Despite the fact that we're currently in the middle of Summer here in the northern hemisphere, a couple of new and unseasonal patterns have suggested themselves. The Bloomin scarf and the 'I'm Still Stranding' Cowl both use stranded colourwork, knit in the round for hidden floats and both good for using up stash.
If you still have some stashed yarn left after making those, the Kaleidescope blanket encourages you to use mismatched scraps even if they're not the same yarn weight. The Supersonic Granny Stripe bucket hat is a good pattern for leftovers.
Read on for more news, views and reviews for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers. This is the free edition for July 2024.
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Cover photo: "The thread maker makes the wool thread on the spinning wheel" by Dolezalphoto.cz via Shutterstock.
An Indian company has made the flags of 20 countries from recycled plastic waste for the ICC Twenty20 men's world cup. The flags are 20 x 35 metres.
www.thestatesman.com...flags-of-20-countries...made-of-plastic-waste...
Chidinma Modupe Okafor from Nigeria has set a new Guinness world record for the longest crocheting marathon.
She crocheted a white dinner gown with no significant breaks for an astonishing 72 hours.
Her preparation involved training and mental conditioning and strategising to maintain a consistent pace while minimising fatigue.
https://www.morebranches.com...record-for-longest-crocheting-marathon
Kristina has written a detailed presentation for us with some background and technical details about a woven cushion top that she has purchased. There are several close photos and it's a very interesting read.
Peggy has published a series of blog posts recording her visit to Japan. In this post she visits artist Jun Tomita and a factory that weaves large theatre curtains.
I'd encourage you to browse through the many posts from her Japan Trip 2024.
peggyosterkamp.com...day-9-two-wonderful-visits-today-around-kyoto
A questionable blend is one that would make you stop and think about how best to spin it.
In the fifth of her series, craftmehappy has sampled a blend called Loriini. Once again she has simply spun it from the end to see how it blends optically, and then tried four other methods, making mitre squares all the way to end up with a blanket.
www.craftmehappy.com/2024/06/questionable-blend-number-5-loriini.html
Fibershed supported some shearing schools in April.
There are some fascinating details in this blog post, such as a popular exercise where students would go through the motions with an already-shorn sheep, sometimes blindfold, to really focus on the feel and motion.
Christina has busted some myths about rigid heddle looms, such as "it's for beginners" and "you can't use 'real' weaving yarns".
Dr. Sabine Schröder-Gravendyck finds ways to use wool in natural spaces. This is the first of a two-part series in which she gives tips for using unspun wool. The other part, which covers spun wool, is here.
Andrew James Hamilton has reverse-engineered this surviving inca tunic in order to try and unravel some of its secrets.
This is an interesting close look at some of its details.
Ewespecial found her lucet hiding in a cupboard. Luckily it had instructions with it because she'd forgotten how to use it.
In this blog post, she outlines the little tool's history with links to a history page. You can even improvise your own from a fork or other household object.
By coincidence I also saw this instructional article from LittleLooms (subscriber-only access).
The Nightshift shawl is an extremely popular pattern. Felicia is making her second in handspun yarn. Her first was two-ply fractal yarn, this time she's using a three-ply made with fibre dizzed from a carder. All of the details and even instructions are in this blog post in case you'd like to do the same.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/handspun-sweetgeorgia-bflsilk-nightshift-shawl
Fleece can be a joy to spin or it can be a trial.
Supply currently exceeds demand and so Pam has some suggestions about when to spin and when to compost.
What makes one handwoven towel better than another?
Tracy describes her favourite towels and explains her process of weaving 'perfect' towels.
Kate has spun a Llanwenog fleece which she described as "a dream to process".
She used some 50-yard skeins of this for experimental madder dyeing without heat. There's a clear progression between her one-day, two-day and four-day skeins.
These crayons really are made from wood. The project came out of Dan and Saki's experiments to find new uses for Japan's overabundance of wood. One of the things that they noticed when they ground the wood finely was the range of colours.
