House of Chaos

Other than that, I have been playing and writing for Pen & Paper Roleplay in various systems since I was little (yes including D&D). Various writing shenanigans are usually going on at once.

Today, I decided to give myself the task of spinning as thin as I possibly can on my wheels. So I picked out a collection of mystery mill ends and jumped straight in.

First off we have something that I think may be corriedale or something related. Spun up pretty thin and I decided to try out chain-plying again for added challenge. It's a pretty sturdy yarn, if still slightly too thick for what I had in mind.

Next we have some sort of rough wool, perhaps norwegian or italian? Spun up not as fine as the blue but I chose a two ply here, so they are comparable. It's really sturdy though, would make for great rope with a lot more strands.

Next I picked up what I am certain is green dyed mountain sheep of the southern german variety. It was carded, not brushed like I am used too, but turns out, that is absolutely no problem. Funny enough, I unconsciously switched into longdraw and only woke up from the trance halfway through to realize I had been using a technique I had never done before. Considering this, it turned out fantastically well! Did do another chain ply here, two ply would probably have been thinner.

At this point, I was already really happy with what I had made so far, especially considering I had done this all in one day. However, there was still one bit of fiber waiting to be tested out: Shetland.

Not much crafting going on right now on account of Pen&Paper convention, so instead, you're getting an older project of mine that I am very proud of.

This is my brown stole, made from handspun yarn (some of the first I have ever made) and then handknitted. It doesn't look like much, but it is the most useful stole I have in my collection, on account of warm and pretty water resistant. It is also the perfect size to use as a short cape by pinning it together with a celtic fibula. (And yes, I am making it again, two of my friends have made puppy eyes at me until I offered, lol.)

The wool is 600 gramm of Manx Loaghtain, spin rather thick in a two-ply yarn. The middle has a bit that´s even thicker, but don't worry about it, that was definitely on purpose. Unfortunately, when I first spun the wool up into yarn, I was really unhappy with how uneven it came out. The fiber just didn't like being even, coming in small clumps amongst more even fibers, so in the end, I just embraced it and decided if it wants to be clumpy, then it will be.

This did mean that the yarn was lying around on my shelf for a few months until finally, I had an idea. If the yarn was uneven, why not use a knitting stitch that was also uneven, making it essentially blend into the pattern. Unsure if it would work, I set out to do project math, and finally settled on a wide knit stole in a small pearl pattern, knit on thick 8mm needles.

Progress was fairly quick, but at first, I thought I would need a lot more than the 600 gramms I ended up with in the end. I did however have 900 gramms of it, so there was no worry that it would be fine.

Then finally, I got the stole to around 20 cm under the wished length. Figuring blocking would do the rest, I bound off the stitches, chucked it into water and pinned it on the blocking mats. At this point, I figured I would likely not keep the stole. This particular wool does have a very strong sheep smell, you see, and one I do not enjoy very much. And then came along Miss Lilly, planting herself onto the stole while it was still dripping wet and deciding "We are keeping this, hooman!"

Thistle is new and exciting, so of course, I did a bunch of test spins. Not all of them went well, but I will learn!

We have a bunch of Eider wool from a little stress test on the bobbins (no, I cannot ply 100g of yarn onto a single bobbin, but 50g are fine). Then there is some southern European merino in white and brown from various shenanigans. And finally, some purple mystery wool. Don't ask me what it is, I have no idea. Oh! Do ignore the beige yarn, that was just in my wash box.

All in all, Thistle is a very calm wheel. She does have opinions and knows how to make them heard, but she is easy to handle and consistent. (Ergo the exact opposite of Princess Heidi. Which is funny because they're both Castle wheels)

I do have to relearn drafting from scratch. Princess Heidi, my only wheel before Thistle, requires me to essentially draft sideways and hold a certain amount of tension against the draw of the wheel. Otherwise either the single rips or the wheel does not grip right and I just get a huge tangle.

Thistle on the other hand really really wants me to draft out my fiber forwards, directly towards her and with a lot less tension on the working yarn. (She can do sideways but only with a huge amount of tension so that really is not the best for her.) This requires to hold the hands completely different. It does have one unexpected bonus however: This puts a lot less strain on an old injury I have in my main drafting hand.

There is also spinning from the fold. Something I almost could not do with Heidi. She does it, don't get me wrong, but she is very temperamental about it and fighting your wheel the entire time is not enjoyable. Thistle on the other hand is great at this. Very steady, much easier to keep some measure of control other the yarn and does not buck off the driveband in protest all the time.

Hello Tumblr. I am proud to present my newest aquisition. After much calculations and budgeting, she is finally mine. I am, of course, speaking of my brand new spinning wheel, Thistle.

She is an Ashford Traveller 3, though I built her with a Standard Flyer, not the Sliding Hook Flyer the model ususally comes with, as I cannot actually grip the sliding hook grips properly. And, you know, if I'm spending a bunch of money on my dream spinning wheel, it better have a flyer I am actually happy with.

She arrived here in a big box, together with a bunch of fiber and some other tools I had ordered together with it. Then within the Ashford box, everything was carefully wrapped in shipping paper.

I must agree with a good friend of mine that building an Ashford wheel does feel a lot like building a piece of Ikea furniture. If anyone is thinking about getting one themself, be aware:

1) They ask for candle wax to put on the screws before screwing them in. This is a very important step! I forgot with exactly one screw and immediately regret it.

2) The step where you secure the wheel can be very fiddly and may cost your sanity.

3) Ashford apparently thinks spinners have good grip strength. If you struggle with twisting the treadle connection, jewellery plyers may help.

Of course, now it was time to do a little test spin. After all, you cannot get a new wheel without immediately going spare over it and never shutting up about it. So I picked up a small bit of italian wool fluff and went at it. And wow, she is so smooth compared to my trusty vintage Princess Heidi! I, however, will need a little practice.

Today is finally the day I wash and block all the things I recently finished.

Had to make two yarn soups instead of one because a) I don't trust the green not to bleed out just a tiny bit b) I don't trust the white not to soak up any colour it can get it's fibers on and c) the bowls can each only fit around 300g of yarn and I had 600.

Soaked them all a good half hour before going outside to clear away as much of the water as possible so they will drip as little as possible. Of course, it also passed the cat inspection!

And finally the breakdown! We have:

250g of Eider wool

25g of Grey icelandic

2g of Exmoor horn, hidden somewhere in the pile of white

200g of Corriedale, green dyed

25g of Beige brown european wool

50g of mystery wool, dyed purple

50g of Portugese Merino

Of course, the shawl was also blocked and passed it's own sniff inspection by Miss Lilly!

They're pretty big and apparently old but that's as much as I can tell. For now, I have kept one as a display piece and gifted the other to @guardevoir .

So far, our research has showed us exactly nothing, so the mystery continues. (Any tipps are welcome!)

The other one does have some writing, but mine unfortunately does not. As far as we can tell, what is written is: AITEX C5 S Federle.

In any case, it's a fascinating and beautiful bit of textile history and will be loved!