Humming Hearts Ranch

Google Reader

2008-05-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've been quite unhappy lately with Technorati as a means to track the blogs I like to read. So after some research I've decided to try Google Reader. I spent the better part of the morning importing the links I had in my favorites (from before Technorati). I'll have to wait until T is back up and running to get the newest ones because, yet again, their widget for keeping your favorites is out of commission.

I'm also not happy that T doesn't update my list even when my own blog is updated. It listed my last post as over 3 months prior. We'll see if Google Reader works better.

What is your favorite tool to track blogs you like to read?

Blog Claim

2008-05-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

By entering this

Technorati Profile

I hereby claim my own blog so Technorati will include me in their search engine.

Don't look for this blog entry after a few weeks - I'll be deleting it.

Documenting dye samples

2008-03-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

My issue with dyeing is that I can't predict the color ahead of time. No matter how much I try to follow the directions I've found on the web, nothing comes out consistently the same. And that's annoying.

Recently, another dyer while demonstrating shibori dyeing showed us her dye samples. It was a large piece of fabric she "sacrificed" so that she could have a record of the dye colors at various dilutions. Suddenly, it clicked! That was what I needed!

I'm currently taking "Garment Design through Draping" class at West Valley College. Draping not only uses lots of muslin, it wastes a lot too. I have no problem with the idea of needing to sacrifice large pieces of muslin in order to get a beautiful end result; it's just that my heart can't bear to throw the large pieces away. So I've been stuffing the sizable pieces into my bag "for future use". I know, I need more crap like I need a hole in my head but there *has* to be a use for them. Right?

I pulled out 7 of the scraps for this dyeing documentation project. I may not be dyeing on cotton fabric all of the time, but it's far better than hoping the color on the bottle is accurate. And I found out some very interesting things!

For example, some of the colors will bleed out along the edges. Look at the raspberry - it is a very pretty red-purple in the center, but at the edges it turns blue. When shibori dyeing, that's a dye you'll want to use. The bright green had this absolutely lovely yellow bleed-out but it washed away - I'm not sure why but I'm quite disappointed.

Another interesting observation was how some dyes don't change their final color much even when diluted. That's good to know so you don't waste dye powder. The excess gets washed out.

I think I have 20+ colors of this Procion dye from Dharma. I was only able to do 7 colors because I only brought 7 jars with me. Documenting all of the dyes is on my list of things to do. Warmer weather is fast approaching so I expect to be done soon.

So, exactly how did I do these samples?

First, the fabrics were soaked in 1/4c of soda ash to 2 cups of water. The fabric weighed 4 ounces. This is straight-off-the-bolt white cotton muslin; I did not pre-wash it. After soaking for 10 minutes, the fabric was dried on the handy-dandy clothesline that the previous owner left and I've now come to appreciate. (Note to self: get clothespins before the next trip up there.)

Next, the dyes were mixed. I started with 1/4 tsp of dye powder to 1/4 cup of warm water. The house has well water which is probably a tad hard. I only used warm water to facilitate the dilution. Subsequent additions of water were cold.

For each piece of fabric, I used a Sharpie and wrote the name of the color, it's number, and "1/4tsp + 1/4 c water increments". After the samples were made, I also wrote 1, 2, or 3 next to the spot for each color sample.

To apply the dyes, I poured a few drops onto the cloth and then used my finger to spread it out. Plastic gloves are a must. It would have been better to use a eye dropper if only for better control of the pouring as well as avoiding the drips along the lip of the jar.

After the first dilution is applied to the cloth, add another 1/4 c of water to all of the jars of dye. Repeat the sample application. And then do it again a third time. Be sure to keep track of which sample is which dilution - I lined them up in a row but also marked them with a sharpie.

Some of the dyes got a fourth dilution only because the jar would hold it. Note to self: make sure to use large jars - small jelly jars don't work for this.

Once the samples were done, I wrapped them up with plastic wrap and left them to cure overnight. In the morning I unwrapped them, rinsed them and tucked them away. I couldn't let them dry - we were leaving to go home. On the red wine sample, some of the blue bled onto the cloth during the transport home. It doesn't look like any of it penetrated the color sample though, so I won't redo it. Also, in the bottom corner of that one, we put a sample of what looks like a brownish eggplant color. As we were cleaning up, we dumped the teal, orange, and periwinkle dye water into one jar. We were going to pour it down the kitchen drain but it looked quite pretty so we took a sample and kept the bottle of liquid. It's waiting for my return to the house in the mountains.

It is worth noting that since this process keeps the soda ash away from the dye, the mixtures will stay quite useable for a few months. Cover them and keep them for future use.

One thing I might do differently next time is to do 2 sample sheets of the same color - one sheet would be dry and the other would be wet. I want to see if it affects the bleed-out.

Want to Start a 4H Alpaca Project but don’t know where to begin?

2008-03-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

What is 4H?
4-H is an organization for youth, ages 5-19, that promotes hands-on learning and is based on parent and volunteer participation. 4-H welcomes all youth and adult volunteers from all backgrounds in all locales.

The United States 4-H program is run through county Cooperative Extension offices, the state universities, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and a variety of volunteer councils and foundations at the county, state, and national levels. In California, the 4H program is run through the University of California at Davis. That’s right! 4H is run by UCDavis - the same university where Calpaca has established a veterinary scholarship.

