Spinning Hope & Coming Home

My husband is coming home today from Hospitalization #5 this year. He started a new treatment called photopheresis, which I can only described as a sort of dialysis with UV light. It is aimed to kill the cancer cells in the blood and return it back to his body. He is feeling better in general but he is looking forward to coming home. A week and a half in the hospital is a little too much.

With much time on my hands watching him recuperate, I have been able to work on my Elizabeth Zimmerman Yoke sweater. I am now putting together the sleeves and body and working toward the yoke where I will be doing a Fair Isle pattern close to the neck. I am planning to use some of my Handspun yarn for the color. I really need to find ways to use this yarn, as it seems to be accumulating quite fast.

When I tire and get bored with the sweater, I have been making some toe up socks with a rainbow colored Trekking XX sock yarn. I am using a pattern in the new August issue of Cast On, a Knitting Magazine. This issue is amazing, with lots of instruction and wonderful patterns. I was so impressed by this issue, I drafted a comment for the editor…..

Dear Editor of Cast On,

I don’t often send comments about knitting magazines, as many only seem to be fashion shows of designs made for the fashion model types.. However, your new August-October issue of Cast-On is something to behold from cover to cover.

I love everything about this issue. The sock lessons and designs, and the variety of techniques described in easy to understand detail, are so great. I want to knit all of the sock patterns listed. I’m usually not a sock knitter, but this issue has definitely motivated me to pick up the Size 2’s again and find a beautiful yarn to create the wonderful sock patterns in Cast-On. I love how you included additional patterns to extend the learning techniques of the socks. I absolutely love the Christmas stocking and the left-over mitten patterns, reminding us it is never too early to get a head start on Christmas knitting.

I like very much the focus on “instruction” in this issue. After all, TKGA, is an organization that promotes the education of knitting. I think you have hit a winning strategy in this issue, with something to teach everyone. It is likely to become a favorite knitting resource, one that knitters come back to time again.. Congratulations on a well designed issue. Keep them coming.

Happy Knitting!

Diana Hilton
Duarte, CA

In spinning I have been working on the Corriedale fleece I purchased at Black Sheep Gathering in July. The fleece is beautifully clean and fluffy. I has a little lanolin ( a greasy feel) to it, so I washed it with one soak with Dawn dishwashing liquid and rinsed it once. I pulled off locks and lined them up side by side in laudry bags. I also tried to use tulle netting closed with safety pin and this worked well too. Normally, I have to soak it 2-3 times to get all the dirt out. However, with so little dirt, once was enough. I soaked the locks and used a ShamWOW or towel to absorb the water, and laid them out to air dry.

When dried, they looked like this……

Once spun into a single ply yarn it looked this on the bobbin. See how white and clean it looked.

It was so easy to spin.
It made a lovely two-ply yarn…
I still haven’t dyed my newly spun Corriedale. I keep thinking I should accumulate enough yarn for a sweater, but I’m not sure I have enough. A four-ounce bobbin only gets me about 70-80 yard skeins per bobbin. One adult sweater takes from 1000 to 1500 yds. I have perhaps enough for a child’s sweater, but I fear making a wool sweater and giving it to someone who will not take the time to wash it properly, will resulting in a felted shrunken mess when naively washing in warm water with agitation. The thought is just horrifying to the long hard work I will put in it. It is better to make it for someone who know how to care for wool.

Spinning for Comfort

July 26, 2006

I was hoping to include a picture with this but days are passing by and this entry is getting old so I am just going to post it without.....

It has been very interesting listening to podcasts talking about the Tour de Fleece projects. Tour de Fleece is a July campaign where spinners challenge themselves in spinning something, just as the “Tour de France” bikers challenge themselves in a grueling bike ride. Although I have not officially joined, I have been attempting to finish spinning the White alpaca fleece I bought 1 ½ years ago. It about time I do something with it, although I have yet to decide what. It has been lovely spinning this very soft beautiful fiber into singles. I know it will have to be transformed into something next to skin so that the wearer can feel the soft warmness of the garment. I would like to dye it as well to set off its loveliness in a beautiful color, perhaps a pink or light blue or lavender.

