Fiber Dyeing, accomplished!

Yesterday I made this:

I started with this:	And ended up with this:
From Fiber Club May 2009	From fiber dye

I changed it from “citrus” to what I think of as “almost fall foliage”. The only disappointing thing about this is that it is very green and I am not so fond of green. This was done with a packet of cherry Kool-Aid and food coloring dripper bottles. Cooked in a crock pot for about 25-30 minutes on high, at that point the dye bath was clear.

[As usual, click the pictures to go to the bigger version in the Picasa album.]

fiber clubs, or how the weight of too many holds back success

I got the May fiber club shipment today (in case of revisions, today is: 29 May 2009) from Susan’s Spinning Bunny.

This is definitely going to be my last fiber club. I like a lot of the things you cannot get any other way. Most fiber clubs are the only sources for odd fibers, because very few fiber vendors sell non-standard fibers. (Though Paradise Fibers does, and so did Yarn Barn when I was there in person, obviously I just live somewhere with a dearth of fiber-friendly stores. (A boutique yarn store is not fiber-friendly, it’s about looking good through the window.) ) I am not sure why no one sells baby llama. I am not sure why it is impossible to find naturally colored alpaca+silk. But I am extraordinarily picky about dyed fibers. Sometimes I admit that I chose my matching Rav username right around Halloween, but a lot of the sentiment behind it holds true.

Mass production certainly does not help, and that holds true for all clubs. Spunky Eclectic sent out an 80% white thing with random splotches of blue and brown. I bought fiber at Stitches that was still wet. I have seen shipments where the fiber is exposed during shipping. But the worst thing about mass production is how the perspective is wrong. When a dyer is doing umpteen batches of the same thing, there is a tendency to cut corners– leaving lots of white, using dyes straight up instead of blended, fingerprint splotches of other colors… and lousy packaging. Because it is hard to do a mass production, the final quality is usually lower. But each customer only gets one.

You see what I am saying? It does not matter if the dyer does 1000 or 2, each person only gets one. So each recipient can only evaluate one. I am not evaluating how big a project it was to dye 50 pounds of wool and get it shipped out even though there were supply issues and holidays. (The logistics of doing that as one person are a nightmare.) I look at my shipments for any fiber club and I am not seeing an artisan practicing a craft, I am seeing the 8-pack of fat crayons kindergartners use.  

I am disappointed while I know the dyer is damned proud of her*self because something went out the door and on time. (*her because 100% of the dyers I have dealt with and seen are female, but this is not about one person and there is a possibility that there might be men in this field somewhere. In fact, someone recommedn one to me and I will sign up for his club and we will see if I am non-sexist enough to tell you honestly whether his quality is better.)

Overall, I think fiber clubs are a good idea to push me out of my rut of buying the same fibers over and over and over and using the same kinds of colorways over and over and over again. But I hate pink. I hate orange. I hate yellow (until enough black has been added that it is an olive green, then it can be a nice foil for jewel tone colors). It seems like I should do something else with my money because it is extremely unlikely that something intended for a wide audience would exclude half the colors. 

I keep hoping that fiber clubs are going to be more like spin-alongs. But the spin-alongs I have seen prove that a group homogenizes on the mediocre (they always choose lousy dyers and hideous colorways and mediocre fibers— but somehow without saving any money). 

I guess spinning has to be about the yarn because I sure as anything certain am not making any friends this way.

Fiber pictures

These are the first round of fiber pictures from Yarn School. As usual, click any picture to be taken to the Picasa page with the larger image. 

From yarn school fiber

Fiber I bought:

From yarn school fiber

There are still some items not pictured. And possibly the dye-lab fiber will be re-pictured.

Box!

I got a box this morning from Greenwood Fiberworks. It is a sampler box of their colorways in merino. There were also two batts. 

I was surprised and pleased. Thanks for the birthday present! (click any thumbnail to see the larger photo page)

From presents

You can see clearly why I am excited. I know I would not have talked myself into ordering this but I have the perfect project in mind. There was someone who posted about making a mobius cowl into a hood and it was done in Noro. I just know it would be stunning done in handspun. 

