Autistic Crafting

In the last few years, I have been reading and researching autism. It started out simple. I wondered why my partner struggled to stay focused long enough to complete a full load of dishes when I asked. Why was it a hassle? I dove into the research on ADHD and learned that neurodivergence can make easy chores, like washing dishes, feel world-ending. It was a lot to adapt to at first, but nearly 3 years later, the dishes just get done now. Then a friend asked me whether I had considered myself autistic. Well, no, considering that this was the first time it had occurred to me to think about it. I didn’t have any developmental delays or any other stereotypical signs. And then I was handed a list of testimonials and asked whether I related to any of them. As it turns out, I related to the majority of them.

I have already spoken about this on my Patreon page, so please head there if you’d like to read it in full. I felt like the only way to solve some of my life problems was to understand what autism actually is (and not my un-researched perception of it), decide whether I thought I was autistic, and what I might do about it if so. After a year of fairly intense research, looking at medical reviews of autism in adult women, testimonials, and just reflecting on frustrating interactions I had had in my life and feeling massively misunderstood, I accepted that I was probably autistic. In April 2023, I began implementing strategies to listen to my body and assess how different experiences manifested certain symptoms: extreme fatigue, weight gain, muscle and joint inflammation, anxiety, and brain fog.

After a full year of understanding myself as autistic, I can say that I have no doubt that this is the label that describes me best. I am not diagnosed but my 3 years of research is sufficient for me to say that I would receive a positive diagnosis with a professional. I would like to get diagnosed officially, but the NHS wait times are on the order of 9 months to several years and private options are pricey. Until then, I will continue living my life as an autistic person.

I have titled this blog entry as ‘Autistic Crafting’ for a specific reason. You may have heard me casually mention the difficulty I sometimes have when trying to make slubby art yarns. My main preference for yarns is that they’re spun consistently. I’ve been told to try spinning with my non-dominant hand (which is a fantastic idea!) so I’m a bit more loose and less controlling of the final result. However, this is something that is natural to me. In a world of chaos, autistic people tend to prefer being able to control their environment where possible. My personal obsession for perfectly even yarns likely stems from my need to form structure and order from chaos. It is how I meditate. I can spin endless miles of plain white wool into a fine yarn and be happy. I can do it while listening to the chaos around me, so long as I can make the perfect yarn.

My repeatable hand dyed yarns are another example of how autism comes into my crafting. I love the idea of randomly dyed yarn, but I can’t bring myself to just…jump into it. Even at the very start, in 2010, I had to exert total control over my dyeing method in order to feel confident that my art could be consistent. My recipes and method of dyeing are the scientific backbone of my business, but equally, it satisfies my autistic need for control over the results. And the artistry created in the resulting hand dyed yarn, well, that’s the anticipated chaos that drew me into hand dyeing yarn in the first place. I have always said I use Science to create Art, hence the brand Expertly Dyed: Art by Science. I feel a bit like I’ve come full circle in understanding myself as a crafter. My brain has been providing subtle hints over the years, but it’s only now clicked.

I could go on, and I probably will comment on autism in crafting in future updates, but for now, consider this an interesting twist to resuming blogging after 2 whole years.

PhD Life: It isn't glamorous...

...nor is it anything like I had expected. The thought of being Indiana Jones was one reason why I pursued my education seriously. I realized by 8th grade that to be a doctor, you needed to be smart, smarter than everyone else. So, I pushed myself to do the next level higher, taking the high-track classes rather than the average level classes. Each year, I pushed myself to the next level, never caring that I wasn't truly prepared for it. By the time I was a senior, I had taken 4 years of science (advanced biology and chemistry in the same year), 3 years of English, math, history, French, and never once gave myself a study hall. I used an academic waiver to remove the need to take P.E. (Physical Education) and spent all of my evening and weekend time studying until I went to bed. It was rare for me to have completely finished my homework each night. Sometimes I would do it before school started in the morning, or during lunch (when I would spend 30 minutes in the lab). Or sometimes, in the class just before the homework was due.

During this time, I was also a figure skater (had been since I was 2 years old), a member of a couple of clubs, a regular volunteer at the Illinois State Museum Research and Collections Center, and I worked 20 hours a week. I also had boyfriends, friends, and carried on crafting and painting and reading.

