Still more Shenanigans - Team Slow Lane

 Once again, there's a Slow Lane challenge - which is an opportunity to revisit incomplete homework, or in my case, an early Shenanigan... I haven't touched the handspun, handwoven tape in the year+ since the first Shenanigans... making it my OLDEST unfinished FU project.

I was... ambitious... when I warped this - there's a LOT of yardage waiting for me to get to it...

So how did I do? 

Progress was made! I added about half again what there was originally - the thread marker is the point where I stopped after the first Shenanigans.

Obligatory last-possible-second bedspread shot...
The thread marker is where I stopped after the first Shenanigans, December 2020.

I really like how this yarn behaves when I'm working with it - there's just something about handspun that FEELS so much better, and more lively, than millspun... and there's enough twist that I'm having no issues with clearing the shed, or any of the other problems that can occur when working with commercial weaving yarns.

This is staying in my active projects until I finish it - I have ideas about where it needs to go, and it's a nice, easy pattern to take anywhere... it's a simple 5-thread alternating S/Z 'knot' or 'skein', done in Baltic-style pickup, on a floating rigid heddle.

I debated changing the pattern, and adding an extra twist to the motif, but I think I like it as-is. That's a modification I'll probably do in the future.

Still more Shenanigans... Earth Day challenge

Another Shenanigans has arrived in Franquemont University, with some recurring themes, and some new ones. In typical 'me' fashion, it's going to be a bit of a jumble - hopefully, I can sort it out by hammering the words into something coherent.

First up, the challenge I hadn't planned on doing - the one that I started last, and so far, the only completed item.

We were tasked with finding a way to work the usual '3 Rs', Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle, into a project. I had _no_ idea where that would lead - so I skipped it... and then came the phone call...

Someone had contacted my Guild, searching for a repair on a much-loved baby blanket. The person who made it had passed away before they could give it in-person to their grandchild - who is now 6... making it extremely special.

The child has been sleeping with it EVERY night, for their whole life, and it's showing some signs of 'becoming Real'... It's been literally loved to tatters, and the wee owner is inconsolable without it.

It could not be replaced - because it wouldn't be 'the one from grandma'... It could not be binned, because the child isn't SLEEPING properly without it... It had to be repaired.

To add to the adventure, some of the loose threads had been cut, by a well-meaning parent, in an attempt to halt the progression of the damage. 

(this was not, in fact, helpful... we think that's the cause of the larger hole)

*slight* signs of damage...

...The 'fun' begins here, because I am _not_, and have never claimed to be, a crocheter. I generally dislike the drape, and don't care for how much more yarn it takes to cover a given area... I *have* used a crochet hook for knitting repairs, and have even occasionally added a bit of embellishment to things - like the spines on knitted toy dragons, or shell edging on a knitted item.

I'm not a 'hooker' - and don't play one on TV...

...but this is a very real child, in crisis over a beloved comfort object - and the 2 people I would recommend to attempt this repair... either don't do more complicated work, or have _never_ repaired their crochet. (I may have made some interesting faces when I learned THAT one!)

That meant it fell to me - because I could not simply say 'no' in this situation.

First, I had to figure out how to 'zipper' the ravelled row back together. It took a bit of trial and error, because it works more like Tunisian/Afghan stitch... you need live loops, so you can pull them through the base of the row above.

...I ended up doing the first bit slightly wrong - but my instructions were to get it to a point where it could be used again - not to get it perfect... They didn't even care if it was never square again - it hopefully only needs to survive another year or two at the current level of use... 

...I wanted to do better than THAT.

First tentative steps, figuring out how to patch the pattern so it was relatively similar to the original.

I got into the swing of things, and reached the area where the original yarn was missing. I'd been given a similar yarn, in a different colour, that also belonged to that grandmother's stash. It worked up tighter, but part of that is the degree of wear on the blanket - it may well be the same yarn, but 6 years of heavy use later, the blanket seems close to one size finer.

Nearly done with the BIG hole.

Still square! I declare tentative win... 

Then came the part I was really concerned about. That center hole was so worn-through that the yarn couldn't easily be picked... and I was hoping to preserve as much of the original yarn as I could... That meant doing another thing I had NEVER done.

I had to make a granny square. (nope, never did that, EVER - and I foolishly decided to simply leap in, and fudge it) With no pattern, I grabbed my replacement yarn, and fiddled a bit - I have a pretty good idea HOW they work, I've just never wanted to make one.

First try - other than not climbing out in the right spot, not bad...

With that hurdle out of the way, I needed to turn it into a STURDY center, that kept all the original yarns, to the best of my ability.