Spinning is such a comfort to me. I haven’t had much time to myself lately as I am working when I can, and taking care of my husband, who has cancer. He has his good days and bad days. Two courses of chemotherapy have just held the disease at bay but have not relieved the annoying symptoms. We will be exploring the possibility of a Bone Marrow Transplant at the City of Hope. It has been an intellectual, emotional, and physical challenge trying to maintain a household by myself and navigate through the health care system, communicating with multiple specialists, lab tests, and exams. It can be very exhausting. Having to experience it first hand has enlightened me to the fact that Healthcare System is definitely in need of an overhaul. Thank you President Obama, for trying. A decade or two ago, it was never so complicated. One doctor would help you navigate through the system. This is no longer the case. A person is on their own to figure it out: the insurance, the rules, the rising co-pays, the communication between doctors and specialists,…..the patient. I cannot imagine how the regular lay person can do it without educating themselves. I feel blessed that my nursing background has given me an edge in figuring all this out. I can easily see how someone would get so overwhelmed and give up. At the end of the day, spinning helps me sort out my thoughts and gives me a sense of accomplishment that I made something out of practically nothing.

The alpaca fleece is so fine (thin), I have flick carded it before spinning. This is such a great technique where you use a dog flicker to comb a washed lock of fleece. I always put a paper towel on my lap when I do this to catch the remaining dirt and debris. This fluffs the lock beautifully so that it spins easily and smoothly with the minimum of lumps. I flick a plastic box full of fiber ready to spin and this helps to break up the monotony of spinning.

New Resolutions

Here I sit comtemplating the events of the past two weeks. I lament as I ponder…..is my holiday already over? How sad! I could use more days off. My company has left. The decorations are put away. I think my favorite decorations this year was my Outside angel……

I will miss its sparkle as it announces to the world in trumpet and song that Jesus was born! It looked great both in the day time and at night.
I finally have my house back and now there is no time to do the house projects I had planned during my break. I’ve started my resolutions. I have picked up an old UFO…the Babies and Bears Sweater, as well have spent some time planning a new one….the Milly Mop Sweater for my Grandaughter.

Babies and Bears Sweater: I purchased this pattern and yarn from Alamitos Bay Yarn Company last year while on a weekend trip in Long Beach. I fell in love with the sample cardigan that I thought would be perfect for my new grandchild to be born in August 08. I was impressed with the very soft Berrocco Comfort Yarn and was surprised something this soft should be acrylic. The one thing that holds me off this sweater is that it is in pieces and needs to be grafted together in Kitchener’s stitch. Kitchener’s is something I have very little patience for. However, I finally finished the 2nd sleeve side and very patiently grafted it together. I’m working on the hood now.

The sweater is very much like Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Sweater with a mitered front. I may lengthen it a bit so that my grandson, now 4 1/2 months may use it a little longer. It seems very roomy but if he is anything like his sister, he will stay a good sized baby and outgrow it quickly.

Something new: Milly Mop Cardigan Sweater: I wanted to try to make my 2 year old granddaughter a sweater. Looking through my knitting books I found in The Ultimate Knitter’s Guide, a cute but fairly simple sweater with a lacy border for a toddler. I looked around in my stash and finally found some brushed wool/rayon on a cone laying about. I started a swatch but realized this yarn was laceweight about 18 wraps per inch. I needed a fingering weight. So I wound up some cakes and 2-plyed it on my spinning wheel. It came out wonderfully soft and shiny. The only thing about this single yarn was that it was originally spun in the right direction (clockwise), which means I had to ply it on the left direction(counter clockwise). This direction tends to become unspun or untwisted with my style of knitting, the Eastern Uncrossed Method. To compensate for this, I tried to overspin it slightly.This way it would untwist less as I knit the fabric and still leave some twist to keep it together.

Rather than make a swatch, I started with the sleeve.

I figured that if I didn’t like it or the gauge was not right, a small sleeve would not be too much to rip out. My gauge turned out to be 26 sts/inches rather than 28 sts/in as the pattern required, but I think this will be close enough. Even if the sweater turns out to be a little big it will OK for her…more room to grow into.