These old woollen quilts may have looked ruined and worthless to many, but to a historian they are valuable treasures. Karin has rarely had the opportunity to study such quilts.
Some favourite posts
Sue is blogging her Tour de Fleece progress daily. In this earlier post she talked about the raw fleece that she owns and her Tour de Fleece goal of spinning down this stash.
In this post, still ahead of the Tour de Fleece, she sampled the Bowmont fleece, which makes beautiful yarn.
travelfibreandthread.blogspot.com...tour-de-fleece-sampling-bowmont.html
Tour de Fleece is all about challenging yourself and so Felicia has decided to break from her usual choice of BFL+silk and try a breed that she hasn't spun before, Charollais.
In this blog post and video, she considers its properties, the best draw and what she might want to do with the yarn.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/spinning-charollais-for-tour-de-fleece
Highland Heffalump decided to finish a breed study and washed some fleece on day one. A week into the tour she had four sample skeins and this post has some notes about Romney and Castlemilk Moorit. It also has a very interesting lesson about measuring yarn.
highlandheffalump.com/2024/07/08/tour-de-fleece-a-valuable-lesson-learned
This is a collection of photos posted by JAT staff from their Mill Open Weekend last month.
The weekend included mill tour and workshops, talks and other vendors.
Kath tells us that Wool@J13 is a very different kind of yarn show. Her report from a vendor's perspective is here.
We did have an article about calculating grist, or yards-per-pound last month.
Debbie Held goes into what grist is and why you might want to know your grist before detailing two simple methods for calculating it.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/the-dish-on-grist-yards-per-pound-in-handspinning
In this post, Peggy explains how she makes paper thread from Japanese account books using a bobbin-winder with paper quill.
Tien Chiu demonstrates how you might tame a dominating colour using proportion.
Jess has made this long list of suggestions for turning household or cheaply-obtained items into crochet and knitting tools.
There are some that you may have seen before or use already but I guarantee that there will be something that will make you squeal.
Everyone loses count sometimes. Kathleen explains with some clear diagrams how to count the rows since your last cable cross.
Debbie has written a back-to-basics article which will be useful if you're new to spinning.
The article covers the different types and sizes and how to use them efficiently and finally how to calculate your yardage. See also Highland Heffalump's valuable lesson learned on this subject.
Agony aunt Patty answers several questions about the 'make one' stitch; about which way they lean and remembering whether to go through back or front.
Madelyn has some tips about buying and using warping sticks.
Wool Tincture Dyes promises a "mess-free process" with their teabag-like system.
Claudia B. Manley has tried one of these packs and was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use. Her review is in the current Knitty magazine. (about halfway down the Cool Stuff page - I can't link directly.)
Kerry has picked three products that make stranded colourwork easier.
Tien Chiu has reviewed this very intriguing product, which will be of interest to anyone who wants to explore colour combinations, choose palettes or just learn about colour.
handweavingacademy.com/product-review-palette-scout-by-zollie
This is a fascinating look into the origins of the nursery rhyme. It seems most likely that the three bags represent the division of the wool producers' labours by taxes and corruption.
Sue has renewed her membership of the Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum and since she was there, she took some pictures for us and posted a very interesting video about the place.
travelfibreandthread.blogspot.com/2024/07/tdf-day-6-pots-of-tea-coffee-and-museums.html
researchers have grown this fabric as an eco- and animal-friendly alternative.
It's certainly more environmentally-friendly than current plastic-based synthetic fabrics and this is said to use less water and chemicals than plant-based options such as cotton.
www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/mycelium-fabric-clothing-fungus-vegetarian
This is not the first plant-based leather substitute but may be the strongest yet. It's made from pineapple leaf and natural rubber.
Sometimes just a picture is enough
Working from a vintage pattern has its challenges, not least that some terms may be unfamiliar. Engineering Knits has used a pattern from her copy of Weldon's Practical Needlework. It uses plain tricot crochet, which it turns out is what we might call Tunisian crochet.
