Jul 12, 2021
Wool fiber carding and preparation is our topic in this episode as our Summer Spin In continues. Current spinning and knitting projects along with a couple of rants are also on the program!
Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
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Marsha’s Projects
I frogged the foot of my Drops Fabel sock, turned the heel and I am knitting the gusset.
Picked up a long dormant shawl called Simple Shawl by Jane Hunter that I started in March 2018. Using Michael CWD in the colorway San Francisco Fog.
Cast on the pullover Atlas by Jared Flood for my brother. The yarn I’m using is Navia Tradition. My gauge is 20st/4” instead of 24st/4” so I am making the smallest size. I have knit about 7” of the body, excluding the ribbing. Because I cast on with a provisional cast on and the body is all stockinette it is very curly. It looks like a holiday wreath!
In the last episode, I mentioned that the color work chart distinguishes “dominant” color and I was guessing what this meant. Thank goodness for YouTube and Jared Flood who has a great video explaining why we want to pick a dominant color and the technique for doing this.
I’m still spinning on my green/brown merino.
Hidden Brain: This is the link to the website. Then search for the episode, “Why We Hold Onto Things” from May 31, 2021. I was unable to put a direct link to the episode.
Kelly’s Projects
I finished carding about 400 grams of Oxford batts and sampled them. Yes, actually sampled! I made two small skeins of about 20 g each. One is 2 ply and the other is 3-ply. Since the fleece was slightly sticky I used boiled water to put in the wash bowl and they both washed up nicely. I like the 2 ply best. It is softer and fluffier. I now have a full bobbin of singles all spun up. Here is the project page for this handspun.
I started a handspun sweater! I am using a new pattern called Dark Green Forest (Ravelry link) by Christina Körber-Reith. She also has the patterns at her website, Strickhauzeit. Her website also has both measuring/fitting and bust dart tutorials.
Summer Spin In Topics
Don’t forget your tetanus shot!
From Nathalie (SuperKip)
Two additions that might be helpful:
- Don’t prep fleece when you’re pregnant (toxoplasmosis is a danger)
- For ‘rescue’-fleeces, a flick-carder is also very helpful, this also gets rid of many waste types of yarn.
Carding
Fiber preparation tools: Hand cards, flick carder, mini combs, combs, drum carder, blending board
Spin Off Free Guide to Wool Carding and Combing
Skirting
How to Skirt a Fleece by the Spinning Loft
How to Skirt a Fleece Video by Rayne Fiber Arts
Mill processing
Fiber Prep Ravelry Group: Fleece Processor List
Full Transcript
Marsha 0:03
Hi, this is Marsha
Kelly 0:04
and this is Kelly.
Marsha 0:05
We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for
stopping by.
Kelly 0:10
You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just
about anything else we can think of as a way to play with
string.
Marsha 0:17
We blog and post show notes at toTwo Ewes Fiber Adventures dot
com.
Kelly 0:22
And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on
Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects,
Marsha 0:29
and I am betterinmotion.
Kelly 0:31
We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to
meeting you there.
Both 0:35
Enjoy the episode.
Marsha 0:43
Good morning, Kelly.
Kelly 0:44
Good morning, Marsha.
Marsha 0:45
Well, how are you today?
Kelly 0:47
I'm doing fine. I'm out in the trailer. I've been complaining about
how cold it is here. It's in the 60s again, again every day. Well,
not right now it's less than that here now. But I'm wearing an
undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, a flannel shirt. And on top of the
flannel shirt I have a shirt jacket that will probably come off as
we go. But it's cold here.
Marsha 1:19
Well, it's cool today. I don't know what the temperature is. But
it's it's overcast. And the wind is blowing. It's very cool. And I
but I have to say I'm not complaining. It feels very nice. After
that hot hot weather we had
Kelly 1:29
Yeah.
Marsha 1:30
It was like 110. Like, I still, even now two weeks later, people
are still like how'd you do with that heat, right. But everybody's
asking, but so it's nice. And it's overcast and breezy and cool.
But that's how it was yesterday morning. And then it turned out to
be a beautiful day it was actually quite warm. So yeah, sort of
typical for us is cool, and overcast and sort of misty in the
morning. And then
Kelly 1:55
Yeah, it's been wet almost every morning here for the last week. So
it's been cold in the house. And of course I'm not going to-- I am
not running the heater in July. That's ridiculous.
Marsha 2:10
I don't know if they have this in other parts of the country. But
there's a group in in Seattle, all the neighborhoods have a group
in this way. It's called Buy Nothing. And it's basically where you
can't sell anything. You just post everything out for free. So I've
been posting up things like yesterday, well, the one that I thought
was so interesting is--I think I got it as a Christmas gift years
ago.It's a, it's for grilling, it's a fork, but also has a
thermometer in it. Like 10 people wanted it. So I just had to pick
somebody. And then other stuff nobody wants, you know, but it's
kind of fun. I mean, you know, Kelly, remember you were talking
about in front of your house, because you do live on a high traffic
street. You just were putting stuff out in front and then and then
it was fun to see how fast it went. And then you started going
around looking for things to give away. It's kind of like, it's
like now I'm very motivated. And I'll tell you why I'm motivated in
a second. But anyway, someone's coming today to pick up--I have an
old ice cream maker, you know that we had probably in the 60s,
right? That we used to make ice cream. It's the hand crank kind
that you put ice in and the rock salt and stuff. And so and she's
all-- this woman is super excited about it, because she's gonna use
it for their Campfire or Girl Scout troop to make ice cream, which
is really fun that's going to get used, right?
Kelly 3:33
Yeah.
Marsha 3:33
it's it's kind of fun. It's a little addictive. And you know how I
am. For years, I've had such a hard time getting rid of stuff. But
people are so excited about it. You know, and this other woman, you
know, she's excited because I just posted up-- I have a, you know,
a large, really large stainless steel mixing bowl. And I posted
that up and she's like, Oh, I'm a baker. And I said I'm a baker
too, you know. So I thought maybe I'll meet my neighbors this way.
Because it's just, you have to be in a certain block radius. So,
um, so probably I think it's, I think it's nationwide.
Kelly 4:11
I don't know.
