Rayna and I received these batts a few days ago, from my friend, the incredibly talented Mother Macrina! She dyes fiber for her Etsy store, Inglenook Fibers, and her work is unbelievably beautiful. I could print pictures of her unfolded batts and put them on the wall – that’s how pretty they are! Can’t wait to spin one up :)
I’ve taken up dyeing my own wool for my projects. I don’t pretend to be super talented at this, but there is something satisfying about being in control over every step of your creative process, to complete your vision exactly as you imagine it. These are all in the same colour-space (no surprise there!) but I’m looking to expand my colour palette, do longer runs and bigger batches soon.
My work is very much geared towards my work as a weaver so far. All the skeins pictured here are either palindrome or painted warps, can’t wait to weave one up and see how I did!
This one sat on the loom for a long time while I was distracted with the spinning bug – but now that it’s finally off and blocked I’m quite happy with the results. This is all coming from one skein of Fleece Artist Trail Socks (colour way unknown). With only 350 metres to the skein I was worries that I wouldn’t be able to warp and weft with the same yarn.
I weighed my skein before beginning, and I warped until there was just a little over a third of the skein left. I had read that this would be sufficient for weft, and they were right! Only a little yarn was wasted at the end, and I was able to max out my yardage :)
From this:
To this:
And this:
And finally this!
I was getting 11 WPI on this yarn, so I used my 7.5 dent heddle.
Feeling pretty happy with it :) It’s about 60″ long and super warm. The Navajo plying really lends itself to warp threads; the longer colour runs really show off in the final piece. I am using a charcoal coloured lace weight weft.
I love actually using my handspun! I don’t see myself knitting with this type of yarn, but having a loom really opens up the possibilities!
For Canada Day I always like to share some photos of this stunning country I am lucky to live in :)
This year, here is a selection of my photography from one of our favourite drives – Toronto to Winnipeg, across the top of lake Superior. Enjoy!
It’s amazing how much the fiber changes, from merino top to actual yarn.
This is a braid from a dyer called ‘Urban GypZ’ – part of our haul from Jaqueline’s stash (more on that later!).
Most of it was spun on the weekend at the show.
My uneven singles :)
Yarn in the plying (navajo plied, though I still got a lot of barber pole, which I love!)
Love love love this photo. Like waves of fiber-y goodness! This yarn is my most even spin yet, and I’m hoping to use it as a weft in a woven piece.
200 yards of worsted weight yarn ready to be used!
When I was spinning Peggy I kept wondering if spinning was supposed to be this hard. I practically had to manhandle the fiber to draft it, and ended up drafting very thin, almost to pencil roving, to make it go. Looking back, I’m amazed that I spun it all.
My next braid was 100% pure alpaca and it drafted like butter. At first, I almost ruined it because I was manhandling it at the beginning.
I ended up spinning most of it at the show; folks were so fascinated by the wheel that many people came by just to see what I was doing :)
After navajo plying, this was my final skein, 117 yards! It was the first skein of mine that was even enough in thickness for me to measure a wpi, which came to 10. The internet is fickle on this point, but it seemed I was looking at a DK weight.
Now, finally spinning up something relatively even demands that you knit something with it. I only had 117 yards though, so what to do?
Shireen’s Precious Handspun Hat!
Works with DK weight to worsted. You’ll need a minimum of 100 yards.
Crown Shaping:
Row 1: *knit 8, k2tog* repeat
Row 2: knit all stitches
Row 3: *knit 7, k2tog* repeat
Row 4: knit all stitches
Row 5: *knit 6, k2tog* repeat
Row 6: knit all stitches
See the pattern?
Continue until you have half the stitches you started with. At this point, drop the rows of plain stockinette and work every round as a decrease round until you have 16 stitches left.
Break your yarn leaving a 6” tail. Thread a tapestry needle with the tail, cinch the top of the hat shut and weave in your ends.
Block it, and rock it!
What’s a day in Niagara on the Lake without a visit to Kim’s Critter Collection (aka Gryphon Ridge Highland Cattle)?
The evening was warm and perfect. Here’s Eddie munching away. I love the light in this shot.
Cow trundling towards me…
Closer…
Closer!
Aaaand someone just wants to give kisses.
This little one. This is the one to watch out for.
What’s going on here? You do realize that’s my camera, right?
This. This here is proof of how much I love Kim’s cows. The cats don’t get away with coming near my gear, never mind trying to eat the strap!
Jethro and his lady love <3
Tito and I had an amazing time at the Frogpond farm this weekend. We are happy and tired, with a much-diminished collection of jewellery. Here are some of our highlights!
Early this morning, I did my FINAL POUR for this weekends art show, Art in the Vineyard at Frogpond Farms. Tito and I went through 12 cases of resin, poured roughly every 8-10 hours for 3 weeks and produced 65 pieces of jewellery for sale at the show. On top of that, Tito spent countless hours in our ‘studio’ (er, 8ft x 6ft den) cutting, shaping, soldering and filing copper and brass bezels.
Last night I started putting chains on all the pendants. It’s so amazing to see all that hard work come together! Tomorrow morning we will pack it all up (along with my wheel, of course) and head out to Niagara-On-The-Lake. The weather promises to be warm and sunny for Tito and I’s first show as a couple, can’t wait!
There are many things you have to do to prep for a show, and one of them is photography. Believe it or not, this is where I fell down. There simply wasn’t time. Instead I offer you a selection of our latest pieces, via instagram :) We have bell flowers, cinquefoil, red clover, chives, wild geraniums, English lavender, pansies, columbines, chicory, trefoil and at least 10 more plant species that I don’t know the name of.
If you’re in the area, or you feel like getting out of town this weekend, come visit us! There will be great food, great wine, and lots of other amazing artists!
The Blue Brick 