Can't wait to get on

I have started weaving in ernest for Living Crafts at Hatfield House in May.
My inspiration is colour and although I am always looking for new combinations some sell better than others. Red is one of my favourites, bright and cheerful but not too in your face. Rainbows seem to be popular with most people.
The shawls that I can't wait to get on with are these. The warp has been spaced dyed in 'rainbow' colours. I've not included yellow because it is not popular and affects designs, not for the better, if used in the wrong proportions.

I will be weaving the first length with the navy included in the stripes. The next may well be woven with blue. I have dyed the yarn but have been known to change my mind when it comes to weaving!!!!
These two, nearly finished shawls, use my handspun yarn to accentuate the weave and that is why this weave is one of my most favourite. The fringes have yet to be twisted, that is a job for evenings infront of the tele, and they have not been wet finished yet.

Hankies not to be Sniffed at

Each year I buy silk cocoons to give to 'children of all ages' when showing and talking about silk and silkworms. Occasionally I make use of them myself in my craft work.
The silk can be reeled from the cocoons for spinning into yarn once the end, actually the beginning, of the fibre is found. The silk can also be 'harvested' another way. That is by making silk hankies. Here is a number of such silk hankies bought from a supplier.

This picture shows hankies that I have made recently in my endeavours to find the most efficient way to make these Mawatas (Japanese for stretched cocoons)and a quantities of ingredients for the softening/degumming solution.
The cocoons in this picture are little use for mawatas, they are 'spent', that is the moth has hatched and there is a hole in the cocoon, made by the moth on hatching. This may have caused the fibre to be broken. I may well try some in my experiments.
Spent cocoons are not used in the reeling process because of the collar of built up fibres and 'glue' (serecin, the gum produced by the silkworm to bind the cocoon fibre together). This could cause the fibre to break at the collar and make the process less efficient, but, as I am going to dissolve the gum, I may be able to produce adequate hankies.
Once my experimentation has produced enough hankies I propose to spin them into yarn. I may even dye the hankies before spinning the fibre.
Watch this space!

Time Flies

Is this really my first post for this year?
I know we have had internet connection problems but have often thought of 'things' to post about and I hadn't realised that I'd not written anything yet in 2011.

A few weeks before Christmas I had an idea that I'd like to dye some self stripping silk yarn. I had seen some in a yarn shop when shopping with a friend but thought I'd like to have my own colour combinations. How could I achieve this? I had run a workshop with Beds WSD guild when we had dyed some sock yarn so that when knitted it would give self striping socks, but this had meant making several small, joined skeins on a peg frame, tyeing each one so that it didn't get tangled and dyeing in the microwave. It worked well but I want subtle graduations of colour in yarn that could be used in weaving and/or knitting.
One day the idea came to me that a knitting machine would be useful in this project. Where to get one? I needed to find a kind friend with one or acquire one cheeply, as this was just an experiment.
Next day, at a craft fair, I was talking to a couple who had admired my weaving and inconversation I told them of my idea. Surprise, surprise!!! The lady had a knitting machine to dispose of. Even more surprise, when she said she didn't want anything for it, she was decluttering and had another anyway.
On the third day we were all free and so I was able to collect the knitting machine.
This seemed to be a good omen!
After replacing some warn parts and cleaning the machine, another friend came to show me how to use it. I only needed the very basic information.
I got on and knitted some 'blanks', knitted rectangles of 100g of silk yarn. These were soaked overnight to make sure the yarn was thoroughly wetted through and would take the dye, which I applied across the knitting in stripes, encouraging each colour to mingle a little with the next, so there were no definite lines. Once the dye was set and the knitted piece washed, rinsed and dried, I pulled out the knitting, wound the yarn into a skein and steamed out the kinks from knitting. The silk yarn was ready to knit, but into what?
I weave scarves and shawls and have knitted a few recently, so, on seeing that one of my cushion covers was showing signs of wear, decided to replace it, the cushion at the bottom of the picture is the result.
The top square cushion is worked with a finer yarn, 50/50 wool and silk, in a pattern called moss stitch chevron. They have both been admired and I am pleased with the result so, now - more yarn to be machine knitted and dyed. Maybe some of it would be great for a scarf weft. A change from my usual habit of space dying the warp.

