Spin Spin Sugar

So on my last trip home to see the ‘rents i worked on a project with my dad.  While drooling over the drop spindles available on Etsy  I discovered something called a kick spindle.  Imagine a drop spindle and a spinning wheel had a baby, that’s basically a kick spindle.  They were available anywhere from $50 to $500, but as you will no doubt find out, I have this why buy it when I can make it life philosophy.

 

So I go to my father the carpenter and discuss the project with him. So we makes  a quick trip to the local Lowes costing about $10.  Our shopping list was a couple dowel rods (sizes 3/8”, 1/2”, and 3/4”) a bun foot, and 1/2” cup hooks.. The extra wood was going to be provide by the inordinate amount lumber he has laying around.

 

So we went out to the workshop, read altered garage, and played with lots of fun tools including the miter saw, the drill press, and the radial arm saw.  Some measuring and Gorilla Glue later it was completed and drying.  As a bonus we made a 1 yd and a 2 yd Niddy Noddy.

 

A week later I finally had a moment to sit and spin, hehe, and it worked, just needed a few adjustments.  But I was able to spin an entire ball of roving.  See.

 

 

So here’s the to do list for the Kick Spindle :

1. Shorten the shaft.
2. Reduce the angle.
3. Sand/strip the wood.
4. Do some cut outs on the upright
5. Smooth off edges.
6. Repaint.
7. Add non slip to the bottom.

I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going.

 

As a bonus, here’s a pic of the yarn I spun, I call it Smoky after my husband’s pet rat, on the 1 yd Niddy Noddy we made.

 

 

A Pic of Smoky.

A Day at the Farm and a demanding cardigan

Well as I promised I’ve been working on getting together a blog on my day at the sheep shearing. Here's the story, first I would like to point out that the weather hates me and it snowed the night

 

Perhaps I should start off by explaining what I thought  it would be like.  I was imagining groups of people holding down protesting sheep.  Then the electric shears would be brought out and within five to ten minutes you would have a naked sheep.  I was wrong.  We went to Rising Meadows Farm, if you haven’t visited, go it’s very awesome.  At the farm the were kickin’ it old school.  Really old school.

 

 

If you can’t tell the shearer (is that even a word?) is using a pair of snippy scissor-like shears.  They had a barn full of sheep waiting patiently to lose anywhere from

5 to 10 lbs, as seen here.

 

 

There was one sheep, I think it was a Navajo – Churro, and he/she did not appear to be happy about his/her destiny.  Don’t you think?

 

If you look closely you can see the evil-looking red eye.

 

It was a chilly day and as I watched sheep after sheep stripped my thought were not filled with concern for nearly naked sheep, but more about what warm things I would make with the wool I would buy.  (Mostly a pair of fingerless gloves, but we know how that’s going.)  The sunny spot in the barn is the spot furthest away from the action, so the choice was slight warmth and a poor view of the action or shiver and see what i came for.  Guess which option I chose.

 

Amazing enough once they got the sheep off their feet they seemed to chill right out and relax.  Maybe it’s like the way I almost go to sleep every time I get my hair cut. Either way they just kind of lay there like a bag of jelly.  See what I mean…

 

 

Once the fleece is sheared off the sheep it is then taken out to the skirting table, where they remove the second cuts, unredeemable dung tags (poo crusted fleece locks), and bad spots.  The wonderful people from Gate City Yarns were on hand to help with the skirting and answering of questions.  We were allowed to help skirt the fleece while we discussed what was good to look for in a fleece. 

 

 

In the end I ended up with just over 4.5 lbs of fleece from the first shearing of a lovely Corriedale sheep named Ginny.  It is incredibly soft.  In aCom little over month I have washed about half of it and I am processing and spinning is as I go along.

What’s on the Needles

Right now I’m wrestling with a cardigan.  I used Laura Chau’s Easy Top Down Raglan Cardigan Pattern Which is very aptly named.  My future Sister-In-Law had given me 3 skeins Red Heart Yarn (Boo!) for Christmas in the colorway Monet (YAY!) Perfect for this project.  Except that I decided to knit a size bigger since that’s my idea of cozy and that meant that 3 skeins, 732 yds, of yarn were not enough.  So I bought two more skeins hoping that would be enough to finish the body, the sleeves and make some pockets.  I’m on the sleeves now and have a little over a skein left; so I’m hopeful.  I’ve been knitting this thing for 36 days I’m hoping to be able to wear it next weekend. 

 

Here is the completed body sans sleeves.

 

Dates to Remember

May 2 Open Farm Day at Rising Meadow Farm in Liberty, NC

June 12 – 20 Pick one for World Wide Knit In Public Day

September 18 World Wide Spin in Public Day
October 3 Farm Fest at Rising Meadow Farm in Liberty, NC
October 22-24, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair at the WNC Ag Center in Fletcher, NC

 

If I’ve missed an event in the area, please let me know. 

Spring is Coming (I Hope) and the Creative Juices are Flowing

I am still working on coming up with a pattern for my dainty hands.  I'm swatching right now.  Have I mentioned I detest swatching?  Well, I do.  I have to keep telling myself it's necessary. But I hope to have a pattern available within a week or so.  Depends on how much of a kick in the pants I give myself.

It also depends on how the other project brewing in my brain goes.  Its a bag that was inspired by two things, the KnitFit bag by Bethany McRae and the Odyssey by Homer, more specifically the tale of Odysseus and the Bag of Winds.  In this chapter Odysseus is given a bag of winds from Aeolus, the god of the winds.  So I have a cute little cabled bag in mind.  There's a good chance that the bag will be done before the fingerless mittens, we shall see. 

I also have to get pictures up from Shearing Day and also from the ones I found of Farm Day last year.  Some pictures of my fleece, wool, and homespun are laying around too.

Dates to remember:
May 2, Open Farm Day at Rising Meadow Farm in Liberty, NC
October 3 Farm Fest at Rising Meadow Farm in Liberty, NC
October 22-24, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair at the WNC Ag Center in Fletcher, NC