What a find!

Getting things in order!

Sorting and tidying craft materials and projects is always a chore but sometimes this can have a pleasing/surprising outcome.

I bought the above fibre, 80% merino/20% silk at Fibre East one of my favourite suppliers, John Arbon. But.... I had stashed it away and forgotten I had it!!!!!!!!

I often spin just for the sake/enjoyment of it but this yarn was intended as the weft in a hand woven scarf which was supposed to be one of my items for sale at 'Living Crafts' at Woburn Abby this May.

All events like this were cancelled because of 'C' virus and I've not spent time making items for sale. 

Instead my husband and I have filled our time catching up with chores around the garden (we have a big one!) which had been neglected for some time. Dick has made several quantities of victoria-plum jam. 

Now that the bramley apples are ready to be picked. I can make one of my lifelong favourites - blackberry and apple pie - combining them with the blackberries I have in the freezer, picked earlier this month.

All Colours 'Arranged'

DYE SAMPLES ARRANGED

  ' There is a tendency for all of us to use dye colours straight from the pot, without mixing and creating new shades, unless of course there are small quantities of liquor left at the end of a project. It is time consuming and expensive to make your own shade cards. This year I am working with two Weavers, Spinners and Dyers guilds to produce, hopefully, the shades that can be produced with all 16 of the Texere Acid Dye range. Hundreds of skeins and many cards to file the colours have had to be made and distributed, but later this month the project will be close to completion. Fingers Crossed!!! Above are photos of the first batch of samples, waiting to be threaded on to the file cards. Don't they look great! It seems a shame to split them up.'

   Since we, Bedfordshire guild WSD, along with Guild of Longdraw Spinners took the time to create this useful reference it has been used very infrequently.
   New members have joined the group and they want to learn how to create their own self striping yarns, mainly for socks and small items to be knitted or crocheted. So, the samples have been retrieved out of the cupboard and arranged in a ring binder. It will be good to see the results of the workshop.

Nature's Inspiration

 INSPIRED BY NATURE

I have always been fond of primulas and violets.
As a child I picked many primroses and cowslips on the banks at Cresswell, Northumberland, where my parents took us regularly, even before they had a static caravan on the site facing the North Sea.
In our garden patches of primulae alternate with the flowers of spring bulbs.




   












Two or three days ago I was wondering what my latest craft project could be. With this in mind I had a rummage through my 'stash' of spinning fibres and decided to try to spin a yarn that represented the blooms in our garden.





I spun with green alone on one bobbin and the second I spun with equal amounts of the flower and leaf colours.

Unfortunately, the green is rather more blue than the actual leaf colours and maybe I should have distributed the colours more evenly in small amounts/flecks of the flower colours but still, I think I will dye some wool roving, matching the colours better with the 'real thing'.

I have just the resource to help me!!!!!!!

 This was a project undertaken with the cooperation of the members of two guilds, Bedfordshire Guild WSD and Longdraw Spinners and should be very useful to those who want to 'colour match' and not simply use the dyes as they come from the 'pot'. I wonder how many people have used them?

PROJECTS FOR A RAINY DAY

ACTIVITIES TO INSPIRE WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS

   The above pictures are not mine but they served to inspire me to start a spinning project that would help with boredom and inertia on bad weather days. I probably wouldn't usually buy or dye my own tops with these colours but I do like the resulting yarn, so maybe it's a colourway for the future.

   It looks to me as though the yarn is 2 ply and has been created by dividing the tops in half down its length, after which each each ply was spun and then both plied together.

   

   This photograph was taken at the bottom of our garden last year and it inspired the hands pun skein below. I didn't dye the fibre. I used coloured tops that had been unused, having been bought as individual colours to create batts.

   A  two ply yarn, one ply of which is all green the other is a combination of slubs in pinks, yellows and lime green spaced along the second ply of the yarn.

 

    Several days ago I found myself with no particular project in mind and went down the garden again, taking photographs of the primulas, my favourite spring flower after the snowdrops, daffodils and crocuses but couldn't decide how I was going to spin some yarn to do them justice.

