Spinning Progress and a sneak peak for the next Maine Fiber Issue

Progress. 

It's such a beautiful thing. 

Especially with a little one at my feet.

I've some how managed to finished my white Navajo Churro fleece in the space of 2 weeks. 

I will have 7 skeins of single, woolen spun, aran weight, and 2 double plied, bulky, extra large skeins available dyed in various plants- some of which will be with New Mexican foraged plants I dried and brought home. Like Cota, or Navajo Tea which will yield light to medium earthy orange. I cannot wait!!

I promptly started in on the grey Navajo Churro fleece I bought from Tierra Wools in Los Ojos, New Mexico. 

I L O V E spinning this fleece sooooooooooooooo much. 

It's a larger size, the guard hairs are slightly softer and slightly less then the white fleece. 

And there is tons of long ultra soft wool, still with a bit of lanolin. 

I was hoping I could finish up this fleece by the end of this month, that's 7 days left. However, as of right now I have 11, 4 oz batts to spin. If I spin one a day and add a few extras on a few days, I can do it. We'll see. When I spin my single aran weight yarns though, I can fill a bobbin in about 40 minutes. 

In addition to all this spinning and staying home with my 7 month old love, I've been working on the issue of Northern Journeys Magazine for my Your Maine Fiber Connection column. Which will be out on April 1st. If you do not live in Maine, you can follow my link above to read the online edition. 

Northern Journeys Magazine is a free quarterly all arts publication. 

For this next issue I've interviewed the Cumberland County 4H Wool Breeders Group AND Nancy and Al of New Aim Farm and Mill in Waldoboro. 

In this section there will also be a seasonal plant dye recipe and a calendar of fiber events coming up. 

The flock at New Aim Farm and Mill, California Variegated Mutant Sheep

Finally! Spinning Season Is Here; a white Navajo Churro Fleece

I fall more and more in love with this fleece every time I work with it. 

As I really should, as I did spent a number of obsessive hours de-hairing it. 

By hand. 

Purchased from a farmer named Pat, I met him at the Albuquerque State Fair last year in September. 

I was determined to find a white Navajo Churro fleece to bring home. 

Pat was standing outside the sheep tent with three sheep in a small demonstration pen and a fleece on the ground. 

My husband and I inquired about the fleece, we chatted for a while and we discovered that we both knew Peter Haggerty of Peace Fleece and I knew that this was the right place to buy my fleece. 

And it turned out it was the only place to buy a churro fleece at the state fair. 

I brought it back to our vacation rental, skirted, washed it in small batches then we shipped it home. This is the first time I've worked with a churro fleece. I worried a little bit that it would be too wiry or coarse but I'm quite pleased as it has a soft springy sometimes downy spongy texture. I just can't wait to dye it with the cota that I both collected and purchased, which gives a beautiful orange. 

This summer as my newborn was still in his super sleepy stage and sleeping through everything, he'd nap next to me in his Moses Basket on the porch in 70 degree weather as I worked on this first skeins, which I ended up plying.

I'll be spending the next 6 months or so spinning every chance I get.

I do have about 7-8 fleeces I'd like to get through. 

3 huge ones, and I think 4 very small ones, like 1 pounders. 

Despite what someone said to me when she saw me piling up fleeces at the Fiber Frolic when I was about 5 days from giving birth; 

"YOU WON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" 

Yes, I do have a baby now to care for and he will always come first. 

Also, I have myself to care for and if I don't make time to spin, I simply can't be.

So, watch me lady. 

If your a new parent or a seasoned parent, just remember, it's ok to do things for yourself too, and often. When we give our selves joy by creating moments and asking for help, or simply folding our children into the mix of what we are wanting to do, it can feed everyone emotionally. 

So, despite my having "no time" I'm also committing to sharing a post here once a week of my spinning progress and any other adventures and projects that might happen. 

Sharing makes me happy.  

p.s. Oh! I forgot to mention my new (old) loom!! More on that next time. 

A little wreath making

For years I've wanted to make my own wreaths.

I think it started when my older sister introduced me to this little shop in our home town called Welch Farm. It is unfortunately no longer open. It was a sweet farm store that had a room dedicated to just items made from dried flowers and other rustic style decorations. 