This is an extremely popular pattern and there are many handspun examples, such as this one by vknits19. She used a commercial lambswool yarn for the ribbing and the rest is her own Corriedale Romney 2-Ply.
The pattern is Rift by Jacqueline Cieslak. It was designed for "a soft, slightly nubby yarn made from 50% non-superwash merino, 25% cotton, 15% linen, and 10% silk".
With thanks to Knit/Wit who has just finished one and says that "it's very straightforward and suits many different bodies quite well". She calls it "perfect for a summery tee".
Thrums has spun these beautiful rolags from Fellview Fibres, named Abstract Amethyst. They are very sparkly, containing a lot of golden silk and also gold angelina.
She has posted many pictures of the spinning, plying and of the finished yarn.
The Spanish Peahen decided to do a hundred-day project, which is an annual online challenge. The project she chose was to interpret her daughter's painting in a tapestry using handspun yarn.
This is a thorough recap which includes the techniques and materials she used as well as her thoughts on the project and the 100 Day Project.
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
These socks have a lace pattern that resembles fountains and waves. Author Ravid Ekshtain says that it's "a great small project to take with you and knit on the go".
The pattern has four sizes from small to extra large. The pattern is stretchy, so some negative ease is recommended.
I can see this scarf made with a commercial yarn for the main colour and handspun in a changing colour for the contrast.
The scarf is knit in the round with the floats on the inside.
This pattern combines lace and cables in an "intriguing asymmetrical design".
They're made in DK-weight yarn. Toe-up is my favourite way to knit socks because you can split your yarn into two and knit the leg as long as your yarn goes for.
It's one of four patterns in the MDK Sock Odyssey e-book for around eight pounds.
www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/mdk-field-guide-no-27-sock-odyssey
This pattern features five cables on a reverse stockinette background with an i-cord edge to prevent roliing. It has a four-row repeat, so it'll probably be easy to remember when you get into the rhythm. Gauge is not important, you can add or deduct pattern repeats to make it the right size.
A blanket is a great way to use up stash. Beads add colour, texture and weight.
The Pony beads used in this tutorial have a big enough hole to insert a 2.75-3.5mm crochet hook which allows you to pick them up as you go.
Martin says that the appearance of the hat varies a lot depending on your colour choices and indeed he has a few examples on his web page. He says that it's "a good pattern to work from stash or use your scrap yarn and leftover yarn".
martinupnorth.com/2024/06/13/the-supersonic-granny-stripe-hat
This is a semi-circular shawl, worked back and forth from top down. A circular needle is used to accommodate the large number of stitches.
Yarn with long colour changes will look great.
www.interweave.com/product/spirit-lake-shawl-knitting-pattern-download
Knit-Wit has published this very cosy pattern in the middle of summer. "At least it's not a heavy sweater", she says. It'll be ideal for a cold day, or maybe you could plan ahead for the winter.
The geometric pattern has no long floats. It's knit in the round so the floats will be hidden on the inside.
paknitwit.blogspot.com/2024/06/just-in-time-for-heat-wave.html
This pattern encourages you to use scraps, even if the weights are different, and to experiment with colour.
Despite the many colours, the fringe means that there are no ends to weave in.
This page has links to tutorials for some of the techniques, as well as a link to buy the pattern.
Sandy and Sheldon are friendly sharks made from pin loom squares. They were designed for shark week.
Britta Marakatt-Labba's current exhibition includes textiles, prints, installations, and sculpture. At the centre of the exhibition is the monumental work Historjá, a 24-metre-long embroidery depicting scenes from Sami history, mythology, and everyday life.
Marisa Goldberg's Brand Blanket "seeks to explore the emotional relationship brands have in everyday life"
As I write this she's done around 90. She'll post a picture of the finished blanket on her Instagram account when it's done.
27 - 28 July 2024 Redborne School, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, MK45 2NU
For all lovers of woolly crafts - spinning, knitting, weaving, crochet, feltmaking and dyeing.