My senior year was a turning point. I had just turned 17. I began taking psychology at the local community college on Saturday mornings, for three hours. I front loaded my first semester so I could graduate early. In January 2001, I was officially a college student. I had to juggle a full 15 hour school schedule, high school final exams, a 30 hour a week job, and a boyfriend. In keeping with my goal to become smart, I took three advanced placement classes. By graduation day, June 2002, I went from being 'average' smart, to contending with the top 20% of my class inside of four years.

To say that I was wound like a tight coil would be a severe understatement. I lost a whopping 65 pounds between my sophomore and junior years. Because I had languished under my own whip to become smarter, I didn't always do well. Smart kids (those top 20% and above) ridiculed me when I would receive a failing grade on a homework, quiz, or a test. One particular episode still haunts me today. A teacher publicly congratulated me for improving my vocabulary test from a D to a B by the end of the first semester. I was humiliated at having my grades described to everyone and it did nothing to relieve the ridicule I received on a daily basis from my fellow classmates (though it was usually just a few bullies). I also hated it when some bullies started caring more about me as a person because I 'became hot' by losing weight.

You could say that I had had enough by the start of my senior year. I didn't want to be around people who didn't respect me and what I had accomplished by myself. I didn't have well-educated parents (though they were loving and supportive and made sure I knew about 'the real world'), access to tutors, siblings, or friends who could tutor me for free. I did everything through sheer force of will. And it didn't stop there.

Whenever there has been something 'hard' to do in my life, I will do it. Not for the martyrdom, to make people pity me because my efforts result in few gains. I do it for the passion. Because I am interested. I want to learn more.

I finished my bachelor's degree with a 3.76/4.0 (department GPA) and a 3.48/4.0 (overall GPA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006. My senior year at UIUC was thoroughly loaded with anthropology courses, and with that, about 500-1000 pages of required reading each week. I binge-watched anime on weekends just to have a brain-break. I also took up Kuk Sool Won and achieved first degree black belt the summer after I graduated University (2007).

And then I began pursuing higher education. In 2010, I received an MSc in Museum Studies with Merit from the University of Leicester, after having suffered the financial crisis in 2008/9, switching jobs, and working full time while living just above the poverty line. I began Expertly Dyed as soon as my dissertation was in the mail. I was halfway started when I received confirmation that I passed my degree.

After an educational hiatus, where I worked as a teacher in Korea, an independent fiber consultant, and continued on my Expertly Dyed pursuits (starting my YouTube channel in 2012), I felt that it was time to return to academia and pick up my dream where I left it five years previously.

You're probably wondering why I wanted you to know my educational history from the time I was 13 years old. Some habits die hard.

I completed my MA in Archaeology from the University of Leicester with Distinction in 2016. I presented at two conferences. I also traveled to a new corner of Britain every other weekend. I was a dancer, reenactor, department groupie, and I exercised nearly every day. I went out drinking with friends on weekends. I ate cheese and crackers for dinner on some of my busiest nights. Wednesday pub nights with the department were my one opportunity to eat a proper meal each week. I lost weight. I did nothing crafty: no spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing...nothing. And yet I studied textile production in Iron Age Britain.

My PhD experience has been the exacerbation of all my previous experiences with education and work/life balance. I work myself to death, I don't spend enough time on me, and some days I'm frankly shocked that I haven't collapsed with exhaustion.

I concocted an entirely unrealistic future for myself when I was 13 and I continued to fall back on those outdated principles until quite recently. I thought I had to become the expert and to know everything. I grappled with impostor syndrome (like many PhD students today). I couldn't handle being told my writing was sloppy or unfocused. I nearly fainted when I was told that 'I needed to be more serious about my research' and that I 'needed to do more'. I was utterly broken. How could someone like me possibly have time to do more and be more serious? I had already received high praise in the form of a Distinction and feedback at conferences. I am 35. I have been serious about my education for 22 years. I have gone far beyond just 'doing more'. What was missing?

My biggest personal issue with my pursuit of a PhD is that I'm not Indiana Jones. Being a doctor isn't about being the smartest, per se, it's more about understanding who you are and what you need. But here's my big moment of self-reflection about my PhD:

I do what I do because I want to do it.

