Back home again.

The boys are safely esconced with friends having a very Tom Sawyerish holiday, you know fishing, swimming, just at the bottom of the paddock. So it's very quiet at home, which is just as well as I'm recovering from having driven 11 hours in two days to both accomplish the quiet and get to deliver my Summer School class.

The class went very well and the adjustments I made worked out well and the aim of the class - using the multicoloured tops successfully - was achieved....hooray. As always lovely people and all of them willing to give everything a try.

These are the samples I showed them of the different results you get when you used different

preparation and spinning methods.

I started with this beautiful top.

The first three methods were then spinning without thinking.

1. Worsted spinning, short lengths.

2. Worsted spinning, full, long, length.

3. Just because, I carded the top to really mix it up.

Then I got sensible and actively tried to get a good result

1. I stripped the top of each colour. Well not quite, this is a difficult top and the stripes of colour are quite thin. I did my best.

2. I used the fold over finger method of spinning. This is a semi-woollen method of spinning which allows you to go through the top stripe by stripe.

3. I used the same technique as before, just had a longer bit of top. This made it more difficult to manage and, didn't seem to make much difference.

Finally, I spun a wonderful slubby yarn and a reasonably thick single.

Chasing the rainbow - samples for a class

The class that I'm giving for the HWSG of Victoria is a class I called 'Chasing the Rainbow' which I ran for the lovely Bendigo Spinners and Weavers group.

I've taken out a little bit and concentrating on these three yarns.

The aim of the class is to find ways of using those multi-coloured tops which we are all seduced by but often end up with mud. Isn't that so true of life!

Unlike life, for dyed tops, I do have some answers. In doing so this becomes an excuse to learn a number of techniques which can be applied to anything.

The first is fold over finger spinning where you fold the top over your finger and spin from the centre. This is a semi-woollen method of spinning and what it does is allow you to spread the colours out so that each 'strand' of colour is drafted somewhat separately giving a good semblance of the original top.

As an alternative I get them to split tops and spin those.

The three yarns are:

1. Continuous bullion. This has been successfully used by many people including Lexi Boeger (www.pluckyfluff.com) who calls is Coils.

2. Core wrapping - carefully. A useful technique for dealing with difficult fibres but in this case allows you to wrap the split top and gives a different look as you wrap from the side. This is subject to an array of variations which I still need to explore.

3. Core wrapping - roughly, where I wrap and 'break-off' the tops. This makes it light and fluffy.

I enjoyed this class last time I ran it and we created some amazing yarns.

I have also been asked about drop spindles. Yes, I love drop spindles, but these are a leisurely pursuit where I tend to just spin singles. There's a challenge: to spin slubs! More to come on that!

A new distraction

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Friends and family were plentiful as was the food and wine. We're now relaxing at the beach and enjoying the time out from the everyday.

We have had some technical difficulties, which included a virus....the first we've suffered that has affected us so dramatically. Let this be a warning to all to be careful of dodgy internet cafes. We've used some terrific ones, but they do need to be well set up....and usually when odd things happen we stop and think before clicking....this time we didn't.

Anyway we're almost back and I'll keep blogging when I can.

I have been busy though. Most noticeably I am falling in love! Let it be known that I have a new spinning wheel. It is a New Zealander, purchased from a friend. It's designed for bulky textured yarns and has the biggest bobbins I've ever used. We're still in early days. Some tender loving care has been administered, however, more seems to be needed and some personalisation seems to be in order.

This is my first skein, something simple just to get us used to working with each other.

Then I hit it with a big slubby yarn and lots of it....didn't even get close to filling the bobbin. This was to complete the fibre that I had already spun to match the fibre sponge cake yarn. The hat is still coming.

Finally, a really highly textured yarn, with lots of plying and things that could get caught. This is for the Summer school class that I'll be teaching in January. More about that later.

So, is the new wheel worth it. absolutely. My biggest worry was the lack of bobbins. Having two Ashford wheels meant that I had alot of interchangeable bobbins. However, the size of these is just great.

I will introduce the new wheel, but it is early days in our relationship and going public is always fraught with danger!

Challenges

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, celebrating with friends and family. To all those that sent messages, thankyou, I do love to hear from people, even if I don't always respond quickly.

My challenge for Christmas was to weave rugs for my mother and mother-in-law. This was successfully achieved, sorry no pictures...only just achieved.....steamed at local dry cleaners on Christmas Eve, and picked up just before leaving for Christmas Eve party....

I have difficulty giving presents, not that I don't like letting things go, I just get the sinking feeling that they won't like the gift. I think sticking to a non-wearable item was good and they did like them and admire the work.


I'm not particularly attached to the things I make. I find that once made and exhibited in some way, I'm happy to let them go and find a home and move on to the next challenge.