We fell in love with these wreaths made just of dried blushing pink hydrangeas. My sister gave me one for Christmas or a housewarming present, I can't remember. 

I loved this wreath and even though it was so fragile, it always moved with me adorning my front door or my bedroom door from apartment to apartment.

If someone would brush against this wreath, I'd hold my breath and clench my fists trying not to scream. 

It did finally kick the bucket though when it got acceidenly crushed during a move. 

I was so sad but knew it had a longer run than I thought it would. 

Ever since that time I've had a little bug to make my own wreaths out of other natural materials that I love.
Like these muscle shells from the beach just a few minutes walk from my house.

I collected them last April intending to make one for my son's room.
I have always loved this classic blue of the sea etched into these shells that scatter the Maine coast.

I used a $5.00 grapevine wreath from JoAnn Fabrics and a hot glue gun. I realized I had to sift through my pile to fine ones that were basicly the same the size and all going the same way. Because with mucsle shells there is a top and a bottom. Or a right and a left. Depending on howyou look at it.

I also wanted to make some winter wearths for all four of our door. Three for our house and one for my studio door. Everything in these wreaths I also found at JoAnn's. Though I realized that next time, I'm going to search for things on my property that have fallen on the ground.
I have a special spot in my heart for songbirds, especially cardinals. And lichens. And pine trees. The little trees and birds are not meant for outdoor decoriation, but I didn't care. I'll see how long they all last when our snow comes. In the spring I'll make something different. 

back door

studio door

all four together,

So many years have passed when I don't do any holiday or seasonal crafts/ activities and then I get really bummed out because I didn't plan or I was too busy. Making time to do things like this right around Thanksgiving really gets me in the spirit. 

Now, if only I can find time to make some salt ornaments....

What crafts put you in the mood for the holidays? 

Journey of a Yarn; the rainbow cap

5 years ago, my sister was expecting her 3rd baby. She asked me to create some of my rainbow yarn for a blanket. Her oldest, 4 then and with healing chicken pox, came over to spend the day with me and help prepare this special yarn for her future baby brother. 

I had the best day planned with my niece. It was filled with grilled cheese, tomato soup, and sharing my favorite Irish movie, Secret of Roan Inish. I just had to run to the store before hand to pick up the goodies. However, as I was leaving, my car died about 5 feet after I started driving. I then went carless for 2 years. It certainly made life more interesting but that's a story for another time. 

I loved doing this project with my niece as it's really kid friendly and even though she wasn't feeling her best, she was so into it. 

For the yarn, my sister requested mixed Bluefaced Leicester with silk which you can find here, my favorite local fiber shop, Portfiber. 

I love working with this fiber so much. With the grey and the silk mixed in, whatever you use for dye, it always looks so beautiful because of the multi textures. 

Dyeing rainbows is a lot of fun to do with roving. 

And because I wanted a very specific color placement, I used jars, which some call space dyeing. 

I think I dyed 8 oz or more. I may have dyed the roving in batches if that were the case. 

For the dyes I used 1 Kool-Aid packet of each:

cherry

orange

yellow rite dye- the lemonade doesn't give a strong yellow

lime

blue raspberry lemonade- be careful here. make sure the picture on the package shows a blue pitcher and not red!

and grape

oh! and strawberry sometimes to get that nice gradient inbetween the red and purple. 

I let my roving soak for a few hours. If it were just wool, it would have been 30 minutes or so. But silk takes much longer to absorb water. 

Lucy dumped each packet into the jars. With the yellow, I only sprinkled in a little bit because the pigment is so strong. 

With a tea kettle filled with just boiled water, I filled each jar about half way full. Lucy stuffed the roving in. I helped her by telling her when to stop stuffing so to keep the roving equal in each jar. I them topped each jar off with more water and with the end of a wooden spoon, she poked around each jar until the wool was completely submerged. We fiddled with each one to make sure color was swimming around the wool. 

After about half and hour- I don't like to wait longer than that because the wool soaks up the color so fast. I scooted the wool from each jar over into the next jar by about 2 inches so that as each color ends, it slightly bleeds into the next. This also gives you beautiful color gradiation. 