   I began some trials with other colours to help me decide how I was going to put the colours together and how many plies I was going to spin to create a yarn that represented the colours distributed in the garden.
  The first skein - above - was spun with the individual colours in turn on one bobbin   , then the resulting singles was Navajo plied into a smooth (ish) 3 ply yarn with each colour plied on its self.
   In the yarn below I divided the colours to create a 'fractal' yarn.

A Yarn to Celebrate

Bedfordshire Guild Ruby Celebration

Bedfordshire Guild WSD began in 1979 and this needed to be celebrated!

  Those of us who spin admire the yarns and fibre blends produced by John Arbon and his team and he was only too happy to create a 'Ruby' colour blend in 80% Merino/20% silk fibre.

Most members ordered an amount between 100g and 1 kilo. Spinning it has taken some time and nearly all have completed their project.

As I wanted to weave a length of fabric the spinning of my yarn kept me busy but very happy.

 

  Years ago, when I learned to spin and weave at college, I was determined that I would spin to weave a length of clothing fabric. Sadly, it has taken me some time to be brave enough to get on with this huge undertaking.

  It has been said that it takes 7 spinners to supply a weaver and knowing, from experience, that preparing a warp, setting up my loom and weaving a 5 yard length would take a week I knew I would have to prepare myself for a 'long haul'. The plying of 100g (2 x 50 g) of yarn took all evening, approximately 4 hours!

DYE SAMPLES IN USE

DYE SAMPLES IN USE

             Since we, Bedfordshire guild WSD, along with Guild of Longdraw Spinners took the time to create this useful reference it has been used very infrequently.
             New members have joined the group and they want to learn how to create their own self striping yarns, mainly for socks and small items to be knitted or crocheted.

                'There is a tendency for all of us to use dye colours straight from the pot, without mixing and creating new shades, unless of course there are small quantities of liquor left at the end of a project. It is time consuming and expensive to make your own shade cards. This year I am working with two Weavers, Spinners and Dyers guilds to produce, hopefully, the shades that can be produced with all 16 of the Texere Acid Dye range. Hundreds of skeins and many cards to file the colours have had to be made and distributed, but later this month the project will be close to completion. Fingers Crossed!!! Above are photos of the first batch of samples, waiting to be threaded on to the file cards. Don't they look great! It seems a shame to split them up.'

For more information look at the blog entry:- 'All colours are there. creating shade cards.'

Feb 17 2017- Handspun Self-striping Yarn

Feb 23 2017- Striped Sock yarn Using a Skeining Board.

A Present to Myself!

E spinner Combo - SUCCESS!

               More and more spinners are turning to electric spinning 'wheels'. They are more portable. It is difficult to take a spinning wheel on public transport!

               The photograph above shows my e spinner on top of the wheeled trolley that holds all I need, including the e-spinner, to take to guild meetings.

                Inside the trolley, in the foreground, is the E spinner in the left hand compartment of the bag provided with the spinner. The right hand compartment holds the lazy kate with 2 more bobbins as well as more fibre and a battery to power the e spinner away from home. There is still more space for lunch, books magazines etc.

WHY AN E. SPINNER?

                As I've probably said before, my reason for learning to spin was to be able to spin my own yarns for weaving. I have discovered that it can take longer to spin the yarn than to weave it up. It is supposed to have taken 7 hand spinners to supply a weaver and that was probably before the yarn produced was plied. 

The company who designed and make the 'WooLee Winder advertise the following advantages:-

You can spin a more consistent yarn.

Spin more yarn in less time.

Ply like never before

Never have to change hooks again.

Have more fun spinning.

            With this in mind and the knowledge that having 'WooLee Winder' on your spinning wheel means you can get 1/3 more yarn on a bobbin by winding and save 1/3 of the time taken to spin the same amount of yarn using a 'normal' flyer with hooks that enable you to wind your spun yarn onto your bobbin in a series of small peaks.

Their claim that:-  'You'll be able to ply an entire bobbin of yarn in only a few minutes and without stopping.' I'm still not sure about!

This will allow you to ply evenly and consistently.

 Plying from WooLee Winder bobbins can also help to improve your plying experience since the yarn on these bobbins will unwind smoothly without any of the problems experienced with hook-wound bobbins.'