finally, an autumn chill

I'm not a fan of Summer (it's not too conducive to wool, unfortunately), and now that the first cool days of Autumn seem to be showing up, I'm so relieved. My belly is getting huge, fast, with this growing fetus... which by the way, is a little girl! I must be lacking mother's intuition, because I seriously thought it was going to be a boy, but after three good checks during an elective ultrasound, we were tickled to discover a little she-creature. Her name will be Ingrid Nora. Trevor picked the first name (he's a film nerd, so the name is a nod to Ingrid Bergman), and I picked the middle name, after my maternal great-grandma.

I really freaked out at the beginning of this pregnancy, and it definitely affected my work. Everything worried me, and I felt pretty irrational, weepy, and nauseous-like-whoah. I'm finally simmering and enjoying this whole debacle, now that I know she's healthy and all is apparently well. I've also been given the green-light to start dyeing my wool again, which has helped me gain momentum with my fiber preparation.

I'm considering a pretty big change for Hobbledehoy- creating my own website linked up to BigCartel as an e-commerce component. I like the clean shop-front provided by BigCartel, and having a domain for my goods would make advertising easier. For anyone who has made the switch (or is considering a switch) to their own domain, please let me know how that's going for you! I'm still researching options.

I hope everyone is looking forward to the impending season-of-knitting!
xoxo

destashing the kittens

We're down to two kittens from the last barn-cat litter we rescued. Mama is healing nicely after a spay-job, and the last two kittens are real winners! I just hope we can find them homes soon- I'm starting to get controlfreaky about cleaning the house, and kittens can be, uh, messy! I've got a small shop update to post tomorrow, and beyond that- I need to order another bump of wool! I've never gone through a bump so slowly, dang morning sickness. Thankfully, Trevor is doing a fabulous job with my dyes, so I'm starting to get colors out of the dye pots that I really adore again. You know how it is when you first start dyeing- everything seems to be a pastel hue of brown or some obscure purple...

so behind

I feel so guilty! I'm seriously behind on fibery work, but I've honestly spent the last couple of weeks in a heavy mixture of panic and nausea. It's so hard to get anything done when my stomach turns at the smell of wool- I hope this morning/all-day sickness goes away automagically at the end of the first trimester. I didn't anticipate all of these stomach problems- my mother never once experienced morning sickness, and we're built nearly identically.

My biggest worry is that at my first appointment and ultrasound, my doctor will discover that there isn't even a little bean in the cooker, and I'll really feel miserable/guilty/depressed/disappointed then. I guess if you haven't caught the hint that I'm slightly paranoid nonstop, you're probably getting the picture now. Fortunately, the internet hides a person's flaws fairly well. ;) Aaaand pregnancy exacerbates mental absurdities, as I'm discovering.

I'm going to be attending "1st prenatal appointments" with two different people- my regular OB, and a midwife who does homebirths and waterbirths. After they weigh my risks, I look forward to chosing the comfiest option (my fingers are crossed for the homebirth, though I'll be happy with a baby, no matter how it arrives!) I've always wanted to do a waterbirth too- and the midwife only charges an extra $30 for that, which is the cost of a new liner. When we did the math, the cost of birth under our insurance is nearly equal to the cost of birth at home, which insurance does not cover. I'm grateful to have options.

My apologies to those who are used to more regular Hobbledehoy updates! Since Trevor landed a nice lil job last month, I've felt at ease with taking some time off, but I'm really antsy to start carding more- especially since my job is my hobby and my favorite pasttime. Plus, I miss spinning! It's less nauseating than carding, so I might take a break next week to just spin up a pile of yarns.

snore

I feel like such a lazy-butt! I spun three yarns this morning and nearly fell asleep during the third. Normally, I would have just brewed a pot of coffee, but today, I took a nap. My wool from last night wasn't dry yet anyhow, so I'm not feeling too guilty. Still, I'm nowhere near my goal of 8 spins.

I'm also hoping to card some batts on my Strauch Petite now that it's firmly bolted to my desk, and stock my shop with handspun and old-school hobbledehoy batts.... but that update will probably be later this week(end).