I am halfway through writing my PhD thesis. I have presented at 12 conferences since January 2017, with 3-4 more planned for the remainder of 2019. I have conducted 2 major experiments for my PhD research (which is not an experimental PhD), with 2 more scheduled for September. I have met with senior academics in Iron Age studies and textile studies. I've done these things because I wanted to do them. I want to present high quality research and hold myself accountable because I have deeply critiqued my own work and the work of my predecessors. I want to develop textile archaeology to be the mainstream topic of study it deserves. I can't do this alone, nor am I alone. I am there, in a community, of similarly minded people who do what they do because they want to do it. 

This brings me to my final point about work/life balance. If I was told to do 6 conferences a year by my supervisors, and I had to do it, I would probably stress out. I would cry. I'd be anxious and work 15 hour days and on weekends. If anything were to set me off, I would probably have a complete breakdown with collateral damage. My work would be my life. I'd have no way of disengaging. I would probably binge drink (which I nearly started to do at the start of 2019). And worse, it would feel inescapable.

Something I didn't know about myself is that I am incredibly self-motivated by difficult tasks and I think the reason why I have managed to accomplish so much was because I knew my limits. I enjoy being busy and productive. I like being able to do 10 different activities in a day. I like keeping a schedule. I like being a part of things. When I do feel stressed out, anxious, depressed, exhausted, lethargic, etc., it's because I'm not keeping a good work/life balance that is suitable for ME. 

Sneak peek at the new series I'm launching on YouTube!

It is important to be introspective, and the demanding work of a PhD project can often prevent you from reflecting on yourself, your motivations, your needs. I need to be writing up my chapter on needles right now, but my need to share these thoughts has superseded my need to write my chapter. I won't fret about my chapter writing because I have a plan. It is scheduled to be worked on today. I want to write this chapter on needles. I submitted an abstract for a conference this morning and I worked on a journal article submission. Later, I will finish my weaving experiment today and get ready to pack up for the European Archaeological Association conference. I want to do these things. I am happy, stressed, excited, and a bit anxious. My life as a PhD student is the opposite of glamorous--certainly, no one will be writing 'Love You' on their eyelids any time soon. It's an exercise in coordinating 10 spinning plates with just my two hands. But I know that if it all becomes too much, or I need help reassessing my work/life balance, there are people out there who want to raise awareness for mental health issues among PhD students. 

Iron Age Archaeology and Textile Studies: Where have I been?

Hey everyone!

I know it has been so, so long. I haven't gone missing, or gotten distracted. But I have had a severe shortage of time. I've been thoroughly engrossed with my PhD research on textile production during the Iron Age of Britain for the last few years, which has also meant that I haven't been able to do many updates. I worked on relaunching the Expertly Dyed shop last year (my big New Year's Resolution), and I had quietly vowed to relaunch my YouTube channel this year.

Over the coming months, my plan is to reacquaint myself with the past avenues I've used to share my knowledge. It'll be a rough start, but we'll get there. To start, please watch this short promo video so you know where I'm going to start off with.

Iron Age Archaeology and Textile Studies

I also plan to work on some Fiber Talk videos. Living in the UK has given me the unique advantage over my time in Korea to explore a wealth of fibery goodness. There are tons of rare breeds available to my fingertips, and I've already been underway with testing and spinning them. So, please stay tuned for those future videos.

I'll also use this blog to link some of the content I've already created from conference papers I've presented. Having been on both sides of the academic paywall, I'm well aware how difficult it can be to access certain information. For those interested parties, you can find most of my work (until 2018) on my Academia profile. If you want an easier digest of my research, I will be posting versions of my work here, without all the academic puffery that is sometimes needed to show peers that you've done the research. I hope that these two options will be ideal for most of my audience, but if you're still interested in my research and have no idea how to understand what it all means, let me know. Knowledge is useless if you can't properly share it. I'm happy to do this for you.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me during these last four years. It's been a bit of a dead zone in terms of content, but it doesn't mean that I don't miss everything about textile arts, and the Expertly Dyed community in particular. Reading through old comments has lifted my spirits. :)

Places to find me:

Email: expertlydyed@zoho.com
Etsy: http://www.expertlydyed.etsy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/expertlydyed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferBeamer2
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/edexpertlydyed/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/expertlydyed
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/expertly-dyed-friends

