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Fiber Chicks

When I was in highschool, we used to love going to Old Town in Albuquerque dressed up in our spikes, black clothes and white grease painted faces to make fun of the tourists.

Now I am the tourist, walking through the historic streets..right along with all of the other tourists browsing for the best deals on turquoise jewelry and Indian rugs and baskets (some of which are made in Pakistan. I will have to research exactly which Native American tribes moved there and took up residence to continue their art....ahem..)

I am not looking for rugs and baskets, my purpose for coming here as a tourist now is of course fiber related.

A few weeks ago my dad sent me a newspaper article about a new store in Old Town: Fiber Chicks. Two retired women decided to open up a yarn store..nothing new there. But this one is reported to be selling hand spun and dyed yarn from local artists. Really? How cool!

Excuse me while I go on a tangent. My love for yarn is well known..I love it so much I make it for a living now. But why buy handspun over those luxury yarns out there? If I buy a skein of mill spun in a certain colorway, I can go back and buy more in the same colorway. It is plentiful, made of quality fiber and cheaper than most handspun. But that is exactly WHY hand spun is so cherished. It is one of a kind, produced and dyed in small lots, and no two spinners will produce th same fiber in exactly the same way or color. Items created from hand spun are truly unique, and well worth every penny you spend on them. In a world of mass production to satisfy mass consumption, hand spun is a treasure of patience, time, and preservation of an art that literally gave us civilization.

Any larger city or town will have its share of yarn and fiber shops, and Albuquerque is no exception. There are some long standing giants like Village Wools, and the standard craft store stuff. Fiber Chicks is a promising new face in the Albuquerque fiber scene (I am not sure we are a scene, but I will call it that with a lot of hope.)

My mom and I searched along the main plaza in Old Town before visiting the information booth to grab a map. Fiber Chicks is off the beaten path in more ways than one! After wandering over to the east side of the plaza, we wandered down a brick path to a patio enclosed by traditional adobe buildings.

I love these little patios. Sun baked terra cotta bricks, pots of flowers every where and benches to sit and enjoy the view.

Fiber Chicks is tucked back in just such a place, and bonus...it is next to a coffee shop. I could easily picture myself sitting on one of the warm benches on an autumn or spring day, knitting away with a cup of coffee and a biscochito by my side.

The first sight that greets you when you enter the store is a large antique spinning wheel. It is not functional, but it matches the old feel of the adobe building with its low door frames and roof.

The shop sells the standard nicer mill yarns (the Noro display is right up front..yum). The walls are decorated with hand knit projects and one entire wall is dedicated to handspun/dyed yarns.

The second room has a work table for groups to get together around and more yarn of course.

I spoke with Lesley Miller, one of the owners. She is a warm and vibrant person, and her love for yarn and her shop are evident in the conversation. We discuss handspun and the antique spinning wheel, and I found out that she lived in Colorado for a time as well. We talk about the blue expanse of the New Mexico sky, and how much we love the west.

I kept thinking if I lived in Albuquerque, this store would be one of my favorite haunts. Friendly people, a beautiful patio and a laid back feel would make it the perfect place to shop and knit.

Unfortunately, most of the consignment hand spun yarns had been picked up by the artists for the upcoming Taos Wool Festival, but there was still plenty to look at. The hand spun yarns were well crafted, with a lot of variety in the fibers they were spun from. I also noticed a small cubby with some roving for sale. The hanks were generous, and the prices were reasonable for consignment yarn.

Fiber Chicks was well worth the visit, and I admire any store that supports local artisans and sells their work. If you are passing through Albuquerque, it is definitely worth a visit and a chat.

Fiber Chicks

206 1/2 San Felipe NW #9

Patio Market, Old Town

Albuquerque, NM

87104

Book Review: Shear Spirit

Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns, Miles of Yarn

Joan Tapper, Gale Zucker (Photography)

I don't normally buy pattern books unless they offer something else. Not to say I don't own them, I just normally check them out from the library to get a pattern or two that I like.

This book offers so much more than patterns, and the patterns offered are fabulous.

