Why Wash?

So, I'm home and settled in and getting caught up on my emails.  I found this wonderful question on one of the lists I follow, and I just couldn't resist the opportunity:

Hi everyone - I have been thinking about washing yarn and setting twist, etc.. When you spin a yarn you always wash it to set the twist and also to get out any yuckies that are left. Then when you knit with this yarn, you wash or wet the piece again before you block. Could one save a step and just spin, knit and then wash? Has anybody done any experiments with this to see if there is a difference doing it one way or the other?

Well, it just so happens that I have done experiments, and here is what I have discovered:

YOU MUST  ALWAYS WASH AND SET YOUR TWIST BEFORE KNITTING OR WEAVING WITH YOUR HANDSPUN YARNS.

Okay, so I'm shouting.  But with good reason.  You see, when we spin, no matter what fibre we use, we are stretching the fibre out to it's full length (drafting), and then holding it under tension as we force twist into those stretched fibres.  The stretched and twisted fibres are then pulled onto a bobbin, maintaining the tension.  As long as we keep those fibres under tension, they will hold the twist exactly where we put it during the spinning.  The fibres wills stay elongated, the twist will lay dormant under the stress of the tension.  All is good, right?

Well, as long as that yarn stays on that bobbin, yes.  Sitting there on the bobbin, that yarn looks all smooth and balanced and pretty.  But looks can be deceiving.  That yarn is under tension.  It is not ready to relax and cooperate just yet.  When you wind the yarn off onto your niddy-noddy to make a skein, you see what happens to that yarn.

A well-spun, balanced yarn should come off of the bobbin with some residual twist.  If your yarn comes off and makes a perfect U, your yarn is actually underplied.  You want to see this yarn twist up like this.

Why?  Because, in order to have enough ply to hold together in the working and create a balanced, smooth fabric,  you have to ply your yarns with 2/3 the amount of the twist that you put into your singles.  If you ply at 1/2 the singles twist, you will find that your yarn is unstable and that your fabric will seem uneven and may even skew.  Trust me, I've tried it.

"Okay, Ms Smarty-Pants," you say.  "I don't wind my yarns off onto a niddy-noddy, I use a ball winder."

That's fine, but what you're doing when you do that is maintaining the tension that the yarn has been held under on the bobbin.  Until you start pulling that yarn out and knitting or warping with it.  Then all that tension lets go and the twist runs rampant.  Little pigtails start snarling the yarn, and, invariably the yarn snarls inside the ball, creating a tangle.  Who needs that?

When you put yarn in hot water, something wonderful happens.  The individual fibres relax and try to return to their natural state, releasing the tension that we have tugged into them.  They fall into a softer arrangement, and create more space in the sideways direction.  The twist then finds more space to spread itself out and no longer tries to pull those fibres in it's own direction.  Balance is achieved.

Now your yarns have that perfect U. 

I did this little demonstration with two different fibres, treating them both exactly the same after they came off the bobbin.  The orange skein is Corriedale top (wool) and the purple skein is silk.  As you can see, the setting of the twist is vital for balancing the yarns in both fibres, but far more so for the silk.

When you go to work with the yarns, washed or unwashed, you will see a dramatic difference in the way that yarn feels and acts.

Let's look at the knitted samples before blocking.  The sample on the left is the unwashed yarn.  You can't see it in the photo, but it had a harsher hand and tended to snarl as I knit with it.  You can see, however, that the work curled and skewed as I knit it.

This effect was far more dramatic in the silk sample, which, let me tell you, was not fun to knit in the unwashed version!

Another interesting thing happens when you set your twist in hot water.  The wool sample came off the bobbin measuring 3 tpi and 14 wpi.  After setting, the same sample measured 4 tpi and 12 wpi.  The silk samples came off the bobbin at 6 tpi and 32 wpi, and was 9 tpi and 30 wpi after setting.  Ummm, the unwashed yarns are very different from the washed yarns.  Very.  And this will impact what they do in the fabric.

For one thing, the gauge of you knitting will be different.  The wool knitted up at 8 stitches/inch when it was unwashed, but 6 stitches/inch when washed.  The silk, 12 stitches/inch unwashed, 10 stitches/inch washed.

If you knit, you know what a huge difference 2 stitches per inch makes in the size of your garment.  If you don't knit, take my word for it--it's not good.

After blocking, you can really see the impact of washing and setting.  The top sample is the unwashed, the bottom is washed and set yarn.  I rest my case.

