Confetti Handspun

 

This stuff is absolutely addictive to spin! I'm still waiting for the weft thread to arrive for my weaving project, so I have been spinning like crazy. I've been making roughly an ounce of singles every day, while also plying whenever I have two full bobbins. This was the first one-ounce trial run while I was sorting out how to handle the fiber to best advantage. A short forward draw and a lot of pre-drafting seems to be the key to keeping the coloured nepps from clumping up too much (a few large slubs give the yarn character). I decided to use the trial ball as a gauge test, and my swatch is working up at 11 sts/2 in, 15 rows/2 in. when using #5 needles, or what would classify as a light DK weight. I will probably have to create my own sweater pattern to accommodate the yarn. I love the "confetti" effect!

"Diz" Is Not A Scrabble Word

Day 176: "Diz" is not a valid Scrabble word. I checked, and yet anyone who has done much fiber blending for spinning probably has at least one diz in their tool kit, and knows it by that name. Essentially, a diz can be any object with a hole in it, through which carded fiber can be pulled to form top. And while we're having a vocabulary lesson, I should explain that "top" is preparation in which the fibers are parallel, smoother than roving. Top can be made from roving by carding it and pulling it through a diz. See? We've come full circle and are back to "diz" again." It was convenient that this gauge included three different sizes of holes for dizzing. I'm using the smallest to prepare my "Ice Caves" blend for the supported spindle because it's easier to see when I have a heavier bit of blue bamboo fiber coming up. When it does, I may want to take extra care to spread out into the white wool. The sheep gauge is easier to use than the hole in the top of a key, but that also makes a handy diz. A curved diz (made, perhaps, from a piece of PVC pipe) gives a bit more protection for your fingers where they might scrape against the carder teeth, and curved dizzes are available from various suppliers. Nevertheless, Scrabble aficionados will swear that "diz" is not a valid word. Goes to show how much THEY know about the subject!

It's An Opisometer

Day 30: People will think you're being vulgar if you call this device by its proper name. Yep, it's an "uh-PIS-uh-meet-er." I call it my "map-walker," a term which may raise questions but not necessarily eyebrows. By rolling it along a trail on a topographic map and using different conversions depending on the map's scale, it's actually fairly accurate for measuring distance. I've compared it against actual mileages on a 7.5' map often enough to trust it to give me an error factor of no more than a tenth of a mile over a five-mile run. Of course a lot depends on how many switchback corners there are and how carefully the operator can trace them, but it's a good sight better than "as the crow flies," a functional tool for telling this Crow how far she'll have to leg it.