Shear Spirit is a photographic journal of fiber farms across America. I started browsing through the copy I bought while at Victory Ranch, and had to add it to my pile of purchases.

The photography:

These photos are so rich in color and texture you could almost touch them. A variety of fiber animals and the people that work with them. These aren't just snapshots, they capture the feel of the setting and span the seasons. The photos of the projects showcase their beauty, and are artfully modeled. I also love close up photos and schematics of projects this book provides. The photos in Shear Spirit are coffe table book quality, and I will often just browse through them for inspiration.

The writing:

It actually took me a while to read the stories of each fiber farm. I was so drawn in by the photos and the projects that I read them last. That was a shame. The stories associated with each fiber farm are engaging, and often relate the struggles of making fiber your life work. Without being dull, the stories illustrate the day to day work of the farms represented and are as colorful as the photos. One of my personal favorites is Meadowcroft Farms. Nanney Kennedy dyes her yarns using sea water and sun in big open air bath tubs, letting nature do the work. Most of the stories have an underlying theme of the change of seasons, which gives the writing a timeless feel.

The projects:

Most of the projects are for knitting. there is a crocheted hotpad, a felted tote bag and instructions for making Navajo braided rope. The projects range from small and simple to larger and more intensive. There is a good mix of men's and women's projects, some unisex projects and a childs cardigan. I have not knit any of them yet, but there seems to be a good range of experience levels with the projects. All of the projects are created from the yarn each farm produces. When I actually get time to knit, the first project I want to try is the Meseta Alta Shawl from Victory Ranch. I actually saw the shawl while visiting the ranch and it is luscious!

The good:

Stunning photography, engaging stories and a lot of inspiration. A lot of variety in the projects with notes from the designer and graphics where needed. The projects for the felted tote bag and the Navajo rope are interesting inclusions.

The bad:

Most of the projects are knit. I would love to see a little more variety in crochet and perhaps even weaving. But the rest of the book makes up for the lack technique variety in the projects.

Spinning Blind!

I don't think anyone who knows me doubts my love for my spinning wheel..and spinning. I also love watching movies, or watching life go by from my patio, or watching Cosmos on the Science Channel.

I spin for a living now and am very, very picky about my end results. In the beginning this usually meant watching my drafting and twist with an unwavering eye. A good knitting or crocheting yarn is about consistency, consistency, consistency. Not that I dislike spinning funky novelty yarn..but in my opinion it is about learning the rules and perfecting them before cutting loose and breaking them.

Spinning is also a meditation for me. If I am not watching a movie or some geeky science show, I am often sitting at my wheel with my eyes closed, chanting in my head with the rhythym of my feet and hands providing the beat for repetitions.

Wait..did I just say spinning with my eyes closed?!

You bet! I have found this technique great for creating yarn by feel, that is amazingly consistent..often more consistent than watching my drafting with eyes open.

I read an article a few years ago about a group of blind women who used to spin yarn. The yarn they produced was coveted for its incredible consistency and softness. It made a lot of sense to me, our eyes decieve us far more than any other sense. Rather than removing my eyes, I decided to use a bandanna as a blindfold to explore the world of tactile spinning.

Learning how to spin by touch gives you an incredible feel for the fiber and yarn. Your hands will sensitize to things like crimp, contaminants in the fiber, and twist.

I encourage you to give this method a try..it can be frustrating at first, but eventually you will learn to trust your hands as well as your eyes to produce beautiful yarns.

You will need a blindfold, your wheel , and fibers prepared by different methods (rolags, raw, top, roving etc).

Get your equipment set up. Put your blindfold on. Go back to spinning 101 and spend a few minutes treadling your wheel with an empty bobbin. Focus on listening to the sounds your wheel makes. Eventually you will be able to hear when it needs oil, or something isn't right.

How does your foot feel on the treadle? Do you push more with one part of your foot than the other? Or is it even across the treadle? What sound does your wheel make on the down treadle? On the up? These exercises are just to get you used to opening up the other senses to your spinning.

