Spinning Milestone

Done spinning the first batt about 1 ounce!  4 more batts to go.  Then plying and sampling.  I think I'm going to spin half the batts on another bobbin even though the first one will be barely half filled to make the plying easier.  I'm afraid the yarn is too fine to be wound onto a center pull ball without massive tangling and I don't want to wind onto plastic weaving bobbins because the stop and go tension may snap the thread.

I never thought I say this but...  21:1 ratio is too SLOW!!!

Interminable Spinning

The bobbin is SLLLLOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY filling.  It's like watching paint dry.  It's amazing how soft the yarn is despite the high twist.

Duck Sauce and Mustard

This is another essay that I wrote my senior year in HS.  It was also published in the Asian American students' magazine in college.  It reminds of where I came from.  It's disconcerting to me that these essays are still so relevant to me today.

Duck Sauce and Mustard

"Dad?  Where did duck sauce and mustard get their names?"  I asked my father at the restaurant one day.  Dad thought about it for a while and took a deep breath.  "Oh no," I thought.  "He's going to tell one of his stories again."  I frantically search my mind for a plausible excuse to avoid hearing his explanation.  Too late, he had already started, I sighed and forced myself to at least pretend to pay attention.

"Because unlike the other sauces, which are made by the chefs, duck sauce and mustard are usually mixed by the waiters or busboys."

"So?"

"So, the kitchen people usually don't have any formal education past high school, if even that much.  The waiters and busboys on the other hand are usually foreign students who decided to stay in America.  They usually have Masters or Doctorates.  The kitchen people gave the sauces these names because of this."

"I don't get it."

"Think about it, doc sauce or master."

"Dad, that's a terrible joke."

"It's true."

"Yeah, right."

"Okay, believe what you want," he shrugged, and started reading the newspaper.

Later that night, I thought about what he had said and recognized the bitter irony behind his story.  It was my parents' story in a way.  Right after my father got his MBA, he started to wait tables.  Mom was a cashier at another Chinese restaurant,  Mom has a MS in math.  Neither one of them could find jobs, because who wanted to hire a "chink" who couldn't speak English clearly anyway?  Eventually through hard work they managed to succeed, the American Dream in action.

Even though we are now well off, I can sometimes still see the bitterness in my father, especially when he tells stories like duck sauce and mustard.

Thinking back on my parents' story I wonder if it's still true now.  Perhaps not as much, but duck sauce and mustard will always stay in my mind.  So remember, the next time you go to a Chinese restaurant, your waiter might just be a "duck" or a "mustard."

Michele Chang

May 14, 1992

Words

This is an essay that I wrote my senior year in HS.  It was also published in the Asian American students' magazine in college.  I keep it around to remind me why keeping silent and ignoring a problem will not make it go away, especially racism.  Some things that happened recently made me realize it was time to dredge it up again.  20 years to the day almost since I first wrote this.  Does the world ever change?  I hope so.  At least I know I have friends and there are good people out there.

Words

The first person ever to say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” was either a complete imbecile, or trying to him or herself that hateful, hurtful taunts weren’t as bad as they seemed.  I should know, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve flung those words back at someone to hide my own pain, to show them and convince myself that I didn’t care.

The first time I remember hearing that was in kindergarten.  Two of my fellow kindergarteners were fighting and calling each other names, like stupid, ugly, etc.  They were the best of friends.  Inevitably, one said to the other in a singsong voice, “Sticks and stones…” The next time I remember hearing it was from a teacher.  Teachers should know better, shouldn’t they?  Mrs. Weinstein, my third grade teacher, told me that.  It wasn’t in response to the usual name-calling, which eight and nine year olds indulged in, but to a racial slur.

