The Manx Loaghtan breed has a very interesting history and features in three separate stories this month. Shetland and Ouessant also get a look in.
The spinning tips and tutorials include singles yarn, bulky yarn, some 'back to basics' and two tools that stand upright to save space,
Read on for this month's round-up of news, views and reviews for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers.
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Photo right: Manx for the memories, Fiber Nation. Cover photo: courtesy Hot Stove Fiber
Judith isn't weaving with reclaimed yarn but strips cut from garments such as shirts and trousers. Kilts are her favourite because it consists of a large rectangle of felted wool fabric.
www.ellsworthamerican.comjudith-blank-transforms-discarded-garments-into-rugs
In March the Spinning Shepherd wrote about the Ouessant breed and the two different genetic types that produce intense black and brownish-black lambs.
If you read that article then this article is a follow-up. If you're less interested in the technical details, then this is a collection of pictures of some very cute lambs.
If you like that, then there's a bonus (possibly even cuter) lamb photo from the same author here.
One method of dealing with a colourful braid of fibre is to pull off small amounts and make punis around a fat knitting needle or dowel. It takes a little time but spinning is very fast.
Not through choice, Freyalyn had to rearrange these punis by colour. I think this was a happy accident because she was able to sort them in such a way as to make two matching plies which have a mirrored gradient.
One advantage of hand spinning over millspun yarn is that you can manipulate the colours.
As Josefin says, a mill would have produced a uniform oatmeal yarn from this fleece, but she was able to split it into four general colours and spin them in short sections for an ever-changing yarn.
The Manx Loaghtan hails from the Isle of Man. It has distinctive horns and its name means "mouse-brown sheep from the Isle of Man".
Here are Janelle's notes which are part of her Breed School 2.0
tt820.blogspot.com/2021/04/manx-loaghtan-breed-school-20.html
The Manx Loaghtan is perfectly adapted for the climate and grazing of the Isle of Man, is an all-round breed but has been saved from extinction three times.
Following on beautifully from the last story, Allison Korleski presents the eventful history of this breed as an audio podcast (under a terrible headline).
www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/next-up-in-fiber-nation-manx-for-the-memories
For obvious reasons, many festivals and classes have moved online. It may not be quite the same as being together in person but on the other hand it does open the event up to people who wouldn't be able to travel.
This is Janelle's experience of taking Heavenly Bresser's fabulously-titled class, Blending Boards: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly which was part of the (virtual) Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
tt820.blogspot.com/2021/05/blending-boards-good-bad-and-ugly.html
Kat has also written about a class at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, with Maggie Casey no less. This taught her to think beyond her default yarn and she shares what she learned.
Apparently there has been discussion about whether a Shetland sheep has a dual coat. The story is not black and white, and this article has some interesting information.
in the 'genius ideas' category this month is tomboyfemmegoods' vertical wall-mounted lazy kate.
Early in this issue is a story about a spinner who takes commissions to spin the fur of people's pets. In recent issues we have seen that certain dogs have been kept specifically for their fur in the past.
If this is a new idea to you and doesn't make you reel in disgust, Anne Merrow's short article will be a good introduction.
She asks the pertinent question, "wool, hair or fur?" and goes on to talk about collecting and using it.
This braid of fibre had four separate lengths, one black and three rainbow, which gives options for spinning.
hikari.handmade made two skeins using two methods and puts them side-by-side. One is traditional 3-ply and one chain ply. There are many more details in the post.
We tend to think of hooking or weaving for rugs, but what about crochet?
Toni makes the case for the crochet rug, gives tips for cleaning and yarn choice, and suggests some patterns.
www.interweave.com/article/crochet/cleaning-crochet-rug-tips
When little needs saying except 'beautiful colour'
This BFL is dyed is a colourway called Dahlia.
Sweetpurls' singles are shown in this post, and the plied yarn is here.
sweetpurls.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/dahlia-the-blue-faced-leicester-fiber
It's fascinating to see five plain colours come to life on saltpixiefibercraft's blending board. You can see the two greens, two blues and a yellow in this earlier photo.
These slightly salmony-reds are gorgeous. They are hand blended and being spun on the go by
hikari.handmade
We've seen the subject of making mistakes fairly recently.
In this video Felicia Lo talks about "the mindset around making mistakes and bouncing back"
We all know that plying balances singles so that you can knit it without biasing.
But it is possible to knit singles if you full them a little. Josefin demonstrates and finds that the resulting single yarn "feels like it has a body - well rounded and strong. I trust that it will not break, despite its singleness. It is a pleasure to knit and doesn't split."
Her article contains some interesting microscope images of the fibres before and after fulling, and she uses a pine cone to explain what's going on with the scales of the wool fibres.
By coincidence, Jillian Moreno's latest sample-a-long has been on the subject of "spinning singles to stay singles"
I'm linking below to the first part. If you visit the Blog section of her site, you'll find the other parts listed.
www.jillianmoreno.com...plying-sample-along-spinning-singles-to-stay-singles
Jillian loves the "instantaneous joy" of spinning bulky yarn. It can be daunting for spinners used to spinning fine or medium yarn. Here on the Schacht blog she offers some tips.