At some point this weekend, I hit "week 6!"

peppercorn

After my woolly vacation, I had trouble striking up the energy to work. Two hours after getting out of bed, I'd start fantasizing about leaping right back in. Finally, this past Saturday evening, I felt my eyes start to close around 8pm, and I knew something was wrong- maybe that pesky sinus infection wasn't completely gone, or maybe it was a little flu-bug. Halfway though a CSI episode, I leaped off the couch and took a home pregnancy test, mostly so I could have a guilt-free vodka & rootbeer before snoozing through a artsy film Trevor had picked out to watch next. Aaaand, surprise surprise- it was positive!

Just three weeks before, we had been informed that my hormonal levels were too wonky to conceive easily, and that I'd have to go to a specialist nearly an hour away for fertility treatment. I hadn't had a cycle start (sorry for the TMI, folks) since February, and a blood pregnancy test came back negative in mid-April, so my positive lil' pink lines really threw me for a loop, especially since I had gone lax about drinking through Camp Pluckyfluff and the week before, and had a few Xanaxes to get me through the roadtrip.

The BETA hcg tests run by my doctor are definitely looking good- my levels have more-than-doubled in less than 48 hours, from 3,400 to 7,000, so I'm feeling pretty confident and hopeful about this little bean, despite being only 5-ish weeks along. My first appointment is in mid-June, and I'm besides myself with anxiety and happiness.

My little "Stottlebean" is the size of a peppercorn, approximately.

The unfortunate news is that dyeing is taboo, for at least this trimester. Trevor just dyed a nice big batch for me this evening (I'm so glad I taught him how to dye earlier this year!) and while his colors are looking fantastic, they're not the colors that I might would have picked. My shop might look a bit odd as I adjust to a work schedule that includes naps, colors of merino that are totally random, and find a way to bolt down my Strauch Petite to a surface that doesn't involve feats of flexibility, like my previous carding involved. Since I also taught my mom to dye, I'm sure I'll have support at home and nearby with the dyeing aspect of my business as I learn about the stages of my little peppercorn.

Oh, and I'm seriously behind on convos and feedback!

Keep your fingers crossed for me, I know it's taboo to announce pregnancy so early, but I'm feeling so fortunate that it even happened at all, and I don't think I could have held it in, even for a few more weeks.

BATTlings + fleece pickin's

As I've been teaching myself how to use my new Supercard aka "The Beast," I've been whipping up gobs of loaded practice batts. These batts are then torn down into smaller sizes, and jumbled up into sets of BATTlings, which I've got an excess of at the moment. Eventually, I'll add more of my old style of batts, carded with my lil Strauch, and I'll probably start carding smooth loaded batts too with The Beast, but until I'm really good at packing fiber on the Supercard- these little BATTlings are my new favorite fibery dessert.As I play with my new carder, I'm also juggling lingerie bags of greasy fleece in my washing machine. I can't believe how difficult the alpaca fleeces were to wash- the fine fibers held onto EVERYTHING, so after the washings, I had to re-pick through both fleeces, shaking out all the little veggie matter bits. Tater tot's fleece is now ready to be drum-carded, and I've already made a 3.3 oz. excessively fluffy batt from it, but I can't really show it off until it stops raining. Maybe tomorrow.

roving!

Okay. Two posts in one day, only because I'm really really excited about the roving I'm pulling off of my Supercard!
Honestly, I thought I could pack more than a measly 2-3 oz. on it, but so far, no such luck. I guess that'll take practice and lots and lots of burnishing. Also, I'm wondering if my fluffy merino is to blame. Many of my fiber buddies have told me that my merino is the floofiest (which is probably due to how I dry it, snapping the fibers gently when wet so the roving is quadruple thickness when dry.)

Here's more (!!!)The above roving was carded with the colors lined up in stripes, so that when I pulled the roving off, each color gently transitioned into the next. I'd love to do a whole line of transitioning rovings, once I finally master the beast, which is a little frightening still.

