This month's harvest has yielded a really nice selection of patterns and brioche comes up a surprising number of times. Its chunky texture may not be suitable during the current (northern hemisphere) heatwaves but if you've not tried it, enjoy a new challenge and want to be prepared for the cooler weather, it may be what you're looking for.
If you are new to Brioche, the two-colour Unified Field Cowl by Joni Coniglio is free and comes with tutorials in pictures and video.
Tour de Fleece is about challenging yourself and spinning while the cycle wheels are spinning. This year the Femme race followed the men's race and some spinners continued spinning. So there is a good selection of 'in progress' and finished yarn.
Read on for this month's round-up of news, views and reviews for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers. This is the full edition for August 2022.
Cover photo: Thanks to Vije Vijendranath / unsplash.
Last month Gareth Wyn Jones presented some 'bubblewrap' and padded envelopes made from wool.
Here's a report on what is possibly the same or at least similar stuff.
www.core77.com...Bubble-Wool-A-Bubble-Wrap-Alternative-Made-from-Waste-Wool
This is a fun story. Customer Kent Slaughter has bought 12 pairs of Redhead socks which come with a lifetime guarantee - "the last sock you'll ever need to buy", a very bold claim, which Kent took advantage of.
When his retailer decided to stop replacing his worn-out socks, or rather offered to replace them with a different brand that didn't have a lifetime guarantee, he sued the manufacturer.
www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article263506488.html
This is some exemplary spinning. Threadbender says that the Polwarth from Inglenookfibers was an "absolute dream to spin".
Lene is spinning this fleece as part of her Tour de Fleece spinning. A friend of hers owns the donor sheep but doesn't spin. She plans to knit it into a gift.
These rolags are made from "merino and various alpaca". I like the pale blue and grey with the pure white.
It was an early-morning Tour de Fleece spin for Emily of team World of Wool.
Fiberdrama's Tour de Fleece challenge was this very old batt which had become difficult to spin.
Debbie calls this polwarth/silk "liquid gold".
It's Sunshiny Day from Three Waters Farm.
Tour de Fleece has helped Helen to get back into the habit of spinning.
She has been through her stash and chosen some colours with the Shifty sweater in mind.
theknittingexploitsofjosiekitten.blogspot.com...getting-back-in-spin-of-things.html
Have you tried spinning angora (rabbit)? It's very soft and fluffy.
Ewespecial's friend has been spinning angora by spindle for Tour de Fleece, which prompted her to go looking in her stash where she had had some hiding.
Despite being compacted for such a long time, it sprung into life and she used it as her own challenge during the Tour.
ewespecial.blogspot.com/2022/07/wheels-keep-on-spinning.html
Here are two plies out of three which lazylivinfiber found 'mindless spinning'
The fibre is 'super sock' in the colorway Spunky from woundupfiberarts.
The Tour de France Femmes race took place after the men's tour. Some teams and individuals took the opportunity to continue spinning using the tag #tourdefleecefemmes
het.spindraadje finds the colours of this Rambouillet appropriate.
This is the story of how this brown cotton came to be, and how it became beautiful carded fibre for spinning.
Ewespecial recruited some neighbours to help with the ginning (seed removal). Click through to read about the deal she struck, and see the amazing processed fibre and even more amazing yarn.
By coincidence, Jean has also written this month about ginning and spinning cotton bolls.
Her post contains some useful information and resources.
April tried tie-dyeing yarn in the ball rather than in the skein, hoping for an even colour through the ball with blank spots in the middle. It didn't quite work out as she'd hoped; here are her results and her thoughts.
www.withwool.com/blog/2022/6/28/adventures-in-tie-dyeing-yarn
Emily of Tin Can Knits returned to spinning a couple of years ago and since then has completed her first handspun jumper. Her second has turned into a new design. She has also been working on a blanket and a child's top. She blogs about the experience here.
The Charkha is very portable, it can come in briefcase or book form. It has a high speed, making it especially suitable for cotton and short-stapled fibre.
Joanne Nakonechny takes us on this journey.
Related - Three tips for charkha spinning from Kate Larson.
Sukrita Mahon takes a deep dive into this timeless technology; Tibetan, Taklis, Russian Spindles and Phang Spindles.
spinoffmagazine.com/supported-spindles-pairing-fiber-and-tool
A knit or crochet circle can be many things besides a shawl, including a placemat, picnic blanket, wedding veil, tablecloth, baby's play mat, rug, shade canopy or doily.
