Judith MacKenzie McCuin Workshop-Part 2

I left off my last post with us spinning up the bamboo fiber into various yarns. After the bamboo, Judith brought out Tussah and Bombyx silk. Tussah silk is produced by silkworms in the wild and has a lovely honey color. Bombyx silk is bright white and comes from a domesticated silkworm that is bred in captivity to produce a cultivated silk. It is very smooth and lustrous. We spun both of these silks using a worsted* spinning technique. Generally speaking, the long smooth fibers such as silk are spun worsted while the short, crimpy fibers such as cashmere, yak, bison, and cotton, are spun using a woolen* spinning technique.
The silk is heavenly to spin. I love both the tussah and bombyx silks.
After the silks, Judith brought out the wild fibers; de-pigmented yak, yak and silk blend, and cashmere. The bison was saved for the Spin-In so stay tuned for that next post. We spun the yak and the cashmere using a woolen spinning technique. Now I have to do a bit of explaining here. I am a weaver not a knitter so I usually spin fibers using a worsted technique to make them smooth and strong for weaving. I am, or perhaps at this point I should say was, a worsted spinner. Or, as Judith says, a "recovering worsted spinner". The techniques are basically opposite. It took me a few tries to get the hang of spinning woolen but I must admit I am hooked. I love the idea of being able to spin any yarn for whatever my needs so I am very motivated to learn new-to-me techniques. I have spun woolen in the past, of course, but Judith gave such good techniques and pointers that I am now able to spin woolen comfortably and getting better with each woolen-spun yarn I make.
The silk in the yak and silk blend meant that the fiber spun best using the worsted spinning technique. I love the end results of this blend. The yarn is lustrous and smooth but has a halo of the yak fiber that makes it soft and warm. Lovely.
Our final spinning technique was to make an encasement yarn that was beaded. We learned how to add beads and decorative threads to make a stable and strong beaded yarn. This is what I cabled with the bamboo in the first picture of the previous post. The picture below is one of my classmates spinning her encased beaded yarn. Totally fun and addicting!
I am going to finish this post with a few of the tips and websites that Judith gave us.
Silk and other fine fibers can catch on rough hands. I know my hands are always rough due to all the activities I do. If you rub lemon juice on your hands and let it dry it will make them smooth for quite a while. There was a lotion she recommended but after reading the ingredients, I didn't write it down. I have chemical sensitivities and avoid certain ingredients. It is nothing alarming, most lotions have the particular ingredient that I avoid in them.
One important spinning tip, Judith rarely "spins from the fold". This involves taking a length of fiber and folding it over your finger and spinning from that fold. Judith feels that this decreases the luster of the yarn and makes it difficult to spin it absolutely even as the fibers enter the yarn from different angles. I happen to agree with her. The first time I have ever spun from the fold was in her workshop to see the difference for myself!
I haven't had a chance to check out the websites she mentioned but I will list them here then put them in my Fiber Links section when I have had a chance to look at them.
Wormspit
Peace of Yarn
Habu
Textura (beads)
That is my report on the workshop. Tomorrow I will post on day one of the Spin-In. I will also show off the few treasures I purchased and pictures of spinning friends. Stay tuned! -Renee
*see glossary

