Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Wool Everyone Else Wants To Remember, I Just Want to Forget

Fourteen years ago today 9-11-2001 I was camping alone at Winfield, KS the annual Walnut Valley Bluegrass festival. The rest of my friends went back home after setting up camp during Land Rush.

 I was laying in bed in the camper, the windows open and was half asleep.

I kept hearing a man on the TV keep talking, in a quite soothing voice. In my mind, it was Garrison Keilor, talking about Lake Wobegone. I got up and trekked to the nearest facilities, walking to the Port o Pot past the TV and the soothing voice. On my return, the TV screen I saw the rerun of the First Plane hitting the Tower. My fist thought was, WE ARE AT WAR.

I was alone, there were thousands of people around me, but no one I knew. I did not try to call home, since that was discouraged by the media. I felt very isolated,small and vulnerable, even though I was in no danger. I did not know anyone in New York, or DC at that time. It was several days until I contacted my husband and family. During that time, I saw that footage many times, it is still burned into my retinas, I close my eyes and I can see it just as clearly as that first awful time.

Am I unAmerican for wanting to forget? Perhaps I am. That realization as soon as I saw the attack was that this is the beginning of war. Not fought on American soil, of course, we like to keep confrontation far away from our homeland. Two wars started on the premise that we need to kill our enemies, that attacked us  on that day, those that died deserve revenge. The wholesale lies that were fed us by the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld gang to invade Iraq, and then Afghanistan. 14 years of war. I want to forget that day, the day I knew this would be the outcome.

I have not been back to Winfield for many years now. Being there brings back that day for me. The feeling of isolation, loss and suffering, I want to forget.

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Fiber Tour de Fleece 2015 Fractal Spinning

Today was the first day of the Tour de Fleece, an annual virtual spin in all around the world. The Tour is at the same time as the Tour de France, they spin bicycle wheels, we spin our spinning wheels. And spindles.

I am going to be spinning this little bump of my dudleyspinner tie dyed combed top. This is about 3.5 ounces. The first step is to split this piece of top in half. Then one of those halves will be spun just as it is,on one bobbin. The other half will be split into 1/4th  and each of those will be spun, keeping them in order, so the color progression on another bobbin, and the two bobbins will be plied together.
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwbis11/KSFEATfractal.php

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Fiber Enjoying a Simple Loom

 A few weeks ago I was at the KAWS conference in Wichita, KS. I won this 12"x12" loom. I have done the two pieces in the photo on this loom. It is very enjoyable to use my hand spun yarn this way. This yarn is spun from batts I created with my own dyed fiber, some hemp fiber to give strength and nice drape. I plan to weave a strap on an inkle loom and create a bag. I will line the bag with linen I have salvaged from the local thrift store. I often buy needlepoint kits and use the many colors of yarn to create free form crochet. That leave the very nice linen fabric kit with no yarn. The square shape should work well with that fabric piece and make a nice lined bag. The two weavings are different. the one on the  left is done putting on a warp, then weaving. The one on the right is done as you would a triloom. The yarn is applied by making the warp at the same time as the weft. I did have to go back and reweave some areas. I was not as pleased with this method so the next piece I did was the one on the left. It used much less yarn and is lighter weight. I warped the loom with some white wool yarn and I am not thrilled about the amount of warp showing. I will either dye the white or use other darker yarn for the warp. Small looms are really useful for making usable small pieces of fabric.

This is a close up of the loom. It is a board with small nails. A picture frame would also make a nice loom.

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Roving/Combed top Spin In The Grease

This is a few of the skeins I have spun the past few weeks
 It is wool, dyed and spun in the grease blended

with some hemp, and some silk. The dark brown was flicked locks spun worsted.

 This is some of the Thelma and Louise wool
I picked this in the box picker and the vm won't come out. So I carded it and then dized it off and picked all the vm out.

I blended a sandwich of the grey wool with hemp and other colors of wool to make a nice batt.

This has llama, hemp, wool, silk, at least, there may be other fibers, a little alpaca is very likely.

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Fiber Woolcicles and Other Fanciful Fiber Batts

An online discussion of terminology for wool preps available to buy made me come up with another name for my wool, alpaca, hemp, silk batts. Woolcicles!
 In a perfect world everyone would have the exact same term for the very same product.
 This is not a perfect world.
Spinners just starting on their fiber journey don't even know the right questions to ask yet. So when a big discussion crops up of  what is the right thing to call the wool they just bought, when that was not their question, they just wanted a simple answer to a simple question of how to split this to spin it and it explodes into a  huge discussion of terminology! The question was barely addressed, and many authorities weighted in with lots of examples to prove themselves right.   I
t is very easy  to see how a newbie could easily be put off and feel that spinners are not helpful or welcoming to those that are just starting.

Sharing knowledge is the only way that the next generation is going to be trained and taught the skills that we treasure.

I have started a new facebook group  Spin In The Grease  I have some file there with access to suppliers of good wool, lotions and potions, and any other subject that the group wants.

I welcome all questions and the group is very open to discussion of any question.  So if you are looking for a group with experience that is willing to be helpful, please join us.

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Roving A Great Horned Owl

A Great Horned owl sitting on her nest.  She flys off at sundown to find some food, but spends most of her time sitting on the nest. She looks a little like a cat, her ear tufts sticking up.

Our lawn art chill out zone, Mike is enjoying  sitting  in the car and take a break before the sun goes down

Dudleyspinner Tie Dye Roving/Combed Top Wherever You Go...There You Are

 Do you go sightseeing in your neighborhood? I don't do as much as I should. I live in a beautiful area. Nothing as spectacular as the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, or the vast beaches of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. Kansas is much more subtle and takes a little more time to appreciate.  We have a reservoir a few miles from our house. It is filled with birds sometimes. Canada Geese, White Pellicans, Snow Geese, Bald Eagles, Sea Gulls that have a name, but I do not have the skills to identify, ducks of many breeds, Mallards I recognize.



 A good outing the other day was a treck to the local dairy the Jason Wiebe Dairy . They make the best cheddar cheese I have ever tasted. A dinner at the diner in Durham and a drive around the Res birdwatching and taking photos is a little day trip that is entertaining and educational, looking up birds in  our bird book our friend Pete Janzen co authored .

Take some time to take a new look around
What you see may be a pleasant surprize. Watch the sunset, until it changes, take a deep breath and
enjoy the sensation. It is good to be alive.