Look, Facebook, We Need to Talk

You know that I've been with you since 2005, when you were a way to connect with students at a variety American universities. I was there during all of the transitions, big and small. I watched you grow. I watched you expand and begin including non-university students: moms/dads, grandparents, and kid brothers/sisters. I was skeptical about that move, but I allowed it. When businesses started using you as a platform for reaching their audience on the cheap, I approved. In early 2011, I signed up Expertly Dyed for its own page. Until six months ago, at least, when I noticed that things were going less well. (TL;DR - Skip to the end for details about getting Expertly Dyed notifications)

What happened? Well, let's review the insights. As far back as I can go (July 27, 2013), my organic reach was:

• 338 people served out of 442 Likes

That means, 76% of my audience was reached that day. Not bad, since some people don't go to Facebook everyday. Let's fast forward a bit and take a look at a year ago:

• 269 people served out of 821 Likes

That means, 33% of my audience was reached that day. Okay, that's a big difference. Let's do this one more time and see what my insights were like as of a few days ago:

• 95 people served out of 1236 Likes

You almost don't need to see the percentages to know what I'm driving at. Only 0.08% of my audience was reached on this particular day.

Since I began using Facebook, I have done my best to use the platform to my advantage so there is transparency between what I make and what you want. You want to see more red fibers in my shop? Okay, more red is coming. Want a tutorial about X? Well, that goes on the video queue. What do I think of Y book/magazine? It'll be reviewed on the blog. 

So, here are my gripes. Two days ago, I read a post from Hootsuite about how it's really not that hard to reach your Facebook audience. Well, my insights are telling me a different story. First, it says to 'know your audience'. As a spinner/dyer/knitter/so on, I am deeply entrenched within the community, and I'm also a fan of others who have similar businesses as mine. I'm fairly certain that I know my audience. (Don't believe me? Quiz me.) Then it goes on to say that I should capitalize on videos. As a video creator, I can tell you that I do all in my power to bring you all videos of things you really want to see. On my video post about Botched Dyeing, only 112 people were reached. Many of you specifically asked for that video. Let's review so far. It was a video post with relevant material and what you wanted to see. So why wasn't it served to more of my audience? Even if I posted it at a poor time of the day (which it wasn't), why didn't it reach a greater portion of my audience?

Let's keep looking. Okay, 'taking a stand, joining a conversation' is outside the scope of my business. I refuse to delve deeply into politics, religion, human rights, and so forth, especially on the formal face of my business on Facebook. There's a place for those conversations, but on my business page is not where they belong. Over the course of years, many of you have come to understand (or at least make an educated guess about) my position on things in the world. In the chat thread on Ravelry, its informal nature allows me bring my personal views to light. That is the right place for such discussions, in my opinion, where context is easier to establish than on my Facebook business page. Next, please.

"Listen to me," says Facebook. Oh? Every few months, I have to change how I use your platform because you have changed your algorithm. "I wanna see more pictures!" cries Facebook. The vast majority of my posts contain images or links or videos. Of course, by vast majority, I mean statistically overwhelming majority. "Don't be pushy!" whines Facebook. I completely understand that one. I hate it when people and companies shove their sales and wares in my face. I don't want to get my daily dose of 'buy my stuff!' from pages I have liked. So, Facebook cracked down on those posts so they weren't being served. Great. I run sales specifically for my Facebook and Twitter fans, but I don't overly promote those posts...at most, I will promote a week-long sale about 3 times in that given week. "You're being needy!" complains Facebook. Good news. My content takes a long time to produce, so I usually only post once a day. Occasionally, twice a day.

Here are a few caveats. When I have posted content which tags other businesses, it has paid off with a far grander reach. But it needs to be relevant, and keeping well-connected in that way on a daily basis is extremely challenging for a one-woman show. The one post which has managed to reach nearly my entire audience was the one where I was trying to figure out why my posts weren't getting to you all. That post reached 1364 people, and only 1253 people like my page. Bonus. But I don't want my rant to get the promotion; I want my relevant content to be seen. Facebook, please don't force me to have to go to these extremes every day so I can get even just 10% of my audience reached daily.

I'm not a professional marketer, but I'm smart. I can read, observe, analyze, implement, and discuss the results. I can see what is working, and what isn't. I'm a scientist at heart, so I research and hypothesize about what I think will work to build a following, reach my fans, and develop and maintain a community. I'm not perfect, and I'm willing to accept the fact that I will misunderstand and be imperfect about how to market a business. Five years on, though, I ought to be getting better at marketing and delivering content my audience wants to see. Instead, Facebook would have me believe that I'm clueless in that regard.