How do I get started?
To get started, find a club now and go to the next general meeting. Introduce yourself, and explain that you’re interested in starting an alpaca project next year. The CA 4H website can be found at http://ca4h.org/4hinfo/proginfo/delivery.asp On that page is a menu to help locate the nearest club.

For me, someone with absolutely no prior exposure to 4H, it was helpful to go to a few meetings in the Spring to become familiar with the general meeting proceedings. I chatted with other project leaders and learned what to expect while managing an animal project. Showing up at these meetings also helped put the word out that an alpaca project was being planned for the coming year. The 4H calendar runs September to August (similar to a school year).

Each 4H club has a coordinator known as the community leader. This person acts as the contact point between the county-wide coordinator and their own club. He/she handles all the registrations, the training schedule, the monthly calendar, as well as informs the club of county-wide events. Make sure the community leader knows you are interested in becoming a project leader for the coming year. They will add you to the planning meetings which typically take place over the summer.

However, if it’s Fall or Winter when you decide to start a group, you can still start one for that year. The community leader will be your best resource. If you’ve missed the one-time required training session offered in your region, you will simply pair up with a leader from another project.

Becoming a 4H leader is relatively easy. Each leader must fill out an application and get a background check done. New this year is that each project is required to have two certified adults at all project meetings. In my project, my co-leader is a parent who has run the leadership gauntlet but isn’t managing a project of her own this year. California 4H also has restrictions on the age of children joining animal projects. Alpacas are not on the pre-approved list for children younger than 9 (children 5-8 are called Clovers).

What do we do in an Alpaca Project?
The scope of any project is at the discretion of the leader. In my case, I took lead from the kids in my project. The agenda I set at the beginning included visiting one local AOBA alpaca show; explaining basic care, feeding, and anatomy; discussing fiber (attributes of each type, differences in quality, basic processing steps, finished goods, tour of a farm store); and demonstrating obstacle performance. Each meeting began with the educational lesson (maybe 30 minutes) followed by the students catching, haltering, and walking their assigned alpaca. When we began the obstacle performance demonstrations, everyone participated with their alpaca. Of all of the lessons, this was the one that my group of kids this year decided they liked best. I’ve had a few other girls approach me about offering an alpaca fiber project and may do that next year in addition to this alpaca performance project.

In conclusion…
The end of the 4H year concludes with the students filling out a "year end project report" called a Project Report. As 4H students they also have a form called a PDR (Personal Development Report) that covers their entire work with 4H. As this is my first year with 4H and we are not yet at the end of it, I can only say that I’m going to be relying a lot on the experienced leaders to help me help my students get these reports completed! I do know this: I’m very glad I just jumped in. These kids love working with the alpacas! If only we could read the animals’ minds, I’m sure they’d say they love it too!

Honeycomb fabric

2008-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays, I found a design in Laura Fry's "Magic in the Water" book that I want to do. Project 5 - cotton chenille jacket. I will use fine bamboo yarn and cotton chenille. However, there's been a lot of buzz on the weaving at yahoogroups list about how difficult chenille can be so I was hesitant. Also, it's a structure I haven't worked with before, so I thought it might be a good idea to use a shorter warp as a test. Then I ran across a honeycomb fabric project in "The Best of Weavers: Fabrics that Go Bump" and realized the structures are the same, just implemented a bit differently. One uses cotton chenille yarn and the other uses fabric strips. So gave it a try.

From this....

To this...

The fabric hasn't been wet finished yet. It'll probably pull up even more afterwards.

Likes: I love the texture this fabric has as a result of the draft. I like how it tones down the brightness of the fabric but still is quite colorful.

Dislikes: I feel like I wasted my precious bamboo yarn. This project would have been just as nice with a cotton yarn. I should have gone with the chenille instead of the fabric strips for this warp.

I'm not sure how I'll use the fabric. It's almost too heavy to be used in a garment. If the white yarn were cotton, I'd jump at turning it into a bag but the fact that it's bamboo is leaving me hesitant. Not that I don't think it'll hold up - just that it feels like I'm wasting it.

We learn by doing. I did. And I learned.

Macomber loom tool shelf or....

2007-12-14T09:05:00.001-08:00

cat perch?

This is Luke. He's my shadow. Where ever I go, he follows. And now, if I'm working at the loom, he's up in the tool shelf. It used to be that he'd jump into the tool shelf, sit for a few minutes, and then move to the back of the nearby couch. Given that it's a bit colder these days, I wondered if putting a pillow in there would encourage him to stay and keep me company. It worked!

The painted warp is coming along nicely. I really like the sage green weft in there. The pattern is a 3/1 twill and lifting 3 shafts at a time. Lifting 3 Macomber shafts isn't so bad. Although, I can see how lifting 8 (once I put more shafts in) might result in a true workout. Frankly, I'd rather workout on my loom than some gym's common-use stairmaster or treadmill. Not that I work out, but if I did....

Holiday Humor

2007-12-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

As many of you do, I also read quite a few other blogs. I use Technorati to keep track of my favorites. For the most part, it sorts them by most recently posted.

Today I found this very funny rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas by way of Sara Lamb's blog. It's done by Bonnie Tarsus, a well-known weaver in Seattle.

I could *so* relate.