*   *   *

The class was all lined up in two files, boys on the left and girls on the right, with about a foot of space between the two files.  We took up about half the hallway.  I remember running my hands along the pale yellow bricks, separated by dark grey cement.  The bricks were about a foot in length a half a foot in width.  The square beige tiles with white dashes reflected form the fluorescent lights above.  The sunlight streaming through the window just a few yards down the hall, casting up such a glare that you barely look at it.  I can still see the picture vividly in my mind, class 3-117 waiting on line from the bathroom.  Mrs. Weinstein took us twice a day.

I had just come out of the bathroom and got on the back of the line, right behind Jamele.  No one really knew her that well, except that she had gotten left back.  She was loud and always arguing wit the teacher.  At this time, she was talking to the girl in front of her, which was just fine with me. I was waiting for my best friend, Sandy, to come out of the bathroom.  She came out a few moments later and we started talking.  So it was much to my surprise when Jamele turned around and called me a “chink.”

I looked up at her dumbfounded and failed to find anything intelligent to say.  “What in the world is a chink?”  I thought blankly.  I could tell it was an insult from her tone and expression, but that was all.  Not knowing what else to do, I turned back and continued my conversation with Sandy.  Another sterling piece of wisdom bestowed upon me by my all-knowing elders.  “If people make fun of you, ignore them.  They’ll leave you along if you don’t give them the satisfaction of reacting.”  Whoever thought that up obviously didn’t know that’s precisely the wrong way to deal with racism.

Jamele continued taunting me until we returned to class.  I spent the rest of the day trying to avoid her and trying to figure out why she was calling me names.  When I got home that day I told my mother what had happened and asked her why.

She looked surprised, “tell her to stop,” she said.  “And if she doesn’t stop, just ignore it.”

“All right,” I answered, doubtfully.

The next day at school I followed my mother’s sage advice.  It didn’t work, as a matter of fact it got worse.  She used to make fun of my eyes and appearance in general.  It got to the point where I couldn’t bear going to school.  So I told my mother that her advice wasn’t working.  This time my father was with her.  He told her to give her a taste of her own medicine, and tell the teacher.  Mom started arguing with him about how two wrongs don’t make a right.

The following day, Jamele started calling me names again.  So I decided to try out my father’s advice, the part about telling the teacher, anyway.  Seeing that my parents didn’t quite agree about me calling Jamele a “nigger.”  Mrs. Weinstein in her unfailing wisdom told Jamele to stop in a bored tone.  Predictably she didn’t.  Again I appealed to higher authority.  Only to be told by Mrs. Weinstein, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  In other words, “don’t make such big deal about nothing.”

Afterwards not knowing what else to do, I kept everything to myself, coming to the conclusion – perhaps incorrectly – that there wasn’t anything else I could do.  Not realizing that Jamele was going to make the rest of elementary school a nightmare.

 *   *   *

Looking back now, I realize this was the point where my naïve notions of the innate fairness of the world received a large dent, along with my faith in the infallibility of my elders.  Perhaps I should have made a bigger fuss.  Who knows?  Perhaps the one who was hurt the most by the whole incident was my tormentor.  The only thing she learned was that it’s all right to be a bigot.

Michele Chang

February 14, 1992

Spinning: Bobbin pics

 These pictures were taken through a magnifying glass.  I don't recommend it.  But this shows the shininess of the silk.  The yarn is really not that blue though.

It takes forever to spin even a small lump of roving.  I don't think I've even spun an ounce yet!

Sheep shearing - Adventure in the country

I went to a sheep shearing this Saturday at www.ewecandoit.com. Judi is awesome.  I always learn so much from her.  She had the spinners skirting fleeces.  I think it was part of her diabolical plan to have us start craving these lovely fleeces by having us work on them. :)  Aislinn and Scolastica met us at the farm.

 

Here we are skirting a fleece.

Judi has a hair sheep herd as well to keep her border collies trained.  Shetlands apparently aren't a good herding breed since they scatter instead of bunching another example of their being a primitive breed.
I learn how to lead a sheep using a harness.  Basically, you wait for them to spot the dog, then you pull them in the direction you want them to go.  Unless the one you all holding happens to be someone's pet.  In which case she heads straight for her human.  Clearly not an exact science.  Harry appeared to have better luck.  He seems to have simply tossed them out of the trailer by brute force when Judi asked if he could help them return the sheep to the other barn.  Sheep wrestling.