The best course I could come up with was to put my square underneath, as a support, and chain the remaining tatters of yarn more-or-less where they should be. It's very thick, and doesn't drape like the rest of the blanket - but visually, it was the best I could do... and the chain stitch set me up for the next phase of repairs.

Not a hole! Success! (but THICC)

There were several areas that were worn to the point that they'd need support, or there will be holes within a wash or two... Shoring those up was next.

I grabbed my trusty thrift-store Q-snap, and FINALLY used it for the first time...

Center finished, preparing for the first chain-stitch add-on.

I tried to keep the worst area relatively square, but it pulled in a bit...

Then I added some zigzag squiggles on the thinnest spots. The culprits were the columns of holes - where a single exposed stitch was subject to more wear. The zigzags were fairly easy to do - and they don't get too much in the way of the drape or hand of the fabric.

I fixed the most-worn areas, but finally decided I had reached the stopping point. The goal was NOT, after all, a complete reconstruction - and at this point, I declared it repaired, to the best of my ability.

Final result, same orientation as original photo.

Closer view of the repaired areas.

close-up shot of the center - I left a few stray tails, because clipping them seemed wrong, and they can't really go anywhere.

Back view

I delivered the completed blanket to the person who contacted me, and am looking forward to hearing what the tiny owner thinks when it arrives back in their hands.

Word of the Year, 2022...

 ...another year already? The pandemic has been both the longest, and the shortest, span of my life...

This is only my second run at this 'word to frame my year' thing... and I'm hoping it goes at least as well as last year.

I won't call my Process year a resounding success, but it wasn't a failure, either - looking up at the word, written on a small whiteboard across the room from me, was a good reminder that I don't need to define myself by finished objects. The journey *does* matter at least as much as the destination.

I bought new equipment for the studio, I did a lot of thinking about workflow, I did some planning... I won't say I accomplished a TON, but I feel mostly okay about where I ended up.

As the year ticked on, at least one thing became clear. I want to continue the exercise - and by November, I was pondering new words - but reminding myself that Process wasn't done yet, so there was no rush to pick. 

In a chat with a friend, partway through December, I had it.

Purpose

Purpose is funny - because it can apply to objects as much as it does to inner direction. I plan to use both, this year. I've allowed myself time for reflection, during last year's (Process) decision to honour my need to 'just be'...and choosing a direction for growth is a nice stepping stone from there.

...but I've also spent nearly 2 years almost entirely within my apartment - only leaving for appointments, and, once COVID protocols were in place, to run drop-ins at the Guild Room.

This means I'm becoming more and more aware of the need to winnow some of my 'extras'. I don't think I'll ever achieve the Minimalist goal of a wide open, sparse, Zen-like space... but I could do better. The things I choose to keep in my life need to fulfill _their_ Purpose.

And if they don't, I need to find a way to let them go - so there's room for the items I choose to keep.

Purpose is also about using all the thinking I've done about workflow, and applying it. I have the tools, but they're no good to me if I don't use them. Purpose is about using all the skills I've accumulated over the years, and building better habits, so that I *can* be productive, even with minimal spoons.

Purpose is about choosing when to throw things away, when to donate them so they find purpose with someone else, and when to mend them, so they fulfill their purpose for longer, and don't clutter up the landfill...

...and it's about looking ahead, and not wallowing in stasis, or dwelling on things that could lock me in my past, and keep me from my course.

Shenanigans! - Rope Bridge Challenge, and Slow-Lane Sprint

 This should be my last set of entries for the current Shenanigans, as we're running out of submission time.

First up, the Rope Bridge Challenge - make cordage from found materials where you are... well, I cheated a little, and 'found' my materials in my apartment. 

First, I was spelunking in the depths of the Stash Cave, and found a bag of really untidily stowed line flax, that I know I never purchased - I suspect it's yet another Yarn Orphanage item (IIRC, it's from someone in my Community Knitting group, from a prior volunteer placement - she gave me a biggish paper gift bag, half-full of random fibre stuff, and this was near the bottom.)

In the process of tidying the flax up into pretty stricks, so it wouldn't tangle further, there was a bit of loose waste. I hesitate to call it tow, because it was still quite long - but it wasn't going back in the bag, so I made a bit of fine cordage with it...

There's less than a yard, and I found a different medium to use, so this isn't my formal entry - but I'll post a pic here, because it's the first cordage I *ever* made.

I've already found a use for it - it's the cord on my 'Sow's Ear' bag.

Then I looked around some more, and spotted the biggish bag of horsehair, that's been languishing around waiting for me to use it as weft for tabletweaving. ...AHA!

