Fiber Voodoo

After a lot of soul searching, I finally bit the bullet and got my domain and am starting a website. My blog has been migrated here from Blogger. I’m hoping to schedule a weekly blog post (probably Sunday evenings).

As you can see, there are two additional pages – these will contain pictures, descriptions and ordering info for yarn and fiber.

One of my biggest issues with my etsy store was the rigidity of shipping. I couldn’t tell people how to figure shipping to Canada, for instance, and if someone wanted to buy 3 braids, there was no way to combine shipping amounts to make it economical. I’m hoping to fix that here.

I will also be adding a list of classes that I teach, with their requirements, minimum students, etc.

Of course, true to form, I’ve started this when I have another show to dye lots of fiber/yarn for… I’m not sure if I’ll get much content up other than the blog in the next couple of weeks, but I’m going to try!!

It’s been awhile – lots has happened in the last few weeks. I got inundated with traffic work, while having to do production dye runs for 3 shows in 30 days. Goodness!

The first show was Fiber Market Day, put on by the High Desert Wool Growers here in Prineville. It’s always the last Saturday in March, and the weather can be quite variable. We’ve had blizzards and rain, and this year we had sun! I had purchased half of a friend’s booth (she was remodeling her house, and didn’t have the energy to do a booth too), so I had a 10 x 15 space. It was pretty cool! I had extra chairs, and people came to sit and hang out – it was very welcoming! This was a very good show!

More of the booth at FMD…

The second show was at the Small Farmer’s Journal Draft Horse and Equipment Auction in Madras. It’s fun to see the horses and the carts/carriages/wagons and all the other associated stuff. People still use horses to work there farms – there’s one in this area with a team of Belgians (like Tang) – they’re just awesome. I shared a booth with Sue, and it was located in the barn (i.e., Wind Tunnel).

We did demos of fiber prep, dyeing, spinning, and on Sunday, I warped the Dorset loom with yarn that we’d dyed in the indigo pot I had, and started a scarf. I’m embarrassed to say that it’s currently buried, so I can’t take a picture, but I tied the skeins in an overhand knot and dyed them. There’s some really cool resist areas. I’m using the same yarn (undyed) and slightly smaller grist as the weft, because it’s very stretchy. I can’t get my usual rhythm because I have to “place” the weft, not whack it. This was a so-so show, but fun.

The last show I went to was the Gathering of the Guilds in Portland. I’m a member of the Portland Handweavers’ Guild (remember the pole?), and had a 10 x 10 booth there. It was an interesting show. They have a centralized check-out, so it’s hard to keep track of what you sell, especially if you have bulk stuff, like I did. I had silk noil, silk cocoons, mohair, silk hankies and silk top, all of which had to be weighed. This made for long days, as I didn’t have a boothmate to cover the weighing job.

I got there Wednesday to help move the Guild equipment in, and set up the bones of my booth then. Thursday, I finished tagging things. Friday, I was there from 8:30 am to 9:15 pm. Saturday, from 9 am to 7:30, and Sunday from 9 am to about 7:30, because I had to load up my stuff, the guild stuff, and then deposit the guild stuff at their storage area. I was whupped. Sorry about photo quality – the big camera’s battery was dead, and I had to use my phone. (The fabric on the table is handwoven – mixed cellulose warp, raw silk weft – I can’t bring myself to cut it).

As I said, it was hard to keep track of what was selling, though I went through silk cocoons like nobody’s business. Who knew?

Yesterday I got my check from PHG. I was astounded. I thought perhaps that I’d sold $4-500 worth of stuff. Nope – it was twice that. Amazing. I don’t think people were used to seeing spinning fiber there, and I sold more of that than yarn.

I’ve also changed out the wheels in my stable. I’ve lusted after Canadian Production Wheels since the 1994 article in SpinOff by Bill Ralph. In one of those serendipitous moments, I happened to be looking on Ravelry, and there it was… I was toast.  I was able to sell the Country Craftsman (which I still love) to a very good home in Alaska (she loves it, too!), and brought this beauty home:

It’s a late 1800′s, most likely Vezina CPW. It traveled here from Taos. We’re getting used to each other, and working out our differences of opinion (!), but this wheel is fast, fast, fast… I think I’ve met my match! I’ll be cleaning it up and working on some minor issues, but I do like it very much.