Marsha 4:13
So I will... let me just say why I'm doing this as is. You know
I've...as you know, the listeners now I have my house that I've had
in Ballard for many years. I'm getting that ready to rent. I moved
into the house I was growing up in. I've had to combine two
households. And I've done really well getting rid of stuff. But
there was that last stuff that you know, that you hang on to. You
think maybe I'll use it, right? Maybe I will make ice cream in the
hand crank ice cream maker. And I've been thinking that for how
many years? My mother had it in her basement and I thought it's
never going to happen. So and if I do get a wild hair that I am, I
will go buy one again but I'm probably never going to miss that
thing. So I'm...and I had a...Yeah, there's all kinds of things I'm
getting rid of and little things but they'll just make space and so
I'm now motivated. In the basement because... and Kelly you know
this and people if you're following my Instagram feed, you probably
know what I'm doing. But I took everything in the basement.. The
basement is divided into half. One half is...there's a rec room
with a fireplace and a bedroom. And the other half we always called
it the dirty part of the basement. But that's where the washer and
dryer is and the workbench and stuff, the furnace, hot water
heater. So I took everything out of that dirty part of the basement
and put it into the rec room. Then I had the wiring redone the
plumbing redone for a new hot water heater, new washer dryer, new
sink. And then we painted the walls because it was just bare
concrete walls. Well actually, they've been painted with calcimite
which is like, almost like a chalk like substance, and it
doesn't... you can't paint over it. The paint just peels off, so I
had to wash down all the walls. Scrub the floor, degrease the
floor. So I painted the walls, the trim on the windows, I painted
the floor... two coats of concrete paint on the floors. So now I...
last night I started moving things back. But Kelly, did you look at
my Instagram post this morning?
Kelly 6:20
No.
Marsha 6:21
I think I posted it last night of the shelving unit, Ben shaking
it. He said they're not safe. So I ordered last night, I just saw
that you can go and order and pay for stuff at Home Depot and just
go pick it up. So I ordered it and I get a text in about 15 minutes
that it's ready. So Ben went over and picked up the shelving units
and we built three shelving units. So today after we finish
recording, I'm going to now start putting things that I'm keeping
back on the shelf. And my plan is, if it doesn't fit on those three
shelving units I'm not keeping it.
Kelly 6:55
Oh, that's a good idea. it will keep you honest
Marsha 6:57
And my other plan . Yes, and this is my other rule. Nothing sits on
the floor. If it sits on it, I can't keep it if it sits on the
floor. It has to go up on a shelf. Is that a good plan?
Kelly 7:11
Yeah.
Marsha 7:12
Do you think it's attainable?
Kelly 7:14
I don't know. We'll see. How many people want your free stuff?
Marsha 7:22
Yeah.
Kelly 7:26
Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
Marsha 7:28
So anyway, and I will put a... Well I think I got kind of motivated
too because pulling everything out... when I saw all of the stuff
in the rec room my thought was, I'm one item away from being a
hoarder. One more item and it might be at the tipping point. And
then as Ben said to me, you know, a lot of stuff is not my stuff. A
lot of it is stuff that is other people's stuff that I inherited.
So like, I've talked about this before, but you know, 10 sets of
dishes that were all inherited from various relatives that I didn't
buy, I don't want them, but I now have them. And I don't know what
to do with them. And so and then along those lines, having that
conversation with Ben sort of motivated me. It did, it sort of did
motivate me and then also, he recommended the podcast Hidden Brain.
I think the show airs on NPR, but it also is in the form of a
podcast and he had an episode and I will try and find a link to it.
I forgotten the name of it. But it's something basically about why
we keep things and a lot of times it has no monetary value but it
has sentimental value. And how do you and how... Which is true.
Like I have these...I talk about all these dishes I have. That old
treadle sewing machine... things I don't necessarily want. But the
people who gave them to me really wanted me to have them. My aunt
really wanted me to have that treadle sewing machine but I don't
use it. So it's silly to keep it but I feel sort of duty bound to
keep it, you know, and all the family history and photographs. I
don't want them. And so I've decided I'm going to contact other
members of the family and see if they want them. So they can store
them and not me.
Kelly 9:18
You should just do like my aunt's have done and...
Marsha 9:24
just put it on their porch...
Kelly 9:27
Grab a batch of pictures, stick them in a bag and just either put
them in the mail and send them or, well, like my my aunt will send
something home with Aunt Betty or my mom drops something off when
she comes here. It's like you start divesting yourself by giving
the stuff to to other people. So yeah, like zucchini. You can just
drop it on their porch. [laughing]
Marsha 9:54
And you speed away. [laughing] Maybe I should put my family photos
on Buy Nothing. if you want instant family.
Kelly 10:02
Funny!
Marsha 10:02
No, I just think... and like the other thing too is I have been
saddled with things. I adored my aunt. I loved her, my dad's
sister, but she did all the family history. And I have three banker
boxes full of all of her research, two trunks full of photographs.
And I don't know how many plastic bins full of photographs. And I
got, well, chosen or saddled with the family history stuff. And I,
the truth is, I don't really care that much. And I know that's
terrible to say, because everybody's doing all this family
research, but somebody else in the family who is more motivated and
cares more than I care should probably do it because I... My aunt,
I think thought I cared a lot more than I really cared about all
the family history. So anyway, way too much information about
what's going on here. But I'm in purge mode.
Kelly 11:05
All right.
Marsha 11:07
So, Kelly, yes. Should we talk about, like, fibery things now?
Kelly 11:11
I think so.
Marsha 11:12
Okay.
Kelly 11:13
You're not purging any of that. Right?
Marsha 11:19
Well, I know I'm not yet right. Not now. But I do need to figure
out a different way of storing.
Kelly 11:23
Well, that's a perpetual question. What do you do? Yeah. How do you
store those? Yeah, yeah.
Marsha 11:28
So let's get to projects. Do you want to go first?
Kelly 11:31
Sure. I'll go first, because mine is short. Oh, first of all,
Marsha 11:35
is that good?
Kelly 11:36
I don't know. Well, it's fine. It's, it's kind of normal. It's kind
of the way it's been recently. But I finished carding about well...
I'm gonna say finished because the Oxford fleece was in two bags.
And I finished one bag of the Oxford a fleece and it's about it's
about 400 grams. And so then I sampled. So I, I made a two ply,
about 20 gram skein, I think, of two ply and a small skein also of
three ply to see which I liked better. And I was, I was thinking I
was gonna like the three ply better, but I liked... I actually
liked the two ply better. It's fluffier, part of it might just be
the amount of twist that I put in the three ply. Even though I like
a nice round three ply. This particular yarn that I made, it feels
sort of buttoned up. It's kind of like, you know, it's round. And,
and, and, you know, bouncy, like a three ply is, but it feels kind
of just too much twist. There's just too much, too much twist in
it. And it just really wants to be a little looser. At least that's
what I'm thinking. If I had done the three ply, with less twist. I
mean, normally, you put a little more in, because you're going to
be untwisting a little bit more when you ply the three ply. And so
I think that might be what happened. I wasn't intentionally doing
that, but maybe that's what happened. Anyway, it just feels a
little too tight. And the other one feels nice and fluffy and
loose. And so think I'm gonna do a two ply. And so I started a
bobbin. Last-- yesterday, and I managed to spin an entire bobbin,
most of a bobbin, of this Oxford fleece. So I'm still keeping my
options open that I may opt to do a three ply. You know, I'm not
gonna ply it right away. Think about it, and I'll do a second
bobbin first before I decide, but I'm pretty sure I want to do a
two ply with this. So it's nice, it's it's springy. It's softer
than I expected it to be based on when I was carding it.