Picks up where Fibre East left off.
10 - 11 August 2024, Newcastle Racecourse
90 amazing stalls plus a great range of workshops. Cafe, demonstrations.
17August 2024, Hulme Hall, 23 Bolton Rd, Bebington, Wirral
A selection of vendors selling everything from hand dyed yarns and fibres to felting kits and needles
Entry £4 per person, available on the door or online.
7 and 8 September 2024, Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire
The perfect event for all lovers of knitting, crochet, feltmaking, weaving, spinning, dyeing, and all things woolly!
7 - 8 September 2024, Dewars Centre, Perth, Scotland
The Scottish Yarn Festival is the new name for Perth Festival of Yarn.
The Vendors' Gallery Marketplace is the place to find materials and inspiration for your future crafting projects, the chance to meet and talk with the makers behind your favourite independent brands, to indulge in a little celebrity spotting.
Past tutors and lecturers have included Jeanette Sloan, Françoise Danoy, Andre de Castro, Di Gilpin, and Amy Palko
A fringe programme of social events has included books signings, gala dinners and fashions shows, and Perthshire gin flights
13 and 14 September 2024, Farnham Maltings
unravel... autumn is a celebration of all things yarn making from knitting and crochet to spinning and weaving
At the core of unravel... autumn is the curated marketplace which showcases independent producers, well established makers alongside first-time yarn show exhibitors from around the UK. In addition, on each day of the festival, there is an inspiring programme of bookable workshops.
14 - 15 September 2024
A weekend celebration of rural crafts, food, entertainment and of course, sheep farming.
Sunday 15 September 2024, The Pavilion Centre, Royal Cornwall Showground
Showcasing the best of hand-dyed, hand-crafted and sustainable yarns, fibres and related products, all in an exciting market-style show with a vibrant festival feel.
28 - 29 September 2024, Skipton Auction Mart, North Yorkshire
Over 180 makers, craft workers, retailers, and artisans in the picturesque market town of Skipton, North Yorkshire.
'Spinning a Yarn' opens at Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury from 14 September to 30 November
An exhibition in the Mapstone Gallery will feature historic collections alongside work by contemporary artists whose work uses wool. The Nicola Turner and Trevor Pitt commissions in the Abbey Barn will close on 2 November.
The project aims to tell the story of wool in Somerset.
28 - 29 September 2024, 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.
29 September - 5 October 2024
Shetland Wool Week is a world renowned celebration of Britain's most northerly native sheep, the Shetland textile industry and the rural farming community on these islands.
Includes classes, talks, drop-ins, art. See website for the full events listing.
10 - 13 October 2024, Alexandra Palace, London
Saturday 12 October 2024, 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.
Saturday 5 October 2024, Liskeard Public Hall.
19 - 20 October 2024 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.
18 - 20 October 2024, The Trades Hall, Glasgow
Scotland's longest running yarn festival, championing local and innovative makers since 2011.
GSoY has an abundance of beautiful yarns, fibres, and accessories for every crafter.
26-27 October 2024 Leicester Racecourse, Oadby, Leicester LE2 4AL
30+ trade stalls, 30+ courses, food and free parking.
2 and 3 November 2024, Newton Abbot Racecourse.
Since 2016, Stitch Fest has moved to bigger venues and is now held under one roof at Newton Abbot Racecourse, showcasing some of the best independent makers, dyers, spinners and designers and a fabulous workshop and demonstration timetable.
8 - 9 November 2024, Sandburn Hall, York YO60 7RB
More details to follow
21 - 24 November 2024, Harrogate Convention Centre
Meet up with like-minded crafters, discuss ideas, learn new skills and shop for your annual craft supplies, including wool, beads and beyond from household name brands and special suppliers alike including Fabric Godmother, Toft and more.
I'm Shiela Dixon, I've been doing this for almost fifteen years in order to promote and encourage spinning and related crafts.
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Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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