My next show is in Hamilton, Montana, the Big Sky Fiber Arts Festival, June 14-16. I’ve never been to Montana, and this is in the area of the Bitteroot range, and very pretty. It’s also in conjunction with their Mule Days, which will be a hoot. If I ever decide to breed Tang (not likely), it will be to a mammoth jack for a large mule foal.

I’m off to make another fiber order so I can go crazy dyeing again… Need to replenish my stock! Here’s what’s left:

I always liked that song… Sorry if it becomes an ear worm!

This last 6 weeks has been, well, interesting. Especially in the venue of building the Fiber Voodoo business.

I had started an Etsy shop a few months ago, but didn’t have any real action. Until…

I started posting some of the fiber that had been dyed with the funky dyes, and I discounted them heavily. They flew off the shelf. I’d like to think that this lovely is some of the reason:

I was never really satisfied with the quality of the pictures that I could take with my Lumix. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a great camera. But I come from the SLR world, and found this Canon EOS Rebel XT on Ebay, waiting until the last 2 seconds to bid, and I got it. I have a lot to learn but already, I’m seeing better color, and just better pictures.

To take photos of my product, I purchased some black polar fleece (no reflection), and using that, and my tripod (from my old SLR), and the manual settings I can get photos like this:

True color, crisp definition and it captures the subtle sheen of the bamboo and silk in this top (it’s sold…)

I also applied for and received a dealership for Ashland Bay “ecru” products. The top shown above is from them. A friend and I traveled over the mountains to do errands, including picking up my order, in addition to stopping at Columbia Wool Scouring, where I got additional fiber:

 

Click for big – from top left – Silk Hankies, Camel down*, Superwash BFL, Mohair*, Panda (superwash Merino/Bamboo/Nylon) Top, Gray BFL/Tussah Top. Coming soon are some Polwarth/Silk yarn, and a Superwash BFL Yarn. Not shown is the Panda yarn, which has been wound into 4 oz. skeins in preparation for dyeing. (*from Columbia; all others from Ashland Bay)

I also have this:

 Cultivated silk, which I get in top from Henry’s Attic. Try as I might, I can’t get the dye all the way into the center of this top (it’s too dense), so I got this:

 A box picker. I can create the fluffed silk shown above very quickly, which will allow the dye to penetrate.

While I am NOT a fan of Art Yarn, I realize there are people out there who are. I aim to provide them with some of the “arty” stuff to put into their bats: dyed silk, mohair and neps. I know, those are the things we pick out of our yarn, I’m getting some from Columbia Scouring – art yarn needs texture, yes?

For my own use, I also have acquired this:

A used Ashford Carder. It works well, and for some socks that I’m planning, it will finish the job of blending that the picker starts, giving me a combo of one of my last remaining sheep’s wool and carbonized bamboo. She’s gray, the bamboo is charcoal, and it should be wonderful.

I have sent in and paid for 4 festival booths this spring. The first one is March 30, Fiber Market Day. It’s low key, but great fun. We have 2 buildings at the fairgrounds, and lots of wonderful vendors. The second is at the Small Farmer’s Journal Auction in Madras (still relatively local). I’m subbing for a friend who will be out of the country that weekend. I don’t know how much I’ll sell, but I’ll have all my fiber equipment, including my little loom, as well as all the product, and may get some students out of the deal. The next weekend is the Gathering of the Guilds in Portland. As a member of the Portland Handweavers’ Guild, I can have a booth (remember the Pole Dancer?), and have offered to haul guild equipment in my truck to lower the commission that I have to pay. Finally, I had an opportunity to get to Montana the middle week of June for the Big Sky Fiber Arts Festival. I have never been to Montana, and this is in Hamilton, set in the Bitterroot Mountains. I’ve seen pictures, and they are breath-taking!

I have a couple of shows lined up for the fall, and a couple to look at for late fall/winter, but nothing is firm on those, yet.

It’s busy, chaotic, but very exciting!

After I finished my sister’s hat, I immediately cast on for another, this time for my friend Linda. She had commented on Facebook that she wanted one, and I informed her that hers would be in blue…

Of course her patterns were different, in keeping with my knowledge of her, and when it was done (in record time), I took some more pictures of both and sent them off.

