Socks are a popular project in handspun yarn. A rug is a functional item that you can make with a coarser fleece and make use of more of the fleece but doesn't seem to be such a popular project. Both of these topics appear in the stories, patterns and gallery this time.
We'll also be taking a look at fibre from a very unexpected animal and bast fibres that you may not be so familiar with.
I'm leaving out the events listing as from this issue for obvious reasons. Online individual and team events and challenges such as Britspin may be a good substitute if you've never tried anything along those lines. As from the next issue (paid issue for April) I'll include a listing of 'online events'. Please let me know if you are looking forward to anything like that.
Don't forget our UK Supplier List. Many of those individuals and businesses will supply their wares by mail order, should have procedures in place for their protection and yours and will be especially pleased to hear from you at this time, particularly if they were stocking up for shows like Wonderwool.
Read on for this month's cunning curated collection of inspirational information and entertainment for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers.
This free issue for March 2020 is brought to you in association with Audible. Listen while you spin. Download a free audiobook with your 30-day free trial.
Photo right: Combed top in natural colours by KatalinBeth . The cover photo is by Dan Gold on Unsplash
Two historical companies run the annual Wool Innovation Prize with an award of £10,000 for the most innovative use of wool.
Last year's winner was Sarah from Little Beau Sheep. This is her story. If you have an idea, the 2020 prize is open for submissions.
Is a loose weave really the perfect draft stopper?
It makes Josefin's "heart sing" every time she passes through her curtain. A linen backing helps to keep the drafts at bay.
She used double weave on a 60cm loom with flax yarn. The loops are a hand woven band of Shetland wool.
This story is "a testament to not giving up on a fleece when you don't know how to work it. And a good example of not chucking out a fairly heavy VM, less than perfect fleece".
This rug came from a beautiful Border Leicester lamb fleece, which was loaded with VM. Lock spinning preserved the beautiful curls and dyeing transformed the monotonous grey.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/BoogerHollerFluff/lockspun-rug
Spinning for rugs is not a topic I have spotted very often.
How thick should rug yarn be? "As thick as your finger", said Sarah's Dad.
Spinning for rugs allows you to use coarser and even kempy fleeces and use every scrap of the fleece.
Sarah's article describes her journey and discusses a number of fleeces and methods of making rugs.
www.highlandcolours.com/post/monster-handspun-yarn-for-heirloom-rug-making
This is the second of two articles in which Josefin spins locks from an old breed with outer and inner fibres in each lock.
In the earlier article she flick cards each lock and spun the locks from the cut end in order to catch both types of fibre and preserve the colour variation.
However, the yarn was ropey, not soft enough for the sweater she had in mind. In this post she separates the outer and inner fibres and spins the softer part longdraw from rolags. It makes a yarn more suitable for a jumper and she puts the two yarns side-by-side for comparison.
She then combed and dizzed the coarser outer fibres and spun that into a warp thread for backstrap weaving.
Freyalyn has made this blanket using one of her 'full circle' sets, this one goes through each primary and back to the start. She spun a fingering / 4-ply yarn which she used for the warp.
She used a neutral and soft yarn for the weft. It was woven in strips and stitched together, finally the fringes twisted.
"Not perfect, distinctly 'rustic', but I love it", she says.
There was a point when I thought that this must be an April Fool's joke, but no, we're still a safe distance from that day.
The more I say 'Curly horse' the more I like the sound of the words.
The fibre looks very coarse and Leslie Ordal's article does admit that the stuff is better when mixed with a longer softer fibre.
It's not exotic in the same sense as vicuna, but it is certainly fascinating.
spinoffmagazine.com/curly-horse-an-exotic-fiber-from-the-equestrian-world
Bast fibres are among the earliest known fibres used by humans. Hemp and flax are the most well-known but many others have been used throughout the world and human history.
With thanks to Fiber Sprite for sharing the link.
www.fibershed.com...3-bast-fibers-to-know-beyond-hemp-and-flax
These swatches are made from yarn which is one ply of silk and a ply of paper.