Hootsuite, I know you're trying to be helpful, but for many businesses in my spot, posts like this are condescending and rude. I know for a fact that I'm not the only small business experiencing such troubles from Facebook. Though we try to share with each other how we have managed to overcome the algorithm changes Facebook has brought forth, there is clearly something else that we're doing wrong. So, Facebook, if you're listening, what are you going to do for me? Relationships are meant to be balanced, but I fear that the table is tipping far more in your favor. I don't want to end our long-lasting relationship, but I feel like we may be nearing the point of parting as friends.

Oh, and if you're curious about how you can ensure you'll get updates about Expertly Dyed posts on Facebook, go to your profile and scroll down until you see the "Likes" category on the left-hand side of your Timeline. There, you will see a list of your liked pages. Find "Expertly Dyed" and click on "Follow". In the drop down menu for "Liked", select "Get Notifications". 

Now you will get a notification whenever a page you like posts something. I've been going through my liked pages and doing likewise. There is so much content I have missed myself!

Silk Spinning Challenge! Halfway Point

Okay, so I realize that we're about halfway through the spinning challenge now, but then I moved halfway around the world again. If you're interested in spinning silk, and want some buddies to spin with, join us over on Ravelry. There will be mystery prizes when I get them made (I had to unpack all of my tools and get it all set up). Things are rolling almost at a normal speed!

Silk is one of those categories of fiber that a lot of people shy away from for a long time because they hear that it is a slippery and often difficult to spin fiber. And it's not cheap, so if you mess it up, it's tough to just jump in if you're not confident with your spinning skills. I've been in that spot. No matter what you spin, there's a chance it won't turn out like you want it--even now, I spin yarns that don't turn out like I imagined, but that's a rare occurrence. So, when you realize that there's a chance you might mess it up, you're more free to just jump in. But we can minimize this chance of messing it up by working on it together. Here's my first finished silk yarn:

It looks a bit different than silk you may have used, and that's because I used silk hankies instead of combed silk top. For beginners, silk hankies can help you bridge the gap into spinning silk top. It's more forgiving in some ways, but you do have to learn a new skill set. Drafting hankies is way different than drafting other fibers, but when it comes to the spinning and plying, you don't have to worry about the twist amounts as much so you're free to focus on the differences between silk and wool.

I will do a video and show you how I like to draft out hankies so I don't get blisters or make my hands sore, which are common problems when you first start spinning silk hankies. I try to use more natural pulling motions to prevent strain on the shoulders, and I use the pad of my hand instead of my fingers to reduce the chance of blisters, cuts (silk is a very strong fiber!), and sore fingers. I will schedule it for tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes. I'm working without my main laptop, so I'll have to double check the quality.

Here is my challenge yarn, still on the spindle.

It's very easy to spin silk hankies with a drop spindle, and due to silk's strength, you can make a thinner weight yarn with a heavier spindle and it'll be fine. Silk will still snap if there is too much twist in a thin spot (or if you pull too much on the silk), but you don't necessarily need a lace weight spindle to spin a lace weight silk hankie yarn.

Pros and cons of spinning silk hankies. The pros:

• Generally less expensive than silk top
• Has the characteristics of silk (shine/drape/thermal properties/so on)
• Easy to spin (and ply)
• You can add more or less twists per inch, to make a softer or firmer yarn.
• Easy to dye and takes colors well
• Singles can be spun very thin or very thick and it won't draft apart

Cons:

• The noils prevent a smooth, uninterrupted surface, so it has that 'rustic' look
• Drafting is more difficult and requires a skill you won't use for most other fibers
• You can't draft if there is any twist in the hankie, and difficult to do at the wheel
• It sticks to everything, so you should always spin with lotion nearby

However, silk hankies aren't best for everyone. Some won't like the noil texture which interrupts it's smoothness and shine. Spinning silk top will be worth the extra effort for some, and that's totally okay! Spinning silk top is a smooth experience, and the silk yarn practically makes itself when you learn to deal with its slipperiness. If you have spun fibers like alpaca and angora, you will be able to use those skills when spinning silk combed top. For your first time spinning silk, I recommend using tussah silk because it tends to grab neighbor fibers a little better than finer silks (like mulberry silk).

