A Sheep Runs Through It …(by Sandy Ryan)

Before our sheep grow up to be the wonderful sheep they are today, many arrive as orphans or bottle lambs. There is truly nothing sweeter than a baby lamb. Our lives are filled with endless entertainment, love- and silliness- as they run through our lives. We highly recommend them!

The sound of little feet galloping all around the house is my favorite melody. Changing diapers involves a routine chase around tables and chairs. A spirited game to out wiggle my efforts immediately ensues but I eventually win out, turning them loose in a cute diaper decorated with farm animals- of course.

The wild scampering makes it easy to keep track of them, when it is quiet mischief is afoot. OR a good old lamb pile nap snuggled up on their baby blankets in a sunny window that always makes me want to join them.

Our first lamb was Hope- we were her last hope, crooked jaw and all.

Gracie ran through, gleefully hopping about until her diapers fell off. Gracie knew when bottles were served, showing up in the kitchen every time the microwave beeped. Even if she found people lunch was the only disappointing choice on the menu.

Piper decided I was ‘his’ and followed me everywhere from day one. He sorted fleeces with me and slept under my loom. Keebler slept under my spinning wheel and loved to sleep on my lap-no matter what I was trying to accomplish. Sonny insisted on napping on the living room recliner.

We have many, many stories and our happy memories will continue to grow with future lambs needing shelter from cold weather, lots of good food and love. They eventually learn how easily they can outrun me on our walks outside. They learn that life in warmer weather is more fun outside making friends. Speeding around with the other sheep and playing endless games of tag.

The day comes when they are convinced they don’t ‘need’ me anymore and stay outside, just out of my reach for a few days. They come back looking for bottles when they need reassurance and as they grow, look to me for hugs. And Fruit Loops. Treasure, Baker and Rudy still think anything I bring out (even medicine) is a bottle even though they are now grown up elegant sheep.

I always cry when my babies move out to the barn. I miss their sweet selves barreling around the house, following my every move. Stealing my knitting or yarn I am trying to knit. Most of all I miss rocking them to sleep in front of the fireplace, snuggling them up to read a bedtime story.

A wise friend consoles me each time the lambs out grow me, reminding me “you’ve done your job, you did a good job and they are now good sheep.”

Twist & Shout! (by Erika Purcell)

No not dancing..twisting fiber.   Making yarn.  I promised myself 2010 would be the year I learned to spin my own yarn.  You know, cross something off my bucket list.  Maybe I’ll even buy a spinning wheel.   Who knows?

Naughty Knitterz seem to be most interested in two things.  Some are trading in their knitting needles and learning how to crochet.  Some are starting to spin yarn.  A few Naughty Knitterz are experienced yarn spinners.

I know nothing about twisting fiber but I have always been intrigued by the contraptions used to make yarn.  Spinning wheels fascinate me.  One of the first people to join the circle was Karin from eastern Australia who wrote an article entitled “Relax and Enjoy the Spin“.  Her article was my first exposure to spinning wheels. 

Karin wrote about how she came to own a Ashford spinning wheel and at a v ery reasonable price.  After reading Karin’s piece I became interested in learning more about spinning yarn and about the different types of spinning wheels available.  First thing I did was to look on eBay to see if I could find any Ashford spinning wheels. 

Ashford is described as the VW of spinning wheels.  Ashford spinning wheels are manufactured in New Zealand.  I thought it would be best to see if there was a wheel made closer to where I live.  My concern was getting spare parts.  I quickly learned spinning wheels are made all around the world and spare parts are available everywhere and online. 

The next thing I did was to ”Google“ spinning wheels.  I also looked on ”Youtube” to see what videos I could find there.  I was overwhelmed with all the information available.  There are a bunch of different types and brands of spinning wheels.  I found two articles which I recommend you read if you’re interested in a wheel of your own. 

The first is entitled “Choosing a spinning wheel“.   I found another must read article  about spinning wheels on The Woolery web site. After reading both I decided I wanted a folding wheel for its size and portability.  Here is a another article comparing the different folding spinning wheels.

The one thing I learned fast was buying a spinning wheel was not a decision to be made quickly.  Once I decided which type and brand I wanted, I decided to look around to see if I could find a used wheel.  The other thing I learned was that selecting a spinning wheel that’s right for you is not the end of your journey.  It is only the beginning.  Next, you’ll need to learn to use it.  You will find a good how a spinning wheel works video on the site which is a place you can start.