Painted Warp

2007-12-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

I bought this painted warp from Margaret at Heritage Yarns. The colorway is called Tallahatchee Bridge in 80%/20% rayon silk. I've mixed in stripes of unmercerized cotton in beige and sage green. Under tension, the rayon is a thinner yarn than the cotton but hopefully it will fill back out after wet finishing. I've used another of these painted warps for a shawl and the yarn did do that afterwards. For the warp, I used two turns of the skein starting with the pink. I wish now the ends were either the grey or the olive green as I really like the pink and it's going to end up being thrums. This yardage is going to be part of a jacket for me.

But before I can get started, I have to sample the weft colors. The first (closest to the bottom but not the white - that's toilet paper to spread the warp) is the sage green cotton I used in the warp stripes. It's plain weave. The next is the beige cotton from the stripes in a 3/1 twill. It's okay but I think the colors in the painted warp get lost. Next is the sage green cotton again but in the same twill. I do like that. The last one is a thin white bamboo. I don't recall the size but it's 4000 ypp (yes, quite thin). And again, I think the painted warp gets lost. I could dye the bamboo but that takes time and I really would like to get this going. Besides, the bamboo would make a thinner fabric than the cotton so I'm sticking with the sage green cotton.

You may have noticed the weft isn't perfectly straight from left to right. That's because the tension in the painted rayon/silk is ever-so-slightly different from the tension in the cotton. The rayon/silk stretches more than the cotton. When I beamed it, I tensioned the rayon/silk on it's own weight in hopes it would stretch to its own maximum. This warp may have been a candidate for double-beaming but I don't have a second beam on this loom. Frankly, even if I did, I doubt that I would have been able to get the two tensions any closer than this - they really do feel very much the same. I'm crossing fingers that the wonkiness will disappear in the wet finishing. And since the weft won't be striped, the waves should disappear into the cloth.

Two-sided Rag Rug

2007-11-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Progress on the rag rug found in the November/December 2007 Handweaving Magazine is slow-going. I think winding pirns is so much faster than cutting fabric strips, tapering the ends, and winding onto ski shuttles. And the weaving itself is also slower. I'm under the impression that the strips shouldn't have a twist in them as they lie in the shed. However today, I'm going to experiment with not worrying about it and seeing if it makes a significant difference in the finished weaving. If not, maybe ignoring twists will help speed up the process.

I do like this results of this project. Reversible things always appeal to me. Although in this case, the rug is going to be given to some friends of ours as a thank you gift.

Macomber Update

2007-10-30T09:49:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Melodi Hackett of Maine and everyone on the yahoogroups weaving email list who answered my questions in the previous post!

The large silver thing in the first photo indeed is used with the black handle. It's used to push down a lamm while you are setting the tie-up. The smaller of the pins (in the photo with the silver bar) is used to hook the black handle in the down position so that you can use both hands for the tie-up process. Here's what it looks like:

I'm told the same shorter pins are also used in the old lamms for tie-up. My loom must be the newer version because there are no holes in them to insert the shorter pins.

The spring-string-chain found at the back of the loom near the warp beam is to act as a brake when the ratchet system is released for advancing the warp. Without it, the warp beam will spin like the dickens once tension is released. I'm really glad I found out about this before starting my first project.

The first project is in progress! I measured out the warp and have it sleyed in the reed. I spent time last night moving the heddles and will finish dressing the loom today. I'm going to take a stab at that reversible rag rug in the latest Handwoven magazine. It only requires 4 harnesses in a straight draw but the simplicity will allow me to become familiar with this new loom. I can tackle an 8 harness project next time!

Macomber Mysteries

2007-10-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

A week ago I bought my dream loom. It's a 45" Macomber 16 harness frame with 8 harnesses. The perfect width (not too big, not too narrow). The perfect number of harnesses. And room to expand should I outgrow 8.

Unfortunately, Macomber doesn't have much in the way of documentation. I have the catalogs the original owner received. And lovely catalogs they are! Someone spent a lot of time and energy creating such beautiful marketing literature. I, and probably many other Macomber owners, wish they had put the same energy into providing supporting documentation. So far, I haven't even found someone with a mechanical assembly drawing.

So I come to the community of Macomber owners with some questions. I am fairly mechanically inclined and can figure out most things on my own. I also have some experience with looms (I own 5 not counting the Mac - 2 tables, a floor, and 2 rigid heddles). Sometimes, stuff just plain stumps you.

First, what are these parts?

The middle piece is used to connect the treadle to a shaft. I figured that one out because the previous owner left one still attached. I have lots of those which I assume you need to be able to set up complicated tie-ups. But I haven't a clue about the smaller wire-like piece. There are exactly 10 of those. Coincidentally, the loom has 10 treadles.

Next, what does this lever do?

The photos were taken from the back of loom. I think the black lever is used in conjuction with the big silver hunk of metal in the first picture. Threading the black handle into the slot and lining it up over part of the jack mechanism makes it possible to push down on a single shaft from the front of the loom. Is that how this is to be used? Why would you use something like that?

Last question: what is this for? And where should it be attached?

It hangs off the back beam near the warp beam. It consists of a small spring, some thin rope, and a chain at the end. I know it's not the warp beam brake because there's a ratchet contraption on the other end of the warp beam.

I hope someone can help!

The Curve Balls of Life

2007-10-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

It seems people are always asking me what I've been doing and it seems like I never really have an answer. But I must have been busy with something because I never seem to have time to do the stuff *I* want to do.