I decided to do some mindless knitting, which to me is knitting someone else’s pattern – my mind doesn’t have do do anything. I had purchased Romi Hill’s newest compilation, “Home is where the Heart is,” and with three shawls released, hadn’t knit any of them. I liked the idea of the one called Zephyr Cove, knowing where that actually is, so I started in.

I used some Merino/Silk that I had gotten from Knit Picks several years ago and dyed, and some yarn that I had spun shortly after I moved to Oregon from a Romeldale/CVM ram that I had, which was then dyed purple with logwood. Between the two, I knew I had enough yarn. The silk blend was a challenge, as I had salvaged it from a project that had been forgotten, and then something chewed on it (probably the dreaded M word). There were lots of splice points. But it was a beautiful yarn, and reminded me of how I used to paint dye on skeins as opposed to how I’ve been doing it lately. I’m going to revisit my former technique…

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed shawl, unblocked. I’ll be blocking it tomorrow, because it’s sheet laundry day, and I can use the bed (with all doors closed to the bedroom so that my “helpers” don’t, well, help…).

By the time I got to the end, it had changed it from mindless to mind-numbing… I don’t think I’ll be doing any more garter stitch anytime soon. The pattern is lovely, but there are some things about it that I didn’t like, mainly all of the K2tog through the back loop in the lace section. It interrupted my knitting flow… But that’s what you get when you knit someone else’s pattern – it probably makes perfect sense to them with their knitting style. Mine is different. So it’s not that the pattern is bad, or boring or hard to knit – it’s not. It’s just not my favorite style of knitting.

This is good to know.

I’m now working on the basic pattern for the Stovepipe hats. I may make a trip over to Michelle’s to get her assistance with photos of the tricky part – knitting the casing together – so that I can include that in the pattern. I can explain it, but a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes.

I’m also cogitating on the future of Fiber Voodoo as a business. As I told someone today, it’s time for me to s**t or get off the pot, and I need to find the toilet paper. There are lots of ideas floating around, and it’s too early to say any of them out loud in public, but there will be future updates pro or con. Among the stumbling blocks is the fact that if I want to expand it, I need to be gone from home more, which I’m not good at. I start to get twitchy after 3 days away from my nest!!

So, off to continue ruminating…

Years ago, I knit a hat for my brother-in-law on the knitting machine. It was kind of unique (I did not make up the pattern), having a top that could be opened or closed, depending on your winter activity level.

He and my sister, Mary, are ardent skiers, having season passes to the local resort. They like nothing better than to head up on a weekday morning after a good dumping, and to be the first ones down the chutes in Mott Canyon.

Mary had mentioned in passing that she would like a hat like her husband’s, if that was possible…

Of course it’s possible!!

The construction is basically a tube, with a casing at the top, through which an I-cord is passed, enabling the wearer to open/close the top of the hat at will. The construction challenge, however, was how to do the casing… On the knitting machine, it’s very easy. Hand-knit, from the bottom up, is a little different. I ended up knitting the casing and top border separately, and grafting 128 stitches to the hat… I’m now really good at Kitchner stitch!

As with my hat, I tried to find patterns that were meaningful and fit my image of my sis. In addition to her Celtic heritage, my sister is a consumate gardener – super green thumb!! She also preserves most of her garden’s produce…

It started with  a two-color cast-on, then the Celtic braid that was too tall for my hat, then flowers (or snowflakes, if you want), and ending with leaves. I used what I call “beaded rib” as the unifying element.

 Here is a detail of the casing and the i-cord with the tassel.

 And here’s a look at it closed up.

The next one (if there is one…) will start from the top down, which will make the casing WAY easier to execute!

The yarn is one that I designed and had custom spun; 47.2% gray wool (romeldale/montedale/rambouillet cross), 35.3% white alpaca, 10% iron gray kid mohair, and 7.5% white bombyx silk.

This is the first “real” project that I’ve done with this yarn (I have around 7 lbs. of it), and I really like the fabric. It was knit on size 3 needles, with a gauge of appx. 6.5 sts/inch.

This has the added perk of matching a vest that I knit for Mary out of hand-spun Icelandic, which is also gray and red!!

I still need to block it, but it will be on its way to her soon!

This is a picture of some superwash Merino yarn that was dyed with the Dharma dyes. The socks made from this yarn have been washed twice.

The colors are true in this picture.

