheel. As you can see the wheel and the flyer and treadles are all square in front of the spinner. The wheels that you normally see in fairy tales are called Saxony style wheels. On a saxony style wheel the wheel is off to the side and you need to sit a little off center to spin. A saxony style wheel is what I spin on at the village, even though the castle style wheel was common for the time period as well.

This great little machine is called a weasel, and I use this to wind the yarn off the bobbin that is on the spinning wheel. The weasel also measures the yardage of the spun yarn. How does it do that? Well the circumference of the spokes is 72 inches, every time the spokes make one complete revolution you have two yards. You can count the number of times your hand goes around, but this weasel also has a built in counter.

The box that you see has wooden gears inside, after the spokes have gone around 150 times, a small wooden piece inside makes a thump, or you guessed it, a "pop". All you then have to do is count the pops to know how many yards of yarn you have. One pop equals 300 yards. And now you know where the little rhyme came from for "Pop Goes the Weasel". This yarn winder also has a small dial so you can see quarter increments.

This weasel is very special to me, because when I first purchased it, it didn't pop, so I took it to my good friend Mr. Shepherd who is a master wood worker and he made the necessary repairs. What was really special about this is that when Mr Shepherd removed the box cover to repair the gears, he noticed that the original craftsman that built it, and the original owner had signed their names and dated it. Guess what the date was? 1865. When the weasel was delivered and I unpacked it, my husband thought I had been taken. He said it looks to be in to good of shape to be that old, but the proof was there inside the weasel itself.

If you look closely at the top spoke you can see a small knob. That is what I hang on to turn the spokes around with. The other tool that you see on the floor is a Lazy Kate. I'm not sure how that tool got it's name, but there you have it. It's purpose is to hold the bobbin so that I can wind the yarn off the bobbin.
After all the yarn has been wound onto the weasel, I then tie it off and twist the two yard circle over and over building up twist, then put the two ends together and they form a hank of yarn.

This is how I store my hand spun yarn until I'm ready to use it. There ended up being 306 yards in this hank. I do have plans for this yarn so I need to go get started. I'll post later what it turned out to be.

Dye Exchange 2010

2010-01-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

The wool has been rinsed and is now drying. The bathroom looks a little creepy, almost like the "swamp thing" has moved in. The color is a soft olive green. I really like it.

Now that the wool is dry, I can divide it into 1 ounce bundles, and put a information band around it with not only my name, but what I used for dye material, and mordant.
There are 32 one ounce little bundles of soft, pale green wool ready to exchange. All in all this dye pot was a success.

2010-01-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Today is the day that I will dye my wool. First thing is I need to mordant the fiber. Mordanting helps the dye from the plant to stick to the wool. The mordant that I chose to use with this dye material is copper. It comes in a crystal form, and if you look closely you can see the small packet of blue crystals in the center of my supplies. The instructions warn of toxic fumes and skin irritation so I'll be using a mask and rubber gloves when handling the mordant and fiber.
Here is the dye pot. I let the plants sit over night and I think there is some really nice color in there. When I pulled a small amount out of the pot in looks more of a golden color than green. The next step for this pot is to strain off the plant material from the dye. I can then throw away the used leaves.

As I mentioned earlier there is a warning regarding toxic fumes, so I will be doing the mordanting and dyeing outside over my camp stove. The copper and wool are now in the pot and need to simmer for about 30 minutes.

As the wool takes on the copper it changes to a pretty light sea foam green. It's working!!!! After simmering for 30 minutes, I took the wool in the house and rinsed it. Next step, into the dye pot.

The leaves have been strained, and the wool is now added to the dye pot. Between the blue green of the mordant, and the yellow gold of the dye pot, it looks like I'm going to get a pretty olive green. I will let the wool simmer again for about 30 minutes, and then I will let it sit and cool. Later tonight I will rinse it out and hang it up to dry.