This past weekend is a good example of doing things I hadn't planned. Last Friday I was in the kitchen when I heard a crash. It wasn't ....CRASH.... It was more like ....crash, tumble, clink, crash, clink, clink..... Looking around I found the shelves in the pantry had simply given up.

Sigh.... although I've been meaning to reorganize the pantry, I really would have preferred to spend the weekend doing something else. But sometimes life hands you a curve ball. So Saturday the kids and I (remember, dh got on a plane that day so he could visit the Queen) spent time driving around looking at various shelving options. We finally found something that would fit as well as maximize the space. After a few days of reorganizing, we now have this:

Maybe this weekend I'll get to play with the new Bamboo yarn that arrived on Monday. I'm itching to do some painted warps.

JoJo isn't happy

2007-10-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

And when JoJo isn't happy, she let's you know. Meet JoJo

So why is she upset? My guess is that she's mad that Ken is gone. He left for London on Saturday. That night JoJo slept with dd instead of at the foot of our bed like she usually does. Last night (Sunday) she went to bed with dd but came out after dd fell asleep and was hanging out with me and Luke (our other cat) downstairs. After awhile I hard a commotion in the downstairs bath and went to investigate.

This is what I found...

She pulled the roll out of the cabinet under the sink, took off the paper cover and proceeded to shred it. She used to shred rolls that were on the tp holder a lot when she was younger; we think she was mad that we left her alone all day.

And to show that she does miss Ken, she went back into dd's room and slept with her again last night. She'd better learn to deal with it - he doesn't come back for a few more days.

Monterey Pronk's Fiber Art Competition accepts Mail-in and Check-in day entries!

2007-09-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

Monterey Pronk's Fiber Art Competition accepts all entries containing at least 50% alpaca.

The premiums are $10 for First place and $5 for Second Place. We also have special awards for Judge's Choice and People's Choice.

If you download Monterey Pronk's forms the instructions have all kinds of deadlines that are looming near. Well.... if you can hand-walk your entry to check-in, ignore those deadlines and bring your exhibit directly on in! If you have to drop it in the mail, make sure it'll get to me no later than September 21st and I'll bring it to check-in for you.

The information on the website is mostly correct - we've changed a few things to accommodate more entries at the last minute. Here are the changes!

Modified Fiber Art and Skein Entry Instructions

1) Go here. Download the appropriate forms. Separate forms are used for entries in Fiber Arts, Handspun Skeins, and Mill Spun Skeins. Don't forget to fill out a “Fee Form” as well. In a nutshell, Fees are $3 per entry.

IMPORTANT: AOBA Show Division Membership is NOT required for a Fiber Arts & Skeins competition!

2) Fill out all forms. If you have any questions, please contact Kimberly Louie at (alpacas at humminghearts.com)

3) Exhibits must be placed in a clean plastic bag, whenever possible. The preferred plastic bag is a one-gallon size ziplock. One item per bag.

4) Fill out the Fiber Arts and/or Skein Entry Tag and place in the bag with the item. If you want the entry mailed back to you, in the "Pickup Receipt" section, please write “Item is being returned by mail”

5a) Place items, forms, and fees in a tyvek envelope or a box. USPS has free shipping materials. If you use a box, make sure that this box is in good, sturdy condition because it will be the one used to mail back your item(s).

OR

5b) Bring item, entry forms, and fees to the check-in on Friday, September 28 between 10am-4pm to the Monterey County Fairgrounds. As of this post, I'm unsure where we'll be doing check-in so ask someone and they'll be sure to direct you. Alpaca show people are very helpful!

6) Pick Up or Return Shipping: Entires can be picked up Sunday, September 30th between 5-7pm. If you want something returned by mail, you MUST include a return shipping label with postage or carrier label in the envelope/box. Since you may win a ribbon and each ribbon weighs 2 ounces, please calculate that added weight for EACH item.

7) Shipping Fiber Art Items To The Fiber Art & Skeins Competition Manager: We recommend that you ship your Fiber Art Item with a carrier which uses a tracking system (i.e. UPS, Fed-ex, etc). Ship to: Kimberly Louie (address found on the forms). The Monterey Pronk ’07 show management is not responsible for packages that are lost in transit or delivered late.

Note for mail-in entries: The actual Fiber Art items, forms and fees should be postmarked to Kimberly Louie no later than September 15th and needs to arrive no later than September 21st. Please make sure that you email Kimberly at (alpacas at humminghearts.com) to let her know that the items being entered in the show have been shipped to her.

Happy Birth Day!

2007-06-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a long time in coming. 20 months in fact. That's quite a feat considering the gestation for alpacas is supposed to be 11 months. Our first dam, Melody, was bred and set to deliver in September 2006. Unfortunately, tragic events took her from us in December 2005. We acquired a replacement in August 2006 after confirming pregnancy. Her due date, according to her former breeder was May 21, 2007. As you can see, she was nearly a month overdue!

This last month has been incessantly nerve wracking for everyone. There was even a debate this last week as to whether or not she was even pregnant. Um, there's no doubt as of this evening - she's definitely not pregnant! Kissy Missy - aka Kay to us - delivered a 17 pound dark rose grey girl this morning. Textbook delivery; textbook postpartum; textbook newborn antics.