So, is silk top going to work for you as your first silk yarn? The pros:

• It's very shiny and spins up into a smooth yarn
• No noils
• Drafting at the wheel is very easy and similar to drafting other fibers
• Takes dyes well
• Has all of the properties of silk
• You can easily find silk top online

Cons:

• It's more expensive than hankies
• You can't find other silks like muga or eri silk as easily
• It's very slippery and spindles are prone to dropping if you don't watch the twist carefully
• You can't spin any gauge of silk as a single--thick singles will pill and begin to fall apart

The point is, silk hankies and silk top are both great for those interested in learning how to spin silk. You don't have to start out with one or the other, but if you know some of the pros/cons of each, you can choose the silk you want to start with based on your skills/interests/budget. And if you do run into a problem, stop by and we'll help you sort it out!

Supported Spindling: Graduating to Full Skeins

I bought this gorgeous supported spindle from MirkwoodArts on Etsy several months ago. His name is Smaug (as if the shop name didn't give away the theme!) and he is beautiful.

The finishing is smooth and warm, but not so glossy that the fibers slip when I build up the cop. I also bought a fun spinning bowl made by vikingsanta on Etsy.

And I made my first yarn about two days after getting my new tools.

I was getting the hang of spinning and drawing with one hand (instead of my customary two hands) with this mini batt of fiber, and felt like I was ready for a full skein. Enter the cormo!

I carded up a few batts of my cormo fleece and sent it along to Korea. I had planned to use it for making socks, but after spinning the grabby fibers of the above mini-batt, I knew exactly which fiber to spin next with my supported spindle.

I also wanted to do some experimentation with twist (after reading the PLY issue on Twist), and the supported spindle would allow me complete control over grist and twist. Additionally, I wanted to try spinning my singles with just enough twist to hold the single together (but not enough to make a tight plied yarn), and ply my singles with more twist than is needed for a balanced single. This was to produce a lofty 2-ply yarn, full of springiness. I spun the cormo with a point-of-contact draw, and here are the results (both unwashed):

Skein 1:

Skein 2:

I waited until I was completely done with the project, then I counted up the yardage and weighed each skein. My first one was 216yd/42g, and my second one was 224yd/46g. I was thrilled that they were so close in weight and yardage, and I didn't even separate the fiber into two batches before I got started.

To calculate how much fiber goes into each yard, I took the weight and divided it by the length. For the first skein, I got 0.1944g/yd, and for the second skein, I got 0.2054g/yd. The second skein weighs just 0.0110g more per yard than the first skein; that's only a 6% difference in the weight per yard. Because this is handspun and some places are slightly thicker or thinner than others, the actual differences from yard length to yard length will differ much more. I was going for consistency over the whole skein using a new spinning technique and a new tool, so I am very proud of my results.

For the sake of the Fiber Talk video that this skein is planned for, I only washed one of the two skeins so you can see how they compare. Maybe I'll dye them in the future, but I am really loving the white right now. :)

I haven't branched out into other wool fibers for my supported spindle yet, but I am trying it out with some silk at the moment. That'll be for the upcoming silk challenge (starting June 15).  

Woven Mohair: The Rug is Finished

I am done, and the results are stunning. Mr. IT Guy is going to set his feet on luxury:

I knew that the mohair fibers would lose more vm with the weaving, washing, fulling, and drying process. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the rug for dryness--essentially all of the vm was gone!

The fulling process allowed the rug to develop some strength. I had originally struggled with weaving the weft too tightly, but this mohair has allowed me to practice beating the weft so it doesn't get too tight (and thus, too firm). When I first took this rug off the loom, it was extremely flexible and perhaps a bit loose. Here is the unfulled version:

Here is the fulled version:

You can see how the weft looks tighter, presumably because the warp shrunk just slightly. The bits of lock which stick out of the novelty mohair yarn have reached across to its neighbors to fill in the gaps, in a dendritic way. This fabric looks and feels more dense than the original rug without losing its supple flexibility. Further, it is obvious from these photos that the shine has not diminished much during this fulling process.

The mohair rug took on a slightly fuzzier appearance after the fulling, but it is more like a halo than an eyelash yarn. Again, is still looks like a Berber rug to me, in color and in texture.

My final thoughts. Weaving with mohair is a grand pleasure to work with. The extra work to remove vm at each stage along the way was worth my effort. This mohair is the opposite of 'less than stellar'--simply, it's stunning.

The next time I buy mohair, I will be discerning, as I always should be, but I won't be so allergic to seeing vm stuck in the locks. A little bit of vm is easily worked out of the locks without destroying its incredible texture and lock formation--mohair seems to naturally curl up together. You can bet that when I get my hands on one or two mohair fleeces, I will definitely make myself a soft blanket.

Tax Day Cotton Spinning Challenge: Halfway Point

Going from Level 1 to Level 2 in any RPG game is easier than going from Level 2 to Level 3. More experience is required. At those early levels, you're often encountering similar beasties and will receive similar XP when you smite them with your long bow or axe. So, attaining Level 3 took more monster killing than attaining Level 2. But you also began to learn some things about your character, your enemies, and the environment. Well, cotton spinning, for me, is no different. I think this metaphor applies to many of you who have been doing this challenge with me.

So, let's start off by looking at my first sample (which, if you'll remember, was made without researching anything yet):

It's rough, lumpy, has vm and noils, but most importantly, I succeeded in making yarn. My punis were soft, but the drafting was horrendous. I had to pinch and pull the fiber down to the point of contact (where the twist enters the fiber to become yarn) like an inch worm. Otherwise, my spindle would hit the ground. Sadly, my poor, Russian Bog Oak spindle, my baby, hit the floor several times. I put a towel down so it would land on something soft, but dropping a spindle is a sign I'm doing something wrong. Then I got a helpful tip from a G+ user, Andrea Schroer, that cotton needs a lot of twist. She's been spinning cotton for a long time, so that's the first change I made for my second sample.

Okay, so you can't really see the difference in this picture, but I really did add more twist to my second sample. Here's the side-by-side so you can see just how much twist was in the second sample, even after plying:

First sample, left, Second sample, right

The left sample is fluffier, fuzzier, and has a softer outline. The right sample is smoother, denser, shinier, and more sharply defined as a result; you can really see the individual plies as they twist around one another, but the loft obfuscates the plies of the left sample, so they're difficult to discern. Additionally, for the same length of skein, the left sample only made a single 180 degree turn (rotated a half turn) when I removed it from the niddy noddy, whereas the right sample made 3 whole turns. After washing and setting, using the same method I use for setting wool, they both hung in the same manner. Still, I think the singles need more twist.

Then I decided to try and spin the cotton worsted style, since some people had cotton top at hand. Now, I knew from years ago that this wouldn't be easy to do, and, well, it isn't easy to spin:

It may not have been easy to spin, but it did produce a smooth, non-fuzzy yarn which was probably stronger than my first two samples because there were no noils or vm present. I increased the twist again because my second sample still didn't look plied enough. With cotton's short staple, my fingers had to move deftly to spin far enough ahead of the twirling spindle so I could pinch and draft the fiber...and this is when I first encountered backspin. Because my hands were so busy controlling the twist and draft at the point of contact (where twist enters the unspun fiber), I let my spindle untwist. The decision between adding another spindle flick or managing the fiber/yarn dance was a difficult one. I realize that this is a small problem, but if I wanted to spin lots of cotton for hand towels or bags, this backspin would become a bigger issue and waste time. So, back to the drawing board.

This time, I carded the cotton top into a puni and spun from that:

The result was a similarly smooth and even yarn, with lots of twist, but slightly fuzzier than the true worsted sample. Over the course of this challenge, I have leveled up my puni-making:

After this sample, I decided to do some researching. I'm still in the process of reading up on cotton spinning, but here are two sources to read: Spin-Off's Spinning Cotton and a documentary about cotton spinners in South America. Because I had already spent some time experimenting and observing first, when I finally sat down to research I understood and retained more than I would have from the outset, and I may be able to fix some of my carding/puni problems from watching others.

For my fifth sample, I decided to make a larger sample. Sometimes when you make small samples, you're fingers and brain are just getting used to things, then you stop. I didn't give it an arbitrary stopping point--I just kept going until I couldn't remember what the starting yarn felt like.