The Guild Dye Exchange

2010-01-08T14:32:00.001-08:00

I belong to the Wasatch Woolpack Handspinners Spinning Guild, and every year we have a dye exchange. This has to be the highlight of the year for me, it's almost like Christmas in March. How it works is the president tells us either what color we need to shoot for, or what kind of dye material we need to use. I think it's great, because it gets me out of comfort zones and forces me to learn and try new things.

This year the challenge is to "Dye From Your Pantry". In other words what do you have around the house inside or out that you can dye wool with. The options included plants, spices, and even Kool-aid. It just couldn't be an acid or other manufactured dye. The other rules are, you need to dye at least 2 pounds of good ready to spin roving.

After you have dyed and dried your wool you then divide it up into 1 ounce balls with the information on how you dyed your wool and your name. Then at the guild meeting in March everyone gets to show and tell about their adventures. Then we all go around and pick up one sample of everyone elses dyed wool. We all go home with about 2 pounds of wonderfully different colored wool.

I thought I would start my 2 pounds today. I decided to use a plant that grows in my garden, so last September I pruned back my sage bushes and hung the stems to dry until I needed them.

To prepare the wool for dying, I need to let my wool soak in plain water so the wool will absorb the dye, and not just the water when it goes in the dye pot. Here is my wool soaking, it will need to soak until tomorrow when I will then mordant it. I'll explain more about that latter.

Here is my sage that I dried earlier last fall. It smells wonderful.

To make a dye pot out of this sage, I first need to strip the leaves off the stems.

Since the leaves are so dry, they crumble quite easily. The kitchen area really smelled strong of sage after I finished doing this.

The leaves are then put into a large stock pot with water to simmer. I usually do this for about 1 hour. I will then turn off the heat and let the leaves steep in the water until tomorrow morning.
Then I will strain the plant material out of the water and the dye pot will be ready for dying.

After only a short time the color is already going into the water, but I want a really deep green and the longer the leaves are in the water the better my chances are of getting the color that I want.

The Shawl is Finished

2010-01-07T15:32:00.001-08:00

All the strings are in place, and I've started the weaving process. This pattern requires two shuttles. One shuttle for the design (the grey hand spun), and one for the tabby (red) to stabilize the fabric.This pattern takes a little longer to weave because I'm really weaving two types of fabric at the same time. See the treadles under the loom? the two on the left I use to weave the tabby pattern, and the other four are used to make the overshot pattern.
Here is a close up of the woven fabric. I think this side will be the back side of the shawl.

I really like how the pattern worked up on the other side of the fabric. The wool that I used is a dark grey with silver and it gives the yarn a shimmering look. I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

Here is a picture of the completed shawl.

Total time 7 1/2 hours to weave and finish.

So, how many hours did it take to make this shawl from start to finish?

44 hours.

What do you think it's worth???

Setting up

2010-01-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the yarn is spun and ready to weave with, but before I weave I need to set up the loom. I have to do a little bit of math to figure out how many strings per inch I want the shawl to be. The finished shawl will be about 21 inches. I need to allow four inches for shrinkage, so I need to plan on 25 inches on the loom. I want 15 strings per inch. So I multiply 25 by 15 and get 375 ends. The weaving pattern I've chosen is a repeat of 30, so in order to make this work and be centered I need to increase the strings to 390 plus 2 for floats. That is a total of 392 strings that I need to get ready to go on the loom.
The length of the strings will be 3 yards. I use a warping board to measure out the length and count the number of strings that I need. This process took about 2 hours.

Now that I have the warp strings counted and measured it's time to go to the loom. I now will take one by one everyone of those 392 strings and thread them through the reed. That took 1 hour.

After I have finished sleying the reed, I then need to take each thread one by one and pull it through one headle on one of the four shafts on the loom. Time, 2 hours.
Now I need to tie the warp to the back beam. Time 1 hour
With the warp attached to the back beam of the loom, it's now time to wind the warp up and attach the other end to the front beam. Time 1 hour.
The loom is now dressed, and I'm ready to begin weaving. Total time invested so far in this shawl, 37 hours.

