Very Woolly Thursday

Ok, so it should be Woolly Wednesday, but I was rather busy yesterday! But despite the delay, this month has seen lots of woolly projects going on, especially with the weather being so awful! So here's my contribution to Spinspiration for this month.

Remember me wondering how to dye a green with woad and weld?  Well, I eventually gave up on trying to get my head around it, and as time was of the essence, I got the colour below with some...

...Kool-Aid!!  How anyone would ever actually drink this stuff is beyond me, it is just full of chemicals, but it does make a wonderful dye stuff, and I will save the woad and weld for some future projects.

     

 My first attempt at dyeing my own wool, it was rather nerve wracking putting my wool into this, and then heating it!  But it was also very intriguing!

It seemed like magic, when the time was up and the wool was dyed and the water was fairly clear.  I was amazed at how vivid the colour was, and all from a dubious drink!!

 

 So the leaves have been crocheted, and sewn onto the framework of wire and wool that I created.  Robin is sitting patiently on her eggs, and all I have to do is sew a few more leaves on, and I reckon a few crocheted flowers would look rather sweet too.

It's really difficult to get a good picture ofit all, as the angles are a bit strange.  But you can just see the eggs that mama bird is sitting on. Sophie is adamant that they are going to hatch into little birds.  It would be wonderful if my needle felting skills were up to creating a little baby robin, just so I could give Sophie the satisfaction of them hatching, but I really think that might be a step too far!!

 

 Other wooll-i-ness has been going on with my commissioned bag.  A friend saw the bag I made for the guild competition, and asked me to make her one.  This is as far as I have got, as the wool I had spun was spun much finer, and I've had to double up the yarn.  I am now waiting for the weather to give me a break long enough to wash some more zwartble/suffolk fleece that Dawn kindly sent me.  I reckon a nice bright pink floral lining would finish it off perfectly, along with a nice silver button for the closing, but I have yet to source those.

 In the meantime I am really rather chuffed with my stitch markers.  I've never had stitch markers, and as a result my knitting has possibly had extra stitches or rows in some places, and perhaps be missing some in other places.  So these are going to be put to good use.  A wonderful shop on Etsy supplied me with them.  I thought little Buddha's were perfect, as I do see knitting as a form of meditation and seeing the whole process from the farmer and the fields, to the sheep and the shearer, all the way through to the spinner and knitter. 

Off to see what other projects have been worked on by other Spinspiration members.  And for all you spinners out there, why not come and join us?

The Journey of the Rings

It's Spinspiration time again!!

It really is quite a journey of discovery creating these rings.  I have finished the 2-D one, I might add a few more touches to it, but am pleased enough with it.  The clam shell and fishes are crocheted and sewn on.  The grey edging (zwartble) is supposed to be a porthole that you are viewing the underwater view through.  And everything else is needle felted.  The 3-D one of the robin on a nest is hitting a few stumbling blocks, which is a shame as I was really excited by the idea of creating this.  The biggest problem has been the dyeing of the wool.  I was hoping to spin enough white Portland to then dye it with woad and weld.  Firstly I've not had enough time to spin the white, and then the whole process of dyeing using woad seems to complicated, and I never have enough time in any big enough chunk of time to get anywhere with it.  So I am contemplating spinning some green roving I have, and see if it is enough, I'm not sure it will be, but I really do want to get this done.

 The robin is headless at the moment, and is awaiting its red breast.  Time is ticking on, and I will really have to crack on with it.

The Guild have announced their new competition to be completed in time for Christmas.  A cushion cover, so I am looking forward to having an excuse to sit down with my wheel and get some serious spinning done.  I have also been browsing Ravelry for some ideas for designs.  If I can co-ordinate it with our revamp of our lounge then I can see it having pride of place on our new three-piece suite!

That's probably all the woolly news for now.  Looking forward to seeing what others have been up to this last month.

Woolly Wednesday - The Ring(s)

 The first Wednesday of the month, so that must mean it is Woolly Wednesday over at Spinspiration.  So what has February seen me doing on the woolly front?  I have been taking advantage of the warmer weather and getting some of the Portland fleece washed.  A first for me, washing a fleece, and not as bad as I thought it was going to be!  I am hoping that some of the bits come out when it is carded, at least that is how it worked with the alpaca. 

