Yarn Process pt. 2

by ALI on OCTOBER 12, 2011

The next step in making a one of a kind yarn, is carding and dyeing. For years I had a pair of hand carders. Hand carders are fun to use, but it takes quite a bit of time to get enough rolags made to actually spin up a good amount of yarn. Now I use a Louet Jr. drum carder. Boy does that make a difference!

Now that I have my mini batts, it is time to get the dye pots going. With this particular suffolk yarn, I used a natural dye process. This time around I used Marigolds and Turmeric. Since we had an abundance of marigolds blooming this year, it was the perfect time to make yellow yarn. I had my kids go through our garden area and front yard, and pick as many marigolds as they could.

Next we picked the flowers apart and removed as much of the green stems as possible. The flowers were then put into a pot with enough water to cover the flowers. Marigold stew!

After I had our beautiful Marigold stew ready to cook, I turned on the stove and let the flowers simmer until the water was a nice yellow color. Then I strained the liquid from the flowers and placed the yellow dye water into canning jars. Next I added about a tablespoon of salt to each jar. Then it was time to squish all of that lovely wool roving into the jars.

After stuffing the wool in, I filled the jars about two inches from the top with hot tap water. Then put in a couple of glugs of vinegar, filling it to the necks of the jars. I gave it a good stir making sure that the vinegar was dispersed through out the jar, and then placed the jars into a big pot filled with water. The jars were then placed inside the pot of water, and the whole thing was boiled for an hour. Just like you would water bath can.

After an hour, the wool is pulled out, rinsed, wrung in a dry towel, and laid out flat to dry. The end results are amazing! (the red in the picture is not red from the marigolds. I actually squirted a few squirts of food coloring in with the marigold dye and got the red orange effect.)

When the wool is dry, the fun part begins! The dry wool was ran through the drum carder again, and then spun up on my Ashford spinning wheel. After the yarn was spun, and twist was set, my beautiful yarn was finished!

Roving ready to be spun

Finished yarn “sunburst”

There are lots of beautiful yarns for sale on Etsy, and there are also many stores that sell fiber ready to be spun into your own yarn. You can even see our small selection of hand spun yarns in our etsy store.

The Yarn Process prt. 1

by ALI on AUGUST 29, 2011

Back in the olden days, if you needed a pair of socks or mittens, you spun your own yarn, and knitted up your items. It was a necessity. These days items like socks and mittens are readily available. Spinning and knitting has become a hobby, rather than necessity in the present.

Photo Credit: Old-Picture.com

Spinning and knitting is a hobby that both my daughter and I are crazy about. There are lots of hobbies out there like hiking, scrapbooking, sewing, shopping….for us, we like to play with dirty sheep wool. We buy the wool (or find it free) wash the wool, card the wool, dye the wool, then spin it into beautiful yarn that could in turn be made into a useful one of a kind item. It is quite a process, but it is also a very satisfying feeling knowing we have created something useful from something out of God’s creation.

Once a year farmers shear their sheep. A lot of the fleeces end up either in the burn pile, or used as garden mulch. When we get a fleece, it’s like a bag of greasy gold. One fleece could easily be spun up and made into a whole sweater.

© Sally Anne Thompson/Animal Photography

Suffolk sheep are what is known as a southdown breed. Their wool is spongy and is good for making socks or other items that need to hold their shape. Some people would say that certain breeds of sheep (like the Suffolk, or babydoll) are only good for meat. I have discovered that EVERY fleece can be spun. The differences in the wool of different breeds to me is fascinating. For instance, did you know that some of the old world breeds like the Navajo Churro, are double coated?

The Navajo Churro sheep has a very soft downy undercoat, and a coarse wiry over coat. The under coat is great for making wearable items like sweaters or hats, while the outer coat makes the perfect yarn for weaving rugs. Talk about a useful animal!

Our latest find was a man who had a huge burlap sack full of about 12 fleeces. He had no idea what the breed of sheep was. He just needed to get rid of it. Come to find out, the wool is most likely from a cross breed of Suffolk. At first we were a bit nervous about what condition the wool was in, but after getting it home and getting it prepped we found out we had hit a jackpot.

