Cabin Crafted

Category: Fiber Arts and Equipment

  • What Am I Worth?

    Generally, when I spin and knit, I don’t track my time very carefully, if at all. I know it takes me about an hour to spin an ounce of fingering weight yarn on my wheel. An ounce on drop spindles is much longer.

    I am not a speed knitter, but not a slouch either and the size of the yarn and needles affect how much I can get done in an hour.

    These factors always stop me cold when I am pricing an item of hand spun, hand knit for my shop. A hat of worsted weight yarn might take me about 4 hours to knit if it is a simple pattern, like this one, a slouch hat of stockinette, garter, and ribbing. The yarn was worsted to aran, about 3 ounces, so a couple of hours of spinning and plying. A total of 6 or 7 hours of my time plus the cost of the wool to spin.

    This cowl took me close to 24 hours to knit. The three skeins that were hand spun in the cowl were done on drop spindles. The fiber and the mill spun mini skeins were all gifts or bonuses that came with other purchases, so it was just time involved.

    Total hours on this fingering weight cowl, maybe 35. I doubt that this cowl will go in the shop, but there is one in the shop of silk, drop spindle spun, my own pattern design. Paying myself slave labor wages of a couple of dollars an hour, it would have to be priced at more than $70-75. People will look, comment that it is lovely, that they can’t spend that much money on a gift or on themselves, and walk on, at least in the area that we live.

    The shawl in the header photo is the one I did from the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em challenge yarns. It has 8 different breeds hand spun on the wheel. Each breed had to be at least 4 ounces, but the white center triangle was 15 ounces and the light gray around the edge and one stripe was 8 ounces. That was countless hours of spinning and then probably near 50-60 hours to knit it. It isn’t for sale, it couldn’t be. How could I ever price it?

    This is my conundrum. My hook is that my items are hand spun, hand knit, or hand woven garments, so I don’t want to work with inexpensive big box store yarn. My body products are handmade with organic ingredients. Because the body products are generally priced under $10, they sell at craft shows and holiday markets but spinning, knitting, and weaving are what I do for pleasure.

    So how do you decide what you are worth? Or how much loss you are willing to take to continue the crafts? And none of this takes into account what the equipment costs are to do these crafts.

  • An ark, an ark, my knits for an ark

    Whew, we went from 12 degrees f a few mornings ago to 40 and torrential rain. It was low teens 3 nights in a row (no frozen pipes thank goodness) and the days weren’t even reaching freezing then it changed as Virginia will at any season. There was a winter storm warning last night causing schools to delay or close for no reason as it never was cold, and it rained. The wind blew and it rained some more. Still is raining hard. Without an attic to buffer sound, we hear it when it rains hard. Not the pinging on a metal roof like in the barn, but it is still a metal roof with insulation.

    When we went to dinner and then to daughter’s house for grandson’s birthday dinner on Sunday, we discussed having another mother/daughter movie date, taking her kids this time, to see Call of the Wild when it comes out the end of February. We had both watched the trailers and wanted to see it. It has been many decades since I had read it, and in our home library is a leather bound copy of Jack London books, so as soon as I finished the ebook I had out from the library, I started reading it. I’m not sure how true to the book the movie will be, but I am looking forward to it.

    Today’s rain allowed me to finish it.

    The Toolbox Cowl is progressing. I sat in a waiting room again yesterday and knit. Work has been done on it at night. I’m on the last stockinette section, the second to last skein. There will be one more Diamond tweed section with this skein and the final skein and the last Garter Rib section. I’m not sure I should have used the more brightly colored variegated one, but I think I like it anyway.

    With lots of Corriedale, Merino, silk, and bamboo in the skeins, it is soft. It shouldn’t take me too much more time to complete. I read the Yarn Harlot’s blog and she posts finishing mitten and cowls in a day. Wow, she must be a speed knitter.

    Tomorrow is going to be chilly and party sunny, maybe I can finally get the coop cleaned out. Today a bale of pine chips was purchased because straw seems to be scarce. The old straw is going in the run, the rain has made the area just inside the gate a hazard to my health and safety. There really isn’t a level spot on our property, but I’m not sure I picked the right spot to put that coop when we got it. With the bare scratched earth and a couple inches of rain or a coat of ice, I can slide forever. Perhaps I should put some rough pavers from the gate to the pop door.

