Dyet Yarns: Adventures in Fiber

Moving Day!

Nuri — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:55:55 +0000

Tomorrow is moving day.

At least, tomorrow is the day everything gets loaded into vehicles. Some of it goes right away, and some of it will stay with us while we finish cleaning ALL THE THINGS. For the first time in my entire life, I’ve packed up everything before the actual day of moving. Dad would be proud. Especially since after the last time, he said he’d never help me move again since I’m never packed! (Well I live 8 hours away from him now, so it would have been impractical for him to help anyway.)

This is not all my stuff, but it’s almost all the stuff that is left here. The rest of it has already been moved. (Yarn and fiber stash is safely at the destination already.) I have successfully culled most of the big furniture, which makes things LOADS easier!

I’m psyched to be moving. Especially since after the move, I will have a chance to catch my breath, do an inventory, and start dyeing again. And also, film the rest of the video tutorials I have planned. Oh, and of course there is the search for gainful employment… I suppose I didn’t spend 8 years in higher education for no reason! In the meantime, I will be doing research for interesting tidbits and things to post on my new blog project, the Knitting J.D. That will be an interesting adventure.

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

That voice in your head at 3 AM…

Nuri — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:54:40 +0000

You know what’s annoying? That creative drive that keeps you awake at night with an idea that you just can’t forget about and go to sleep! There are too many things I want to do. If I don’t have a creative project to work on, I have to think about other things. Like planning a wedding. (It should be noted that I’m not actually engaged yet.)

This is particularly inconvenient when you are preparing to move and every single one of your projects (what, there are people that have just one?) is either packed or already moved out. I’ve carded pretty much all of my remaining fiber for the Etsy shop. (No more ordering supplies until after the move!) What am I supposed to DO with my hands?

This is the kind of thing that leads me to see if I can rim-weight one of those wooden wheel + dowel drop spindles. The one I have been trying to use for plying that needs to be heavier and spin longer. I bet I can do it with copper wire and fabric puff paint! (The answer, by the way, is yes I can. And it’s pretty darn spiffy. In a weird alien-bug-lookin’ kinda way.) Pics when it’s not so dark… it is definitely the eccentric member of my current spindle collection.

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Shameless Self Promotion: Giveaway 1

Nuri — Sat, 05 May 2012 18:52:01 +0000

As some of you already know, I am running a Kickstarter campaign during the month of May. We are currently 14% funded! The beauty of Kickstarter is that if you don’t get enough backing, the project isn’t funded and no one is out any money. That doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try my darndest to get the word out and succeed!

There will be several Giveaways on the blog this month to promote the campaign. This is the first one. It is open to all, including international readers, backers and non-backers alike. (I will pay ordinary shipping costs, but International entrants are responsible for any additional customs fees incurred. Value of prize is $16.)

The Prize:
This 3.9 oz. of 60s Superwash Merino, hand-dyed by me in the “harvest” colorway.

How To Enter:
1. Reply to this post (must reply to original post on DyetYarns.com, not a cross-post) with your favorite non-zodiac constellation, and tell me why it’s your favorite.
2. You may gain additional entries by sharing the link to the Kickstarter project and posting one comment for your shares telling me where you shared (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Blog, etc). ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1646672212/written-in-the-stars-a-collection-of-visual-and-fi )
3. Entries close on May 9, 2012.

How A Winner is Chosen:
1. Each comment will be assigned a number according to the order they are posted. (First comment is 1, second is 2, etc.)
2. The Random.org random number generator will be used to pick the winning comment number.
3. The winner will be posted on the Blog and emailed for their shipping address. If the winner does not respond within one week, a new winner will be chosen.

This is shameless self-promotion; you do not have to back my Kickstarter project unless you want to. No pledge or purchase necessary for this Giveaway. Thanks Everyone!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Rose Garden Sweater

Nuri — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:41:43 +0000

The first sweater I ever designed from scratch (for handspun) is finally done, and the pattern is almost ready! I’m knitting another version of it in a lovely gray to test the collared version (with no hood), but here’s a little preview.

It started out with a moss green braid from Rhinebeck 2010. Then I purchased complimentary rose colored fibers. I estimated I’d need about 1.5 pounds of fiber based on the weight of a commercially-knit hoodie I like.

Then I divided the fiber up into skein-sized bundles with 3 balls in each bundle (one for each ply). Each bundle became a skein of 3-ply yarn.

Which then got knit up into the final sweater panels. Here’s the front and back blocking!

It was really exciting to design an entire project starting from the fiber, designing the pattern, and spinning the exact yarn I wanted!

Do you have any projects you’ve designed from the ground up like this? I’d love to see them!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Andean 2-Ply (a.k.a. Edward Fiberhands)

Nuri — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:03:45 +0000

Ack! I want to make this single into a 2-ply yarn, but I have no bobbins or extra spindles. What can I do?

Andean plying is a technique for winding yarn onto your hand in a way that keeps it from tangling while you use both ends of the same strand. You can use it for plying on a spindle or a wheel. I often will use this on my wheel when I am doing a 3-ply and run out of one bobbin before the other two. I take the shortest length of the remaining two bobbins and wind an Andean plying bracelet so I can keep 3-plying.