I know my logic of one old and one new does not improve my status in reducing my UFOs. It only keeps me at the status quo. I may have to consider revising my plan to two old projects and one new as working projects. Stayed tuned to my progress…….

November spinning

I’ve become a little tired of knitting lately and have taken up spinning. I’ve become somewhat frustrated with my projects. Several of them need some correction or ripping back because of mistakes discovered after the fact. Right now I just don’t have the heart to do this so they have stalled in hibernation. I am so overwhelmed brainwise with work projects that I just cannot invest another neuron’s effort to figure out how to correct them at this time.

Soo…for the mundane thoughtless work, I’ve taken up spinning. This is an activity that doesn’t take too much thinking. I’ve finished up some bumps of roving I’ve purchased. The ½ lb of Louet Ocean wave roving I purchased at Lambtown this summer is all spun. It gave me about 3 ½ skeins of sport wt 2 ply. I also spun up 3 skeins of grey merino roving I had processed about a year ago. This roving ended up with a few neps and irregularities but this is what gives a garment character. I will probably make some hats from this.

We were planning to go the Alpacafest West this weekend. This was a chance to buy some alpaca fiber or fleece and see over 100 lovely alpacas. I went last year and purchased a beautitul white alpaca fleece that I had not touched since. I decided to go through my stash to see what colors I did not have. I found a beautiful chocolate red, black, grey and of course, the white. All of this was still in the unwashed fiber stage. I was feeling rather guilty and decided I didn’t need another fleece until I did something with what I had.

We ended up not going to Alpacafest because suddenly there were wild fires in Diamond Bar and other areas that blanketed the whole San Gabriel Valley with dangerous smoke and particle matter that made it very difficult to breathe. I hope the alpacas didn’t suffer too much outside. I ended up staying inside, washing a bit of the white alpaca and spinning it up. It came out so nice and soft. I’m dreaming about dyeing it.

So now I need to wash some more alpaca. In the waiting time, for drying, I found some washed Coopworth and decided to card it into batts. I placed the carded batts into a under the bed plastic sweater container for a ready to spin source of fiber.

Next week I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off. Guess what I will be doing? Yes, besides cooking, I’ll be spinning.

Holidays and Lace Reading

Have you started your Holiday Knitting yet? Some may think that if you haven’t started yet, it might be too late. Perhaps…..soo….I have some to catch up. The problem with holiday knitting is the idea of starting new projects and putting aside the ones you’re in love with. It takes a lot of self control to tear oneself away from those project to focus on other people, but nevertheless, necessary to your sanity, especially if your set on knitting gifts.

So, what am I going to do for the holidays? Who am I going to knit for this year? I tend to be a realist and KNOW that I cannot knit for every member of my family. The most immediately circle of family who gathers together for most family events amounts to 15 people plus a new baby.
My fingers are still itching to spin more. I just spun up about 500 yards of superwash roving in a sock weight yarn. I still need to decide how to dye these skeins to make a nice pair of socks for someone.
I had spun up some mohair not too long ago. It came out so soft and I wondered what I could make out of it. Since I was thinking about the holidays, I ran across last years Holiday Issue of Interweave Knits and rediscovered a beautiful pattern for Sugarplum shrug. This would be perfect with the mohair. I tried to start this pattern before and failed. At that time, I had barely tried lace patterns and this one did not have a chart. So through much frustration and several restarts, I quit and ripped it out.

Now, having had some lacework behind my belt experiencewise, I decided to do it right and swatch first. I used a smooth sport wt yarn to learn the patterns and was eventually successful after some experimenting with my style of knitting. If I could not get this to work with smooth yarn, I knew not to attempt it with the mohair, especially because ripping it out would be disasterous. All the fine fuzzy hairs would tangle and felt to no end. What I need was some confidence with the lace pattern! I learned to read my knitting. Read Knitting? What’s that, you might be asking? It is being so familiar with the directions of the decreases and knowing and predicting where a yarn overs should go, to get the outcome or pattern you want. This is a predictable diamond pattern, which makes it much easier than I expected. Of course, a chart would have been very helpful, but I think I have it in my head now. The swatch came out great. However, I think the lace border may still need some work. Luckily, it is made separately and sewn on afterwards. I decided to start the body with the lace pattern and it is coming out beautifully.