My hands were so soft after the skirting from all the lanolin!

Here we are waiting for the next fleece.  Doesn't Triste so happy?  Look at the mess we made  under the table, but look at all the colors of fleece.

Aislinn picked up lovely grayish brown variegated fleece!  Judi felt it had too much vm so only charged her $20!  I think if it were an alpaca the color would be called rose.  Enable?  Who me?

I think I'm constantly surprising and amusing Harry by what I consider a "date!" :)  Please drive 1.5 hours into PA where we're going to help a friend shear sheep, meanwhile I've suckered 2 other friends to come meet me there, so we can hang out at this sort of halfway point doing fibery sort of things.  Once we get there, please help herd sheep.  O_o!?  Ok...  so it was more like sheep wrestling. :)

Here's Harry with a shorn sheep.  I have no idea why it looks like Harry has a leash too.

Afterwards, we (me, Harry, Aislinn, Scolastica and John) went to Isaac Newtown's in Newtown to hang out and catch up on stuff, since we hadn't seen each other in close to a year.
Fun weekend adventures!

Spinning Ahhhh!

The other day while spinning the silk merino frog hair...

AHHHH!

I cross laced the flyer to ease the take up.  I needed to adjust I can't even remember what maybe I changed flyer hooks.  I left the fiber dangling.  So given the fineness or my yarn the whole thing was under tension.  Oops flick went my fingernail and the thread snapped!!!!!!

AND I LOST THE STUPID END!!!! It buried itself in the bobbin.  Bad enough when it's a "normal" sized yarn.  And then to add insult to injury I couldn't get enough leverage to break the thread and make another end?!  On the bright side, that I had so much difficulty breaking the yarn as a single bodes well for the strength of the string as warp....  fingers crossed.

STOP LAUGHING at me.  I know it's funny but still!  Pout!  At the time I was so FRUSTRATED it was all going so well then SNAP.

Spinning

III. Spinning

A. Spin the batts worsted. Keep the spindle spun sample handy as a template.

Spinning on the Schacht Matchless. 21:1 ratio

I cross lace the flyer hooks and am using as thin a drive band as I could find and would still turn the wheel. See Maggie Casey, I did listen in class!

B. Spin for a balanced 2 ply. Can always re-spin 2 ply to add twist for cabling.

Now to settle in for a couple of months of marathon spinning. I need to spin at least 4oz of fiber so I can set up the table loom for sampling. At 8400 ypp that's A LOT of treadling.

Blending II

II. Blending Merino and silk top

A. Sampling - to determine proportion of blend based on color and spun yarn weight.

vii. Test spin some samples to determine wpi.

a. wpi 2 ply: 42

After comparing it to the plaid and the crepe swatches in the book 42 wpi is still too thick

b. wpi 2 ply: 66

I can't spin any thinner!

From Merino silk dress

viii. Using the McMorran yarn balance determine the grist. 2yds 1ft

84 inches X 100 = 8400 ypp

From Merino silk dress

You can't see it in the picture but the yarn has blue sparkly bits from the silk!

ix. Calculate the amount of fiber and yarn needed to complete project.

From Merino silk dress

B. Using the proportion determined above weigh out silk and merino and run through drum carder.

- After drum carding the initial batts. I would like to blend them more, but I think that anymore carding will be introducing nepps

- The fiber needs to be carded in small batches otherwise the batts may felt before they can be spun.

Preliminary Bibliography

In a fit to try to remember which books I keep digging for I've assembled a preliminary bibliography for this fiasco.

Alderman, Sharon D. Mastering Weave Structures. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press. 2009.

Callahan, Gail. Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2010.

Davidson, Marguerite Porter. A Handweaver's Pattern Book. Chadds Ford, PA: Spencer Graphics, 2007.