That's really all there is to it! I typically let these set for a day or until there is no colored liquid left. 

To make it go even faster, try this outside on a very sunny hot day and leave them in the sun. 

The red/cherry you can usually use again because there is so much pigment there (can you believe we used to drink this?!) With the purple, there will be blue color left which I always find amusing. But with the other colors, they usually get soaked up all the way. 

Once done dyeing, I gently pull up all the roving, squeeze and let soak in a room temperture bath, with a tiny bit of wool washing soap, like orvis paste. 

I then hang it dry. 

Once dry fully, I prepare for spinning. Because I wanted a long color repeat, I gently pulled the roving apart length wise so that I have continuous long pencil roving that started with red and ends with purple(or pink). Preparing your roving this way, makes it very easy to keep your spinning even. There is very little drafting you need to do and you can just let it flow from your fingers into a soft single. 

Once the yarn was spun, I wound it onto my knitty knotty (skein maker) and soaked it again (like I did for the roving). It helps set the twist of the yarn. 

My sister made a few items with this yarn and a little bit she had left over, went into a little cap for her middle child who is now 6. She recently passed that cap onto me for my baby. It was far to big for R's new head. So I frogged it, soaked the yarn again to get the knitted kinks out and started knitting a new hat for my babe. 

It took me 5 tries to get just the right fit. I've knit a ton of hats but hardly even knit baby hats. 

Living on an island with the wind we get, it was very important for me that he had a solid hat that covered his ears. 

I loved making this so much.

And you know what?

It still smells like Koolade!

And I love how this yarn has made it back to us in this full circle that's seen so much love between our two families. 

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New Shop Items, Baby Socks, and a Fiber Column

I've just have too many thoughts swimming around up here to get organized properly.
Or at least like I used to. 

Days of spending endless hours creating and writing are over. 

Or at least on hold, for a long while. 

But that's ok. I've got a human to raise and cuddle and love and just be with. 

Motherhood is a crazy time warp spent swimming through diapers, cuddles, and every emotion. 

And being a new mom whose life has been spent creating has its special challenages and highlights. 

My good friend, Casey recently told me about the podcast On Being with Krista Tippet. In particular this episode with Ann Hamilton. I loved the last question of the interview about balancing motherhood and creating. 

I had had a particular crappy week with teething issues with our 5 month old. 

The concept of balance has always eluded me. 

That is until however I heard the Ann's answer. 

I then started to feel differently. 

Thoughts mainly consisting of:

Nothing is written stone.

Lower my expectations for myself and for my baby's routine.

Sink in deeper and cuddle more.

Put off that project if it's not working. Let it breath, think about it, come back to it. 

The response Ann had to how she keeps her balance invloves looking at everything, from her art work, to making soup for her sick child, to whatever needs to come next- as all one big project. 

What I took away from it was

L E T  A L L  O F  I T  B E  YOUR  W O R K 

the laundry

the meals

the playing

the relaxing

the creating

And for me the word work isn't a negative one. But rather filled with privilege, meditation, graditude, hope, shelter, color, nourishment, entertainment, therapy. 

This past week, my heart has felt new aches for the world that it hasn't felt in a very long time. 

I've been reminded to be thankful all over again for the rhythm we've created in our family, the environment we live in and to remember to look up at strangers to smile, say hello, or even give a compliment. To just slow down and notice. 

So, to let all of it, my work, to be part of one project that is never ending. 

Doesn't it make sense? Because laundry and meals and general care of our selves and our child is not suppose to have an end. Neither should our creating. Or interacting with one another. 

I used to think I needed (and sometimes I still do) so much clear head space to get settled into a creating rhythm. But I also realized that part of my creating rhythm needs to include prepping and cleaning materials and making lists or steps and documenting- it's really endless what needs to go into creating. 

All this has come about for me with the approach of winter. I've been remembering that at the beginning of last year, I was writing and creating a dye tutorial once a week or this space to share. I miss my dyeing desperately and hope to get to it when I can. But in the mean time, I'd like get back to my once a week posting and share whatever I've been working on for the week. When I decided to do this, I was reminded that Damn! I make a lot! Despite the broken hours and stranded projects and misplaced ideas I have at 4am. I'm still creating!

For my shop, new Holiday themed project bags. I love making these so much. 

I am a fat quarters hound. I visit a fabric store and I immediately start looking for stacks of fat quarters. I found these sweeties at Z Fabrics in Portland, Maine. I've also been taking a weekly sewing class there working on garments. I love it so so much. I've completed 2 so far that I'll share later.

I often have several knitting projects on the needles and I love keeping them tidy and clean and in a to go mode. I never know what I'll want to work on while on the boat and on car trips. 

Sewing up fat quarters and adding a simple ribbon or lace at the top to create a simple size bag and an easy to open and close bag. 

I couldn't resist these prints. And I really enjoy adding to my project bag collection every season. 

My little one has been growing faster than I can blink- as babies do. He's just over 5 months now and growing out of his soft stretchy new born Old Navy socks. Though I can't believe how long they've lasted. Babies grow in funny ways. Our guy has been growing long and fast but it wasn't until last month or so that he started growing out ward much faster than before. 

I've had a few balls of my hand spun Irish Texel and fermented lichen dyed yarn hanging out in my stash for a while now from experiments I did here last year. You can also read about my whole process for lichen dyes there. 

For this little sock pattern that I improvised, for the starting point I used the pattern from a book in my home library, Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Angora Baby Booties. 

I've made countless pairs of these booties and they are so much fun to make. I tried the base of this pattern with my thick and chunky handspun. The only adjustment I made was continuing to knit up the leg and adding a few rows of rib stitch. I tried to make my bind off nice and loose and stretchy but it didn't happen. Resulting in making it kind of hard to get the socks on his chubby feet. I found instead it worked to fold over the rib edge and get them on that way! He wears them that way too. And usually stay on for a quite a while. 

My latest endevor involves venturing more into my home state of Maine exploring and sharing Maine's fiber happenings through a new media outlet known as Northern Journeys Magazine. A quartley publication that was created by Jason Thomas nearly 20 years ago in Idaho. You can read more about it on their website. I will be a contributing columnist for each edition for the 

Your Maine Fiber Connection.

In the first edition, I share my own fiber journey. The online edition will be live soon. 

I somehow was able to complete this post around a feeding and getting a pumpkin in the oven and feeding myself!

Fiber Prep Season; for the love of the process

I just love this time of year.

The cooler weather, the leaves changing, the goldenrod still lingering, and wearing layers. 

It's also the time of year I pull out my acquired fleeces and go to town. 

Since I went full time with my yarn making business two years ago, I've also been in the process of tweaking and streamlining my entire process. 

Turns out I have a thing for lining up several projects at once and building up such a momentum it feels almost meditative. 

It may seem danuting but breaking it all up into little bits, it's quite managable and simple. 

In this age of Etsy's new guidlines of allowing outsourcing and now most recently Amazon Handmade, I continue to stick my toes further into the sand in order to stand up for what I believe in when it comes to a creator's creative integrity. 

I've also just recently (and finally) added a much needed tag line to my business title 

44 Clovers

: heritage yarns; hand spun & plant dyed :

Why "heritage" you might ask? 

To me, the word heritage stems from age old traditions and techniques and processes that I hold very dear to my heart. 

When I started spinning 15 years ago (this month!) I had been wanting to do so as a way to bond with the past when it came to textiles. 

Since then I have worked with all kinds of textiles especially fibers when it comes to spinning and I found I started to ask the questions of "where did this wool come from?" "where was it grown?" "Who worked on and took care of this animal?" The more I asked myself these questions and went seeking, the more I ended up being drawn towards raw fleece which I can easily find in my surrounding communities.

skirting a white shetland fleece

shetland before the wash

I love using my double kitchen sinks, a scoop of orvis paste, and the hottest water from the tap for gentle soaking

This shetland came out

A few weekends ago I was taking advantage of the warmer weather by skirting, drying and carding my fleeces on the front porch. 

skirting a finn fleece

carding a scottish black face fleece

spinning and plying my first skein of white new mexican churro wool


So far I've managed to get all fleeces washed and two carded.
Once all is carded I'll be ready to settle in for the winter to spin in front of the fire.
Then just like Fredrick, I can dream about the colors they will be come spring. 

