Stick Them with the Pointy End

From the very beginning, I knew that my spinning was ultimately going to result in art yarns. While I feel it is important to develop the technical skills involved in traditional spinning, I really don't have the desire to make handspun yarns that look machine spun. When I first started spinning on my Ashford Traveller I felt very limited by the orifice and bobbin size. I did a little searching and found two options for spinning larger yarns. The first was the jumbo flyer which sold for around $150 and was still a little limiting because of the orifice size and the second was a quill spindle attachment* which sold for around $80 and didn't feed the yarn through an orifice. Quill spindles are traditionally used for spinning lace and cotton yarns, they are very fast. A few years ago, before the production of art yarn wheels, a few people were using the quills to spin giant yarns. I saw a picture of someone using a Traveller with a quill to spin art yarn and I was immediately sold. I ordered the attachment for my wheel, applied the finish, and sat down to spin some fabulous yarn.

What followed was heartbreak. I knew that the ratios were faster than what I was used to, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't treadle slow enough to manage the quill. I spent hours trying to make it work for me and finally gave up. The quill attachment was placed in my fiber box where it has lived for the last four years.

Last summer I decided I either need to sell the quill or start using it. I knew that I would never want to use the spindle for fast spinning so I decided that I need to slow it down. I did a little measuring and then I took the spindle to my dad and asked him to turn me a new flyer whorl with much larger ratios. Because of the way the spindle is assembled, the old whorl had to be broken off which resulted in an argument (my dad didn't want to destroy the original piece.) Finally after two days of me explaining that I can't and won't use it the way it is so even if it can't be restored I am no worse off, he caved and agreed to turn the new piece. I gave him my measurements and he turned me a new whorl with a pin so it could be easily traded out for a faster one (this is called compromise.)

Just for reference:
Ratios of original flyer whorls- 14:1, 19:1, 26.5:1
Ratios of my new whorls- 3.7:1, 4.7:1, 6.6:1

After the new whorl was added, a surprising thing happened- I started using the quill for spinning traditional yarns. I really like the action of spinning onto a quill, you spin at a different angle, one that is more comfortable to me, and there is no brake system so it works more like a drop spindle, a really efficient drop spindle. I am now to the point in my quill spinning where I am ready to move onto faster speeds, good thing my whorls are interchangeable.

Turns out it is good for spinning lace weight yarns.

*Every spinner has had the experience where a non-spinner looks at their wheel and asks where did Sleeping Beauty prick her finger, it's probably one of the more annoying parts about spinning in public. The answer is on a quill spindle though I have never seen one sharp enough to draw blood. It would be much more likely that Sleeping Beauty tripped and impaled herself on the spindle which would have made for a much better story. I think maybe the Brothers Grimm could have done a little more research before leading generations of people to believe that a spinning wheel can draw blood.

Shop Progress

Things at the new shop are going a little slower than I would like, but they are coming along. We've had a few setbacks that added two large unexpected projects onto our pile which can seem a bit discouraging, but all of the walls in the four main rooms are patched, sanded and painted and a few of the larger projects have been checked off the to do list of doom. As it sits right now, we are pretty close to on schedule which feels a lot better than a couple of weeks ago when most of the April list was sitting unfinished. I have been taking lots of pictures of the project as we come along, but I tend not to share them because most people can't see past the mess to the potential that Sarah and I see. A great example of this would be the former kitchen that we are turning into our classroom. I wanted to call these "before" and "after" shots, but really they are before and during shots since we are still working on this area.

On the left you have the exposed furnace and hot water heater. While we couldn't rip these out and relocate them, we could build a closet to enclose them. Still to be added are the two vented doors that will serve to keep the ugliness out of sight while providing full and easy access should something go wrong.

Previously, the wires and ductwork coming from the furnace were completely exposed. To remedy this we created a new wall enclosing it so that it will never be seen again. We have since sanded and painted so that it looks like it was always there. We also moved the thermostat control off the sales floor and into the classroom so it is less likely to be tampered with.

On the plus side, the front of the building is really coming together and tends to distract people from the big mess inside. We painted the door and window trim, added pink rocking chairs and a second set of pink shutters. We still need to paint the upstairs window trim, attach the latticework below the porch, strip and paint the porch, add the shop sign, install the rain barrel, build and fill the raised flower bed, install a porch light, and make new house numbers, but even lacking these things it looks more complete than any of the other areas. Perspective is a funny thing.  

Finding the Contrast

Have you ever picked two yarns for a color work project only to find midway into the project that the pattern is coming out muddy? This is usually due to a lack of contrast between the two colors or colorways you are knitting. It's easy to find a light color and a dark color that create a nice level of contrast, but what if you want to knit with some of those middle shades? When Sarah and I were at the paint store a few weeks ago looking at pinks and greens, she told me about a technique for finding the contrast she saw online. When looking at two colors, lay them next to each other and take a picture with your camera phone set on black and white and compare the shades of grey. If they are the same shade or very similar shades, you might want to pick another pairing (keeping in mind that when dealing with mid-tones, you won't get a pure black and white level of contrast.) Since I needed to pick out a pink and a green for a colorwork project today, I thought I would record my process of selection. First, I picked two pink and two green skeins and photographed the four combinations.

Combo 1

Combo 2

Combo 3

Combo 4

For the purpose of demonstration, I photographed them in color and removed half the color in photoshop, but normally I would go straight for the black and white setting and make the judgement from the screen on my camera or phone. As you can see, combos 1 and 4 have the least contrast, 3 and 2 the most. Since personally I prefer combo 2 and it has an adequate amount of contrast, that is the one I will choose.

ReBelle deux

The new shop remodel has officially taken over most of my free time. A few things I've learned in the past few weeks...

1. Painting is a thankless task. Most painting time is spent patching, sanding, painting trim, and cutting edges, none of which is very noticeable or rewarding.
2. Ceilings are evil. Although I know I am going to be much happier not spending the next several years looking up at unfinished ceilings (the biggest mistake we made in our current space was not finishing the ceilings which are about 50 different shades of white,) the actual task of finishing them was time consuming and painful.
3. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. We have run into a few hurdles in the last month that have slowed us down and I have a feeling that there are a few more to come.
4. Dads are awesome. I am actually a little surprised that our dads are willing to go through all of this again after the first time, but they have been super helpful and enthusiastic. Also, free skilled labor is the best thing in the world.
5. A good landlord can make a big difference. Our new landlord has been amazing. He seems to really appreciate the work we are doing and has been doing a few extra projects for us. This is really unusual in a commercial space and it explains why all of his other tenants around us have nothing but good things to say about him.

And now for a few pictures of the new building.

Outside before we started any work.

Outside after we added the first set of shutters.

Fireplace in front room.

Fireplace in front room with pink paint!!

We have mostly been working on the inside and I will add more pictures of that when it looks a little less like a war zone.