It’s a little easier to do it for relatively short lengths of singles; you probably don’t want to wind and entirely-full bobbin of lace-weight singles around your hand! It works great for medium-to-bulky singles, though.

I promise the closeup shots of the yarn and my hand are in focus. Camera didn’t want to focus on me for some reason, but that’s okay… it’s not about me, its about the yarn!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Straight From the Sheep

Nuri — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:04:16 +0000

This weekend will be the anniversary of my first adventure with fleece. It’s hard to believe it’s only been one year, especially looking at the collection of fleece I have now. (We won’t speak of that because we’re pretending it’s not a problem.)

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival opens the fiber festival season, and though I’m sad not to be going this year (it’s exams, ugh) I can look back at the results of last year’s festival with amazement. A friend and I bought a tri-colored Jacob fleece to wash, pick, card, spin, and knit into semi-matching sweaters. For Rhinebeck. Which happens in October. That means we gave ourselves a timeline of 5 months to get the entire project done.
First we had to lay out the fleece and take out any remaining bits we didn’t want. It was pretty well skirted already, but we pulled out a few second cuts.

Then we separated all the colors out, since we were planning to spin them separately.

We bagged up the fleece into mesh bags for washing, which took several rounds of hot, soapy water and rinsing…

…and then spread out the clean, wet wool on old screen doors to dry in the sun.

After lots and LOTS of picking through the fleece to remove bits of vegetation and dirt, we carded up the various colors on my bitty drum carder! The fiber was amazingly soft for a primitive breed.

During July (Tour de Fleece!) we spun the batts up into various colors of yarn.

Right after the end of July, we both cast on our sweaters. We DID finish them before Rhinebeck! And the weather was perfect for us to wear them so we could be sweater twins.

The pattern is Quadrants (Rav link) from Knitter’s Magazine. We both altered it a bit to fit our individual needs, but for the most part it’s an easy knit that produces a lovely sweater if you have some yarn you want to feature.

After this experience, I was completely hooked on processing fleece myself. I love washing wool! Maybe it’s just the lanolin fumes or the resulting soft hands, but it’s a very zen activity. I highly recommend trying it out! Be warned; starting down this path may result in a downward spiral into fiber preparation tool madness.

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Tour de Fleece 2012

Nuri — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:06:58 +0000

It’s coming! Preparations and Team Signups have opened on Ravelry.

The Tour de Fleece is a challenge month for spinners that runs parallel to the Tour de France. The idea is that while they’re spinning their wheels, we’re spinning ours! (Spindles are mini-wheels; they totally count.) Of course I will once again be participating in this lovely tradition, as it marks the anniversary of my introduction to spinning my own yarn. Last year I was quite productive; I finished most of the yarn for two sweaters and learned a new technique.

Here’s my haul from last July:

And a close-up of the yarn from the new technique challenge: corespun!

Corespinning is when you have a “core” yarn that you wrap the fiber around, completely covering the core. It takes a long time, but it produces some gorgeous yarn! If you have awesome, colorful fiber with lots of elements you want to show off, this can be a good method of achieving that. I am planning a video tutorial of my own on this technique towards the end of May to show you how I do it, but there are a few good ones for varying ways of corespinning already out on the web if you want to check them out!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Knitting Comics

Nuri — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:22:26 +0000

I am fond of knitting comics. (I have yet to find comics about spinning, weaving, crochet, or felting… perhaps I’ll start one if I don’t find a job soon!)

These are the two I currently read. Check them out!

Worsted For Wear

Knit Princess

Seeing other people (even fictional ones) with extreme yarn habits never gets old. And maybe it’s a little comforting, too.

Do you have any fiber arts comics to suggest?

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Kicking Off a Kickstarter Project!

Nuri — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:26:40 +0000

With graduation looming, I’m super excited to get my creativity on again. My brain is a little bit fried (3 years of law school will do that to you), but itchy fingers want to resume drawing. Since I enjoyed my Zodiac project so much (I drew a series of 12 wetsern-zodiac-themed characters), I decided to try a follow-up collection.

During the month of May, I’m running a Kickstarter campaign to fund this project. Kickstarter is a great platform because there’s no risk for backers; if not enough people pledge to fully fund the project, no one gets charged at all. If you have any interest in art (maybe custom art for you!) or fiber arts, please check this project out!

Written In The Stars: A Collection of Visual and Fiber Art

As an addition to this project (and of course to generate publicity!) I am going to be putting together video tutorials, project updates, and possibly even some giveaways that will all be posted here. Even if you’re not interested in backing the project, I hope you’ll enjoy the new content!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Spinning from a Batt

Nuri — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:03:28 +0000

I sell blended fiber batts for hand spinning in my Etsy shop, and one of the questions I sometimes get is how to prepare them for spinning. There are many ways you can do it; anything you can think of that actually lets you go from fiber into yarn is valid! There’s no “right” way; there are simply ways that are more well-suited to producing the yarn you want. In this video, I cover the most common way I prepare fiber in batt form for spinning into yarn.

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.