  • Foolish Question

    A few days ago, I asked, “Where is Winter?” Well it found us. When we left for grandson’s birthday dinner last night, there were snow flurries. This morning, there was a dusting on all surfaces and a morning temperature of 16f. The high staying in the 20s. Now, I know that isn’t cold in parts of the world, but it is pretty danged cold here. Tonight is a repeat, then we return to more normal 30s and low 40s daytime, 20s to low 30s nightime. I expected to get zero eggs today with it so cold, but the girls surprised me with 4. I have gone out several times today to check so they wouldn’t freeze in the nesting box. The water in the coop was frozen this morning and will be again tomorrow.

    This would have been a good day to stay in, but we had yet another appointment to keep this morning and it required a driver for the passenger, so both of us were out in the bitter breeze.

    Yesterday afternoon, I finished knitting the carry along hat I cast on a couple days ago. The pattern is Barley Hat by Tin Can Knits, the yarn is my hand spun Tunis dyed red, plied with a Jacob X Finn. I spun this skein as an early wheel project, so it has been sitting in my stash for quite a while and it has never sold. It was a good weight for a hat and enough to make a large slouchy version. It is damp and blocked in the photo.

    Knowing there would be waiting room time today, a project that has been in my queue for some time is Tool Box Cowl by Adventure DuJour Designs to use up several collected mini skeins, some of which I spun on the drop spindle. After I finished the hat, I cast on for it and got the garter rib section done and realized that I didn’t have the right needle size for the rest. My interchangeables only go down to a size 3, I have a size 2 fixed circular needle, but it is 16″ long and the cowl has 168 stitches, so too many for such a short needle. While at daughter’s house for cake after the birthday dinner, I borrowed a 24″ and continued on with the Diamond Tweed pattern on the correct size needle. I have finished the first two colors of 6 and am about to work the next Diamond Tweed section that uses color 2 and 3. Color 3 is the blue and teal mini skein in the lower right of the photo.

    Color 1 is hand spun Coopworth, Color 2 is a wool/bamboo/silk blend I spun on a drop spindle, Color 3 is a mill spun mini skein that was dyed by a friend that has passed away. Colors 4 and 5 are his yarns also, and Color 5 will be another drop spindle spun mini skein of Merino/Silk/Sari Silk. Each skein has some blue in it.

    Yesterday we picked up Saturday’s mail and in it was the yarn I had ordered as the warp for a scarf or cowl. It is Shetland lamb and baby Alpaca that will be used with my spun Romeldale CVM.

    The grayer brown is my hand spun. I had hoped that the book I had ordered with rigid heddle information and patterns would beat the yarn here, but the book is still not in. I would have had it sent to the house, but the book seller said it would come in in 2 or 3 days. The book seller I spoke with today said I should never have been told that, that it usually takes about a week and with their membership, which we have, it could have been shipped directly to me with no shipping charges and likely would have arrived sooner. Oh well! It will come in when it comes and I will plan out the use of the yarns above.

    The hat will definitely go in my shop. The cowl is probably mine. The undecided cowl/scarf/small wrap with the yarn above will likely go in the shop, brown is not my color against my face. I guess my inventory is being rebuilt for the online shop and next fall and winter’s markets.

  • Organized Disorganization – 1/17/2020

    After the holiday markets and many months of knitting up my hand spun yarn, my yarn stock was low. When spinning in Colonial costume, I generally spin washed Jacob fleece, spinning from locks, combing or carding it to spin, but not using processed batts, top, or roving. I took advantage of lower stock and less stress to get things made to clean up my fiber area, see post https://cabincrafted.fangorn.space/?p=415 , but didn’t return to spinning then as I had been given a rigid heddle loom for Christmas and the announcement of the imminent birth of our 8th grandchild. I immediately bought cotton yarn and wove a baby blanket for him as I knew I couldn’t get a blanket knit fast enough. He was born on January 5th, the same day I mailed the blanket and it arrived the day he came home.

    I had begun knitting fingerless mitts for myself as every pair I knit ended up being sold except one pair that were too small for me. Hats and fingerless mitts make good carry along projects and I worked on them in waiting rooms whilst hubby was having some medical imaging testing done on several days. They were finished, but wanting them to be long enough to be warm, I had made them too long to be functional, so I set them aside for a few days and returned to my spinning. I had bought 4 ounces of Romeldale CVM roving from a friend, a second 4 ounces, the first having been turned into yarn for the mitts that didn’t fit and the too long ones, and I returned to finish spinning it. While that skein was being washed, I looked to see what else I had besides the Jacob. In my stash of fiber was some roving that I could identify as Coopworth from another friend and spun it. With woven cowls and scarves in mind.