Lift up your blindfold and grab some of your fibers. Re-cover your eyes and actually feel the fiber. What is the weight like? Is it smooth? Crimpy? Can you tell if it is top or roving? If it is a rolag is it light and airy or is it more compact? Amazing what you can learn with your eyes closed.

Now for the fun part. With your blind fold on, attach your fiber to your leader. Try spinning with your usual drafting method for a few minutes. You will probably feel a bit of anxiety..you just lost control of the normal faculty to see if you are doing it "right". Concentrate on your usual drafting method now. How much feel do you have for the yarn being formed by your fingers? Most spinners have about 2 fingers on the drafting hand, and 2 fingers on the twist hand. How does that limit your ability to feel the yarn?

Let's try something else. My wonderful hubby took some pictures of the hand holds I use for "blind spinning". In this photo, my left hand is holding the fiber. My forefinger and thumb control the amount of fiber coming from my drafting hand. The fiber is held *lightly* under the remaining 3 fingers. (Nothing worse than spinning matted fiber from sweating hands). When you are spinning blind, this hand will allow you to feel what is coming through before the twist goes in.

The right hand is controlling the twist coming in to the fiber (this works for any draw style you prefer. I started with a short forward draw while learning this). Most spinners use the forfinger and thumb to control the twist. We are just going to add the remaining 3 fingers so the twisted yarn passes through them, giving you a feel for the twist and diameter of the yarn you are spinning. Here is another photo showing the forward hand palm up, and the yarn passing over the last 3 fingers. You can also spin palm up, it is just a matter of preference. If you spin palm up, the untwisted fibers are felt by the 3 fingers on the hand, and the final twist and diameter is felt by the thumb and fore finger.

Alrighty..start spinning. Focus on the feel of the fiber as it flows through your fingers.

Don't worry about what the yarn is going to look like, just concentrate on how it feels.

Once you are comfortable doing this, start feeling your treadling in comparison to how your hands are moving. Is there a rhythym to your drafting and treadling? Good! You won't believe how this will improve your consistency.

Eventually you are going to run out of fiber, which brings us to (drum roll) the BLIND JOIN! Yep. You are not allowed to take the blindfold off to join the new fiber on. Use those sensitive fingers to feel when the fibers are aligned and ready for twist. After you are done swearing and get the hang of it, you might just notice that your joins are now smoother as well.

Try all of your different fibers and drafting techniques. I notice that my long draw/woolen spinning is the most interesting. I can feel how much fiber was coming through with the draw back, even though the fiber was no longer between my fingers. I could also feel when just the right amount of twist was in it, and have since learned how to draft out the slubby thick spots all by feel.

Is it nerdy to say these techniques liberated my spinning? Probably a little. But it has greatly improved my spinning as well. My last project, Sangre De Cristo was spun almost entirely "blind". It is one of the softest, and most conistent yarns I have spun to date. (This is not subjective, each skein was measured on the Mcmorran balance and all were a more consistent grist than anything I have spun before.)

Now you can spin while meditating..enjoying a movie without missing an action scene, or have a conversation with your spinning buddies at the next spin-in.

Groovy!
The yarns in these photos are available for sale at www.rumplestiltskeins.artfire.com

Chaos, Bikers and Thou

Wow. This blog was supposed to be mostly fiber related but we are all a bit more multi-faceted than that..no?
So, I will start by saying I just ordered 12 oz of premium yak down Woooohooooo!

Now..back to what I was going to yammer on about.