And now we have to give this precious creature a name. I may have mentioned in a previous (very previous) post that we use the alphabet as our naming structure. Our first cria was named with an "A" name (Aria - who sadly died at 29 days old back in 2005). So this one must be a "B" name. We first decided upon Beatrice. While the name does have some family significance, we picked it because my second most favorite 'paca at Foothill Llama and Alpaca Ranch was named Beatrice. She lived a long life and recently passed away. We also chose Baltane (bal'-tan-ah) which is Gaelic for the month of May. Although I'm not a fan of using names people can't easily pronounce let alone remember, I liked the idea of using a Gaelic word because our family has such an affinity for Ireland. But as the May 21st due date came and went, and then so did the entire month of May, Baltane had to be set aside for possible future use. Wanting to keep with the Irish theme, I looked up town names in Ireland. When I happened upon Belleek, I knew we'd have to add it to the list. Belleek is also the name of exquisite Irish Bone China. I have a few pieces from our trips to Ireland and simply love it. But Belleek china is light beige in color so a cria in any other color would have to use another name. As we were crossing our fingers and wishing very, very hard for a grey cria, I became less and less attached to the name Belleek and put it on our list for future possibilities. I also considered Bisbee Blue (a quaint town in southern Arizona - one of the VERY few that I actually liked in that state and "Blue" is another term for grey).

Then just as we passed the 11 month 2 week gestation point (nerve wracking for some; right on time for others - it just depends on how you calculate the due dates for Spring births), a friend of mine passed away suddenly. While I am thankful for the distraction, I'd like to point out to God that there are a million other things he could have chosen to distract me. My friend was a great mom to three wonderful kids ranging in age from 17 to 6. She was only five years older than me and the other day I realized that when I'm 46, I'll have a 17 year old child too. This whole event hit very very close to home for me. As I was thinking back on Kristine one day last week, I was remembering just how open-hearted she was and how happy she always made others feel. She was practically blissful. Blissy Krissy. Yes, I'm being silly - Kristine was fond of doing that too! Ah, but then that very pregnant dam 'o mine's name popped in my head - Kissy Missy. And Blissy does start with "B". (Starting to see the gears turn here?) How wonderfully silly it would be to have Kissy Missy give birth to Blissy Krissy! While I think Kristine would actually get a kick out of having a cria named after, I'm not sure her family would feel the same way.

So without further delay, let me introduce you to Bliss. She may at some point in the future get a more formal name, but she'll always be Bliss to us. In fact, we're quite blissful Bliss is with us and here to stay for a very, very, very long time.

Click on the photo for a larger version

Overdyeing - a kids' project

2006-05-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

One of the "jobs" I have these days is being a substitute teacher. For now, I limit my subbing to the school where my own children attend. Since my oldest has gone through almost all of the grades there, I am quite familiar with all of the routines and curriculums. That helps to eliminate some of the stress a sub goes through when faced with a classroom of children eager to convince you "Mrs. X really does let us work together on math worksheets."

Last week I subbed in a 3rd grade class. This was a pre-arranged two day assignment. I love multi-day assignments because it allows me to plan ahead a fiber project for the kids. This time the kids overdyed light brown wool with food coloring. Educationally, it was a science experiment, in case the principal came in wanting to know how food coloring and wool were related to the students' instructional time. The presentation only took about 10 minutes. Putting fiber into their cup took about 20 minutes.

First, we talked about different foods that can cause stains. Putting this in the context of "has your mother ever gotten upset that you got strawberries/hot chocolate/juice/ketchup/mustard/etc... on your clothes?" we talked about natural dyes (strawberries, chocolate, mustard), fiber types (cotton, wool, synthetic) and the process of staining, aka dyeing.

Next, each student was given a strip of light brown wool roving about 12 inches in length. We used Wilton's gel cake decorating colors, which sadly I've recently learned is not light-fast but it served its purpose for this experiment. Each student picked a color. In cases where more than one student picked a color, we made an effort to make different strength solutions to get light and dark shades. Note: Ahead of time I made a list of possible colors on the board limiting the number of students per color lest we have all the boys pick blue and all the girls pick violet.

We put water, a glug of white vinegar, and some of the Wilton's gel into cups. The kids put their roving into the cup, use a spoon to submerge it (we didn't pre-wet the fiber) and place the cup in the sunny windowsill. My intention was to dye this using a modified "sun tea" method. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't cooperating. I knew by the end of the day that I had to speed up the process. I made use of the microwave in the teacher's lounge after school. Three of the cups were left un-finished on purpose so the kids could see the difference.

On the second day, I showed the kids the un-finished cups with the rovings. The fiber did have some color change but the liquid was also still colored. Then I showed them the exhausted cups. They were amazed to see the colorful fiber but even MORE amazed at the clear liquid. "Where did all the color go?", they all exclaimed! I used the two liquid examples to emphasize the need for heat as an integral part of this particular dyeing process recipe.

We also looked at some of the violet and black rovings up close. These food coloring colors tend to split - meaning they'll separate into their main colors and strike fiber unevenly resulting in splotchy dyeing. Some fiber artists call that a "feature" and rely on it for effect. I used this feature to remind them how colors are made (violet = red + blue, green = yellow + blue, black = many colors) and explained that in this case the colors didn't stay mixed once in the water and after separating, the fiber dyed with the separate colors. In our experiments, one of the violets was pink streaked with blue and one of the blacks was green.

The colors we used were:
Christmas Red
Red, Red
Leaf Green
Kelly Green
Yellow
Orange
Violet
Royal Blue
Brown
Black
The strip of light brown roving at the top just above the purple-violet and to the left of the red is a strip of the original colored roving.

