I was mulling over my studio plans for 2015, I always seem to do this in early January, and I'm sure I am not the only one. I posted last week, that I have all my fibery things stuffed into the studio rooms upstairs, because of 8 grandchildren being here for the holidays. By now, you may have thought that the majority of those little's have gone back, but on the contrary! Over the holidays, I have gone from 1 "in town" daughter to 2 "in town" daughters! I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have more kiddos close to home! Our time together doesn't have that urgency that it normally would have if they were leaving in a day or two. Anyway, we are tickled pink to go from 2 to 5 local grandkids!
Since I do have more younger kids around, I have to decided which antique spinning wheels can be downstairs and which will have to stay in the out of bounds area of the upstairs studio rooms. It will help that some of the bedroom furniture will be moving out of the second studio room, when the new arrivals find their own living arrangements. (They are not staying with us, but with the other "in town" daughter right now, she has more room.) That opens up many possiblities for Studio B, as I like to call it, but that change in furniture may be a couple of weeks / months away, so I need to put those thoughts on hold, and think about what I can get done in this first month of the new year, to make me feel like there is some order in the Studio.
This week I have been working on getting the fleeces that I had started combing/carding last year, totally processed. I finished one on Tuesday (white Shetland 5oz combed top), and I am progressing nicely on a lovely brown Shetland fleece we nicknamed "Jack Sparrow". I hope to finish that one today, I am trying it on the drum carder to speed things up a bit. I am using a diz to take it off of the drum carder, so the resulting prep is very close to combed top. There is another white double coated shetland fleece that is also partially combed, so that is next in line. I am sure that there are a couple more half done fleeces in the boxes on the top shelf, I will do them as I come to them, when I make my annual way around the studio.
I have 4 more full fleeces that I have washed, but not started to comb/card beyond the initial sampling (2 large Jacobs, 2 small Corriedale). I am not going to worry about them right now, they will store nicely just as they are. There is also 1 huge, soft, chocolate brown Cormo/Romney fleece that I have not yet washed, it came to my house early last month, and we all know how conducive the holiday season it to fleece washing! I plan to get to that after I get all the half combed fleeces done and nicely packed away.
I also have 2 projects on spinning wheels that have been languishing away these last couple of months. I sit down once in awhile to spin a bit, but I really need to get these projects off the bobbins and into yarn. One of them is Merino top from Malabrigo, it is lovely, but I am spinning it very fine, and using a "new to me" technique that Margaret Stowe teaches. It is not like my usual drafting style and I am sure that this is why I am avoiding it. It involves drafting "around the corner", using your finger as the pivot point. Anyway, I am avoiding it! The second project is some BFL I am spinning for socks, (this is my first try for sock yarn) which is languishing only because of the holidays. (There is a 3rd project but that is just now getting started, it involves spinning one of the Corriedale fleeces that has a smidge of lanolin left in it. I haven't decided yet, but I think I may just flick open the locks and spin it like that! Another new thing!)
On the weaving front, I have 4 floor looms with projects on them, that have been silent for too long. There is 1 longish Placemat warp, 1 long Baby Blanket warp, 1 Hand towel/Napkin warp and 1 Bread Cloth warp 10 yds. These have been on hold for awhile, and right now, frankly, I'm not sure I can even get to them by the end of January. I have shelves of weaving materials that need sorting, shelves of books that need going thru, and a scarf I need to get on the rigid heddle is I want to finish it in time to take to my Mom when I go see her in the near future.
(I have also a pair of those long, over the knee white stockings that I am knitting for my demo costume, but that is one thing I think I have made some progress on while I am fighting an upper respiratory kind of thing. I have both of the stockings down to the ankles, all that is left is to turn the heel and do the foot! Yay!)
Here I sit, with the last half of a sinus infection, a studio full of half baked projects and half a mind to do something about it! :) Don't think however that I am upset by any of this! Sitting down to prepare fiber, or spin, or knit, or warp, or weave is my fun time, I can listen to an audio book, or a podcast, or watch a movie all while doing something I love! I do not feel overwhelmed, and I am never bored that is for sure!
How are your plans for the new year shaping up?
