Spinning an Art Bat

 

Spun on the new-to-me Matchless Spinning Wheel.

A few years ago, I wanted to spin up some fancy art yarns.  So I purchased some lovely fibers and carded them up into a beautiful art batt ready to be spun into yarn, but I never quite got around to it ... until now!

 

 I think I will try to chain-ply this spool of yarn.  That will be a new skill ...

  

Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel: My "New" Spin Baby

 

Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel (circa 2001)

I always thought if I needed to replace my Louett S90 Spinning Wheel (circa 1998), that the closest thing available would be a Schacht Matchless.  They are both castle wheels, both elegant in design.  

This week, someone nearby posted a used Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel on Facebook Marketplace for what I considered a reasonable price for a used wheel of this caliber.   New ones sell for about $1800.  It needed a little little love and attention -- not too much.  Just a good cleaning and oiling, and a minor adjustment to the treadles, and it is back in working order again!

 

On the back is a serial number so you can figure out how old the wheel is.  It's more precise than the serial numbers on the old Singer sewing machines.  The number above tells me that it was made on August 29, 2001 and it was the 6th Matchless spinning wheel of the day. 

I may need to replace the treadle brackets underneath the wheel.  They are a bit worn.  One of the treadles popped off as I was spinning the initial test yarns.  Plastic parts don't last forever.  It's too bad these wheels are not outfitted with speedometers, so you can tell how many miles are on it -- How many miles of yarn spun!

 

I pulled a variety of fibers from my stash to "give it a whirl" and see how she spins.  To my utter delight, she spins like a dream!  I tried various fibers in my stash, and they all come out pretty nice on this wheel!    In the photo is some old wool fleece (some of the first I bought in 1998 from Patty Reedy at Rainbow Fleece Farm -- It sparkles!), and some newer alpaca.  It all looks pretty good!

What I really want to spin on this wheel is fancy art batts, and sparkle yarn.  ;-). The Louett is reserved for plying these days, although I can spin pretty much anything on it.  ;-)  The Schacht-Reeves Wheel (aka the sleeping beauty wheel) seems to be optimized for alpaca.  A few weeks ago, I grabbed some white fiber to continue spinning, and it was coming out so wiry and crinkly -- I felt like I was a brand new spinner again, like I had to start over and learn it all over again.  It was pretty bad yarn--until I realized it was merino, not alpaca.  When I realized the fiber didn't feel so nice and silky as alpaca, and went back to the alpaca, the spinning looked normal again.  It's kind of a touchy / finicky wheel.  Beautiful to look at, though!

I am so pleased with this Matchless!  Also to know that I still know how to spin!  And equipment makes a difference.

The Schacht Matchless has 2 treadles, rather than the 1 treadle I've been used to for the past 26 years on other spinning wheels.  I thought that might be harder to get used to than it has been.  Not a problem!

I asked the seller if she had named this wheel.  She didn't even  an bat an eye at the question.  She said she got it from a woman in Chicago named Ekaterina, so she called it Katya.  It sounds like this lady got old and couldn't do it anymore, and her family didn't know what to do with the wheel.  Lacey, the seller, hasn't been able to give it the love and attention it needs.  Life got in the way, and she had no time for it.  Although she did take the time to outfit it with the bulky flier -- She sent it back to Schacht in Colorado to have it fitted to this particular wheel.  That's cool!  

There are bobbins with yarn spun by both women, plus 2 by me.  Some of it is quite nice!  Some of it I may use to practice chain plying ...  But that will be a separate post!

The seller also outfitted it with the bulky flier and sent it back to the Schacht factory in Boulder, CO, for it to be perfectly fitted to this wheel.  That was an investment!    

 

Last but not least, I also purchased this Vera Bradley backpack used on MarketPlace for only $15.  I will use it to hold the extra bobbins, fiber, manual and other supplies together for this wheel.  It also makes it easy to take-it-on-the-road if I want to take it somewhere else ...

In the photo above, hanging from the mother-of-all is the tiny tool box I made for oil, lube, oriface hooks, and whatever else might be required to keep such a machine in running order.  I will make a separate post on that little project. 

I was watching a number of videos to prepare for owning a Matchless -- Where to oil it, how to use the various tensionning options, etc.  That may be a separate post in and of itself.  I am used to the Irish tension on the Louet, which is easy to manage.  The double drive is a little trickier.  I have not used the Scotch tension.  Each one has it's uses!