WTH? All of the turquoise has mostly washed out. The green was made with turquoise mixed with Golden Ochre (a Jaquard Dye), the purple was Dharma Fuschia and Turquoise. The remaining stripes of dusky turquoise was a mixture of Jaquard Turqoise and black (and maybe something else, I forget). I hate to think what they’ll look like after wash #3.

I have emailed Dharma, asking them to email me so that I can send them this picture. When I emailed earlier, asking if I could return the blue dyes because of rinsing problems, they contacted me, and because I had used some, I was unable to return them. Now, I’m really P.O’d, and I want them to take them back. I’ve also posted this picture on their Facebook page.

The real issue is that I have sold all the yarn in this colorway, along with most of the fiber in the same color mix. The other colorways that I’ve dyed have also mostly sold, and they also contain the turquoise dye and mixtures.

I know from my own experience (I am not proud of this…), that if something is wrong, most times people will not contact the supplier, but will bad-mouth the supplier to all their friends. This is my biggest fear – that people will think that Fiber Voodoo doesn’t know how to dye stuff, and the dye doesn’t stick.

I have been dyeing for over 20 years. Because of the issues I had in October, I checked the pH of my vinegar water – it was pH 4. I steamed the yarn for over 30 minutes (I got distracted and when the timer went off, I was in the middle of something else). There is no reason for this dye not to have struck the fiber, particularly since it’s superwash, which is a dye magnet.

I will let you know what happens. I’m now reluctant to keep any of the Dharma Dyes, and think I would like them to take them back and give me a refund. I’m going to continue to use my not-so-old Jaquard dyes, which are now stored in the house…

So, in the future, I’ll stick with the more expensive but tried and true dyes that I’m used to. This has been a very expensive lesson.

After the 50+ hats that I’ve knit for others, I finally knit one for myself.

It was intended to be special, contain elements that are meaningful to me, and above all, to be beautiful.

My family ancestry is Heinz-57, but mostly British Islander, particularly Welsh, Scots and Irish. I’ve always been drawn to Celtic knotwork and knew that I wanted that in my hat. I also was born in the Celtic month of Beithe (Birch) and thought I’d include leaves, as well.

I used the BFL/Tussah in the Viva Otoño that I
spun, after removing it from the inventory at Oregon Flock and the gray Corriedale/BFL X yarn that I spun while at Oregon Flock and Fiber. Since the BFL/Tussah was a gray based fiber, it looked best with the gray background. I tried it against black and brown and neither worked.

 The color is much brighter in real life…

I also wanted to keep the “yurt” style going, but instead of inserted I-cord, I did cables, knit along in the fabric (not inserted).

 When I started it, I used the two color cast on, but forgot to purl the first row, so the bottom curled. ARGH!! I went back and picked up the purl bumps on the cast-on edge, and did an I-cord bind off, which fixed that – Yay!

Knotwork pattern from “Charted Celtic Designs” by Co Spinhoven

Birch Leaves – adapted design

I’m pretty pleased with it. I particularly like the way the colors progress upward through the knitting.

It covers my ears easily, and is warm! Just in time for winter!

It’s been awhile since I posted – not because nothing was going on, however.

I did an order for new dyes from Dharma in preparation for the Portland Handweaver’s Guild Fall Sale, which was this weekend. I got some additional fiber porn from Mim, and ordered some yarn from Henry’s attic to round out what was left after Oregon Flock and Fiber.

Because I had a dye space out of the weather in the shed, when I mixed up dyes last Saturday, I just left them in there. When I went out Sunday, the brilliant blue had congealed into a granular sludge with dark navy blue water. I called Dharma on Monday, and they said to warm it up. Since I had already tried to reclaim it by running it through a sieve, I decided not to try that. I did use that method on the only other one that seemed to be going that way by putting it in my canner on the rack and boiling water around it (it worked).