On the family front, we celebrated by Mom's 80th birthday this weekend. We had a lovely dinner. My brother gave her a beautiful rose corsage. It was a wonderful day with just a minor shadow hanging over it. More about that later........

Does she look 80?????Never!!!! Always young at heart too.

No Idle Hands

I’ve been sick with a cold all week. Felt it coming on slowly since Monday. I was out from work Wed and Thurs. Back to work on Friday, although not 100%. Today, it’s now it my chest. It’s the pits! Thursday was my 32nd wedding anniversary and I was sick! How the Lord tests me! Hopefully, we’ll celebrate this weekend.

Being home gave me a chance to knit and spin, I’ve spun a lot of skeins of mohair trying to make a dent in the fleece I have. It came out soft and lovely but it seems I’m spinning the never-ending fleece. I still have lots to spin.

I finally got tired of mohair and switched to some left over Romney wool. After spinning Mohair, I felt the Romney was too scratchy, so I plied it with some gold tencel roving. It softened it up a bit.

I’ve been working on a variety of knit projects: the fuzzy feet slippers, the Hey Teach! Sweater, dug out my pink striped socks and tried to fix them-still a work in progress. I’ve been knitting the 2nd sleeve for the Babies and Bears sweater. And when I grew bored or tired, I gazed lovingly at my Gerber daisies which are blooming wonderfully and lift my spirits.

I’ve been reading the “No Idle Hands:the Social History of American Knitting” by Anne L. Macdonald. It is so great to hear the hidden history of the Revolutionary War and the courage of the women who used their cunning and skills to gather women together to knit and sew clothing and wool socks for George Washingtons troups at Valley Forge . They passe through blockades in the middle of war, in the cold of winter, to get these desperately needed items to them. They found the troops, by following the bloody footprints in the snow of soldiers who had no socks and shoes to wear. Women worked to spin and knit 24 hours a day to meet the needs of the soldiers and those of their families, which in that time was quite large. Talk about labor intensive!!!

A Vacation Garden

In my quest to go through my vacation list, I was able to check off another item: Plant a flower bed. I have a flower bed that has been neglected for the past 6 month growing wild asylum and marigolds. I was determine this week to condition the flower bed and plant some nice summer flowers. I haven’t had much of a “green thumb” in the past, especially since I’ve been working full time. Yet, I want to try again to celebrate the color in my life.

I made a trip to Home Depot and picked out some very colorful Gerber daisies. Without knowing much about the care of such plant I purchased about 8 pots of them in a variety of colors. These flowers seem to have a life and personality of their own. I’m not kidding! Since planting them I have found that they don’t like much direct sun and they are very thirsty. After a few hours in the intense sun they start to droop and wilt. If I notice this in time, I give them a drink and once the 12:00 noon shade hits them they perk up, straightening their flower stems and opening their flowers like a “happy smile” that daisies are known for. Luckily, they only have direct sun for about 6 hours and the rest of the day they are in shade. They are aptly named “Gerber daisy” because they are so cute and beautiful like a cute Gerber baby and need attentive care. They are going to be my “babies”.

Ravelolympics progress

I’m almost done with the main body knitting of the cotton Sampler Vest. I have a few more rows of the right front shoulder and will be starting the Button hole band. I have found, however, that this project has not been the greatest to watch the Olympics with. I have made repeated stupid mistakes that were easily fixable. However, the Olympics has been getting more exciting and often distracts me when I need to concentrate on my project. I really enjoyed the Swimming Freestyle Relay Final last night! It was so exciting! Go USA!!!!

