I could have CAMPY

Yesterday I sold Bertha. 

Yesterday my first ever loom, the behemoth 60" wide 8 shaft LeClerc commonly known as Bertha, left my house for her new home in Berryville, Arkansas.  She was purchased by a lovely lady who happens also to be named Ann and who knew enough to lovingly pat her when they met and who has plans to add 4 more shafts and more treadles to Bertha and who really does need her to fill a big empty space in the newly built loom room at her house. 

As a result of said sale, I have a little cash to spend which is tucked away and absolutely, positively earmarked for a new loom.    HOWEVER . . .

Whilst riding today mostly into the wind along the west bank of the Arkansas River and embarking on the uphill haul that would take me to Turkey Mountain and praying that the hit-and-miss (mostly miss) operation of my worn out Shimano (circa 2001) shifters had just a few more downshifts in them, IT HIT ME, like a large bug between the eyes at 25 mph--

I could have a whole new gruppo, and beyond that

I

could

have

Campy.



I DO need (or really really want) another decent sized floor loom. 

And I DO NEED, really need, new shifters because the ones I have are just a little past the borrowed time category of worn out and I know very soon they will just stop working and I'll have to move the chain by hand or just ride home in whatever gear I happen to be in when they quit. 

I could just replace the Shimano or Sram it all and go that way.  I'm far from a "performance" rider and rode for YEARS with downtube shifters without complaint so Campagnolo components would be a pure waste on me. 

BUT

I

could

have

CAMPY.



California Variegated Mutant . . . Sheep

Or, CVM for short.  Who wouldn't love sheep with that name? 

Just today I got a packet of fiber samples from Marushka Farms.  You probably can't tell by looking at the not-so-swell photo, but the fiber is absolutely luscious. I'm hesitant to share because I know EVERYONE will want this fiber before I get a chance to order.  But, I'll take the chance--here goes: 

 The first photo shows SIX colors of lamb fleece roving taken from the first shearing of these babes and each roving is from a single fleece--a CVM fleece!  

This photo shows five colors of combed top.  Multiple fleeces are blended together in this preparation. 

The colors are so gorgeous, I won't even be tempted to spoil them by having more dying disasters (see earlier post).  And, May is just around the corner so I'll need some especially fine fiber to spin during the RennFaire.  Plus, I'm just really convinced God is gonna stop making sheep, in which case the wool I have on hand probably won't be enough.  (I haven't decided enough for what exactly, since the winter weather in Oklahoma can't seem to get much colder than 50.  I'm guessing the really awful weather is waiting until May while I'm outdoors trying to spin at the RennFaire).  

There, now that I've completely justified the purchase of YET MORE WOOL, all I have to do is decide how much of which colors I want.  It might take me a day or two to decide, so since I've been nice enough to share don't run out and buy the stuff I want. 

Notice how mature and restrained and non-cliche I was in not noting how long it's been since I've blogged and wondering where all the time went?  Yeah, I'm mature and restrained like that. 

I'm Dyeing

It is no exaggeration to say I've got pounds and pounds of undyed wool:

         1 1/2 pounds of corriedale locks from Tina's Ewephoria farm in Lawrence
          1 pound of corriedale roving from WCMercantile.com
          2 pounds of finn sheep wool from coppermoose.com
          2 pounds of brown sheep punta

I've got some silk too, but haven't cataloged that.  Soooooo, I'm thinking it's time to dye.  

I checked umpteen books out from the library, dug notes out from past workshops, and googled and googled and googled every dye topic I can think of and visited countless forums. I've purchased gallons of vinegar and I've weighed and measured the subject fiber.   I'd say I'm ready.

I moved a table to the garage from the cavern of crap my workshop and mixed dye stock solutions.

After watching Cadel Evans kill the Tour time trial, I spent ALL DAY Saturday making color wheels and samples of all the dyes I have on hand.  

The color wheel samples are a bit anemic, I suppose I didn't use a concentrated enough stock.  I remedied that when it came time to dye.


First I vat dyed the corriedale locks

On my monitor the colors are really washed out--in real life they are not--I used LOTS of dye. And, I thought I'd spend the rest of my life rinsing out the extra dye. 
 


Next I hand painted the 2 pounds of finn sheep roving.  2 pounds is a LOT of wool.  My color plan didn't work out like I envisioned. I wanted something unlike anything I already have.  That goal was accomplished but the roving turned out kinda yucky.  I hope to like it better tomorrow, or the next day -- 2 pounds of barf-dyed wool is a WHOLE LOT of wool.  Maybe it will spin up ok--we'll see.  It looks way worse in person than in the photo.

I got the hang of hand painting by the time I got to the corriedale roving and did a better job of choosing colors.  I really like how the sunshine colors turned out.   

These are packets of wool cooling and waiting to be washed.

 

I'd have liked to get some color on the rest of the naked wool, but the weekend has come to an end, as has the family's patience with scent of vinegar and wool. 

The NEW & IMPROVED Plan

Day 20 of 30 days of Getting Art On

AND

Stage 17 of the Tour de Fleece (and France)

I'm implementing a new and improved plan for spinning consistency.  My goal is to spin sock yarn for a fair entry from two similarly colored batts.  My previous attempts have yielded lovely yarn, but not sock weight and not very consistent.  So, now I have employed my two wheels and am alternating between the two of them.  

The wheels seem to be happy with this arrangement and the yarn isn't too bad either. 

Owning My Crazy

I've fallen off the blog-every-day wagon, although I have been spinning during most of my Tour and Womens' World Cup watching.  So that part of my plan has been a success.

While rumbling around in my stash to find more fiber to spin, I opened a big bin which, to my complete surprise, was FULL of handspun yarn-- some I had no memory of spinning.  Since none of the yarn was labeled with yardage it is practically impossible to plan projects to use it up--that might me a wee bit nutty.   So, I spent practically the ENTIRE day Sunday measuring yardage and labeling skeins.  Looks like I've got a bit of knitting to do now, 'cause that's just about 9,500 yards of yarn. 

What Day is This Anyway?

Watching the Tour de France, participating in the Tour de Fleece, and participating in Traci's 30 days of Art has gotten me all confused about what day it is.  I know it's the 12th, but it's the 11th day of the Tour de France, but since yesterday was a rest day, stage 10 was raced today.  See, I'm NOT crazy for being confused. 


I do know that I'm pretty happy with the results of having (months ago) drumcarded together some unidentified grey wool and some white alpaca.  The wool was clean, but still a little greasy.  So, I won't really know what I've got until I've plied and washed the yarn.  I think I'm gonna like it and wish I had more.  But, as my Grandma Marie always said . . . If wishes were fishes, we'd have fish to fry--If dog turds were donuts we'd eat 'til we die.  Grandma always had a way with words!


Anyway, here's what's-what with the grey fiber.

Bye Bye Black Sheep

Today -- day 10 of getting your art on -- day 9 of the Tour de Fleece --and day 3 of fighting tick fever -- saw the end of spinning the rambouillet I processed and have been working on for over a year.  

  So, it's bye-bye black sheep.