The last few years have been a bit rough. The more people I talk to, the more I realize this is happening on a broad spectrum. Maybe the dominant paradigm is shifting..as the bumper sticker says.
I have been kind of ill the last few years..my immune system likes to go a bit overboard and attack my endocrine system. Currently they are in a stand off.
I invested a lot in what I *should* want, and very little in myself. With my tendencies towards the magickal and fantastical, I had at some point I guess, decided that I needed both feet and hands planted firmly in the practical world. As my body got weaker, my attempts to grasp this became more futile and stronger..ending in a week in the hospital. The job was killing me. The self doubt was crippling me..I watched all the things I loved (dancing, being physical, being involved and regarded as smart) slip away one by one. So did most of my friends. My body kept shutting down and I kept turning off. I lost what I thought was my support group, and relationships became antagonistic. I can still taste the bitterness if I dwell on it for too long.
My job became harder and harder to do. I didn't know at the time how much these conditions affect my cognitive functioning. I came home too tired to care, or do anything about where I was going..but hell..I still had my 401k right?
I struggled to keep it all going, and the harder I tried the more it slipped away. There were people who reached out, who stayed in contact and gave their support. There were people who out of lack of understanding made some damn cruel comments. I didn't care about most of them.
Laying in the hospital bed, I had a series of "visions" for lack of a better term..probably induced by all of the medication I was on, but meaningful none the less. The universe is a large large place, I am nothing in it. Our daily strivings for our perfect job, our perfect marriage, our perfect image, our perfect group of perfect friends to hang with..all ultimately meaningless. I have looked in to the void before, now I realized I was in the middle of it. If everything is meaningless, why not just drift away...let my screaming body rest.
And in the void there was a pulsing light..broadcasting outwards. It's all meaningless so give it your own meaning. What do you want?
I want to have a yarn shop. I want to teach people to spin. I want to perform greater acts of audacious magick. I want my husbands band to tour and for him to live that dream. I want my sisters to finish college and make their mark on the world. I want my brother to be married to the perfect partner....the list came spilling out. Meaningless in the larger picture yet full of emotion. My boat across the void.
Sitting at my doctors office, he told me with a concerned look that he wanted me to take a few months off work. My body had taken a beating and would not get better without some rest and a dramatic decrease in my stress level. The good corporate girl fought it..misplaced loyalty to a job that blew me off a few months later, and that haunting idea of what I should want. I am not my 401k, I am not the paycheck in the bank each month. I am not the docile trying to please yes I can do it person I now hated.
I took him up on it. And yes, a few months in to it, the job I tried so hard to excel at cut me off like a useless appendage. Not even by letter or in person...just a cold phone call saying I'm not needed anymore.
Fall out of the boat in to the abyss again...how much of my identity was wrapped up in that job?
Alot apparently.
I found the knitters. Human beings that talked to me accepted me on the surface and became my friends. Some my very good friends. I slowly came to realize that not all women are back stabbing beyatches who will go out of their way to kick you when you're down. Nice.
Back in the boat again, rowing for the shore. My husband, mom, sisters and brother were elated that I found them. I started to talk about my dream of my own shop again. I found connections with people again. They were my life line(yarn?)
Fast forward a few more months now. My body has rested, my mind..it's getting there. Through these women I have found other friends, inspirations, and a tap to the emotions I had turned off long ago.
When my job let me go..I panicked. There goes my security..my paycheck. I called my mom. She reminded me that life is short..I had dreams and now I have a chance to make them happen. She also said in her closet chaos magician way "Why is it we beg for something to manifest, and then when it does we freak out". Good...rhetorical..question....
A blur of months of checking out books on small business, setting up an online shop, and treating my spinning as a job...but a job I love. It gets me out of bed in the morning excited about what I will create today. It is its own magick...the wheel has so much history and mythic use behind it. Those stories were now translated in to the yarn winding on to it.
Magick came back..daily practice, meditation, physical exercise. I can see the shore from the abyss now.
My husband had a show at Iliff Park while I was out of town, and met the new owner.
We talked one night and I instantly liked her. She was going through hell..details I won't pass on here, but I got her.
Through roundabout means, one night after her dead father showed up in a plaid shirt and told me life on the other side is a hoot...we are working there now on the weekends.
At this point I choose to believe it is a convergence. The people I am meeting, the slow unraveling of the yes to everyone but myself self, the music, the laughs, the people I am meeting in uncanny ways.
The other night I saw my first biker punch down. Dumb kid grabbed the boobs of the owner's neice. Realized that I had my bite back. No need to cringe from life anymore. A toast to the unraveling of my "self" and then another.
Get back in the boat, you don't need the comfort of the shore. Adrift on seas of chaos, we will catch the waves to new lands, new experiences. If you hold security to strongly, you just squeeze the life out of it..out of yourself. It's all meaningless and that is hilarious. Laugh and catch the spray of the sea on your face.
And to my co-captain Jace..I love you. I told you the other day, and I am typing it now for all the world to see..I love you. I am glad you are my husband, and have never given up on me. Let's sail the boat and eat foreign fruits!