    Two days ago, I ripped back the mitts to a more appropriate length, picked up the stitches and knit on new ribbing to make them useful, just in time for this weekend’s winter weather advisory. Then needing a carry with me project, I pulled a skein of yarn that I spun several years ago that has never sold and started a hat.

    And I went to my newly organized stash to pull out more fiber to spin. This is where the disorganized part comes in. The fiber is all neatly bagged in bins, but I failed to put any identifying information in the bags, so other than a braid I got at the spinner’s Christmas party and the Jacob that I washed and bagged, I have almost no idea what I have.

    There is still a little of the merino that a friend and I sent for processing, and a small ball of Cormo that was gifted to me, but there are bags that I can’t identify.

    I am spinning the gray brown and I think, maybe, it is Coopworth from a friend. The creamy gray is a mystery. It feels like it might have alpaca in it, but I have no idea when I purchased it or from where. I don’t think I will dig deeper into the bins until I finish these two, knowing that there is a pound of fiber on it’s way to me in the mail. I think I will label them. I guess that is a good idea, my memory just isn’t serving me well today.

  • Where is Winter? – 1/15/2020

    So far this is proving to be a mild winter, gray and drizzly. It suggests that stink bugs, ticks, and fleas will be prevalent this summer. It is so mild, that the weeds that are usually beat back in the vegetable garden in winter are not only growing, but thriving. Last summer, the garden was a lot of work and I tried to stay on top of the weeding, but was losing the battle with some of them. I never beat the mint bed and the Creeping Charlie is taking over and choking out everything. The garden is also too big for me to keep it all in rotation. I have looked at options for reducing the size, making some of the boxes 4 boards high instead of 2, but the perennials are at the two ends with a 4 X 8 bed of blueberry bushes that finally produced last summer, the 3 barrels that are old and fragile of red raspberries and I fear they would disintegrate if I try to move them and they finally have the raspberries contained at one end. The other end has the asparagus bed that is now 6 or 7 years old and produces more asparagus than daughter, a friend, and I can eat in a season. Those two perennial ends do control the garden size to some extent.

    One side of the garden is a pathway away from the chicken pen for about half of the garden length, beyond the chicken pen is one of the worst patches of Creeping Charlie. I have considered pulling down all of the fencing and starting over. If the fencing was hard up against the boxes on the side that the chickens can reach, the length of the garden and if I keep the plantings far enough away from the fence to prevent long necks from reaching through to eat my veggies, perhaps their scratching would keep the weeds down on that side of the garden. The chickens won’t touch the Creeping Charlie to eat, but maybe their scratching for seeds and goodies tossed down there would reduce it. The sides of the garden nearer the house and south of the berries could be reduced and the boards from those boxes used to make the rear boxes taller so they are easier for me to work. The issue there is the post that has the solar charger on it is on that edge, though the charger is dead. Maybe it could be moved with the fence or just be removed entirely. If moved, I could hang a gate on it.

    In April, the university has a service day that you can sign up for help. Maybe some help getting the fencing in order for the garden and chicken pen would be incentive to keep at it.

    Today’s forecast looks like maybe the thunderstorms from a few days ago are going to be followed as the adage says with some snow to start the weekend. More likely it will be a sloppy mix of snow, freezing rain, and rain with little or no accumulation.

    The hens must think it is spring. This week I have had a day with 3 eggs, one with 4, and yesterday I got 5. There probably won’t be any today, but that is okay. This is the first winter I have gotten any from my hens.

    The warm weather has had me reluctant to use one of my Christmas gifts, a cast iron bread pan, but this bread is an easy loaf that can be made in just a couple of hours with no kneading, so we had a hot loaf of Herb and Onion bread for dinner one evening.

    The drizzle outside, the doctor’s appointments, and now a pair of head colds between us have keep me indoors and instead of warping the loom, I finished spinning 4 ounces of Romeldale CVM that I got from my friend Gail (Sunrise Valley Farm) and got a generous 289.5 yards of light fingering yarn from it. It is now washed and awaiting the arrival of a purchase of mill spun alpaca, silk, wool blend yarn from another friend. The mill spun will be the warp for a scarf or wrap and the CVM the weft. I also spun 3 ounces of Coopworth from another friend, Debbie (Hearts of the Meadow Farm) and got 112.5 yards of worsted weight from it. I have ordered another 8 ounces of Coopworth that may be from the same lot, or will at least coordinate with it and it will become another scarf or wrap. I am going to try to spin some of it tight enough and fine enough to be the warp.

    Today after a frustrating attempt to order a rigid heddle book online using a gift card, we went to Barnes and Noble and ordered it there. I hope to learn some new techniques and patterns to work into my weaving. With the 8 ounces of Coopworth to match the maroon above, I ordered another 8 ounces of this

    It doesn’t really have a plan, but I have a 4.8 oz braid of BFL and Tussah Silk that might go well with it. I’ll have to wait to see how they spin before I decide.

  • Done – 1/4/2020

    The blanket beat the baby. The weave was completed last evening, but I didn’t want to work with my sewing machine without very good light, so it rested on the loom overnight with the small towel.

    After the morning Farmers Market run for some protein and veggies, which we did between the early morning rain and the arrival of the cold front with wind and more rain, the weave was carefully removed from the loom. The third panel was added to the other two, the ends hemmed. The other three pieces were also hemmed.

    The crochet hook located and a single crochet edge applied.

    With fingers crossed that there wouldn’t be too much shrinkage, the four pieces were put in a cool water quick wash in the washing machine and a dry on low in the dryer. The blanket shrank a bit as expected, but is still baby blanket size. I think the Lily Sugar and Cream shrank too much for the towel to still be a towel and the smaller one is a dish drying mat or hot pad size. The dish cloth is ok.

    Maybe 3 more woven with the same warp amount and the three blocks, I will have a set of placemats. If packaged with the hot mat and 4 napkins sewn from a matching color cotton fabric, it will make a nice set to gift or sell.

    As tomorrow is Olde Christmas at Wilderness Road Regional Museum, the rest of the evening is being spent making sure that I have clean fleece to spin, fiber on the ring distaff for spindle spinning, and a basic men’s hat cast on with hand spun Jacob on the bone DPNs. That will give me plenty to demonstrate to any visitors that tour through the museum. The militia will be outdoors and will fire off a salute to Christmas. There will be goodies to eat, craft beer to buy, some crafted gifts to purchase, and music. It is a family friendly event, so if you are a local reader, it should be a nice if cool day to come out for some fun.

  • A Studio – 12/30/2019

    As a fiber artist that is acquiring more pieces of equipment with which to use/play, the loft was beginning to look cluttered. Since we rid the loft of the peeling pleather love seat and replaced it with a wooden rocking chair that was a catch all in our bedroom, there was more space between our chairs and the TV wall. I wanted a studio, an organized place for my tools, fiber, packing boxes for the online shop and my shop records.

    I could have moved it all to the basement, but if I did, I would rarely be in the same room with hubby and since our computers, router, and printer are in the loft, it made more sense to reorganize the space available. The loft has a large roll top desk that was a gift to hubby about 37 years ago and it has lots of drawers and the printer on top, it is a good place for the shop records, labels, and cardstock used to tag yarn, garments made, and body products. The desk is behind our chairs. By shifting the chairs forward a few feet, there is still plenty of room to the wall with the TV, still room for the rocking chair and lateral file that acts as a side table as well, but gave me room to reorganize.

    Before I started, my huge walking wheel which is functional but mostly a display piece was shoved back in the corner. It was pulled forward against the railing.

    The cube unit that has bins of fiber fit against the side of the desk, moving it off the back wall, the built in cubby shelves were cleaned and reorganized, making space for bins with flattened boxes and bubble wrap. The bookcase that has tools, books, and yarn samples was shifted, the spinning stool moved to the other side of it and currently holding baskets that have yet to be sorted out. That made room for the 5′ tri loom.

    I am currently weaving on the rigid heddle loom, so my spinning wheel is in front of the tri loom. If I want to spin, the table with the loom on it will be swapped or I will pull up the padded desk chair and spin.

    When the craft of the day is weaving on the tri loom, the rigid heddle or spinning wheel just need to be shifted forward or to one side to give me space to work.

    I dislike clutter and disorganization. It is frustrating to look for something and can’t find it or have to move things around to get to it. I can be in the room with hubby as he watches TV or works on his computer and still enjoy my fiber crafts. My comfy chair is still by his, a place to knit, read, spin, or weave, but by turning it around or swapping equipment, I can keep things organized.

  • Three Days After – 12/28/2019

    The Christmas loom was warped and woven using the sample pattern in the booklet that came with the loom. I didn’t care for two of the 8 pattern techniques, so I only used 6 of them. The booklet didn’t tell you what the end length would be and I am not experienced enough to realize that the amount of warp was insufficient to make a decent length scarf for the width. I am not concerned about that as it is just the right amount to make two purses. I will buy the lining fabric and twill tape to make the strap and hope that they will be a nice addition to the shop.