Now, it's not grass, and a lot of it is mane, not tail - but there was a smaller bag with a sampling of tail hair - so I got started during another Office Hours, and worked until my hands cramped... and then some.

Horsehair is _tough_ to work with, because its wiry nature makes it want to spring back to its previous state... which isn't 'twisted tightly into small rope'... so it was rough going, and I didn't get very far. but there are several joins, so hopefully it counts. I was adding a few hairs in every few inches by the end, to maintain about the same thickness throughout.

*This* one is the actual entry... such as it is.

I plan to make a bit more of this, so I have a bit of horsehair line for random historic camping use. The live end is clamped between a piece of metal and a magnet, so it won't unravel while it waits.

I'm still debating a small 'trial by fire' - to see whether taking a lighter to the pokey bits helps it any.

                                                    ------------------------------------------------------

Up Next: a small handful of items from prior homework.

I decided I wasn't going to be *too* systematic about this one, but I did want to tidy up a loose end or two... The first two were started during the Tour de Fleece, but hadn't been finished.

I turned a mix of 2 colours of wool, white alpaca, and some Tencel, into this:

One lightly-filled board, 3 passes, third pass pulled off into boardworms.

The ratios were 50/25/25 wool, alpaca, Tencel - with bright red and purple wool (5g of each element). I debated a fourth pass, but decided I liked the depth the variation provided, so I stopped at 3, then rolled everything off on a pair of dowels.

Spindles in the foreground, and one of the top skeins, are mentioned in this post.

...and there it sat, until Shenanigans started up, and I got it completed.

Still needs wet-finishing, but that's nothing new, around here...

I also wanted to spin a 'pop quiz' art batt for multi-element practice - where drafting style has to change a bit, due to sudden changes in fibre content - and one of my SpinTogether prizes worked out perfectly. It's mostly merino, with alpaca and baby camel, with a sprinkling of glitz... and it's minimally processed, so all the diverse fibre types, and the various colours, are in chunks, rather than smooth (art batt from Purple Lamb).

Skein 1 done, plying skein 2, spinning skein 3 - it's nice to have reasonably-matched spindles! (they're the same size, and 1g weight difference)

With this particular combination being fine wool and camelids, I was still able to spin smooth laceweight yarn with no issues, so I now have over 880 yards to play with. I'll take my time figuring out which skein order, and finding a GREAT pattern.

Top-to-bottom, in spinning order, self-plied. Still deciding the order I'll use to knit them up.

I worked in strips, from one edge of the batt to the other, figuring I'd take the colours as they came, ply each on itself from the spindle ball, and sort the order later.

I also got to thinking about useful things to do with samples from earlier classes... so I broke out my rarely-used triangle loom, and started on some meditative weaving. I can piece these together into squares, or make the hypotenuse the outside edges of a scarf, or do something else entirely - but first, I need more than 2!

Just plainweave at this point, but using most pegs 2-3 times each. I don't want it too open, so I press each new end into place, then assess whether the next pass goes on the same peg, or the next one.

I've had this loom for years, and only made 1 other triangle on it - about time it saw a bit of use.


...And that concludes the stuff I actually got done THIS Shenanigans - I got too involved in other things, including a charity ride here.

I've met my fundraising goal, and have almost hit my distance goal - both are pretty modest, but I'm not getting out much ;)

I even did a bit of plying while on the stationary bike!

Shenanigans! - I Can't Even, and New-to-Me Fibre

 Hey again - now we start with the flurry of info (I hope)

One of my other FFS projects was an 'attempt' to spin Highland Cattle. First, it needed a bath - and by the colour of the water, it REALLY needed one... (no pictures - but it was a very unappealing dark urine yellow-brown)

It looked like a pretty dubious prospect at first, so I flagged it for the 'I can't EVEN' challenge, then realized it's also the first time I've spun cattle hair, so it also qualifies as an entry for the 'New-to-You/Breed Study' as well. I like it when I can have things do double-duty!

Here's a photo of a sample 'lock' - it's not terribly long, but workable. On average, it's right around the 2", or 5cm mark... I'd bet a bunch of it is shorter.

2 very distinct textures!

For my first attempt, I carded the fibres together with my dog slickers, thinking it might be okay for a small bag, or something. The undercoat is very soft, and not unlike yak down, buffalo, qiviuq, or cashmere - though qiviuq and cashmere are generally longer. (I haven't spun any buffalo yet, but helped the guild dehair some for a class a few years back.)

I think it's what helped the initial yarn hold together. The coarser fibres are pretty slippery, but the finer ones made up for some of that.

