Okay, the above title is a half truth.  It’s a sort of favorite spinning fiber and it’s supposed to be called bamboo….. rayon.  Eek!  Why?  Because rayon is a regenerated cellulose process, and in the case of bamboo rayon, bamboo stalks are the cellulose fiber. 

Bamboo comes in two spinning fiber forms, one is transformed chemically into a spinning fiber, the other mechanically.  Bamboo rayon which I’ll talk about now is the chemically transformed one, and bast bamboo, which I will talk about in a later post, is the mechanically transformed one. 

I have a love, maybe love, I really don’t love this fiber type of relationship. 

Things I love:  It’s incredibly soft and has a beautiful luster.  Look at the pictures below, the shine is just gorgeous.  It also dyes relatively easily (I use Dharma Trading dye for plant fibers) and, I’ll say it again, beautifully.  Yes, bamboo is a renewable resource.  I grew up where there were lots of bamboo groves, and it grows and grows and grows.  It’s soft on the hands to spin.  The resulting yarn has a wonderful drape and great stitch definition if knitted.

Things I don’t:  It’s very fine and gets on clothes, furniture, the carpet, while spinning.  I find it staticy so when I’m pulling the roving into thinner slivers to spin I have the static halo, which has fibers sticking to everything close to it, like my hands.    It’s made by a chemical process where the bamboo is dissolved into a slurry with chemicals and fed through a machine that makes the fibers.  The grass is natural, the fiber is manmade, which is why the correct classification is bamboo rayon.   It’s obviously not the only fiber like this- tencel can also be called wood rayon, because it’s made from trees in a similar process. ( I will talk about tencel in a later post. )  Drafting take some getting used to because the fiber can be at the same time slippery and clingy-  all that shine equals slip, but the very fine fibers don’t want to draft (i.e. pull apart) sometimes.  I find it easier to either spin in small slivers of roving about ¼ inch wide, or predraft the roving if I’ve only slivered into widths of ½ inch. Now, once I’ve spun about 100 yards, I still hate the staticy fiber that gets everywhere but I stand up and look at my bobbin and admire the lovely yarn and keep spinning.  When I’m done I get out the sticky roller and clean up all the errant fibers.  

Things in the middle:  It’s a silk alternative, meant to be readily available and cheaper than silk.  I’ve seen it been called bamboo silk, which, okay, it’similar to the luster and feel of silk (spun that too, will write about at some point), but it’s not silk.  Silk is a natural fiber from moths, this is a chemically processed grass, a beautiful one, but not completely natural as it’s been endlessly touted. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still like bamboo rayon but I have issue with the chemicals used in the process.  Most, if not all of it, is made in China, and I have read their process is getting more environmentally friendly.  I don’t want to say I won’t spin it every again because I still love the results. 

Bast bamboo fiber review coming at a later time. 

Below is, as usual, some of my handdyed and handspun bamboo rayon yarns.  

We need to start here, specifically how a Spaniard sheep got to New Mexico:  

Navajo churro sheep are descendants of the Iberian Churra sheep, brought to the Rio Grande Valley (i.e. New Mexico) in 1598 as Spain was establishing villages in this new area (at least to them).  The initial number brought with Don Juan Onate and his settlers was 2900 sheep.  The Spanish enslaved the Pueblo people and had them work as shepherds and weavers, the Navajo acquired sheep through trade and raiding.    In 1680, the Pueblo people revolted and threw out the Spanish, but they didn’t take their sheep.  The Navajo acquired more sheep and expanded the flocks for food, but more importantly for this story, for their wool.  These sheep remained in isolated flocks throughout the area that would become New Mexico and Arizona with the Navajo and Pueblo peoples. 

In an attempt to get Navajo lands for Western settlers, the US government ordered the destruction of Navajo orchards, but also their sheep.  This military action culminated with the Navajo Long Walk, where they were forced to march 300 miles to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico.  As with the Cherokee Trail of Tears, many didn’t make it.  After 3 years, the Navajo were allowed to return to their ancestral land and families were issued “native sheep” from flocks that were from New Mexican villages.  The last hurdle the sheep and the Navajo had to endure was a 1930s program to eradicate some of the livestock on the Navajo reservation due to a severe drought.  By this time the flock which had grown to over ½ million was reduced by about 30%.  The Navajo said they knew how to manage their stock of sheep, goats, and horses on their land as they had for hundreds of years and this was unnecessary. 