Quick story time. When I first started spinning wool, I just let myself forget how I started spinning so I could find out 1) what my natural spinning gauge was, and 2) learn what gauge felt best for that fiber. I don't care that my cotton yarn will be a strange range of gauges when I'm done because I'm learning. Besides, I can use this cotton for all sorts of future projects, so I'm not wasting anything.

Here is the larger sample:

As I wind on, I'm trying to make an ovoid shape, just like the ladies were doing in the documentary video. It probably has something to do with spin time, so I'm experimenting to see if it has an impact with a different kind of spindle. The jury is still out.

The fifth sample felt like it was getting too heavy, so I decided to wind it off onto my ball winder (under tension) so the twist wasn't so active when I went to ply it:

While that sat, I started sample six. I was going to try my hand at double drafting the cotton (allowing twist to start to draft the fibers, then pinching the twist and drafting it further before letting the twist flow in again), which works well for very short stapled fibers.

While I believe it turned out to be more consistent than my first sample, it still suffered from the same kind of puni problem. In my original puni, I rolled the fiber onto size US 5 dpns in a fashion similar to the way I rolled the rolags in my blending video, but I think it made the puni too wide. I switched to a pair of US size 3, but the difference wasn't enough. I now roll the punis with a pair of size US 2 dpns, but after the fiber is wrapped around the two needles, I remove one of them and try to pack the cotton more densely around the single needle. I'll have to do a video to show you what I mean, and I'm not sure I'm even doing it right.

That said, I think it's worth experimenting with puni-making now. I have a good understanding of how to spin cotton (though, I think I'm still being timid with the amount of twist it needs), but my fiber preparation is halting me from moving forward. So, here I am, stuck at the end of the XP bar, all of my Level 3 abilities just barely out of reach. Here's my first solution experiment. I am picking open the cotton by hand, removing all of the little vm bits I can, then I'm hand blending the cotton so I can further open the fibers to remove vm and get the fibers all roughly aligned:

The result is a fluffy pile of cotton, which is ready for...well, a beating. Do you remember seeing the part in the documentary mentioned above of the woman beating the cotton? Well, I'm going to do something similar to that to see if I can prep this fiber for smooth spinning and for making stronger yarn. We'll see how that goes. :) If you want to be part of the cotton challenge, you're always welcome to join in whenever, even if you don't hear about it until we're done doing it as a group...knowledge and experiences are not ephemeral. Join us on Ravelry if you want more regular updates and if you want to share your current experiences and insights from spinning cotton.

Weaving Mohair: Halfway Through A Rug

I've reached the halfway point with my mohair rug weaving project, and it's time to convey some impressions on my progress and observations thus far. I have learned many things weaving mohair. First, I love it! I love watching the texture develop as I weave. I had imagined how this rug would turn out before I even began, but it's turning out more fabulous than I originally thought. It may be a shame that it'll be hidden under a computer desk... As you can see in the following pictures, there is an obvious difference in the two yarns for this rug project (top of photo: mohair, bottom of photo: Lincoln):

Mohair is incredibly shiny and smooth. It reflects light better than the Lincoln I used (and it should be rather obvious from my photos), and is probably most reflective in its lock form. Combed mohair top which has been worsted spun will also produce a very reflective yarn too, though with less texture. The second thing I've learned about weaving with mohair is that I prefer to keep mohair as a single, rather than as a plied yarn. Keeping the weft as a single allows the light to bounce off a larger piece of uninterrupted mohair (this concept also applies to silk)--this rug glows.

This rustically spun mohair single has helped me with one huge pitfall which I have suffered from: getting the right amount of beating. You can underbeat or overbeat a weft yarn, and the former will produce a very loose fabric with a weft which slides easily; the latter will produce a very stiff, weft faced fabric. Those aspects produce desirable fabrics occasionally, but I'm looking for something which is 'even', neither too loose nor too tight. The large diameter has allowed me to produce fabric that is flexible and not slippery.

 You can see how even the spacing is between the warp and weft in this picture:

Mmm, look at that texture! I love how the little bits of mohair pop out of the fabric, and I love how the little bits of green give the fabric a Berber characteristic.

I'll be back again when I'm all finished weaving and I've taken the rug off the loom. The idea with this rug was to make a selvage (so, without fringe) which will get stitched under the rug. I want to minimize fluff around the fan intake areas on the pc box...Mr. IT Guy already has to deal with my fiber mess, so let's not make him upset. :)