I've also carded 7 sets of little mix-matched battling bitts: tiny batts that add up to 3+ oz. in weight, heavy with the add-ins such as bamboo, soysilk, and alpaca. Unfortunately, my pics of the lil' batts didn't turn out so hot, so I'll be re-shooting them and listing them in my shop tomorrow.

camp pluckyfluff + MDS&W

I was in a haze of fan-girl awe at Camp Pluckyfluff. Seriously, I think I might have majorly embarrassed myself more than once with ridiculous squeals and nonstop blushing during the lessons. For starters, I overpacked my suitcase of fiber. I mean, seriously overpacked.This may have been why traveling by train was so difficult. I swear, if it weren't for the kindness of random non-Amtrak-employee strangers, I would have never made it off and on the trains from Harrisburg to Philadelphia to DC. Oh, and a big thank-you to Molly, who picked me up at Union Station and allowed me to stay at her home (where I was treated to the most delicious meals created by her husband, and gobs of snuggles from her cuddly beagle). During the camp, I had a chance to brush up on some art yarn skills and learn a couple of new ones. Aaaand, I got to meet up with fiberpeople that I really admire! (left to right, Wild Hare, Molly Miller by Appt., me, and Gnome Garden)

I'm happy to say, Camp Pluckyfluff has resparked my love of crazy-spinning. I don't think I'd ever quit my squishy single plies, but maybe I'll re-examine my (failed) New Year's resolution of an art yarn each week.

And then Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. Whoah. This was my first year attending, so my mom and I decided to turn it into a wee vacation. On Saturday morning, I had bought two fleeces before the festival even officially opened: a surprisingly soft Lincoln fleece and an organic BL/Corriedale cross fleece. Then, I ran into Tara (blondechicken) at the "fleece maze," where I picked up a deliciously lustrous black and silvery Lincoln/Corriedale cross fleece and a sproingy dark Rambouillet/Columbia fleece.Later that afternoon, I nabbed two alpaca fleeces: one is strawberry-blonde, from an alpaca named Tater Tot, and the other is beige/white (?) from an alpaca named Love Song. Both alpaca fleeces are softer than any alpaca fiber I have ever felt before. And thankfully, they're both almost finished with the arduous washing process. Other fibers I picked up include 4 oz. of German Angora, a small bag of "peace" tussah silk, 1.5 lbs. of neppy mill-ends (which are creating really funky batts), 1 lb. of tencel (which I just dyed bright coral red and chartreuse), and 8 oz. of babydoll roving. In total, I came away with nearly 30 lbs. of fiber, a nasty flu-bug which has migrated to my lungs, and the awesome experience of colliding into several fiber buddies that I adore, such as KnittyDirtyGirl, CosyMakes, Loop, and more!

The day after I came home, my 3-drum Supercard showed up, so I'm pretty sure my next post will be a gushy-ramble about the way it processes my fiber.

oops

Okay, I totally fell off the wagon of my bloggy March goal, but things in the Hobbledehousehold have been hairy. How's that for a lame + broad excuse? For starters, I dyed up 40 lengths of hand-dyed merino roving, I've created new yarn, batt, and roving labels, and I've been occupied with a cold that's kept me pretty unenthused about wool. I've also caught the podcast bug- after months and months of resistance. I'm working through Lime and Violet, This American Life, Studio 360, and Grammar Girl- please suggest more!

So here's the roving:

My studio is strung with ropes of plain solid and semi-solid lengths of merino for carding batts this weekend, and I'm experimenting and weighing out colorways for a carding session this morning.

Even though T has been helping me out with Hobbledehoy (mostly with Jawbreaker batts and dye marathons), he's starting to feel more and more bummed about the lack of jobs in this area. With three degrees and a killer resume, he's finding himself overqualified for just about everything. A thick cloud of unemployment blues has been really dampening our otherwise jolly home, so we're constantly debating ways to either expand Hobbledehoy to accomodate two, or how we can build T's career from scratch through self-employment. I have this crazy idea- that he can do what I did (accidently): create a fulfilling job out of a hobby. Fingers crossed, of course.

how to kettle-dye fiber

I was preparing the following tutorial to share with someone on Etsy, but decided to share this on my blog for all of my fiber buddies. If you have something to share or correct, please let me know! (for example, I often skip the first rinse and just rinse/wash extra-carefully after dyeing) Enjoy!

