Spindlicity

Goodbye Spindlicity

Gentle readers, 

Working with Spindlicity has been an education and an adventure, particularly back in its heyday when it was a quarterly magazine, but the time has come for Spindlicity to be retired.  Back when I started Spindlicity, I saw an opportunity for a web-based spinning publication and a chance to teach and learn about spinning.  But in the years since, many more spinning resources have become available on the internet and Spindlicity is no longer a needed resource, nor do I have the time to maintain it.  

This blog will remain here and the linked archives will also remain.  My spinning related blogging will continue over at The Beebonnet Report, where I hope you'll visit me!

So long and thanks for all the fun.  Spin happy!

-Janel

 

march madness

Just taking a moment to post my March stashdown goal - this 8 oz of merino/silk blend into a 2-ply laceweight yarn.  There are 2 different 4-oz braids here.  I plan to spin each separately and then ply. 

squeaking in under the radar

I looked up on February 25th and realized I hadn't begun my february stashdown project!  (February has been a very eventful month!)  So I grabbed some fiber, got out my NEW hansen mini spinner (more about that very soon) and started spinning away.  Late Monday night, when it was still February, I skeined off my 450 yards of merino/tussah and virtually wiped my brow.  whew!  that was close!

Here it is, my february stashdown project.  450 yards of merino/tussah dyed by Red Fish Dyeworks in gorgeous shades of blues and greens.  It's a laceweight yarn and I'm really pleased with the colors.  The plying is a little sleazy though and I'll be running it through the spinner one more time to get more twist in the ply.  I'm still learning the fine points of the minispinner.

If you completed your february project too, you can sign up here for the prize drawing!  Last month's prize winner is Laura Kanemori!  Laura wins a copy of Judith Mackenzie's book "The Intentional Spinner".  To sign up for the February drawing go here and sign in!

If you want a badge... here's your february badge!

Stashdown 2011 - January Report

The first month of the Spindlicity Stashdown is coming to a close and I am happy to report that I met my goal and finished spinning up one of my packets - a beautiful pygora and silk packet.  I started off with a packet of silk and yak this month, but switched to a different one early on because I wanted to try a particular experiment. I'll be reporting on that experiment in a few days once I get swatches done.

In the meantime, if you're playing along, here is the badge for January.  If you've met your stashdown goal for January, feel free to display this badge with pride wherever you like - on your blog, on ravelry, or wherever.

And, to sign up on the list go to this link and sign in.  On Feb 5th, a winner will be chosen by random number generator to win a copy of The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie!

The rules are, you must have spun your goal for January within the month of January, and reported it somewhere like your blog, Ravelry, your Flickr account etc.

If you didn't meet your goal this month, no worries!  You can try again next month.  Just set a new goal (or use the old goal if you want) and spin, spin, spin! 

 

 

at long last, the schacht sidekick folding wheel!

Hot off the press!  Here's my report from the TNNA tradeshow where I was delighted to find out that Schacht had their spanky new folding wheel, the Sidekick, in their booth for demonstration.  The lovely Jane Patrick and Liz Gipson sat down with me and explained all the finer points of this new wheel

I love the way Barry Schacht's mind works (and if you ever get a chance to have a conversation with him you'll see it extends to many things beyond spinning and weaving!).  To make this wheel fold up better, he engineered the flywheel perpendicular to the flyer, so the flywheel fits right between your feet as you treadle.

How does that work?  Well, here you can see the inner workings of the clever drive and scotch tensioning system. 

• A: shows the bike technology "quick releases" that help the wheel fold and unfold without a lot of extra fiddling.  Shacht also makes bicycle products, so this was a naturally brilliant use of cross-platform technology.
• B: Wonderful impregnated synthetic material bearings that are smooth as buttah and silent as snow.  I really, really love these bearings, there's one at the back of the flyer too, but you can't see it when the flyer is assembled.
• C: The scotch tensioning system that feeds through to a conveniently located tuning peg knob on the outside.  Another brilliant cross-platform idea.  I suspect either Barry or Jane are musicians.
• D: The scotch tension system feeds through a single point, so there's never a need to reverse direction with the tensioning.  Elegant.  I like your style Barry Schacht.

The wheel also has a springloaded tensioner to change the tension of the drive band.

Like its sister, the Ladybug wheel, the new sidekick uses the same flyer and bobbins as the Schacht Matchless, and can be ordered with, or without the flyer assembly, so if you already own a Matchless and are mostly buying this one for traveling, you can save a bit of money by just using the flyer assembly from your Matchless.

