Visit with Robin
Well, last weekend was a very busy weekend. I spent a night down with Robin to check out her new house, shown below (garage is cut off, Robin's pic).
While visiting, she and I talked about fiber and traded tips and tricks on projects, as usual. One thing she showed me is how to create a very cheap and inexpensive diz, made out of cardboard! When I got home, I didn't have cardboard, so I made mine out of a foam sheet I happened to have (great to poke earrings through when traveling too). My only concern is the hole may stretch. We'll see if this happens when I get a chance to try it.
I took photos of Robin using her diz. The photo on the left is the diz with a merino batt from Miss Babs behind the diz. Miss Babs doesn't have much on her website still, but she has lovely batts -- superwash merino too! This one has some burgundy in it, lighter reds, and I think some yellow too. It's lovely. There's enough to make a pair of socks. The pic on the right is Robin using the diz (directions below). See, she does too exist!
Directions to use the cardboard diz:
Equipment needed: cardboard or foam sheet, scissors, batt, crochet hook or orifice hook, flat surface such as a TV tray or book.
Note: This is probably easier done sitting on the couch with a TV tray or at a table, but we were in Robin's fiber room.
1) Create your diz -- Cut a hole in a piece of cardboard or foam sheet with scissors, about 1/4" wide. The wider the hole, the thicker the roving you will create. You can cut a hole much smaller too and get finer roving. Robin likes the larger hole because then her roving doesn't fall apart. If you use cardboard, push the raw edges to the side away from your batt -- this way it doesn't catch on your batt.
2) Prepare your batt -- Folding your batt for drafting can be done a number of ways. The first is if your batt is narrow in width, then you can fold the batt in half lengthwise and it's ready for drafting. If your batt is very wide, then you can split the batt in half lengthwise, then fold each half lengthwise. You can also opt to fold your batt in thirds, but this is a bit more difficult to draft out. However, one advantage is that if your batt has several different colors in it across the width, you get a nice mix of ALL the colors if you fold it into thirds rather than splitting first, then folding. Robin folded this batt into thirds; however, she decided later it would have been easier to deal with if she split the batt in half first. This is going to be my plan of attack for my batts.
3) Predraft the end of your batt -- Now that your batt is folded, predraft a little bit of the end of the batt. This will help you pull the fiber through the diz and help set up the roving width.
4) Pull predraft end through diz -- Use your spinning wheel's orifice hook or a crochet hook to pull the predrafted end through the diz.
5) Drafting 1 -- Hold the batt fiber down with one hand (see Robin's position in the picture above) and gently pull on the fiber through the orifice hook. Don't pull too hard or the fiber will separate too much. Pull enough that you have a nice section of fiber between the diz and the rest of the batt that looks a little wider than the width you want for your roving.
6) Drafting 2 -- Hold the batt fiber down and push your diz onto the section of fiber between the diz and the batt. Push the diz onto this fiber until it stops. Repeat step 5 until the end of your batt.
7) Ending the roving -- Robin likes her ends to be a bit wider than her roving, but feel free to tug the lat seciton of your batt to just wider than the width of your roving. Pull it through the diz and you are done with your batt.
Tips -- don't try pulling the fiber back through the diz. Been there, done that, and it wasn't a pleasant experience! Robin let me try this technique with her batt, and I learned this one.
What else did we do while I was there. Well, she was reinspired to start working on her blanket that she is making in the round with some yarn she spun -- silk and wool. Lovely yarn. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of it. But I will when it is finished.
Also, I turned the corner on my mystery shawl along 2 finally! I now only have about a third left of one side to finish knitting, and it will be done Yeah! Just in time for mystery shawl along 3. I have to swatch for this one, but Robin has already started her swatch for this shawl.
We both joined the third sockapaloooza, hosted by Alison of The Blue Blog. We ordered our yarn, Socks that Rock, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Robin ordered "Alina" for her sockpal, and I ordered "Fire on the Mountain" for my sockpal. I'm knitting the Broadripple sock pattern from Knitty.com. I love the fiber Blue Moon has at The Fold, so I think I will enjoy knitting with this sock yarn. I also bought a skein ("Lapis") for myself, by accident, but hey I'll take it anyways. My plan is to knit River Rapids from Sockbug.
Okay, what else did we do while there? Well, she showed me her lovely alpaca/wool/angora batts she is making, yummy brown/cream goodness. Lovely touchable fiber. Sigh, I tried snagging one, but she kept catching me! They are 50% alpaca I think. I can't recall the other proportions, but ver little angora in them. The angora is from her bunnies. And speaking of bunnies, her littlest one was injured today and we're hoping she will bounce back (no pun intended) in the next week. Here's a pic of Licorice and a closeup showing her gorgeous fiber (Robin took these late last year).
Okay, one last picture from Robin's images. This is Grace, one of Robin's cats. Can you tell she likes the new house?
Happy Fibering!
Editorial Addition -- Robin's bunny Licorice broke her back when she got excited. There was no chance of her recovering, so Robin and her husband decided it was best to put her to sleep. Needless to say, Robin is heartbroken about her bunny. This was the baby of the three and the most affectionate.