Marsha 14:06
Mm hmm.
Kelly 14:08
But it's like a medium You know, kind of a medium workhorse kind of
fleece but softer than the Perendale. That Perendale that I talked
about a couple of episodes ago, that blue and green one. Blue,
green and yellow from the prepared fiber that I bought from Sheep
Spot. The Oxford is a little softer than that. Actually is quite a
bit-- it feels quite a bit softer than that now that I'm spinning
it. Now I think I mentioned that I didn't do the best washing job
when I first washed it, so it's a little sticky. So I just when I
washed it, I just used boiling water in the bowl, along with some
soap and washed the skeins and they came out really nice. So I
wasn't too worried about it. I had done that before. So I wasn't
too worried about the, the fact that it was a little sticky
spinning. And it's perfect for spinning now. Because even though
you know, even though the weather is cool here, you know, it has
been in the high 60s. So if I sit in a little sunny spot and spin,
it slips really nicely. You know, it's more lanoliny than sticky
once it gets a little warmed up. So I mean, I'm not, this is not
spinning in the grease by any means. It's...
Marsha 15:32
Right.
Kelly 15:33
It's, it's clean, but it's still got more lanolin in it then I
really liked to have. So that's one thing that I'm working on. My
spinning project. But I also started another project for our
spin-in which is, you know, making something out of your handspun.
So I started a handspun sweater.
Marsha 15:59
Oh,
Kelly 16:00
So I spun the yarn years ago, well, over several years. Maybe
people who've been listening for a while might remember. It's the
CVM fleece and I had it processed at Yolo fiber mill which is now
Valley Oak Wool Mill, a different owner. But it's up in Woodland,
California. And I had it when we first moved here to this house, so
that would have been '05. I'd had the fleece for at least at least
a year, maybe came from the fair in 2004. Sat around here for a
while before I sent it away to be processed. And then once it came
back, I started spinning it and I used that same fleece for the...
There was like six pounds of it. And I used that same fleece that
sort of taupey beige fleece for the Orca sweater, the Orcas Run
sweater, my big, bulky sweater. But this is a fingering weight,
three ply, and then I dyed it red over the kind of beige color. So
that made it kind of a terracotta, rust, I don't know what you
would call it exactly. But it's real pretty. The dye color was
called dark red. And I found a pattern. So, again, I had talked
many times about what pattern I was going to use, right? I had a
couple of choices in my queue that I was pretty sure I was going to
use one of them. And then finally I just decided you know what I'm
going to go looking again. And so I found a pattern called Dark
Green Forest. And it's by Christina Korber-Reith. Korber-Reith is
her last name, k o, r, b e r, dash r, e, i, t, h, she's German. And
I actually looked up how you how you pronounce it.
Marsha 18:17
Mm hmm.
Kelly 18:17
In German. And...but I can't say it that way. I did the best I
could. But she has, she has some really interesting patterns. Nice,
kind of the long sweaters that I like, cozy and casual. The one I'm
using has a cable like a honeycomb cable down the sleeve. It's got
a saddle shoulder, which... I don't know if I've ever done an
actual saddle shoulder before. But I think this is a saddle
shoulder because the cable comes down from the collar and then goes
down, down the top of the shoulder and then down the arm. The
collar is a square collar. I don't know that it would be called a
shawl collar. But it's nice. It's...you start at the... you start
at the collarr and go down and it's it's one of those collars that
folds over and is just square. You know, it's just
Marsha 19:22
like a sailor's collar. Is that what they call it?
Kelly 19:24
Yes. Yeah, I think that is what you would call it. That is what
it's like, exactly like that. And it has ribbing on it. So I've
gotten... I've gotten down... I'm in the the arm hole
increases.
Marsha 19:43
Mm hmm.
Kelly 19:45
But I got messed up somehow. And I need to... I'm trying to decide
whether I want to go forward and see if I'm in the right place for
the cable. You know that cable crossing, or do I want to rip it
back again, because I already ripped it back once to to get back to
where I thought I knew where I was. And now it's not looking right.
So. So I have to decide what I want to do. Do I want to forge
ahead? Assuming that I'm right?Or, or did I somehow make a mistake
again, not paying attention and get an extra, you know, an extra
row in there. So. So anyway, that's where I am with that. But I'm
really liking the pattern. It's fun. It's well written. I've made
good progress, but with a collar that big. I still haven't gotten
that far down, you know? Yeah, I'm in the, in the yoke. A little
bit below what she calls the yoke in her pattern, so. But I'm
excited about it. I have a sweater on the needles again, something
more than a dish cloth.
Marsha 20:55
Mm hmm. Well, I was just looking at the pattern. I think it's a
very nice pattern. And I love the color. That terracotta color, I
think is really nice.
Kelly 21:03
Thank you. Yeah, I'm really pleased with it. I was laughing because
somebody, I was talking to somebody about making things. And I
suddenly realized, I like everything I make. I mean, it's good,
right? I'm making it so it should be made the way I like it. But,
but it was kind of funny. This person that I was talking to was
much more critical of her stuff than I am. I'm like, you know, Oh,
I like that. You say Oh, I like the color. I'm like, yeah, isn't it
great? Oh, I like how your sweater turned out! Yeah, yeah, isn't it
great? [laughing]
Marsha 21:48
That's interesting. I'm trying to think... do I like everything I
make? I like most things. I've had some. I say I like everything
I've made. I like the yarn and the color and stuff. Sometimes. They
don't fit right.
Kelly 22:05
Yeah, I have some. Yeah, I have some fit complaints about some of
the things I've made. Mostly related to raglan sleeve shaping that
has the raglan part starting at like two stitches. And yeah, my top
of my shoulder is much broader than two stitches. So unless we're
talking about, you know, a totally high neck collar, that's not
enough. But even those, I mean, I yeah. I guess it has to do with
when, right? Especially when I'm making it or when I first finish
it. It's like, Oh, I love this! Once it's in my drawer or closet
for a while I sometimes realize oh, I don't love this as much as I
thought I did. You know?
Marsha 22:56
Yeah,
Kelly 22:56
I--you know, I noticed because I don't grab it out as much.