Sandi Rosner answers the questions; how to make them, how to wear them and what does it all have to do with pi?
www.interweave.com/article/knitting/shawl-shapes-circular-semi-circles
Stephanie is studying bast fibres for replacing nylon in sock yarn.
This is a project to watch.
Adrienne Martini has written about her days as a historical interpreter at a farm museum.
As part of the job she gets to weave and has been taught by a master. There's an image of a beautiful overshot cushion cover which is worth a look. Anything that turns out that well goes into the shop.
This is a napkin, contact-printed using plants gathered from the garden.
The colours are "always a surprise" says Jean.
She gives lots more pictures and brief directions.
onesmallstitch.wordpress.com/2022/07/20/colour-from-the-garden
This is Jillian's 'able assistant' helping to demonstrate drape.
A number of things can affect drape and elasticity.
www.moderndailyknitting.com...yarn-detective-drape-and-elasticity
In a previous episode, Felicia discussed the options for restoring her 1968 Leclerc loom.
She decided to completely disassemble, sand back and refinish. The result looks quite beautiful. In this episode she discusses her choices and has some useful advice resulting from her experience.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com...weaving-loom-restoration-for-a-1968-leclerc-fanny-loom-part-2
Although the flax from Berta's Flax project was hackled, Josefin likes to rehackle to give herself the best possible spinning conditions.
Here's how she did that and then dressed her distaff.
If you find a must-have wool garment in a charity shop / thrift store, Sandi Rosner has some tips which include washing with care, getting rid of smells, some basic fixing and the burn test to find out whether the fibre is wool or contains manmade fibres.
www.interweave.com/article/crochet/how-to-clean-thrifted-knit-crocheted-items
Alison has made this mesmerising timelapse in which she demonstrates the use of a blending board.
In this case she dizzes off the fibre rather than making punis. You can see the resulting roving and punis here, along with some yarn samples.
There's also a similar timelapse showing the same fibre blended using a hackle.
Whichever prep you prefer, this is a fun way to get creative with colour and is a must-watch if you're at all curious about blending boards.
I really did believe that these pictures were knitted lace. Click through and cycle through the images to find out what they really are.
whatvivdoes' demonstration of this finishing technique is mesmerising. It's from Peter Collingwood's The Techniques of Rug Weaving and Vivian has found that using a crochet hook works best for her.
The finished rug is here with lots of details about the handspun yarn and weaving techniques.
She says that it's "heavy enough for a thin rug, or light enough for a thick blanket".
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour'
Oe of Lindsay's Tour de Fleece challenges was to spin and ply this "Unicorn 2.0" merino/bamboo.
Earlier we had a montage showing the finished yarn that this fibre became.
Here's an earlier stage; the yellow colour in Threadbender's Polwarth is very appropriate for Tour de Fleece. It's called Arc de Triomphe which was a special colourway from Inglenook Fibres and contains deep and light sunset colours.
Naoko-cchi felt the urge to dye a sock blank and so did just that.
Pictures of the blank and the dyeing process are here.
If you've not worked with a sock blank before, here's a 'get you started'.
She says that the brownish part looked "kind of dirty" on the blank but it looks much nicer in the finished socks.
This double braid is 80/20 organic Polwarth/silk. Click through to see the squishy sportweight yarn that they became.
See also the "liquid gold" fibre/yarn.
This golden yarn is called 'kelp' and is also on polwarth/silk.
Threadbender says that these greens with a touch of blue "will brighten up the dull days of winter."
She has spun for socks and thinks that the BFL will be hardwearing yet comfy. I look forward to seeing the result.
Knit/Wit is continuing her project to spin her accumulated Southern Cross Fibre club stash.
This is one of the oldest, "Dot on Bond". It had languished because she didn't love the colourway in its fibre form. However, she changed her mind when she spun it and it is quite a transformation.
With a large quantity of yarn for a jumper or cardigan it might be important to maintain consistency.
Craftmehappy has written about how she manages this when blending fibres using a blending board. In this case it's recycled sari silk with commercially blended wool tops.
www.craftmehappy.com/2022/07/a-simple-method-of-using-blending-board.html
As its name suggests, ply on the fly means chain-plying as you spin your singles. It saves winding singles off to ply them separately.
Shell Feda explains.
