Not according to plan

At a recent spin-in, I planned to sit next to the spinner we all consider the best and have her show me how she pre-drafts, but she was knitting, not spinning, that day.

The roving I brought to work on is a bit felted and is producing a very dark, unattractive yarn. So the spin-in was not a very satisfactory session for me. I plan to run the rest of the roving through the drum carder with something else, to see if I can lighten (and loosen) it up.

Knitting: Inching along on the socks.
Spinning: See above.
Weaving: See below.

I wanted to warp a set of log cabin towels before the next rigid heddle weaving study group since the topic was to be color weaving. Following the directions in an issue of Little Looms, I worked my way across the loom, but when I reached the end, I realized there was a mistake. The error turned out to be near the beginning - it's hard to see white yarn against a white heddle - and I debated on how to fix it. In the end, I UNwarped the loom and started over.

Now I find that all that abrasion on the yarn has produced a couple of broken warp threads. *sigh*

Adventures in dyeing... with dame's rocket

After listening to a talk about dyeing with invasives, presented by a member of the Austin fiber guild, I looked up local invasives I could dye with. Dame's rocket was on the list.

Dame's rocket

I gathered the seed heads (700g of them) and soaked them for several days in tap water without applying heat.

700g

I then strained the dye bath (several times, including through an old jersey pillowcase). The dye bath looked like grape Kool-Aid.

Grape Kool-Aid!

Meanwhile, I divided a 100g skein of blank Cascade 220 yarn into four 50-yard skeins, plus a mini skein of the leftover bit. They received a cold alum mordant (a la Wild Color) using 10% alum.

My original plan was to use only some of this yarn, but I mindlessly threw it all into the dye bath. I heated the dye bath to 175-185 degrees and held it there for 30 minutes. Then I removed the small skein right away but left the rest to cool in the dye bath overnight.

The next day, I modified some of the overnight yarn, using vinegar for acid, ammonia for alkaline, and iron. I applied heat with the acid, which caused the yarn to bleed a bit. No heat was used for the alkaline. Heat was used for the iron, but the yarn did not bleed as much.

Gotta check the pH

The result was a range of pleasing pastels.

Mini skein removed early

Unmodified but left in overnight

Acid modifier

Alkaline modifier

Iron modifier

The next step is to set up a colorfast test using ambient light. My guess is the dye will fade to varying degrees, depending on the modifier. Perhaps this is an empty exercise, but it is fun to experiment.

Excited

I pulled the trigger and enrolled in Maiwa's Journey into Indigo. Lessons start June 1. In the meantime, I need to set up a studio space in the garage. I ordered their supply kit, but one needs to provide some items oneself. Fortunately, I already have almost everything I need.

Dyeing: Completed the dye experiment with dame's rocket flower heads.

Knitting: The heels are turned on the current pair of socks; as I work my way up the legs, I listen to Mary Roach's Replaceable You (narrated by the author).
Weaving: Partway through warping the 24" Ashford rigid heddle loom for Midtown Mosaic Towels (from Little Looms Summer 2026)

I use CommaFeed as my blog feeder. Many of the blogs in my list have not been updated in quite a while, including knittyblog.com. So I was surprised when TEN new posts appeared there in one day. Well, they were not from knitty. I thought their domain name had been hacked. I sent them an email, but it turns out they had released the domain name. Some foreign being (human, bot, whatever) grabbed it, and now it is live in a language I don't recognize. Needless to say, it is no longer in my blog feed.

Neapolitan mug rugs

There isn't much to say about this project, as I didn't take notes (bad). I warped it during a study group meeting, using some naturally brown yarn purchased from The Big Red Barn; it's from Sanctuary Farm and is either 100% alpaca or 80% alpaca and 20% merino. I then wove some handspun superwash merino known as Lone Star Arts superwash merino, colorway 'Neapolitan'.

I've always been a little unhappy with how that yarn plied and assumed the problem was me. But recently I realized that the problem is it is superwash, so it doesn't want to cling to itself. Lesson learned.

I don't consider these to be my best work. See how the hemstitch pulls in one corner on one end? That is another lesson for me.