Bamboo, Beads, and Boucle: Judith MacKenzie McCuin Workshop-Part 1

Wow, it has been quite a whirl (or should I say whorl?) of learning and excitement for me the past five days. The annual Whidbey Weavers Guild Spin-In has been spun and I am back home trying to catch up on all of the mundane chores. I am still a bit fuzzy-headed but please hang in there and I will do my best to describe the past five days.
I had the privilege of attending a pre-Spin-In workshop with Judith MacKenzie McCuin. The subject of the workshop was spinning what are called "reconstructed cellulosics" such as soy silk yarns, latte, and bamboo. Tencel(TM) and rayon fall into this category as well. In fact, pretty much any manufactured fiber or yarn made from cellulose materials are considered reconstructed cellulosics. In addition to spinning with bamboo and the like, we learned how to make a boucle* yarn and how to add beads to our spinning. The picture above is my final yarn from the workshop. It is a bamboo fiber yarn spun marled*, thick and thin, boucled, and then cabled with an encased beaded yarn. Phew! That was the workshop in a nutshell. Of course I won't leave you hanging there. I will go into a bit of the incredible detail that Judith provided us. Before I start, I want to note that any errors in information are solely my own and are not Judith's. If you find some mis-information, please make a comment and I will verify and correct it!
After going around the circle with each of us answering the question, "what do you want to learn from this workshop?" Judith pulled out four beautifully dyed balls of bamboo top* and put them on the floor in the middle of our circle for us to admire while she told us about how such fiber is manufactured.
We generally think of bamboo as being a "green" product as it grows abundantly with little or no pesticides or fertilizers needed. Many of the "green" houses tout sustainably harvested bamboo floors. Bamboo fiber for spinning and yarns uses the waste materials from the floor making process. In this, the fiber has some "green" qualities. We soon learned that the process for making the bamboo and other manufactured cellulosic yarns and spinning fibers is anything but green.
To summarize what Judith told us based on her research, bamboo fiber is made by putting the bamboo bits and pieces into a chopper to grind it all up. The pulp is dissolved in a hydrosulphite solution, in other words, lye. Formaldehyde and another chemical is added to the liquid to gel it so that it can be extruded into a fiber. The fiber is usually extruded into a sulfuric acid bath and can be made into any desired shape, luster, or other qualities.
Most of the reconstructed cellulosics are produced overseas in China and Europe. Environmental controls are different and the fiber is definitely not local.
From what I understood of what Judith was telling us, legally any reconstructed cellulosic fiber is considered rayon no matter what its cellulose source. This means that technically bamboo is rayon.
One exception to the overseas production is Tencel(TM) which is produced here in the U.S. under stricter environmental standards. Tencel(TM) is a brand name of one type of rayon.
We were lucky to get to spin dyed bamboo top. Judith mentioned that bamboo is very difficult to dye satisfactory, particularly in its un-spun state. I have a bit of "natural" colored bamboo. I think I will spin it and try out the natural dyes on it.
Speaking of spinning, I am not sure I really like spinning with bamboo. It is slippery which can be dealt with but the weight of it in the fiber bundle kept pulling it out from the bottom of my hand and would "drip" onto the floor. Very annoying. If I held it too tight to compensate, it would get all tangled up in my hot little hand.
We had an assignment when she turned us loose to spin. We spun the bamboo worsted* and spun a thin two-ply, and a thick 2-ply yarn. We made a marled* yarn, a slub yarn (thick and thin), and we cabled* a yarn using decorative sewing threads as binders.
From there we went on to boucled yarns and got to try our hand at silk, yak, and cashmere. I will talk about those in the next post. Stay tuned for Part 2 and then on to the Spin-In! -Renee

*see glossary

Virtual Weaving-Seattle Weavers Guild

Yesterday was the Seattle Weavers Guild meeting. The program for the day was presented by Jannie Taylor. There is a lovely bio on her at www.avlusa.com. Look under "workshops" and then "teacher profiles".
The subject of the presentation was on weaving software, what is available and how it all works. She hooked her computer up to the digital projector and opened and discussed a few of the more common weaving software programs and was actually able to show us how they work. She is an engaging and entertaining speaker. Lets face it, for some, the topic of software and technology isn't as exciting as discussing weaving techniques and color. She never gave us a dull moment. Actually, Jannie was discussing weaving techniques and color, just in the context of using weaving software.
There was one or two particular points that she made that I thought were completely spot on. She pointed out, or reminded us, that there is a learning curve to practically every new skill we try and using weaving software is no exception. She suggested approaching learning the software as play. Play with it for 10 minutes a day or so, make a mess and then get rid of it. One will be surprised how soon you can learn to use the software doing this. She also cautioned about expecting to get new software and design fabric for a wedding dress the first time out.
She pointed out how we adults tend to be focused on having a tangible outcome rather than just playing around with things. I have to agree with her although I am one of those people who do a lot of playing around whether it be on the computer, dyeing, weaving, music, climbing, etc. I have many things that don't turn out well because I thought I would try out a "what if ". When I do have a success, I consider all of the "goofs" to be part of that success. I include the cost of materials in this. That means the first time I produce something wonderful, it costs a lot more in materials than the next time I produce it. I usually approach workshops with the idea of what I can learn and what can I try that is new to me rather than what wonderful fiber thing I will bring home. I even go to the extent of picking colors that I don't particularly like or use often. That means the things I bring home from workshops are not usually suitable for framing!
I must admit though, it isn't always easy to do this. Sometimes I would love to be able to pull something fantastic off in one go. When that does seem to happen, I have to admit that it was more the result of previous hard work coming together than any super talent that I have. What does that mean? It means the previous hard work and time needs to have been put in place. So play, make mistakes, ask "what if?". Have fun, scream and yell in frustration, scream and yell in triumph! The rewards are so worth it.
In the meantime, I am going to reconfigure my weaving software (long story) and get it set up to do a bit of virtual weaving.
Happy playing! -Renee

