A wool parade on the Champs-Elysées
2,022 ewes and 350 dancers closed the 2022 edition of the Paris International Agricultural Show with a parade on the Champs-Elysées, Paris.
Hand Spinning News
The email version of this newsletter may look much better online: hand-spinning-news.com
The subject of muddy colours comes up multiple times this month. Deb Gerish says that fibre is not paint and continues her 'carding for colour' tutorial. Sara Bixler says that size matters and looks at the way that smaller threads mix optically in woven fabric and craftmehappy talks about the way our eyes can blend balanced colours into grey or brown at a distance and she does a thorough job of finding out which drafting methods can keep bright colours separate.
A number of popular events have announced dates and are listed in the UK events, including Buxton, Bakewell, Perth and Leeds. Shetland Wool Week will be back as an in-person event this year but in a reduced form.
Van Gough's Starry Night has inspired two separate projects by sagestutsman and seaflowerspins
Read on for this month's round-up of news, views and reviews for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers.
This free issue for April 2022 is brought to you in association with Audible. I'm a member and enjoy listening while I spin and knit. The new Audible gives you unlimited listening to thousands of titles.
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Cover photo: April Edwards / Alamy Stock Photo.
Contents
- In the media
Alpaca - more prized than gold by the Incas, wool parade on the Champs-Elysées, wool used to repair Isle of Skye path - Handspun stories
Custom wheel, carding for colour, avoid spinning mud, using singles, emerald green to dye for, safely storing your woolen clothes, Christmas exchange, Frida Hansen, Yan Zhang, Li textile warrior - Colour inspiration
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour' - Tips and tutorials
Spinning basics: minicombs, colour theory basics, thread plying, colour formulas for blending boards, twist Direction and handedness, cross-lace your flier, wavy weaving, crewel embroidery, cast-ons you should know, diz and blending board, spin wool from an Icelandic sheep - Technology
fabric that hears your heart's sounds - Yvonne
A cartoon - Gallery
Showcasing some of the best spinning images I've seen this month - Free patterns
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn - More patterns and projects
More project ideas which will work well with handspun yarn - But is is art...?
Virick Francis, life-sized knitted giraffe skeleton, Judit Just, Sara Luna, Peter Frederiksen - UK Events
A listing of 2022 events
In the media
Sheep wool used to repair Isle of Skye path
Local wool has been used to repair a path popular coastal path in Strathaird on the Isle of Skye.
The wool is used as a permeable layer which stops stones from sinking into the boggy peat beneath.
projectscot.com/2022/03/sheep-wool-used-to-repair-isle-of-skye-path
Handspun stories
Decision that there will be no Woolfest 2022
For those watching out for festival dates, many 2022 dates have now been announced but the popular Woofest will not be going ahead in 2022.
After two online events, the organisers have decided to take a break this year and bounce back with something a little different in 2023.
More details at the news article below but lots of 2022 dates in the UK Events listing.
www.woolfest.co.uk/about/news/decision-is-that-there-will-be-no-woolfest-2022
A new custom wheel
This is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of this one-off custom wheel featuring a laser-etched cog design.
Carding for Colour Part II
Last month we saw the first part of Carding for Colour which contained instruction and exercises in analysing colour.
This is part two, subtitled Fiber is Not Paint. This time it's 'hands-on' and requires hand carders and fibre.
schachtspindle.com/carding-for-color-part-ii-fiber-is-not-paint
Avoid "Spinning Mud"
Have you bought a brightly-coloured braid of fibre, only to have it turn into mud?
craftmehappy has made a very thorough job of investigating and demonstrating why this can happen, and how different drafting methods affect the result.
A very worthwhile read.
www.craftmehappy.com/2022/03/9-different-ways-of-spinning-multi.html
Using singles
Singles yarn is often used in weaving, where biasing isn't an issue. It can be successfully used in knitting too, but there are some considerations.
You have to control the amount of twist carefully and find the line between too much which will cause biasing, and too little which risks breakage and pilling.
There are more considerations, and in this article Josefin goes into details.
An emerald green to dye for
St Patrick's Day seems a while ago now but since the last issue, Christina Garton has written about the colourful history of green dye in textiles.
Five tips for safely storing your woolen clothes
At this time of the year we'll be packing away garments made from wool and other natural fibres.
Sneha Das has some tips for keeping them in good shape.
www.newsbytesapp.com/news/lifestyle/how-to-store-woolen-clothes/story
Round One
as usual at this time of the year, patchworkfibers have posted lots of cute pictures of newborn Jacob lambs.
This one is called Diva and was born with a squished ear that gradually righted itself. Check out how blue and jewel-like her eyes look.
Frida Hansen's 1903 tapestry at the Manhattan Winter Show
This is a fabulous design, in which "10 red headed maidens ride swans across a very stylised Japanese-looking sea".
Our number one Frida Hansen fan describes the discovery and restoration of this 120-year-old tapestry which is now on display.
norwegiantextileletter.com...frida-hansens-1903-tapestry-at-the-manhattan-winter-show...
Yan Zhang, Li textile warrior
A 'waist loom' incorporates the weaver's body into the machine. Huang Daopo (1245-1330) brought the techniques back to China from the Li people of Hainan Island.
Yan Zhang is helping to keep traditional Li weaving alive.
handwovenmagazine.com/spotlight-yan-zhang-li-textile-warrior
Colour inspiration
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour'
Starry Night
These nests of merino tencel are destined for a 'Starry Night' project.
Sage Stutsman has reached the knitting stage and you can see more pictures if you explore their photos.
Starry night
This yarn was also inspired by Van Gough's Starry nIght.
The project gave seaflowerspins "such frustration" but she finds the finished piece worth it.
She began spinning in 2018, and started knitting in 2021.
Video
If you get mice, just give them tiny vacuums!
This is a very funny little animation, thanks to stop-motion animator Laura Venditti.
Also in her feed is a 'behind the scenes' look at how she created this movie.
Tips and tutorials
Spinning basics: minicombs
Hand combing gets less attention than carding, so if you're new to the craft you may not have come across combs yet.
Full-size combs can be a big investment, but minicombs allow you to prepare top for smooth worsted yarn at home with less outlay. They can also be used for blending.
Weaving in colour: colour theory basics
When it comes to weaving, the rules change, says Sara Bixler.
Very thin threads mix very well optically but with a dramatically larger thread viewers can pick out the two different colours unless they stand a considerable distance away.
How to pick colors for your weaving project
Tien Chiu also tackles the topic of choosing colours for your weaving project. She has a flowchart which shows when you need to use her 'two primary rule'.
Thread Plying
Thread plying is an easy and fun way to get an interesting textured yarn, says Jillian Moreno.
Twist Direction and handedness with crochet
Through experimentation, left-handed crocheter Katrina King learned that the directions of spin and ply twist significantly affected crocheted fabric.
Learn to cross-lace your flier
What's cross-lacing and why would you do it?
Kate larson introduces this short video from Judith MacKenzie.
spinoffmagazine.com/learn-to-cross-lace-your-flier-judith-shows-you-how
Crewel embroidery
This tutorial accompanies Kate's Henty-Creer Mittens.
As you can see, crewel embroidery is a very effective way to add detail to a fulled knitted fabric.
Must-know sock knitting technique: how a sock is supposed to fit
If a sock pattern gives a size, is that the actual sock size or the size of the intended foot, and does that size include any negative ease?
Kathleen Cubley says that knowing the length of the intended foot isn't enough if you want to ensure a good fit.
www.interweave.com/article/knitting/how-a-sock-is-supposed-to-fit
Diz and blending board - a smooth prep tutorial
Kate Larson demonstrates how to use a diz to pull off an easy-to-spin preparation.
spinoffmagazine.com/diz-and-blending-board-a-smooth-prep-tutorial
How to spin wool from an Icelandic sheep
Icelandic wool has two (or possibly more) parts which gives you some options.
spinoffmagazine.com/how-to-spin-wool-from-an-icelandic-sheep
Technology
A fabric that hears your heart's sounds
MIT researchers have woven a piezoelectric fibre into fabric to make a garment that acts as a microphone. It can capture sounds ranging from the characteristics of the wearer's heartbeat to heavy traffic. It can detect the direction of sounds and even act as a speaker.
Yvonne
Gym
Don't overdo it!
If you like Yvonne, click the image to find her page, you can use next and previous to explore more cartoons.
Keeping this wheel spinning
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Gallery
Sometimes just a picture is enough
Crochet octopus
Helenichiwa has crocheted this delightful octopus using her handspun.