Hand dying your own wool may sound frightening and messy. Well, it might be a little messy, but it's not scary at all. Once you get the hang of dying, it's simple to experiment by creating your own unique colors and colorways. You'll be able to control the hue and saturation in order to prepare spinning fiber that will suit any spinning or felting whim.

Here's what you need to get started:

Jacquard Acid Dyes
Vinegar OR Lemon juice (generic is fine)
Big pots*
Face mask
Colander*
Large bowl*
Washer or spin-dryer (optional)
Measuring spoons*
Sink for rinsing
Flexible turner or spoon*
Clothesline or drying rack

aaand FIBER! For this dyeing tutorial, you could use silk, nylon (including icicle and faux cashmere), mohair, angora, alpaca, any type of wool, and any other animal fiber.

*You'll want to make sure that the dishes and utensils you use for dyeing are never again used for food preparation. I found most of my dyeing equipment at yard sales and auctions. You could also check with your local Freecycle.org group or Craigslist.

Dyeing prep:..

Put on your face mask.

I wrote the tutorial with vinegar in mind as my acid-of-choice. Vinegar is cheaper than lemon juice and it doesn't go rancid if not rinsed perfectly. You may also use citric acid, though I don't know how much you'd need to use.

I strongly recommend weighing and dividing your fiber into 4-6 oz. lots before beginning. Stay consistent with measurements of fiber and dye, and colors will be easier to repeat

Before you begin dyeing, you'll want to rinse the fiber you're preparing to dye. Often, there's dust in the roving, and that will come out easily. Fill a large pot with warm water and submerge the fiber that you intend to dye. Allow it to sit for approximately 20 minutes, and then rinse the fiber very gently in your colander in the sink, using the same temperature (approximately) water. Spin the water out of your fiber using the spin cycle of your top loading washing machine or spin dryer.

Fill your pot 2/3 full of water. Add approximately 1/3 cup vinegar. Heat your pot of water on medium heat. You don't want the pot to boil- but a very light simmer is fine. Preferably, the pot should never get hot enough to bubble. Using a half-teaspoon, scoop the color of dye you wish to use and place the dye powder in the pot. Using your large turner or spoon, stir the water until the dye is dissolved. This might take a minute or two, especially for some colors.

Place one 4-6 oz. chunk of wool into the dye pot. Poke the wool down using your spoon so that parts of your roving don't absorb dye faster than other parts. If the water is already heated and steaming, the wool should soak up the dye within 15 minutes, approximately. You'll know that has happened when you lift a spoonful of water out of your dye pot and can see that the water is colorless. Sometimes, a wee trace of color will remain in the water, so don't worry if your water isn't perfectly clear. Use a flexible but sturdy turner OR a spoon to scoop under the roving and lift it out of the dye pot into a medium/large bowl. Then, plop the wet fiber into the colander, and rinse well. After rinsing, you can wash your fiber further by submerging it in slightly soapy water (use a gentle moisturizing soap or a wool wash)- and then rinse again. Once more, use your spin-dryer or washing machine's spin-cycle to get out excess water before hanging it up to dry. This is optional, because you could simply hang the dripping fiber as is.

Throughout the entire process, handle your fiber as little as possible. Don't stir the fiber while its in the pot, don't squeeze or ring the fiber with your hands when rinsing. Use gentle presses and no rubbing. If you wrestle with your fiber too much, you'll end up with a rope of felt. Rapidly boiling water will also felt your fiber.

TIPS:

-After your first few dye attempts, you should be able to notice whether more dye is needed. If the color is lighter than you wanted, add more dye. If you're trying for a pastel, use less. If you want to warm a color up, add yellow or a pinch of red. To cool something down, use blue.

-Black is a very tricky color to dye- it often turns out a muddy dark gray. To counter that, add blue or navy to your dye pot. That will help your black turn out extra dark and solid.