It wasn't an *easy* spin, but went better than I anticipated. (still not something I'd recommend to beginners)

I did most of this first sample during an Office Hours - and Pimmie said it looked on-camera like I was spinning barbed wire... not entirely inaccurate! It's pretty bristly, and a fair amount of the hair fibre tried to shed out while I was drafting.

Usable yarn... sort of. (Who knew?)

That got me thinking: what would happen if I separated BOTH textures, and spun them individually? ("What happened when you tried?" - will echo in the back of my mind forever, I think)

...So I split them out, and did the following 2 samples entirely via hand-processing. These were going to be SMALL samples, and it wasn't worth trying to load even a dog slicker brush. It has also been awhile since I did fingers-only fibre prep - it would have been a nice change of pace, if it hadn't been THIS stuff.

The hardest part about the dehairing process was that the fibres aren't that different in length - and the hair portion is ABUNDANT. With the other similar fibres I've handled raw, the guard hair component was a bit more sparse, so the separation seemed to go more quickly... and it was generally from shed winter undercoat, so the worst of the hair remained on the animal.

This is ALL about getting enough twist into slippery, short, hair fibres to force them to hold together - it was considerably harder to make into a usable yarn, and kept drifting apart, or snapping on me - there was some mild cursing at this sample. I like the colour - shame it seems to only be in the hair, and not the undercoat.

THIS is the true 'barbed wire' yarn! Nothin' but prickles!

...and then, the only NICE part of this spin! As you can see, I missed a couple hairs, but overall, this is very soft, and was pleasant to spin. The 2 hairs beside the yarn are for texture comparison, because you can clearly see the finer-textured halo on this one.

I wasn't really trying for something super-consistent, but this was quite happy to be a fair bit finer than the first 2 samples. With no coarse hair fighting for dominance, this drafted more readily into a laceweight 2-ply - whereas the other 2 yarns are closer to a light fingering, after plying.

Totally wearable, and actually pretty nice - but VERY labour intensive!

So if I were stranded somewhere, with only Highland Cattle, or some other 'wooly coo' to spin, I wouldn't freeze, and might be pretty comfortable - but it's not the quickest process. I might even repeat that final exercise with the rest of the cattle fibre I have... eventually... for my own use only, most likely.

I suppose this means that someday, I'll have to do this again - if only for the bragging rights. (Now where can I find some Curly Horse? lol)

Shenanigans! - Sow's Ear, and Tying it All Together

 Franquemont Fibre Shenanigans (FFS) is upon us again, and I've been slowly worrying away at a few things.

The biggest one is my Sow's Ear Challenge/Tying it All Together - I went with some 'well matured' fibres, that have been in my stash since rocks were soft.

The dyed silk noil came from the Fiber Hut in Calgary (closed 'mumble' years ago) The label's pretty faded, but I originally paid $2.50 for 20g - used a bunch, then stowed the remainder.

There were a LOT of bug bits in this stuff - but it was fun to use, and the first noil I ever tried.

The dark green wool came from the 'fibre orphanage' - something a friend passed on to me, probably 10-15 years ago, and the rest was all from a Birkeland Bros Mystery Fibre grab bag, or two... that I got before they moved to Abbotsford. To the best of my knowledge, it's mohair/silk - but being from a grab bag, I don't have a clue what else might be there...

Yarn stew - my fibre *before* the blending begins.

I liked all the colours well enough - but there wasn't a huge amount of any one fibre, and the mohair had begun to compact, and felt, even before I spun any of the items that arrived with it (several of which are _still_ in my stash, but not as semi-felted).

Because it's such a variety of lengths, combing wasn't really an option, and I don't have a drum carder at home - so off to the blending board I went - intending to BLEND this stuff, and not just fling it onto the board in one pass. It's in 5 piles, because I've found that 15-20g is about what works well on my blending board, without cramming on so much it's unwieldy, or having too little to hold together well. 

That whole heap is a bit over 4oz, I think it weighed about 113g before I got started - and that was the only time I measured things. Because I don't know the fibre content of most of this pile, there wasn't any real point in getting accurate % numbers for each item.

Here's what it looked like after the first pass, lifted off the pins. I'm fairly picky, so it got a more thorough mixing than might have happened. This stuff is, at a minimum, almost old enough to drive - taking a little extra time with it can't hurt anything NOW.

The noil is barely visible, as it's buried in an inside layer at this stage. The copper and greens are behaving nicely.

I loaded the board in a second pass, pausing to burnish everything down about 4-5 times during the process.

...and finally, the noil appears!

