Fiber in the Hands of an Angry Spinner

Three days of selling handmade fibery creations, doing demos, chatting with folks, showing people how yarn is made, explaining what I’m angry about (social injustice, global warming, lipstick on dogs, the abuse of handknits . . .) and my voice has been reduced to one squeaky whisper. The Renaissance Guy has dumped a cup of tea down my throat, and has the kettle on for a second one. The dog is glad we’re back.

We’re tired, but no worse for the wear. The weather was beautiful, and we had this great lilac bush in bloom right behind the canopy that provided shade and little poofs of lilac goodness when the breeze blew just right. There’s this great joy in watching someone fall in love with something you’ve created. Friday, a young woman came into the tent, and looked for a long time at the amulet bags I knit. She came back three times, each time touching the different bags with great care, but coming to rest on the same one. It was cool to see her eyes light up, once she’d decided, and took the bag down from its hook, and brought it to me with a grin.

It’s those kind of moments that creators really appreciate and look forward to, as we work on our art — the moment when someone likes our work as much (sometimes more!) than we do.

Thanks, Spokane.

We’re all set up down at ArtFest in Browne’s Addition. Come by and say hi!


And just for Elaine, some bag love . . .

As Jen described in the Zipper Fiasco Post, we managed to get a zipper to link to Jen’s booth.  Jen made some really awesome needle felted letters on reclaimed wool.  Jen’s mom helped by sewing backing material on.  I attached them to the zipper itself, and voila!

All of this got me thinking.  Over the years I’ve created a few logos for the AngrySpinner, all drawing on the fire theme as an homage to the Jonathan Edwards sermon.  This is all well and good, but it doesn’t really capture Jen, who is, in fact, rarely angry.  And then it hit me!  Scanner time! And thus, the snazzy new logo for the AngrySpinner.com site was born.  I really hope she likes it.

— Renaissance Guy

Renaissance Guy here.  I’m working on better Facebook integration for AngrySpinner.com.  Theoretically, Facebook users should be able to login with their Facebook ID and post comments.  Also, and again theoretically, posts to AngrySpinner.com should automagically(tm) show up on the AngrySpinner Facebook page.  If it’s not working for you, please comment, email, or otherwise let us know.  Thanks so much!

So my canopy, a Light Dome, comes with the option of awnings on the front and the back. You don’t have to order the awning initially, but you do have to order the zippers and flaps on your top, so, figuring that I wanted to have the option, I ordered the awning zippers.

Then I had this brilliant idea . . . I could make a sign for my booth that zipped on and off! It would be a needle-felted sign on reclaimed wool! It would be awesome!

Then I realized that I needed the other half of the zipper to pull it off. I called my canopy company — would they sell me 1/2 a zipper?

No, they wouldn’t.

Would they sell me the whole zipper?

No, they wouldn’t.

Realize, dear reader, that I was willing, at that moment, to pay up to $50 for the zipper . . . I was figuring on at least $30.

That conversation was going no where, and we both seemed to know it. The canopy company suggested, if I wanted a sign, that I add on a banner.

On general principle, I’m not against banners, and for people who do many craft shows a year, I suspect they’re really awesome — durable, readable, made of the same tough stuff as the canopy — and completely wrong for my booth filled with handcrafted items. You have to understand — when you get something made by the Angry Spinner, you get something made by the Angry Spinner. Even at this time of year, when my family begs me to let them help (probably because I’m driving them crazy as I’m stressed out), I reject most of their offers. You’re getting something that’s made by me.

So I thank the canopy company, and hang up. The Renaissance Guy points out that the zippers are from YKK, so all we need to do is figure out what size they are, and then who we can order from. He finds PerfectFit, and we order two lengths of zipper, a pull, and four “saddle” clamps that keep the zipper pull from falling off. Total: $8.29

$8.29!

It’s one week until ArtFest, and things are crazy at the house of the Angry Spinner.

The castle of the loom is piled with scraps:

There’s a TENT in the middle of the living room, that’s been turned into a sweat shop:

And I’m warping MOHAIR. Mohair, people:

But the mohair is making BEAUTIFUL brushed shawls and throws:

Come see me at ArtFest next weekend (June 3, 4, 5) in booth N36 in the NW corner of Coeur’d Alene Park in Browne’s Addition, Spokane, WA.

