Why I Quilt

I've noticed something about quilting in the last couple of days.  It is, more than anything else, a craft of precision.  When the pattern says cut a two and seven eighths by seventeen and a quarter strip, three by seventeen and a quarter just won't work.  That eighth of an inch will throw you off.  In a way, it scratches the same itch that knit and crochet do.  Yarn is of course dramatically more forgiving than fabric... but it's still the same concept.  You take tiny, precise pieces and put them together into something new.

On the other hand, the nature of the difficulty levels are very different.  In yarn work, difficult things are generally complicated.  You k3togtbl and have to keep track of intricate lace or cable patterns, or do fancy shaping.  In quilting, on the other hand, the hard parts are so basic.  For example, sewing a scant quarter inch seam.  I still have not figured out what this is supposed to look like, because I am still working on just plain ol' sewing in a straight line for more than about three inches.  Or cutting a square to be exactly three inches on a side.  Simpler patterns are of course more forgiving of error than more complicated ones, and there are still advanced (and HARD!) techniques, like piecing curves, but for the most part the things that get screwed up on quilts are very simple.  But oh, so tricky to do just right.

But you know what?  Then I remembered how hard it was to maintain even tension when I first started to crochet.  And I realized that I just enjoy learning something new.

I am flying to Texas in the morning!

So if you don't hear from me in the next week or so, I probably haven't died, I'm just up to my eyeballs in family reunion.  ;)  For any who may be wondering, I decided to bring a very basic star stitch scarf (crochet) and a sock (knit) to work on while in flight.  The TSA website insists I can have my knitting needles, and I made sure to only bring wood ones, so I should be safe.  But nervous.  The project on metal needles is in my checked luggage, and if it gets lost I am going to be PISSED.

...I'll have to let you know how all this goes.

Yarn on a Plane

I'm worried.  We're going to be flying to Texas this week to visit family, and I have no idea what I'm really going to be able to take on the plane.  I know that the official TSA rules are readily available online, but the fact of the matter is, any overzealous gate agent can decide that those rules don't apply today, and sorry you are not allowed to have that thank you very much.  On the other hand, it's a freaking long flight.  Plus waiting in the airport.

So, I have a plan.  Sorta.  Basically, I figure that a crochet hook, as long as it's not too small, looks less threatening than knitting needles... in addition, it's cheaper to replace if it ends up in the garbage at the gate.  We'll see how well it works.

The first week of school, it has eaten me.

Yup, been quiet around here for longer than I like to let it be.  Behind the scenes however, it has been a madhouse.  A madhouse I tell you!

First of all, I'm still trying to catch up from when I was sick.  Fortunately, I only have on pattern to go from that time.  Unfortunately, I have had to find a new tech editor (if you're out there, hi new tech editor!), which always makes me nervous.  Also, I have a sample I'm supposed to have done by mid November.  In laceweight.  That is lace.

That was nothing new, but the first week of school is.  The big one is starting kindergarten, and the middle one is starting preschool.  This means that the week leading up to this week was full of orientations, paperwork, evaluations, and doctor appointments.  I wish I had done more of this during the summer, but I didn't receive any of the paperwork until about a week and a half ago, so that wasn't exactly possible.

So, if you could give me a week or so, I'll get back to my usual fibery extravaganza.  In the mean time, I will continue to update my facebook and twitter feeds.  I definitely have time for 144 characters.

Dyeing with the Kids

We had loads of fun this week.  I decided it was finally time to try dying unspun fiber.  I waited until the littlest one's nap time, and got a pound of Navajo churro fleece to soaking in my big pot.  I wrapped the wool together like a package with a piece of scrap yarn, hoping to make it easier to manage.  It really didn't.  So I got it out and put in the rack from my boiling water canner (it has handles!).  That helped a lot.

Next we got the wool out and let the excess water drain off.  I should have done a better job on this step, but the kids were SO EXCITED to start with the colors!

The big one was in charge of the blue, I was in charge of the green, and the little one was in charge of the yellow.  Each color was three packs of sugar free Kool Aid.  I am very glad right now that I use only food dyes, because at one point or another both kids decided to taste the dye stock.  To add to the fun and excitement, we used a nasal aspirator (I couldn't find the turkey baster) to spray the dye onto the wool.

Yes, the rack is sitting in my wok in that picture.  It was just the right size, and I needed something to catch run off!  Then into the pot it went to heat set.

It simmered and simmered until all the dye was sucked up into the wool.  Now, there's one thing about this wool that I didn't mention before -- I used a cold water scour on it, so the lanolin was still in.  Navajo churro sheep don't produce a lot of lanolin, but this means that the more lanolin any given part of the fleece had in it, the less dye it took up.  I'm hoping to get a cool heathered yarn when I card it all together and spin it.