Start by deciding what type of yarn you want to make the most of.  Using a small hand spinning wheel is where I chose to begin.  Whatever you do remember to Relax & Enjoy the Spin! and as the song says ”Ride a painted pony…Let the spinning wheel fly!” 

Good Luck & Knit Happy!

Introduction to Tri-Looms (by Pamela Kelly)

I have been crocheting and knitting for the better part of my life. However, I now primarily spend my time knitting, spinning, and weaving. I fell in love with spinning the first time I sat down at a spinning wheel at one of my friend’s shop. As time progressed I decided I would like to try other fiber venues. As it turns out, I saw a tri-loom on the internet and asked my husband if he could make me one of these. Husbands are great for that sort of thing you know. With no information other than a photograph and a bit… sorry… a lot of ingenuity on his part he endeavored to build a tri-loom for me. After about three months of effort his first seven foot loom actually turned out to be only six feet long because, for whatever reason, he calculated seven feet to be seventy-two inches, which of course is only six feet. He’s over that and better now!

Jim now makes tri-looms for Sunflower Fibers (www.sunflowerfibers.com) in several sizes and is working to get his personal adjustable design patented.

Knitting and weaving is just not simply fun for me, it is a “passion”. I have wanted to weave and knit full time for years but unfortunately making a living at a full time job was preventing me from doing that. I was a computer programmer for a major international company, and as many IT jobs have done in the past several years, my husband’s and my job were both best-shored to other countries. So I have been forced to do what I love to do. How cool is that??? Besides, a job is a “job”. Weaving and knitting is “fun”!

Jim makes looms and I weave and knit. 

Triangular (tri-loom) weaving frame.

An adjustable triangle loom is for weaving pieces into various garment accessories, blankets, throws, afghans, shawls and scarves in various sizes. There are three wood rails attached at the angle or corner to create a 90 degree triangle. Each rail has nails or pins aligned in a straight row for the full length of each board. The nails are proportionally spaced in order to have the same number of nails on each board. Since the hypotenuse is longer than the two adjacent sides the nails will be a bit further apart on the hypotenuse side. The size of a tri-loom is measured by the hypotenuse side of the loom. An adjustable tri-loom has drilled holes at specified distances to allow different sized looms to be created from one set of three rails.

This invention relates to a 3-sided 90 degree weaving loom that can be adjusted to various sizes.

Background of the weaving loom.

The triangle weaving loom is used for weaving triangle shaped fabric pieces that can be used as an individual piece like a scarf or shawl; or to weave several triangular pieces that can joined together to make ponchos, afghans, bed throws and many other common household or garment items. The adjustability of the loom allows for the different sizes desired for the item that is being constructed.

Weaving on a triangular loom is much easier than normal weaving because the only measurement that is required is how much yarn is needed to complete the job. The complete piece can be woven by using a center pull ball of yarn. Other weaving projects, or weaving on a floor loom, may require measuring and cutting warp yarns, or dressing with warp yarns, winding shuttles with weft yarns before weaving.

When weaving on a triangular loom it is imperative that there be an equal number of uniformly spaced pins on each rail and that the pins intersect with no major gaps at the corner and at the 45 degree angles.

Summary of the invention

A tri-loom is a triangle made of three rails of wood with nails or pins evenly spaced on the upper side of the wooden rail for weaving the yarn. The rails are connected via a bolt and wing nut at the ends, or at the specified pre-drilled holes that allow for the adjustments to create a different sized loom. No matter what sized loom being used the loom is constructed in a way that allows for the loom to have the same number of nails for each loom depending on the loom size desired.

No matter what size loom being used the following is required and provided.

1. The invention provides an adjustable triangular loom that maintains an equal number of pins or nails on each rail.
2. The pins or nails intersect at the corner and angles with no major gaps.
3. The spacing of the pins or nails will be uniform on each rail regardless of the size of the triangle loom being used.

More unobvious and obvious features will become more apparent looking at the pictures of the looms at www.sunflowerfibers.com.

How a Spinning Wheel Works (video)

The Naughty Knitterz Spin & Grin topic category is all about spinning fiber into yarn.  There are a variety of spinning wheels.  If you want to learn about spinning it’s important to understand how a spinning wheel works.  This video does a great job of explaining not only how a spinning wheel works but also describes its parts.  Having a basic understanding of spinning wheel mechanics will help give you an initial understanding of spinning fiber into yarn.  

In this 10 1/2 minute video Sue Macniven shows a saxony wheel, its various parts and how to adjust a scotch tension. In depth look at how to work out the ratios.

Introduction to Spinning, Part 2 (video)

Relax and Enjoy the Spin! (by fireflysummer)

Hi All,

I have been a knitter & crocheter for about 32 years now, taught like most, by my grandmother when I was a child.  I love anything craft related and now my new passion is fibre. Spinning and dyeing my own yarn to use for projects is so satisfying.  I live on the east coast of Australia. I am a nurse by trade but have decided to be a stay at home mum to nurture my family while they grow.   I had decided that I wanted to spin my own yarn, but due to a lack of fundage, my options were limited.

I had heard about a craft Exhibition that was on at my local community centre and that the local weaving and spinning group would be there demonstrating. So I went along to have a look.  I chatted with the ladies while they spun away with such ease and expressed my wish to one day have my own spinning wheel. One of the ladies took me by the hand and said “there is a wheel inside for sale, it’s a great buy”.  Well…. I came home with a sheepish look on my face and said to my DH, “Darling, guess what I just bought”.

I got my first wheel. A traditional Ashford 1982, a Lazy Kate, 9 bobbins, a pair of hand carders, some Chinook and a few craft books all for AU$100. A real bargain. Apart from needing a new string and a little oil she is in perfect condition.  Ok. Now that I had my wheel I needed to learn how to use it. While I was at the Craft exhibition I had grabbed a flyer for the Spinning and Weaving groups’ Annual Exhibition and fashion parade that was about 6 weeks away.

So I grabbed all the books I could find on ebay that fit my very very slim budget and read and read. All the time counting the days until the groups exhibition and meeting. I was so eager to join the group and start absorbing information from a collective knowledge of over 500 years on spinning. 

It wasn’t to be. I came home with my hopes of joining quite squished because there was a waiting list of 9 people already waiting to join the group.  What was I to do.  The books covered a lot, but there were a lot of grey areas and some things were not covered at all. Being a visual person I learn much better from watching, so I decided to consult the “Oracle” (Internet) in particular YouTube (www.youtube.com).  YouTube is a massive craft education resource. Wow.  I did have to filter through many videos that were not very good to find the gems.

Firstly I found Sue Macniven’s (http://www.youtube.com/user/chicksinrubber) video that explained all the different parts of the spinning wheel.  Then I came across the New Voyage Videos (http://www.youtube.com/user/NewVoyagerVideo). Tim has a three part series on spinning wheel maintenance, where I learnt how to take care of my wheel and keep it running at it’s best.  With the technical stuff on board I headed back to Sue’s videos to learn about carding, combing and some spinning basics. Sue is a great teacher to listen too, she explains things very clearly and thoroughly.  

Another video maker that I found and really enjoyed was Rexenne (http://www.youtube.com/user/rexenne). This lady has a very, in her own words “dorky” approach. I love watching these videos, especially if I have a had a crappy day. Rexenne’s approach is light and heaps of fun and a little crazy, which I can relate to well.  Rexenne taught me probably the most important lesson so far in my learning experience. Relax and enjoy, everything does not need to be perfect.

I really loved the fact that if I needed to watch a video 200 times for it to sink in, I was the only one that knew it. I was able to feel really comfortable in my own home, mind you my kids did tell me I was a sight, set up in front of the computer with the spinning wheel doing as I watched. But hey, it really worked.  Perfection will come with practice.  I was still a little stressed about getting my yarn to be a perfect 5ply or what ever ply I wanted. Then I realised that my knobbly, loopy, lumpy yarn resembled the “fancy fibres” being sold in yarn stores.  It was then I really relaxed and started enjoying the whole process.  

The moral of the story is do not be hard on your self and try for perfection with your first yarn, enjoy it. Be open to learning via different methods. Explore the Internet, there are so many talented people out there to learn from.  We have school holidays here Down Under, and I have spent the first week of the holidays with my 3 kiddlies Master 11, Miss 6 and Miss 4 along with my niece Miss 8 dyeing mohair the kid safe way.  I am writing an article to follow this one with pictures and advice on dyeing yarn. So keep your eyes peeled.

Introduction to Spinning, Part 1 (video)

If you’re interested in spinning your own yarn, this video provides you with all the information you need to get started. Park and draft with a drop spindle with this tutorial!