Speaking of which, my LYS has a summer knitting competition. I chose this sort of watermelon red for mine, the real difficulty is what to do with it before February, when the competition ends. As the results will be donated to charity, they need to be useful in some way. At the moment can only think of icords...don't know why. Wish me luck. For more information see http://www.woolybutt.com.au/


For my summer reading I have found a new magazine. It's called 'Yarn Forward', is English, is not expensive and has some really interesting articles.

For example, it had an article on steeking! Must try it some day!



There were a number of exhibition revues which looked wonderful.



The actual knitting patterns, I thought were rather tame. This is not a drawback for me as it is generally the articles that are interesting, but if you're looking for patterns, I'd check before buying.



As this is the 7th issue, and comes out monthly, I thought I'd wait to the next issue to see if it is worth adding to my favourite magazine list.



Textile Fibre Forum arrived on my doorstep, this week. Yes, I know, it is late, it was very nearly a tragedy as I'd forgotton to renew my subscription. The situation is now rectified and I'll be reading as I lounge at the beach.

I did like this photo which is one of the tutors at Geelong Fibre Forum this year.

















Challenges for next year:

1. Build an extension for our house
2. Get son number 1 through year 12
3. Start Diploma of Visual Art

I think that's enough!

Side-tracked again for Christmas

I haven't blogged for a few days. With a wide variety of events, some wonderful, some feeling on the disastrous side, my motivation is low.

Saturday, however, was lovely, with the guild Christmas party at which I was presented with my 20 years badge. I knew I was getting close, and, it was a nice surprise to get my badge along with another member who had introduced me to teaching and we share a passion for the library and related matters.

Sunday's market, for me, was not good. Last year I had done very well, with people buying presents. There were plenty of people, plenty of good comments and interest, but no sales. This is extremely disappointing and I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Next year we're trialing opening on Saturdays, instead of Sundays. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure what to sell in February when we restart.

I did start some weaving. I took this lovely yarn, picked the colours from my stash and have warped up enough for three knee rugs, two of which will be for my mother and mother-in-law for Christmas. The first is a straight tabby with black for the background, just to get me in the swing. However, I've threaded for an 8-shaft twill and will weave different background colours for the other two.

I do miss weaving larger pieces, and, despite not having woven on this scale for a while I'm feeling very happy. I am a weaver and it really calms and revives me.....it's also a great stash busting exercise. If the tabby works out, I have two very large boxes of blues and greens which may well contribute to a pile of knee rugs for my stall.

Just a little side track

Ever get that feeling that you don't know what you're doing? That's me this week. So I decided to have a play with Tunisian crochet.

I learnt this intriguing cross between knitting and crochet only a few months ago. I really like it, however, the fabric can be quite firm. Great for a blanket...I've seen one that another SnBer made for their little one, however, I felt it could be limiting.

As usual when you think that there's a limit, you either have to reassess your ideas, or, someone else reminds you that there are no rules or spinning (read tunisian knitting) police.

I had this lovely fluffy yarn and a 12.5mm beautiful Lewis Harper tunisian crochet hook. (Lewis Harper, wonderful woodturner, often seen at Bendigo and other woolly meeting places) They combined beautifully, and I managed to produce a lovely scarf, which requires a little blocking and some sort of finishing.

The pattern for this was the basic 2 row 'base row' of Tunisian crochet. I started with this and then went on to the pattern I had selected, but returned to the base row and continued it. Love the fabric....feeling better.

Magazine heaven

Four of my absolute favourite magazines are all out in their latest editions. I'm in heaven.




Looking through them has made me think about what I like the most and why.

Selvedge was the first to arrive and I do like the stories of these wonderful enterprises where industries are kept alive. There was a wonderful article in the British magazine 'Country Living' (September 2008 issue) titled 'Bolt from the Blue' which was about a couple who've reopened a woad mill and are selling the dye and dyed products.


This article on handwoven woollen blankets also had that flavour. You just want to go and live on an island somewhere. (or a small Scottish town on the coast - oops sorry, that's the movie 'Local Hero' - favourite movie, great Mark Knoffler music)


Then Yarn magazine has this article on Ruth Marshall who has knit this Amur Leopard completely accurately as she works at the Bronx Zoo.





I'm not usually a fan of exact reproduction, except where beauty and heart come into play.

Her website http://www.ruthmarshall.com/ is worth a look.


Object magazine feature indigenous art in this issue, however, I chose this piece as something quirky.



And Vogue Knitting has a lovely article about Nicky Epstein.

Her aesthetic is very different from mine, but she is exploring knitting in her own way.






So, what is the common factor? I think that it's the passion behind each of these. People finding, following, exploring something they feel passionate about. Shouldn't we all be doing that? Would it work?