In The Beginning

2010-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

People that come to the village to visit have commented that some of the hand made pieces that they see in the gift shop seem expensive. Though I can't speak for all the artisans at the village, I'm sure many of them will agree that many hours of labor go into each piece before you see the finished item.
I wanted to share with you the steps, and time that go into one of the pieces that you might see at the village.
The project that I've selected is a hand woven shawl, made from hand spun yarn.
The materials that I have chosen for this project are wool and cotton.

When I purchased this wool it had only been sheared off the sheep. The wool smelled like a sheep and was dirty and greasy from all the lanolin that coats the wool to keep the sheep dry and warm.
So step #1 I needed to wash the wool by hand and let it dry. Time 1-2 hours.
As you can see in the picture the wool is in a tangled mess. I can't spin the wool in this condition,

Step #2 Carding. This tool is called a drum carder. It's function is to brush and line up the fiber for spinning. For this wool I needed to run it through the carder 3-4 times, before it was smooth enough to spin. I will need about 14oz. Time, 4hours.

The wool is now ready to spin. I did spin this wool on my spinning wheel. I needed to spin a fine yarn for the shawl which takes longer to do than thicker yarns. I can spin 4 ounces of yarn on one of my bobbins. Total yardage on one bobbin is about 1200 yards. It takes me about 6 hours to spin one bobbin, I spun up three. After the yarn is spun I need to ply the yarn into a two ply yarn. That takes about another 2 hours per bobbin. Total time to spin and ply the yarn 24 hours.

The yarn is now ready. I will be using this yarn for the weft in the shawl. I chose to purchase a beautiful pearl cotton (hot red) for the warp. Total time so far for this shawl 30 hours, and I've not even begun to weave yet.

Tomorrow I start preparing the loom.

You Have To Be Warped To Weave.

2009-11-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

This is another type of loom that I've been learning to weave on. It's called and "inkle loom". It is a very simple loom, and is used to make narrow pieces of woven fabric. The warp threads go in a continuous circle around the pegs, so as you weave you simply advance the woven straps around until you have woven all the warp threads.

The dark threads are the headles that are used on this loom, and they are made from string. To achieve the over under action of a loom you simply push or lift the threads with your hand to make a shed for the shuttle to pass through.

This type of weaving is a "warp faced" type of weaving. Meaning you mainly see the warp threads and not the weft. The weft thread is the thread that goes back and forth across the warp threads. As you can see the thread on my shuttle is green, but the warp threads cover that thread, and you see the color pattern of the warp threads.

The reason that I made this strap is to go on the little carpet bag that I made. Remember the loom that I bought back in September? Well I got all the replacement parts, thoroughly cleaned the loom, and reassembled it. I didn't want to test the loom out on really good yarns, so I chose to do a simple rag rug.

The loom works wonderfully, and this is the result. I made this little bag out of fabric scraps and one of my husband's old worn shirts. It turned out quite nice.

I know your mom or grandma had rugs just like this in her house.

But I bet they didn't have a really cool computer bag like this.

My First Completed Weaving Projects

2009-11-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

Before I tell you about my latest adventures in weaving, I wanted to share this little project with you. My daughter has a black and tan Pomeranian named Jack. She collected Jack's undercoat when she would brush him, and brought this small bag of hair for me to spin. I did so and got this really pretty and soft yarn. I have plans for something, but I will tell you about it when I get it finished.
This is my first finished, usable project from my weaving class. I think it turned out quite nice. The warp was a soft black wool fingerling yarn, and the weft was some ugly sock yarn that looked better on the monitor than it did in real life, but it looked much better as a woven scarf. It just goes to show you that even ugly sock yarn can be made into something beautiful, you just have to find the right project. There are some beginner mistakes in this project, and I'm sure they will glare at my teacher when I take it into class, but it's not to bad.

After I finished the above scarf, I decided to try it again while the corrections from the previous scarf were fresh in my head. I'm please to say that this scarf turned out great without any of the mistakes that where in the last scarf.

At the village, the artisans that work there sell their hand made items in the gift shop. I have many different items in the gift shop, and this will be added to the inventory. It is made from a soft wool, so it will be very warm and comfy around someones neck.

