Instant Photo Studio

Photos support our written stories. I don't have access to a photo studio or a great camera. But I do have a smartphone with a decent camera.

I also have wonderful indirect light that illuminates my balcony in the mornings. And I have a patio table along with the following items -  a roll of white paper, blue tape and one of my son's sticks to use as a weight.

Here is how I set it up. Instant photo studio.

Demoing at the Adobe

I spent a lovely afternoon last weekend spinning at the Diego Sepulveda Adobe in Estancia Park, Costa Mesa, CA. Along with me were fellow guild mate, Robal, and my mother.

Robal wove on her Ashford rigid heddle loom making a gorgeous alpaca/silk blend shawl with pick up detail.

My mother hand-ginned her homegrown wild cotton.

The Costa Mesa Historical Society sponsored an Early California Days event celebrating 50 years of restoration and preservation of the adobe. The adobe museum was beautiful with lots of historical information about California. There was an American Indian dressed in a fur hat and beautifully fringed buckskin tunic and trousers. You can just barely see his backside in the shade of the adobe.

We were situated under a tree and canopy outside. The weather was warm but not too hot and there was a lovely breeze. The event was small but the LA Times Daily Pilot took pictures of us (Find the post dated August 29. Click on the arrow for more pictures).

We got a lot of spinning, weaving, ginning and laughing done.

Deadlines

I try hard to spin without a deadline. However, imagine this scenario...

I get a bag of fiber at a retreat and am supposed to bring it back the following year as a finished item. I intend to start spinning right away so I have plenty of time to plan a complicated and detailed project.

But then, I wait to start the spinning... like TEN months later. Suddenly there is a two month deadline looming ahead. I now have to focus on spinning quickly without too much forethought about what kind of yarn I want to create. Then I have to pick a project that I can knit in a month.

I am a slow knitter.

Why do I do this to myself? Well, of course, sometimes life happens and spinning gets sidelined for a time. Or I just don't feel like spinning that fiber yet. Or I'm somehow deluded into the idea that I'm going to think my way into the perfect yarn and project.

The fiber is from the 2015 Studio 49 Retreat. This 10 year anniversary themed fiber was prepared and dyed by Dreamy Goat Designs. Above is 2oz/56g of Bluefaced Leicester (BFL). Below is 2oz/56g of Merino/Bombyx Silk blend. Both dyed in the same tri-color way. Some folks chose the same fiber for their projects. I got one bag of each. It will be fun to see what we all come up with. The next retreat is Oct 14, 2016.

So... right now, I spin with a deadline looming.

Plying

I finished the Tour de Fleece single ply yarn the week after the race ended. I got around to plying it a week later into 386 yards of 3 ply yarn. What I didn't like was that the yarn was not plied with the same amount of twist as the first skein I finished in June. So I decided to add more twist by running it through the wheel again. I put the skein on the swift attached to a dining chair seat. It took a little longer than I thought, but Season 10 of Food Network Star kept me entertained. I just love the ability to binge watch shows on streaming television.

 

I ended up with 7 yards less but with the same twist as the first skein. With the two skeins I now have a total of 757yds/692m to play with. I wrapped the yarn with the original fiber label and wrote my yardage notes on it. The colors blended more than I had originally intended. I still like the finished yarn a lot. The fuchsia dominates the yarn. Which is nice, but I have lots of yarn in this colorway. Of course I do. It's in the red family and that's my favorite color!

I had some singles yarn left over on 2 bobbins. So I decided to ply that using Navajo chain ply method. It's a tiny skein but the colors came out more like what I had originally imagined this fiber to look like.

Since I was on a twist fixing mode, I dug out another skein of yarn that had been bugging me for a while.

This skein of 3 ply yarn was spun by a friend of mine. I love the subdued colors (it's not red!) but I always thought the ply twist was a little loosey goosey.

Since I had the swift set up already I put the skein on it and ran the yarn through the wheel again. I lost 4 yards in the new twist but now the skein looks great. Even the colors look a little more defined to me and I was dreaming of other yarns I could combined it with to knit up something fabulous.

Tour de Fleece Finale

Day 21, July 22:  Got in just 15 minutes today.

Day 22, July 23:  Does touching the wheel count? I didn't spin but I put my feet on the treadles for a second. I was up super early to host a garage sale for my mother-in-law then took Ian to a school friends birthday pool party. Just ran out of energy.

Day 23, July 24: Spun yarn for 15 minutes. Spent most of the day rearranging/cleaning my son's bedroom to accommodate a new-to-him dresser. The dresser started as avocado green. Ian designed the paint work and we did it together over the last couple of months. Finally finished this week. It is supposed to look like an online computer game called diep.io. It turned out way cooler than I thought it would.

Tour de Fleece Final Report:  I didn't wear a yellow jersey but I feel like a winner anyway. I spun most days and really got in a lot of time the first two weeks. Then mother-in-law happened and spinning slowed way down. But it got me to blog again after a 2 year pause. So I'm happy.

Tour de Fleece part 4

Day 14, July 15th:  Was a rough day. Both time and energy. Let's see. Started the day getting a filling and the start of a new crown - 2 hours in the dentist chair. Spent an hour and a half with the move in specialist for an assisted living facility regarding my mother in law. Ate lunch somewhere in there. Spent another 2 hours filling out paperwork with mother in law. Then took her to the doctors office for a TB test and more paperwork. Then home for half an hour to eat an avocado before going to a baby shower with my knitting group. I think it's OK that I didn't spin today.

Day 15, July 16th:  Spun for 2 hours today. Finished one bobbin.

Day 16, July 17th:  Spun for 2.5 hours today. We also had Dragon boat practice. The Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival is coming up end of July and Ian is paddling on the elementary boat.

Day 17, July 18th: Spun for 30 seconds.

Day 18, July 19th: Spun for 1.5 hours. It's technically rest day for the Tour, however, my spinning time was dismal yesterday I thought I'd make up some.

Day 19, July 20th: Finished 2nd bobbin. Started last 16g/.5oz of fiber on final bobbin. Not sure I will ply before the tour ends as I want to let the singles rest for a few days. Of course I may not finish this fiber before the end of the Tour.

Day 20, July 21st:  Spun for 1 hour today.

Tour de Fleece part 3

Day 7, July 8th:  Spun for an hour and a half today. Had to paint the first layer of color detail on my son's "new to us" dresser.

Day 8, July 9th:  Got in 2 hours of spinning in the early morning. Finished first 1/3 of roving on bobbin #3 and continued with the 2nd third of roving on same bobbin.

Day 9, July 10th:  Spun for 45 minutes. Was out of town overnight but managed to squeeze in a little bit of spinning.

Day 10, July 11th:  Rest day. Just like the Tour de France. But I did spin anyway for 45 minutes.

Day 11, July 12th:  Spun for 45 mins and then got sick. Have some really weird body ache with no fever or congestion. Just very achy with sensitive skin all over. Weird.

Day 12, July 13th:  Still sick. Spun only 15 minutes.

Day 13:, July 14th:  Felt better today. Spun yarn for 1.5 hours.