Marsha 22:59
Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 23:01
But yeah, no, I'm not very critical of my own work. There's, I've
made-- I did make one hat that I thought okay, this is really
ugly.
Marsha 23:12
Was that the charity hat you made? That you were talking about in
the last episode or two episodes?
Kelly 23:17
Oh, no, I, well...I guess I could count that one. I think that
one's kind of ugly. And oh, well, not ugly, just not the best thing
I've ever made. So maybe two things. No, this is one I made a long,
long time ago. And I was going to a meeting and I just had to grab
stuff to make a hat. You know, I knew I was going to be sitting in
a meeting for a long time. So I just grabbed yarn. And the colors
didn't really go together. And then I decided to make stripes.
Because I thought oh, if I if I make the stripes of this way, it'll
look better the colors will actually go together. One was like a
teal and the other one was like a rust color. And they just didn't,
you know that can be... that could be a really pretty combination.
But this particular teal and the particular rust just wasn't wasn't
a good mix. So I know that that hat sat in my stash for a long time
with me thinking, well, maybe it's not so bad if I look at it in a
different light. Oh, I think it's all right. Or then I thought, oh,
maybe I'll just overdye it and I thought you know, I just just put
it in the bag of goodwill stuff.
Marsha 24:26
Mm hmm.
Kelly 24:28
So I finally did get rid of it. And one of my, you know, times of
going through the closet and getting rid of stuff that hat went in.
So yeah. Anyway, but those are my only two. Really my only two
projects at this moment are the spinning project and the new
sweater on the needles. So...
Marsha 24:48
Well, very nice. You're busy.
Kelly 24:50
Yeah, I had hoped to wash fleece. And I won't go into a lot of gory
detail but my top load washing machine from 30 years finally died.
So...
Marsha 25:06
Yes, so did you get another top load?
Kelly 25:08
Yeah, yeah, it's another just basic washing machine. So it's coming
on Friday.
Marsha 25:14
30 years. That's actually a really long time for... I mean today
for appliances,
Kelly 25:21
The one we just bought will not last 30 years, I'm sure.
Marsha 25:24
Well, good.
Kelly 25:25
So we'll hope it works. Nobody at the place knew anything about,
you know, things like can you just...
Marsha 25:32
can you wash a fleece in it? Right?They really couldn't answer that
question. [laughing]
Kelly 25:34
Will it just spin and drain? Oh, you know, can you open it up in
the middle of the cycle? You know, all that stuff. They didn't know
anything about it. So we'll see. I have my fingers crossed. I think
I'll be able to use it. I'll be able to figure something out. It
has a pause button. So you know it locks but it does have a pause
button. So I should be able to... Yeah, I should be able to do
something with it. I don't know. But it doesn't have... it has an
automatic water level. That might be a problem.
Marsha 26:08
Oh, yeah, cuz you want to
Kelly 26:10
Yeah, cuz I wanted to fill and then put stuff in. So I need-- I
might need to figure out how to make it fill with nothing in it.
Stupid. I don't know why they can't just make a--Well, I won't go
into a ramt. It just, it's just ridiculous. There's nothing wrong
with a regular washer. And I you know, I was reading through all of
the things and oh, you know, you need this washer because it's
gonna make your clothes last longer. I'm sorry. People don't want
their clothes to last longer. People want to go shopping and buy a
new outfit next month. It doesn't make any sense.
Marsha 26:51
Actually, that's a really good point. I never thought about that.
Because that was the the selling point of those front load front
load washing machines is they're more gentle on your clothing
because there isn't the agitation. But to your point, we don't want
our clothes to last because we buy clothes are so inexpensive that
we just buy new clothes.
Kelly 27:11
And honestly, my clothes have gone in a... Now I just sound like an
old lady on a rant but my clothing has gone into a top load
agitator washer for 60 years. I have never felt like my clothing
wore out too fast from going in the washing machine. Never! Not
once have I had something that I thought, oh my god, it just wore
out so fast from going in the washing machine.
Marsha 27:40
Okay, so since we're on rants, I'm going to add my little rant to
this. It's not about washing machines and appliances, which that
could be a whole--that's a whole nother podcast of ranting! Light
bulbs. So
Marsha 27:54
Oh no Marsha! [laughing]
Marsha 27:57
I'm gonna say... [laughing] But here's the thing. I remember when
they came out with the LED light bulbs. And the big selling point
of those light bulbs is that they were going to last 25 or 30
years. So I had all these random light bulbs, and I discovered most
of my lamps are three way. So I bought all new light bulbs. Because
I as I say had all these different light bulbs. And so I bought all
new three way light bulbs. Put them in probably two months ago, and
two of them have burned out. Now, I think... And I clearly sound
like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but I don't think I am.
I think it's the truth. I think they're designed to break because
it's not-- it doesn't make any sense. It's not a smart business
model to make light bulbs that last 30 years right? Because
nobody's gonna go buy your light bulbs. They won't buy them again
for 30 years.
Kelly 28:50
right
Marsha 28:50
So the business model is they use less energy, which is good. But
they cost more. Like I don't know, they cost more to make? I have
no idea. They cost more to buy which is good for the manufacturer.
And you have to buy them just as frequently or more frequently than
an incandescent bulb so it's a great business... it's a business
model that makes sense. You don't want them to last. Planned
obsolescence. You don't want things to last, you want things to
slow down. You know, you want things to break and wah, wah, wah,
wah, wah. Old lady, old lady Failor here!
Kelly 29:30
And old lady Locke here having our rants
Marsha 29:34
Okay, does that make me sound like a conspiracy?
Kelly 29:38
No, why would you make something-- Why would you make something
like a light bulb that would last for 25 years? Because yeah, once
people...
Marsha 29:47
It's a bad business.
Kelly 29:48
It's not an appliance. I mean appliances don't even last 25
years!
Marsha 29:53
Your furnace! The furnace doesn't last. I mean it's funny, the the
oil furnace that was in the house. This house was put in 1929 and
my parents took it out in the 70s so that still forty... but there
was nothing wrong with it they just wanted... they were sold a bill
of goods that electric was better which is ridiculous.
Kelly 30:14
Okay, now, last one last rant! That big green furnace in the
basement that I loved the look of? We had replaced and it had, I
mean it had had trouble and it was inefficient and eventually we
did end up getting a new one last year because our furnace had gone
out a couple of times. Remember it was out for a while last
November a year ago? So it had died. This is again a 1920s furnace
they had to cut it up to get it out of the basement because it was
so big. So we get a new one and it has a thermostat on it with a
programmer, right? Prrogrammed thermostat and Roberts like okay, we
have to do this because programming your thermostat is really
really more efficient because you know you you have a timer, blah,
blah... I said it's not more efficient because if you have it on a
timer it's going to come on whether or not I'm cold. If I'm cold I
turn it on and when I'm not cold anymore I turn it off and that's
more efficient. He's like, no no it's much better... Guess what!