You will also notice that the unwashed samples are more open and less dense.  If I had a better camera, you would also be able to see that the stitches are not as tidy in the unwashed samples, showing uneven twist throughout and creating that notorious "bar" that happens when yarns with unbalanced twist are knitted.  And then there is the skewing...

So, does that answer the question? 

Good.

Some More Stuff That Happened

March is over, we are well into April, and my life is slowly regaining some semblance of what passes for normal around here...

What just happened?

I vaguely remember a trip to Arizona, then a blur of activity.  Perhaps some sort of hypnosis will bring back memories...

Wait!  There was a trip to Edmonton.  Medical appointments and shopping.  Many articles of clothing were purchased.  That would explain the bulge in my suitcase!  Hmmm...

Oh!  Then there was a frantic week of building and installing a set for Thickwood Theatrix's production of Honk! Jr.  Not a lot of sleep, and much crawling around on the floor with a paintbrush--no wonder my mind supressed the memory!  But the set turned out wonderfully, and the production was, as always, fabulous.

Fifty-four grade 4 to 8 students in an all-quacking, all-dancing spectacular.  Every year I am amazed by the dedication of the teachers who drive this production, and by the talent and determination of the students.  Valerie Gondek, Angela Fenton, Patti Zeglen, and the administration, staff and students of Thickwood Heights School, take a bow!

Then there is a blank spot, until I find myself on a bus two days later.  I think I may have actually slept.  I'm not sure.  There may have been some packing, because...

Suddenly, I was in Fort St. John, BC!   A seminar on recycling fibres, and two days of sock spinning with a wonderful, enthusiastic group of spinners...

...who look like they had a good time.  As always, there was much spinning and exploration.  I talked myself hoarse, again.  There was good food, and wine, and laughter.  And marvelous samples all around.  I sincerely hope the participants did have much fun as I did, because I had a great time!

So, weary and silent, I made my way southward to spend some time in Vancouver with the Miss Lexi, Miss Julia, Steve, and my father-in-law.  I arrived first and had a lovely day with Miss Lexi, then the rest of the gang flew out to join us for the Easter long weekend.  Once again, much food and wine was consumed, and there were hijinks galore.  A few of the highlights...

...include the big storm that blew in on Good Friday while we were in Stanley Park.  High winds and rain pummelled the park and the city, and we went walking on the seawall.  For about 3 minutes.  While we were warming up at Prospect Point, we noticed that there was no traffic on the Lion's Gate Bridge...

...which is pretty darned unusual.  It turns out that a tree had fallen across the Causeway leading onto the bridge, totally blocking it, and access to the bridge and Stanley Park had been totally shut down.  And the tourists from Alberta were blithely strolling along, watching giant Douglas firs sway above our heads.  D'oh!We got some awesome pictures, though, and had a lot of fun.

The next day dawned a little brighter, and we ventured out to White Rock...

...where my two beautiful daughters gamely posed out at the chilly end of the pier.  The weather was not warm, but we managed to stroll the beaches and consume ice cream, anyway.  There was an unfortunate incident with a fish and chips restaurant that we like to frequent near the beach, but, in the end, we found another place that we liked even better.  And Montgomery's had deep-fried pickles!  We have a new favorite spot, all thanks to some very poor customer service.  Funny how those things work out, isn't it?

We  ventured out to Steveston for an afternoon, too.  We had never been out there before, but we will definitely go back.  Still a working fishing port, there were fresh fish and shrimp for sale off the boats, funky shops, and lots of restaurants to explore.  But the high point was definitely the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site.  We sort of went in with our tongues in our cheeks, and shenanigans abounded...

...but it turned out to be a wonderful museum, too!  Parks Canada has done an amazing job of preserving the atmosphere and recreating the working conditions in an early 20th-century salmon cannery, and of making the exhibits interesting and entertaining at the same time.

Then, of course, we had to go to the Vancouver Aquarium...

...where more silliness occurred.

A lot of silliness.

It was a fun vacation, with all of us throwing away our worries for a whole week.  We had fun, and that's what a vacation is for. Even if the weather is dreadful. 

And that's what family is for, too.

There were the usual twisted and incomprehensible travel arrangements made for the return trip, so the others left the next day, and I followed a day after that.  We had a day in Edmonton, then decided to head home.  Which turned out to be a good idea.  We drove into some rain and wind, pursued by the same storm we had encountered in Vancouver and got home safe and sound.  Only to wake up to this...