Things to do differently next time:
1. Use glass jars instead of plastic cups. It lets the kids see the contents from the side instead of having to stand over the cup to look inside.
2. Pick less colors. Period. I let each student "own" a color but this meant that as I was working with the one student, the rest sat there unoccupied. This particular class is wonderful so there weren't any problems but I wouldn't count on that being the case in the future. From now on, I would work in groups (this was a class of 19 so perhaps groups of 5) and give the others a worksheet to occupy them until it was their turn.

What will become of the rovings? Check back in a few weeks because I've volunteered (i.e. no pay) to go back to the class in early June to finish up.

It's the little things....

2006-05-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

that can make a chore so much easier. I've done toenail trimming before and it is such a big job for me that I could only do a handful of animals before being tired and plain worn out. I couldn't understand how Wayne (of Foothill, where we agist) could grab a foot, snip, snip, snip, move on to the next foot and be done with all four in no time flat.

A few weeks ago I was at 101 Alpacas for their shearing day. I went so that I could see how others do it and pick up on any tips for my own use. Well..... Vicki was using this tool that looked very much like a gardener's pruning shear to trim up toenails lickety-split! As I watched, I didn't see her doing anything particularly different from my method. She's considerable smaller than I am so I was pretty sure strength wasn't a factor. It had to be the tool. She said I could get a pair through Useful Items for around $20. I figured if they worked that well for her, it was worth it to me to get my own pair. And if they didn't work any better than the nippers Wayne uses, oh well, at least it's a write-off. I ordered myself a pair and they arrived Tuesday.

So today I went down to Foothill Llama and Alpaca Ranch with my new toenail clippers in hand. Wayne and I rounded up the boys where my two hang out. We caught BB who wasn't too keen on being restrained, let alone having his feet touched. I was a little worried about poking myself or the animal with the ends of the clippers so I proceeded very carefully. Wayne held BB's head and I "wrangled" a foot. Well, I must say I was VERY impressed with my new instrument. It cuts through black toenails like a hot knife through butter! Wayne and I trimmed up 5 boys in about 30 minutes (and weighed a few while we had halters on) and when we were done, I wasn't tired. More significantly, my back wasn't killing me from bending over. And of course the boys seemed to be walking a little prouder now with their newly manicured toes!

The tool is made in Japan by a company named Saboten. The blades are teflon coated and the handles are orange. I've been told there's a green-handled version out there that has stainless steel blades but the person said they bought those in Canada. Those are easier to re-sharpen. For now, I'm simply in love with my bright orange snips!

The next tool on my list: the Tooth-A-Matic tooth trimmer put out by The AlpacaRosa.

Alpaca Fiber Everywhere but not a yarn to knit

2006-04-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

Shearing time will soon be upon us and with that comes the decision of what to do with all that fiber. There’s the good: most people know what to do with that. There’s the bad: some owners may have a few ideas but most are open to new suggestions. And then there’s the ugly: I would bet that this ends up in the trash or compost bin at every ranch. What if there were other ways to deal with the Bad and the Ugly? What if you could actually make some money off that trash? Trash to Treasure? Well, maybe not treasure, but a few coins in the pocket are better than none!

Second and Third quality fiber make up a significant enough percentage of most alpacas’ shearing that it can, and should, be creatively put to use. The question most have is “how?”

Felt it. Okay. Now what?
Flat felt can be shaped into a hanging plant basket liner. Price these less than the popular (and expensive) coconut shell liners and you still get a tidy profit. A quick trip to your local garden shop will provide you with price points. Use your nastiest thirds for this product and you can even promote it as self-fertilizing! Go one step further and dye some of the fiber creating colorful inserts. Much better than those blah brown coconut ones!

Shoe inserts. Cut flat felt in the shape of shoe inserts to keep feet toasty warm in the winter.

Slippers. Flat felt can be cut to make slippers. Most fabric stores carry a slipper pattern.

Seat covers. Simple rectangles work well at keeping the driver’s bum off the car’s cold winter seat. These can also be used underneath children’s car seats to protect the car’s original upholstery.

Jingle Felt Balls. Cats love these toys. Make a larger version, insert several jingles, and babies love them too! Priced at $2-$5 each they are a popular sale item with ranch visitors. Again, add color and they sell themselves!

Felt Covered Soap. Wrap fiber around a bar of soap and felt it. Once rinsed and dried, it kind of looks like your soap bar has a sweater on! The best part about this product is that the coarser thirds exfoliate as the soap cleans.

Paperweights. Find a smooth rock large enough to be a good size paperweight. Felt over it just as you would the bar of soap.

Bag it.
Did you know ballet dancers use lamb’s wool in the toes of their Pointe shoes? Did you also know that the dancers complain about the scratchiness of this wool? Save those second cuts from the blanket and you have a softer AND more durable alternative for dancers. The wool product usually runs $4 for one ounce. A quick visit to a ballet studio with an offer of free samples to the studio director might just generate a long-standing, if small, revenue stream.

Fly fishermen love to tie their own lures. A small bag of alpaca fiber containing a variety of colors and micron counts can be marketed to locally owned sports goods stores.

Doll makers are always looking for long locks. Suri fiber that you consider too coarse might be perfect to a doll maker. Be sure to keep it in lock form.

Create a felting kit. Typically neck fiber is soft but short. That lends it perfectly to needle or wet felting. These kits can be sold in your ranch store or market the wet felting kits to local preschools or home school groups. Add a few packages of unsweetened Kool-Aid and you have a “Dye to Felt” kit.

Draft stoppers. Stuff the fiber into a long fabric tube along with some rice or pebbles to make a draft stopper for doors or windows. A quick Internet search will bring up some creative ways to decorate them.

Blend it.
Keeping in mind that the end product will only be as soft as the coarsest fiber, blend your seconds and/or thirds with a fiber of comparable micron count and staple length. Some examples are sheep wool, llama fiber, adult mohair, and dog brushings (another free ingredient). One ranch even blends with fiber from their Curly Hair horses and another uses hair from their Highland Cattle. Fiber people love to buy exotic blends!

The blends can be made into roving or spun into yarn. As these products tend to be coarser, they are perfect for rugs, tapestry weaving yarns, or non-garment items like bags.

Barter it.
There are several businesses that sell alpaca fiber products and take fiber in trade for credit towards your order. Recently AOBA published the “Directory of Fiber Resources” listing many of these companies. All AOBA members received a copy of this guide.

Over the next few months I'll post specific instructions, or pointers on where to find specific instruction, on all of these projects. Right now, you can find Felted Soap instruction in my March 2006 post. Check back here often for other instructions! And if there's a project you do with alpaca fiber of less-than-prime quality, leave a note in the comment section. I'd love to get more ideas!

Do you enter fiber art competitions?

2006-04-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

I like to. At the very least, I receive feedback on my workmanship. Of course, I like seeing how I stack up to the other entries. In other words, what I should be striving to accomplish. The very best is getting a blue ribbon and some prize money.

Most of the time, I'll enter the local county fairs. Several around here get enough of a turn-out that you feel like there's actually a competition. There's nothing worse than entering only to find out that you were the only entry. It just takes away all pride you want to have in that blue ribbon.

Someday I want to enter one of the many privately run fiber arts shows like Black Sheep Gathering or Dixon Lambtown or maybe even Maryland Sheep and Wool Show. I'd love to get to Black Sheep again this year but our calendar is looking mighty full even though it's still April.

Entering local county fairs and even the private fiber art shows is fairly inexpensive. I suppose some of the reasoning takes into account that most fiber artists are really "starving artists". The county fair I entered last year had a fee of $1.25 per entry. Black Sheep's entry fees this year for yarn skeins is $1 and for fiber arts it's $2. Hmmm... I just noticed they take mail in entries through June 15th. Now I have no excuse for not entering! And neither do you!

Question to the public: What fees have you paid to enter a show? It can be a local county fair or a full-blown juried art show. Use the comment section to tell me. Include the name of the event. And if they offer cash prizes, tell me that too.

Kimberly

Thrums

2006-03-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

There's always warp waste in weaving. The only way to use nearly 100% is to use a dummy warp for tieing on to the warping beam. In September, I wove a shawl using a painted warp and solid-color rayon for weft. It came out beautiful largely in part to the painted warp. So when I had to cut off the ends of the beautiful painted warp, I simply had to save them.

Today after seeing an innovative idea of rug weaving, I tied them together end to end, wound it on a bobbin, and started weaving.

I've used three components in this fabric: the thrums, medium brown rayon yarn, and half-inch strips of fabric. Each component gets a few shuttle passes and then I move to the next one.

What will I do with the fabric? I don't know. It hasn't told me yet.

Felted Soap

2006-03-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

You couldn't ask for a more simple, enjoyable, and fun project! And I'm not just talking about something for the kids.

To use these fuzzy creations, you simply get it wet under running water and rub the fiber to lather up the soap. When you're finished, wipe off the excess soap suds and let it sit to dry.

Felted soaps are a gardener's best friend. Their fuzzy texture with its built-in soap dispenser makes cleaning fingernails a breeze! In fact, these soaps are better than a loofah.

So how does one make felted soap? Read on!

Step 1
Using a bar of soap, you're going to wrap it in fiber. I've used roving made from alpaca neck and legs that I dyed green (and in later photos it "magically" turns purple :-) but you can use any carded clean fiber. I wouldn't use uncarded fiber because it tends to create a lumpy fiber covering.

Step 2
Using a gentle stream of water, wet the fiber and soap. As you are doing this, scrunch the entire thing to work up a soapy lather. An alternative is to add some soap foam from one of those hand soap dispensers that put out foam soap. This will get things started faster. Be careful not to shift the fiber in a way that creates holes. I've found the fiber felts pretty quickly so be sure to cover any bare spots right away. If you do end up with bare spots, you can try adding some more dry fiber. Sometimes this works, and sometimes this doesn't. It seems to depend on the type of fiber used.

Step 3
Felt. To wet felt (and not all fibers will felt - be sure to start with a feltable fiber like alpaca), fibers must be exposed to soap and agitation. Another component often found in wet felting is extreme temperature changes. Thankfully, we don't need that component in this process. So once you have a soapy lather, rub the bar of soap along its edges. The more you agitate the fiber, the more it will felt making a strong covering for the bar of soap.

Step 4
Rinse off the excess soap lather.

And you're done! Let it sit out to dry.