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While visiting, she and I talked about fiber and traded tips and tricks on projects, as usual. One thing she showed me is how to create a very cheap and inexpensive diz, made out of cardboard! When I got home, I didn't have cardboard, so I made mine out of a foam sheet I happened to have (great to poke earrings through when traveling too). My only concern is the hole may stretch. We'll see if this happens when I get a chance to try it.
I took photos of Robin using her diz. The photo on the left is the diz with a merino batt from Miss Babs behind the diz. Miss Babs doesn't have much on her website still, but she has lovely batts -- superwash merino too! This one has some burgundy in it, lighter reds, and I think some yellow too. It's lovely. There's enough to make a pair of socks. The pic on the right is Robin using the diz (directions below). See, she does too exist!
 |  |
Directions to use the cardboard diz:
Equipment needed: cardboard or foam sheet, scissors, batt, crochet hook or orifice hook, flat surface such as a TV tray or book.
Note: This is probably easier done sitting on the couch with a TV tray or at a table, but we were in Robin's fiber room.
1) Create your diz -- Cut a hole in a piece of cardboard or foam sheet with scissors, about 1/4" wide. The wider the hole, the thicker the roving you will create. You can cut a hole much smaller too and get finer roving. Robin likes the larger hole because then her roving doesn't fall apart. If you use cardboard, push the raw edges to the side away from your batt -- this way it doesn't catch on your batt.
2) Prepare your batt -- Folding your batt for drafting can be done a number of ways. The first is if your batt is narrow in width, then you can fold the batt in half lengthwise and it's ready for drafting. If your batt is very wide, then you can split the batt in half lengthwise, then fold each half lengthwise. You can also opt to fold your batt in thirds, but this is a bit more difficult to draft out. However, one advantage is that if your batt has several different colors in it across the width, you get a nice mix of ALL the colors if you fold it into thirds rather than splitting first, then folding. Robin folded this batt into thirds; however, she decided later it would have been easier to deal with if she split the batt in half first. This is going to be my plan of attack for my batts.
3) Predraft the end of your batt -- Now that your batt is folded, predraft a little bit of the end of the batt. This will help you pull the fiber through the diz and help set up the roving width.
4) Pull predraft end through diz -- Use your spinning wheel's orifice hook or a crochet hook to pull the predrafted end through the diz.
5) Drafting 1 -- Hold the batt fiber down with one hand (see Robin's position in the picture above) and gently pull on the fiber through the orifice hook. Don't pull too hard or the fiber will separate too much. Pull enough that you have a nice section of fiber between the diz and the rest of the batt that looks a little wider than the width you want for your roving.
6) Drafting 2 -- Hold the batt fiber down and push your diz onto the section of fiber between the diz and the batt. Push the diz onto this fiber until it stops. Repeat step 5 until the end of your batt.
7) Ending the roving -- Robin likes her ends to be a bit wider than her roving, but feel free to tug the lat seciton of your batt to just wider than the width of your roving. Pull it through the diz and you are done with your batt.
Tips -- don't try pulling the fiber back through the diz. Been there, done that, and it wasn't a pleasant experience! Robin let me try this technique with her batt, and I learned this one.
What else did we do while I was there. Well, she was reinspired to start working on her blanket that she is making in the round with some yarn she spun -- silk and wool. Lovely yarn. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of it. But I will when it is finished.
Also, I turned the corner on my mystery shawl along 2 finally! I now only have about a third left of one side to finish knitting, and it will be done Yeah! Just in time for mystery shawl along 3. I have to swatch for this one, but Robin has already started her swatch for this shawl.
We both joined the third sockapaloooza, hosted by Alison of The Blue Blog. We ordered our yarn, Socks that Rock, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Robin ordered "Alina" for her sockpal, and I ordered "Fire on the Mountain" for my sockpal. I'm knitting the Broadripple sock pattern from Knitty.com. I love the fiber Blue Moon has at The Fold, so I think I will enjoy knitting with this sock yarn. I also bought a skein ("Lapis") for myself, by accident, but hey I'll take it anyways. My plan is to knit River Rapids from Sockbug.
Okay, what else did we do while there? Well, she showed me her lovely alpaca/wool/angora batts she is making, yummy brown/cream goodness. Lovely touchable fiber. Sigh, I tried snagging one, but she kept catching me! They are 50% alpaca I think. I can't recall the other proportions, but ver little angora in them. The angora is from her bunnies. And speaking of bunnies, her littlest one was injured today and we're hoping she will bounce back (no pun intended) in the next week. Here's a pic of Licorice and a closeup showing her gorgeous fiber (Robin took these late last year).
 |  |
Okay, one last picture from Robin's images. This is Grace, one of Robin's cats. Can you tell she likes the new house?
 |
Happy Fibering!
Editorial Addition -- Robin's bunny Licorice broke her back when she got excited. There was no chance of her recovering, so Robin and her husband decided it was best to put her to sleep. Needless to say, Robin is heartbroken about her bunny. This was the baby of the three and the most affectionate.
-- posted by Annette @ 10:13 PM
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