Black and silver/brown alpaca
Tussah silk and grey Coopworth
Brown Cotswold and red Kid-Mohair
The problem with maintenance free stuff is that it's not meant to be maintained and therefore not really meant to be taken apart. This one came apart pretty easy. What I found was a ton of fiber and fiber dust and grit embedded in the lubricating grease on the gears and it had dried rock-solid. I was kind of surprised at the amount of dirt as I always use clean fibers and keep the card in a box when not in use. Then again, it is 12 years old. All the parts are plastic and wood except for the metal crank and pin. I was afraid to use any solvents to break up the grease, so I tried using a tooth brush and tooth picks. I finally resorted to soaking the 2 small gears in some Dawn dish soap. That loosened up the gunk enough to remove it. Then I re-lubed the thing and put it back together.
So, a word to the wise...If it says it needs cleaning, then it is built to be taken apart and cleaned. If not...it still needs to be done and it's a pain in the butt.
AAADD- KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.....PLEASE READ!
Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.Somehow I feel better even though I have it!!
Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway,I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table,and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks,but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Coke is getting warm,and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke,a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.
I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter,fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
The car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers don't have enough water, there is still only 1 check in my check book, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail....
Do me a favor.
Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who the hell I've sent it to.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
Here is the finished product. 15 ounces of domestic wool top thaT I dyed with PRO Wash-Fast Acid Dyes. I ended up with 1281 yards/1171 meters in a nice DK weight. Perfect for the EZ Fair Isle Yoked sweater that I want to make. Now I just need to spin the "main" color. Not sure what I want to do for that. I think I do some carding and see what I come up with.
It has turned out just the way I wanted it to ( how unreal is that).
This is some domestic wool top the I have dyed with blotches of black, teal, purple, and blue acid dyes. It seems to be coming out nicely. I'm on the last of 3 bobbins now. It comes out to about 1 pound of singles. I'm planning on 3-plying it. I have to modify my tensioned lazy-kate so I can fit my WooLee Winder bobbins on it. They are a little longer than my Ashford Traditional bobbins. I'm not quite sure what I will do with this stuff. I was thinking of using it for the pattern color in the Elizabeth Zimmermann Yoked Sweater. I'll have to spin up a natural white or grey solid for the background, I suppose. I wonder if this stuff would be too dark?
I am amazed how much this thing felted. Wow. I'm pretty happy about how it turned out. I WILL change the pattern if I make another on, though. It's really too long. The ear flaps have ended up as cheeck flaps, but that's okay. This was supposed to be an extra warm hat for cold and windy days, so that works out.
The pattern is Felted Helmet Hat by Nancy Lindberg
Wool is Bemdji Woolen Mills Homespun
I couldn't figure out what the brown spot was on the crown of the hat. I blew it up and it's a wood tick. Man, I can't wait for July when they are long gone. ARGH!
Someone was asking me how bad my yarn was when I first started spinning. I remember it well.It all started when my sister-in-law gave me some raw mohair that she had gotten somewhere. This was not the type of mohair that most spinners would recognize. It looked like it had been sheared off the goat because it needed shearing, not for using the fiber. Since we didn't know any better, we thought it was great. My husband, knowing that my sister-in-law was giving me this fiber for Christmas, bought me "Hands On Spinning", by Lee Raven, some hand cards and a drop-spindle. The spindle must weigh at least 2 pounds. I was soooo thrilled.
I read the book, washed the mohair, which was actually white instead of dark gray, carded it as best as I could, and tried to spindle it. What a catastrophe. The mohair was so slipery and the spindle was so heavy, I couldn't do anything. Well, more reading followed, an Ashford Traditional was bought, and some raw wool was found, which I washed and carded, and my first yarn was born. I still use that original mohair for blending. I still love it even though it wasn't perfect.
Here are some photos of some of my earlier yarns.
My very first yarn (merino-what did I know?), and a hat I made with it. I even dyed a few minnie skeins with Kool-Aid so I could have stripes.
Here's what is left of most of my first yarns. I made socks for my sister-in-law (blended with the mohair, of course) and a bunch of other little things for family and friends.
Here is my second yarn. A beautiful Romney fleece.
And the hat I made for my husband, which he still wears when it's really cold.
All this started a little over 10 years ago and my passion for spinning (and my stash, of course) has only increased. Thanks, Cathy.