By the 1970s, the Navajo Churro was critically endangered at around 500 head.  Several conservancies stepped in and slowly the sheep breed has been revitalized, although still in low numbers compared to many other sheep breeds, but it is no longer facing extinction. 

Churro sheep are double coated, with a long straight coarse top coat and a softer, shorter inner coat.  The staple length is 6-12 inches for the outer coat, and 3-5 for the inner coat.  Many have horns, some with four or more.  They are well suited to the harsh environment of the desert Southwest of cold night, hot days, and little water.  They come is all colors of brown, black, white, and pretty much any color in between.  It’s supposed to be a no- luster wool but I have seen a few fleeces with a pearlescent sheen to them. 

I’ve got my hands on several fleeces and mini mill produced roving over the past years.  All but one have been from New Mexico, the stray one was from a farm in Montana.  Most have been dark brown, grays, and black. I’ve also spun some oatmeal color roving before.  I also have one gorgeous white fleece I’m hanging onto for a spinning/natural dyeing project.  I’ve got fleeces with really coarse outercoats and some where the outercoat was almost as fine as the innercoat.  I don’t separate the coats, I just fluff and spin, however I’ve found that is the outercoat is really coarse it is actually easier to separate the two.  You hold each end of the fleece and pull apart. 

In general, Navajo churro is not next to skin soft.  Lamb fleeces are the exception.  However, you need to remember the breed’s wool was used for weaving hardwearing objects such as saddle blankets and rugs, which the wool’s coarseness is perfectly suited for.  

Below is some of my Navajo churro handspun yarns.  All but one are natural colored.  

I did a bit of spinning last weekend, about 800 yards total, mostly on my Louet S17.  I guess there’s something about Spring in the air because my yarn had flowers growing from it! Okay, not really growing from it, but they are spun into it.  I call this Flowered Fleecespun, because it has flowers and is spun from hand dyed wool locks.  I seem to spin this series in cycles because I was looking back at my yarn archive and I seem to, fittingly, spin this during the warmer months.  I don't have much of a yard for a garden, or much gardening skills for that matter, but my yarn can bloom.

New flowered fleecespuns (the ones pictured at right) will be available in my Etsy shop soon.


Below are some of my flowered handspun yarns from the past two years.  

Insert wonderful intro paragraph…  Okay I can’t think of one.  Let’s start it like this:  I love this book and I hope to be like many of these companies one day.  It is inspirational to me not just for the great knitting patterns but also to realize that yes, there are huge yarn companies like Lion Brand and Bernat (and nothing against them, their yarn choices over the years have gone from plain acrylics to some wonderful textures and blends), but small is possible.  And small is beautiful and can be very successful. 

The book showcases 28 companies across the United States that make yarn- some hand dye, some are the farms growing the fiber, many have mini-mills they work with, and some are the mills themselves.  The book is arranged by region (Northeast, South, Midwest, West) and highlights a few individual sellers from each region. The biggest sections are the Northeast and the West, which, knowing the history of the American textile industry, make perfect sense.  The Northeast was home to the US textile industry during the Industrial Revolution, and the West has lots of acreage with lots of sheep (although I’m pretty sure cattle outnumber sheep in Wyoming).   At the end of each region's section is also a list of other sellers.   

The individual sellers provide a story of their who-what-when-where –why and there is a knitting pattern featuring the company’s yarn after each story.  Each story also has pictures of the proprietors at work- working with their flocks, their tools of the trade, and finished yarns.  I love the picture of handdyed yarns strung between trees from Farmhouse Yarns in page 19.  Remember above when I said it was also inspirational to me- that’s one of those pics and is the one on page 129 of handdyed yarns on laundry drying racks at Red Barn Yarn.  There’s a picture of Pagewood Farm’s outdoor dye area on page 151- I would love to have that someday.

If you’re getting the book for the knitting patterns there are a 28 to choose from- small projects like mittens and hats, to large projects like car coats and shawls.  My favorite patterns are the Cabled Car Coat on page 20, the Oquirrh Mountain Wrap on page 160, and Evergreen Ankle Socks on page 136.  I like knitting socks (portable project), long length sweaters, and shawls, so it’s no doubt those three made the top want-to-knit.  I think all the patterns are beautiful, but I will focus on those three possibilities right now (along with about 10 other knitting projects.) 