Spinning

I mentioned before that I have all of this mohair fiber and was feeling, as I washed it, that I really needed to do something with it. The staple length was about 6-7 inches and I knew it would be impossible to card with my drum carder. So I decide to flick it open with a flicker brush and spin from the open locks. I wanted a very soft yarn so I set my spinning wheel to a low ratio about 5:1 on my Joy Spinning Wheel. I treddled very slow to make a very fuzzy low twist type of yarn. One of the disadvantages of this is that it tends to fall apart easily. I wondered if I could set the twist in singles, but thought that with the low twist it would not keep the yarn together. I decided to 2-ply it to make it a stronger yarn. After setting the twist, it ended up into a lovely soft yarn with lots of luster. WOW! I still trying to figure out what I will make out of this. Any suggestions? :) Yes, it feels as soft as it looks!

Soy Fiasco!

I feel like I’m in a race to reduce my fiber stash. If I wanted to be in a race, I probably should have joined the Tour de Fleece last month. I am trying to spin as much as I can before the start of the Olympics tomorrow at 8:00 pm PST. When the Olympics start I will be working on my knitted Sampler Vest, trying to be dedicated to the craft of knitting until I finish. I really need to finish it. It has been sitting in my closet for years unfinished.

The dyed merino I spun up yesterday came out beautifully. I can’t wait to make some socks out of it.

I ran across a small 2 oz. bag of Dyed Soy Silk I had purchased about a year ago. I cannot remember which festival. I thought, well, here’s my chance to spin this up. Sooo… how to I spin it? It’s too small an amount to do much of anything. I decided to spin it fine for a small knitted purse or something like that.
Spinning with Soy is much easier than real silk as it doesn’t snag on every little skin imperfection or jagged nail of your fingers. It seemed strong enough although I did break the thread once. I ended up with a 97 yd skein that was about 18 wraps per inch, which is about lace weight yarn. Since I was unfamiliar with this fiber, I decided to set the twist in luke warm water and OMG!!! It started to BLEED!!!! This was no minor bleeding. A lot of color came out, almost as much as if I were dying it, and this was the first rinse. I emptied the sink and this time I used cold water. Still bled. The next rinse I decided to put some vinegar into the water hoping to fix the dye better on the fiber. This seemed to work a little….there was less dye bleeding.

The last rinse was somewhat less bleeding but there was still some turquoise in the water. I will need to remember not to make any clothing or combine it with a white color in my knitting. So what happened?……I do know that not all wool dyes are effective on cellulose or plant fibers. Perhaps the Dyer didn’t know this? I didn’t take the time to ask what kind of dye this fiber was dyed with.

Lessons learned: (1) Ask vendor what kind of dye was used to dye the skein, if home made. (2) Beware of soy silk in very vibrant colors. (3) I’m glad I didn’t invest in a pound of this stuff. 4) I wonder if all soy yarn behaves like this....if so, how dreadful! I won't be buying soy much any more.

The Vacation List

I’m on vacation! I have two whole weeks all to myself. Yea! Being the anal retentive person I am, I made a list of the things I want to accomplish: one for work (yes, I brought home work to do. Deadlines never go on vacation), one for projects for home and one for fun.

While on vacation, I took the opportunity to AGAIN, go through all my animal fibers in storage. Fiber consisted of wool, alpaca, mohair, dog and any other fiber not spun yet into yarn. I made piles of white, greys, dark to black and a small pile of browns. I put dyed colored fibers into a separate pile. I should do this at least every six months in order to examine it for bug infestation, but most of all to keep my addiction to buying more fiber on ebay to a controllable level. This activity has cured my desire to buy another fleece this time around. Conclusion: No more buying fleeces. I have enough fiber to keep me busy processing for at least 5 more years. While going through my fiber stash I noticed a lonely unwashed fleece needing some attention and decided to wash it. At first I couldn’t remember what kind of fleece it was. It was long and shiny with wavy locks. There was a note in it saying it was sheared in 2006 and the animal’s name was Kate.

I separated it into locks, put it into netted laundry bags and soaked it in the washer with hot water mixed with Ovus Paste for about 1 hour and put it through the spin cycle to get most of the water out of it. Some parts were very dirty and it took about 3 washes and rinses to get it somewhat clean. Some parts, I will need to comb out to loosen the dirt, especially those on the tips. As the fleece was drying, I realized what kind of fiber it was…….Mohair. I have so much mohair, I don’t know what to do with. Soon, it will overtake the wool. Perhaps it’s time for a swap or a give-away?