  

...the very next morning.  Over 25 cm of snow overnight, and it just kept coming all weekend.  Our back door was impassable...

...but we ran out of coffee, so I had to venture out.  Once was enough.  I have been holed up in the studio, sorting treasures and popping out to change loads of laundry all weekend.  And spinning.

Wow, now that I take a moment to remember, I realize I did a lot in last month.  No wonder I haven't gotten any blogging or knitting done.  Uh, oh.  Now I'm home, with no adventures to distract me.   I think I have some catching up to do!

Billet Doux

I have really fallen down on the old blogging lately, though, in my own defense, there has been little time to blog.  This past weekend, I presented a workshop in Fort St. John, BC.  The workshop was well-received, but the participants had a complaint about my blog... apparently, I do not blog often enough.  So, even though I am still on the road, I had to sit down and rectify that situation.

March has been a busy month.  Actually, that is something of an understatement.  It would be more accurate to say that March was an insanely action-packed month.  Workshops, medical appointments, children's theatre and more workshops totally consumed the month, leaving me little or no downtime.  I'm now in Vancouver and looking forward to some of that downtime--a lovely week-long visit with Miss Lexi, with Steve, Julia, and my father-in-law joining us later in the week.  Stanley Park, White Rock, Granville Island, plus all of our favorite little haunts await, and the freedom to knit any old thing that strikes my fancy.  R and R at its finest.

I'm hanging out in my daughter's apartment tonight.  Last night, I was in a lovely home on the banks of the Peace River.  Three weeks ago, I visited two equally lovely homes in Arizona.  I have been billeted a bit lately.

The term billeting comes from an old military tradition of sending a letter (a billet, from the French word for, oddly enough, letter) to a community demanding that soldiers be given rooms in homes there.  Nowadays, it's a more generously offered accommodation, given to out-of-towners for any number of reasons. Billeting is pretty common for those of us who travel to teach in the arts and crafts world and, while there are those who find it awkward or uncomfortable, I love it.

I have been billeted several times, in all sorts of different homes.  Some have been spacious and elaborate.  Some have been cozy and homey.  I have had a private bathrooms and I have shared a bathroom with a family of 5.  I have met spinners, and their husbands, and their kids, their friends, and their dogs, cats, bunnies and birds.  I have eaten wonderful food.  I have been plied with coffee, with wine, with chocolate, and with oatmeal.  I have been taken to favorite restaurants and pubs.  I have been toured around towns and cities and shown the sights, many of which are wonderfully yarny.

I have had my several billets in the last few years, and they have all been wonderful in some way or another.   The generosity of those who open their homes to visiting instructors is amazing.  Non-coffee-drinkers get coffee in.  I jokingly tell someone that I am partial to cake, and a cake is baked.   Night-owls get up early in the morning to make sure I get a good breakfast before the workshop.  Red wine flows like water.  (Seriously, I am somewhat concerned that the entire spinning community in North America will one day be washed away by a red wine tsunami.  I'm pretty sure we keep several vineyards in business, just us spinners!)  And everyone who acts as hostess does so willingly, with great joy and enthusiasm.  I love these people!

Don't get me wrong--hotels are nice, too.  But there is something that just warms the cockles of my heart about being invited into someone's home, into their life, even just for a day or two.

The word billet also appears in the French phrase "billet doux", which means love letter.  So tonight I am sending a love letter to all those wonderful who have hosted me in their homes over the past few years, and to those that I hope will do so in the future.  Thank you for your generosity, your kindness, your candidness, and your beds.  You have enhanced each of my travel experiences by sharing your lives with me, and I appreciate it more than I can ever say.

Snapshots From the Road

I'm doing a touch-landing at home today and tomorrow before I'm off again on my next adventure--this one not fibre related, but an adventure none the less.  I'm dashing around like a mad thing, trying to get things ready for the next trip, organizing the household for another bout of Momlessness, and generally trying to keep on top of March.  Not a lot of time to blog, but I'd thought I'd give you a quick glimpse of my trip.

Bisbee and the class were amazing.  Once again, a room full of people as passionate about string as I am.  Awesome, smart, funny, talented people at that.  Simply amazing.  And waaaay too much fun!

So, on to the snapshots...

