Visitors enjoy a good yarn at the Loch Ness Knit Fest
Good job by the Inverness Courier, they've posted a slideshow of 36 pictures taken at the Loch Ness Knit Fest 2019.
www.inverness-courier.co.uk...enjoy-a-good-yarn-at-the-loch-ness-knit-fest...
Hand Spinning News
The email version of this newsletter may look much better online: hand-spinning-news.com
With the weather feeling decidedly wintry here in the northern hemisphere, this month's pattern suggestions for handspun yarn include hats, shawls and the odd Christmas decoration. If the long winter evenings put you in the mood for a very long spin, how about hooking a blanket-like hooded cardy?
I find so many pictures of spinning-in-progress where the colours are inspirational; pictures of singles on the bobbin or fibre before spinning. But I haven't tended to include many of these because beyond that I haven't felt that there's much of a 'peg to hang them on'. So this month I've invented a new section called colour inspiration which is a collection of such images. See what you think.
One more mention for the UK Supplier List. (Permanent link in the header above.) This is still new and I'm still adding to the database. Thanks to those who have got in touch suggesting new entries. If you know anyone who should be listed, or if you are included and would like to update your details, please let me know.
Read on for this month's cunning curated collection of inspirational information and entertainment for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers. This is the full issue for November 2019.
Photo right: Judith MacKenzie camel / silk, tiny Jenkins Bee Hummingbird. The cover photo is William Ablett's (1877-1937) The Spinning Wheel
Contents
- In the media
Loch Ness Knit Fest, Icelandic wool dyeing - Handspun stories
Knitting at the Wordsworth Trust, coastal and mushroom colours, award-winning blanket - Colour inspiration
Fibre, singles and finished yarn in glorious colours - Tips and tutorials
Opening up a braid, long colours, calculating sett - Technology
Cutting-edge fibres, yarns and fabrics - Yvonne
A cartoon - Gallery
Showcasing some of the best spinning images I've seen this month - Free patterns
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn - Not so free patterns
More project ideas which will work well with handspun yarn - Events
One remaining 2019 UK show date - But is is art...?
Portraits made by bicycle-powered sewing machine
In the media
University sophomore spins wool for 28 consecutive hours
Artist Isabel "Iz" Horgan spun wool for 28 consecutive hours. In this time she spun 300 yards of two-ply yarn.
She doesn't call this a challenge or record attempt but a performance. She spun in the front window of a student-run gallery and attracted attention from passers-by.
Her family keeps sheep and her own artwork was on display in the gallery along with a video of herself and her mother shearing.
triblive.com....sophomore-spins-wool-for-28-consecutive-hours
The colourful oddysey of Icelandic wool dyeing
Iceland is an isolated land with a limited number of plant species.
The colours that its inhabitants used varied through history depending on which trade routes were open at the time. The cold temperatures of the 13th century froze certain routes and brought about a "dramatic age of no colour".
The text on this page is merely en except from a longer paid article but it's a worthwhile read.
www.icelandreview.com/culture/the-colourful-oddysey-of-icelandic-wool-dyeing
Handspun stories
Dirty Nora
Here we see the full journey from a photograph of the sheep through to beautiful finished yarn.
Nora's fleece was dirty and full of vegetable matter. Here's how Araignee coped with the challenge.
Raiment of the tortoise
This finished handspun project is made from a blend of linen and wool. How does that work out? "Cool on a hot day and a surprisingly warm layer on a cool day", says Rebecca.
This post covers the fibres, the carding and the spinning.
19 days from fluff to sweater
Spinning challenges such as Spin Together can give you real focus for a few days.
thechillydog decided to use Spin Together to spin a sweater quantity of yarn. She didn't quite meet that goal but came close, and then decided to try finishing the spinning and knitting within a month.
I've linked to the picture of the finished item below, there's another post with the balls of yarn and more information about the spinning here.
Big needle FO
This is a fibre-to-finished story. The fibre was from The Fiberists and is shown in this post looking good enough to eat, resembling a pear with a little bit of a blush.
Araignee loves the finished item and "can't wait until it's cold enough to wear it".