 

For now, I'll leave you with a shot of the old fleece from Patty Reedy's Rainbow Fleece Farm.  It's a good looking single!  I love her fleeces because they just sparkle naturally.  They have such a lovely luster.  With the new wheel, I am committed to finally spinning up those old fleeces.

I made the realization that I can use singles as the pattern yarn in coverlets.  So there's no need to ply them, as they can be used without the additional processing.

More to come ...

Carding an Art Batt

Freshly carded art batt, looking very much like a cocoon!

Sometimes crafting is like "shaving yaks."  In order to do one thing, you need infrastructure to support it, which means you have to get other things ready before you can "do the thing."

Before I can spin an art batt, I have to have an art batt to start with.  Fortunately, I was able to order a few online to get me started.  So I can study how it comes out, the structure, the color and texture mixes, what fibers and in what proportion ...  Then comes collecting and gathering your fibers.

I ordered a couple finished art batts from Wild Thyme.

I ordered the ingredients from Big Sky Fiber Arts.  They send a bag of mixed fibers in different color ways.  I ordered purples and greens.

This is how they looked released and unwrapped from the bag.  It still needed to be carded together.    Really a nice combination!    Ah-- but how to do that without blending all the fibers into mud?

 One of the videos I watched recommends layering your chosen fibers into a sandwich, that you can then feed into your carding machine. 

Here's the first batt.

You can see this one rolled up into a rolag at the top of this post.  

Here's the second one.  This one is a little more blended -- like a landscape.

I kept trying to feed in the fiber that was sticking to the intake roller, and things got progressively more mixed.  I am looking forward to spinning these batts!

For my own reference, I am also adding some of the videos I watched to learn this technique:



Fortunately, there are some great how-to videos out there on YouTube.  I found this one by Ashley Martineau where she uses a sandwich technique that seemed to get good results.



Here's another one where she uses a "painterly technique" where she bypasses the intake roll, and just "paints" the fibers on the top roll.




Here's one from Blue Mountain Hand Crafts.  I am intrigued by the "fiber salad" she starts with and the beautiful batt that results!

Here's a tutorial from Staunch Fibers:
How to Give Forgotten Fibers a Bat-tacular Makeover.

Spinning Yarns : Chocolate Mint

I spun this yarn on the new cherry Schacht Reeves spinning wheel.  The brown and green mix was a ball I bought at the Sheep and Wool Festival years ago.  I think the green is silk?  I think it came from Hidden Valley Sheep & Wool Farm on the other side of Lake Winnebago.

I plied it with with some black sheep and alpaca wool from Lindago Alpaca Farm in Neenah.   Somehow she manages to get nice fiber batts at very reasonable prices. 

The spool on the left is the Hidden Valley roving spun up into a single thread.  Yes, there's a little mylar in it to add sparkle.   The middle and the left spool are after it's been plied with the black wool from Lindago.

Here's a detail shot.

This looks like some very expensive and fancy yarn! And I made it myself.  ;-)

What will I make with it?

The Haul from Sheep & Wool Festival 2018

My main mission this year was to get an Alpaca quilt batting.   I'd tried to find them online earlier in the summer, but every place seemed to be out of stock.  When I got this one, the vender / farmer said that was the last one he had, and that another alpaca farmer said Pacafil was no longer making these batts for quilting.   Hmmmh ---  I wonder if there's a production problem, or what?

Of course there was lots else to see too.  I had to get another alpaca fleece in preparation for the new Schacht-Reeves spinning wheel coming in October!  I've been working at carding the older fleece I have (from last fall), but it's slow and seasonal work -- and it's not a clean fleece.  Alpaca doesn't have the lanolin in it that sheep fleece has, but there's something in this one ...    Since I started spinning alpaca, most of the sheep's wool --even merino--feels course and rough to the touch.  This 2.4-pound fleece is clean and already carded.  With a little dizzing, it will be easy to spin on the new wheel in a few weeks.  This came from Sharoza Ranch Alpacas by Zach and Sharon Allen in Pine River, WI.  It sounds like they a have a carding mill and offer the service. 

The Weaver's Loft had a few more Jim Hockett shuttles at a really reasonable price.  $35 for this double shuttle in bubinga wood.  Beautiful!   I think Lynda bought one in a dark color, lighter weight wood -- walnut maybe?    She also had some Jim Hockett end-feed shuttles.  You see them for sale online, and they are always so much more expensive than other shuttles -- they are smaller, slimmer -- which makes sense, if you have a tight end of the warp you're trying to wring every last bit out you can, and can't raise the shed much anymore, you want a thin shuttle to squeak through there ...  I didn't get one, but I probably should have!