Warp or Weft??

2009-10-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am learning to be a weaver. This is the a small table loom that is teaching me the ropes before I go on to the floor loom that I purchased a month ago.
So far the experience has been quite delightful. I learned how to warp the loom, and then did so all by myself. I do have to admit I was a little nervous. All those loose ends, (119 to exact) that needed to be strung through the reed ( see that metal grate below) one by one and do it so that not one of those threads gets out of place or tangled.

Then it's on to the heddles. See those wire type things below? Well this loom is a 4 shaft loom and you need to know if your going to thread the string through shaft 1, 2, 3, or 4. After all the threads have gone through the heddles on one of the 4 shafts then you get to pull them tight and tie them to the beam. To check your work all you need to do is raise each shaft one at a time and make sure that no unwanted threads are in the shed. Lucky for me the shed was clear, so onto weaving.

This was a sampler that I made to get a feel for how the loom works. My homework was to use different types of yarns, different pressure on the beater bar, and lifting the shafts in a different order to make different types of clothe.

This was my second sampler. The one above is simple weaving, this one was using "twill patterns". I really liked how all the different patterns came together.

This is a close up of a pattern call "goose eye"

My next class is tomorrow, and we will start learning how to plan and design our next project. I have finished cleaning and refinishing my floor loom. I'm just waiting for the replacement parts to arrive. They should be here sometime this week.

That Was a Nice Goose

2009-09-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

Up at the village we regularly have schools come up for field trips. The kids get to go to different sites and see how things where done in the 1860's. I was doing just that when half way through my last group all of a sudden it sounded like a goose parade was coming around the corner of the house. It was only one goose and three ducks but, it sounded like alot more. After the kids left I gave the flock a cob of dried corn, and we became fast friends.
I went back to my spinning, and heard a commotion behind me, it was the goose. He settled down behind my rocker and went to sleep, that is until someone came up to the house then he jumped up and sounded the alarm.

When that visitor left he came around and started checking out my spinning wheel. I didn't stop him because I wanted to see just what he would do. I kept on spinning and yes, he did stick his beak in the spokes of the wheel, but I wasn't going very fast and it didn't seem to scare him. We had a nice afternoon together, he let my pet him all over. At one point I sat on the front steps and he walked up to me, and stood right beside me. I gently put my arm over his back and continued to cuddle him until he fell asleep. Then it was time for my to go inside. The squawking resumed when I left his sight. I called to him and and next thing I knew he was in the house looking around.

Lucky thing for me he didn't have an accident on the floor. (I hate cleaning up goose and duck poo). He took his time looking around, made sure I was okay. . .

Then turned and walked back outside.

I hope he comes back for another visit.

Oxen in Training

2009-09-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

So in the last post I mentioned that there are 3 little steer calves that live in the corral at the back of my site.
Well, here they are!!!

This cute little brown and white baby is "Bones" yes, from the t.v. show. He is the smallest of the three, but the most lovable. I can almost put him to sleep just by brushing him with the curry comb. You need to be on your toes though with this little guy, cause if you stop brushing and turn you back on him you will get a head butt to your backside. Don't ask me how I know this.

This next little man in "Booth", and again from a t.v. show. I think I was told the name of it is "House" but I don't watch it so, I could be wrong. As you can tell Booth is laid back and has a very full tummy. He just loves it when I come into the corral and brush him while he is napping.
This guy is named "Gibbs", and yes you guessed it, he was named after a t.v. character as well but, I do watch NCIS so it was easy for me to remember this baby's name. He also loves to be brushed. His favorite place to be rubbed, is around his ears and where his horns are pushing through.
The only way I can tell the difference between Booth and Gibbs is, Gibbs has a small white spot at the base of his tail.
These three calves have a long way to go before they will be ready to pull any type of load. They are closer to 300 pounds than the 3000 pounds of a mature steer. They do have healthy appetites though, and spend most of their days with their heads in the feeders.