My Wheel's Gone to the Dogs!

Yep..it's about spinning pooch, plying fido and all things about chiengora (with a few allergy pills to boot)

Most spinners I know are avid collectors of just about any fiber they can sqiush betweeen their fingers. We have spun cotton tops from pill bottles, attempted to make yarn out of dryer lint, proclaimed loudly to other spinners when we get a mere ounce of vicuna, yak, or buffalo. But spinning dog? Seriously?

Heh. Why not..if you own one, the supply is abundant. Chiengora is more thermal than wool, and the super hollow core makes a lightweight but durable yarn.

But what about the doooog smell? Who would wear anything that will make them smell like their family pet?

There will be a recipie at the end of the blog for de-stinking the stuff. We don't smell like barn yard animals when we wear wool..because it is cleaned. And trust me..I have cleaned far more POOP (and gawd knows what else) out of sheep and alpaca. The family dog just gets a little dusty from playing in the park..and he gets bathed regularly.

And what could express love for your constant companion more than wearing something out of their down?

Scandinavians and Native Americans were both known to spin and wear dog down..if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me. And I can dye mine in cool colors!

So the subject used for this lovely spinning example was Crazy Sam the Siberian Husky..who interestingly enough, really likes to watch my spinning wheel go round and round (would love to know what is going through that noggin of his sometimes)

Rosie, his companion supports the effort by either lying at my feet adoringly, or stealing Sam's bed while he is entranced by my wheel. Being a weim, she doens't have a spinnable undercoat, but we love her sleek softness just as much! As usual, the hubby was kind enough to take pictures of the current escapade on the edge of insanity spinning.

We got about 8 oz of good fiber of Sam with a few brushings. (Think about this very hard before owning a Siberian...we have only had him a few months, and there is probably just as much "fiber" on the couch and floor at this time)

The best way to collect dog down is either with a rake or a slicker. It collects the soft UNDERCOAT of the dog, and not the guard hairs, which make for some scratchy yarn.

Rakes look an like a nice long wool comb and guess what? They will help de-hair like one too if you have a set of them!

I can't find Sam's slicker to take a picture of, he probably ate it. Or buried it in the back yard. Or Rosie hid it to get me to blame him for its disappearance.

I stored his fluff in a large ziplock bag until I had enough to spin. I tried washing a batch first, but it clumped and pretty much felted the minute it hit the water. Now I just clean it afterwards.

Dog hair is full of static in this climate..if you decide to give spinning it a try, put a dryer sheet in the ziplock bag or spritz it with some watered down conditioner. Your clothes and allergies will love you for it later.

So..now to sit at the wheel and give it a spin. Amazingly, both dogs cooperated and damn near posed to have a cute picture of them taken next to the wheel. Awwwwww.

My wheel allows for both double drive and scotch tension. Double drive was a bit too strong and had less control (the spun single would fly out of my hand, untwist, turn in to fluff and cause a lot of swearing to get a new leader yarn out again that didn't drift apart.)

So..larger whorl, scotch tension.

Dog down needs quite a lot of twist. Not to the point of corkscrewing, but a good firm amount. It feels horrible and rough on the bobbin. Don't worry..it softens nicely when plied.

After trying several draw techniques, I found the most consistent for Sam's down was forward long draw. His down has super short fibers, and this was by far the most controlled technique for spinning them. I just finished a box of Newfoundland down, and that did better with a double long draw. Fiddle wit it until it works for you.

Here's a picture of the wheel, set up on single drive scotch tension on the 2nd largest whorl, with Samgora on the bobbin. Nice eh?

I used a fairly long leader yarn to begin. Grab a handful of dog down, lay the leader yarn in it, treadle to build up the twist and let it grab the down. Rock n' Roll!

There are probably more pics than text at this point, so keep scrolling...