I proceeded to dye as normal and found the the colors in the Dharma dyes are enough different from the Jaquard that I was not completely satisfied with the dyes that I was mixing. They were nice colors, don’t get me wrong, just not what I was used to getting when I put x amount of dye A with y amount of dye B. I needed the bright blue, so I used my old dye powder, which worked just fine, thank you… Hmmmm

Dyeing done, tagging done (the roving took me 5 hours at Linda’s on Thursday morning), we set up our spaces Thursday night and Friday morning before the sale. I did not have a “booth” – I had 4 gridwall sections set up around a support column – the “pole.” At first it seemed that it would be extremely challenging, and it didn’t help that I set up the grids backwards so that the hangers wouldn’t work… Sometimes I amaze even myself with my ineptitude! When I took them apart, I was able to substitute my short ones for taller ones that I rented from the guild, which worked out very nicely:

 So my wares were placed around the pole (I used black plastic table cloth material that comes in a 100′ roll for the backing). I adjusted some of the overhead lights, and that was it. The sale has a central checkout, so there was no need to have a table for the administrative stuff. I had brought some knitting, but I quickly became bored with that.  I was talking with one of the other members (they are all very nice and were very welcoming) about it being difficult for me to sit still, and she offered to bring in her spinning wheel. I got permission to use it (normally it isn’t done), after explaining that most people thought the roving “snails” were a) hats, or b) hot pads/trivets.  I spent a lot of time spinning yesterday, and then when that paled, started a hat for myself!

So, why was I the cowgirl pole dancer? Last week I was at the local consignment clothing store, and as I checked out, saw some snazzy boots on the bookcase next to the register. Now, it is difficult for me to wear pull-on boots, as I have high insteps and “womanly” calves. So, thinking that it was safe to try to get them on, I tried. And they fit… So, I got them – my middle name should be Imelda! It wasn’t until I got them home that I discovered that they are Tony Lama boots – and they’ve hardly been worn. I wore them Saturday:

I’m an introvert – not in terms of dealing with people, but in terms of how I replenish my energy. By this morning, I was completely dead. That, coupled with the prospect of a snow storm blowing down the Cascades from the north, lead me to leave the sale today early. I put my stuff in order, and Linda graciously offered to take my “pole” down in addition to her booth.

I plied the yarn that I had spun yesterday, and when washing it, discovered another downside to the Dharma dyes. I was spinning a mostly blues roving, and it had taken quite a bit of rinsing when I was done dyeing it.  There was no crocking off on my fingers while spinning – however, there was much more dye that ran out of it when I washed it after plying. I’m not sure that I’ve gotten all of it out even now.

I’m going to call them tomorrow to see if I can return them. I’m going to stick with my “old” dyes – I think they’ll work fine, especially now that the dye solutions are stored in the house, along with the powders. I can make adjustments as I need to with them, since I’m so familiar with how they work. I guess it just proves the old saw – If it’s not broke, don’t fix it…

I’m now looking forward to more dyeing (with a little less pressure), for some weaving projects I have in mind. I also have 2 sheets of felt that I’m going to make into a jacket, which should be really fun to embellish.

For now, I’m going to make a very quick dinner and go crash!

And I’m working on a deadline again!!

When I moved in here, I was told I could use about 6 x 8 of a 8 x 16 shed. I worked around it as much as I could, but finally, asked my landlord to clean it out. He doesn’t actually own the place – he manages it for the owner who lives near Portland. There was all kinds of, um, stuff in there that had been there forever, it seems, and he hasn’t moved it. Since I have lots of tools, and need to store my feed in there to keep it from the Great Red Hoover (see Polymath Chronicles), it seemed like I should get to use it or reduce my rent. In August, he and a helper came and got a lot of the stuff out, and said they would be back to finish it. Two months later, it still hadn’t been done. So I called again, spoke to his wife, who promised to get him over to finish it.

I now have the use of the full shed! So, with the Portland Handweavers’ Guild sale looming, dyeing to be done, and inclement weather glowering, I set up the dye works in the shed. It’s now the Dye Shed. In order for this to work, I needed lights, which I installed, along with the extension cord to feed them. The extension cord plugs into an outlet right outside the back door, which is very convenient. So, here’s the set up:

The roaster will sit on the smaller table, along with the dyes and the plastic wrap. The long table will be where the dyeing happens. What’s great is that I can take this down and put it away against the opposite wall.

Because of the aforesaid inclement weather, I’ll have to dry the results in the living room by the fire, but that’s ok.

I’m looking forward to the sale. It’s in Lake Oswego (a very posh area), and hopefully people are willing to spend – I’ll have a little different type of product than most of the others, with yarn and spinning fiber. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I have an interesting space, not a booth, but something really interesting. I’ll explain, with pictures in the next post!