I have been spinning some of the merino roving I dyed a few months back. I am trying to spin it fine to make some sock yarn. I really liked the colors. I hope it will spin up into something I can make socks out of, at least some anklets.

I have been perusing through my knitting books again. This is a very dangerous thing to do because it inspires me to start something new. I was leafing through my Elizabeth Zimmerman books. I caught site of “The Bog Jacket” in Knitting Around and thought perhaps my son Scott might like this style. It looks like a square piece of fabric cut at the halfway point for underarms and folded over to make kimono style arms and sewn together. Looks easy enough but it is all in garter stitch. Thought I’d try to make a miniature version before committing to an adult size. I found some Knit Picks Swish, a superwash merino in my stash and cast on for a child’s size jacket. The garter stitch which is straight knitting is so boring. I wish there was someway to jazz it up as I go. This has become my traveling knitting as I don’t need any concentration to knit this. The other night as I was having trouble falling asleep, I turned out the light, turned my Ipod on and knitted away until I drifted off to dreamland.

I’m counting down the days for the Olympics. I’ve joined the UFO Olympics to finish a Sampler knitted vest. I can’t start it until the Olympics start and must finish when it finishes. I really need to knuckle down and finish my projects. They are getting a little numerous and tying up my needles. I just don’t have the heart to frog them. Perhaps this Olympics will help me learn to be project monogamous…….not!

Spinning Mojo

I have been gazing dreamily over the roving I’ve dyed a few weeks ago. It has been calling to me. Sooo… I dug out my spinning wheel from the dusty closet. My husband nearly fainted when he saw me do this. Has it really been so long since I’ve spun? Perhaps it has. I’ve been a little (mwahahaha) “ knitting” obsessed.

I decided to start with the Lavendar and yellow Churro roving since it is a hardy fiber and I didn’t think I was up to tackleing the fine merino yet.

So I set up my spinning wheel, dust it off, and made sure it is working smoothly. Oh no! I’ve forgotten which direction to spin the yarn. It HAS been a long time! Do I spin to the right or left? With my style of knitting, the opposite from the mainstream is better because the yarn usually untwists as I knit. I was too shook up to figure it out, so I guessed………..wrong. I spun to the right, but midway I decided it didn’t feel right. Well, no turning back now. I struggled to finish it. It ended up with thick and thin parts and was very hard to control because of the long staple length. Churro wool is a somewhat rough wool, more suited for rugs or purses. Well perhaps this would make a small bag. It ended up about 107 yds of bulky thick and thin yarn when plied. By the time I finished it, I felt I had better control. My spinning mojo was back.

Now it was time to tackle the merino. This merino was very fine. I was so glad it did not “felt” as I dyed it. I really made an effort to treat it gently and I think the cold batch dyeing worked well on it. This lovely soft pastel-colored ball of yarn would make a nice soft baby item, provided it was washed in cold water. It has been spinning up very nicely and the colors are intensifying as I spin. My spinning in not very consistent as I’m not counting my treddling but it seems like it will make a nice yarn. Here’s my effort so far. Perhaps I’ll 3-ply it. I’m trying to make a fingering to sport wt single to ply. Any ideas on what I can make with it? I wonder how much I will need for a sweater? Or booties? Or a Hat?! Hmmmm, a hat! Sounds like a great idea! Stay tuned………

How and Why I learned to Spin

I mentioned in my profile that I also spin, yet I haven’t done much of it lately. I think the reason is because it reminds me of my beautiful Chow-Chow pet dog, Aires (pronounced Air-eeze), who passed away quietly May 5th of this year. This is not easy for me to write about, even now, but necessary to my healing process. Thanks for reading.

Knitting, at this time, has a soothing and comforting aspect of healing, so I have found comfort in this as I mourn the passing of my lovely dog and my favorite cousin.