Even though our furnace is much more efficient then the old one
was, because we had it on the timer for the winter our heating bill
was more!
Marsha 31:37
Oh yeah?
Kelly 31:38
I'm turning that off so now I'm only going to turn it on when I'm
cold and turn it down and not turn it on in the morning you know
before you get up. It just...
Marsha 31:53
Yeah. well I say that's an interesting point because I know that
they...The reason they say that you should have a program is that
then you're not like, oh I'm cold turn it up and then it's putting
all this energy into heating it up. You know it's just like it
keeps it at this constant temperature but to keep it the constant
temperature you're using energy, right. So I can see there are
these things we accept as the truth that are not necessarily the
truth.
Kelly 32:18
Yes.
Marsha 32:19
Well... furnaces. I go back to furnaces. My friend Susanna she has
a house built in like 1900, I think. Here in Seattle, and she has
the original furnace. Yeah, and it works. Yeah. So think how old
that furnaces like over 120 years old.
Kelly 32:35
Yeah, very cool.
Marsha 32:36
And it works fine. So and I've spent evenings in her house and it's
a lovely temperature. So there you go. Okay, and enough ranting
Where are we I think because we got sent we went down this rabbit
hole of ranting I believe I'm talking about my projects.
Kelly 32:50
Oh my gosh, yes, you are. Quickly. [laughing] Sorry.
Marsha 32:55
I have to get through these fast. Okay, so my socks. I frogged my
socks because, remember the socks I'm making. I forgot to turn the
heel. So I rip that out and I turn the heel and I'm now working on
the gusset.
Kelly 33:07
Oh, good.
Marsha 33:08
I'm working intermittently on my Simple Shawl that I started years
ago but I work on that periodically. I'm still spinning the green
brown Merino. Nothing new to report on that. So I will.. don't need
to talk about that. Since we talked too much on our rants, I won't
go into all of that. But I did cast on the pullover Atlas by Jared
Flood for... And I'm making this for my brother. And the last
episode I had swatched. I talked all about swatches. And so I'm not
getting gauge. I'm getting 20 stitches in four inches as opposed to
24 stitches in four inches. Okay, so based on his size and my
gauge, I'm making the smallest size. And that's... and so he
brought back the the other Jared flood sweater I made for him and
which we talked about. Is it Cobblestone? Yeah, he brought that
back and I measured that and it's the same, it's gonna be a little
bit bigger, maybe about an inch bigger, which I think is good
because he doesn't want... he wants it more slim. As I talked about
in the last episode, he wants it a bit more slim fitting, I don't
think it should be super slim fitting based on the weight of this
wool. So I think it's gonna be the perfect size.
Kelly 34:22
Well, that's good.
Marsha 34:24
So that's good. I do have... But now I want to talk about the color
work. I do have some concerns about the color work, but I have to
let it go. Because... well I shouldn't even say this, it's perfect.
I know I'm just kind of concerned. So the body of the sweater is
this very bright grass, Kelly green kind of. And then the color
work is in a navy blue and kind of a light like a sky blue robin's
egg blue. My concern is, you know, when you...when you talk about,
like you take a picture of your color work and put it in black and
white, and you see how the colors work then and what stands out? My
concern is that the, the...when you look at them together, the
light blue and the green, sort of blend together a little bit.
There's not as much distinction between the Navy and the green or
the Navy in the light blue. I'm, I'm committed to using these
colors. So I don't I mean, I'd have to buy a different color. And
looking at the colors. I... there's like there's not, there's not a
huge range of colors in this yarn. So my options are like red,
brown, white, gray. And that's... I'm kind of wondering if maybe,
like the white would be, I don't know. I think I'm just gonna start
knitting it and see how... because just looking... because I didn't
complete the whole color work pattern. And maybe it will all be
fine. In the end. I don't know.
Kelly 36:04
Well, and Mark chose those colors, right?
Marsha 36:08
Yeah, well, Yes, he did.
Kelly 36:13
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's what he wanted.
Marsha 36:17
Yes. But I think there's one thing picking the colors. And then
picking colors for color work.
Kelly 36:21
Yeah.
Marsha 36:22
Right. Because I don't know that much about it. And he knows
nothing. Well, he knows a lot about color. Don't get me wrong. He
knows a lot about putting colors together because of his background
in design. But a knitted fabric? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I don't
know.
Kelly 36:38
He was looking at the pattern. I remember him looking at the
pattern and right, and looking at the colors that he selected. So I
don't know, anyway. Yeah.
Marsha 36:49
So yeah. I'm not gonna worry about it. It's just something that's
just is flickering through my brain. I wonder, huh? Wondering. And
but again, when you complete the pattern, it might be fine. Just
doing... I think I did 10 rows of the pattern. And the whole
colorwork thing is well over that. So anyway, but the other thing I
want to say is, do you remember in the last episode, we were
talking about that in the pattern, it's a very well written
pattern. But when you get to the color chart, it actually tells you
on each row, which is your dominant color, and I had no idea what
they were talking about. And so I said, I'm assuming the dominant
color is going to be you knit..., you hold it in your dominant
hand, in my case, that's my right hand. That's completely wrong.
[laughing] So anybody who listened and knows anything about color
work will know that that's wrong. This is what happens when you
have no information, but you act like you're an authority. So I
anyway, I... Kelly, you had pointed out that Jared Flood actually
has a good video on explaining dominance. And so I put a link in
the show notes about that, you actually are supposed to hold the
the dominant color in your left hand. And I would I recommend the
video, there's other videos out there too, but explains why you
want to pick a color as a dominant color. And then also how you use
it. Typically, people hold the dominant color in their left hand,
he is not as fast that way. He actually holds both colors in his
right hand. But he has this very interesting technique, which he
demonstrates in the video of twisting your hand, so that you have
the two different different yarns available. And he also talks
about, there's another video he does about stranding and how you
capture the floats in the back, which is very good. And this is all
common knowledge for people who do a lot of color work. Not having
done any color work, this is really informative. So I'll put, I put
a link in the show notes on the video about dominant color. And
then also in their patterns, they tell you which is the dominant
color. But he said most color work patterns, they don't tell you.
So also techniques for deciding which would be the dominant
color.