Related to the article above is Sara Greer's article for Spin Off magazine.
A dog comb was the first prep tool that I used when I learned to spin (other than manual teasing). It's a good alternative to a flick carder.
Marcelo R. Martins explains that it has more uses for the spinner.
spinoffmagazine.com/a-versatile-and-inexpensive-fiber-tool-the-dog-comb
Carol Huebscher Rhoades is also considering basic tools and takes a thorough look at using minicombs.
This is a multi-axial loom, used for weaving three dimensional pliable shapes. The headline is very speculative but based on the fact that a woven structure is lightest and strongest construction.
Designer Hella Jongerius has demonstrated some experimental prototypes in her Woven Cosmos exhibition in Berlin. They include objects made from 'solar yarn' which incorporates strips of photovoltaic cells. She sees the possibility for its use in solar panels.
Information and pictures are on this page. It is the highlights from an interview with Hella Jongerius which you can watch here.
www.dezeen.com/2021/04/30/3d-weaving-architecture-hella-jongerius
Following on from the last story, and following the trend for non-animal and non-petrochemical textiles, here's a round up of plant-based materials including pineapple leather, seaweed fabric, sugarcane shoe soles, heels made of grapes, banana canvas and rose-petal silk.
You may be familiar with some of these fibres through hand spinning, such as seacell.
January's full issue featured a story about three students winning the BT Young Scientists and Technology award with their project called "Wool - Saviour of the Sea" which removes oil slicks from the sea using wool.
The winners are to help launch the 2022 competition which will once again be an online affair.
https://www.independent.iewinners-launch-virtual-2022-event-40384630.html
If you like Yvonne, click the image to find her page, you can use next and previous to explore more cartoons.
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To be fair this isn't a full review, and doesn't claim to be, but it will be very useful if you're weighing up the different e-spinners.
Janelle unboxes it, sets it up and compares skeins spun on her previous wheel and her new Electric Eel.
tt820.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-new-toy-electric-eel-wheel-60.html
This spindle bowl is actually a porcelain tea cup, but just right to serve as a spindle bowl.
The peahen (not me, a different peahen) has reviewed this potential new source of spindle bowls. She has recorded her findings as an audio podcast, and also as a youtube video, which may be more approrpate for a review of a physical product.
You'll find all of the links you need on this page:
Felicia has also recently unboxed an Electric Eel Wheel. Her response is on video.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/2021/04/unboxing-the-new-eew-6-e-spinner
Sometimes just a picture is enough
Janet took part in #the100dayproject, a global, annual initiative which is open to all. It encourages you to choose your own creative project, do it every day for 100 days, and share your progress online.
This year's run is now finished but if it appeals to you, mark January 31 2022 in your diary.
The main colour of Janet's jumper is handspun yarn, hand dyed in bluebell blue. Colourwork borders are Jamiesons shetland and the cream background is local organic wool.
This is chaoticK's Feathers Cowl in her handspun yarn. It's a test knit for Elizabeth Hall's Feathers Cowl which is available now. I always thing that the 'stained glass' style works really well with handspun yarn.
I'm deliberately linking to the Ravelry project in this case because she has written very good and extensive notes.
This is a series of photographs by Kaz Kiss showing the progress from fibre to woven fabric to cut-out pieces to sewn cap.
riverpebble says, "I've developed a love of Shetland fleeces and my wool combs."
Despite the big cowl neck, the jumper weighs in at less than 300g!
Posted in the Ravelry UK Spinners group.
www.ravelry.com/discuss/uk-spinners/177789/34476-34500#34478
It's always great to see art yarn used in a project, if that's not a contradiction.
In this case woollyelly has sparingly used some spiral yarn to great effect in a woven wall hanging.
As a bonus, also see her Dungeness wall hanging with pictures of the scene that inspired it.
(Ravelry links)
Pictured are Ioden's Handspun Business Casual Socks using fractal-spun, fingering-weight 3-ply BFL.
Tanis says that this 'faux-argyle' pattern is one of her all-time favourite designs. (Ravelry link)
This is PetaKnitta's Aldous in her own handspun. She made a three-ply from two strands of one fibre and another strand of another fibre. This gave "muted blue tones with some little hints of green and purple coming through".
The pattern has an unusual construction (top-down saddle shoulder) and some nice touches such as the lateral braid. Thanks to KnitWit for her notes.
It requires 935 - 1778 yards of yarn Sport / 5 ply thickness (12 wpi) yarn.
https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/aldous-knitting-pattern-by-isabell-kraemer
tomboyfemmegoods highly recommends this cowl for showing off handspun.
She achieved the subtle striping by winding the yarn into two balls and striping it with itself. There are many more details in her Instagram post.
The pattern requires 800 yards of 4-ply thickness (14 wpi) yarn.
This is kerrucrafts' Koko Bean Hat. She used a blend of superfine merino, alpaca, camel and silk.
The pattern has a very high star rating and very low difficulty rating. It uses 200 yards of 10-ply thickness (9 wpi) on 4mm needles so it'll be quick too.
Linda Facci's needle-felted dogs are incredibly life-like.
www.thisdogslife.co/incredibly-lifelike-miniature-dog-sculptures
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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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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