Experiments with singles and colour

Experimental Spinning, last Saturday, was alot of fun. We managed to sit in the middle of the room surrounded by weavers. It was lovely to have both spinners and weavers together at the Handweavers and Spinners guild!

(I do think we were a bit noisy, so I hope the weavers didn't mind too much?)

As usual, the experiments had to continue at home, so, here are three different skeins before dyeing.














Then, I followed the same procedure, as before, basically boiling the yarn to death!

1. (middle skein) I used the same top, as before, and selected a different colour. Beautiful blue.























2.This was an attempt to use fleece. I prepared it roughly on the drum carder, surprise....not good enough. I spent a little more effort and predrafted as well, still very difficult to get an even result. It just turns into a more slubby yarn.


I then tried preparing the fibre on my wool combs. This was better, but being only little ones, they didn't really help prepare the single well.

This has showed me that there is more experimenting to do: different fleece, this was a good length but a bit fine, I think; bigger wool combs.......


I still achieved a yarn I like that says to me 'hat'!

3. The last experiment was a little disappointing. I mixed the machine washable and non-treated wool top. I like the colour and how the grey affects the colour and overall effect, but while there are fluffy areas and felted areas, they don't stand out.


I think that I'll try again, adding more machine washable top and being careful about how I split the top up and how I combine them.





Finally, I decided I would knit up the first skein I did to see how far it would go. I chose 20mm needles which made quite a thick fabric, which isn't quite a scarf, more a neck warmer length. Larger needle sizes would probably yield a scarf, but I'll have to try another time.














I am very happy with the texture and feel of the knitted fabric, and I think I have a new product!

Finally finished!

I've been knitting this blanket for absolutely ages.

I had far too much of this Shadow Tweed yarn from Australian Country Spinners and while it's an interesting yarn I was well over it, well I certainly am now!

Lorraine at Woolybutt has been collecting squares for blankets to send up to Marysville for the fire victims, and as it's August I thought I'd better finish it.

The blanket is knitted in one piece and I picked up, increased and decreased down the centre diagonal of each square, so it's not in any particular sequence and has a really appealing effect.

I hope it finds a good home.

Rhythms of the day

Having embarked on studies again, committing somewhere around 3 days a week has meant that I've needed to rearrange my week. Having had particular rhythms to the week for so long, it's been difficult to change my habits and enlist the help of the household. It's slowly getting there, but it's been an interesting challenge.

This might explain why I've only finished two fingerless mittens this week when I need to make quite a few for the next market, but here they are:

Preparing ahead!

Tomorrow is Experimental Spinning at the guild and we're looking at spinning fat singles, dyeing them and slightly felting them. There are quite a few of these yarns for sale in the gallery and they are bright and interesting, so I had been requested for a session.

Spinning the singles is pretty fast and easy spinning. Take wool top, decide how much you need to split to get the thickness you want, split it and spin it. There's no drafting and very little twist. You want them to hold together but not overtwist. Too much and the yarn will be too harsh, dyed or not.

The dyeing is a different matter. We spend our time trying not to felt our yarn, now I want to felt it a bit, just enough to have the yarn hold together and look a little felted but you definitely don't want it to felt to each other.

My usual random dyeing methods are a good start. I use very little water, so this time I brought it to the boil, before putting the yarn in, hoping that the shock would start the felting process without too much agitation at this early stage. (Note to self: next time put a bit more water in then you wouldn't have to top it up at this stage!)

I sprinkle my dye and usually leave it to very,very,very gently simmer. This time I just let it boil, played with it too much and hoped that this would be enough for the effect.

I wound some balls of wool and waited till I was happy and was going to leave it to cool down, but thought that as a last insurance policy effort I would cool it down suddenly, again shocking the yarn.

This done, I now have to wait for the final dried yarn. I am happy with the result though am not sure how felted it was. I'll post another picture when dry.

For Experimental Spinning tomorrow, I'd like to try:

1. the same process with a slubby yarn. I assume the thinner bits won't felt as quickly as the fat bits.

2. using fleece. The problem here is that tops give you a very even yarn. The solution should be in using a drum carder. The final yarn should be different?

3. using a mix of wool top and machine washable wool top. Not sure how I'm going to spin that, and my machine washable top is a mix of grey and cream.

Enough experimenting for one day!

Happy 18th Birthday Michael

My oldest son turned 18 this month, so I now live in a house with three adults! Last night was his party with his friends. He decided to have a BBQ at our home and about 20 of his friends. As we have a big back yard we set up, on a Winters' night, with gas heaters, a wood BBQ and lit our indoor fire. With other decorations we were actually quite pleased with the way it looked.

The party went really well with way too much food and enough to drink. We got to meet more of my sons friends and had the strange experience of hosting a party where we weren't really going to a party.

This was the culmination of several celebrations. An intimate dinner on his birthday with just the four of us. A lovely Sunday lunch at the local hotel with family and close friends was a wonderful way for the family to come together.

All I can say, really, is 'Happy Birthday Michael'.

City Library

I'm so far behind in my posts, so much to tell you, so little time! However, I thought I'd let you know that my sculpture 'Windfall' can be seen at the City Library in Flinders Lane.

Richard, my sculpture teacher has been putting various student works on display and this week He chose mine.

It's always an interesting process seeing your work in a public place. I always want to stay there for the entire time and see what peoples reactions are. It's probably why I like having a market stall, getting direct reactions. I don't like phones for the same reason, you can't see people on a phone.

Anyway, if you're in the area, have a look, tell me what you think!

Back from Bendigo

The journey to the Australian Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo is one full of expectation and curiosity. This year, with the GFC, you have to wonder how our farmers and related industries and towns are faring. If this years show is anything to go by, they are doing as well as can be expected and are certainly putting in a fabulous effort to put on a good show.

There were extra tents and sheds to explore with both new and familiar stall holders. Plenty of people admiring the work, talking to each other, catching up, and, of course, expanding stashes.

With friends, I travelled on the train, 7.10am from Southern Cross, rather early for me! It was lovely, sitting there chatting and of course, knitting. For the trip back we picked up some extra friends, just lovely. Just have to do it again next year.

Here is my stash additions:

1. Banksia nut drop spindle from Ron West

2. 5mm Victorian ash knitting needles from Lewis Harper

My spinning stash was enhanced with

1. Hand dyed corriedale mixture

2. Carded bump alpaca from Fibre naturally (can't wait to try this one!)

3. Two lots of mixed Merino/Corriedale top from Ray's Ranch

The knitting stash included:

1. Natural coloured 8ply corriedale from Jarob Farm
2. Cone of 2 ply pure Finn from Marueen Shepherd at Fairfield Finns

3. Three lots of dyed 8ply from Wendy Dennis at Tarwandcoort

4. Two balls of bright blue 16ply yarn (couldn't resist)

I just can't wait to get into this lot. A fabulous mix of colour and texture.