The first thing we do, is get the wool washed. It is greasy, stinky, and full of what we call VM (vegetable matter). VM is a nice way of saying hay, grass, dirt, mud, and poo. When you pull out a chunk of wool, it’s hard to see the beauty through the dirt.

The second step in the process, is getting the wool clean. A few big squirts of dish soap and very hot water does the trick! I grab two large handfuls at a time, and soak them in my kitchen sink. It usually takes 2-3 baths in the hot soapy water.

Now that the wool is washed, it is ready to be carded and dyed! This is the time when you DO see the beauty of the wool starting to present itself.

To be continued!

If you would like to see some of our finished products, visit our Etsy store!

Madeline and I have been feverishly getting our items together, and re taking photos of our yarns and hats in anticipation for our very first etsy sale. It's been busy, and I haven't even left my house! I am so glad that my girls are always willing to model the hats we have made. Getting a photo of a hat actually on a person's head rather than a foam head is so much nicer.

So today only, I am offering 5% off of the items in our shop. All yarns and hats! As an extra added bonus for those of you who are wanting to learn how to spin your own yarn, the first two customers will receive a free drop spindle and 2 ounces of fiber. When I first learned to spin, it was on a drop spindle.

Here is a small sampling of some of our items that are on sale today!

Come take a look! You might find the perfect one of a kind yarn to use for your next knitting or crochet project.

Peek-a-Boo I Love You (toy review)

This last week, we received our toy from Ebeanstalk.  When my older kids were little, we had an over abundance of baby toys.   Some of them were great educational types of toys, and others were pretty useless and junky. As my older children grew, the baby toys were tossed.  So when Sam came into our home, we had zero toys for him to play with.  We are slowly but surely building up Sam's stash!

Sometimes it's hard to find good quality toys that will actually help with development and learning.  We are bombarded with silly dancing Mickey Mouse and Elmo toys, when we would really just love to have a nice set of wooden blocks.

Ebeanstalk prides itself in providing quality educational toys for children of all ages.  Each toy comes with it's own set of instructions from their child specialists.  They give you advice on how to use the toy as well as list the skills that your child will develop from this particular toy.

The toy that Sam received is the Peek-A-Boo I Love You book made by Lamaze.  Sam LOVED the little flaps that lift when reading this book to him.  He also loved the yarn hair that the child on the front had.  It is a very cute book that takes children through simple vocabulary words that they are familiar with.  Words like mommy, daddy, sister, doggy, and kitty.  The families are cute inside, and relay love and affection toward the child in the book.  The book is soft and easy for the child to hold and in Sam's case, chew on.

The only problem we had with this toy, is the fact that it didn't hold Sam's attention.  This toy is made for children 9-12 months of age, and Sam will be 9 months old this Sunday. So maybe that had a lot to do with it.  One thing that I would have LOVED to see  in the book, is multi-cultural families inside.   Being a mom of an African American adopted child, I would have loved to see some people of different races inside.  Perhaps an African American family, or an Asian family.  Maybe even a white family with an adopted child of a different race.

Big brother loved reading it to Sam

 

Our overall experience with this toy was positive, and I am sure Sam will continue to play with it for many months to come.

 

See what Ebeanstalk has to say!

Looking for toys for your kids can be overwhelming! Ebeanstalk is a toy website that knows just how many toys are out there for you to sort through. They have a team of moms that have picked out the best of the best to provide great baby toys, toys for 1 year olds, toys for 2 year olds, and toys for all other ages! Ebeanstalk also has a panel of child experts that have matched each toy to the specific age of your child, so you know that your child is getting the most out of playtime!

 

These opinions are my own based upon my honest experiences with the product.  I was compensated with the product reviewed.

 

 

Ebeanstalk~ Toys for All Ages

I recently visited a great website that specializes in quality toys for children of all ages. The website is very clean and for the amount of toys they offer, surprisingly easy to navigate.  The website is very well organized. You can choose toys based upon your child's age and gender. This makes it nice when you are looking for a specific toy for a specific child.