Kerry Bogert drills down to the basics and shares her top five list of notions you need in your project bag
www.interweave.com/article/knitting/top-5-knitting-notions-crochet-notions
Dyeing a warp may be daunting. Samantha says that with the right precautions it's not so hard, and creates something truly unique and personal.
Also on Handwoven, Dorothy Tuthill has this article about the things you need to bear in mind when using a handpainted warp.
Maybe everyone knows about bead spinners already, but this is the first time I've seen one in action, and find it joyous.
craftmehappy asks for tips for spinning yarn with beads and there are one or two tips in the comments.
There are some important checks to make when you buy a fleece in person, but it's even more difficult when you're buying at a distance.
Beth has some tips, perhaps the most important being 'go for it, but be prepared for disappointment'.
This is worth a try if you find using a cable needle fiddly, or can't find one. It may not be suitable for all occasions but this may make your work faster and easier.
blog.tincanknits.com/2022/07/28/cable-knitting-without-a-cable-needle
If you're curious to try natural dyeing then avocados are a good place to start.
They're easily found, you may regularly buy them already, the pits contain tanin which acts as a mordant, and they give a really nice and quite strong reddish colour. Personally I've found it very wash-fast too.
www.darngoodyarn.com/...how-to-naturally-hand-dye-yarn-using-avocados
Ewespecial has been having a destash and didn't want to throw away or compost usable wool fibre.
Dryer balls are easy to make and useful. She also realised that they'd be good baby toys, they can be thrown without causing damage.
She gives a tutorial for the quick and easy 'lazy' method.
Engineers at the University of New South Wales have developed artificial muscles made up of long, fluid-filled silicone tubes that can be manipulated through hydraulic pressure. These can be woven into fabrics.
The potential applications include robotics and medical / therapeutic wearable assistive devices.
Here are three books that quiteayarn has added to her bookshelf. She gives three very brief reviews.
I'm curious about the spindle on the cover of Knitting Socks from Around the World. There's no mention of handspun yarn, so maybe it's just for decorative purposes.
quiteayarnblog.com/2022/07/24/knitters-bookshelf-used-book-haul
Wei Qun won a design award for this idea.
Taiwanese Aborigines Weaving Book contains history, techniques and tricks, and an entire loom.
This is an objective review giving pros and cons. This may be for you if you're interested in learning different modular knitting techniques.
quiteayarnblog.com...knitters-bookshelf-8-schools-of-modular-knitting
Sometimes just a picture is enough
Háta does some amazing work. It's difficult to glean the details. Google translate helped a little but I'm not clear about the techniques or materials used here. 'Clasped weft' appears in the tags.
Nevertheless, it is a stunning handspun, handwoven shawl.
I love a nice personalisation job and this is one. The cunning little fox on the treadle of ahiddenpurl's new Kromski is not overstated - just right!
Here's a way to use a very small quantity of handspun yarn.
In this project sweetpurls has used merino/bamboo and alpaca handspun for the contrast colours only.
The pattern is Nith River by Whole Earth Education.
sweetpurls.wordpress.com/2022/07/23/finished-object-nith-river-mittens
Socks 101 is a beginner pattern, "fast, but satisfying". It's available in a book which is now out of print, Rachel picked up a copy secondhand.
She has previously found handknit socks too treasured to wear, but has made this pair using handspun Targhee for wearing and they make her happy.
symphonicknitter has been inspired by both gansey and Fair Isle knitting in this sweater which she made from self-spun Shetland wool.
This is Michaela performing a drumming birth ceremony for this new prayer shawl which she feels helps to "keep the magic of the ancient craft of weaving and spinning alive."
The shawl is made from spindle-spun British wool, BFL, Shetland and Jacobs bought from small local farmers, which helps to ensure a cruelty-free and responsible garment.
Elisabetta calls this "an embrace of the forest".
It's woven from hand-dyed merino and superfine handspun merino.
This month's sexy spindle shot features 15 spindles containing combed top from Whispering Pines
This is capemayfiber's first handspun sweater (or possibly her first hand spun sweater using fawn coloured alpaca from a neighbour's animal named Jersey Girl).
Obviously it has one sleeve to go but I couldn't wait to share.
Melissa made batts with Cormo/sari silk, spun the yarn and knitted this jumper. The series of pictures here include inspirational pictures of the batts and the yarn.
The pattern is The Weekend Sweater by Darling Jadore.
Patty made this super-soft sock using merino but for strength she did use yarn containing nylon at the heel and toe.
Devorah prefers the look and feel of finer fabrics, which of course take more time. This from-scratch project took the whole of the month of June.