That looked like it was more-or-less where I wanted it to be, so I pulled it off into some boardworms. A bit more blending happens as you draft onto the sticks, but I'd consider this 2 passes.

No flash, and the weird daylight colour we've had lately didn't help... but I thought these looked quite a bit better than when I started.

Then I repeated the process 4 more times, until I had 25 boardworms in the box. Took another pic, with the flash, to see whether the SHINE would be visible... they *really* gleamed.

Aziz - LIGHT! ;)

Then came the spinning, and I could REALLY see things taking shape.

Truer colour on the flash photos, so that's what I went with, sometimes...

I decided on a 3-ply, to help even out any inconsistencies from the chunks of noil, and so there could be a bit firmer plying twist without the yarn getting harsh. I also did it because I usually don't - Shenanigans is about breaking a few 'rules' and habits along the way! (ETA: longdraw, with a fair amount of double-drafting, when the silk noil got clumpy)

I wound a plying ball - again, because I usually don't - I have several tool-based solutions, and often choose those... lots of bobbins, and a tensioned Kate mean that I don't _have_ to wind a ball... but it's a workflow that is used in many cultures, even with the availability of other tools. It's also meditative, in its own way.

Plied the leftover bit into a few yards of 2-ply. More on that later.

Filled a bobbin - I was aiming for, or just past, twist stasis on this - I wanted to keep the hand and drape, even with a fairly firm ply - and it's a pretty dense yarn, because I decided not to fight for anything *too* lofty... I wanted the shine more than 'squish' - and some heavy-feeling, slinky drape.

I may have lost count - but it came up just shy of 300 yards. I'll update here if it changes after wet-finishing.

Wound the skein on my 2-yard niddy, because I didn't want it too short and compact to show off the finished yarn.

...and then I just *had* to address all the comments I've been seeing about making a Silk Purse out of my Sow's Ear... so I wet-finished that tiny sample skein, then grabbed my 4" double-pointed knitting needles... and made a... mess. ;)

Pinned out on the underside of a therapy cushion - because it was the right size... and with my fine linen cordage through the live stitches in place of a bind-off.
This photo REALLY shows off the coppery elements in the yarn, and the shine it kept.

Once it was dry, my other 'studio assistant' helped me with a tutorial on how to close up the purse. It might work out really well for knitting or tatting from tiny sample balls!

...from flat circle...

...gather it up...

Tada! One tiny purse, closed around my tatting thread.

Plodding along, or why being a Process Person isn't a Bad Thing...

As I write this, I haven't done any spinning yet today - which might put me behind schedule. You see, I made another decision that might end poorly - I opted for contiguous yardage over speed. Here's how far I've gotten, in 8 days.

(I might be halfway through this HALF of the braid... this is not ideal.)

What makes it worse, is that I need to spin some of the contrasting colour too - so that I can make the intended 4-ply. This braid will be chained, and I'll combine it with a similar-grist singles in a coordinating polwarth/silk.

It's a different ratio wool/silk, but getting a reasonable match should be do-able.

I'm fighting my own physical limitations and stamina on this, as much as anything else. There's just enough strain, even with Scotch Tension, that my hands are feeling the hours of drafting required to add a few new 'hills' to the bobbin. 

I'm trying to mix it up a bit, and do some exercises to help, but this is a BIG departure from the last few months' spindle spinning - and my body doesn't like all the 'sameness' as much as the variety of movements required for spindling. I can *definitely* marathon spindle better than wheel-spin.

This is a good thing to know - especially if I plan to work up to more spinning this year. I'll have to look at the decisions I make, and decide whether the result is worth the cost of admission. I think it mostly is - I'm certainly learning a few things about my body, and its limits.

Now, the GOOD part of being a process person, is that I'm not finding ALL this time 'boring'. I'm reveling in the look and feel of this colourway, and it's a very bright spot in a dreary 'January grey' existence. I'm hoping the same will be true - eventually - when I get to cast this on, and start knitting the planned shawl.

The current plan is to get through this half of the fibre, and see how long THAT takes... if it's past the 15th, then I'll *have* to ply the first half, so I can start knitting the shawl. I think that's a good tradeoff - because I can't spin full-time, so it'll be nice to have the option of switching gears.

I've also committed to tracking for the #15forSCA challenge - so every day I work on an SCA-related project, I can count it... Apparently there are going to be coins minted for participants who get over 30 days tracked.

It's a good way to get a couple motifs done on the purple tape. Here's the one session I got done this past week.

I may be eating some elephants, but at least they're pygmy elephants - so the 'one bite at a time' stretches a bit further.