I have spun all my fiber blended by Anniewhere. I searched my fiber stash and didn’t find any more, so it is time to ply. I have six balls of singles, all slightly different colors. To even out the tone I decided to ply two balls together, so sorted the balls by weight.
Photo description: six nostepinne style wound balls of blended fiber, paired by size.
To control the balls while I plied, I decided to stretch the use of my rosewood distaff. The shaft of the distaff fits through the center of the yarn balls, so I put two on, and to keep the yarn from flying off, placed a spherical pencil eraser on top.
Photo description: On the left a rosewood ring distaff with two balls of yarn and a bright yellow heart-eyed emoji eraser on top. On the right my hand made drop spindle with wooden top whorl and metal hook.
This setup works great. I was able to complete my walk and complete the plying without tangling issues, which is huge for a spinner.
Photo description: Same distaff, same spindle, but now there is only one small ball on the distaff and a large cop of two ply yarn on the spindle.
I’ve been trying different ways to dress my distaff. A distaff is a way to hold fiber in preparation for spinning, and placing the fiber on the shaft is called “dressing” because it is very much like placing clothes on a doll.
My first method involved laying out parallel tufts of fiber on a handkerchief, making sure the ends went the same direction and stuck out the bottom. I would then roll up the fiber and fabric on the distaff and tie it loosely with a cord. This worked OK until the fiber was mostly gone, then it preferred to stick to the cloth instead of itself, which made drafting difficult.
The second method I tried didn’t use the handkerchief, rather just the fiber parallel to the distaff shaft, tied round with cord. As I drafted the fibers off, the cord slipped down and became a restricting collar at the base of the shaft, also making it hard to draft.
My third method involved rolling the fiber parallel to the shaft, then adding the handkerchief around the fibers in a layer, and tying the cord so that it was tightest at the top. This top secured trick is the key. It was much easier to draft the fibers off the distaff, the dressing behaved itself to the near end when I had enough fiber to hold in my hand without tangling.
Photo description: Rosewood ring distaff dressed with a blended carded fiber, handkerchief, and cord in a inverted cone shape (left). 3D printed Tough resin spindle with single spun yarn wound nostepinne style (right).
So I thought a rolled brim knit cap was some kind of knitting voodoo. I was looking up patterns to see how to do it. Y’all, it is just knit. Stockinette stitch, which makes the familiar v shaped stitches that we associate with knitting, is unbalanced and curls without a stabilizing edge (like ribbing). So the rolled brim is the natural state of a knit tube. Hm. So I tried one, and sure enough the edge curls. I even managed to do the crown of the hat in knit using seven decreases, then ran the end of the yarn through the last seven stitches and pulled tight to form a nice little rosette in the center. I threw some embroidery on to see how that went.
Photo description: Green and white knit hat with vine embroidery.Photo description: Crown of the hat showing seven slightly spiraled sections neatly closed at the top.
I used superwash merino sock weight yarn. I would do things differently next time, so I’m not going to write up a pattern. For posterity sake I’ll write down details, though. I used two size 2 circular needles; a slip, slip, knit decrease on each of the seven sections, sometimes separated by a row of knit; and attempted a stem stitch for the embroidery. The stem stitch stretches with the fabric, but I don’t like how it doesn’t make a continuous line. That might just need practice, though. I was hoping for more of a spiral on the top of the hat too.
I modified another t-shirt. I don’t care for crew neck t-shirts (sensory thing with fabric touching my neck), so I cut off the binding, and used black crochet thread to make a blanket stitch all around the neckline, then added a simple chain 3, double crochet repeat pattern row. I like 3/4 sleeves, so I used the same 3 chain, double crochet pattern to lengthen the short sleeves, and added a scalloped edging by making five chain 1, 1 double crochet in every other junction.
Photo description: Black Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt with black crocheted lace at the neck and sleeve.
I am not historically a lace person, but the practicality of it in our Texas heat is appealing. The idea of practical lace also amuses me.
One of the sling beds in the catio gave up under the weight of the kitten and popped its grommet. I removed the rest, it has lasted awhile, and puzzled over a replacement. The two sections of 1 x4” wood that I screwed to the catio supports seemed about the size of a pillow case. It turned out it was a little wider, but with a quick seam and a couple of snipped holes, I converted an old pillow case into a cat sling bed that slides over two parallel boards.
Photo description: Gray tabby sitting in the hammock made with a repurposed green cotton pillowcase suspended by two boards
Cotton does degrade in the sun, but this might be a better design idea than grommets in the corners screwed to the board. I’ll see of the cats use this setup, and if they do, replace the cotton with outdoor resistant fabric.
Critters and Craft 