I always like to buy something at Mielke's Fiber stand, too.  This year, they had 1 cherry Schacht boat shuttle left.  If they'd have had more sizes in cherry, I'd have gotten them, too.  I've decided this is my favorite shape (that kayak shape) and the finish is what I like to touch.  Of course, you need a variety of shuttles for different jobs, but the Schacht cherry is one of my favorites!

Finally, at The Wool Gatherer's stand, I bought a small bottle of "Hans' Own Spinning Wheel Oil."  Lynda asked if 3-in-1 machine oil, or regular old sewing machine oil would work just as well.  Hans said, "No--those oils are not heavy enough for spinning wheels.  That's 10-30 weight motor oil."  I know I can pick that up at Fleet Farm, but it was the bottle I really wanted, with that needle nose spout to help you get the oil right where you need it.

I did stop by Patty Reedy's Rainbow Fleece Farm stand  -- such nice fleece she raises there!  When I first started spinning, I remember her fleece really had me mesmerized because it sparkled.  It actually had a luster and a sheen you just don't see anywhere else.  Not sure how she does it ...  Like magic!

Lots' of gorgeous hanks of spun yarn ...  I would like to try something more artistic and adventuresome than just my straight run-of-the mill spinning.  Perhaps mixing 2 colors in the plying stage?  Or adding some bling?  I think I saw a video about how to add sequins ...  Someone was selling orphan calls of spun yarn with tiny seed beads incorporated into it.  Very nice -- I'd like to learn how to do that!

One stand was selling rugs as what seems to be more than reasonable prices for a buyer.  Might have been slave labor to her -- because I know what it takes to make one now.  Beautiful color combinations at her stand.

Another lady was selling felted scarves --  some looked like northern lights!  Neat!  I think she also had some nice shawl pins there made from cut off tree branches -- finished nicely.  There is always something I wish I would have purchased, but didn't.  I think if I'd have gone back on Sunday, I probably would have gotten one of those shawl pins.

Soap -- One stand was selling French soaps, so I got 2 bars of my favorite Miel (honey) soap.  I don't know what they do to it!  I know I can make soap, and I put honey in it, but it never comes out smelling so light and flowery as the French Miel soap does.  And so I keep buying it when I see it!

After we got tired of shopping, Lynda and I went to sit and spin in the park area -- same place we were last year.  Much cooler this year, with a breeze.  Last year we had company as other spinners came to work their magic alongside us.  This year, it was just the two of us.  Lynda brought a Turkish drop spindle this time -- more portable than her wheel.  I had my trusty Louet S90--plying some of that silk and wool mill end mix I got last year.

Another good day at The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival!

Fiberlicious

I've been carding an alpaca fleece I bought at Sabamba last spring.  Beautiful fiber!  I watched a video that explained how to pull it off the carder by rolling it between 2 wooden dowels into a fat rolag that can then be turned into hand-pulled roving--as opposed to dizzing it.  It's nice and compact and will store well, I think, but is still easy to pull apart for spinning.  I don't mind spinning off the batts, as they stay fluffy -- but they take up a lot of space, and can matt down over time.   See below ...  I worked through about 1/2 of that fleece this afternoon.

Here's the last of the alpaca roving I bought from Sabamba last fall.  This stuff has been a dream to spin -- so easy!  It's sad to be coming to the end of the batch.  It's remarkable that the roving doesn't get all tangled up.  It just unwinds nice and gentle ...


I found someone on eBay selling a mill end batch of 65% wool and 35% silk mix.  It's beautiful stuff!  The listing said it was clean, but needed to be carded--perhaps because it's been compacted.  I think I could get away with spinning it as is.  Something to look forward to when the alpaca roving runs out.  My friend Lynda liked it too, so we ordered a second round to take us through winter.


Remember those silk laps we learned about at The Sheep & Wool Festival?  I ordered some to experiment and play with.  I love the sheen on these!  the white one is mulberry silk lap; the other is honey tussah silk lap.  

Fiber Frolic Spring 2017

 

Lynda and I went on tour for the Rites of Spring 2017 Fox Valley Fiber Frolic last wkd.

We started with Lindago Alpaca Farm, not far from Lynda's house.  Lindago has a large needle punch felting machine, and they will allow people to rent time on it for $20 / hour.  Lynda is looking forward to working with this machine.  She and Linda from Lindago may be offering some needle punch felting classes in the near future ...