A Christmas present

Our son's partner is interested in learning to knit, as well as make better use of her sewing machine, and so I decided to spin some yarn for her Christmas present. It's great to have such fun making a present for someone.
I know that she likes pastel colours, pinks, mauves, blues and turquoise greens in particular. Having carded the above batt of merino some weeks ago I thought it may be a good choice for her to use in a project. It looks go bright, maybe even a little garish, so I thought of plying the multi-coloured singles with a strand of the blues below. This would also mean I could produce twice as much yarn and increase the possibilities of the end product.

I spun a small sample of the blue and plied it with the other colour mix as well as a sample of the mixed colours plied with knitted itself.

I wasn't sure that I liked the marled yarn (on the left)that came from using the blue plied with the colours, rather less feminine and the colours seemed 'less vibrant'. I decided to ply the mixed colour with itself and this is the resulting 100g.of yarn.

A little bird told me that the recipient's hot water bottle had split and decided that the yarn might just make a great cover and so found a co-ordinating HWB and some bamboo needles (I'm told they are allowed on flights!).
All I have to do now is write a pattern for the project and if she likes the idea, maybe she will while away the time on the flight to Australia later in the month.

Not at a loss for things to do.

I have knitted the above items in the last couple of months, mostly from wool tops that I have dyed. The mauve stole was from carded fleece bought in Australia ten years ago. The last is the initial tension trial for a cable knit cowl. I have finished the cowl it was intended for but I will post that later as I've not yet taken a photograph.
Cables seem to feature large in fashion knitwear at the moment and I used to dislike cable patterns, stopping to pick up the cable needle frustrated my urge to get on with the project. Now that I can see the varied options I am more enthusiastic about the possibilities.
Having recently tried on a number of knit-wear items, from a very popular high street store, finding them to have a knitting fault in prominent places, I have decided that I should spin sufficient yarn to knit one myself. How long will it take? I have to get the fibre first, dye and then spin it. Shall I go more chunky than I usually do? The knitting would take less time, especially if I want to wear it while it is still fashionable. Something soft and snuggly is my aim!
I have embarked on a project/investigation, of my own, into the ways of using and combining, spaced dyed tops, hand and drum carded fibres and the results achieved.
The cowl mentioned above is part of this.

First Weaving

Last month I led a weaving workshop for Bedfordshire Guild of Weavers, Spinner and Dyers and wasn't sure how the participants would receive it because non of them had woven before.
We used rigid heddle table looms, many of which were over 30 years old, and this meant that my hubby and I spent many hours checking them and making sure they were all in good working order. The last thing I wanted was for the equipment to let us down or make the weaving more laborious than it needed to be. The aim was that everyone could produce a wearable wild silk scarf. The yarn used had been hand dyed the month before.
The photograph above is the result of one members weaving started at the workshop.
If no-one else finishes their piece I consider the workshop a success, because Carol, the weaver of the above scarf, wants to weave more and is looking to buy a loom of her own. Carol dyed the silk at home using natural madder and still has some left to begin her second project. Very well done Carol!
I hope that, at next Tuesday's meeting, I shall see more from the workshop.

Fibre to Yarn

It's such a long time since I posted. I have been busy but didn't find time to post about my activities.
I thought I had posted this entry several days ago but my internet connection must have broken just as it was downloading!!
I have spent a great deal of time dyeing woollen tops, roving, both to use myself and to sell to other spinners and crafters. Knitting certainly has had a revival and members of the Bedfordshire Guild of Weavers Spinners, and Dyers have managed to drum up interest in our crafts, so much so that our membership has doubled in less than two years. (I think this statement is accurate) The result being, I have been able to sell my hand dyed tops to other members as well as at a Ravelry event held in Flitwick Village Hall in August.
The photo below show two spirally wrapped rovings which I acid dyed in similar colour ranges, next to which are the prepared fibres, stripped lengthwise from the roving and a skein of yarn similar to, what I hope will be, the resulting yarn


This photo is of a scarf knit in a Shetland pattern, inspired by an Online Guild WSD workshop, using a yarn prepared in the same way as the one above.
A couple of weeks ago we spent time with our son and girlfriend in Warwick, site seeing and looking for craft supplies. This led to me having an idea for dyed yarn which involved me having a knitting machine to make the process practical time wise.
I had the idea one day. The next day:- I met a potential customer, at local event, she told me that she had a knitting machine to give away a.s.a.p. She is having a hoard clearance. We were asked to go the next day to collect the machine! An omen or not? I am to have lessons from someone who attends the same line dancing group as myself!
Since last posting I have knitted a number of items which I willl post when I have taken photos