Results of the Tour de Fleece 2013.
I didn’t get as much done as I wanted, but I’m happy with what I was able to accomplish. Total spinning time was just over 23 hours for the month.
Category Archives: Crafts
A quick update from Haliburton
Evening everyone. I’m having a blast here in Haliburton taking my class.
Today is Day 4 of the Tour de Fleece. So far I’m on track – I’ve spun at least 30 minutes each day and am still going strong!
I brought along the BFL / Silk batts from The Cupcake Fiber Company to spin during my trip. This is in the picture above. The bobbin on the wheel is the second bobbin. The remaining fiber for the second bobbin is on the right hand side of the box. The first bobbin is in the box and it’s remaining fibre is on the left side of the box.
Day 1 – Corespun 60g of fibre (1 bag) of the fibre for my guild spinning challenge
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Day 3 – Spun 4g of the BLF / Silk batts onto the second bobbin
There is 4oz of the BFL / Silk left to spin. I’ll be working on one of the balls for the first bobbin for most of this week. It will probably take about 6 – 7 hours to spin up each ball.
Have a great week everyone and talk to you all on Thursday.
Catching up with the past
I’m finally working through my backlog of old pattern designs that haven’t been published.
Most of these were started in 2008 – 2010, but they never got to the stage where I could put in enough time to get them finished.
I’m getting them test knitted and tech edited over the next couple months. The plan is to try and release one or two a month starting in August and get them all out by the end of the year.
In the mean time I’m working on a couple new designs and I hope to finally get some of the sweaters I’ve made written up. The sweaters are going to be interesting, as I haven’t written a pattern for one before and getting all the different sizes will be a challenge. I figure after the first one is done things will be easier.
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I also have a couple articles and patterns that I’m trying to get published in magazines. We’ll see how those turn out as I hear back from the editors. Crossing my fingers!
Here is a sneak peak of some of the new patterns coming up.
Fibre related videos that I like
These are some instructional and documentary videos that I like.
Instructional
A Knitting Glossary – with Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen
A really great compendium of knitting techniques by two of my favourite knitters.
Spin Art Video – with Jacey Boggs
I really like this video. Jacey gives very clear instructions on how to create these fun textured yarns.
Color and Yarn Design for Spinners – with Deb Menz
A good introduction to colour theory and using colour in spinning.
Respect the Spindle – with Abby Franquemont
A good introduction to spinning with spindles.
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This gives a really good overview of the major types of looms available and covers setup and maintenance of looms.
Documentaries
In Search of Lost Colour
A good overview of major natural dyes, including some history of the dyes, how synthetic dyes have displaced them and the resurgence dyers using natural dyes. It shows dyeing with natural dyes, but doesn’t go into much detail on the dyeing processes. Trailer.
Indigo: A World of Blue
A very good overview of indigo, its history and modern uses. It shows dyeing with indigo but doesn’t give instructions on creating or caring for indigo vats. Trailer.
BLUE ALCHEMY: Stories of Indigo
Another good overview of Indigo. This one shows more methods of how indigo is created and shows traditions from Africa, South America, India and Japan. Trailer.
Real Men Knit
This is a documentary I took part in that came out in 2006. A good overview of the then emerging knitting scene for men. One small confession – the shawl you can see me knitting on in the trailer is a long standing WIP that will likely be ripped out.
Hands on creativity
Niagara Falls, Canadian side. 2003. Pinhole photograph.
A lot of my life has been doing things creatively with my hands that are visual in nature.
I love being able to create things that people can see and enjoy. I like being able to get right to the heart of a craft and learn it so I can use it to express myself.
During the late 90’s, early 00’s I did photography as a hobby and a small business. I was a member of a cooperative gallery in Toronto called Gallery 44 – Centre for Contemporary Photography. I took part in several group shows and had two solo exhibitions with them.
During that period I gained a love of old photographic and alternative processes.
One thing I really liked were pinhole cameras. I built myself one out of black foamcore. It was designed with a simple shutter mechanizm that I could control and it could be strapped onto a brace that had a screwmount on it to attach to a tripod. The back of the camera held a 4×5 film holder. I marked the sides of the box with guidemarks so I could compose the picture fairly well before making the exposure.
My last solo show was in 2002 and it was a mixed media show. I had six or seven pinhole photographs on the wall and a series of knitted articles that were featured in or related to to the photographs.
Gallery show, Blue sweater in foreground with photographs behind.