For this wool I have already washed, I have great plans!  I need some green wool for the rings that we are producing at the guild.  So in the spirit of learning new skills, I thought I would have a go at dyeing the wool I have.  So I pop along to the Guild and ask what would be the best way to get a green colour, and I get pointed in the direction of Teresinha who is a fountain of knowledge, and just happens to sell natural dyes.  She was wearing a green jumper she had dyed using weld and woad, which was the perfect colour that I was after. Next day saw me on her website ordering the necessary ingredients. 

 I haven't taken the next step yet, a bit nervous to be honest.  I am assuming that I dye it one colour, and then remordant it, as the weld and woad follow a different dyeing process, and then over dye it with the other colour.  I am also assuming dye weld first to get the yellow, and then overdye with the woad.  If anyone has any ideas on this I would be very, very grateful!!  Oh, and another question regarding dyeing.  Is it better to card the fleece first, or even spin it first?  Or do I just dye it as is?

As far as the rings are going I have done something on each of them.  The background for the seascape, for my 2-d one...

 ... and a robins nest and eggs for my 3-d attempt. 

I am looking forward to getting a bit more time to work on them, as I hope they will turn out as good as they are in my head!!

Looking forward to seeing other things people have been getting up to with wool this month.

Woolly Wednesday

 Another month already, wow!  Well, in January there have been various woolly projects on the go.  I managed to finish spinning the beautiful purple wool from Sarah.  And then plyed it.  It was such a delight to ply, seeing how the changing colours mingled with each other.  It is like a collection of purple gems. I have been known to just look at it and admire it!!  I don't know what to make with it yet, but I'm looking forward to see how it knits or crochets up. 

I have now moved back to the alpaca, but for the life of me cannot spin it thick.  I don't know if it is just my technique, or because the alpaca has little natural crimp it won't hold very well if I take too much.  So I think my plans for the chunky knit dress may have to be put on hold, either that or it will end up as a 10ply or something ridiculous like that!!

 I had a little play about with needle felting too.  Making my first three dimensional needle felting as a gift for my niece.  I am rather fond of this little bunny, even if he does have a bit of a crazed expression! 

And I am already making plans for this lovely Portland fleece from Dawn.  Just got to wait for the weather to improve a little. Some of it will be going towards my Guild ring for the National Exhibition after a bit of dying, spinning and knitting!  I've already made a start on one of the rings, but not much to show for it at the moment, hopefully by next month something will be taking shape.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to this month.

Woolly Wednesday

 Back last spring I got this lovely surprise bundle of wool from Sarah.  She had hand dyed it and sent it to me, and I have been itching to start spinning it up, but there has always been some other projects with a deadline attached, so it has stayed on the shelf, until now.  I had spun a small amount of it prior to Christmas, but once all the guests were gone, one of the first things I did was set about on the wool!  It was so lovely getting reaquainted with my wheel, which had sat collecting dust in the corner for far too long for my liking! 

This is about half of it, nearly finished the other half, and am looking forward to plying it, and seeing how the subtle changes in the colours contrast with each other. I have no idea what I am going to make with it yet, but it has been an utter pleasure working with it. 

Other woolly goodness was a needle felting set for Christmas.  I made a heart garland as a wedding present for some friends who got married just after Christmas, and as usual, with these last minute presents I forgot to take a photo!  Great fun though, and initiated my nieces into needle felting too!!

Oh, and that bag I made for the competition.  Another friend has tentatively asked Stuart if I could make her one!  Not sure if she wants handspun wool, but I hope she is patient!!

Good to be back in the land of wool!  Happy New Year to you all.

The journey

 Back in about March time, it was a bag of golden "fluff".  Not sure what kind of sheep this wool had come from, or what it had been dyed with but a bought some from a friend who had got some from a guild she attended.  Despite it being carded, it was still fairly bobbly, and quite a coarse feel to it.  But as a beginner it was great to practice on.  So it slowly moved on to this...

 ...and then got plyed...

