Fractal spun and beehives and coils

So, I wanted to see what the Octopussy colorway looked like spun up (and I need a project on the needles that requires no attention-simple socks it is:O) So, I took a 4oz braid of Octopussy split it in half (longway) then took one half and split it length wise again, then took THAT half (techinally a quarter now) and split that where the indigo dip was and split it into 8 strips....

I spun the 1/4 single up, and then the 8 split starting with the indigo dyed portion each time, then plied the two together for a fingering weight 2 ply. This is the results-I like it. Will start said sock tonight (though I am supposed to be off limits from knitting and spinning, I will go slow)

Also, used the Carnival Glass colorway to do some beehives and coils art yarn for a delicious fun scarf. Love how this one came out! Fun.

Kids are back in public school starting tomorrow. Mixed feelings about this, but I know in the end it will all be good. I will miss them, but I know I could use the extra alone time to get some work done and they will enjoy seeing kids their own age again.

Dental Hygiene

Since I got called in to help my old dental office I have not done much in the way of Wildberry Moon! I almost have my natural dye studio set up in the garage, and everything else is just waiting for my 'return' lol!

All needle decisions are on hold for now. I did get my trial package of Kollage needles to sample, and the joins on the firm cable circular needle are not good, as there is a 2-3 mm space between the cord and the needle where the yarn gets hung up. The soft cable joins are fine, but the soft cable is just to soft IMO and it is difficult to slide your yarn over. So, we'll see what comes of all that.

The rabbits are just waiting for some good grooming time, but are going to be waiting a while longer as I need to get the kids ready for back to school (shopping, lunch bags, napsacks, haircuts etc.). Also, soccer has started for Rowan and that has me at practice 2 times a week plus one game a week. Wouldn't be so hard if I could knit or spin during that time, but until I am not doing dental hygiene 3 days a week I won't be doing much for knitting or spinning.

The tomato's are finally turning red, and there are MANY of them-which means at least 2 days of canning are in my near future! Next year I will have my full garden again, but since I need to move it to a new location I just didn't have the time this year (the wood pile is taking up half of my garden space right now so next year the garden will be in a new space).

All for now, next blog: How to handpaint fiber and yarn with natural dyes

After shots of indigo dips

A note to address my totally fickle and impulsive nature, I don't know which needles I am going with for the shop, and so for now-it will be none!! I just can't make up my mind-yes, I do realize I had said I was going with the Crystal Palace, I know, I KNOW! But, I woke up the next morning and thought, but I really like the Kollage-so, for now it's all on hold until I can make up my mind and pull up my big girl panties and just decide already.

Moving on......So, here are the photo's of some of the fibers I did an indigo dip on after dyeing with the initial colorway plan                                  
                   Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Now, the after pics are not 'good' pics of the detailed color nuances of the indigo dip. They do at least show the blue. To see the 'good' pics, you will have to go check out my website:O) There are also a few surprises that are not shown here (yeah, I'm like that). Also, this dye session is not done (remember the 'slow process' discussion on natural dyes? Did you think I was making it up?? I still have the indigo vat to exhaust and about 8 bottles of other exhausts and a few concentrates to work with. So, you will just have to check back to keep up with my mad dyeing.

Go, enjoy your day, be happy

Needles, yarn and dyes.....done

Needles. So I decided to go with the Crystal Palace needles for the following reasons
1) They are awesome
2) They are a sustainable and eco-friendly product
3) The Kollage is still having the 'kinks' worked out of the join in the circ's (from all that I have read there have still been difficulties-I personally have not used the circs, just the dpns which are awesome)

Yarns. Well that was an easy one. No, I am not telling, it's a surprise.

Dyes. In love again, this third major session of dyeing was really great, new colors, new techniques to help avoid the frazzled feel that naturally dyed fiber can sometimes have from the different mordants, modifiers and pH's (indigo vats are alkaline and protein fibers prefer acid differences). I also planned much better, which is difficult with natural dyes as it's such an 'organic' process from beginning to end. You don't always know exactly how much cochineal, logwood, etc. you will get, how strong it will be after day one etc. There are so many variables, which is part of what keeps it exciting, and part of what makes it so challenging. The subtleties are infinite and just need to be appreciated for what they are, magical. Natural dyes can be vibrant, subtle, variable, beautiful and best of all ALIVE.