Kelly 39:04
Oh, that's good. Because Yeah, I have noticed that that's not
something that's usually in the in the description. Yeah, at least
in the description. Like, when you read the pattern, the pattern
page, you know the description in the pattern page, you don't see
it. Maybe in the written pattern, it will tell you but but yeah,
that's good.
Marsha 39:24
And then he and then even to the point to where the dominant color
may change throughout the pattern. So you know, like in so
like...
Kelly 39:35
interesting.
Marsha 39:36
Yeah, so yeah, so that was just very interesting, something I knew
nothing about and I made that offhand remark and I realized like I
was wrong! So I just want people to know and I, I did there were
some comments in the show notes and people had posted. One listener
posted a video, a link to a video in there. So all that was really
helpful. So I just wanted to share that That's so... That is it for
me with projects.
Kelly 40:03
All right.
Marsha 40:04
Oh, and I should say too about this sweater, and I talked about
this before--that you're supposed to do a tubular cast on. And then
knit two and a half inches of ribbing, and then start the body. And
as I talked about in the past, and in the last episode, I'm doing a
provisional cast on and just starting with the stockinette. And
then I'm going to go back and do the ribbing. So I have done about
seven inches of the stockinette. If I had included the ribbing, I'm
supposed to knit it from the cast on with the ribbing, I'm supposed
to about 10 and a half inches of the body where I then start doing
shaping though,
Kelly 40:41
So you're close to shaping.
Marsha 40:43
Yeah. This, if I subtract the two and a half inches, I need to knit
eight inches, and I'm about at seven inches now. So another inch
and I'm going to start the shaping. When you do this technique,
it's very curly. It's like I'm going around and around and around
and it never seems like I'm getting anywhere. Yes, it looks like it
looks like a holiday wreath because it's bright green. And it's
just basically a big log, I mean and a big umm... Yeah, it's like,
it's like a wreath, kind of. Around and around. It never seems to
grow. So and I think I may have done this with his other sweater
too, is that when I finished the whole sweater, I will probably
wash and block it before I go back and do the ribbing. Because it
is so curly. I think it's gonna be very difficult to measure how it
should be.
Kelly 41:34
Yeah.
Marsha 41:37
So, but I'll report in on this. So as I say that's it for... that's
it for projects for me.
Kelly 41:44
Good. Sounds like you're making good progress.
Marsha 41:49
on some projects, yeah, not so much on others.
Kelly 41:53
Well, the summer spin is moving along. And it's also Tour de
Fleece. I forget what day we're on now, I was doing pretty well at
the beginning of it. Accounting for what I was doing each day that
had to do with spinning. I had a couple of days that I didn't card
or spin or anything so I got kind of off. But anyway Tour de Fleece
is going on. The summer spin in is going on. And in this episode,
we're going to talk a little bit about fiber preparation.
Marsha 42:27
So and Kelly, you mentioned this last time, but we'll mention
again. Don't forget your tetanus shot.
Kelly 42:32
Oh, yeah. And then we had some feedback, too.
Marsha 42:34
Yeah. So Natalie, Superkip. She added don't prep fleece when you're
pregnant. And because toxoplasmosis is a danger and I'm not sure
what that is. I honestly did not Google it. All I know is, it's a
danger. So okay. And I did watch a video to where she said she
always wears gloves. Just latex gloves on. So that's probably smart
to do too. And then
Kelly 43:00
I have to say I wouldn't do that. Yeah. I like the feel of it. I
know. But if you're squeamish about about touching, yeah, I
guess.
Marsha 43:13
Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so I wanted to mention that.
Kelly 43:19
And then she also mentioned about when we talked a little bit about
the rescue fleeces that might have more stuff in that, you know,
bargain fleeces that might have stuff in them, more so than
something that you'd buy at a fiber festival. And she mentioned a
flick carder being really helpful. And I had forgotten to mention
that but yeah, that is a good example. Its a good use for flick
carder, if you can somewhat keep the locks of your fleece intact.
When you wash it, if it's the type of fleece where that happens.
Then you can kind of just brush them out with a flick carder, brush
out the ends and you can get out a lot of the waste that way.
Marsha 44:02
The first thing I was just going to mention is if you if you get a
raw fleece and you know we've talked about washing it, but what we
did not talk about was skirting. And so I was just gonna mention,
we won't go into great detail but the concept of skirting as you
lay the fleece out with the cut side down, and the so called dirty
part up and then you just go around and you pull out areas that are
matted, or areas where the fibers look like they're broken. If
there are manure tags on it, or bad stuff that you just don't want
in there. Probably as we talked about in the last episode if you've
bought a fleece at you know like from a show it probably will be
pretty well skirted, but it's a good idea just to go through it
again. The other comment too on the video Well, I'll just say I put
a link in to a video by Rain Fiber Arts. That was very good. And
she is talking about how to skirt a fleece. And she also talks too,
if you see if there's any signs of eggs, or moths or something, and
just don't even let that into your house. Kelly, you can add
something to this too, about, what are your thoughts about things
to look for, when you're skirting that you'd want to pull out?
Kelly 45:30
Usually the parts that you don't want are around the edges, you
know, so like the, if the fleece has been rolled up, and you can
unroll it and see kind of, you know, depending on how it's been
rolled, and how well you're able to unroll it, you might not
exactly be able to see the shape of the sheep. But you know, like
the manure tags would be in the back edge, the britch wool, which
is the wool on the backs and kind of toward the backs of their
legs, is more coarse, usually and that's towards the edge of the
fleece. If they have, you know, the fleece around their legs might
have been, well, like the fleece that I was carding the Oxford,
there were some sections of that fleece, some pieces of that fleece
that had dark hairs in it from the leg. Dark leg hairs in it, which
really, if I had been doing a better job, I would have, I would
have skirted a little bit better and taken taken that out. And that
would have been around the edge, as well. Yeah, sometimes,
sometimes around their neck, you'll find a lot of hay from, you
know, from eating. And so you can take some of that out, if you
want to, you know, be real harsh with your skirting and get out the
most of the veg manner. So a lot of it is around the edges. The
other thing that I wish I had done more of with this fleece that I
have, is... and I did a little bit of it when I was picking and
carding. But a lot of times you can shake the fleece, if you can
shake the fleece. Especially if you have... I would love to have a
table that was like mesh. Because the second cuts, any second cuts,
well, you know, a lot of that will fall away, a lot of the veg
matter will fall away, some of the things that you don't want will
fall away and, and you can see it a little bit better if you shake
it, you can see, you know, where are those areas where you have
second cuts and those little short bits. So I need to do a better
job of that. My habit is, you know, to look at the fleece when I
first get it home, and then roll it back up and put it away and
then I get on a tear about washing and I just grab some of it, you
know. What I really should do is lay it back out, sort it. Look for
places where the fleece is really nice and put all that together.