With my usual convoluted travel arrangements firmly in place, I drove to Edmonton, then flew to Las Vegas.  I booked a hotel room through Hotwire.com, which is a trippy experience to begin with, but it turned out to be in the Planet Hollywood Resort.  Which was fabulous in so many ways, including the view from my window...

...and the bathtub!  I very nearly never made it to Bisbee.  I could have happily lived the rest of  my life in that tub!

But I did make it to Bisbee.  Or rather, to Tucson, where I picked up by Joan Ruane, who was my hostess for the weekend.  Joan is a fantastic spinner, and a warm and generous hostess, who even humored my request to stop at Tombstone to get my picture taken at the OK Corral.

That shadow is Joan!

Then we detoured to the wetlands just near Joan's home to see the sandhill cranes who were passing through as they began their migration north.  To Wood Buffalo National Park, just north of us here in McMurray. (I hope they plan their travel routes more efficiently than I tend to!)

A good night's sleep, and off to the workshop...

...which would not be complete without a class dog!

Meet Ladybug, the constant companion of one of the participants.  Ladybug sat quietly and patiently while I gabbled on about the intricacies of twist, and was always waiting with a cheerful wag and a lick when it was time for a break.

Bisbee itself is a charming little community perched on hilltops and steep slopes, all surrounding a now-defunct copper pit mine.  The mine is alarmingly beautiful, since, as one of my students said, it's developed a patina.  We passed it each morning on our way into the studio and every morning, I caught my breath at the colors and light.  Stunning.

There are many wonderful stories about Bisbee, the class, the students, and the Art Auction (from which I came away the proud owner of a shawl woven by Joan!).  There was gourmet chocolate and Bisbee blue turquoise and fabulous food and  lots of laughs.  Hopefully someone learned something useful, too...

Then back up to Tucson with Elaine, who turned out to be another generous and gracious hostess.  I was subjected to this view over breakfast...

...but I think I coped very well.  Just breathtaking--I can't even imagine waking up to that kind of beauty every morning.  Elaine is an amazing weaver and has a studio away from this window, which I think is why she can be so productive.  If I had this to stare at, I would never get anything done!

Once again, many stories came home with me from Tucson.  I met with a group of knitters who knocked my socks off.  Fortunately, they were knitting more!  I got a tour of Tucson, and stopped in at Grandma's Spinning Wheel, where I got to try a Spinolution Mach II.  I also got to go to Tucson Yarn and found some yummy sock indie yarn that is now on the needles.  I visited the Tucson Fiber Arts Guild's rug study group, which was fascinating--especially show and tell.  Then there was the mad dash to the airport, which is a long story all on its own! All in all a wonderful visit.  And back to Vegas...

...where I had managed to Hotwire myself into Caesar's Palace, where I was upgraded to a honeymoon suite.  With so much to do in Vegas, I mostly just wanted to crawl into this gigantic bed and sleep.  But I didn't.  Most of the shows were dark because it was mid-week, but there was plenty of shopping and fine dining.  And a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.

I got back to Edmonton, then back home.  And I have been on the run since I got off the plane.  The next two weeks will be a blur, then I'm off to Fort St. John to give my Spinning Super Socks workshop and a Don't Throw That Away seminar.  Looking forward to more adventures.  And more snapshots! 

Setting A Good Example

Well, so much for good intentions!  It was my goal to blog every week, regardless of what was going on, this year.  I missed last week, and this week is nearly gone, too.  I guess I'd better write something...

I have spent the last two weeks spinning, knitting, hosting puppeteers, writing, packing, organizing, spinning, getting cortisone shots in my knee, knitting, writing...you get the picture.  But mostly, I have been making samples.

Back when I was a newbie spinner, I took a lot of workshops.  I heard a lot of "facts".  I saw a lot of 2-yard lengths of yarn.  I heard a lot of do's and don'ts.  But I saw very few samples.

Now, there are a lot of great instructors who teach without samples, but my fellow students and I all seemed to agree that seeing how the principle being taught worked in an actual garment, or at least a swatch, really helped.  And one wise instructor even said that samples were proof that the teacher knew what she was talking about.  And, to be fair, there are a lot things that we teach in spinning that don't really need samples to back them up, or that the two-yard demo yarn will illustrate just fine.

But, do you really know what I mean when I say your stitches will skew if you underply?

Now you have a visual. (Or, at least you would if I had laid them out properly.  It's there, trust me.  Take the workshop.)

