New Zealand and WOMAD

I have a new finished item! It has taken a long time due to the ongoing issues I've had with my hands but they are finished and have been gifted to Iain.

When we visited New Zealand last year for my brother's wedding Iain and I stopped over at Clyde in Central Otago. I came across Touch Yarns last time we visited New Zealand and I fell totally in lust with a scarf kit I kept seeing. In the end I purchased the kit comprising two hand dyed yarns in the most amazing autumn colours and a new obsession was born. 7 years ago Touch Yarn was responsible for me starting to knit again and I still own and love that scarf.

So, it was only reasonable to stop over in Clyde specifically to visit the shop and I did make several purchases while I was there.

The Magic Merino yarn is beautifully soft and it is really brightly dyed. The yarn is soft and very slightly sticky. I found it delightful to use.

I knit one sock from the outside of the ball and then the second from the inside using 2.5mm dpns. This has provided a very subtle difference in the socks.

I'm really pleased with how they look and this is the second time I have knit this pattern (Spey Valley by Nancy Bush) and I think it looks great. The pattern was easy to upsize for Iain's size 11's.

 

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Twill Sample

When I did my weaving course there was a 75 twill sample in the back of the coursework. One person at the Guild has made the whole sample - all 4.5 metres!

Having seen that I had an idea and purchased some scrummy, yummy mercerised cotton from Helen at MyFineWeavingYarns at Wonderwool in 2012. The cotton itself is fairly loosely plied but it is lovely to work with, it is easy to use and creates a soft cloth with lovely drape and shine.

I selected 5 colours for the project: turquoise because it makes me happy, then raspberry and orange because these three colours remind me of Andy Wahol's Marylin Monroe series. I then added jade and to really make it vibrate a richly hued purple. The colours are all saturated and together they make me think of sunshine, beer and steel drums; a veritable carnival.

Starting and finishing with tabby I wove 25 different twills, changing colour for each twill block. Some twills were a pleasure to weave and a few may never be woven by me ever again. I did have some issues with dressing my loom (I'm getting better) and I managed to nose dive my boat shuttle in a couple of places without realising I had done so. This does mean the piece isn't error free but it certainly is handsome.

It also has an asymmetrical fringe. I double knotted one end which took a long time. The other fringe has been purposefully left longer so I can decided if I wish to double knot that side. It does however let me easily identify the start of the sample and, thereby the lift pattern. After all it is meant to be a sample.

I just have to decide what to do with the rest of the warp.

 

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A Jolly Good Weave

Having been missing in action for some time, I have wanted to get back to blogging but powering up the laptop and downloading photos from the camera all seemed a bit of a fag. However, I having come across Blogsy I thought I'd give it a go as it seemed to fit in with my technology.

This weekend has seen me in a class, weaving shibori and I am happy but exhausted.

First, a word about shibori. It is the Japanese method of resist dyeing and usually uses stitching, tieing, folding and twisting to form a pattern on a plain white cloth which is then dipped in an indigo bath to develop a blue and white pattern.

When traditional shibori has been dried and opened up it generally retains its crinkled appearance and is very stretchy until the cloth is finished (when the stretch is removed).

The above two photographs show the same piece of cloth. The top one is shibori with the stitching removed but it has no received a finishing treatment. The bottom photo shows the same fabric with the pattern stretched out, this gives an indication of how the pattern would look in the finished piece. The sample is silk.

The use of resist dyeing is is seen around the world with a variety of methods being used. A popular method when I was a child in the 70's was known as tie dye. Of course the use of resists (as in batik) is also common.

Batik made using hand stamping with wax, dyeing and repeating the process for each colour used.

The Japanese use hand stamping with a resist made of rice flower or seaweed (depending on the location) and the. Dye with indigo.

Having had great fun producing beautiful fabric using vat dies and methods of folding and wrapping, I really wanted to do this workshop on woven shibori; a modern weaving technique pioneered by Catherine Ellis. The course was held at the Wiltshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers with Pat Foster leading.

The homework for the course was to warp the loom according to a chosen weaving pattern, I selected monk's belt which turned out to be incredibly easy to weave. I managed to achieve a reasonable warp so that signified an excellent start (and pleased my weaving teacher who was also attending the course).

