:Spinning:

For my new fibre addiction — spinning and plying my own yarn

$50 instead of $200

Nicky16 Comments

That’s how much I spent on a blending board.   Spinning has opened a whole world of possibilities for me in terms of color play and one of the ways to do so and play with a mixture of fibers is by custom blending on a blending board.  I wanted this one (which incidentally is the cheapest on the market) … at a price of $195 + tax.

Ashford Blending Board

I think it can be found on Etsy for $175.00 but that price tag is still too high for me.  So I decided to make one.  This is what I did:

  • Bought carding cloth at 72 tpi (tines per inch) on Etsy for $49 (inclusive of shipping)
  • Used an old butcher’s block that I had previously.  It cost $13.
  • Used my trusty staple gun
  • Stapled the carding cloth to the butcher block
  • I couldn’t stand looking at the staples, so I framed the cloth and covered the rest of the board with my trust “Flower Power” duct tape I bought at Michaels 2 Christmases ago for a whopping $0.99 cents.
  • I also got two paint brushes free from my building super to “paint” the fibers onto the board.
  • And I’m using 2 old knitting needles as dowels to roll the fiber off the board.
  • And I had a blending brush that I bought to use as a flicker brush.

I ended up with this:

I might go to the beauty supply store and get two boar bristle brushes of different firmness to add to my kit but there it is … in all it’s flowery glory.   Necessity is definitely the mother of invention.  If I was working, I probably would have bought the Ashford board, but living on a budget while still wanting to grow in my skill-set allowed me to think of things differently.  Even if I calculate the cost of the stuff I had before, the needles were .79c for the pair and the board was $12.99.  Even if I add that to the $49 I paid for the cloth, I’d still come in under $70 for a board that works pretty well.

Wanna see what it did?

I used all the miscellanous fiber I got in various spindle kits — bought and gifted — to create these sea inspired rolags and a gradient mini batt.  I ended up re-processing the batt; I found it thin in spots.  So I now have a set of rolags from my DIY board to practice my long draw drafting on.  Win, win, I’d say.  😀

Have you diy-ed any tools for your hobbies?  Tell me all about it in the comments.  😀

Spin Thesis: Tour de Fleece 2015

Nicky14 Comments

Welp … Tour de Fleece 2015 has come to an end (on Sunday).  Although I signed up for one team — October House — I mostly spun along with my friends in the KnitPicks (and more) Stashdown Ravelry group.  It was an informal spinning team and we had a blast.  At least I did. 😀

The tour was great in so many ways and I learned so much in my short 6 week journey as a new spinner.  Even with my dislocated thumb, I enjoyed spinning so much, I think I’ve found my sweet spot in yarn crafts.  Don’t get me wrong, knitting and crochet are not going anywhere, but there’s just this feeling I get when I put the spinning techniques together (even as a learner) and see a continuous thread unfold from a cloud of fiber.   Just like some people only want to knit lace (oye!) or socks, or blankets, or sweaters, or hats … I just want to spin!  Not to make anything, but just to see the thread emerge.  I think I’m that spinner who’s F.O.s are the skeins themselves and not the item made from those skeins.

For the tour, I:

  • learned to use bootleg hand combs and hackles aka dog combs and rakes to prepare fibers.  They work, but the tines on my combs are loose after two uses.  I should have known it might have been a bust since two of the tines were already shaking when  I opened the packet.  Plus while they do a decent job opening the fiber, the ones I have pull, rather than separate so I lost 2 ozs of fiber my first go around on a dyed braid.  It could have been my technique or it could have been the brand of dog combs I used. Since I can’t afford to lose so much again, real fiber hand combs are on their way to me right now.
  • learned how to use hand cards
  • spun 600 yds of fiber
  • salvaged a matted braid of fiber and made bird’s nests
  • dyed four braids of fiber.  I got success with all these … none of them ended up matted or felted.  Every skein fluffed back up after drying and is usable.  I was very excited about this since I’d only dyed yarn before … never fiber.   I’ll show you those in my next Dyepot Stories post.

Tour De Fleece 2015 Finish LineThis pic represents most of my efforts during this year’s TdF, and I’m immensely proud.  The Wensleydale I dyed during the tour has been shipped to my friend already, but I’ll find a pic somewhere and post it later.  My wheel spinning start took a while to actually take off but now that it has, it’s like Super Grover — “up, up and awwwwwway”  😀

source

For my TdF2015 efforts, I’ve been “rewarded” by my friend Elisa with 1lb of sheep.  Yes, I said sheep.  And notice the quotes around the word rewarded.  LOLOLOL!!!  Her gift is making me start from one step up from scratch.  I can’t raise the sheep in my apt, but she’s sent me 1lb of amazing bfl locks that I’ll have to scour, process, spin then knit.   That’ll give me a head-start and some practice before I start my sheep to sweater project in 2016.   Since that’s it’s own adventure, I’ll update you on that once I get it.   😀

Hope you are all well, with lots of crafty, happy things keeping you occupied this summer.  Talk to me in the comments and let me know how you’ve been.  ❤