The wheel folds quickly and easily by releasing the footmen and folding up the treadles.

When folded, the wheel compacts both in height and width to make a nice small package.

And how does it spin?  Really nicely.  I am not usually a double treadle kind of girl, but the treadles on this wheel are smooth, perfectly balanced and a joy to treadle, meaning this single treadle girl loves these double treadles.  I'm sure double treadle folks will love them just as much.  The wheel is substantial enough that it doesn't "walk" across the floor as I've seen with other traveling wheels, and it feels nice and solid like its sister wheels, the Matchless and the Ladybug.  The flywheel is smaller, so you have less ratio span, but you always sacrifice something in favor of portability with a traveling wheel.  This is a perfect addition to the Schacht wheel family and one I've been waiting for a long time to see.  As usual, Schacht took their time to come up with a thoughtfully designed, quality product that integrates perfectly with the rest of their product line.  I think Schacht is planning to release this wheel sometime in spring of this year, so keep your eyes out for news that it's hit the market.  I know several shops have already pre-ordered and pre-sold a lot of these wheels and I predict it will be a hot ticket when it arrives in stores.

While I was there I also got a chance to admire the new Schacht logo.  A nice update from their old logo and one to carry them well into the future.  Bravo Schacht!

Ready? Set.... Spin!

Yesterday, January 1st, marked the beginning of my 2011 stashdown.  Inspired by Stephanie Pearl McPhee's self imposed sock club, I'm doing the same for my spinning stash.  I want to clear out some of the fiber I've had hanging around here to make room for new fiber one of these days.  I can't keep collecting all this beautiful stuff unless I spin it up once in a while!

So, here goes - the great stashdown of 2011.  I've made up 14 packets of fiber (because I believe in choice) and each month I commit to spinning one of those packets.  I've already chosen my first packet for January and it's a combination of this merino/silk in a colorway called McKenzie from Ashland Bay and a beautiful merino/yak roving in a called "black and blue" from Wolf Creek Wools.

I'm thinking that these two plied together will make a beautiful, lofty, warm laceweight yarn.  So I'm oiling up the pretty, new, wheel and getting ready to make beautiful music with her.

If you want to play along, I'd love to have you join me on the trail of the great stashdown!  Here are the rules:

• Each month you make a goal to spin a certain amount from your stash.  You can make packets like I did, or you can decide when the month gets here.  Somewhere* you state your goal and post a picture of the beginning fiber and updates.
• If you achieve your goal, somewhere* you post a picture of your finished yarn! 
• Each month I'll have a different badge on the blog for you to take for your own blog (or not - you're not required to post it if you don't want or don't have room), and you sign in to the database (I'll post the form here on the blog each month) saying you've met your goal.  This is an honor system.  I don't come to your house and check your spinning - it's up to you to make the goal, and report it accurately.
• Each month, all of those who have met their goal and signed in are entered into a random drawing to win a prize.
• At the end of the year, if you've met all 12 goals, you get entered into the super duper prize.
• Have fun, spin some stash.

And that's it.  I'll post the first month's badge and the sign in form in the sidebar in a few days.

Happy spinning in 2011!

*somewhere could be your blog, your ravelry page, your flickr account or wherever you update people online about your fibery pursuits

 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Fibery New Year

The 2011 Fiber stashdown starts in 7 days - Prepare your stashes!

smooth as a baby's bum

About a week or so ago, UPS dropped off a big package from Santa Gord Lendrum, via Morgaine at Carolina Homespun.  My new Lendrum saxony wheel! I ordered this wheel a little over 2 years ago, and I've been in delicious anticipation ever since, so I was fairly humming with excitement when I saw this at the door.

I also ordered a super fast flyer assembly to go with the standard flyer assembly and some extra bobbins and that all came packed in a separate box.

I first tried out this wheel at SOAR about 4 years ago and I fell in love.  When I asked Gord Lendrum the price, I said "is that all!!??!" and he smiled that quirky charming smile of his and told me he could charge me extra if I wanted.  Heheheh, I immediately turned down that offer of course!

Several years later he debuted the super fast flyer assembly at another SOAR and I was hooked.  I knew I really wanted this wheel.  So I ordered it from Morgaine at Carolina Homespun right there on the spot.  Of course it really helped to have an enabler like Kathryn Alexander there egging me on and telling me how much she loves hers and how it has made production spinning so much easier.  "here, sit down and spin for a bit"  "I can see you're a fast spinner and will have no trouble keeping up with that flyer".  "I use mine every day and love it!"  Oh, Ms. Alexander... you're a little bit wicked aren't you!?