The morning of the first day included a talk and then it was time to get busy with the weaving.

By lunchtime I had cloth which I was proud of and by the end of the first day I was I was onto the second sample.

Tired and happy it was home for dinner and an early night.

Day two saw more weaving and then it was time to cut the samples off the loom and get them ready for the dye bath by tieing them up into little tight parcels.

By the time I was finished they looked like two little rag dolls, ready to be sacrificed to the dye pot. I especially like the green one, very cute.

As I had used cotton these bundles were wetted, placed into a Procion MX dye bath of purple, massaged and left to react. They were then rinsed off. One intrepid student opened their parcel at the studio. Isn't it glorious?

It was time to go home so everyone took their tied up bundle home to let them dry before opening. Back at home, I couldn't resist and opened mine up to dry.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I loved the workshop and shall be making more pieces of woven shibori.

 

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How to spell Llama

This is so cute. A font, made of llamas galavanting on the page. I too can now have a herd of Llama's.

Wattle's all that then!

Well, I've been a busy person and I don't really feel like I've had a chance to catch breath let alone blog recently. It is strange because I sure miss the blog and think about my blog but it sometimes seems difficult just to sit down an write.

I have been busy decluttering. Sadly, this seems to have made a bigger mess in the cave but things are going and, to be honest I am finding it a bit of a relief. I'm eager to move onto other areas but I must stay focused on this one project for the moment.

One of the bonus's about decluttering is it frees up some money. Well, in my case it freed up a reasonable amount of money so I am waiting for a certain special something to arrive at my door. When it does, I'll tell you all about it. However, as I have been waiting patiently and one of my favourite supported spindle makers listed some spindles I couldn't resist nabbing one.

This beauty is made from Wattle (known as the acacia tree) and has some really cool and funky markings. Made by Spanish Peacock, I feel a very lucky person.

Just in case you are thinking I'm very greedy to have so many supported spindles it is so I can dress each one one after another and then move onto plying. Well at least that's what I tell myself.

Do you like my spinning bowl? Turn it over and it makes a funky tea-light holder. It appears there is madness in my method.

I also snaffled this cute little elm bowl when Iain and I went on holiday this summer. It has a little sweet spot for my new spindle.

Crafting

I have been busy crafting but terribly bad about blogging about it recently.

At the moment I should be knitting socks - 26 pairs this year to be exact. Well, I've been keeping up fairly well but just needed a break. So, I have been working some crochet. I'm making a bag based on the one made by Lucy of Attic24 blog. I'm using Rico Creative Cotton and I love it. I was lucky enough to find the lining fabric the other day, that itself was a steal at about £2.99 a metre. I think it looks perfect. I'm working on the handles and a couple of decorative flowers so I'm nearly there.

When I've finished the bag I will need to get the sewing machine out to line it. At the same time I shall sew my little retro 50's inspired half apron. I just so love the chickens. They make me smile. I should also have enough fabric to make a little cushion. How sweet.

I have also warped up the rigid heddle loom. I got to a point where I was worrying I didn't have the right yarn and started surfing the web to buy some. So, I broke out a couple of my weaving books, looked though for some inspiration and ideas on what dent to use and raided my stash.

A few years ago Natural Dye Studios and Fyberspates released a special edition yarn called Unicorn comprising of Llama, Cashmere and Silk. I treated myself to a minimum of a skein a month and this stuff is too delicious to use in socks. I carefully selected two skeins that would work together.

I warped with the pink using a 10dent heddle.

It was my first time direct warping and it was good fun.

Then, it was time to pass threads over each other and very quickly I had the following softly plaid fabric which is so very lovely and soft. Just like a whisper.

I forgot how enjoyable the whole process is. Luckily, I should have enough yarn left over to reverse the colours and make a second scarf. I am really interested in seeing what effect this has on the look of the finished item.

I have also agreed to join Miss Elle Knits podcast KAL. The pattern is so cute and I'm using a bit of alpaca handspun. I promise some pictures later.

Finally today I shot over to Great British Yarn's new showroom. It is fantastic and Sharon is so friendly. I am hugely pleased to have a place I can visit to buy Jamieson Spindrift and Knitpicks yarn after fondling. I made a couple of purchases including a lovely pattern by Tiny Owl Knits.

