This is what I am spinning now. Pippi Knee Socks color Rio, 100% wool.
I thought I would show it because I am fascinated by 2 things, how the fiber is spinning up in such pretty colors as well as how I am spinning laceweight, actual laceweight, that I am quite proud of!
Blocks of wood are not very effective at holding yarn so we need to carve these a bit. 1st I make a template out of some card stock (6-pack carton) and mark all four sides that need to be carved.
Here you can see the pattern. Note the upward sweep at the ends. This should keep the yarn from falling off the ends (I hope).
Since this surface is curved my flat disc sander will not work. Since I don’t feel like using my whittling knife (not that I own one) I attack this hunk of wood with a new toy. A drum sander that fits into my drill press.
Here’s a video of the process
After the initial shaping I see a slight design flaw. Only a small portion of the top needs to be flat to hold the washer when this thing is screwed into the handle. That means I can have more curved area to hold more yarn.
So it’s back to the drawing board to modify the template. And remark the arms.
Here you can see the arm towards the top with more material removed. Much better!
A cool side effect of gluing two boards together is the pattern the grains make. In the veneering world this effect is call book matching.
Before I forget I drill a small pilot hole in the center. This will be drilled out after finishing to hold the dowel and screw.
Next I get to try out my other new toy I’ve been working on for the past week. My new router table! While it’s not complete yet with all it’s guides and fences its ready to go for some round-over action.
On a router table the bit protrudes from the bottom. This gives the full surface of the table to rest your work piece on. What I’m about to do would be VERY hard to accomplish with a hand router. Installed is a half inch round over bit. This will give the arms some nice shape for the yarn to wrap around (I hope again).
Here’s a video of my router table being used for the 1st time.
After hitting all the edges with the round over bit and some initial rough sanding here’s where we are at.
I’m not sure why but I think of a duck when I look at this thing. Maybe I have a future making decoys!
Oodles of Noodles…
OK lets’ get this party started… I’ve been commissioned once again to construct a wooden knitting device. This time a Niddy Noddy. Since I think the name Niddy Noddy sounds completely GHEY you will hear me refer to it as other things. For some reason noodle sticks in my head. So I’ll call it noodle items most of the time.
So a noodle doodle is a thing that spinners (like Shells) can wind their yarn on after spinning. Then it goes on the swift? Then into balls? I’m sure all this process has a reason, but I already know way too much about knitting…
So the wood I picked out is the same as the swift. Poplar. I purposely picked a piece with lots of green “heartwood”. Although in my research I’ve found out the green will eventually brown with exposure to the light. I guess Shells with have to Noodle in the dark if she wants it to stay green. The 1” dowel will make up the “handle” of the noodle.
1st step is to cut the Poplar 1x2s (same stuff the swift arms are made of) into 12” lengths.
Net I’ll have to glue two lengths together essentially making a Poplar 2×2 to carve the arms out of. For this I use Titebond III wood glue. Which is also waterproof in case Shells finds herself noodling outside in a mid-western tornado.
The arms are clamped and set aside to cure overnight.
So my second skein is done. Made from the Bluefaced Leicester roving.
My desire is to spin laceweight. I am not quite there yet. But after spinning, plying, washing, whacking, and hanging to dry with a weight on the bottom, I have what I am pretty sure could be called fingering weight. There are still some slubby parts, but not anything to be concerned about. I am very very proud of this one! Socks for Riley coming up!
Also, I wanted to mention that since I do not yet have a niddy noddy, Nicks swift came in so handy! When I finished spinning, I set the bobbin on the lazy kate, put it up on the table, threaded the yarn through the eyelet of the ball winder, and wound the whole thing on the swift. Worked fantastically!
Now I just have to figure out why my wheel is screaming at me.
Now for your fiber of the day. Today’s fiber comes from C*Eye*Ber Fiber. This one is also 50/50 Merino Tencel. It is shiny but not as shiny as the other. I just loved the silvery tones of this one.
