sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

i love craigslist. (or, introducing my strauch petite)

I love Craigslist.

A few years back, my son grew leaps and bounds seemingly overnight and in that same timeframe grew out of pushing around solid food snacks on the swing and into needing a proper highchair... fast enough for us not to be ready or able to buy him a new one. Craigslist put me together with a dad whose daughter had outgrown hers, and later helped me find a mom who needed a highchair as much as I did some time after. I have found a home for his entire infant wardrobe, all of those giant plastic trappings of toddlerdom that become obsolete so fast, 30 rolls of unexposed film after my lomo action's lightleakage slipped heartbreakingly beyond the pale, the unfortunate elliptical machine I couldn't stand to look at gathering dust any more, a handlebar to a motorcycle the ex-who-stomped-on-my-heart left in my closet... all of these and embarrassingly more have found their way out of my life and into someone else's thanks to Craigslist-- all for the price of just picking them up. I found the love of my life there. Most recently I found both my Ashford Joy and Schacht Matchless spinning wheels on CL... and you really can't top best-of when you're looking for a distilled pickmeup in the middle of the day or night.

A week or so back I was goodnaturedly whining on twitter that I would need to break down and buy a drumcarder since I've become enamored of buying raw fleeces (insane!)... and Rachel replied she was sure one would fall into my lap like my other spinning equipment had. (ha! i'm lucky but not rf lucky) Later on I was searching for reviews on the Strauch Petite-- and ran across a craigslist ad a few states over, selling one. In perfect condition, and with the burnishing brush... and a screaming deal to boot.

Oy.

So after some emails and a phonecall confirming I was not in fact a long-lost Nigerian uncle...

IMG_9150

and then...

IMG_9169

I had bided my time in waiting for its arrival by dyeing up 2 lbs of 70/30 superwash merino-seacell fiber in a bunch of colors for some Color in Spinning color exercises when it arrived, and I've been carding like a madwoman since.

IMG_9171

There's more than this, but this was all I could fit into the frame when standing over my dining table :) These are just the solid colors I dyed, lots of prepwork for playing with blending and making up stripy-layered-pulled batts.

I only carded each twice, leaving a little heathered look from unevenly dyed fiber as well as the seacell fiber (which for me and my acid dyes, don't change from white)...

IMG_9175

IMG_9174

Strangely, the carded fiber looks so much less shiny than it does in roving-- I haven't stopped long enough to test-spin the carded fiber yet, but I wonder if the resulting yarn will look less shiny. I wonder if it's because the carding broke up clumps of the seacell fiber and interspersed them-- being close together they'd look more shiny than when blended in as individual fibers. A good thing for me, not being a big shiny fan in yarn...

IMG_9176

Back down the rabbit hole!

14 comments:

Ibunnysavetroy said...

oh, lovely! so when are you going to be selling these in your shop??? hint hint!

Anonymous said...

Your carding wheel looks something like an torturing device from the Inquisition. How efficient it must be :)

jenfromRI said...

Down the rabbit hole indeed! Those are beautiful. I can't wait to see what you spin up with them!

hillary said...

So jealous! I need to get better acquainted with craigslist. Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Oh. You are too lucky. sigh

adrienne said...

Lucky!

Anonymous said...

good score! when i moved away from california, i gradually emptied my apartment via craigslist and it was the best. i got rid of a mattress that i openly described as "horrible" and it ended up going to a woman who wanted to use it to pad a structure being used at burning man... and the best was a woman who showed up to take my drying rack, full-sized ironing board, iron, and a bag full of clothes pins... ON A BICYCLE. and yes, she did ride away through the hills of oakland with all of that tucked under one arm and dangling from the handlebars. amazing!

insaknitty said...

I love CL too! all that fleece looks like cotton candy... mmmm! so pretty!

Erica said...

You are the Craigslist guru! Inspired, I've been checking my local Craigslisters and do you think I have ever seen anything remotely connected with spinning or fiber? Nada. WTH? Great score though!

Anonymous said...

Great stories about CL. I am mesmerized by all that glorious fiber, and you say there's more? Heavenly!

lexa said...

Lucky you to find a good deal! Have fun!

Unknown said...

Have you tried spinning any of it yet? Does it work up with a shimmer? I think you were fortunate to find it in such pristine shape, they must have just not used it after buying it, like me and exercise equipment. Think I'll use it, use it once or twice, and then end up selling it. I sold a lot of stuff on CL before I moved to Costa Rica. Better than the effort I spent on a yard sale.

Unknown said...

it looks good as new!!! i am soooo envious! i am dying to get a drum carder. sigh. congratulations!

Windyridge said...

How do you like that carder? I am about to buy one.

Subscribe Now: Feed Icon





I Took The Handmade Pledge! BuyHandmade.org