When it arrived, I carefully unpacked it and set all the pieces on a table in our spare bedroom my workroom, while doing a happy dance down the hallway.  The wheel arrives in an unfinished, disassembled state and requires finishing and assembly.  That's partly why it's such a good price!  Unfortunately it also means you can't start spinning immediately, you have to at least assemble it, and hopefully finish it first. 

This wheel comes in 3 different wood choices, Maple, Cherry or Walnut.  I said I would take any wood and I ended up with walnut. When I opened the box I wasn't sure I liked the walnut, and had a moment of doubt thinking I should have specified maple or cherry.  However, I figured if i really hated the wood, I could always stain it and I decided to finish it first before I made up my mind about it.

The first task in finishing is to sand the pieces.  They were fairly smooth but did require finish sanding.  I started off sanding with a 220 fine grit sandpaper.  I got things smooth to the touch and wiped it all down with a tack cloth to remove the wood dust.  Then I started to apply my finish.  There are many products you can use to finish wood.  Some, like polyurethane, are coatings that you put on the outside of the wood which provide a thin, clear shell around the wood.  Others, like oil finishes, seep into the wood and harden there.  I chose an oil finish, and the product I used was Watco Danish Oil which is a mixture of oil and varnish.  This product comes in several different colors of stain and also natural.  Because the wood of my wheel is already a dark color, I chose natural to just enhance it rather than stain it.  To apply this finish you wipe it on with a soft cloth, let it sit for several hours and wipe off excess. 

What a difference a bit of finish makes!  You can see that the Danish oil really enhanced the color of the wood and all of a sudden I began loving the walnut!

I continued wiping the finish on all the pieces of the wheel and accessories.  A lot of small pieces come with this wheel and it was an all-day job. 

When I finished I let the wheel sit overnight and the next morning I came back and felt the wheel.  It needed more sanding and finer sanding.  So I next got some 320 grit sandpaper and went back over the pieces.  Then, because I was impatient, I assembled the wheel.  After test spinning it and satisfying my craving I applied a second coat of the Danish oil over the entire wheel and again set it aside to dry.  This time I used a small paintbrush in addition to the cloth to get the oil in the small crevices and grooves of the fancier parts.

One area I did NOT apply the finish to was the inside of the grooves of the flywheel, the whorls or the bobbins.  Those areas are meant to be a bit rough rather than slick.  However, I think one coat of danish oil in those areas would not mess with the drive band because the Danish oil doesn't seem to be slick and it would seal the area.  So I plan to test it out with a bobbin.  If the bobbin starts slipping (which I really doubt), I'll go back and sand the finish in the groove.  One of the really great things about this type of finishing is that you can go back and sand things afterward, which is a little harder to do with a polyurethane type finish.

The wheel is starting to look pretty good with the second coat of Danish oil applied, but it still needs some really fine sanding because I want this wheel to be smooth as a baby's bum.  So I'm going to sand once again with 400+ grit sandpaper and then apply a final oil coat.  Eventually I'll seal everything with a paste wax (except the grooves, you really don't want to wax the grooves because that really will get slick), and then I'll rub the finish until it gleams.  Stay tuned for the finale of the finishing when I get a chance to finish it off...

New online spinning mags

New magazines!

I've recently come across two new online spinning publications and a new print publication so I thought I'd review them for you.

SpinKnit

First up is the new Interweave Press SpinKnit e-magazine.  At $14.97 it's pricier than a print magazine and has a bit less content if you're counting articles (I counted 19 print articles in Spin Off vs. 11 e-articles in SpinKnit).  However, the e-mag has something you can't get in a print mag, and that's video.  The magazine is produced with Adobe AIR which means you need to download and store it on your computer in order to view it, and it's a large file so it takes quite a while to download.  For me it took about 40 minutes with high speed cable internet.  I think that you might not want to have a lot of issues stored on your computer if you don't have a lot of space.  It's also OS dependent which means you have to download the version that works for your computer, and as of now, it's only available for PC and Mac, not for portable devices.  The photography is nice and clear, but I notice that when I expand to full screen, the resolution is not as sharp - I have a very large monitor, however.

OK, now about the content.  The magazine has the typical look of an Interweave publication.  This issue had really nice articles about spinning and knitting in the Andes, working with energized singles, a visit with Priscilla Gibson Roberts and, my favorite, a visit the The Black Sheep Gathering here in my hometown of Eugene, with a video of Judith MacKenzie judging fleece at the show - of course I may be a bit biased about that one.  At first I was a little confused by the navigation of the magazine, but soon got the hang of it.  One thing I wish they would add is a table of contents that includes all the articles.  The way it is organized now, there are 3 main stories - the Andes, the energized singles, and Priscilla Gibson Roberts.  However, when you click on those, it takes you to a page where separate articles within that story are listed.  So at first glance it looks like there is not much content, however there is really a treasure trove waiting to be discovered once you master the navigation. 

I really like the idea of videos in this magazine because spinning is a kinetic process that really benefits from being able to see how someone moves.  Instead of just describing the motions necessary they can be shown.  It's also really fun to "meet" the experts via video rather than the static pages of a magazine.  Most of the videos in this issue are interview type videos rather than skill or technique videos.  Although I like these "meet the spinner" type videos, I'd like to see more technique oriented things.  Overall, I liked this magazine, I think Interweave is moving in some interesting directions. 

The Ennea Collective

On the other end of the spectrum is the free publication, The Ennea Collective.  First off, this one is free for the articles, and pay for the patterns, a similar set up to Twist Collective.  I'm not exactly sure what the title Ennea means - according to my dictionary it means 9, so it's a bit of a mystery.  The format of the magazine is an easy to use, simple website.  There are several informative articles, some lovely patterns, a blog update, and reports from the fiber festival circuit.  I like that each pattern includes directions for spinning the yarn and rationale for what type of yarn to use. 

This is a brand new magazine started by some fiber-loving ladies - I hope there will be more information on them in future issues.  The website looks professional, is pleasing to the eye and easy to read (love black text on white page!).  I love that this is an independent startup magazine born from the love of spinning which shines through in every article.  I know, from experience (cough, cough) that it's not easy running a magazine from start up, and I wish these ladies much success and love.

YarnMaker

Finally, while we're on the topic of spinning magazines, another new spinning publication is the British print spinning magazine, YarnMaker.  This one is a bit pricey at £27 ($42) per year in the UK to £45 ($70) for overseas subscription.  You can read the contents online and it sounds like it's chock full of informative articles.  I counted 19 articles in the second issue.  This magazine has two issues out already, and I've just ordered my copy.  I'll post a full review when it arrives.

My thoughts on spinning magazines and Spindlicity.

As those of you who've been reading Spindlicity for a while know, it started out as an online spinning magazine too (to see old issues click on them in the right hand sidebar). I started it because I am passionate about spinning and I liked the idea of more than one spinning publication in the marketplace. For several years I had a lot of fun putting together each issue. Unfortunately I was unable to keep it going without help and funding, and never able to get anyone else as passionate about it as I was, so eventually I had to move to the more manageable blog format as my knitting career took off. 

I am delighted to see three more publications now available, and I wish them all the best.  I hope that, if you like them, you will support them by buying issues, buying patterns or subscribing.

Next up... finishing my new spinning wheel

 

While I was waiting

I'm in a holding pattern waiting for something.  I didn't really want to start a new spinning project, but I also didn't want to not work on my spinning stash, so I decided to work on my handspun yarn stash.

In addition to all that fiber waiting to be spun, I have a lot of handspun yarn waiting to become something.  Some of this yarn goes back to 1993 or thereabouts!  In my earlier days of spinning I often made small skeins of yarn that aren't really enough to make something out of, so I decided to combine some of those skeins, knit them up and get them out into the world. (Oh, who am I kidding?  I still make small skeins sometimes, but I'm working on that)

There were a lot of different colors and different fibers in the pile, but I managed to find some that I thought would go well together. Combining seemed like it would be tricky, but, in reality, I had a lot of skeins of the same grist.  My favorite grist I guess.  I made a few project bags, chose one and started.

I started off with the hot pink/pink/brown batch and decided on a little bit of stranded colorwork.  The brown is an experimental blend of a beautiful gray/brown lincoln x finn fleece I bought many years ago at OFFF and copper and silver angelina for sparkle.  The yarn is actually quite nice and sparkles in a subtle way, but I only have the one skein of it.  The hot pink is a cormo/silk blend and is leftovers from a "because of love" beret that I knit for myself and love to wear.  The medium pink is BFL and is from the original "because of love" beret.  With all that beret DNA in there, I figured this batch of yarn should become a beret too!  A nice, girly, beret.

And then, because I still had some leftover I decided to make a pair of mitts to go with it.

Perfect!  Stash busting, and holiday gifting all in one fell swoop.  When I get these off the needles I'll write up the pattern.

And what am I waiting for?  I got word from Morgaine at Carolina Homespun, that my new wheel is finally in!  She shipped it off to me right before Thanksgiving, which means it's supposed to arrive today... I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope.....