Roving Projects

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Otto

If you own a Strauch drum carder you probably have lots of roving and not enough time to spin it all into yarn. Not to worry, today we have a collection of other projects for all that roving! And if you haven’t seen it yet, we have a great video tutorial on how to use a diz to pull roving off your Strauch drum carder.

Felted soaps make great gifts and are fun to make with kids! Check out this great tutorial from Thistlewood Farms.

 

The Waldorf (Inspired) Moms Blog has a tutorial for these beautiful felted lanterns that use roving and wool yarn. See the tutorial here, this would be another great project to do with kids!

Don’t forget you can also knit and crochet with roving! We love this tutorial for a crochet heart pillow by Lebenslustiger. See the tutorial here.

Gleason’s Fine Woolies Ranch has a tutorial on using bubble wrap to wet felt these beautiful multi-colored scarves. See the tutorial here.

You can see more of our ideas for roving on the Strauch Pinterest board.

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See You Soon: Fall Fiber Shows

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Otto

Would you like to see a live demo of a Strauch Drum Carder? Here’s our upcoming show schedule for Fall 2015:

Fall Fiber Festival – October 3rd & 4th, 2015
James Madison’s Montpelier, Orange, VA
Where to find the Strauch booth: Center Aisle with Stony Mountain Fibers

Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) – October 30th, 31st & Nov 1st, 2015
W North Carolina Agricultural Ctr., Asheville, NC
Where to find the Strauch booth: McGough Arena, Top level with Earth Guild

Here are some photos of the Strauch booth from past shows:

Strauch booth at the Fall Fiber Festival

Joanne at SAFF in the Strauch booth

We hope to see you this fall at one (or both!) of these shows!

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Keeping Your Drum Carder Clean

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Otto

Like it or not, fiber gets EVERYWHERE. On all chain drive carders, it’s important to keep fiber off the idler shaft and the sprocket. As fiber accumulates, it pushes on the small sprocket and will eventually cause the carder to jam or actually force the chain off the large red sprocket. The two blue arrows show where to be careful to keep the area free of fiber.

With the motorized carders, cleanliness is even more critical than with the manual machine. It’s important to keep fiber off the idler shaft, the sprocket and the white tension roller. As fiber accumulates, it pushes on the small sprocket and will eventually cause the carder to jam or force the chain off the large red sprocket. The three blue arrows show where to be careful to keep the area free of fiber.

You can see helpful videos on using Strauch Drum carders, ball winders, and swifts on the Strauch Fiber Equipment Youtube Channel.

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Strauch Fiber on Instagram!

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Otto

You can follow Strauch Fiber on Instagram, @strauchfiber. In addition to sharing photos of what’s going on behind the scenes here at Strauch Fiber Equipment headquarters in Virginia we also like to share photos from other Instagram users featuring our tools in use. If you own a piece of Strauch equipment tag your photo #strauchfiber so we can see your post and share!

Here are some photos that have been shared by our customers on Instagram:

@tonofwool is busy winding yarn on her Strauch ball winder!

@verypinkknits shows off her Strauch swift while filming her popular video series, Very Pink Knits!

An action shot of a Strauch carder full of fiber by @sparkyarn

Designer and knitter @mariknits winds a sweater's worth of yarn with her Strauch ball winder.

 

 

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Our Favorite Spinning Tutorials

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Otto

With the Tour de Fleece in full force today we’re featuring a few of our favorite spinning tutorials. This is a great way to use all those beautiful batts carded on your Strauch drum carder!   Benjamin Krudwig created this wonderful tutorial with recipes on how to blend your fiber to spin your very own gradient yarn. This could be done on a drum carder or with hand carders! See the full tutorial here. The Tricotin Blog features a tutorial on how to spin a thick and thin yarn. These types of yarns are great for small accessory items and are fun for knitting, crocheting, and weaving! Click here to view the tutorial. The Fiber Artsy Blog has this great tutorial for dip dyeing locks. These would be wonderful spun directly into an art yarn! View the full tutorial here.

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Uniquities Yarn Shop

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Otto

Uniquities is a knitting, crochet, and spinning destination shop located in Northern Virginia in the DC metro area. Uniquities is a treasure trove of everything fiber–they carry spinning wheels, drum carders, bobbins, and other spinning supplies. They also have the most extensive knitting needle inventory in the area! Uniquities features a friendly, knowledgeable staff and a wide variety of supplies to suit your fiber arts needs. We’re proud to call them a Strauch dealer.

Uniquities is also the host of the semi-annual Fiber Farmers Market, which we attend. Here’s Caroline at the last Fiber Farmer’s Market helping customers.

A view of the front of the store–as you can see there are lots of wonderful yarns to see and touch!

Lots more fiber goodness in the back of the store!

And no surprise–we find Joanne at the checkout counter adding to her stash!


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Kentucky Sheep and Wool

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Otto

Last month we attended the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival in Lexington, KY with one of our dealers, The Woolery. Today we’re excited to share some photos from the show!

All set up at the 2015 Kentucky Sheep & Wool festival

The Woolery booth full of goodies for fiber lovers!

It was a very well attended show.

Joanne demonstrates on a Motorized Finest Drum Carder.

She drew quite a crowd!

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We Lead…Others Follow

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Otto

We know that the Strauch carder isn’t the only line of drum carders available on the market, but we do think it’s the best! Today’s post is all about the superior quality and craftsmanship that you get when you buy a Strauch drum carder. 

 

Here are a few other things to note about our carders:

  • We pride ourselves on outstanding customer service. You can call us anytime and anyone on the Strauch team will be happy to chat with you about which drum carder will best suit your needs.
  • We don’t take any short cuts when it comes to acquiring the best parts for our drum carders. If one uses low quality parts, the resulting carder will not last very long. Therefore, we use the best quality parts in all of our tools to ensure items that will last for years to come!
  • Everything is hand crafted at our workshop here in Virginia. We’re proud to use all American sustainable wood and parts in our carders too, so your Strauch drum carder is 100% made in the USA.
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Fibre Space

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Otto

Today we’re featuring another Strauch retailer: Fibre Space is a beautiful shop  in the historic neighborhood of Alexandria, VA.

The storefront, the shop is located on a brick street surrounded by great places to shop and eat!

Danielle Romanetti, the owner of Fibre Space still teaches and knits (as time permits!).

They have several winding stations throughout the shop. Customers can wind up their own yarn and find this to be a great feature!

Arthella, the shop manager, also winds yarn for customers.

Every time we visit Joanne finds a few things to bring home with her!

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Uniquities Fiber Farmer’s Market

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Otto

Uniquities is a destination knitting, crochet, and spinning shop in northern Virginia not too far from Washington, DC. They hold a bi-annual market, called the Uniquities Fiber Farmer’s Market, and we always enjoy packing up our equipment for this day of fun! Here are some photos from the last Uniquities Fiber Farmer’s Market, which was just a couple weeks ago!

Spinners gathering for a little spinning, chatting, and relaxing.

Uniquities Fiber Market, photo by Strauch

Now that’s the motorized carder I want!

A busy show with lots of discussion on which carder to buy!

We finally got to meet Elysa (center)!

There are also some lovely photos of the market and our booth on Elysa’s blog, 222 Handspun.

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