And wash just that section and be really intentional about what
parts of it you wash, as opposed to just, you know, grab a piece of
it that's going to fit in the washer and wash it. So you can be
intentional about your fleece, if especially if you get a nice one,
right? Where you want to keep the nicest bits together. If it's a
fleece like a lot of the... And maybe this is why I do it. A lot of
the bargain fleeces that I've gotten, you know, they're just
jumbled in a bag. And there's no knowing what what part of the
fleece is what. So that's how I got my start and maybe that's why I
have some bad habits when it comes to grabbing out bits to
wash.
Marsha 48:56
Yeah. The first fleece I bought was actually a Shetland fleece. And
I just took it out of the bag and I put it i... like tore it in
half or smaller batches and just washed the whole thing. Yeah. And
that was a mistake because what... and now this is specific to
Shetland, but I took a class by Judith McKenzie about taking a
Shetland fleece and because the fiber so different depending on
where it is on the sheep, you really don't want to take the... You
can do anything you want to do, but it's better to separate out the
different fiber, different textures and fibers because-- and I
didn't know that about a Shetland. So I just, you know... but I
think in any fleece there are going to be different textures
depending on where it is on the sheep. So I did that. I just washed
all of it and carded it and started spinning it. Is it bad? No, not
necessarily but it could have been better.
Kelly 50:00
Yeah, it's just different. You know, if you if you want a really
super... if you want to get like, every type of yarn you can get
from a fleece, then you have to be more intentional about it,
right? You'll find the finest part and you'll make a nice yarn
that's fine and soft. With the more coarse part, you'll make
something that's a more workhorse yarn. But, but if you want to
just make a sweater, you just mix it all together and make a
sweater. I mean, there's nothing wrong with doing that. Yeah,
right.
Marsha 50:36
Well, and I was... the other thing I was gonna say about skirting
is sort of, for me, you know how I am. It's like, I want to use
every bit of it. Because this precious thing I bought, I want to
use every bit of it. Yeah. And it's okay to be aggressive, you
know? Yeah. Well, you don't need to save all of it. It's okay.
Kelly 50:53
I think I've told this story before about the, I think it was like
40 pounds of fleece that I got from... I was at a spinning day and
somebody said, Oh, you know, my brother in law has fleece in his
barn. Would you be interested? I'm like, of course! So I went and
got this 40 pounds of fleece. And I'm pretty sure that's what it
came out to be. And anyway, I opened it all up on my lawn and made
piles. And I found myself at the end, even though I had so much of
it, I found myself going back to the trash pile and taking taking
bits that I had skirted out and putting them back. So yeah, you
know, it's hard. It's greed. Fleece Greed is a real thing. Right?
So, but but some people are better at that than than others. And
then there are some people who keep their carding waste. You know,
when I'm carding, and I clean off the carder, the waste that's on
the small drum of the carder, I toss it. But there are people who
save that and use it for something else, you know, and you can do
that. But I, that's not something I do. I think about it.
[laughing] And then I tell myself how much fleece I have in the
garage. And I toss it in the bin.
Marsha 52:23
So about carding, let's talk a little bit about carding, then, oh,
as I say, it's a huge subject. So and we can't go into the minutiae
of it. But let's just talk sort of, in general about carding. The
different tools and whatnot.
Kelly 52:33
Well, I put a couple of links in the show notes about it, I have a
drum carder, and I, one of the things that I can say for sure,
whether using hand cards or a drum carder, is that you really want
to not overload, you know. Less is more. You really can go faster
if you don't try to put too much in. And I have also learned that
it's faster for me, even though it doesn't seem like it, if I do
some picking first, which is like separating all the fibers. And so
I'll just, you know, stand at the table and pick a whole bunch of,
you know, like a whole box of fiber, one of those, you know, reams
of paper boxes. I'll take a bunch of fiber, and I'll do the picking
until I've got a good amount in one of those boxes, and then I'll
start carding. And that really helps because it's already-- the
fibers already separated and doesn't get clumped and stuck in the
drum carder, and then I usually do two passes. With this fleece
that I have, I did the first pass and got a bunch of batts. And
then I pulled off strips from each one of those bats and blended
them you know, blended them together and did a second pass. I've
done with some fleeces depending on how, how much what kind of
fleece it is and how it looks, I might do a third, a third pass. Or
if I'm blending two colors together. I'll do, you know, I'll do
each color that I'm blending, each part that I'm blending
separately. And then I'll pull strips off and weigh them and run
them through the carder together and then probably have to do a
third pass to get them better blended. The first pass usually isn't
very well blended and then the second one is much better. So I do a
first one to just kind of get everything organized separately. And
then a second one to blend and then a third one to finish the
blending if I want the blending to be more even. So you can do the
same thing with the hand cards, the blending. I've done that
before. It's not so... I don't do so much weighing when I use the
hand cards, I just kind of eyeball how much I'm putting on. I might
weigh it ahead of time to say like, I want 70% of this and 30% of
that. And so I have my two piles. But then when I put it onto the
cards, I'm not weighing each time I use the hand cards, I'm not
weighing these. So yeah, that Carding is... I enjoy it, it seems
like it will be a slow process. But actually, that 400 grams that I
carded, you know, went through the carder, I picked it, and then it
went through the carder twice. And it was a, you know, a couple of
hours, maybe two or three times during the week. So I mean, that's
not that much time. It didn't seem like it was that much time.
Marsha 55:53
No, it's not bad. You just listen to podcasts or watch TV or
something. Yeah,
Kelly 55:58
yeah. Or listen to a zoom meeting. [laughing]
Kelly 56:09
So that's um, that's how I card. Now, the flick carder, we talked a
little bit about that already. That kind of requires that you have
the lock structure still intact in your fleece. And then I just put
it on my lap on top of like a magazine on top of my lap and just
brush out the end of the of the, the tip end of the fleece and then
turn it around and brush out the the back end of that lock and then
set it aside and start another one. And that works really well. I
don't have mini combs. And I kind of would like to have mini combs.
I have the big combs that you clamp onto a table and I took a class
on using those, which was really good. But I haven't really used my
combs much since then. They're I mean, they're really a nice piece
of equipment. But for some reason I'm not... I'm just not in the
habit of getting them out and using them. And I think mini combs
might be something that I might like to have. Because, just because
they're something you can just sit and do.
Marsha 57:17
Right, right.
Kelly 57:19
So I'd be interested to hear what people think about mini combs.