The pattern is Bosc Pear by Tetiana Otruta. It's free in return for adding it to your Ravelry favourites or queue.
araigneestangledweb.blogspot.com/2019/10/big-needle-fo-bosc-pear.html
Colours from autumn mushrooms
This is a nice collection of shots of various mushrooms and the yarn colours obtained.
riihivilla.blogspot.com/2019/10/colours-from-autumn-mushrooms-syksyn.html
Knitting at the Wordsworth Trust
Freyalyn attended a talk and workshop with Esther Rutter. Esther has recently published This Golden Fleece, a social, historical and personal journey around Britain's knitting history.
This event was based on the 19th century gloves in the Wordsworth collection. The class were shown books, knitting sheaths and a blanket as well as the gloves.
freyalyn.blogspot.com/2019/10/knitting-at-wordsworth-trust-teaching.html
Coastal colours
Sarah enjoys trying new things for dyeing. Here she tries seaweed for the first time.
She wasn't particular about the type. She tried modifying the colour to obtain pinky-flesh tones and was happy with the result.
Rescue operation
What do you do when your plied yarn wants to twist and you can't balance or set it?
This is an extraordinary amount of trouble to take, but handspun yarn is worth the trouble, especially if it's for a magazine article.
Josefin realised that her singles had way too much twist and so she unplied, eased the twist and replied.
A square for Adrienne Rich
This blanket was a collaboration between Kate Davies and Felicity Ford (Felix).
The squares are individual designs but use a common template.
Here Kate describes her design process. Inspired by an Adrienne Rich poem she chose a hand-print.
She links to Felix's page where she also describes the design process for her own square.
Between these pages you'll find their templates for deigning your own square and the original pattern for the 'share square'.
International Women's Day best practice award
After I'd added the story above, came the announcement that the collaborative blanket project has received a "best practice award" from International Women's Day, so congratulations to Kate and everyone involved.
kddandco.com/2019/11/13/international-womens-day-best-practice-award
Hand-made drum carder
Drum carders are certainly pricey but Reddit user overclocker_kris made one for his girlfriend and made a timelapse video for the rest of us.
It's a fascinating watch, and a long discussion about it is here.
hackaday.com...hand-made-drum-carder-gets-wool-ready-for-spinning
Departures
Rebecca admits to usually being shackled to utility, but here she casts off those shackles for a while in favour of colour, texture and bulky yarn.
This cape uses tail-spun locks and wolf yarn. Follow the link for details and pictures.
Colour inspiration
When there's not much to say except 'beautiful colour'
Northern Cascades
It's often difficult to see plied yarn, fibre and singles in the same picture because those things often don't all exist at the same time. This spinning happened during Spin Together 2019.
My thumbnail shows the beautiful brown, green and teal in this fibre which is Polwarth / Silk from Huckleberry Knits. The finished yarn is here.
evanitaewm has spun from the end and chain plied to really concentrate and keep those colours separate.
Forest greens
Knit/Wit is spinning BFL/silk from Southern Cross Fibre.
Drop spindle spinning
It's always fascinating to see how bright colours in dyed roving combine in the spun singles.
Often bright colours become more muted, which is the case in this month's sexy spindle shot. Spindle spinning by getinmymailbox, fibre from Freckled Fiberworks.
Judith MacKenzie camel / silk
Blues and olive green come together in this camel/silk fibre dyed by Judith MacKenzie. evanitaewm is spinning using a tiny Jenkins spindle.
Mystery JohnArbon blend
At first glance, ninjabex's first Britspin singles look a fairly sombre colour, but look more closely to see the beautiful violet and gold within the special John Arbon fibre.
Naturally-dyed merino
A very sophisticated-looking green with touches of gold.
According to the tags this is naturally-dyed but annaskertje doesn't note what dye was used.
Parisian Confectionery
These colours are the very opposite of my own usual taste but there's something compelling about these fabulous colours and textures.
Beehive spinning
Here are two yarns side-by-side spun by frauzerbelspinnt in the same colours; a conventional 2-ply and a less conventional coil-spun art yarn. The colours are so much more vibrant in the latter.
Tips and tutorials
Spin control: really opening up a braid
Jillian says that no matter how carefully combed top has been dyed, opening it up properly will make for smooth drafting. Here's how she does it.
http://www.jillianmoreno.com/journal/2019/11/6/spin-control-really-opening-up-a-braid
Learning Andean spinning
I've learned from this article that Andean spinning is more than spinning while walking or using particular tools. It's a way of life and using your body and resources around you.