Dixon, Ann. The Handweaver's Pattern Directory. Loveland, CO: Interweaver Press. 2007.

Menz, Deb. Color in Spinning. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press. 2005.

Parker, Julie. All About the Wool. Seattle, WA: Rain City Publishing, 2006.

Still River Mill LLC. Greener Shades World of Color. Eastford, CT: Still River Mill. 2008.

Strickler, Carol. A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. Loveland, CO: Interweaver Press. 1991.

Blending

II. Blending Merino and silk top

A. Sampling - to determine proportion of blend based on color and spun yarn weight.

i. Weigh out equal amounts of merino and silk
ii. Load hand cards and blend.
iii. Spin and ply worsted sample using drop spindle.
- I looked at fabric samples from All About the Wool, by Julie Parker. And determined that I need a double plied yarn about thread fine.

iv. Examine color, weight, and strength of yarn. Make sure to wash the sample and see if the merino bleeds!!!! This will change the amount of blue silk needed.
- The black dye does not bleed!
v. Adjust silk to merino ratio.
vi. Once proportion determined.

It looks like the blend I will be using will be 1/8th silk. It has the best closest color.

From Merino silk dress

Batt blended in preparation for testing on the spinning wheel. I stopped blending even though it wasn't completely blended because nepps were starting to form.

Dyeing II

Round 2

2/15/2012

I ran out of dye so I only put in 11g into the pots. Need to redye the top.

2/16/2012

Redying the top for more color saturation.

The silk hankies have dried and there is much better color saturation.

Soaking the fabric for overdyeing tomorrow.

The top is much more evenly dyed now. Next time I will make the ties looser and make more ties.

2/17/2012

Dyeing the fabric.

The fabric is hanging up to dry. I will be able to tell once it's dry if the color is deep enough.

Dyeing

The following series of posts will be the "lab report" portion of my little project (fiasco).

First challenge can I figure out how to post spreadsheets to this thing?

I. Dyeing

A. Goods to be dyed

i. 3lbs of silk top

ii. 1lb of silk hankies

iii. 3 yards of silk habotai for lining

B. Prep

i. Tie up top in 1 yard long bundles

Next time weigh out the bundles.

ii. Put silk hankies in a mesh bag

Next time don't use the mesh bag. It compacts the hankies too much for even circulation.

iii. Soak all silk overnight with dawn and a splash of vinegar.

iv. Remove from dawn solution and transfer to clear water.

v. Soak all silk in a 4.5 pH citric acid solution for 10-15minutes.

C. Calculate amount of dye to be used.

D. Prep dye baths

i. Note to self. Next time immerse the goods in cold dye bath so the dye saturates the goods evenly. Then bring up to heat. Oh well.

E. Immerse in hot baths. Check temperature and stir occasionally.

F. Check for color and exhaustion. May have to add more dye or more citric acid.

G. Remove from heat.

H. Remove from bath and let dry.

Observations:

The dye did

not take evenly. Next time soak the goods in cold dye for an hour. Then place on heat and simmer.

The fabric was much more evenly dyed.

The hankies and at least one of the bundles of top will need to be overdyed.

The fabric will need to be overdyed for more depth of color.

Round Two

In the second round over dyeing the silk hankies. I sorted the hankie

s into piles of ones that needed overdyeing and ones that were ok. I soaked the ones to be re dyed overnight. The next day I placed the hankies in a 4.5pH citric acid solution for 20 minutes. Then I added the dye to the dye pot and placed the hankies in the pot of cold water and let everything soak for about an hour. Once the dye had a chance to circulated. I heated the pots and let them simmer at around 180 degrees F for about 2o minutes stirring occasionally and checking for how much the dye had exhausted.

This time the dye saturated the whole lot much better. The hankies are currently drying.

Silk Merino Dress

So I’ve decided that I need a new dress and so I ordered some fiber to dye, blend, spin, weave and sewing myself one! Makes sense right?