And then the other thing I have not used is a blending board. And I
know most of the time people are using a blending board with fiber
that's already processed to to you know, mix colors together and
make interesting rolags or punis. So, but that's not something that
I've ever done. So I'd be interested to know how many of our
listeners have used either a blending board or mini combs and
whether they think either one of those things is kind of an
essential, an essential tool.
Marsha 58:04
How big are mini combs?
Kelly 58:04
About, probably about, I would say the ones I've seen, maybe about
two and a half to three inches across. They're smaller than hand
cards.
Marsha 58:16
Okay.
Kelly 58:17
But they they have the same kind of, you know, like, the same kind
of tines as like the bigger combs. I think two rows of tines. And
you use them the same way where you put them perpendicular to one
another. Like you put the fiber on the one comb and then you...
Marsha 58:35
Oh here I'm looking online at them right now as we speak.
Kelly 58:39
So I've been thinking about maybe getting a set of mini combs,
because that is one type of preparation that I haven't ever done.
And I know there are a lot of people who really like it and you can
get a lot of the garbage out of your fleece that way. Moreso than
with carding. More waste, you know, there's more waste, but you get
more of the best part of the fiber.
Marsha 59:12
Right. Yeah. Okay.
Kelly 59:15
So, anyway, so that's my, my experience of of carding and combing
fiber preparation. So and I have a couple--Like I said, I have a
couple of links in the show notes for that.
Marsha 59:28
Okay, good. The other thing that we I just I thought that we
decided we should talk just touch on, too, is also mill processing.
You don't necessarily have to process this yourself. And so we have
some links in the show notes. Fibershed did a mill inventory of
mills across the... Well Fiber shed is a California based group. So
they show one mill in California, they show mills across the
country, but they don't have them listed by name, so. But the link
is in there, it's interesting to look at. There's also a link to
the producer directory. And that Kelly too, we were talking about
that before we recorded. That has not just mills, but people who
are producing fiber. And also on Ravelry there's a Fiber Prep
Ravelry group. And they don't have mills listed in like a central
location to go to see all the mills that are listed. But in the
discussion thread, people are talking about the different mills.
Yeah, I think my sense is, what you have to do is you just have to
Google mills for processing, wool, alpaca, whatever and search for
the mills. I know some of the mills popped up. But I know the three
that I know, fairly locally to me. They're processing their fiber
for their own yarn. They're not processing fiber anymore for people
who just want to have a fleece processed. So yeah, there are mills
out there. I think though, you have to just Google and start
searching. As we said, there, it's difficult to find one location
that just has a list of all of the mills doing small batches of in
the United States, right?
Kelly 1:01:21
Yeah, Valley Oak Wool Mill is the one that that I've used in
California. And then there's also Mendocino Wool and Fiber Company.
Again, this is just California. I think the eastern part of the
United States has a couple of really well used mills and there are
a lot. There are more of them in that area. But yeah, Mendocino
Wool and Fiber is the other one. I haven't used them but their
website, I can put their link in the show notes as well.
mendowool.com is their website
Marsha 1:02:01
When we... what we talked about in the last episode is you know if
they can't... most not all, but mills can either just wash it and
and prep it for spinning or you can just have it processed into
roving or you can have it processed into yarn if you want to do
that. But that's another resource.
Kelly 1:02:23
And it is true there are a lot more of them that process your wooll
into fiber preparations. Morro Fleeceworks is another one in
California that I was forgetting. A lot more of them process into
roving than process all the way to yarn. There's a real lack of
mills, small mills, that process your wool all the way to yarn, and
a lot more of them just the process or fiber.
Marsha 1:02:58
Yeah. So I just wanted to mention that. All right. Um, so let's
just briefly talk about carding. I, you know, I have a drum Carter,
I have the carding the combs that I use. I don't have a blending
board, which would be kind of nice because I do remember I
bought... I think it was up on Whidbey Island at the Whidbey Island
spinners... little packets of mohair locks that were dyed. And
those are great to blend in. So I was thinking I should probably
get it. It'd be nice to get a blending board but all in good time.
Right.
Kelly 1:03:45
Mm hmm. Well, you can do that blending with your with your drum
carder too.
Marsha 1:03:51
Yeah, that's how I've done it in the past, because I did some at
your house with your drum carder. So I should, I should try it
here. Anyway, so anything else we need to add to this topic?
Kelly 1:04:06
Um, I think if you are going to go look at the fleece processor
list in the Ravelry group that we've posted, if you are going to go
look at that list, I would suggest starting at the most recent
posts. Because the thread has been going for like six years or
something. So you know, something you get out on page one is maybe
not even...Maybe not even there anymore.
Marsha 1:04:34
Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 1:04:36
Yeah. So Well, I'd be interested in hearing what other people do
and also you know, if you have a mill that you've used to process
fleece that we haven't mentioned. Maybe we could start a list.
Marsha 1:04:53
Yeah, there you go. Maybe. Yeah, we should! I know like some people
have used Shepherds Wool that does Crazy that we like so much.
People have had yarn prop don't
Kelly 1:05:07
Stone Hedge
Marsha 1:05:08
Stone Hedge. That's the one! That's the name of it I want to say
because they make shepherds wool their worsted weight. Yeah. So I
know that they've had them. So maybe we should start a list Kelly.
if nobody's done it, maybe we need to.
Kelly 1:05:24
Yes. Well, we can start by-- we can start by asking our listeners
to provide us feedback. With mills that they've used or that they
know of in their area. We've got three California ones listed on
our show notes for today. But yeah, we need to put in some other
states. Yeah. All right. Project. Project. Yes. Just what I need.
[laughing]
Marsha 1:05:53
So anyway, but the summer spin-in goes through Labor Day, which is
September 6.
Kelly 1:06:00
So and we have two finished object threads. One is for finished
spinning. And the other one is for finished projects. So if you're
making something out of hand spun, you can join us. You don't have
to be spinning this summer to join in.
Marsha 1:06:15
Yeah.
Kelly breaking in while editing 1:06:18
Oh, coming in from the future, to say that we forgot to tell you
that we will have prizes from Three Green Sisters again this year!
We'll talk more about that next episode.
Marsha 1:06:31
Okay, Kelly. So and then do we have any more housekeeping?
Kelly 1:06:34
I don't think so.
Marsha 1:06:36
All right. Well, then, I guess we'll say goodbye.
Kelly 1:06:38
All right, Marsha.
Marsha 1:06:40
We'll talk we'll talk to weeks.
Kelly 1:06:41
Okay. Bye bye.
Marsha 1:06:42
Alrighty. Bye bye.
Kelly 1:06:43
Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit
to Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com
Marsha 1:06:50
Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am
betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects.
Kelly 1:06:58
Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for world
fleece!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai