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Each month I find that a particular subject seems to pop up again and again. This month it's 'default yarn'. Every spinner has a default yarn, the one you tend to make when you 'just spin'.
Maybe you're aware of this and fancy trying something new. Lace maybe, or super bulky.
Do you use a diz? This month we see more than one example of beautiful nests that have been pulled using a diz, an instructional video and an experiment to demonstrate which way round you should hold a curved diz and why.
I hope you'll find plenty to love in this Saint Valentine feast of fibrey fun, features and freebies for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers.
The story behind those famous mittens: meet Jen Ellis
Jen Ellis is the maker of Bernie Sanders' now very famous mittens. Similar mittens that she has donated to charity have raised large amounts of money, and sadly has been the victim of other people selling items in her name.
They are sewn from repurposed jumpers and lined with fleece made from recycled bottles. Her own Twitter feed contains this video which is more of an advert for Singer (who have given her a better sewing machine). It does show a little of how she creates her mittems, read her full Twitter feed for more of her story.
3,000-year-old fragments of royal purple dyed textile found
This little bundle of wool fibres has been found in the Timna Valley in southern Israel. It has been dated to around 1000 BC, around the same time that David and Solomon ruled Israel.
Textiles of this age are rare because they decompose quickly but the ancient copper-ore district of the Timna Valley has the perfect conditions for preserving organic material.
It is the first direct evidence of fibres being dyed 'royal purple', a purple dye from molluscs, so named because it only exists in small quantities and does not fade.
Previously, the dye has only been found with fragments of pots and with the mollusc shells, proving that they were extracting the dye, but these are the first fibres to be found dyed using the dye.
For this 'sweater spin', Fiber sprite has taken three colours and blended them using her drumcarder to make the gradient. She has used a diz to pull the fibre into a roving (she links to an instructional video).
After taking this picture, she realised that there are a couple of places that she needs to 'fill in' with in-between' blends.
On Sunday 17 Jan, the Waltham Abbey Wool Show became 'WAWS at Home'.
Diana and Kate are reporting a successful show, with related podcasts, designer Q and A, and special contributions from Exhibitors.
You can access these from the exhibition home page, but I'd specifically recommend the exhibitor pages, which I'm linking to here. Most have a page on the WAWS website including pictures and in some cases videos.
Ply magazine is collecting stories about spinners' experiences during the lockdown.
I'm not sure whether the form will still be open by the time you read this but if you have a story to tell, click the link in this blog post and see whether their form is still accepting responses.
Either way, they have given four of the responses from spinners around the world that they've received so far.
You may have seen the video about Dora, one of the Cowichan knitters.
This article by Jody Paterson is the result of an interview with Dora and is a much more in-depth look at authenticity, culture and tradition.
If you'd like to explore the subject futher, I was led to that article via this page by The 1764 Shepherdess which contains the Cowichan Knitter video and more links on the subject.
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour'
First skein of the new year
This yarn is notable for the lovely mix of colours, but what's surprising is that it's an eclectic mix of fibres from various batts. They include various types of silk and various wools, mostly merino, so Sarah has done well to produce such an even yarn.
Kim blended a wisp of tussah into Merino wool to add "just glint of sunshine to my sea glass green" She blended with her Ashford blending board and then dizzed off.
Fashions and ideas change. What seemed sensible or fashionable a hundred years ago now seems baffling or hilarious.
I would usually far rather read text and see pictures on a page than listen to audio or watch a video.
But in this case, Liz Kristan's presentation is much more entertaining than the information would be on a page. It really is worth the hour it takes to watch.
Decisions, decisions: how to choose the right yarn for your sweater
Everything in this article about choosing a suitable yarn for a jumper also applies to choosing how to make yarn for a project; construction and ply, fibre, what care it will need.
Emily's current favourite yarn is her own handspun and we can't argue with that.
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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The Coronavirus pandemic is causing havoc in all our lives at the moment but what about the charities and organisations that rely on public fundraising to maintain their care services? Martin House Children's Hospice is such a charity, with an annual running cost of around £9 million to provide their vital services to families, they need our help.
As a way of offering support to Martin House, Adam Curtis Online are donating a percentage every sale of their two most popular ranges, the Best of British Wool Throw Collection and the Real Shetland Cushion range.
Please see their blog for more information about Martin House and the fundraising products.
Squares, Stripes and Lice by Hanne Dale and Siri Angela Gamborg
The title refers to different patterns that appear in northern European knitting. This book is based on a history of the Norwegian knitting and textile industry, as exemplified by the Salhus Knitting Factory, which is now the Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum. There are knitting patterns based on patterns taken from the factory's archive.