Do explore her recent photos to see pictures of the lovely blue/purple used for the creature's belly and some skeins of the handspun yarn.
Teal jumper
longdrawjames looks great in his latest handspun, hand knitted jumper.
It uses solid teal falkland merino for the body. Colourwork uses hand dyed polwarth from threewatersfarm.
There are a number of pictures, he makes a good model too.
Hot off the needles
This is kulacottontailfarm with her two boys, Gabriel and Asher.
She skirted, washed, carded, spun, and knit their fleece.
The pattern is Öraefi, which is a jumper that you can hide in, as we saw last month.
Moon Rabbit Finished
This project captured my imagination, I've been watching it develop for some months.
It doesn't involves spinning, but does involve many crafts and materials, including wool roving.
The link below should take you to the final part, as well as previous WIP blog posts.
Rowanberry Autumn on Fire
This is a beautiful shawl, I think it's a test knit, I have no further details.
It's in handspun yarn, the fibre used is "The Elements: Fire" and again no further details.
www.ravelry.com/projects/NicoleNossem/rowanberry-autumn-on-fire
Finsihed Shifty
Knit/Wit couldn't be more delighted with how this Shifty turned out and rightly so.
The pattern is Shifty by Andrea Mowry. Yarn is handspun yarn using six colorways from Southern Cross Fibre.
Felted 3D animals
Hanna Tsukanova makes extremely realistic portraits of animals and pets using needle-felted sheep's wool.
www.boredpanda.com/realistic-animal-portraits-from-felted-wool-hanna-tsukanova
Lovenote
Perfect for Spring, Love Note is a lacey jumper.
nestingmag loved knitting the pattern and the fit of hers is perfect.
Cecilia's bosom friend
Earlier in the issue Josefin talked about using singles yarn.
Here are some pictures of her reversible shawl made in singles. 'Bosom friend' is a new pattern.
Nothing plain about tabby weave
The fabric used to make this bag was spire.crafts' very first weave. It was intended to be a scarf but wasn't worn.
The yarn was made from merino and woven using a rigid heddle loom.
Metamorphic
kopletinka took part in a DreaReneeKnits March-May knit-a-long, in which you could choose any Andrea Mowry pattern. She chose to make Metamorphic and used some hand-dyed roving
Free patterns and projects
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
Antoine the Aardvark by Frances Gillespie
Antoine is absolutely adorable.
This pattern is particularly suited to handspun yarn because it calls for a feltable natural fibre.
Vortex by Pamela Baker
The exmoor sock yarn recommended by this pattern is also available as top from John Arbon. It contains a blend of strong and soft wools plus a touch of nylon. As I write this, they have stock of a light natural colour which you could dye at home.
The pattern gives small medium and large sizes.
Friday fibre fun, dishcloth edition
Knit/Wit says that this is more of a recipe than a pattern. You can use it to make a classy slip-stitch pattern dishcloth from cotton or similar.
paknitwit.blogspot.com/2022/04/friday-fiber-fun-dishcloth-edition.html
More pattern suggestions
Scrap Tote by Erika Knight
The idea for this pattern came from Erika's practice of using up every scrap, which is important to us with precious handspun yarn.
The pattern comes in the form of an e-book with four other patterns. Another of those also focuses on using scraps.
This bag uses 870 yards of Worsted weight yarn (9 wpi). It uses the entrelac technique, which you may know. This may be the opportunity to learn if you don't.
www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/mdk-field-guide-no-20-atlas
Lakeway Beret by Mary Jane Mucklestone
This is Kat's Lakeway Tam, which she knitted as a test knit (pattern is now available). She likes the way a 'tam' fits and doesn't give you 'hat hair'!
It has fair-isle patterning, which looks great in natural shades. It's graded using gauge differences. The designer says that it's great for using up stash. it uses 300 - 350 yards of Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi) yarn.
http://askatknits.com/2022/03/16/unraveled-wednesday-3-16-22/
Blackberry Vine Pullover by Isle of Yarn Knitwear
The striking detail on the yoke of this pullover is mirrored around the waist.
It offers a wide range of sizes and uses 795 - 1500 yards of DK (11 wpi) yarn.
Equinox Cardigan by Brienne Moody
This is aspiringtomte's Equinox. She used her own handspun made from threewatersfarm Corriedale.