We have gotten so used to 'slap you in the face' kinds of colors, tastes, decibels, connections, and attitudes, that the slow and subtle colors, tastes, sounds, often elude us in our harried lives. We (me) can be in such a hurry to get 'bold' colors, that we miss the relaxed easy way of just appreciating what you get. We want more and we want it NOW. Do we even know how to just BE anymore? Everything seems to have to be so sugar coated with glam, glitz and speed that we lose the slower enjoyment of the 'process'. Natural dyeing can bring back some of that journey to our lives, the process is not instantaneous and so you have to slow down. Once you do that, it is a wonderful and joyful experience. Go, dye, be.

Here is a pic of what a good indigo (chemical) vat looks like

And up close to see the greenish yellow color that is underneath the surface of the blue oxidized indigo.

If the vat is not this clear yellow green, but still dark blue than the indigo has not been reduced and needs more thiourea dioxide (or whatever you are using to reduce your vat).

I will post the 'after' pics of the indigo dipped tops from yesterday (or was it the day before??)

Needles, yarn, needles, yarn.....

K. So, I LOVE Crystal Palace bamboo circs and I want to carry them at the shop BUT I also LOVE the Kollage square dpn's for socks (they seriously DO make a difference for those with repetitive injury's and arthritis etc.) and for those who are pain free (jealous) they do make your stitches so very even and consistent.

The dilemma??? WHAT is my issue?? Well, right now I can't carry both (the angst of the poor folk lol!) So, what to do?? Who to pick??? Which love do I chase down the halls of hope and pray they sell??? Will let you know when I know:O)

Yarns.....yarns everywhere and not a stitch to make?? I am going to be carrying some new yarns at the shop to dye, and hopefully dye for. I am totally into fair isle right now, and so shetland fingering weights are what I am desirous of ......but, a really excellent woolen spun perfect 2-ply, not easy to find (can you believe it???) I will take care of THAT (more on that later). For my latest sock craze there are an absolute ABUNDANCE of choices, super wash merino blends, panda blends, biffle blends (BFL) silks, corries, and the list goes on...then there is the lace yarns. My heart is a flutter with excitement with all the new yarns I am getting!!! Stay tuned

Natural dyes

Dyeing is a fun job, sometimes it's great, sometimes not so much. I have been dyeing fibers for almost 5 years, first yarns and fabrics then wool fiber for hand spinning. It's funny now that I dye spinning fibers to think back to how nervous I was about felting the wool yarns I used to dye! You still have to be careful with your wool yarns (of course) but, with spinning fibers so much more careful..don't agitate, don't overheat, don't temperature shock...etc. Though, like with all things practice is the key and 'paying attention' doesn't hurt lol!

This is my third or fourth session using natural dyes on wool and silk spinning fibers. Knowing what I can expect from certain dye stuffs allows me to create colorways I really enjoy instead of getting those "oops, well it's not that bad, is it??" moments (which are painful with acid dyes, but can be even more so with expensive natural dyes and fine wool tops. This session I was brave and gave my first go using my angora fiber and natural dye, we'll see how the fiber feels and cards after rinsing and drying.

I will post a picture of the fibers separated by color after they are dried. Here is a new one  that will be available at the online shop www.wildberrymoon.com.

And here are a few that are awaiting a dip in the Indigo vat that is waiting to be made until Aric comes home with some pH strips (because I misplaced mine).

Now in the next post I will show you how the angora fiber came out (and describe wether or not it feels good enough for spinning) and show you how  the 2 batches of fiber waiting for the indigo vat  look after a dip or two in the vat.

Are all my New England friends happy today with the cooler air?? I am ecstatic, can't stand the humidity as it's no good for doing any of the things I love.

What to do with braids of dyed top

So, you buy a braid. They are like candy for kiddies, they call to you...B u y   M  e.... who can resist??

You already have a ton of them, and what would you do with another one??? Well, you can do anything with a braid of dyed top, you can spin it as is, color sequence fall as it may. You could split it up and chain ply to preserve a color sequence that you want to stay the same. You could go a few steps further though, and this is what I am blogging about.

Take the top and card it, spin it woolen instead of worsted. You could split up longer color repeats and do a striped yarn by joining the color splits as YOU choose and then chain plying. You could split up each color and spin them all separately for a fair isle project. You could split up certain colors you want to go with colors from the pile of braids you already have! The choices are really quite endless, so if you fall pray to one (or more) of those gorgeous braids you just can't say no to, never fear as there is NOTHING you can't do with dyed braids. Mix it up and have fun.