An Ah-Ha Moment or, Why I Do What I Do

Ok, this is not a fiber photo. It does have a connection to fiber and what it means to me so read on!
I am giving my knees a break from tiling the mudroom floor and have been checking in on my friends and family through e-mail and blogs. I checked in with my dyeing friend Dana whose blog you can find through the Fiber Links list on the sidebar of my blog. She has been struggling, as we all do now and then, through life's sticky spots but in her post she talked about how her textile work is helping her find her way through. It was when reading her post that I had one of those Ah-Ha moments.
This is what I posted in the comments section;
"(It is) So appropriate that textiles and the fiber arts lead the way out of the dark places we fall into now and then. We join hands with women throughout time both past and present (and future I forgot to add) when we take up our needles, shuttles, dyepots, and tools."
This is why I have to do what I do with fibers. This is why I am uprooting my life and my husband's life to pursue a MFA in fibers. This is why I want to one day create a fiber art center with like-minded people. This is why I want to share this knowledge with others in a world that is rapidly forgetting some of these skills in favor of technology.
The fiber arts connect us through thousands of years as people, and as women (and men too!) across time and cultures. We need this connection more than ever in the present.
So, what does this picture have to do with the above? It is a picture of me climbing the REI spire in Seattle. I love climbing. It isn't really logical since I am afraid of heights and have to conquer that fear every single time I tie in. Climbing is an apt metaphor for many things in life but in this case, it represents how challenging the journey in fibers can be at times. We wander into dark places and obstacles get in the way and sometimes it is just plain hard and scary, but we keep climbing back to our fiber roots. Because we have to.
Keep weaving, spinning, dyeing, knitting, and the rest. Who knows? We might just save the world! -Renee

SVWG Program-Syne Mitchell

Monday night was the Skagit Valley Weavers Guild meeting. I had really been looking forward to the program which featured Syne Mitchell discussing her podcast; WeaveCast. I have mentioned WeaveCast a couple of time in past posts and you will find a link to her podcast in the "Fiber Links " section. If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, take a bit of time and do so. It is so very worth your while!
Syne gave us a wonderful presentation on what goes on "behind the scenes" when making a podcast. It is very exciting to see weaving taking off in this direction. Weaving can be a very solitary activity. Most of the time, I believe we weavers really enjoy that but it is also wonderful to come together with like-minded people and share. Up until recently, that sharing has been in the form of weaver's guilds and conferences. Now, with Syne's Weavecast and her new online magazine WeaveZine there is a whole new realm where we can connect. Combine these with blogs, weaving lists, and other forums and we have quite a powerful connection.
There were two things about Syne's program that really made me think. Syne mentioned the concern that many of us weavers have about reaching potential young weavers. Knowing how important online communities are to many, if not most, of the younger generation, WeaveCast is an excellent portal into the weaving world that can capture their attention. The possibilities are encouraging.
The other point that I noted is that Syne went looking for podcasts for weavers and, when she couldn't find one, created one herself! There is a lot to think about in that simple statement.
I am, like Syne, on the younger end of the spectrum when I look around the weaving guilds and I am middle aged! Syne has given me a lot to think about as my husband and I are in the process of making a very large mid-life change. That change is taking up a bit of time so my posts to this blog have slowed considerably. I do have several fiber events in April and May coming up so please hang in there!
I have to confess that I am totally addicted to Weavecast as Syne is an excellent story teller and knows how to conduct a great interview. I will be listening with eager interest and reading her online magazine.
To Syne, great job! I promise I will subscribe to the podcast announcements!
-Renee