In April I gathered some iris leaves and let them dry inside on a drying rack.
Photo description: freshly picked iris leaves on a mesh drying rack Photo description: same iris leaves after five monthsPhoto description: dried iris leaves gathered from outside in September
I was surprised at the color difference between iris leaves dried inside, and those left to dry outside. The inside leaves are so much darker, but the color is more uniform. The outside dried leaves are more golden, but with streaks of black. What isn’t surprising is the grasshopper bites on the leaves left outside on the plant. There isn’t much grasshopper activity in April, but as the summer rolls through, and most of the other greenery turns brown, the grasshoppers go after the iris.
The next step is to see if there are any differences in how the leaves weave up.
I started a twined loop-and-twist bag from a flax kit from Sally Pointer, historical educator. With the flax strick from the kit, I drew the fibers from the middle, which created horrible tangles of tow flax at the ends. (Tow flax is shorter lengths of flax, line flax can have strands over three feet.) When I ran out of long line flax, I attempted to continue with combed tow flax, which is doable, but I really like twining with long line flax, so I ordered another strick from a local company. I was smarter with this bundle of flax fibers, and actually read the flax passages in “the Practical Spinner’s Guide” book series. I separated out a section of the new flax, and put the rest aside.
Photo description: flax strick (top), twined loop-and-twist bag in progress (middle), smaller section of long line flax untwisted (bottom)
There are several methods of dressing flax to reduce tangles when spinning or twining, I chose to tie a ribbon around and drape the section over my shoulder. I sit on a high backed chair when I twine, so I can keep tension on the fibers by leaning back.
Photo description: section of flax tied with a ribbon to keep the fibers neater
I’d like the bag to be big enough to hold a pound of wool or so. The expansion capabilities of the loop-and-twist bag are quite extraordinary.
For my fiber study, I’ve been making fiber pages that have a small amount of fiber, then examples of spun, plied, knitted, crocheted, and woven fiber. I designed a small drawer for the natural fiber with the idea that it would protect the fiber from getting flattened and felted, but would still allow access to touch the fiber. It was a neat idea, but didn’t function the way I hoped. The drawer was too tall even at a quarter inch, and the stack of drawers took the brunt of the pressure and crushed, flattening the fiber. Hm. So I switched out the drawer for a plastic bag. The fiber can at least still be seen, and if necessary, the bag can be opened for closer examination of the fiber.
Photo description: two fiber pages, the one on the left shows the original drawer design, the one on the right shows the plastic bag
The advantage of the plastic bag to hold the fiber is that the pages lay nicer when stacked. The thickness of all the samples is similar and the pages lay flatter.
Photo description: two fiber pages books, the one on the left has distorted pages from the drawer stack, the right one shows how much neater the pages are when the drawer is replaced with a plastic bag.
I secure the bag to the page with brads. By keeping all the connections mechanical and avoiding glue or adhesive, it should give the pages a longer life.
I kept the foam spacers at the post side, and also added space for a 12×12 sheet after each fiber page, where I plan to put a description of each fiber, and some of the blog posts I wrote when spinning each fiber. This is definitely still a work in progress.
In August 2015 I finished a crocheted doll for my youngest.
Photo description: crocheted doll with light skin, golden yarn hair, embroidered face, brown attached boots, and a blue/purple sundress
It wasn’t difficult to make, but did not end up being a very popular doll. It sat with the rest of the stuffed animals in a bin. I personally think these look better with thinner yarn and a tighter stitch, but if I were to make another soft doll, I would use fabric for the face and body because it is smoother, then crochet accessories.
Photo description: two yarn turtles from a Turkish style spindle, the one on the left weighs 22g, the one on the right weighs 26g.
I’m spinning Southdown wool on a 3D printed Turkish style spindle. My eyes aren’t quite calibrated to estimate same-sized turtles when one is on the spindle and the other is off. I had a difference of 4 grams. That may not seem significant, but I can visually tell the difference when they are both off the spindle and it means the one on the right has several yards more yarn. I’m planning a three ply yarn with the singles, so need to spin another turtle. I’m aiming for the 22 g size to minimize leftover single spun yarn. Even three turtles of my hand-spun yarn that weigh the same won’t have the exact same yardage because my spin has some variation, especially across different days, but it a reasonable estimate.
Critters and Craft 