At Lindago, I got a very reasonably-priced 1/2-batt of black alpaca fiber mixed with sheep's wool.  She said it was 2nd rate, and that was why it was so cheap.  In my mind, it's soft, already carded, clean, and suitable for my purposes.  I'm still looking for something to mix with the very fine Maggie Newfie fur and Keba fur so I can spin it.  This looks to be about the right color black.

I also got this lovely pair of fingerless gloves made by "Elizabeth" at Classic Alpaca, though Fair Trade.

Then we trekked out to Sabamba Alpaca Farm with B&B.  Lynda wanted another grey fleece from Abraham.  I am so enjoying spinning the alpaca roving I got there last fall, that I wanted more ...  No roving this time, but I did get a nice creamy soft fleece from "Zak."  The nice thing about the alpaca fleeces is that I don't have to wash them, like sheep fleeces (unless they are really dirty).  Alpaca fleeces don't have the lanolin / sunt (sheep sweat) that the sheep fleeces have.

Mrs. Sabamba had a bag of a prize-winning fleece there with the scorecard from the last competition.  Very impressive.  She explained to us about the crimp.  Their fleeces tend to have a longer staple length, and if the crimp goes the whole length of the lock, you know it was a happy alpaca.  If they lose the crimp at any stage, you can tell that they were stressed in some way.  Very interesting.

Just like big dogs ... sort of.

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival 2016

Two weeks ago, I attended the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI.  I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, and I was overwhelmed by all the yarns and fibers ...  Wow! So many colors and textures and possibilities!

At the show I only purchased a couple of things :
1) a ball of Polworth fiber for spinning into yarn.  This was so soft, it felt like Merino--but heavier.  I'd never heard of Polworth before.  Turns out, it is a derivative of Merino wool.  Nice stuff!
2) a threading hook for my spinning wheel with a nice wooden handle
3) a couple of stick shuttles for weaving

Here's what I saw on display :
*  Beautiful Rag Rugs
*  Wonderful cloak / shawl pins with a little bling very reasonably priced -- I wished I had purchased one, but didn't get back to that stand.
*  Beautiful handspun yarn in blues with silver.  $45 a skein.  Expensive, and I didn't have a project in mind for it when I saw it -- but I did the next day, back at home, and too far away to go back and get it.  Rats!

I was looking for Patty Reedy of  Rainbow Fleece Farm -- according to the show catalog, they were indeed there, but I didn't see them.  When I first started spinning nearly 20 years ago, I got some of her fiber.  It has a sparkle and a sheen (luster) I haven't seen in other fleece.   Really!  I'm wondering what her Fiber looks like now after 20 more years of breeding and genetics.  At that time, she told me she was a Fiber Arts person, and realized she needed to breed sheep in order to get the fiber she wanted.  Amen!

A few stands were actually selling bags of raw fleece -- I was tempted, but I knew I had 2-3 bags at home -- washed and waiting to be carded.    I see a carding day in my near future ...

Susan's Fiber Shop was also there.  Her stand was hopping, as usual!  I bought my Louet S90 Spinning Wheel from her almost 20 years ago.  And it still works like a charm!  I'm so glad I bought a good wheel, not a fixer-upper at a rummage sale.  If it had given me trouble, I would not have kept spinning.  This particular wheel was discontinued, but I just found out it's making a limited edition comeback!  So you could get one if you really wanted it -- and were willing to pay the price.

I bought the new threading hook and stick shuttles at Mielke's Fiber Arts --- So I stuck with the vendors I was familiar with.

I did keep the catalog as a future reference.  Lots of good information within -- and one worth keeping.

They offered lots of classes, too.  Now I wish I would have signed up to attend some of them ...
How to hand-spin your own fancy yarn, for one.   There's always next year!

Eye Candy

I just spent a pile of money at Joggles to get many of the supplies for Sue B's Mixed Media class (online). Should be fun and messy, too.

My heart has been leaping and lusting for some of the lovely collections of fibers Quilting Arts is selling in their online store under Fiber & Embellishments. Feast your eyes on these colors and textures!

Oliver Twist Silk Sensations Strata Packs :



I'm leaning towards Pebble and Spruce (above).

Then there are the Oliver Twist Experimental Packs :


Silver Birch

Then there are the Lamb's Tail Fibers :



I want to get some, but I can't quite decide which sets. They are all so lovely! What projects would these lovely pallettes inspire?