Yes the title says 'lice' and not 'lace'. There's no explanation for this in quiteayarnblog's review. Perhaps we have to read the book to find out about the lice.
Guzzisue has finnished this hat. I've checked back through her posts as far as the cast-on and the only thing she gives away is that the wool is from non-British breed(s). She has deliberately made the hat a little larger to accommodate a French plait.
Knit/Wit enjoyed making the first of these Bousta Beanies so much that she made the second, with the colours reversed.
The pale colour is undyed roving spun semi-worsted. The colours come from a single batch called Scarlet Woods, spun worsted end-to-end and chain-plied.
Although the main yarn here is mill-spun, it is small farm sourced, organic and uses traditional Romanian milling methods (Elena Single by Moeke Yarns).
The contrast yarn is handspun from Shetland grey wool, lightly dyed with indigo.
The pattern is also called Elena, it's by Junko Okamoto.
This is Kat's handspun Hitchhiker. She thinks that it may be the most favourite thing that she's ever made.
She spun yarn that she bought some time ago from Amy King. Her goal was consistency.
She feels that knitting with handspun yarn takes her love of knitting to a new level. "If you don't spin," she says, "I am sorry for you, because knitting with yarn you made is just incredible."
The hat is made using DK yarn at a tighter gauge than normal. Ganseys were made from a denser fabric to keep the weather and waves out.
The name of the hat comes from this being one of seven hats that Janet Stimson has designed during the pandemic, named after the colours of the rainbow.
I can heartily and personally recommend these legwarmers because I've just finished my first pair in handspun yarn - here's a cheeky link to my project.
They feel lovely and warm and stay up. I really enjoyed knitting them, all of the different cables and twists ensure that you don't get bored! Even the lower rib has a twist.
They use around 500 yards of sport-weight (12WPI) yarn.
This is not so much a pattern but a tutorial. Even if you're not well-versed in needle-felting or electronics, it should be possible using these instructions.
If you are interested in electronics, then there is scope for adding sensors or switches for a sensor-triggered nightlight or a programmable porch light.
"Blue Fish" Decorative Leno on a Rigid Heddle loom
Leno is a hand manipulated weave where a pair of threads are twisted, and the weft goes through them.
This project, nicknamed 'blue fish', is an example of Leno woven by Maria Shtrik. It's made on a rigid heddle loom and all details are given in this blog post, introduced by Kate of Ashford.
This is the second of two weaving projects. This shawl is made using a strong warp yarn, as it uses the pulled warp technique, You can use any yarn for the weft, but more grabby yarn will require more force when pulling the weft.
This pattern is interesting for its warp fringe, and the pulling, which creates the wrapping shape.
At the top of this issue we learned about Bernie's mittens, and that they're sewn from fabric cut from knitted jumpers.
If you fancy knitting a pair rather than sewing a pair, then naturally there is now a wealth of patterns to choose from. Here is one that uses stranded colourwork, 200-600 yards of aran-weight yarn in four colours.
As I write this it's very cold and wintery outside, but unless you're a much faster knitter than me, it may be time to think about lighter tops for Spring.
This pattern has a lovely lacey yoke. It's designed for fingering weight held double, so use your imagination (and check for gauge). There's a suggestion of mohair lace with single-ply merino. Yardages given are for the combined yarn.
The pattern has a varied-length hem and a choice of two lengths. It also suggests that the pattern looks excellent "with 4-12" of positive ease" which sounds a lot to me but it's an option. The 3/4 sleeves have a little bit of ballooning.
This is a challenging pattern, it involves colourwork and steeks (cutting your knitting - eek!) The patterned section of the sleeves is knit in the round and then steeked.
This does have scope for using commercial yarn for the main background colour and handspun for the accent colours.
The dropped stitches add interest to this simple, classic design. The picture shows Propolis' project which she made from handspun which used alpaca and a mixed fibre batt.
The pattern is from Laine issue 3, which is a substantial publication that includes articles and 11 patterns.
It seems a long time ago, but I used to keep a list of the larger UK yarn and fibre festivals, particularly those that would be of interest to spinners.
Some organisers are holding online events. Some are still hoping to go ahead, and very soon.
For obvious reasons, this picture is ever-changing. Being Knitterly has put together such a good list of these events, for now I'm going to simply link to that list.
I'm Shiela Dixon, I've beeing doing this for around ten years in order to promote and encourage the craft of spinning.
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