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Weaving and Knitting, Tina
Since I do have more younger kids around, I have to decided which antique spinning wheels can be downstairs and which will have to stay in the out of bounds area of the upstairs studio rooms. It will help that some of the bedroom furniture will be moving out of the second studio room, when the new arrivals find their own living arrangements. (They are not staying with us, but with the other "in town" daughter right now, she has more room.) That opens up many possiblities for Studio B, as I like to call it, but that change in furniture may be a couple of weeks / months away, so I need to put those thoughts on hold, and think about what I can get done in this first month of the new year, to make me feel like there is some order in the Studio.
This week I have been working on getting the fleeces that I had started combing/carding last year, totally processed. I finished one on Tuesday (white Shetland 5oz combed top), and I am progressing nicely on a lovely brown Shetland fleece we nicknamed "Jack Sparrow". I hope to finish that one today, I am trying it on the drum carder to speed things up a bit. I am using a diz to take it off of the drum carder, so the resulting prep is very close to combed top. There is another white double coated shetland fleece that is also partially combed, so that is next in line. I am sure that there are a couple more half done fleeces in the boxes on the top shelf, I will do them as I come to them, when I make my annual way around the studio.
I have 4 more full fleeces that I have washed, but not started to comb/card beyond the initial sampling (2 large Jacobs, 2 small Corriedale). I am not going to worry about them right now, they will store nicely just as they are. There is also 1 huge, soft, chocolate brown Cormo/Romney fleece that I have not yet washed, it came to my house early last month, and we all know how conducive the holiday season it to fleece washing! I plan to get to that after I get all the half combed fleeces done and nicely packed away.
I also have 2 projects on spinning wheels that have been languishing away these last couple of months. I sit down once in awhile to spin a bit, but I really need to get these projects off the bobbins and into yarn. One of them is Merino top from Malabrigo, it is lovely, but I am spinning it very fine, and using a "new to me" technique that Margaret Stowe teaches. It is not like my usual drafting style and I am sure that this is why I am avoiding it. It involves drafting "around the corner", using your finger as the pivot point. Anyway, I am avoiding it! The second project is some BFL I am spinning for socks, (this is my first try for sock yarn) which is languishing only because of the holidays. (There is a 3rd project but that is just now getting started, it involves spinning one of the Corriedale fleeces that has a smidge of lanolin left in it. I haven't decided yet, but I think I may just flick open the locks and spin it like that! Another new thing!)
On the weaving front, I have 4 floor looms with projects on them, that have been silent for too long. There is 1 longish Placemat warp, 1 long Baby Blanket warp, 1 Hand towel/Napkin warp and 1 Bread Cloth warp 10 yds. These have been on hold for awhile, and right now, frankly, I'm not sure I can even get to them by the end of January. I have shelves of weaving materials that need sorting, shelves of books that need going thru, and a scarf I need to get on the rigid heddle is I want to finish it in time to take to my Mom when I go see her in the near future.
(I have also a pair of those long, over the knee white stockings that I am knitting for my demo costume, but that is one thing I think I have made some progress on while I am fighting an upper respiratory kind of thing. I have both of the stockings down to the ankles, all that is left is to turn the heel and do the foot! Yay!)
Here I sit, with the last half of a sinus infection, a studio full of half baked projects and half a mind to do something about it! :) Don't think however that I am upset by any of this! Sitting down to prepare fiber, or spin, or knit, or warp, or weave is my fun time, I can listen to an audio book, or a podcast, or watch a movie all while doing something I love! I do not feel overwhelmed, and I am never bored that is for sure!
How are your plans for the new year shaping up?
Until next time, Happy Spinning, Weaving and Knitting, Tina
2 comments:
That was a very enjoyable post. Thanks, and I should take the time more often to comment so you know you're appreciated. The "round the corner" spinning technique is what Sara Lamb uses and I simply cannot get the hang of it, but according to Sara it eliminates the risk of repetitive motion injury.
I thought you had finished getting Jack Sparrow ready to spin...except for the locks you keep for the kids to see at the Museum!!! This cold snap we're having is just a perfect time to spin by the wood stove!
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