Finished Projects

2006-01-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

In an effort to start the new year off right, I've finished two projects I started last year. The first are the felted slippers I mentioned in a previous post. For the felting process, I washed them in our washing machine with a load of clothes using hot water. Because we have a front loading washing machine, things don't usually felt well so I took them out and hand felted them some more in the sink. Then they were popped into the dryer for the final step. I'm quite pleased with the felting and fit results, although admit they'd work better on someone's feet who lives in a fully carpetted home. I find they're a bit too slippery for our linoleum and wood floors. These were made using handspun Lincoln wool.

My second completed project is one I'm quite proud of. It is a dressy jacket made using dupioni silk and my hand-spun, handwoven yardage. The story of the woven yardage: I bought some black alpaca roving while at our very first alpaca show in Southern California around Fall 2003. We weren't showing - we were just interested in alpacas. I took home the roving and spun it but wanting to make it go as far as possible, I plied it with an Ashland Bay wool roving in fall colors. Beautiful yarn! In April 2004, I entered that yarn into a fiber arts competition at the Monterey Pronk, an alpaca show in Monterey California. It won a blue ribbon! The yarn then sat in my stash for a while as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with it. Every spinner out there knows what I'm talking about - we have many yarns that sit until they "call to us". Well this one spoke to me when I had a black cotton yarn I had put on the loom to "play" with. That warp's purpose was specifically so I could experiment with different treadling and different tie-ups. But after I was "played" out, I found I had lots of warp left over. In a simple twill, I wove the 48" of fabric.

Back to "let it sit until it calls to me". In September 2005, I pulled out my pattern stash. I wanted to use the fabric to make a vest but didn't find any patterns I liked. Instead this dress jacket called to me. I made a "muslin" using the pattern pieces, adjusted it to fit me, cut the pieces apart to accomodate the handwoven fabric width and made my jacket. It helps that I've got a lot of pattern drafting experience (see the link for Kings and Sages Apparel, my line of boy's clothing) but it really was quite easy. My next project is a black corduory winter (well, California winter) jacket using some of my other handwoven stash.

Close-up of woven fabric:

More socks - this time from alpaca

2006-01-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Handmade Christmas presents are fun to make and give. Part of the fun is the challenge of making the gift without the recipient knowing! I made these socks for dh. Actually, the gift he opened Christmas day were the socks on the needles 75% done. It took a lot longer to knit his socks than it did to do mine because of the secrecy. Once I could knit them in the open, they were quickly finished.

I used the same pattern as before using the large size this time. I actually knit both socks in tandem. I wound the yarn into a center pull ball and worked one sock from each end. When I ran out of yarn, I switched to plain white and finished them up. The colorations aren't an exact match because it was hand dyed roving. I handspun the yarn after dyeing it as well as some of the undyed white. The roving is alpaca neck and leg fiber. It's not something I'd want to wear on *my* neck, but it's absolutely perfect for socks! The durability is supposed to be incredible. Ask dh in a few years what he thinks. His initial opinion is positive with a dash of "could you make the leg longer next time?"

I have another alpaca neck/leg roving project to post about but as that's a present for someone, I have to wait until they open it lest it spoil the surprise!

Socks, the first success

2005-12-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Last year I tried knitting socks. Half way through the first one I knew something was wrong. It was big enough to fit King Kong. Oops. So I put it aside in the UFO basket. A few weeks ago I picked up the same pattern and tried again. Swatching really does help. ;-) This time around the sock actually fits. Even the second one fits! I learned the basics from this website.

My next version will address the "drat, I ran out of yarn and must go spin some more but the green is gone and all I have left is yellow" issue that cropped up right after turning the heel in this pair. The yarn is handspun Lincoln wool dyed with commercial dyes. My feet stay toasty warm but not too-warm. Important now that our ~~penny pinching~~ budget tightening has forced the thermostat down to 61 degrees during the day.

Socks are fun. I'm not a big knitting fan but socks go pretty quickly. Now I'm doing a pair of slippers that get felted when done. Check out the free pattern here.

Alpaca related info: Wayne and I go to pick up our girls on Saturday from Derwydd Alpacas. My female Melody should deliver us a cria in September 2006 and Wayne's girl, Pink Champagne, will be close behind with her own cria. It will be interesting to see how the crias compare as they have the same sire.

On an additional fiber front: I'm preparing a grey Lincoln wool fleece to send off to a mini-mill. I have a big bag of alpaca seconds that I want combined with the Lincoln. This wool fleece is exceptional - it was a ribbon winner at the Monterey Wool Competition. The locks are too long to combine with the alpaca seconds so I'm slowly chugging through lock by lock cutting each Lincoln lock in half. (Don't fret - I have 2 other ribbon-winning Lincoln fleeces.) I want to use the roving for an Australian Locker Hooking item (either a rug or a wall hanging) and spin some of the roving to make more socks.

Cria photo

2005-11-28T10:34:00.000-08:00

I downloaded photos from my digital camera today and found this cria picture.

This is FTHL Regal. His dad, Regal Escubo, is an award winning rose grey alpaca. Although all of Regal Escubo's other crias bear his signature rose grey spot on the side of the blanket, this one has his mom's silver markings. I suppose we should really wait until Spring when he's shorn though. It's always interesting to see what the true markings are after cria's first shearings so we may indeed find Regal Escubo's marking on this boy as well!

Doesn't he just live up to his name? He's truly the most regal of the summer crias. FTHL Regal lives at Wayne and Eileen's ranch.

Kimberly, off to find more cria pictures...