The second thing that they do the most of is sleep, but that is what all young babies do. Right now they are only about 6 months old, but they are getting bigger each day.

They do have a small yoke that they are getting used to, and they are learning voice commands. They love to be around people, and I see kids petting them through the fence daily. It won't be long and these little boys will be showing off their skills to visitors that come up to the village.

The Utah State Fair

2009-09-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was asked to demonstrate at the Utah State Fair this morning. My spinning guild put the guilts on us members to not only demonstrate spinning, but to also enter some of our hand spun yarn and or an item that we had made out of our hand spun yarn.
So here is a picture of my entry, and guess what I won sweepstakes for this little baby christening dress. It was my first time entering any hand spun knitted item in the state fair, and I'm really pleased.
After I finished with my turn of demoing, I headed out to the livestock barns. I wanted to see some different sheep types, but on my way to the sheep barns I came across this beautiful animal. I don't know the women or her children, but they made good scale so that you could see the size of this big boy.

As you can read from the sign this is an ox. Now I have three little calves in the corral at the back of my site at the village. They are our oxen in training, so on Monday when I go to work I will take a picture of them so you can see my little "beef cake boys".

When I did reach the sheep barn, I was dissapointed to see that the only sheep they had where suffolks. Maybe the others had already gone home. All in all it was a good day at the fair.

Saturday September 12th part 2

2009-09-13T17:19:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here is what I did the morning of the 12th.
Early in the morning I headed out to the equestrian park in West Jordan to join in on the fun at the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair. I wait for this day all year. It's the time when I get to have fiber christmas. This year it was sunny and warm, and these three boys tried to stay cool in the shade. They are three Churro rams, . . . .

and their owner makes these wonderful items out of their fleeces. The bags of fiber are the natural color, and the rugs are hand woven on the frame looms that you can see on the bottom left of the picture.
My friend Judy Gunn also had a great selection of colorful fiber to purchase. I have to admit I bought several bundles of her dyed roving. This picture is just a small sample of what she brought to sell.
My other friend Christine, owner of Three Wishes Fiber Arts store located in West Jordan had her tent with all kinds of goodies set up as well.

There where many other friends, and vendors set up, and I did my best to spread my money around. This is the result of my shopping spree.
The above picture gives a little better view of the amount that I bought, but the lower picture shows the colors much better. I plan on having a lot of color in my house this winter when it's snowing and grey and white outside.
This was the surprise purchase of the fair. I start my weaving lessons in two weeks but, I saw this loom with a sign on it that said, "Make an offer". Not knowing what I was looking at or anything else about looms I sought out the counsel of some of my friends that do. They all agreed that it was a good little loom, and in good working order other than it needing a little cleaning and some bolt tightening.
I bought it for a very good price, and brought it home. Here is a picture of the manufacture of the loom. I will be contacting them for an instruction booklet and any other little goodies that I will need for it. I already know that I will need shuttles, hooks, and maybe a new reed. The price was so very good that I have more than enough money left over to easily afford them.

The loom is a 36" wide, four shaft loom. I'm sure I will be able to do whatever I want to with my weaving on this little loom.

It was a great day, and I'm ready for fall and winter to set in.

2009-09-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend at the village there is a wonderful event happening. We are having Civil War re-enactors come to the village from all over the place. This time of year it gets pretty slow, so to have something like this to look forward to is very exciting. This is a picture of the north lawn at my site. Right know it empty but after only a few hours. . . .
The tent is set up, and the comedy troop of Spenser and Jackson are ready to entertain. They did a great show like the ones that would have been done for the soldiers during the civil war.

The peace didn't last for long though. With the sound of steel being unsheathed, the union soldier was ready to battle with the confederate soldier.

In true fashion the Union won the fight and the confederate was forced to retreat.

The men were not the only ones that came out to play. The village was full of beautifully dressed women. This lady was using a western side saddle, which is a little more substantial than an english one. She was dressed in a lovely red velvet gown, which looked stunning against her magnificent mount. This horse was huge. Standing 16.2 hands.

It was a very busy day in the village.

Some of My Animal Friends

2009-09-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Working at the base of the mountains does have some benefits. Namely the wildlife that comes to visit me at my site.

This is a little cotton tail rabbit. She has been in my flower garden and in the surrounding area all summer. I noticed one day that she has a gimpy left front leg. I'm not sure what happened, but it looks to me like she might have broken it, and then it healed in a misshapen form. Anyway it doesn't seem to slow her down much.

And if your wondering how I know it's a she, well here is one of her two little babies that also is hopping around the yard.

Just so you can see how tiny this little guy is, it's sitting next to a 4x4" fence post.

Well That Was A Surprise

2009-09-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is dye pot number 2.
See these pretty red little Snap Dragon flowers? Well they were the base for dye pot number 2. The dye pot color was a very pretty deep red (the bottom picture is closer to the true color). I placed the wool into the dye pot, turned on the heat to set the dye. Then I let the wool set over night to cool and soak up as much color as it could.

Next morning I rinsed it and it turned this color.

Yea, I was surprised as well. I really thought that I would get a pretty light pink, but this is still a nice golden color. The yarn spun up very pretty and I think it might be one of my favorites for this year. I have a little of this color, and a little of the wool from the marigold pot, so I am going to spin these two together for a slightly variegated yarn. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Fall Flowers

2009-08-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I did three different dye pots using plants from my dye garden. Here is the end result of the first pot. The color is a soft baby chick yellow. I think there is about 3 oz's of fiber that's ready to spin.

I used the marigold flowers from these very plants to make the dye with.

This skein is 150 yards, and is quite soft and nice. I'm very pleased with the end result. I did have a little of the fiber left over and I'm planning on blending it with whats left over from the second dye.

What is the second dye pot? You'll just have to wait and see.

Thrum Mittens

2009-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last year in my spinning guild meeting we learned about "thrums" and how to use them to add insulation to our mittens. I decided to try this technique and made this pair of mittens.

The mittens are made from a hand spun dark grey Corriedale fleece that I purchased about a year ago. The pink stitches are made from unspun Merino fiber that is made into thrums. You can see in the basket the unspun pink fibers that are made into a bow by twisting the ends toward the middle of a 4 inch length of fiber.

I then knit these little bows into the work so that the ends remain loose on the inside of the mitten. These loose ends inside make a wonderful wool lining that gives added warmth to the mittens.
As you wear these mittens the friction from your hand causes the loose ends of the thrum to felt slightly, so the unspun thrums will not come out or fall apart.

My Site

2009-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the house that I spend most of my time at when I'm at work. It was built by a man named Samuel Jewkes in the 1860's and has adobe brick walls which really helps the house stay cool on hot summer days.

I love sitting on the front porch with my spinning wheel and visiting with the guests that come to the village.

First Post

2009-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first post ever, to my first ever blog.

How did this happen?????

Me with a blog?

Well let me tell you how this whole thing got started.

Today at work Jordan asked me if I had a blog. I told him no, because I really didn't think anyone would want to read what I had to say, but the more I thought about it the better the idea sounded.

I want to share my fiber passion with you, not only what I have learned about the fiber arts in 21 century but also what I have learned from being a spinster in the 1860's. That's right you read correctly a spinster.

During the summer months I work at "This Is The Place Heritage Park" located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City Utah. I am the spinster in the village, hence the name of the blog " Pioneerspinster". Now don't jump to conclusions here. I am married, I have two great kids, (both are married) and a standard poodle named Kyra. You might not know this but another definition for a spinster is . . . "a woman's whose occupation is to spin." That's me!!!!

As I write this entry the summer season at the village is coming to a close, but things are still going on at the park. I will be bringing my camera to work with me so I can share pictures of the site where I work, and the tools that I use on a daily basis. I also will be sharing some of the great happenings at the village.

During the months of October thru April most of what I post will be what is happening in my studio at my home, and I will be sharing with you my journey to become a weaver, ( I start my weaving classes on September 26th). Until then I still have a little over a month to post entries about the fun things that happen to me at the village.

Robin