My only qualm with the book is this book is titled “Knit Local” which #1- kind of sounds like the book should be about local yarn shops, not US yarn companies.  And #2- semantics aside, some of the companies have limited yarn lines made in the USA.  Some like Brown Sheep Company in Nebraska, Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont, and the companies that are on farms are 100% American.  A few companies have several yarn lines, but only one made in the USA.  I would have liked it to be a 100% yarns made in America book.  It’s not like the author didn’t have many other choices- remember the lists of other businesses at the end of each region. 

Still, hearing the stories of the farms and small cottage industries created by fiber-loving folks gives me a pick me up when I need it.  Being a yarnie full time is possible with some skill, time, and gumption.  I have the people in this book to prove it.  

Yes, it does.  Cotton can come in a rainbow of muted natural colors including shades of tan, green, brown, and russet. 

Cotton, like sheep wool, was bred to be white for the same reason as wool- to be able to reliably dye the fiber a rainbow of colors in textile production.   It is also bred to be long stapled.  Cottons such as Pima and Acala have long fiber lengths of around 1 ½- 2 inches.  Natural color cotton fiber length is shorter than it’s commercially bred cousins.  The darker the natural color, the shorter the fiber length.   Where Pima and Acala are shiny and slick, colorgrown cottons are incredibly soft and billowy and range from medium to matte shine.  It does not fade.  With repeated washings in hot water, the color deepens. 

So how is it to spin?  If you asked me today I would say an utter pain.  I haven’t spun cotton in awhile so I’m not used to the short draw I have to use to spin it.  I also have to keep my hands closer to the orifice (the round part the yarn goes through to the bobbin).  After a skein or two, I’m fine.  Cotton takes practice.  If you’re a beginning cotton spinner, it will take time to get the hang of it- it’s a completely different feel and technique than wool.  Colorgrown cotton roving is a good place to start because the fiber is fluffy and sticks together better than slick Pima.  Start with a lighter color such as tan or khaki.  The red brown has really short staple length, so much that I won’t spin that color anymore. 

My only regular qualm about spinning cotton is the lint gets everywhere.  The fibers get stuck on my hands, clothes, whatever furniture is near the carpet.   Be prepared not to touch your nose when you're sneezing, otherwise cotton lint will get in your nose.  

Below is a sampling of my handspun colorgrown cottons yarns.  

I have two spinning wheels (and about 40 drop spindles, but that’s for another day).  A few months ago I got an Ashford Kiwi2, but my first spinning wheel was a Louet S17.  It is a simple single treadle model that came flat packed, assembly required, and unfinished.  Over the last 10 years later I’ve spun somewhere around 225,000 yards on it.

When I received the box I didn’t assemble it right away.  I painted the wheel with 2 stylized mandalas, a different one on each side.  The rest of the wood I left natural although now I wish I had clear coated the wood.  Assembly of the spinning wheel took only about an hour.  The wood is a laminated hardwood and it has withstood several household moves and being taken to special events without so much as a scratch.  I sanded around the corners because they were very sharp.  The ball bearings in the wheel mechanism have always worked incredibly smooth.  I only recently have replaced the flyer brake and drive band.  Even if you don’t know what those terms mean, in short, I have spun a lot and done very little maintenance on it.  

The Louet is a bobbin led wheel.  What this means is that the drive band goes around the bobbin, which on one end has several grooves.  Each of those grooves represents a ratio.  Standard Louet S17 bobbins have 5:5, 7:5, 10:5 ratios.  Those numbers mean for each turn of the wheel, the bobbin has turned 5 1/2, 7 1/2, or 10 ½ times.  Bigger number equals faster speed.  My wheel for most of it’s early yardage was on 5:5 ratio.  For the last couple years it’s been almost exclusively at 7:5 ratio.  

I love this wheel for spinning my fleecespun bulky art yarns which I spin from fluffed fleece.  The flyer has a ½ inch orifice so anything, included felted flowers, can easily go through it.  The bobbin led system pulls the yarn around the bobbin just better for spinning in the fleecespun style.  I’ve tried the same yarn on my Ashford and because it’s a flyer led system it doesn’t have the same pull in as the Louet.   This is not to say the Ashford is not a good wheel. It does have a place in my spinning world, which I’ll discuss in a later post.  The Louet also has huge bobbins so I can easily fit 100 yards+ of bulky handspun on one.  

The only thing I would change about the wheel is the treadle.  I wish it was a double treadle.  My Ashford is a double treadle and I just like it better.  Double treadling feels effortless and has less stress on my feet and legs.  They do make double treadle Louets with the bobbin led system, which I have looked into along with the Ashford Country Spinner, and the Spinolution Wind, also a bobbin led wheels.  