Three things blocking knits can fix (and three things it can't)
The title is a little bit misleading because I don't think anyone would consider lace finished until it's blocked. Not so much a fix as a final reveal.
But there are some useful points. How much can you alter a size by blocking? By how much can it even out uneven stitches?
www.interweave.com/article/knitting/3-things-blocking-knits-fix
Calculating sett for weaving using a spinner's multitool
Last month, Pamela showed how to use a spinner's multi-tool as a diz and for checking twist angle and WPI.
Here she explains how to decide sett for weaving.
www.fibersprite.com...calculating-sett-for-weaving-using-the-spinners-multitool
Keep colors long by spinning across your fiber
You may be thinking that the title is stating the obvious, but wait, Jillian has more to say which isn't so obvious.
It "drove her nuts" when a little bit of the next colour crept in before one colour was done. She demonstrates what's happening in pictures and describes her fix.
www.jillianmoreno.com...keep-colors-long-by-spinning-across-your-fiber
Technology
Why we'll all soon be wearing mushroom leather, seaweed yarn and orange-peel silk
The headline of this Evening Standard article includes "so long cotton" which I found a little odd as cotton is natural and renewable. The reason they made that comment is because production of cotton yarn and fabrics uses a lot of water.
This article has an interesting run-down of some of the cutting edge lab-grown materials including pineapple-leaf leather, mushroom leather, seaweed yarn and wild-flower puffer jacket filling.
www.standard.co.uk...labgrown-materials-leather-cotton-alternatives...
Wood-based fiber captures hormones from wastewater
We've already seen that yarn can be used to extract uranium from seawater.
Here a "wood-based cellulose fiber yarn" is being used to extract pharmaceuticals (eg ethinylestradiol from contraceptive pills) from water.
www.waterworld.com...woodbased-yarn-captures-hormones-from-wastewater
UV-sensitive yarn gets much warmer when exposed to the sun's rays
I may be wrong but a yarn that heats up when exposed to UV rays and cools down when out of the sun does seem to be working the wrong way around.
But the claims for the yarn's properties sound impressive. Red Heart Heat Wave yarn is available now if 100% acrylic yarn floats your boat.
www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/red-heart-heatwave-yarn-uv-rays
Yvonne
Quitting
If you like Yvonne, click the image to find her page, you can use next and previous to explore more cartoons, and join the mailing list for a regular digest email.
Jigsaw - online
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.
Keeping this wheel spinning
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Rovings from conservation grazer sheep in lancashire
This Cheviot, Leicester, Jacobs, Lonk and Black Welsh roving was reserved from a 'single farm yarns' project.
The farms are low intensity, high nature value with a strong emphasis on animal welfare. The fleece was processed in a Derbyshire mill.
Contact Kate Schofield (Lancashire Farm Wools) for more details, availability and prices by email at schofield316@btinternet.com.
Gallery
Sometimes just a picture is enough
Rigid heddle woven art yarn
You frequently see art yarn in the yarn form, less frequently made into something. Even less frequently made into something as beautiful as this.
Ashford's Kate Sherratt wove this top in a very short time to wear over a strapless dress. She says, "artyarn wove up super quick! Sewing was even quicker!"
My small thumbnail doesn't do the yarn or the top justice, click through for the bigger picture.
Redyk
This amazing image has been commended in a photographic competition and features a traditional sheep herding.
Hook Your Handspun: The Mixlace Wrap
Elizabeth Prose made this Mixlace Poncho from handspun and hand dyed bulky singles for the recent issue of Spin Off magazine.
She has written an article about her rediscovery of crochet and the making of this garment.
The pattern is by Denise Lavoie and is printed in the Fall 2019 issue of Spin Off.
Alaska hat in handspun yarn
I don't often slip in one of my own projects, but I suggested the pattern last month and have since made my own in handspun yarn. The coloured yarn is a Freyalyn gradient and the dark grey is real Shetland from Adam Curtis. All spun during Spinzilla but possibly in separate years.
blog.handspinner.co.uk...amazing-alaska-hat-pattern-with.html
Time to wear
Instagram user attigirbsool simply says, "after knitting handspun it is time to wear the cardigan."
www.instagram.com/p/B4r2kZFJ4km4tTy5MbvtYuPHDWWRSLqcfGhm4I0/
Hand painted spinning wheel, The Mermaid
As decorated spinning wheels go, this is outstanding.