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One piece in the show was a large skein of yarn, looped over a rod, that was being knitted into a scarf. I tried to come in each day at lunch or after work and do a few rows on the scarf. I also made the needles from wood dowels topped off with glass beads. I finished half of the scarf during the time of the show.
The two main knitted pieces were a sweater I had made for my ex partner and one I had made for myself. His sweater is the one you see as my banner image. You can see a picture of him wearing that sweater here.
The sweaters were hung from the ceiling, facing each other, like they were having a conversation. People could walk between them to get a closer look and to also maybe get a sense of what the conversation might have been.
All the photographs were taken around Toronto. Most of them were showing me knitting on an item that was displayed. An example was me knitting on the sleeve of my sweater sitting on the ledge of the stairs at Union Station. The picture of the other sweater was the one exception. The sweater was already finished and the picture was me wrapped up in it at my old house.
Most of the pictures took between 3 and 20 minutes to expose. I usually tried to time my knitting so I could finish at least one row during the exposure.
In the first photograph I believe I was knitting on a shawl, sitting on the fountain in St. James Gardens, King Street East between Church and Jarvis Street. In the second photograph I was knitting on a scarf sitting on the whale statues at 121 King Street West.
A weekend in the country
It’s summer here in Canada. Time to start heading to the cottage on the weekends and summer vacations and time for a little guide on fibre fun you can bring along.
General thoughts
Keep your projects small and light. Bring several! Have things you can do while traveling and ones for when you are at your destination. Variety is good! Pack things in sealable containers or ziplock bags to keep them from the elements, especially if you are camping.
Knitting
Small and simple knitting projects are great to bring along, like socks, hats, scarves and mittens. Travel time is a great time to work on your projects.
Spinning
Spindles are great for traveling with. Supported spindles, like a Russian spindle (or here) or a Takhli, can be used in the car during traveling.
If you are staying at a cottage or someplace indoors then a folding spinning wheel is also an option. Most should fit in the trunk or back seat.
Fibre prep is something you can also do. Hand cards and a dog brush are pretty portable. You can go through a bunch of fleece in no time on a relaxing evening.
Dyeing
Dyeing can be a fun activity for the whole family. Before going you can do research with the kids to find out what plants are available where you are going and figure out which ones you want to try. Once there you can get them to help gather and prepare the materials and help out with the dyeing.
My partner and I sometimes do natural dyeing when we are up at the cottage. We bring the dyepots, mordant, stir sticks and fibre/yarn with us. I would suggest using only Alum and cream of tarter, as these have the least impact on the environment. Also, make sure to only use as much mordant as needed for the amount of fibre you are working with. This will reduce the amount of left over mordant that will be disposed of.
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We use either lake water or spring water from up the road. We use the propane stove in the kitchen, but you could also use a campfire to do the dyeing. You have to watch closely with a campfire to make sure the dyepot doesn’t boil.
We usually collect our dye materials from the area. A good rule of thumb is to never collect more than 10% of a plant in any given area. For example, if using leaves, only take leaves from 1 or 2 branches of a tree and spread out your collection over a large area.
Used plant material can be used for compost or spread out in the bush to decompose. Left over mordant baths can be disposed of onto sandy areas, like a dirt road away from the house and septic system. Do not pour it down the drain into the septic system! Left over dyebath can usually be disposed of this way as well. Make sure to dilute both baths with a lot of water before getting rid of them.
Weaving
There are several very portable options for weaving and traveling
Weavettes and small weaving frames
These are very portable hand help frames. The small ones are great for working on while traveling! You can whip off a square in 15 – 30 minutes.
Backstrap looms and ground looms
These can be setup before you leave and used once you get to your destination.
Weighted warp loom
This is a very simple version of a weighted warp loom. All the material can be kept in a medium sized container.
Colour my world
I love working with colour in my designs and in my projects. I’m such a magpie for beautifully hand dyed yarns and fibres.
Using colours and choosing colours is a skill that I have built up over the years. It has taken me a long time to learn what works and how to “see” what a colour is.
I’m more confident now in my colour sense then I was even just five years ago. I’ve done a fair bit of dyeing and colour sampling in that period and I’m finally at a stage where I can look at an object and start figuring out what components the colour is made of.
These days, I love just playing with colour, seeing what I can come up with, rather than getting stressed out and all technical about it.
Back in the late 90’s, early 00’s I did photography as a hobby. I worked mostly in black and white, as I understood that more. I did print in colour, but it was more difficult and more expensive.