Overall, if you are looking for an entry-level wheel that won’t break the bank I would highly recommend the Louet S17 because of ease of treadling and maintenance, as well as sheer sturdiness.  It might not be the most traditional looking wheel, but it will spin many yards of yarn and just keep going. 

So exactly how many pounds of Border Leicester have I spun?  I lost count years ago, but a guesstimate it’s around 500 pounds.  Yes, I love Border Leicester… now.  But it wasn’t always this way. 

In sheep longwool, I started out with Cotswold wool. Then the farm I purchased my wool from sold their flock.  Cotswolds are rare in the US and the fleece is hard to find to start with, and demands a high price per pound.  

So to Ebay I went.  I buy fleeces from Ebay from time to time.  I’ve found some wonderful farms with beautiful wool, and know which sellers to stay away from now because of less than spinning quality wool.  As an aside, Etsy also has some great farm sellers, as does the website Local Harvest.  But anyway, it was because of Ebay that I found the farm in Tennessee that is one of my staple farms I purchase raw wool from.  Of that aforementioned 500 pounds, at least 300 is theirs.  

Border Leicester is an English wool breed resulting from crossing English Leicester rams with Teeswater ewes.  The breed was supposedly brought to America by George Washington who kept a few at Mount Vernon.  Like most longwool sheep, the breed was on the decline during the 20th century until handspinners found the charm and uniqueness of the wool.  It is also a good lamb sheep breed, which also saved it from further decline.

Enough of the history lesson.  Border Leicester wool  is medium to high luster, with wide crimp.  I’ve found fleeces in white, as well as shades of brown.  Staple length of fleeces that have grown for a year range from 5 to 10 inches.  Many farms shear twice a year.  It is low grease which makes washing easy.  Most of the wool I have found is medium to very soft.  Lamb fleeces are very soft, and have a tighter crimp.  One lamb fleece had curly ends.

I love spinning the wool and do minimal preparation to keep the crimpy quality of it.  All I do is sit in front of the TV and fluff wool locks and spin the slightly opened fleece.  I have two wheels, and prefer my Louet S17 for my fleecespun yarns.  The bobbin lead system of this wheel versus the flyer lead system on my Ashford Kiwi pulls the yarn onto the bobbin quicker and leads to less chance of overspinning. 

I would love to say something poetic about the wool at this point but I will let the pictures of my handspun yarn do the talking. 

Let me start off by saying that I pretty much own every issue of Interweave Knits since 2005, so obviously I love the publication- along with all the special issues like Knit.Wear, Interweave Knits Accessories, and the Holiday Knits issues which I do own all copies of. 

When I got the new issue I must say I actually got very excited for the first time in a long time.  My favorite section in this issue is by far “Out by the Woodpile.”  The focus of the section is items with knit and purl pattern combos that create a thermal effect in the fabric. My favorite project was the Bucheron mitts.  I’m mostly a quick project knitter and these are easy and colorful.  I also loved three of the pullover projects- Feathernest Raglan, Winnepeg Pullover, and Nunavut Pullover.  All use in the round construction, which is the only way I have ever made a sweater.  The knitting needle sizes for these three pullovers range from size US5 to US8, so they would be (relatively) quick knits.  They have some texture to them which makes them interesting to look at and the pattern not so monotonous, but they are also easy to remember.

The two other sections are “Below the Mesa” and “Crossing Country.”  The first one highlights projects in “Southwestern” colors- muted reds, browns, with a splash of turquoise.  I though the Ojos de Dios Shawl was beautiful but the rest of the projects were not really inspiring to me.  I found the projects in Crossing Country too fussy for anything I would want to make except for one pattern- the Swivel Pullover.  It features cables that move from the front of the back.  I love this one so much I might actually tackle it this winter.

For lovers of lace like me, there’s an article about the patroness of Orenberg lace- Galina Khmeleva.  It has no patterns, it’s about the woman herself and talks about her quest to chart the history of Orenburg lace in Russia.  Piecework (another Interweave press publication) usually has a Khmeleva pattern in it more than not, so it was nice to learn about her and not just her work. 

There is also a handy, short and to the point interchangeable needle directory of the different brands of these knitting tools. 

Interweave Knits is available from http://www.interweavestore.com directly.  I have also picked it up at Joanns, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.