The Majacraft Pioneer has an undersea / mermaid theme. It was painted by Suzy Brown of Fiberygoodness / Tiny Studio digital magazine.
This video shows the process from sketches to finished.
Handspun gradient sweater
This rendering of the Flax sweater is entirely handspun. Kirashapedgirl used two gradient packs from FellView Fibres.
Sharks themed Pulled Glass
opalsandbutterflies is an ice hockey fan and this cowl is in team colours.
The stitch pattern even looks like sharks' jaws in these colours.
The pattern is Pulled Glass and the teal was a batt containing BFL, merino, & mulberry silk from Sealy MacWheely.
Meet Make and Chat
According to the Worstead WSD Guild's November Meet Make and Chat blog entry, this is Steve and his home-made spinning wheel which looks like a very good job. You can enlarge the picture to see more detail.
Get Off My Rainbow
StephieJo has made this crocheted Cardiff Cowl. She spun the yarn from a special colourway for her guild spin-a-long.
No word on whether she chose it to match her hair or dyed her hair to match the cowl.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B38oegJplDA/?igshid=r9oipj2yrxoy
Free patterns
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
Handspun Friendship Wrap by Tara Quarles
This is the first of two earwarmer patterns designed for bulky handspun yarn. This one is crochet, the following one is knitted.
both are ravelry patterns, no ravelry account is needed to view or download.
This one uses pineapple stitch, which is explained in the pattern.
It fastens with a button, and rows can be added or omitted to obtain the right size.
Big Apple Headband
This earwarmer is also made using bulky handspun yarn. the yarn used in the pattern pictures is thick-and-thin which looks great. It also fastens with a button.
It uses cables, and may be a great project if you want to try cables for the first time. Basic instructions for the 5-st cable are included in the pattern.
Strata crochet hooded sweater by Jess Coppom
This is a cross between a blanket and a hooded cardigan and I really like it.
It looks more complex that it really is. It's almost seamless, tt's labelled Netflix-worthy and a beginner pattern.
It does use a vast amount of aran-weight (8WPI) yarn. 2400 yards for the smallest size and twice that for the largest.
You will have to work hard to find the free pattern. The first part is lower down this page, and a link takes you to the second part. Or you can pay a small amount for a printable ad-free pdf version.
Swirled Ski Cap from Craft Yarn Council
Thanks to Ewespecial for the suggestion, which has an interesting construction. You knit a flat parallelogram (slanted rectangle) and when you stitch it together the swirls appear.
The pattern has sizes for child and adult. It's made on 5mm needles with aran-weight (8WPI) yarn. The Ravelry pattern page mentions 4.5mm needles but this isn't mentioned in the pattern itself.
Scandinavian Santa Gnome by ChiWei Ranck
This cute crocheted father Christmas gnome could be a gift or a fun piece of holiday decor.
The body pieces are created separately, filled separately, and then sewn together.
Once again you can view the free pattern on this web page but you're invited to pay for a downloadable ad-free pdf version.
Not-so-free patterns
Don't Panic by Nim Teasdale
Pictured here is catnach's handspun Don't Panic. Her spinning project page is worth a visit because her yarn is made from one laceweight single plied with a commercial silk yarn. The handspun single is a faux gradient ranging from magenta to turquoise and all made from fibre samples.
The pattern itself references Douglas Adams' stories. It's in five parts, each requiring more knitting than the last.
Curve of a Boat by Larissa Brown
Seen here is the author's finished shawl in a commercial yarn with a gradient but at least one spinner has made a handspun version.
The name comes from the hull-like curve of the lower border and also from the eyelet pattern which form a net.
With thanks to With Wool for the suggestion.
But is it art...?
Artist creates portraits using her sewing machine and a bicycle
Harriet Riddell sews portraits of people while they pedal to power her sewing machine.
knithacker.com...this-artist-creates-portraits-using-her-sewing-machine...
2019 events
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.
If you enjoy Hand Spinning News, please don't keep it to yourself. Obviously the link to the full version is a benefit for paying subscribers, but please do share a link to hand-spinning-news.com by email or on social media with anyone who may be interested.
It's always good to hear from readers for any reason (or no reason!)
Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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