One tool from colour photo printing that can help dyers is a Color Print Viewing Filter Kit. These are cards with gels in cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green and blue, with three different densities of colour on each card. You use these filters by holding them in front of you eyes and viewing the object you are working on. You can then compare what you are seeing to the colour you want to replicate. I found these very useful when I was printing colour photographs because I didn’t yet have enough of a colour sense to be able to figure out what I needed to do to get to the colour I wanted.
I work with both chemical dyes and natural dyes. I like natural dyes more. They give more complex colours and they often impart distinct aromas to the yarn. I also enjoy being able to go out and gather many plant materials to do my own dyeing.
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These are some samples of things I have dyed over the years.
Silk hankies dyed in weak acid dyes. I dyed these last year for classes I was teaching on spindle spinning silk. These were dyed in mason jars filled with dye and steamed in a large canning jar for 45 minutes.
These were dyed as part of a natural dyeing class taught by Harriet Boon. The three primaries were Cochineal (red), Osage orange (yellow) and Saxon blue (blue), which is derived from indigo.
The secondary colours were made by dyeing in one colour and then over dyeing in a second colour. The secondary colours are arranged so that the colour they were overdyed with is the one they are closer to. For example – in the greens, the one closest to the blue was first dyed in Osage orange then in the Saxon blue, the one closest to the yellow was first dyed in Saxon blue then in Osage orange. We did it this way so we could see the difference that the order of dyeing would have on the final colour.
These are socks made from a batch of yarns that my partner and I dyed up at the cabin on Lake Fletcher. The yarn was pre-mordanted in tin. The light colour is from Black Locust seed pods and the dark colour is from Mountain Ash leaves with a copper mordant added to the dye pot. The skein was treated with an ammonia after bath.
The skein was dyed by putting a little over half the skein in the first dye pot and then doing the same on the other end in the other dye pot. There is an overlap of about two inches that has both colours.
Some of my favourite fibres
I’ve spun quite a lot of different fibres over the last ten years. I haven’t met one that I absolutely hate. There are many, like man made fibres, that I’m not fond of, and others, like angora, dog and cat, that I’m allergic to in varying degrees. I’ll spin them – I just don’t find it enjoyable.
Angora is one I wish I wasn’t allergic to. I react to it fairly quickly. Being around a bunny for 15 minutes will get me quite stuffed up. Working with the fibre may take less time then that. If I know I’m going to be spinning with Angora I’ll take an antihistamine a few hours before starting to spin.
This is a small list of my top fibres to spin with.
Wool
Polwarth is a wonderful wool to work with. It is bred from Merino and Lincoln sheep. It is almost as soft as Merino, with extra length in the fibres coming from the Lincoln heritage. I find it a bit easier to spin then Merino because of the length. It gives a soft, springy, cushy yarn. Most of the sheep are white, but it does come in other grey and black shades.
It blends nicely with other fine fibres. I especially love polwarth and silk blends.
This is my second year project for my spinning certificate program. It is the Pretty Thing Cowl by The Yarn Harlot. It is made from light and medium grey Polwarth. This started as raw fibre, was washed, flicked open and combed to give a light top. It was then spun worsted on my Lendrum wheel to make a 2 ply lace-weight yarn.
These are a couple examples of spindle spun projects I have made with Polwarth and silk blends. The scarf is a 2-ply worsted weight yarn. The hat is a 3-ply worsted weight yarn.
Other animal fibres
Alpaca
There are two main types of Alpaca: Huacaya, which have a fine, dense, somewhat crimpy lock, and Suri, which have a long, dreadlock like locks.
Both of these come in a variety of natural shade, with multiple shades and spotting possible. Huacaya are the most common in North America, with a few breeders raising Suris.
The fibre can range from very fine micron counts to fairly course. Fibre fineness is usually fairly consistent on an animal.
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Alpaca and silk is one of my favourite blends. Suri alpaca and silk can make very luxurious lace yarns.
This is a shawl I made from a blend of 67% grey Huacaya alpaca top and 33% bombyx silk top. It is a 2-ply yarn. The silk I used was a handpainted top in two colourways. One was a mixture of blue tones, the other of red tones. I carded the alpaca and silk on handcards to make rolags to spin from. The blends with the blue silk mix I re-arranged to make a colour progression of grey, denin blue and purple. I left the rolags from the red mix in the order they were carded, so there is more of a mix of shades for those rolags. I spun up the blue mix as one ply and the red mix as the other, then plied them together. The result was kind of a watercolour affect.
