It's Business Time!

Adam has been really encouraging me to try to figure out a way to make money from my fiber art and has offered to underwrite my expenses more in support of it. I confess that I feel that having been let go at this time from my job was a sign from the universe that I need to give it a try. I spent the rest of Friday and the weekend working on dyeing roving, spinning, and photographing items for my Etsy shop. I also added a number of things to the shop and also decided to change the shop over to babablacksheepyarns.etsy.com (instead of the kewpiedoll99.etsy.com username I was selling under before), for consistency across blog, shop, etc. I changed the link at right to the new address.

I made a couple sales already in the new shop address, too, which is great. It's very encouraging.

Yesterday I set up books (accounting) for the business as well. I will probably expand on this, but for a start, I set up worksheets on revenues, expenses, inventory, and Etsy listings. If I were to keep up these, I could produce monthly and/or quarterly P&L (Profit&Loss - mine will be mostly L at least at first), which would come in handy should I decide to go further and seek a business loan. Also, and this sounds weird I'm sure, but it's kind of fun. I worked in business analysis (Mergers and Acquisitions) when I first got out of school and the numbers work is somewhat mindless and calming. (It's only fun because I don't have to do it for a living...)

One other thing. It's Monday and I don't have to go to work at my old company. I have to say this was the first weekend in 6 months in which Sunday wasn't ruined with dread for going back into the office the following day. I HATED that place. I did like many of my coworkers quite a lot, which was the only thing that saved me. But I detested my job, and the organization was colossally dysfunctional. And working in Jersey City sucked ROCKS! It was so ghetto - dirty, littered, and crappy. I'm so happy I don't have to go back there.
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These are a few of my (new) favorite things

Spun-up denim-colored roving (more of this roving for sale in my etsy store):


Denim plied with black:


Gold tones roving - 100% BFL wool top, hand dyed ("Untamed"), from Flawful Fibers


Gold roving, spun up


Mossy green roving - 50/50 angora/lambswool, incredibly soft, hand-dyed ("Forest Floor"), from Pigeon Roof Studios


Gorgeous red roving - 100% Merino wool, hand-dyed ("Bed of Roses"), from Crash Into Ewe


New Sundara Seasons Yarn Club mailing:


DIY light box


Little Lily!

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And speaking of red...

I was reading about California Red sheep, which I found from a link on Sock prØn. They sound amazing - sort of a cinnamon color when they are lambs, and then they get whiter as they grow up but can retain a slight tinge of the red in their wool, which is supposed to be quite soft and nice, with a silky feel and a staple length that is usually three to six inches. I followed that link through to a local California Red breeder and fiber farm, Apple Rose Farm in Wrightstown, NJ, and arranged to buy some of the roving that will come out of their February 29 shearing. I'm very excited. This is the closest to the actual sheep I've ever gotten in terms of the fiber I spin or the yarn I knit. I've touched sheep before; I just mean it's going to be sheared and then cleaned and carded and sent right to me! Whee!

Red

I don't ordinarily put other people's photos in my blog, but this was too gorgeous. I was looking at photos in an online competition using "Red" and found this by webshots user ttalbum:



It's not that far, colorwise, from the Socks That Rock Rockin' Sock Club January sock yarn. I've made the first of the pair:

My Etsy shop is back in effect!

I put up 7 handspun yarns and a hand-dyed roving for sale in my etsy store today. I have been meaning to do this since I started amassing yarn that I knew I was not going to want to knit with myself (NOT because they're not good yarns to knit with, at all; but because I am all about the sock weight yarn these days), so today I finally got everything together and put up the listings. It took a while because I had to look up what the components of the yarns were, in the cases where I had spun them from roving I bought from other people. Also I had to count the rounds in the skeins (time consuming) and calculate what the yardage is in each. And finally entering the items is a bit of a task as well.

I had hoped to get some dyeing done this weekend, but today has been spent in the above task, then grocery shopping, and now laundry. And yesterday we spent the entire day going to see a movie at the mall. Seriously, we left the house at 2:30pm, met our friends at the mall at about 3:30pm (after driving around in circles stalking people coming out of the mall to try to get their parking space), saw the movie at about 4:50pm, went out for dinner after and hung out ... so it actually took the entire day.

However, it was a very good movie - "Be Kind Rewind" - which I really, really liked. It sounded like other people in the theatre were rolling in the aisles from the beginning, whereas it took me a while to get into the humor of it, but I thought it was quirky and fun and used Jack Black's wackiness well. And Mos Def was wonderful and thoughtful and sweet. So I really recommend it.

Advice from the adults table

I posted to my local spinners' guild email list about my thumb pain, and here are some of the great tips they posted back to me. I started putting some of them into practice last night and I already feel like I am stopping doing damage to my hand. And yay! I can spin again!

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From KW, Friday, 2/22, 3:08 pm:

Make sure you're not gripping too tightly when you pinch off.
If you use that hand to pull new fibers forward, try pulling back with
the other hand to release the new fibers. If the pain continues despite
these adjustments, you might try one-handed spinning, where you pull the
hand holding the fiber at a rate that's just ahead of the twisted
fibers. This is used for spinning on a charkha (because the other hand
is turning the wheel) and can also be done on a regular wheel.