Such fun.

Art yarns agogo

This weekend I had the most amazing time with a whole load of people, making new friends and learning newness. I also discovered I am better at spinning than I thought although I occassionally overspun my yarns.

I was truely excited when I discovered the owner of FeltstudioUK was hosting an art yarn workshop in my neck of the woods. I have bought lots of her lovely fibre and batts and admired her funky skeins at several shows around the UK. So, despite the fact it took place on the weekend of our wedding anniversary I booked a place and a hotel room even though the venue (Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset) is close to where I live.  I didn't want to risk getting caught in bank holiday traffic and miss a minute of the workshop. So having packed a lovely single on my bobbin, my cute Wendy wheel and large box of fibre I travelled down and stayed at the Travelodge in Ilminster.

Preparing for the workshop itself was great fun as it involved stash diving. For those who don't have a big stash (which I do) it is always great to have an excuse to rummage around and find braids and fluff that I've forgotten about.

So the day started with us all getting to know a bit about each other, although several of us have met previously. This was followed by a quick lesson on how to spin thin (my default) and thick (something I have stuggled with for a while). After that, we learnt how to make coils, twists and knots.

Coils are just totally yummy and it is great fun to make knots by jigging one of the threads up and down. So pleasing. See how cute it loots on the bobbin.

Next we spun a slub yarn. Oh, how I struggled to make this. I need more practice as some of my slubs were a bit monsterous and my poor Wendy has a small orifice which wasn't to accommodating for most of the yarns I made. But I'm quite pleased with my first efforts, especially when we made a 'bead' yarn.

That's my "beaded" yarn, the red and yellow ones in the middle.

Davasdu made the most amazing ones, they look like tribbles on a string! I also love how they co-ordinate with what she is wearing.

They make a gorgeous textured fabric. These are Rosanna's coils which she knitted up before dinner on the Saturday night.

Then it was time to add things to our yarns. I went for an understated yarn with beads plied at regular intervals. Very Tilli Tomas. I have more of the fibre and beads so will make another skein, I love it so much.

We were then shown how to spin items straight into the yarn (not using a carrier yarn).

The inclusions yarn is the one on the top and was a bit fiddly as I had to add my inclusions behind the orifice as they would not fit through. We were also shown how to add things such as silk coccoons and locks. I shall have to try these later as I wanted to finish my beaded yarn so didn't make any on the day.

The middle yarn was spun with a single thread carried at the same time. Again, I really liked this technique and will finish off the roving in the same manner. I used a lurex thread so it adds a bit of sparkle and should look lovely knit up.

The bottom yarn was made on the second day and is a core yarn. I made it from this mad batt.

After a day of fun and laughter we had all produced a table full of gorgeous and interesting yarns.

Several of us then had a delicious dinner at The Farthings Hotel which is opposite the hall hosting our workshop. Isn't it pretty? Oh, and for those that are interested I had  moules mariniere with chunky chips presented jenga style. I love mussels and so does Widowtwanky now!

 The second day of the workshop involved making batts. We arrived to a table groaning with fibre and everyone who had bought a drum carder placed it on the table. I added a whole bunch of fibre and inclusions to the table, as everyone else did.

Wow, I learnt so much about drum carding and also fell in love with the full size louet drum carder. Man that is awesome. Maybe I'll upgrade in the future but first I have to really play with my Ashford.

Lots of gorgeous batts were made and then we had a lesson on spinning core yarns. I showed you a picture of mine earlier in this post.

The batt table was the perfect chance for a photo opportunity.

From left to right - Jillybean, Mandacrafts, VickyW, Widowtwanty, FibreStudioUK, Rosanna, Huskytailbone, StrandedYarnsUK, WinghamWoolworks, Davasdu, me and NinjaBex. I've given their 'handle' and where possible a link to their site or blog. Don't worry you guys, I can remember your names, honest.


I made one final batt and yarn, which I love. It made me squeal with delight as I spun it.

It was a totally amazing weekend and, if you ever have the hankering after making art yarns, I would really recommend a FeltStudioUK workshop.

Finally, here are some shots of the final table showing lots of lovely yarns.

Aren't they just to dye for! (Pun intended DH, pun intended!)