In a fun turn of events, both of the students in my class decided not to do owl bags, and just to use the pattern to make a messenger bag. Ironically, I’m the only one who showed up for the last class with an un-felted bag (see giant one to the left, back row).

They all came out so beautifully, with some unexpected twists . . . the bag handles (woven to 120″) were a little long, and the flap on the lilac/teal bag (far right) was a little short. I think the pattern needs some tweaking to accommodate the yarn, which is easy to over-stretch on the warping board.

For the sake of science, I have taken the fringes left on my flap, and braided half of them (left), and fringe-twisted the other half (right), and will leave them on during the felting process to see how those two preparations turn out.

To finish the end of a woven piece (and using the tail if possible), work from right to left, first inserting your needle two warp threads and 2-3 weft pics into the cloth. (The number of warp threads and pics will vary, based on the size of your threads and cloth. Pictured here is 14 Ply Wool Pack in a 5dpi reed.

Take the needle back to the right, under the first two warp threads, catching the “loop”

Pull snugly, and insert needle again on the diagonal, under the next two warp threads and next 2-3 weft pics

Take the needle behind the second two warp threads, again catching the “loop” of the tail

Pull snugly, and repeat: diagonally under the next two warp threads, and 2-3 weft pics

Pull snugly, weave under the same two warp threads, and catch the loop . . . then repeat across the whole width

When you meet me in a fiber circle, and you ask me a question whose answer would best be answered with a swatch (be it a knitted or a woven swatch), I will most likely answer that you should swatch.
(This is pretty much any question related to changing the pattern, yarn, needle size, or gauge, making up a pattern, changing the sett, or felting). My consistent, faithful, unwavering commitment to recommending swatches has earned me, in certain circles, the dubious moniker: “The Swatch-Nazi.”*

Swatching is particularly important when you’re wet-felting, so that you can ascertain if the piece will felt dimensionally (that is, it will retain its shape, but decrease in size), or will draw in more than shrink (that is, become a long, thin rectangle), or will shrink more than draw in (become a short, fat rectangle).

For the Owl Bag project, I made a small swatch.

This swatch is wildly too small. When I felted it, it shrank more than it drew in (short, fat rectangle). As I didn’t realize that this was an issue, I based my initial numbers on the swatch’s shrinkage, and ended up with a much longer, thinner owl bag than I had planned on.

Enter the full-sized swatch. While you don’t have to weave (or knit, or crochet) an entire project to make a “full sized” swatch, it is considerably easier and consumes far less yarn to make a “full sized” swatch than it is to make a mini swatch, be wrong, make the project, make a full-sized swatch, and then remake the whole project. Here is my second swatch, which is the full width of the project (11 inches on the loom) squared.

(In case you’re wondering why this swatch seems to have sprouted a teeny chest full of hair, it’s because I was playing around with the idea of giving the owl a “feathered” chest, and pulled a lot of individual strands through my plain woven cloth, much like a 70s latch-hook rug. I did not like the mass they felted into — too much like 70s porn star chest hair– and soon gave that up).

This full sized swatch felted dimensionally — that is, it kept the original dimensions, and resulted in the bag I set out to make in the first place — the short, fat owl bag:

On a lemons-into-lemonade front, I kept good notes on both owls, and made the pattern to reflect a choice of sizes.

* I’m certain I would probably prefer “Swatch Evangelist” or “Careful Fiber Artist,” but there’s a certain consonant-heavy assonance to “Swatch Nazi” that harkens back to Jerry Seinfeld’s Soup-Nazi, and I thus choose to think of it as a term of endearment.

Stuck in a project rut? Have fiber questions? Looking for new ideas? Want a sounding board?
Bring your current fiber project (felted, knit, spun, woven) to the Free Fiber Clinic and we’ll put our heads together to get you from UFO* to finished piece of work.

Dates:
4/15 12-2pm
4/22 12-2pm
5/6 12-2pm
5/13 12-2pm
5/20 12-2pm
5/27 12-2pm

Sign up at Paradise Fibers under “Classes” to join.

*UnFinished Object