    This is it folded in half and drying after it’s bath. I think the fringe will need to be shortened about half or two thirds to make it look right. My idea will have a slip pocket in the back of the lining and woven tape down the sides and under the bottom for extra support and then woven tape to create the strap.

    Christmas brought us some news that has the loom already rewarped with cotton. The warp is white, the weft is variegated, but I don’t think it has enough color, so tomorrow a trip back to Joanne’s will be made to try to match one of the colors in the variegated yarn to add stripes of color.

    This is a 135″ weave. When cut in thirds and offset, it will make it color blocked. I think the solid color will be a textured weave of some sort. Until I get the remaining yarn, I will continue to knit some Romeldale CVM from Sunrise Valley Farm that I am knitting into fingerless mitts for me. I really would like to have them finished by next weekend when I will participate in Old Christmas and the burning of the greens at Wilderness Road Regional Museum. At that time, I will be donating my sitting quill wheel to the museum and when I am there spinning or teaching, I will use one of their wheels that I have repaired or this one that I am donating and will no longer have to haul one of my wheels to the venue.

  • The Rabbit Hole has deepened – 12/25/2019

    My love added to my fiber toys this morning. Under the tree was an Ashford Samplet 16″ rigid heddle loom.

    We began our morning with Huevos Rancheros, a dish I traditionally fix on Christmas and New Year’s mornings. It is a special treat for him, one he grew up with. It was just us this morning so no rush on opening gifts, he already had most of his with his new leather chair and his refurbished “new” computer, but there were a few minor surprises under the tree for him.

    We took gifts to daughter’s house and had an exchange with them, then home and I upacked the loom box.

    When our house was being built, I made several 5 gallon buckets of home-made paste floor wax. The instructions said to wax or seal the wood before assembly, so I opened on of the remaining buckets, scooped out a tin full of the wax and spent about an hour hand waxing the pieces. Then assembly commenced.

    With my recent lesson, having warped my friend’s borrowed loom, and the very detailed instruction booklet, I successfully warped the loom with some of my hand spun dk weight yarn.

    My stocking contained a Barnes and Noble gift card, so a book or two of projects and techniques will be added to my growing collection of craft and fiber history books, several had been added by eldest son’s family for my birthday and Christmas. The booklet with the loom has a sample scarf with instructions for several different weaving techniques to try in the meantime.

    The Let it Snow box in the photo above was the gift from daughter and her family. Treats and a beautiful cribbage game in a wooden box. I used to play it with my Dad and plan to refresh my skills and teach her and her kids.

    Youngest son and his family sent us a pair o mugs with all of our grandchildren represented on them. Tonight I am enjoying my evening tea from mine.

    As a Christmas bonus, the year old hens produced 3 eggs today. We have been getting 1 or 2, and I have never had hens lay in the winter before. Such a treat to still be getting farm fresh eggs to eat and cook with this time of year.

    I think my favorite gift from hubby today is a tiny music box in my stocking.

    It plays, “You Are My Sunshine.”

    Here’s hoping you had Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah.

  • Colonial Christmas 4th grade style – 12/20/2019

    The fourth graders at the local elementary school have just finished up studying about Jamestown and today is the last day of school before winter break. There are 3 classes that rotate with 3 teachers for Science and History with one, Math with one, and Language Arts with one with a 4th teacher that is support. To end their unit and try to have some level of control on this last full day, they planned a Colonial Christmas celebration. In one room they dipped candles, in another they made pomander balls, the third room had a Christmas movie playing, making herb coated ornaments, and me in Colonial clothing with a lesson about colonial clothing, textiles, spinning, and weaving. I always take many “toys,” several different types of spindles, lucet, combs, carders, my wheel, and this time a borrowed rigid heddle loom. I love this type of event.

    The children had an hour in each room, so I had 6 groups for about 30 minutes each to talk about a brief history of spinning, history of homespun, and some weaving. Some groups watched and asked a few questions, the most common one was, “Do you wear that every day?” Some groups wanted hands on and I allowed carding of wool and playing with the various spindles that I demonstrated first. With the number and age of the kids, I didn’t let them handle the sharp combs and knew that letting any of them use the wheel I was asking for trouble. And as the rigid heddle was borrowed from a friend, I only demonstrated on it.

    There were photos taken by various adults, but none by me.

    My favorite question though, was as I was packing up to leave, a tiny little gal approached and very quietly asked if she could ask me something. Of course, I replied. She asked, “Where you around in Jamestown?” I laughed my way home with that one. The old lady with her spinning wheel.

    Another great opportunity to teach the youth and maybe interest some of them in pursuing an interest in fiber.