-For fluff, snap your spun-dried wool or roving between two hands without pulling too hard and breaking the length. I start at one end of the roving and give little snaps to the roving, half a foot at a time. This helps to the roving dye faster and fluffier.

-Some colors separate into multiple colors in the dye pot. If that annoys you, make sure you give the dye plenty of time to dissolve in the water and vinegar before adding fiber. Separating colors include (but are not limited to): olive green, brown, purple, emerald green...

-If you've waited and waited and waited and your roving is quite dark but the water is still saturated with color, add more fiber to the pot to soak up the excess dye.

shop update

Whew! The past few days were a little scrambled together, but I finally found a moment to update my shop (and blog- oops!). Trevor and I have started up a new product line- Jawbreaker batts! These are taking over my old Asteroid and LOL batts. Basically, Jawbreaker batts are created from random groupings of color: merino wool + sparkle, carded only once. Some are vivid, some are mild, but all will spin (or felt) beautifully. Here's a few of the sets so far:
I really love how the colors POP when the wool is fed through the carder once. These would be really cool nuno-felted or spun into bulky single plies.

After the past few days minus a personal computer, I got a wee bit behind with communications, but my laptop arrives on Monday and all should fit perfectly in place. right?

I'm still having problems ordering my new laptop, so my internet time has been severely cut by access to a good computer. I spent all day working on new yarns for this weekend's update, and I can't wait to share 'em!

reboot

Today has started off all wrong. Last night, strange sounds in the barn kept us awake (an owl? a raccoon?), and this morning- a pregnant stray cat showed up on our porch for a belly rub. Poor thing, I bet she's due in a week, which means one vet appointment to check on the kittens and another for a post-birth spaying appointment. Also, the nice Toshiba laptop I ordered was out of stock, so I had to scour the internet for an equally awesome deal while trying to figure out the differences between processors and Windows Vista operating systems. gah! It's no wonder I woke up and named a yarn "Short Fuse."

I did finally settle on a laptop which was souped up beyond my needs but still within budget (a toshiba satellite with 4gig ddr and a 320 gig hard drive for a little over $600). And the cat appears healthy AND friendly... so I suppose there's a sunny side to my dilemmas that I should be grateful for.

Oh, and last night, a package arrived- these gorgeous rainbow locks by Wild Hare on Etsy.The locks are so beautiful! They're perfectly clean and very very fine and soft. And the colors are extra-delicious.

I'm planning on brewing a cup of wild blueberry tea and settling down with my drum carder and my favorite colors for a small batt session to chase away a hectic morning.

waynesboro

We lived in Waynesboro, above a family owned shoestore during the first year of our marraige, so today's visit was a fun romp in the not-so-far past.We spent most of the day there- visiting our accountant, window shopping (actually, there wasn't much to see), and browsing the local used bookstore. Here's my "poor me, I had to deal with numbers" splurge:From top to bottom: baklava truffles from Zoe's Chocolate Shop, Star Wreck V: The Undiscovered Nursing Home, Eric Idle (yep, the Monty Python Eric Idle!) The Road to Mars, and a 1st edition collection of 33 short sci-fi stories edited by Harlan Ellison. I just can't get enough pulp sci-fi.

I'm happy to have the whole tax debacle over with. It wasn't nearly as painful as I thought, even though I came with 10 pages of itemized expenses to work through and organize. Next year will be much easier, and heck- I think I might try doing my own taxes.

This week, my production will be a bit off kilter since I'm bringing Trevor in on the business more officially. He's got a huge bag of rainbow wool and sparkle, so I think I'll help him whip up crazy random Asteroid batts.

updates

I just listed a few new batts and handspun in my shop:
And now I'm exhausted! I have a few more yarns to go, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to list them with the batts I'm currently working on. That is, if I get out of my tax/accounting appointment quickly.

felt

The weather is so warm and perfect today- I decided to perch on my deck and use my clothes lines for drying yarn. While I was outside, I decided to try an experiment- felting a batt into a sheet of wool. I whipped up a thin once-carded batt, pulled out a bamboo place mat, and grabbed a jar of hot soapy water. I placed the batt on the mat, poured water on top, and rolled the batt up in the placemat. After rolling back and forth several dozen times, I re-arranged the batt and started rolling again. Finally, I took the peice of felt inside and rinsed it by squooshing it back and forth under hot hot tap water.
This is the end result!