Mohair
Mohair from Angora Goats is another fibre I like working with. I don’t often spin 100% mohair, but use it in blends with other fibres. It adds strength, warmth and lustre to blends.
Kid mohair is usually the finest fibre. It is from the first and sometimes second shearing of the goat. After that it usually is considered adult mohair. The fibre generally gets courser as the animal ages.
I fell in love with Mohair when I started using yarns and fibres from Wellington Fibres. They have several very yummy blends, including alpaca/wool/mohair and mohair/wool/silk blends. The silk blends are pretty neat. The silk is added in as a streak of fibre, rather then being fully blended in. It gives a nice highlight when spun up.
This is not my own handspun, but it is something I plan on spinning one day. The red sock on the very right is made from Wellington Fibres fine 3-ply sock yarn. It is a 60% mohair, 40% wool blend, about 380 yards per 113g / 4oz skein. It was made on 2mm / US 0 needles at 10 sts / inch. The pattern is Nancy Bush‘s Gentleman’s Fancy Sock from her book Knitting Vintage Socks.
Silks
There are several silks available to spinners today, but Tussah and Muga are my favourites. Their fibres has a bit more of a tooth on them than Bombyx silk and they are easier to spin because of that. The fibre also tends to be a little shorter – between 4 and 5 inches long, then bombyx, which is usually 6 to 9 inches long.
Both fibres are naturally coloured. Tussah is a nice honey colour and Muga is a rich golden colour. Tussah also comes in a bleached version, which usually isn’t as soft as non-bleached. Tussah dyes up wonderfully with both natural and chemical dyes. Muga can also be dyed, but it requires a little more work as the surface doesn’t allow dyes to penetrate as well as Tussah.
This shawl is spindle spun Tussah silk that was handpainted by Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks. The singles were spun on a spindle and wound onto a spinning wheel bobbin when the spindle became to full. Additional full spindles worth were attached after that. The singles where then chain plyed from the bobbin onto a plying drop spindle to give a final 3-ply yarn that included long colour sections.
Video blog day – Welcome to the Display Room!
Today I’m taking you through a tour of the Display Room from the Ontario Handspinning Seminar 2013 that happened June 14 – 16, 2013.
You can continue the tour by going to the following videos:
Baggie Challenge table
Skeins for next year
Special Projects Competition
Skeins Competition pt.1
Skeins Competition pt.2
Just for Fun! tables
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I worked on the display committee this year with one other woman. There is minimal work over the months before the seminar. Most of the work is done at the seminar.
Before the seminar we take care of finding judges for the competitions and planning the layout of the display room. We make sure all the materials needed for displays were passed along to us, gather additional display materials as needed and print updated signs for the current years displays. We also update various forms for the competitions, judges, Just for Fun and Fashion Show items.
During the weekend we are responsible for taking in items for display and competition, setting up the room and displays, helping the competition judges, watching over the displays during public times, helping during the fashion show, getting the items back to the owners and clearing up the display area. Thankfully we have great volunteers helping the two of us with all of this!
We were also responsible for creating the awards certificates, gathering up all the prizes, taking pictures of the winning items, updating the slide presentation for the awards ceremony and handing out the certificates and prizes at the ceremony.
I had an awesome time being on this committee! You do work long hours at the seminar, but it’s so worth it to be able to see all the amazing work that comes it. Plus we are the lucky ones who get to handle all the items and get a good look at them.
Ontario Handspinning Seminar – live and kicking!
By the time you read this we’ll all be busy and having a lot of fun!
I’m at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar this weekend. I’m working on the display and judging committee, so I get to help setup all the fantastic items people bring in to display. There is always truly stunning works to see.
This years theme is Spinning Tales. We are using stories as inspiration for the classes and events happening this weekend.
For example
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALANNA WILCOX
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When spinners select a handpainted roving to spin sometimes it can be a mystery if the yarn will come out as beautiful as the roving or look beastly with colors that clash. In this workshop students will explore 12+ different ways of spinning a handpainted roving to get color combinations that are visually pleasing for their desired end use. Students are expected to be comfortable spinning a continuous yarn at their wheel, know how to ply yarns, and card wool using hand carders.Alanna Wilcox is an art teacher by day and a fibre artist by night. She has always loved the fibre arts and got into spinning 8 years ago and has been hooked ever since. In her spare time she makes and sells her handcarded batts on Etsy as ‘Spinnybuns’. She is also currently enrolled in the OHS Spinning Certificate Program.
On Monday I will have some pictures and (hopefully!) a little video from the weekend.
Till then have a great weekend! I know I will!