Laying the leader yarn in the hand full of down

Using my thumb and forefinger to control the amount of twist catching in the fluff. No comments on the pink pants please.

Doin da forward long draw! The fiber hand controls the amount of dog down coming out with the thumb and fore fingers, the twist is regulated by the drawing hand between the thumb and first two fingers. Clear as mud eh?

After I get enough drawn out, I treadle to put a few more twists in then wind on to the bobbin.

Occasionally, you get a glump of fur coming out of your hand. I use the drafting hand to untwist the lump, while pulling gently back with the fiber hand. When the "bump" has been drafted out to the same thickness, let the twist run in to it.

Sam's fiber needed to sit on the bobbin for a few days to let the twist settle and make it easier to ply. Plying before this made the yarn really weak and whispy.

I did a simple 2 ply yarn before the IMPORTANT finishing process. Dog down should be fulled. And by fulled I mean you full until it dang near felts if it is a weaker yarn. And we also come to the part about not smelling like your pooch when you knit with this stuff.

Wash the skein in a deep bowl with about a gallon of water. Add about 3-4 table spoons of washing soda (NOT baking soda, it ain't strong enough!) and NO soap for the first wash. Pummel the crap out of the yarn to get the dirt out, and let the soda mixture permeate those fibers. Let it soak for not more than 5 minutes, as washing soda is pretty caustic and will happily munch on your creation after this.

Rinse ALL of the soda out in the same temperature the water has cooled to. Squish squish squish until it is allllll gone.

Run another bath in the bowl of warm water and dog shampoo. Neat thing about this stuff is it has deodorizers in it MADE to take that doggy smell away from your friend. It will do it for the yarn too! Pummel again to make sure the soap gets all the way in. Rinse in cool water.

Lastly, fill the bowl up again, and add about 1/4 cup plain ol vinegar. This will neutralize any soda remaining, condition the fur a bit, and further deodorize it. You can add a few drops of nice smelling conditioner if you want. The vinegar smell goes away when the skein dries.

Rinse lightly, and dry/ block as normal.

Here is a picture of finished Samgora for the Big Bad Wolf series I am starting, as well as some Loki yarn, from the newfoundland I spun. Have fun spinnin yer pooch! You can buy the Loki yarn at my shop www.rumplestiltskeins.etsy.com. 20% of the profits from ALL cheingora yarn are donated to the ASPCA.

How to Use a Nostepinde

Ok, directions for this are all over the web now..but here is my version since we are selling them now!

It does not matter whether you are right or left handed for these instructions. Try both and see which works for you.

Step 1: Hold the nostepinde in your hand comfortably. The end of the nostepinde should be at the heel of your hand.

Step 2: Wrap a bit of yarn around the end of the nostepinde, in this case, the grooves are made to hold it there comfortably.

Step3: Bring the yarn up the shaft of the nostepinde, and wrap it around the middle of the smooth area 6-7 times.

Step 4: The tricky part! Really though, it's a snap once you do it a few times. Hold the yarn at a 45 degree angle and KEEPING it at that angle, wrap around the 6-7 wraps you just made. Wrap 3-4 times at a 45 degree angle, then turn the nostepinde slightly. Wrap 3-4 more times, then turn again. It does not matter whether the yarn goes over or under the nostepinde, or whether you wrap from top to bottom or bottom to top...it just matters that you keep going in the same direction. Notice in the picture on the right how the forefinger braces the wraps to keep them from slipping off initially. As you wind more yarn on, this won't be necessary. The thumb is bracing the bottom of the yarn wraps.

Keep wrapping and wrapping at a 45 degree angle while turning the nostepinde. Eventually you will start seeing a nice yarn ball forming.

Step 5:When you are done wrapping grab the yarn ball in your hand and slide it off the smooth end of the nostepinde. Keep your finger on the yarn wrapped around the groove.

The yarn wrapped around the groove is now the leader yarn for your center pull ball. Pretty nifty eh?

It only takes me slightly longer to wind on a nostepinde than on a ball winder. With practice your speed increases and you will be zipping through it without even thinking about it.