Fiber : Part 2

This is Maggie, the 2nd-hand dog I fostered last summer (and subsequently fell in love with and later officially adopted). We think Maggie is a full-blooded Newfie who was "working" in a local puppy mill.

Here's my soapbox : Puppy mills are evil and run by unscrupulous breeders who have no regard for the health or well-being of the dogs in their care. It's all about money and how much they can get out of these dogs (Don't think there's money to be made? A single Newfie pup can go for $1200, or more).

We (us, the vets, and the humane society) figure Maggie was about 5 years old last summer. A city dog who had never learned to walk on a leash or been house-broken, she was terrified of absolutely everything and everyone. Puppy mill dogs are typically kenneled all the time, and not socialized or given new experiences as a pet dog would be. She was interested in other dogs, but was afraid of people ... She couldn't even raise her tail because she didn't have the muscle tone to do so (How pitiful is that?). Her coat and tail were thin and scraggly. She was also painfully shy and depressed last summer, just wanted to melt away and disappear into the ground--and recovering from the stress and malnutrition of yet another litter of puppies. Have you ever seen an 80-pound dog who didn't know what to do with a pig ear or a hot dog? That was Maggie last summer ... Maggie has made a remarkable recovery, a true testament to the resilience of her spirit as a dog. Maggie is wonderful! I can't believe no one bothered to find that out before us.

This spring, Maggie's coat was so lush and full, we actually had to take her to a dog groomer. And I still have to brush her at least once a week. Her fur is so SOFT! It is a luxery to be able to come home from work and pet this lush dog! I'm saving her fur for projects--needle felting, or spinning, or something else ...
Yes, Maggie is almost a normal dog now, thanks in part to her gentle nature, my family's patience in helping her come into her own, and in part to Purty, our other overly confident pup :


Purty helped Maggie learn to play and enjoy life. They are best buddies now.

Soapbox : Don't bother with breeders and purebreds. There are so many dogs who need homes as it is. Visit your local animal shelter first. They've got just the pet for you--burebreds included. If you must opt for a purebred, make sure the breeder has morals, genuinely cares for the dogs in his care, and is NOT running a puppy mill.

I never thought I'd have a Newfie of my own ... The sad thing is, I know that when Maggie is gone, there will be another puppy-mill survivor to rehabilitate ... So much for the casualties of a market economy.

Fiber : Part 1

Last April, we were in Madison, WI, visiting some of our old haunts. Some friends were going to an Alpaca convention that day. We decided to tag along ...

Before I left Madison, almost 10 years ago, I took spinning lessons at The Weaving Worksop and bought a spinning wheel from Susan's Fiber Shop. I used to spin a lot--it helped unwind after a long day at work using my brain power. Then I had a kid who was a little too interested in the mechanisms of the spinning wheel -- and I discovered quilting!


My Spinning Wheel : A Louet S-90, a wonderful and portable wheel! I understand it's "out-of'-print" now. The yarn on it now is from a roving I bought from Rainbow Fleece Farm in New Glarus, WI. Patty Reedy is a fiber artist who decided the only way to get the fiber she was looking for was to go into raising sheep herself. The wool of her sheep has a wonderful luster--it actually sparkles! Too bad you can't see that in this picture ...

I am still very interested in fibers and spinning and now, needle felting.

One of the vendors had a lovely array of blended and dyed fibers (not necessarily Alpaca). I couldn't resist! Here's what I bought from Huacaya Moon :


Blue Green


Northern Lights


Agate

I'm thinking these will make wonderful northern lights one way or another. I still have to experiment and work out just how I want to accomplish that ...

At the Alpaca Conference, vendors brought spinning wheels and looms, too. I'd love to get a loom, but I don't have the space. They were also selling simple hand looms that could sit on a tabletop. Heck--you could make one yourself.

So what do I do with the yarn that I spin? Nothing yet. I'm not much of a knitter, though I used to crochet. My Gramma Pickles has several knitting machines, though. One day, I'll hand my yarn off to her for transformation into a sweater ...

Needle Felting

This is my first experimental attempt at needle felting.

This is the front side ...

I used the Clover needle-felting tool over a foam block (instead of the brush Clover sells with the felting tool).

Fibers used :
Wool curls/locks (blue and red)
Silk strands (green and gold)
Angelina (pink)






Here's the back side (a pleasing water-color view) :