And how about explaining how a particular blend of fibres will perform in a sock?

There you go.

I have, over the past few years, accumulated quite a few samples of different types of yarn, and made samples to demonstrate certain points, but as I teach each workshop, I think of something else that would benefit from visual support.  Simply telling us to do something is fine, but showing us gives depth and substance to the words.  And giving us something we can touch is icing on the cake for tactile folk like spinners.

So, I have been spinning 30-yard skeins.  Sock yarns, S and Z yarns, overplied and underplied yarns, woollen and worsted yarns.  When I had to do this for my Master Spinner classes, I procrastinated and grumbled.  Now, each day I try to see what I can demonstrate with a new yarn.  It's been a lot of fun. (I'm sure there are a few current Master Spinner students out there who think I've gone off my nut with that statement.  Really, it's fun!  Honest!)

Of course, this means that my "real" spinning has been back-burnered for the last couple of weeks, and that I am still struggling to finish the last raglan cap on Steve's Christmas sweater. (Honestly, I have like 15 rows to go and just can't seem to get to it.  Methinks there is some procrastination of the inevitable sewing-up there!)  There are so many sample yarns to knit up, and I keep thinking there should be woven samples too.  Oh, goody!  More skeins!

So, there you have it.  I have to set a good example.  Or at least, set out a good sample.

On a personal note, because my family and friends read this blog, I got a new hairstyle this week.  After a couple of years of that funky asymetrical cut always flopping in my eyes, I went and got my bangs cut and the whole shebang layered and shagged.  May I present The New Moi:

It's much fluffier in person, which makes me happy.  And I can see the world again, which is more amazing than I expected.

And yes, those are bib coveralls.  Wanna make something of it? 

I thought not.

Stasis

Stasis means a state of non-movement or balance.  That's where I am right now--in stasis.

The rush and bustle of the holiday season is over.  The Great Plumbing Crisis is resolved and we are postponing repairs for a bit.  I have ordered supplies for my March workshops and can't do much else until those arrive.  Fibre Week is out of my hands and will unfold as it unfolds.  The traffic in my inbox has gone from 2 or 3 dozen emails each day to, well, 2 or 3.  Julia and Steve are both in heavy-duty rehearsal schedules for next week's opening of High School Musical at Keyano Theatre, so no meals for the next 2 weeks.  The weather is cold and grey and we seem to get just enough snow each and every day to make it inconvenient to go for a walk.  I have nothing "important" to do.

So here I sit.

At first, it was really uncomfortable, not having to multi-task my way through the day.  Getting one project or chore finished before moving on to the next.  It made me anxious.  Something was missing.  Or I was missing something.  In any event, it seemed very odd.

Then it got worse.  I felt useless.  I got panicky because I was only doing one thing at a time, and most of those things seemed useless and insignificant.  I got really restless and irritable.

I was going through withdrawal.

Then I twisted my knee and had to sit.  So I sat.  I made a hat.

It's a nice hat.  The pattern is Gwen's Slouch by Lauren Nell Roy (Ravelry link) and I knit it with the hot, hot pink cashmere that I spun up last month.  I held the yarn doubled, cast on on Sunday morning and bound off on Sunday night.

And somewhere between the cast on and the bind-off, I realized that I was relaxed.  That it was okay to spend a Sunday knitting a hat.  That the world did not need me to keep it rotating. 

I had forgotten how that felt.  It feels kinda nice.

It's all good now.  I can spin and knit and read and get caught up on movies I haven't seen and just sit.  I am in stasis.

I know I won't stay here for long.  Things are going to get ridiculously busy again in about another week or so, and March will be a gong show  (I expect to be home for 6 whole days in March!)  But it's nice to sit and be comfortable sitting.

Or sit and spin.  And knit.  And just enjoy what I'm doing at the moment.

Stasis.

Innovative New Tool!

Do you face challenges when plying?

Are you tired of your traditional Lazy Kate?

Then why not try the all new Lazy Cat*?  The innovative new plying tool that is guaranteed to make plying nearly impossible and add 3% cat fibre content to every yarn you make?

Not only will the Lazy Cat* slow those bobbins right down and keep your yarn from inconveniently becoming plied, it is a fabulous way to remove the smile from any spinner's face.

And when you are fed up with your Lazy Cat*, it can be removed with only  minimal hissing and scratching.

*Patent Pending

No animals were harmed in the making of this blog entry, though the temptation was there...