You will excuse me, I need to find a stamp for my thank you so I can get started!

Fiber club shipment!

I got the January 2009 “Fondle This!” shipment yesterday. I even posted to the Rav discussion group because I appeared to be first.

From Fiber Club

It was 7oz of merino/bamboo/nylon in a pink/red colorway that I have nicknamed “Peony”. (It came unnamed.) I named it that largely because the ball was really tight and unfurled a lot like peony buds. It is astonishingly soft. I figured anything made from wood would be kind of harsh but I was wrong.

My initial impression of the coloring is not very positive. There is a lot of white, though it does appear to be honest white and not a lousy dye job where the color just does not penetrate to the middle of the roving. Just what am I going to do with a big ball of variegated pink yarn though?

It came with a really scary photo on the included pattern. I knew it was coming with a “child’s bolero” pattern, but it never occurred to me that someone would put an actual photo of a child. I am more than a little pedophobic. (Meaning having fear of children, not fear of pedophiles, though I am pretty afraid of those too. Think of the germs!) If I admitted arachnophobia and you sent me gigantic photos of spiders, I would be really upset. In fact, enough people are arachnophobic that I think sending anything with pictures of spiders would be the anti-marketing. Fear of children is not common enough that I can expect accomodation by default. It does not make me less skeeved though.

It’s not too late to click it, click it good.

I saw a commercial where the woman could not book a vacation online because she was afraid the price would drop. I have never had that problem for that reason. Vacation prices do not drop in my experience. The longer you wait, the more it costs. I do, however, have that problem. I cannot seem to click it. 

[You should all pause here for the mental replay of the Devo song, "Whip It". Thank you.] 

I went out to the kitchen gadget store in Berkeley last week and to get rice from Vik’s. (If you live near here, Vik’s is moving soon, so you will want to check their website before making an excursion. The sign said 4 blocks.)  I admit that I planned to buy things. I came home with a lot more stuff and spent a lot more money than I had anticipated. Most of the new things are extremely cool and I am pleased. I only feel a little ill from buying them. I know we needed the rice. But having already spent a bunch of money “out of season”, I am struggling with buying more things.

I want to subscribe to the “Fondle This!” 2009 fiber club from Susan’s Spinning Bunny. I know it would push me out of my comfort zone because of the new fibers and accompanying patterns. I know I enjoyed the prompting last year for the Spunky Eclectic fiber club— prompting where the new box jumps up and down shouting, “Spin me!” (Even though I did not enjoy most of the selections.) 

I am having trouble clicking the button even though I have the money.

[If you were waiting for the song reminder.... probably, "Stranded" by Heart, because it starts with "Standing here, helpless. Where do I go..." ]

[You should all be glad I am as old as I am, because the song could easily have been the Spice Girls' "Wannabe".]

So. Here is my request. Come and tell me that I should buy something I really want because it will add to my personal happiness.

(Obviously in this economy I should clarify… I have the money available and it is not a choice between this and something essential. I will not be sitting here in the dark, being cold and hungry because I spent too much money frivolously. There are days when I sit here in the dark being cold and hungry, but that is a personal defect stemming from my complete inability to spend money.)

this week in spinning and knitting

I like how this mitt is coming out, even though I am “winging it” and even though there is that odd space for an extra thumb knuckle. Handspun from Ashland Bay merino “pinedale” top.

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New fiber from Paradise Fibers, “bombay nights” which is one of their “microblends” of mohair+”wool”+sari silk. I think it looks like fireworks. Once I managed to find things and get them into my cart, I was really happy with the professional order handling from Paradise Fibers. If they had a less crippled search capability, and a more polished online storefront, they could be one of my favorite sources. But even knowing they had a black fiber with sari silk, I could not find this fiber again from a different computer. I had to go back to the browser history to find it (I literally had to IM myself the direct link). I love this stuff, so it was worth the headaches and I am thrilled that their back-end order fulfillment is so much better than their website’s search.

And last week, I said I had started spinning again after taking the entire summer off. This is the “Rose Bud” from the May 2008 Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club. It is corriedale and I already loathe this yarn, I mentally tagged it “rose rot”.