I am in love

Oh Hand Combs!!!!!!  Where have you been all my spinning life! I cannot believe I have gone this long without.  For those of you who do not know what hand combs are, they are these medieval looking pieces of weaponry for attacking fleeces.  

I did alot of looking on the internet at different combs.  I did alot of looking at our bank account for money to buy these combs.  And then I started looking at blogs about making them!!!  Off to the fancy wood store I went and came back with a piece of maple.  Then I started measuring and designing and finally I sent DH back to the fancy wood store to have them cut the small plank using equipment that I can only dream of having in my house.  

Here is the cut wood.  All nicely bound in plastic wrap!

 

First step!  Sand.  So - here's something that might not take other people by surprise, but I hadn't really experienced it before.  Maple is one of those hardwoods that's actually hard...  It took alot of work to sand it down.  

One of the side of the plank was this dark color.  I don't know if that's oil from the mill or what, but it was on the side with saw marks and it was HARD to sand off.

So pretty.  This is a crappy pic of the absolute beauty that emerged from the application of the Danish Oil.

After doing the first hackle and comb with the hand drill, we decided to get one of the power tools we have both lusted after for years.  (and yes - we have safety goggles that were worn every time after this pic)

Hackle and a comb. (1st tube of epoxy)

 All done.  the 2nd comb still needs to be oiled, but that will happen soon.  the handles are actually the same length, one of the combs is just leaning a bit.  

Trying it out.  Yummy locks!

 All nicely combed!

 Such a wonderful nest of fiber!  It spins beautifully.

 And now to sort through the rest of the fleece to find and wash more glorious locks. 

Still no name!

OK folks, this is getting serious.  I got my wonderful Kiwi 2 for Christmas.  I assembled it and started spinning.  I felt a connection to the wheel, but no name came to me.  I figured that once I stained and oiled it, the name would come...

So, I took it apart and got to work.  I used Minwax for the wheel, flyer and whorl.  I started with a wood conditioner (promised by the lady at Rona to make the stain go on more evenly) and then used the Minwax stain in Jacobean.  I asked about the water based ones and got a very non-committal response about how nice they would look...  So, I went with the toxic, make piles of rags spontaneously combust, stuff.  I then used Danish Oil in Natural for the rest of the wood. 

I LOVE  the way it turned out.  It needs another coat of oil (you can see a dull patch on the wheel, and there are other dull patches on wood).  So I guess the 2 coats I did according to the instructions wasn't quite enough.  That's OK though, because my next project has me using a bunch more Danish oil -so I'll get them then.

And, of course, I needed to celebrate by spinning something.  I was also hoping that a name would come to me while using my new beautiful wheel...  This is still from my friend's MIL's sheep.  I'm finally getting the hang of hand carding.  And for this yarn, instead of using the fiber as a rolag (so rolling it the short way off the cards), I turned the fiber and rolled it the long way and then pulled that out into a sliver.  It meant that my fibers were mostly all pointing in the same direction and I was able to spin a nice, thin, even single.  I then N-Plied it to make, what I'm guessing, is a fingering to sport 3-ply.  I ended up with just over 200 yards (from counting the loops of the niddy-noddy) which weighs 122 grams.  So - I'm still spinning very "heavy"...  My yarn is very dense and I don't quite know how to change that. 

So - now that you've ready through that.  Any suggestions for a name?  Gimli is about the only one that's coming to mind, but it seems so silly...  Help me!

February Challenge

I'm hoping I don't regret this, but here is my challenge for February.

1) Sewing: I am going to finish my Postage Stamp Tablecloth.  I have the 3 green blocks done.  Next I need to cut the squares for the blue blocks and make them.  Then figure out how I am going to sash them together and do that.  I think that it is reasonable to get this done this month.

2) Knitting: I am still working on my sweater.  I am on my 4th ball of yarn.  Now that I have the directions figured out, I'm loving this sweater.

3) Spinning: I am going to finish spinning the Sheltand top I got for Christmas.  It is going to be what I knit my prototype of my shawl in.  So - I need to finish spinning, then ply, and then dye it a beautiful color.  I think I need it in dark greens and teals.

4) Designing: Thanks to some good friends, I have the lace border figured out for the shawl I've been dreaming up in my head for the last couple months.  I need to figure out how to do the short row part to turn the corner, and design the body of the shawl.  Having a rough prototype for each section seems like a good goal for February.

More information on this challenge and link up at: