Cotton spinning made easy. With a few adjustments made to your wheel, you can spin cotton just like the pros. Become a “cotton spinner extraordinaire”. 120 minutes long, and 10 chapters including: Introduction; Spinning Wheels; Type & Care; Cotton Fiber Carding; Lendrum Wheels; Preparing for Spinning; Spinning Your Puni; Spinning Cotton Sliver; Review & Problem Solving Plying; Using Your Handspun Yarns. What are you waiting for?

DVD from Cotton Clouds, here: http://www.cottonclouds.com:80/shopping/product_info.asp?id=722

Spin-Off is launching a contest to celebrate the International Year of Natural Fiber and the winning entries will be featured in the Fall 2009 Handspun Gallery in Spin-Off! Entry guidelines are posted here. Spinoff has decided to make the garments scarves so that you could follow the guidelines for the Keep the Fleece project and enter the Knitting the World’s Longest Scarf contest with the same entry if you are so inclined.

Go here to read the details! http://spinoffmagazine.com/blogs/amys-blog/archive/2009/03/04/call-for-entries.aspx

Go to Yarn Pirate’s Etsy shop for details: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22316369

Here’s just one of the free patterns they offer, a free Tea Cosy, made from handspun yarn.  Go to www.spinoffmagazine.com and get your free account now. It’s a whole online community devoted to spinners. Forums, advance notice of new books, blogs, contests, and a lot more. Check it out today!

So, what do all of you do about project monogamy? Work on only one thing at a time? Or throw it all to the wind and cast on whenever startitis rears it’s head?

Well, you do what I do, and just cast on for yet another project, like this ULTRA COOL bag I found on Flickr. It’s called a Freeform Floral Bag. Perfect for spring!

So, tonight is Knit Nite again. I’ll take the Denim Sweater Jacket and I’ll take my wheel. Nothing else. No other ideas. No other needles. No patterns. Nothing, just the current project and my wheel. That’s all!

He even has a video using the wheel as well as lots of resources for making other different kinds of wheels.

Check out his info on raising bunnies too, a great site!

So, now you’ve got your wheel all set up and have spun up your first hank. Now what?
You have to knit something out of that first yarn. Here’s a cute little dishcloth pattern you can knit up in no time!

Go to DigKnitty Designs for the pattern. She’ll even custom design patterns.

This is a GREAT opportunity to sit and knit or spin, yes? No! Not on a farm. Certain devious critters, who test fences regularly figure out that when the power is out, the fences don’t work. Yup, we chased horses and cows. Also, funny thing, the heat lamps and water pumps don’t work when the electricity goes bye bye. So we hauled water from the pond (5397 miles away – not really, but it seemed that way).

So, I guess, that’s my lame excuse for why my felted slippers STILL are not done! And why the Blue Faced Leicester that sits in my spinning basket is still sitting there, unspun.

But, in honor of this weekend’s Fun And Games On The Farm, I found these for you. Free Farm Animal Knitting Patterns (pictured above)!
How much fun! 

There are more free Animal Patterns here. Like Lizzie the Cow Tea Cosy and the Lion Washcloth.

Don’t forget to enter our Year End Knitting Stuff Giveaway! Just leave me a comment making sure I have your email address. Hope You Win!!

The different qualities of each of these fibers is discussed as well as suggestions for patterns based on each type of fiber’s uniqueness.

Nettles, pineapple and silk are explored as is milkweek, ramie and banana.

Got access to a cattail swamp? You guessed it. Spin it with a longer staple fiber and you have a most unique product.

The book also includes a section on natural dyes, plant based dyes and overdying.

On to the patterns; 25 of them including sweaters, coats and jackets, stoles, scarves and wraps, mittens, hats and socks. So the next time your dig out the pesticides to deal with those unmanageable dandelions, grab your wheel instead and watch a whole new world open up!

And, I found the cutest, rustic style Christmas Stockings. A free pattern from Knitting At Knoon, here:

http://www.knittingatknoon.com/stockingpatt.html

Enjoy!!

Kookaburra did not disappoint! I really liked the delicate smell, and how soft and fluffy the newly spun yarn was directly out of it’s wash. My hands were soft, and didn’t feel stripped, as if I’d washed with soap. I was concerned a  bit with how dirty the water was. Did it remove too much of the good stuff?  After hanging and drying my skeins, I went back for an initial “feel”. They were so soft,  just begging me to start knitting.

Ok, so I like the stuff, I’ve decided, now to read the “hype”.

I was very very pleasantly surprised to read that this formulation is all plant based, biodegradeable, and natural. I’m a big fan of natural. I love natural. So this means I love Kookaburra right? Right! After reading about the formulations and ingredients of this product, my initial concern was unfounded.

All of the components of Kookaburra Wash are biodegradable. Kookaburra Wash contains no enzymes, phosphates, peroxide, or alkali and is Colorfast and is safe for septic systems. Kookaburra products contain nut oils, lanolin, and Austrailian tea tree oil.

This wonderful poduct is the baby of ABL Development Co, Inc out of Colorado. You can read more here.

http://www.kookaburraco.com/index.php?cid=79

Mmmmmm smells so good, one of these days this here internet will come with smell!

Progress charts: Mossi Cardi…75% done
Helsinki Scarf…. just barely started
Roving Spun for Helsinki…60% done

It was easier on my hands, but I worried that because of that, it wasn’t removing all of the dirt and grease from the fibers. And while, I did have to run it through 2 times ( I suspect my extremely hard well water), it did a nice job of preparing the skeins to be hung, weighted and dried. On their website, they recommend cool water. I’ve always used blistering hot, so that’s what I used; and just soaked the yarn until it was room temperature, I was surprised at how little bubbles it produced (again, the hard water, although they do tout this as a low suds formula), and what the water looked like when I removed the yarn. Yuck! (Another reason I ran it through twice). It is also formulated for machine use, but again, I’ve always washed my yarns, and wools, by hand, so I didn’t try the machine.

I used the unscented, as I’ve found some scents to be too overpowering. Again, I worried that the finished objects would still have that “wet wool” smell, but they didn’t. Have any odor at all. I liked that. I didn’t have to rinse, I liked that also.

Soak isn’t organic or all natural. I didn’t like that, but Soak is environmentally friendly. It is biodegradable and packaged in recyclable bottles which are printed with water-based inks.

Soak comes in 3 size options- Full (425mL), Bullet (130mL) and Mini (6mL).

I have a few other brands to try too, but I definitely will purchase more of this. You can find retail locations on their site, http://www.soakwash.com/Stores.asp. You can also order directly from them online.

I just “got” spinning. I mean, I’ve been spinning my own yarn for awhile now, but just last night I got it. It worked. The hands and feet and wheel all seemed to be in sync, and nice, even, consistent yarn was produced. This is a good thing. Something I’ve been working toward now for awhile. Now I have to find the time to produce more, because, of course, I have the perfect project to knit with this perfect yarn.

This is exciting to me, it just may be exciting enough to hold off on the “start-itis” but for awhile longer. At least until I get the yarn spun for my new project.

Just what is this new project? It’s a wide scarf/hood/shawl thing from Rowan’s #42 Magazine. It’s called Helsinki. Isn’t it gorgeous? Mine will be a light grayish/brown in HANDSPUN!! This will be so much fun!

And you know what the next step is after spinning? Well, then, I’ll have to aquire my own fiber source! I can just see it, hubby will flip.

I’m thinking qiviut! Yeah, what’s a few musk oxen in the back yard! Besides if I aim high, like for musk ox or yak, then the sheep I eventually settle for will be no big deal, he’ll just accept that!

What could go wrong?

Ahhhh, off to spin more yarn!