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From KW, Friday, 2/22, 4:06 pm:

The front hand shouldn't be the one that holds the yarn back from being
drawn in. That hand's purpose is to manage the fiber as it's being
spun. How it does this depends on the spinning technique used. It can
include any of the following: pinching off the twist while you release
more fiber with the other hand, pinching off the twist as you release
the spun yarn onto the bobbin, smoothing the yarn as it's being spun,
removing debris from the fiber, or pulling out more fiber from back to
front if it's not releasing smoothly. Once you become more experienced
you'll find that none of these tasks puts much stress on the hand.

If you feel like there's too much pull, try reducing the take-up. There
should be just enough take-up so that when you release the light
backward force from the back hand the yarn gently and steadily pulls
onto the bobbin. (If there's too little take-up, the yarn won't pull on
and will get over-twisted.). It shouldn't feel like the back hand is
being dragged in, but rather that the hand is leisurely following a very
gentle pull.

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From LI, Friday, 2/22, 4:11 pm:

I would guess you are gripping too tight as well. I do have a vague memory of having a similar issue when I first started (but then, I already have carpal tunnel b/c I was a computer geek by profession for MANY years, so I just associated it with my already existing problems).

If you are worried about the yarn getting away from you, decrease the twist ratio (if possible -- I know for about the first 6 months, I stuck to the absolute lowest ratio except when I was plying) and the tension (i.e how fast the yarn is pulled onto the bobbin). The pull should be just hard enough so that it will pull in the yarn if you don't provide some resistance, but not so much that you feel like you are "fighting" to keep control of the yarn. Also, depending on the fiber, you may have your hands too close together and/or you are gripping the fiber in your "back" hand too tightly. To identify these... first, you shouldn't have to tug at the fiber when you are doing an "inchworm" approach (the most common approach when first learning). It should come pretty easily. Second, are you noticing a problem where you end up with a tangle of fibers in your back hand? That usually means you are gripping the fiber too hard in your back hand. Again, you should be holding it pretty lightly so that you aren't tugging at the fibers. And finally, the most extreme sign -- you will hear the fibers breaking as you tug at them!

And if it makes you feel better, I'd bet we've all been through the same phase at the beginning where we had a death grip on the fiber. It's hard to break the habit of feeling like the fiber is going to get too far ahead of you! But just keep reminding yourself that it takes a light hand.

BTW, What type of fiber are you spinning with? We might be able to give you more specific guidance based on what it is...

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From KW, Friday, 4:43 pm:

Using a low ratio (biggest whorl) lets you slow down the entire process. It might not be ideal for the fiber, but at worst you'll just have to treadle more to get enough twist. And the type of fiber you're using is crucial. Until you get comfortable with the spinning process, try to stick to something with a medium staple length -- around 2 inches should be good. Too short and you need a lot of twist for the yarn to hold together; too long and you have to wind the spun yarn on quickly or the unspun fibers will lock up in the twisted section and you'll have trouble drafting. Wool is an ideal first fiber because it's not too slippery, but it should be well-prepared roving or batts. Some good beginner breeds are romney and corriedale. Just aim for the middle range -- not the very finest like merino, and not the coarser breeds like lincoln.

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From me, Friday, 2/22, 5:00 pm:

I noticed that my singles are very tightly, probably over twisted. This seems to resolve a lot if not totally when I ply them together so I haven't really worried about it too much. But I increased the take-up to try to get the spun yarn wound onto the spindle quicker. And I also went down a whorl from the largest one. I am using my front thumb both to pinch off twist and to pull out more fiber from back to front.

As to fiber, I have been using mostly Henry's Attic merino superwash, when it is my own hand dyed roving, and then I think mostly merino when it is roving I've bought from other people. Is that too short? I do like how it feels.

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From KW, Friday, 2/22, 5:43 pm:

You don't need to worry too much about over-spinning the singles with plied yarns. And the tendency to over-spin should diminish with time as you learn the right settings for your wheel.

Rather than increasing the take-up, get it just to the point where it winds on when you stop pulling back. Then to avoid over-spinning you can either used a lower ratio, treadle more slowly, or release the back hand's pull-back pressure earlier.

If you're getting enough twist in the singles, then merino might not be a problem for you. Check the staple length though. If it's an inch or under, you have to spin fairly thin singles for them to hold together. Beginners tend to spin thick singles. That phase usually doesn't last long, so maybe you're beyond that point. But if your singles are thick, then it could be that too much of the fiber length is being used in going around the yarn horizontally, which leads to not enough vertical overlapping between short fibers. The only way to compensate for this is by over-spinning to lock the fibers in place -- especially with a slippery fiber (like merino superwash) that would otherwise easily pull apart.

My thumb hurts.

I LOVE SPINNING. I love love lurve it. BUT it makes my hand hurt. The two joints of my thumb, mostly, and the biggest knuckle of my index finger sometimes as well. Also, at night, my smaller thumb knuckle pops in and out. I notice it when I wake up in the middle of the night. It's gotten to the point that I can't spin very often, and when I do it hurts for days afterward.

In my experience there are mainly two kinds of pain associated with activity - the good kind, where you worked out and your muscles hurt because they are lazy and haven't done anything and need to get in shape; and the bad kind that goes with repetitive stress injuries and suchlike. Unfortunately, I fear this is the latter kind. I've only been spinning since Christmas, when Adam gave me the spinning wheel, and I'm probably doing it wrong, since I learned from videos online and kind of figuring it out myself. I don't know any spinners in real life. I joined a spinning guild in the area and their next meeting is in April, which I definitely plan to attend so they can pay attention to the high maintenance newbie who is probably doing it wrong.

Wah.