Finding My Feet; life with baby and wool

For the past 3 months, my life has been all about establishing routines. Something I find very grounding. 

Our babe has quickly become a 3 month old. And I know next time I blink, he'll be a 4 month old. 

I have been loving every bit of figuring out motherhood and forming a family.

I've also been learning that raising a baby and working with wool, go so nicely together. 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about and missing showing up to this space to share my work. 

As we figure out routines, care for, play with, and generally stare at our baby waiting for him to wake up (which is happening right now), I've been wanting to show up here but also feeling too scattered to do so in a way that feels right to me. 

But this past Friday I was given the gift of time to travel on my own up tp the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine as my husband took charge of our R. 

It was blissful and I was giddy as I moved through the fair with an energy I don't quite remember happening since long before I was pregnant.

Once there, I bee lined it for the fleece tent and people in there must of thought I was nuts as I darted around with my cart looking at every single fleece. I smooshed 5 fleeces into my cart to open up and decide upon. 

I went home with 4.  

On the way out, I found this dye garden with a weaving project in the middle. Dream dye garden. 

dye garden by the wednesday spinners. very inspiring for my soon to be dye garden.

I was so so pleased with the fleeces I found. Three of which are from Eolian Farm~ a brown/ grey finn and 2 very light grey/ very light tan shetlands. And a beautiful brown icelandic from another grower- name is escaping me at the moment. 

The following day I started my fiber prep process. This fleece is also from Eolian Farm that I purchased this past June at the Fiber Frolic. I was way too pregnant to do any prep- then my water broke one week later. 

I soak my skirted fleeces in a my double sinks. Giving them several baths until the water is clear.

Just look how snow white that comes out!!! 

I use Orvis paste for the soap. 

Washing fleece is really easy and you can even have little ones help. 

I fill up my sinks, or you can use basins or bowls, what ever size. I found I'm able to fit a pound of fleece in one sink. 

I fill it up with the hottest water from the tap, shut off the water, add a scoop of orvis paste (I found mine on amazon), stir it around, sink the fleece in- dirty tips down if your able. 

Let sit for a few hours to over night. I'm impatient though and I only let mine for for a few hours and then change the water. 

This is the brown/ grey Finn I mentioned. So so lovely!! I can't wait to spin it up. I've already envisioned making a little cabled sweater for my R. 

I typically go to the Frolic, Common Ground, or help put farms with skirting for all my fleeces to produce my yarns for my etsy shop. But I've had a super sad realization about my work. That is, I never spend time knitting these yarns I work for hard to make! That is changing now. From each fleece I'll be keeping enough yarn for myself to make at least something small. Especially to showcase what this yarn looks like to help encourage you along too:) 

As I started washing all my raw fleeces, I also started to set up my carding operation outside on my porch. I have 7 fleeces left to card. Some are only 1 pound where others are up to 8!! My goal is to have all these carded up before the weather turns too cold to do it outside. Then, come winter, my work will switch over to spinning 10 fleeces by the spring. Let me tell you what they all are, because I'm so proud of my selection this year. 

But before I do, here's a Scottish Black Face fleece on the carder. Speaking of carders, I have an extra wide Fancy Kitty and it's a dream to work with. Once my fiber is weighed out, I'm able to card up 4 ounces in 5 minutes. 

So these 10 fleeces I've got:

Scottish Black Face from Nina Fuller at Lily Brook Farm

A Cheviot mixed breed from Wolf's Neck Farm

A white Shetland and two grey/tans and a brown Finn from Jenni Johnson at Eoilan Farm

A brown Icelandic from a place that's escaping me at the moment. 

and a creamy alpaca, also can't remember where it's from

A white churro from New Mexico from Pat at the State Fair

And a creamy cinnamon Churro from New Mexico from a lovely weaving center, again, my brian is starting to take flight. I will post about all these later as I'm working on them so stay tuned. 

That's my work for this week. 

I wonder what I'll get up to next week. 

What are you working on?