Everything is handspun and handwoven. The sewing pattern was designed and sewn by Dev.
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
Brioche has been very popular in recent years. Kate says that it "creates a fabric unlike any other: squishy and drapey, warm and wonderful" and that "single-color brioche is wildly underappreciated".
If you're curious, this might be a great pattern to get you started. it comes as part of an eBook with four patterns.
I'm linking to Kate's page about the pattern, which includes plenty of tips.
This pattern is both free and instructive.
Joni Coniglio, will walk you through creating a seamless join in your brioche in a helpful video series.
As a bonus, I found this pattern in a list of single and two-colour brioche patterns which you can browse here.
www.interweave.com/article/knitting/grafting-two-color-brioche-using-the-two-pass-method
This crochet pattern uses 910 - 1820 yards with sizes ranging from XS to 5X.
This is one of the 'surprise' patterns that Knitty publishes between issues. The Knitty page gives some useful information about the commercial yarn, which will help if you want to make this using handspun: "a sport-weight 2-ply wool yarn. The yarn has a balance between crimpy wool (which adds volume) with finer micron wool (for softness)."
Brooklyntonia's Instructable takes you through how to make this bag. From a distance it looks like crocheted fabric yarn but is in fact rope wrapped with fabric scraps. That reminds me of corespun yarn on a bigger scale.
It makes heavy use of the sewing machine, to secure the fabric around the rope, and hold the rope coil together.
craftmehappy suggests making a 'magic ball' by joining lengths of the rainbow colours. Her page contains details of that, a chart and other instructions.
www.craftmehappy.com...craftmehappy-joyful-wreath-5-knitted.html
The Jackalope is a mix of bunny and antelope. The pattern also includes art deco designs which remind me of Frank Lloyd Wright.
If all of these things appeal to you as much as they do to me, then these patterns can be yours with 20% discount until 16 August.
All details are in the blog post.
This pattern is designed to "maximise the ombre effects potential of gradient yarns"
The pattern includes a hat, mittens and cowl. I guess that the 1203 - 1312 yardage is for the whole set. Note that they're all 'one size' which I assume can be adjusted with gauge but see the pattern page for sizes.
With thanks to quiteayarnblog for the suggestion.
This pattern claims to "teach the basics of 2-colour brioche in the most delightfully intuitive way".
It comes in an e-book containing four patterns.
The page I'm linking to is a blog post in which Nell Ziroli knits her own version of this pattern and gives some tips.
www.moderndailyknitting.com/2022/08/01/first-knitter-cushiest-cowl
My thumbnail here is Oksana's Plumeria, made from her own handspun yarn.
The pattern uses 1150 - 2200 yards using both fingering and laceweight yarn to great effect.
Raija Jokinen's figures are made out of flax using "a technique similar to that used for handmade paper".
Her meshes resemble both roots and vein/artery systems.
www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/07/raija-jokinen-flax-sculptures
Jayshree Poddar uses layered textiles to capture the luminance and phases of the moon.
www.stirworld.com...textile-art-to-capture-the-moons-luminance
Becky Crouch Patterson opened her first one woman show at the Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas.
Ewespecial attended and shares many pictures of Becky's art. which include embroidery and other textile art.
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!
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.
17 - 18 September 2022,
To highlight and raise awareness of all the wonderful things that our British wool can be used for.
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.
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.
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.
6 - 9 October 2022, Alexandra Palace, London
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.
Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October 2022, Kendall Town Hall
Kendal Wool Gathering mixes demonstrations, fun activities and displays, all connected to the cloth on which the town's wealth was built.
All things woolly - exhibitions, patterns, demonstrations.
Saturday 19 November 2022, Queen's Hall and Plas Hyfryd Hotel, Narberth, Pembrokeshire
A celebration of all things woolly. From beautifully hand crafted items, clothing and footwear to knitting wool, fleece and all the equipment needed to make at home. Demonstrations run throughout the day with stall holders sharing their skills and knowledge with visitors plus wool skill workshops such as felting.
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.
Nor would it exist without your support, so thank you for that.
If you enjoy Hand Spinning News, please do share a link to hand-spinning-news.com by email or on social media with anyone who may be interested. Obviously this early full version is a benefit to you as a paying subscriber. An edited version of this particular issue will be mailed to free subscribers and visible at hand-spinning-news.com later in the month.
It's always good to hear from readers for any reason (or no reason!)
Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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