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!

Feeling proud

Several months ago I agreed to write an item for the Journal of Weaver's Spinners and Dyers about Fibre Reactive Dyeing. (www.thejournalforwsd.org.uk. www.wsd.org.uk)
I have been dyeing silk and other fibre and yarn with these dyes for several years and thought I'd like to share my experience.

When the Summer 2010 issue had been published I was very pleasantly surprised to see a photo of my weaving on the cover. I had sent photos of the process and finished spun and woven items but never dreamed of my work being shown on the cover. My photos were obviously of a better quality than I realised. I often get things out of focus but maybe so do professionals!!! There are also several photos of my finished work inside the magazine.


Most of my clothes are cotton or linen and I don't enjoy wearing synthetic fabrics, woollens irritate my skin, so I only work with wool for someone else.
Yesterday, I decided to dye some woollen fibre with acid dyes, some of which I have had for years. For this I used the microwave as it's too hot to stand over a heat source at the moment and the time taken to fix the dye is shorter.
Next I am searching for some new colour combinations as I so often realise that I have returned to old favourite combinations like purple, blue and green.



Some time ago I posted about a shawl that I was weaving for our younger son's girlfriend to wear to her sister's wedding. I have a photo of them at the wedding but must get a close up of the shawl.
They have bought a lovely thatched cottage and begin moving in this weekend. What an exciting time for them. Perhaps in the not too distant future a shawl for another wedding day will be needed!!!

Heavens to Burco

It's such a long time since I last posted and so many things have happened but I'm going to start with the last project!!
A friend from our Beds Weavers, Spinners and Dyers brought her Baby Burco to me a couple of weeks ago and we dyed some of the Shetland Fleece that members of the guild had been given.
I can't wear wool but decided recently that I really should weave a project in my own handspun. The Shetland fleece presented a great opportunity.
First I washed and rinsed the fleece, having picked off any dirty areas and short fibres (second cuts), then put some of it into the Burco with sufficient water to wet the fibre. Having decided on reds, oranges and yellow for the colour scheme, we mixed the acid dyes and poured them randomly on top of the fleece, put on the lid and 'cooked'. The above fibre was the result.
We think the sheep had been shorn a little late because there are short fibres at the cut end. These had to be flick carded out of each lock, before the colours could be blended on the carders, other wise the yarn would have more 'texture' than I wanted.
In the centre of the picture you can see a batt which is made up 2/3fibres from the right and 1/3 of the wine colour on the left. Below are the three skeins of yarn I have spun.

(I have only outlined the dyeing method used. This is not full instructions)

First silkmoth of 2009

The first moth of this year has hatched, nearly 3 weeks after he started spinning. I know it's a he because of the slim body, females are usually fat with eggs that can be seen through their skin!
He hatched from the yellow cocoon on the left of the picture.
Unfortunately, although he could live for 2 weeks, he'll probably see no action because the other caterpillars didn't start spinning until several days after him.
What a boring life, no food, drink or friends to pass the time with!!
I wonder if he knows something about the contents of the cocoons he's chosen to rest on? Male or Female?
Last year caterpillars who had chosen to spin next to each other were infact one of each sex!

Keeping busy

I've not been unproductive for the last few days but I have found inspiration difficult to come by. The consequence being I've not been too satisfied with my 'art work'. It took me nearly all afternoon to create one valentines card. Roses seem to be a theme at the moment but it is Valentines day soon! Yesterday I made some cards, perhaps to sell, using clip art from the internet which I enhanced with glitter, embossing and decoupage - but is that cheating?
Today I have finished spinning some silk that I started some time ago. Sometimes there are weeks between me dying the fibre to spinning it into a yarn. I'm happy with the result and when more undyed yarn comes form my supplier I shall be combining them both in a weaving project.
If the pictures look flat it's because I scanned both the card and the yarn. The silver heart and the rose are layed with pads but the weight of the scanner top has flattened them.