Loads of fun and excitement for all ages!  And now I have green wool.  And a rusty canning rack.  It turns out that the thing wasn't meant to withstand as much acid as I just put it through.  But hey, next time, I'll rinse it better.  We still had a great time!

My Fun New Toy, the Trindle

Those of you who were following me during the Tour de Fleece know that my favorite spindle biffed it.  Just dropped it one too many times.  I guess that's why it's called a drop spindle.  So I decided it was time to upgrade.  Also, to not make a spindle right now, because I don't have the time or energy to mess with it.

As I was approaching buying a spindle, I encountered one problem over and over again -- short spindle shafts.  Making my own spindles led me to do some pretty intense experimentation, and what I found out is that I like spindles with insanely long shafts.  My old favorite, in fact, had a thirteen inch shaft.  Which I now realize is insane.  I had a hard time finding spindles with shafts over nine inches that weren't boat anchors!

So that was the first thing that drew me to the trindle -- trindle shafts are ten and a half inches long.  The second thing was how customizable they are.  The arms of the trindle stick into a neoprene hub, and since neoprene is so grippy, you don't need to use any glue.  Thus, the arms (which are sold separately from the shaft) are interchangeable, as well as very reasonably priced.  For fifteen dollars, you get a new set of arms and a functionally new spindle!

I was sold right there, however, there's one more thing that I discovered once my trindle arrived -- trindles are freaking fast.  This is definitely a production spindle!  Because it is so extremely rim weighted, it spins forever at high speeds.  I'm not the fastest drafter ever, and I can finger flick my trindle and have it still spinning when it hits the ground.  That being said, a trindle might not be the best first spindle ever because of this.  If you don't draft fast enough, all kinds of wacky things happen, as that spin energy has to go somewhere.

I'm also waiting to see how much fiber I can cram on there.  Because there is no whorl, you can't make a cone shaped cop, you have to make a football shaped cop.  Not what I'm used to.  That being said, it's doing pretty well so far, so I'm hopeful.  I doubt I can cram two ounces onto it like I could the old favorite, but it should be pretty good!

Fiber Thoughts: Rayon

Rayon from sugar cane.

This post will contain information on all kinds of rayon -- bamboo, sugar cane, the regular wood pulp kind.  I can hear a few of you out there saying "ka-whaa? bamboo is rayon?!"  I feel relatively certain of this because of how frequently I see threads on yarn and fabric forums announcing the "secret" of bamboo fiber.  Yes, that silky soft stuff is, in fact, rayon made from bamboo.  There is a non-rayon bamboo fiber out there, however it is more like flax, and doesn't really resemble the more common rayon from bamboo at all.

So, what is rayon?  Rayon is a manufactured fiber made from cellulose.  You can make rayon from just about any plant source, but there are three that I've seen.  The regular old standard rayon that has been around forever is made from wood pulp.  Rayon made from bamboo has been enjoying significant popularity due to it's purported environmental friendliness and antibacterial properties.  I have recently found several yarns made from rayon made from sugar cane, as well.  "Bamboo viscose" and "sugar cane viscose" mean the same as rayon.

All rayon has some properties in common.  It is a smooth, silky fiber.  Rayon has excellent drape, but not so much memory, so it works extremely well for lace applications.  It is also extremely durable, so it works well as a substitute for silk in blends that need that soft silky sheen, but also need to be easier to wash than silk.  Rayon is also (surprisingly) highly absorbent.

The main differences in the rayon types are, quite frankly, questionable.  Bamboo rayon in particular is touted for being environmentally friendly, and it is indeed more environmentally friendly than regular rayon, as bamboo can be grown very quickly with little or no pesticide or fertilizer use.  However, the chemicals used to process the bamboo into rayon are pretty toxic, and the process requires large amounts of water and energy, so it really isn't the Gift to Gaia that it's occasionally billed as.  Bamboo rayon is also claimed to have antibacterial properties.  While bamboo, the plant, is indeed naturally antibacterial, the amount of processing involved in making rayon makes it fairly unlikely that those properties make it to the final fiber.  It is possible, however I have searched extensively for the supposed study showing that bamboo rayon is antimicrobial, and have not been able to find it anywhere.  The best I can come up with are references to a Japanese study... however, the study itself does not seem to be available anywhere.  And I can read and search in Japanese.  Given that the majority of bamboo fabrics are made in China, I deeply suspect that the study is the invention of a manufacturing company.  I could of course be wrong, and if you know of a reference, please point me at it!

So, is there any difference between the types of rayon?  I like to think there is.  It feels to me that bamboo rayon and sugar cane rayon are smoother and more silk-like than wood pulp rayon.  Sugar cane rayon, in particular, has a delightful sheen to it.  This may, however, merely be a manufacturing difference, and not a material difference.  So seriously?  Know the basic properties of rayon, then use your own fingers and eyes to pick an individual yarn.  That will probably serve you better than knowing the plant source of the fiber.