LOVE=super singles

So, went to a 'super singles' class at Spunky Eclectic. F U N. I have never had much interest in knitting or spinning singles as I really love a good 2 or 3 ply. I 'might' have previously (and rather snottishly) thought them 'inferior' and disregarded them as a 'good' yarn. When I started cloth diapering 4 years ago, there was a great love for Malabrigo among my cloth diapering friends. I was not included in this 'love' fest, as I wanted plied yarns to knit with (mind you I had never even TOUCHED malabrigo) and so there it was-dismissed. I have to say that I always liked the looks of the singles-but it was done-I had dismissed it like a cheap tequila (that only takes once, but at least I had TRIED that).

Back to this 'super singles' class. It was unexpected, as I 'pre-cogged' this class as something that would 'improve' my singles to be plied (of course). It was NOT that. It was MUCH more. It was to be singles and   REMAIN singles, now and forever . Cool-I can roll with that (sort of). We spun even, low twist singles, thick and thin singles, marled singles and more. It was FUN (yes, I have already said that) As Amy (King) talked about how to use the singles properly, and how quickly you could get to the USAGE of them (aka knitting, but you knew that) I got increasingly interested. They are soft, fluffy, scrumptous, lofty AND you don't have to do anything special to preserve the color sequence!

The long and short of this? Take a class on singles-you will love it.

Oh, can't let you go without raving about some new shawl pins Spunky Eclectic has in www.julsilver.com-I got  this cinnamon slice and it smells divine and looks gorgeous on my unfinished sweater that I wear.

Up early and off !!!

Today is the first day that I will be watching a friend's son (4) and I am so excited that my youngest who is also 4 will have a little playmate!!! Colby is not coming until this afternoon, and he's adorable! More on this topic later:O)

Going to make the Goat milk soap before my family wakes up! Then if I am lucky I will get some more dying done. I need a colorway with greens-something olive green and maybe chestnut? We'll see! I have been working my way through scouring the gorgeous Alpaca from Morelia at Andes Alpaca Farm. So far I have only done one fleece. Used the Unicorn Power Scour and fiber rinse, and I can't say enough good about these products! The Alpaca REALLY benefits from the fiber rinse, because it can get so fly away during prep-but with the Unicorn Fiber rinse it is so much easier to control!

Okay-off to the races. Plan on grooming at least two of my English Angora's today also (who will be the lucky ones??)

Andes Alpaca Farm-lovely day!

Went to pick up some fleece from Andes Alpaca Farm today. The owner-Morelia Candia is a wonderful woman, warm, intelligent, and vibrant with a great sense of humor. As many of you know I began homeschooling my 3 children a few weeks before Christmas, and so they were along for the ride. When she came to the door and saw the family waiting in the car, she said "Invite them in"-I asked her if she knew what she was getting into-she just laughed and said "Yes, yes". She also had three children, so she did in fact know. We all entered into her lovely home, just as she was putting apple cinnamon muffins into the oven (smelled heavenly). I introduced her to my family and she welcomed them as warmly as she had me on my first visit.

Morelia's alpaca's are BEAUTIFUL! She cares for them very well, and has many champions. The fleece is soft, and some of the best Alpaca fleece I have ever seen! Healty, happy animals=excellent fleece:O) She took me to the garage, where she had set aside some fleece for me to look at. She is very knowledgable and honest-she showed me some of the best and medium quality fleece. There is a lovely true black fleece that I picked out right away from an Alpaca named  Quito. I chose a few others (all fabulous!), and then the oven timer went off (muffins anyone?). We went inside, she asked my children if they thought there were enough muffins for everyone? They all chimed in "YES!!!", and she served us muffins and apple cider from the local orchard Green           -This woman knows hospitality!

After the children gobbled up their muffins and cider I asked them to put on their coats and get ready to go. They all had so enjoyed watching some of the Alpaca's through the large windows in the living room, and now they quietly asked me if they could go and see them. I said "Maybe next time" as I didn't want to impose (and had already talked with Morelia about planning a field trip to the farm for the kids). She heard their request, and said "Yes, let's go see the animals!" This is one nice lady, as the temp was fairly low today (middle of January in Maine-what else would it be?) So, she got on her outdoor gear and off we all went across the large field to where the female Alpaca's live.

What an experience! We went through the gates (one electrified) and there were 45 Alpaca's coming over to 'check us out'. WOW-it was really amazing! They all seemed to navigate to my 3 year old first, then in turn they checked us all out. What beautiful animals! (yes, think I have said this already-it deserves to be said again).

Lovely day-Thank you Morelia. We'll be back soon:O)