Another leadership idea... for me

Between the yard, the house, my family, my friends, the pets, the guilds, etc., I feel a bit overwhelmed these days. So when someone suggested the spinning guild needs a study group in fiber prep and spinning techniques, I nearly collapsed. However, later I thought that instead of a separate group, we (and by "we" I mean the Old Guard) could teach these skills in a series of programs... NEXT YEAR. The guild has a lot of younger members these days who are not very adept at skills like flick carding, hand carding, plying techniques, spinning techniques, etc. so there is a need. If we old(er) spinners don't share our knowledge, it may be lost at the local level.

Dyeing: I zoomed in on a talk about dyeing with invasives, presented by a member of the Austin fiber guild, which got me looking up local invasives I could dye with. Dame's rocket is on the list, and guess what? I have a volunteer patch of that in my yard. Not much online about using this pretty biannual as a dye source, but I went ahead and plucked the flower heads, which are soaking in tap water (and getting a bit stinky).
Knitting: During a spin-in this past week, I managed to get to the heel turn on both socks. People think I knit a lot of socks (and maybe I do, compared to others), but it's my portable project.
Spinning: I finished spindling and plying the remainder of the fiber from the class I attended. I'm amazed at how balanced the yarn is.
Weaving: The houndstooth towels are off the loom, laundered, and awaiting hemming.

One technique I am not very adept at is pre-drafting and drafting. One of my fiber friends is considered the best spinner among us, as her yarn is very consistant. Her trick is careful pre-drafting. The other night, I watched our resident spindling expert as she spun, and she is very careful with her drafting, so her yarn is very consistant as well. At spin-ins, I need to park myself next to these experts and learn from the best.

Potholders!

The program at this week's weaving guild meeting was about weaving potholders. The best part - we all had the opportunity to weave a potholder. I didn't have time to finish mine at the meeting, but I did so the next day. Fun, but a little hard on my arthritic hands and wrists.

There were lots of examples of patterns one can weave on a potholder loom...

... including houndstooth.

Not sure how one weaves this house.

There were also examples of what one can make from the potholders, like a bag...

... or some balls.

One of the presenters had on a top that looked like it was made from potholders, although it wasn't. Wish I had taken a pic. If you are potholder-curious, here are some resources:

• Facebook groups: Potholder People, Potholder Design Genie, Radical Potholder Weavers
• Friendly Loom Wizard
• Online community, loops, books, patterns, kits at Kate Kilmurray
• "Make a potholder loom" with Kelly Casanova
• Piglet's Potholder Patterns

And of course there are many YouTube videos to help you along this path.

Spinning: I 2-plied the yarn that was on the spindle.
Weaving: Besides finishing my potholder, I finished the mug rugs - separate post to follow.

An item on my fiber arts "bucket list" is to dye with indigo. I've done this in a class or two over the years, but I don't really understand the whole process. Maiwa School of Textiles offers online classes, including one called Journey into Indigo. I'm very tempted.

Colorway inspiration

Every year the weaving guild issues a challenge. This year is to create a warp wrapping using colors from a picture. Not wanting to purchase any yarn, I contemplated "reverse engineering" the colors, choosing ones that I would match with a photo after the fact. Instead, I am inspired by the colors of spring blossoms in my yard.

I also decided they did not have to match 100%.

I think I like the bottom one the best. Thoughts?

It's been a busy week regarding fiber gatherings. I volunteered to take over the librarian responsibilities for the weaving guild next year. That was met by the 90-year-old current librarian not only with tearful relief, but it has also led to helping purge the library books, as our cabinet is FULL. The evictees will be offered to the guild members for 75% off their online used book value.

This past week was also the inaugural meeting of the rigid heddle weaving study group. One never knows how these things will work out, but I could not have asked for a better response from the group. We helped each other, learned something new, socialized, etc. The May meeting is already scheduled, and we may continue into the summer - that's how much fun it was.

Yesterday was an easy fiber gathering, at least for me, as it was a spin-in at the Little Shop of Spinning in Roanoke IN. All I had to do was show up. Ditto today's fiber club.

Knitting: At the above mentioned spin-in, I worked on the current pair of socks.
Spinning: Almost every day, I practice spindling.
Weaving: Warped the SampleIt at the study group using the yarns from last week's sample and wove a couple of mug rugs both then and at today's fiber club.

At the fiber club today, I sat at a table with an inkle loom weaver. The two of us generated a certain amount of interest, so perhaps we will have some new weavers in the future.