In this case it's sewing-pattern paper.
There's a long tradition of fabric made from spun paper and a lot of historical information in Judith Mackenzie's article. she considers papers that you might try spinning, and some that you might not.
Many thanks to Flufftastic for posting this link to the UK Spinners board on Ravelry.
It's possible to browse the list of spinning wheels owned by the National Trust. There are some fabulous items, including a number of these models.
www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/results?ObjectType=spinning+wheel&Page=1
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour'
Different colours evoke different emotions for different people. But are there trends?
This poll has been live for some weeks as i write this, and I haven't heard Amy say how long the poll will be live before she shares the results.
She has already shared some results for one of her colour combinations. By the time you read this, there may be some conclusions. If the poll is still live you might like to give your responses.
boogieblather.wordpress.com/2020/02/11/emotions-and-colors-part-1
.. so says Sarah of this "uber soft" yarn.
She split the fibre vertically and spun each half in the same direction. This method gives some solid areas and also some marling or barber-poling where the colour changes don't match up exactly.
paknitwit.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-wish-you-could-squish-this.html
This month's sexy spindle shot is courtesy spinneanne who is spinning some striking flame-orange fibre from Nest Fibre Studio. The spindle is from The Spindle Shop (Jory Freyee).
There can be so much variety in naturally-coloured fibre.
KatalinBeth has a goal of spinning all of the combed top that she has in her stash.
"Wool - the fibre of antiquity, the fibre of tomorrow", says this documentary, suggested by The 1764 Shepherdess.
It may not contain very much for the seasoned spinner to learn but it's always a pleasure to watch the processes performed by hand or by machine.
The history here is American. Note that spinning and weaving was at one time a rebellion against the British rule, as it was at a different time in India.
the1764shepherdess.com...documentary-from-fiber-to-fabric-wools-a-natural
This is Suzie's review of Unravel 2020 which was in February. If you've never been before you'll be interested to read this description.
Pictured is Louise from Spin City giving a weaving demonstration.
This video has obviously been made by a yarn dyeing company to allay some of the fears that people have about using hand-dyed yarn.
I found Felicia Lo's list very useful from other points of view. Some of these things apply if you're using handspun yarn or spinning hand-dyed fibre. For example, the fear of running out of yarn or the fear or colour bleeding.
There are plenty of tips in here. You can watch a video if you prefer that. If you're like me and prefer text, the entire transcript of the video is printed.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com...10-favourite-tips-for-working-with-hand-dyed-yarns
I have used row counters and row counter apps. But I still lose track of my rows.
We Are Knitters have a collection of images highlighting how to spot the rows in stockinette, reverse stockinette, moss and seed stitches, and importantly, where to count the first row about the cast-on.
Thanks to Dances with Wools for linking to this article.
https://blog.weareknitters.com/knitting-tips/how-to-count-the-rows-in-your-project%EF%BB%BF/
Yarn that's not balanced can 'bias' when knitted.
If you take care to check for balance when you ply, your yarn can still end up underplied if the singles have relaxed on the bobbin.
Amy Tyler explores this subject.
No one wants to think about the inevitable, but using the fibre from your pet can be done at any time and makes a permanent memory.
Jacqueline Harp writes with many tips for collection, storage, cleaning and spinning pet fur.
plymagazine.com...how-to-make-the-best-of-it-commemorative-skeins-for-a-beloved-pet
There's a very worthwhile video on this page. Although they're keeping tight-lipped about how the fabric actually works, they do show that their earlier experiments were spun and woven by hand.
Skyscrape's product doesn't use batteries or sensors, the fabric itself simply responds to temperature and flattens or puffs up accordingly.
www.innovationintextiles.com/shapeshifting-jackets-the-magic-is-in-the-yarn
If you like Yvonne, click the image to find her page, you can use next and previous to explore more cartoons.
Thank you very much if you've had a go at any of these on your computer or tablet.
I've set them up with 35 - 50 pieces- just the right number for a coffee-break challenge and you gradually reveal the cartoon.
But if you fancy more of a challenge (or less) you can customise the number of pieces before you start.
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Sometimes just a picture is enough
KnitWit found these socks "a fun knit and, once I had the pattern memorized, a fast project as well".
Wool is Cheviot from Fibernymph Dye Works in their Beach Wedding colours. 100g made 350 yards of fingering weight yarn.
The blue blocking mat probably makes this picture look even more eye-catching. The Midnight in Paris pattern by Nim Teasdale certainly an attractive pattern and the fractal-spun yarn spun by TheKnittervention works very well.
In last month's paid issue we saw the colour of the fibre that liesitknit used to make the contrast yarn in this jumper. She had run out of the handspun yarn and had to order more fibre.
It was a very strong orange/red, but when used as the accent colour against the grey background it's much easier on the eye and very attractive.
The yarn didn't turn out as fluffy as brittglueckskeks had hoped. 'Robust' and 'thin' are words that she's used, and she puts that down to too much twist.
However, she's now very satisfied with the finished project. The pattern is Dogs and Wolves by Mona C. NicLeoid, which does have an English translation.
This is an example of how you can showcase handspun yarn against a commercial yarn background.
sunnysideupcrafts comments "managing four balls of yarn is nutty". The pattern is Moonwake Cowl by Andrea Mowry.
This is missalicefaye's On the Spice Market (which I initially mistook for a Nightshift) in fibres from Inglenook Fibres.
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
I don't think I've made a completely vanilla pair of handspun socks, ie just stocking stitch with ribbing and shaping.
This pattern is a nice compromise, they're mostly plain with a pretty single-stitch cable that runs from toes to cuff.
There are plenty of instructions with pictures, if you new to socks. Oddly, the one stitch you're most likely need help with is the cable (c1f and c1b, aka 1x1 or 1-over-1) and there's no mention of that. It's possible to do this with or without a cable needle, but you'll have to look that up separately (there are plenty of tutorials online).
I'm a toe-up person (these are cuff-down) but I may give these a go.
"I will never get tired of slipping on new wool socks" says vermontgirlamy on finishing her D'Artagnan socks.
This is another sock pattern, technically four sock patterns. They're named after the Musketeers and suggested as men's socks.
I'm linking to D'Artagnan (on Ravelry) and the page contains links to the other three. There are handspun examples of all of them, my favourite is luckyxena's Porthos+Uzu (pictured here) which is a toe-up variation.
This is Janelle modelling her Camden Cap. Hers isn't handspun but it is a pleasing tweedy yarn. I'm also linking to her blog post because she shows in pictures how the brim-stiffener is made and incorporated.
There are many examples of this cap made in handspun yarn on Ravelry.
This bag should be made from super bulky, feltable wool, which makes it ideal for handspun yarn.
It's designed for carrying novels to the park and to hang from a tree branch.
Congtatulations to James on this jumper which indeed looks lovable.
The pattern is The Lovable Sweater by by Sylvia McFadden. He made it using handspun 3-ply corriedale in Parma violet.
Deep Dyed Yarns posted this picture of the Hon Cowl spun and knitted by her customer dmbrown240 in Targhee fibre, Kodiak colourway.
Impressively, It's dmbrown's first finished drop spindle project.
A picture of her wearing the cowl is here. The pattern is Hon Cowl by Kino Knits.
Sarah Bauer adds delicate crochet detail to falling leaves, "examining the tension between strength and fragility".
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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A final word of thanks to everyone who blogs, writes articles or posts pictures on the subject of spinning, knitting, crochet or weaving. This newsletter wouldn't exist without people writing interesting and useful things.
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A final word of thanks to everyone who blogs, writes articles or posts pictures on the subject of spinning, knitting, crochet or weaving. This newsletter wouldn't exist without people writing interesting and useful things.
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It's always good to hear from readers for any reason (or no reason!)
Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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