Ebeanstalk has  kids toys, baby toys, and toddler toys. They pride themselves in their expert selection of toys that cater to each stage of a child's development. Each toy comes with instruction cards that give the parent graduated play ideas.

"We work hard so your child's fun is guaranteed."

ebeanstalk.com

Praying Daily

Adoption is one of the most beautiful and God honoring things a family can do.  To take in an orphan and give them a loving family is something that I believe the Bible encourages (James 1:27).  It takes a lot of courage and faith for a family to raise a child who was not theirs, and love that child as if it was born from their own wombs.   On the surface it looks easy.  But Every adoption has it's struggles.  We have had our own set of struggles. Although Sam will most likely not have RAD,  I know there will be obstacles in the future.  Especially when it comes to helping our little boy deal with the loss and grief that he will eventually feel.



Recently I have been visiting numerous adoption blogs that deal with RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) and their adopted children.  My heart hurts for those families and for their children who are living with it. It is NOT an easy journey for these families.  These children may have new wonderful families who love them with all of their hearts, but the trauma they had to face before their adoption has caused damage.

There are families dealing with RAD on a daily basis. Wonderful Christian families who want the best for their adopted children but are stuck and just trying to get by and do the best they can.  They are constantly researching and reading books on the issue.  They are up to their necks in therapeutic parenting techniques.  These families need our support, encouragement, and committed prayers.

Please know that I am praying for you all daily! Praying for wisdom for the parents and healing for the children.  I am confident that God can give you all the strength you need to raise these children, and the wisdom to gain their hearts.

Here is a small list of blogs that I have been following.

A Bushel and a Peck

Sun Breaks in the Rainy City

Given Much

Welcome to my Brain

Another Espresso Please

Ordinary Time

Will you consider joining me in praying daily for these families?

The Call

While surfing around the blogoshpere recently, I ran across an adoption blog that talked about the moment when they got the "call".  All families going through the adoption process know the anticipation, the excitement, and the anxiousness that comes along with waiting for that special call from their agency telling them that they have been matched. I have done some blogging about our journey to get Samuel, but never told everyone about the moment we got OUR special call.

It was May 28th.  Adam had taken that day off so we could spend the weekend together doing some fishing up on the river.  We were totally engrossed in making grocery lists and buying fishing supplies.   Most of the calls that came from our agency were always about  needing to redo finger prints or criminal background checks.   So when the call came it was when we least expected it.

We were driving and talking about the things we needed for our fishing trip.  Our next stop would be the Goodwill.  Then the phone rang. It was our agency!   The call went something like this.."Hi, Ali?  We may have a situation for you.  There was a baby boy born yesterday to an HIV + mother, and we thought of your family.  Would you be interested in this baby?"  I couldn't believe that THIS was actually the call we had been dreaming about!  My heart was racing, and at first I was speechless.  I told her to give me a moment to tell Adam.  By that time we were in the Goodwill parking lot.  When I told Adam of course his answer was YES!  I called our agency back, and told her that we would indeed take this baby boy.  She gave me the number to the other agency, and I immediately called them.  It was such a surreal moment calling that agency and saying.. "Hi, my name is Ali and I heard that you have a baby for me?"  She said she certainly did have a baby boy for us.  It was official!  We were going to be adopting a baby boy!!  From them on, everything went into hyper drive.  The fishing trip was completely out the window.  We now had to make arrangements with my parents to take our other children, pack, buy plane tickets, find a hotel to stay in, and buy baby boy clothing.  We did all of this in 2 days. By that next Monday Adam and I were on an airplane headed down to pick up our new son. On June 1st we got to meet our son for the first time.

I wish that I could have had some pictures of that moment to share with you all, but it happened SO fast and while driving in our van. Pictures didn't happen.  But I do have pictures of Sam when we first laid eyes on him.

Fresh from the hospital.

Daddy holding Sam for the first time

Daddy giving Sam a kiss

At the hotel

Thank you Lord for putting Sam in our lives!