I'm not sure if I did it right- I was just trying to whip up a quick fun project that was messy enough for the balcony. Next time, I'll use a thicker batt, light shines through thin spots on this peice of felt. Also, the felt has a tiny tiny bit of stretch, which makes me assume that it isn't fully felted. Maybe I'll rinse/scrunch for another five minutes.

Earlier today, I picked up my sewing machine which was badly in need of a tune-up. I also found out I was using the wrong thread (d'oh!) and that my rotten polyester choice was causing extra tension. Maybe I'll hand-felt and sew myself a lined tote bag. Oh projects, why do you eat up my work schedule? I really need to update my shop tomorrow- a row of beautiful Springy yarns are waving on my clothesline, and I've got a dozen batts in three colorways that are waiting to be listed.

Tomorrow!

dye blur

This morning is a blur of dyes! I have purple and orange merino on the stove top now- and blue and raspberry bamboo dyeing in containers on the counter. Here's the teal I just pulled out of a dyepot- all blurry with steam and a long moving exposure.
I couldn't hide last night's bobbins any longer, they're just too pretty! I meant to ply them together, but I got sucked into a little CSI with T. I guess they'll have to wait until Sunday now, since I'm hoping to work on batts all day Saturday.
This afternoon, I'm working on a little campy fiction sci-fi zine with my friend Barbara (her etsy shop, StLucyBelle is here) We've been working on a pre-apocalyptic theme, and so far it's going okay. I'm not a natural writer, so the idea of putting my fiction out into the big wide Etsy world is really frightening. I should be writing a few silly haikus for the zine right now, but I'm procrastinating by mixing up more dyes.

slowspun

I spent a lazy slow day filling up bobbins for two 2ply yarns. I'd show bobbin-shots, but I think I'll unveil those on Saturday when I can finally show off the finished product. Why oh why do two-plies take so long to whip up? They're the priciest yarns I list in my shop, but they're worth more than I've ever had the guts to list them for.

Oh, I've got a few more batt club spaces available this month. I'm also going to be unleashing a self-striping yarn club and a new handspun club, just as soon as I get a hankering for photoshop again.Aaand for really ultra-exciting news- I just got a GORGEOUS sett of Jazzturtle batts in the mail today! I've been trading with Esther monthly for the past few months, and this month's selection knocked the wind out of me- they're super-luxurious! If you haven't tried Jazzturtle batts yet, you're missing out.

intergalactic colorways

I'm guessing most of the people who stumble onto this blog already know how much of a sci-fi addict I am. I've been working through Deep Space Nine- somewhat reluctantly (I'm a trekkie- but I prefer TOS and TNG to the newer Voyager and Enterprise). Now that the end of the series is only a day or two of spinning away, I'm sadly realizing that this means I'll have seen ever Star Trek episode that has ever aired, thanks to Netflix.
There's nothing left, except to wait for the J.J. Abrams film and dig through another tv show altogether. So, is Babylon 5 any good? Has anyone worked through all of the old Battlestar Galactica? I remember when I started spinning, I was working through the original Star Trek series, finding yarn colorway inspirations in the cheesy neon styrophoam settings.

Until I find something new, I'm starting the Mad Men series- but it's definitely too distracting to work on wool while watching. The directing is too good. So please, give a spinner a good tv show shout-out. Something with dialogue and vivid visuals- but not too visually driven.

taxes

Today, I finished organizing my '08 taxes. The five hours I spent peeling through layers of Paypal was as dry as.. as dead grass.
I have discovered a few interesting things about my spending habits though- my favorite splurges are on other people's hand-prepared spinning fibers or on farm-fresh alpaca. I'm taking the rest of the evening to mull over the results and re-calculate both expenditures and profit.