The pattern is now published. Designer Brienne Moody quotes Kate Davies who said that cutting a steek into your knitting represents "some sort of final frontier" for even the most intrepid knitters.
She adds "Let's go!!! Let's go steeking!!"
The pattern requires 789 - 1536 yards of DK (11 wpi)
But is it art...?
Virick Francis
Virick Francis believes that he weaves the world's smallest baskets
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/eskasoni-basket-weaver-makes-tiny-creations-1.6384018
Life-sized knitted giraffe skeleton
This knitted giraffe skeleton is one of a number of works by Michele Beevors that form part of her latest exhibition, entitled Anatomy Lessons.
www.stuff.co.nz...lifesized-knitted-giraffe-skeleton...part-of-upcoming-art-exhibition
Classic cartoons suspend tense moments of sabotage in embroidery
Peter Frederiksen embroiders classic moments of violence and tension. I found the nostalgia strong with this one.
www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/04/peter-frederiksen-cartoon-embroidery
UK Events
2022
Buxton Wool Gathering
7 and 8 May 2022, Grand Octagon room, Pavilion Gardens, Buxton
50 exhibitors will be displaying the best of yarn, knitting, and crochet in the gateway to the Peak District. The website contains an exhibitor list and ticket information.
The event's home page contains some charity patterns raising money for Macmillan.
Leeds Wool Festival
Saturday 4 June 2022 Leeds Industrial Museum
This popular event includes a market offering a range of goods from local traders, workshops and activities, demonstrations of special techniques, a pop-up tea room and loads more.
Mill Open Weekend, John Arbon Textiles
Friday 10 - Sunday 12 June, 2022, John Arbon Textiles, Hacche Lane Business Park, South Molton
This legendary event returns as an in-person event in 2022. Includes mill tour and "all sorts of additional bits and bobs". More details to be announced.
The Wool Monty
18 - 19 June 2022 FlyDSA Arena, Broughton Lane, Sheffield S9 2DF
Accessible, inclusive, welcoming.
Yarningham
9 and 10 July 2022, Uffculme Centre, Birmingham B13 8QY
A fibre festival produced by Stitches and Hos. "Lots of exciting things planned".
Southern Wool Show
3 and 4 September 2022, Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire
The perfect event for all lovers of knitting, crochet, feltmaking, weaving, spinning, dyeing, and all things woolly!
Perth Festival Of Yarn
10 and 11 September 2022. Dewars Centre, Glover St, Perth PH2 0TH
Bringing together independent dyers, farmers, knitters, spinners, felters and weavers. In 2018 nominated for the best yarn festival in the UK. Vendors' gallery marketplace, over 80 vendors, keynote event, social events and classes run over the weekend.
Llandovery Sheep Festival
17 - 18 September 2022,
To highlight and raise awareness of all the wonderful things that our British wool can be used for.
Yarndale
24 and 25 September 2022, Skipton Auction Mart, North Yorkshire
Stunning exhibitions, skill demonstrations and a full programme of textile workshops create a visual feast and make Yarndale a real must-visit for yarn lovers.
The Wool Event, Masham Sheep Fair
24 and 25 September 2022, Masham Town Hall
Craft market and fleece stalls, specialising in British wool to compliment the sheep-related events that fill the square of Masham over the weekend.
Shetland Wool Week
24 September - 2 October 2022
Shetland Wool Week will be going ahead in person this year. It will be a scaled back version of the usual physical event as the main focus will be on delivering SWW in full for 2023
Includes classes, talks, drop-ins, art. See website for the full events listing.
The Knitting and Stitching ('Ally Pally') Show
6 - 9 October 2022, Alexandra Palace, London
Bakewell Wool Gathering
Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October 2022 Bakewell Agricultural Centre
A wool festival dedicated to the best of yarn, knitting, and crochet, in the heart of the Derbyshire Dales.
There will be exhibitors, demonstrations of fibre crafts and a fleece stand selling plenty of local fleece.
Support Hand Spinning News
I'm Shiela Dixon, I've been doing this for around ten years in order to promote and encourage the craft of spinning.
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All that remains is for me to thank everyone who blogs, writes articles or posts pictures on the subject of spinning, knitting, crochet or weaving. This newsletter wouldn't exist without them.
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Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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