Several years ago, as my two oldest sons were preparing for college careers and leaving home, I struggled with separation anxiety, as most menopausal mothers experience. For 11 years, I had been an at-home mom and spent these fun loving years focused on my children. Having them leave home was rather depressing for me. When my youngest was starting high school, I started a part-time job and suddenly my house was so quiet. I felt I now had time and should make time to pursue something for me, to keep me from being so depressed.

I joined a local knitting guild. During one of the meetings, the group was knitting on various projects. I was just starting to get to know some of the other ladies in the group and was somewhat intimidated by them and their advanced skills. We each had a opportunity to “Show and Tell” what we were working on. One lady said she was knitting Samoyed Dog Hair, that she had handspun on consignment. Although, she did not delight in the project, I was intrigued. My thoughts went immediately to the handfuls of soft dog hair undercoat I was combing every week from my Chow Chow and throwing away.

Whenever, I get interested in something, I tend to be obsessed with finding out as much about the subject as possible. I did a Google Search and found a website: http://www.vipfibers.com/collect-store-fiber.htm.
I found out how to collect, wash and prepare dog hair. I promised myself to someday learn to spin so I could knit something from Aires’s fur.

Shortly after, my husband and I took a summer trip to Las Vegas. I wanted to find all the yarn stores in the area and stumbled a across a little shop called Wooley Wonders. Upon entering, there were wonderful colorful displays of various fibers to spin and spinning tools along with yarn and knitting supplies. I asked about how one would go about learning to spin fiber and the shop owner suggested I start with a drop spindle and some Romney fiber. She offered to give me a lesson right then, and in 5 minutes I was spinning. I was hooked ! I brought home the drop spindle and a pound of fiber and spun up a fairly consistent yarn. I learned how to ply it, and put in a skein. I experimented with microwave kool-aid dyeing and it turned out great for a first skein of yarn.

My first attempts at trying to spin Aires dog hair was a disaster using the drop spindle. The hair fibers were very fine and very short. I decided that I needed to get a spinning wheel and chose carefully the most versatile and portable wheel I could get, an Ashford Joy, single treddle. I explored Ebay to purchase a variety of fibers from merino wools to silk and alpaca. This was the fun part. As my consistency improved, I tried spinning the dog hair again. I finally spun a skein successfully, which was very tightly spun to stay together. Later I purchased a drum carder and started blending the dog hair with wool and found that this made a better yarn and fabric. My first knitted project was a pair of mittens, which were unusually warm, even warmer than wool. The mittens came in handy one morning during my son’s early morning Cross Country runs when it was 35 degrees, a rare occurrence in Southern California. Over the years, I had collected Aires undercoat, washed it, rinsed it in hair conditioner in order to give it a nice smell and softness, and spun it into yarn.

Allow me to digress a little and give some history. Aires first showed up on our back doorstep 10 years ago as a 3-month-old puppy, a chow-chow and golden retriever mix. When a search for the owners did not produce any results, we decided to keep him. He was the first dog we ever had. He was very gentle, timid around strangers, a calm and loving dog that fit our quiet family just perfectly. The Veterinarian staff said he was the one of the best Chows they had taken care of when he went for his check-ups. I loved how he would lay quietly by my feet as I knitted or spun. I loved to brush him. He was like a big teddy bear. In his last years, he developed hip displasia, a common malady that Chows are prone to and he injured his knee by rupturing a tendon. Surgery would not have cured him, so we chose to keep him as comfortable as possible over his last months, and he fell asleep at the foot of our bed on May 5 and never woke.

I miss Aires terribly. He was my dear companion. I am comforted by the fact that I saved his fur and wish to make a lace shawl of his fur. I saw the perfect pattern in an Issue of Spin Out Magazine called a Dog’s Paw Shawl, a triangular shawl. I will be blending and spinning it into yarn as soon as the weather gets colder. This will be a nice momento of him. It’s like I can still feel petting his fur and feeling his soft gentleness as he keeps me warm and warmhearted.

This is my Aires Hat, inspired by my dog. It is knit with Black Cormo, handspun and a blend of Aires dog hair and wool, in a Slip Stitch pattern I designed my self.