Let’s see how far I get.

So first I started with my project outline, because I think better with a list and this way I won’t forget any steps. Let’s see how close I stick to it.

Project Planning Merino Silk Dress and Jacket

Ingredients:
5lb Hat black merino 19.5 microns, 2”-3” staple length RH Lindsay $18/lb
5lb Bombyx silk top 13 microns, 2”-3” staple length RH Lindsay $25/lb
1lb Silk Hankies 1lb Paradise Fibers Paradise Fiber $4.94/ ounce with volume discount
3yards of silk habotai from World of Isabella

Greener Shades River Blue Dye
Citric Acid

Need approximately 5 yards of 25” wide fabric

Steps:

I. Dyeing

A. Goods to be dyed
i. 3lbs of silk top
ii. 1lb of silk hankies
iii. 3yards of silk habotai for lining

B. Prep
i. Tie up top in 1 yard long bundle
ii. Put silk hankies in a mesh bag
iii. Soak all silk overnight with dawn and a splash of vinegar.
iv. Remove from dawn solution and transfer to clear water.
v. Soak all silk in a 4.5 pH citric acid solution for 10-15minutes.

C. Calculate amount of dye to be used.

D. Prep dye baths

E. Immerse in hot baths. Check temperature and stir occasionally.

F. Check for color and exhaustion. May have to add more dye or more citric acid.

G. Remove from heat and add a more synthrapol and a piece of waste silk to the bath to absorb any excess dye.

H. Remove from bath and let dry.

II. Blending Merino and silk top

A. Sampling – to determine proportion of blend based on color and spun yarn weight.
i. Weigh out equal amounts of merino and silk
ii. Load hand cards and blend.
iii. Spin and ply worsted sample using drop spindle.
iv. Examine color, weight, and strength of yarn. Make sure to wash the sample and see if the merino bleeds!!!! This will change the amount of blue silk needed.
v. Adjust silk to merino ratio.
vi. Once proportion determined. (insert comparison chart here)
vii. Using the McMorran scale determine the grist.
viii. Calculate the amount of fiber > yarn > needed to complete project. (insert excel spreadsheets here.)

B. Using the proportion determined above weigh out silk and merino and run through drum carder.

III. Spinning

A. Spin the batts worsted. Keep the spindle spun sample handy as a template.

B. Spin for a balanced 2 ply. Can always re-spin 2 ply to add twist for cabling.

C. Spin silk hankies 2 ply.

IV. Weaving

A. Planning (insert excel spreadsheets)
i. Pick out weave structure
ii. Draft out pattern
iii. Determine yardage

B. Sampling
i. Weave a 1 yd sample on table loom. Make sure to wet finish fabric.
ii. Adjust set draft etc.

C. Warp loom

D. Weave

E. Repeat for jacket.

V. Sewing (go bug Jackie and Brekke!)

A. Dress
i. Materials needed
1. Silk/wool blend 2ply yarn => fabric
2. Silk lining
3. Silk hankies cord for trim (?)
4. thrums for sewing
ii. Design, Pattern, Muslin etc
1. Need to see what the final fabric looks and acts like before making any definite choices. (drape, color, weave structure)
2. Princess line, knee length or above the knee(?)
3. Sleeves, short cap sleeves or picking up and knitting lacy fluttery short sleeves using the silk hankies. (Won’t wear as well, but I can always pick out and reknit new ones).
iii. Fitting
iv. Sewing

B. Jacket
i. Materials needed
1. Silk/wool blend 4ply cabled yarn, 2ply spun silk hankies for “pin striping accents” => fabric
2. Silk lining
3. Silk hankies cord braid for trim
4. thrums for sewing from the dress.
ii. Design, Pattern, Muslin etc
1. Need to see what the final fabric looks and acts like before making any definite choices. (drape, color, weave structure)
2. Bolero style (?)
3. Braid around the edges.
iii. Fitting
iv. Sewing

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