 ...and the the Guild I attend announced a competition to make a bag, to be made for May 2012.  The golden spun wool sprang to mind, as it was really too rough for anything to be in touch with your skin.  And I fancied having a go at cable.  Found a pattern for an easy cable bag. 

 As I started knitting, ideas developed as to how to adapt the pattern, so I decided to add a wide shoulder strap, with cable down the middle and moss stitch at the side.  I also decided I wanted a flap to make the bag hold together a bit better.  I had wondered about felting it to make it more sturdy, but decided that was a risk I was not willing to take, so decided to line it instead, and this is what I have come up with.

The competition has been moved forward to this Friday, so finished just in time.  I know there is no chance of winning, as I am only in my first year of spinning, but hey, I am so proud of my first proper make with my homespun wool. 

I am joining in with both Ginny and Spinspiration this week, and figure this covers both.  But as for reading, there have been way too many deadlines to meet to be able to settle to anything!!

Questions, questions, questions!

 I'll start with my successes!  I have finished spinning that gold coloured wool for the guild competition, even if I have changed my mind over the pattern I am going to use, as I don't think there will be enough yarn there.  Which leads me to my first question regarding this.  How do you work out if you have enough wool to cover a project?  How do you determine whether it is DK or Aran weight?  How do you determine yardage?  And finally, how the heck do you get it into those nice neat balls I see around?  I asked at the Guild about equipment, and whether ball-winders were a good buy, and the answer I got was basically they use a broom handle!  Fine, but how do you use a broom handle? 

Next project... Alpaca wool.  I have started to card the alpace fleece I have, and it is very rewarding, to create these bundles of barely discernable softness, but my goodness, it is time consuming!  I have some hand carders, and I am thinking it may take me all year just to card it all, let alone spin it and make something!

 Just look at all this I have to get through...

 ...and this!

So is there a technique to speed up this process, or do I just need to invest in a drum carder?  Answers on a postcard please! ;)

Woolly Wednesday - spin, spin, spin

 Well, what have I been up to this last month?  A fair amount of spinning actually!  I got some unknown wool from a friend, which had been carded on a drum carder, there are however, some bobbles in it.  Don't know whether that is due to the type of wool, the age of the wool, or the carding.  It made it quite difficult to spin into a regular yarn,

 The stuff on this bobbin doesn't look too bad, but at times it would really get very bobbly, and I was unsure whether I'd be able to do anything decent with it.  However, once plyed it has created quite a pretty yarn.  Too rough to use as clothing, but I'm going to try my hand at cable knitting, and make myself a bag or two with it, as I still have alot of fleece to spin!  Is there a way of getting bobbles out of carded wool?  Or does it basically need re-carding?  Not that I will with this, as I quite like the effect, but for future reference it would be handy to know.

 I also acquired some zwartble wool from Dawn (thanks Dawn!).  I have been able to try my hand at carding, after picking up some carders that were slight seconds, from a link on Spinspiration a while ago.

 I was able to get some lovely fluffy clounds of zwartble wool.

 Looks like I might have another source of spinning fibre too!  No Luke, it isn't a hair brush!!

 The wool once spun looks like it might be my first "proper" looking yarn. I'm beginning to feel I am getting the hang of this!

Woolly Wednesday- Getting underway

My first knitted project with own spun wool!  It is spun merino tops that was the first attempt I made at spinning.  My technique was awful, but it did actually turn out to be a lovely single ply fancy wool to knit with.  There was only just enough to make this knitted coaster, which still needs to be felted.  But I will look forward to putting my drinks (very carefully) down on my first lot of spinning!!

My second lot of spinning was some lovely brown and white wool that came in a bag of waste wool from World of Wool.  I have no idea what it is, but it is lovely and soft!  Anyhow, whilst spinning this my spinning improved tremendously, and I became far more consistent, so I have another fancy wool, I plied two bobbins together, and I have some bits that are thick plied with thin, or thin plied with thin.  Will have to think what to do with it! Plying it raised a few questions for me.  What do you do when one bobbin runs out, and you still have some wool left on the other?  Is there any way of splitting the remaining wool between two bobbins, so you can ply the rest of it?  Or do you just have to keep it as single ply? 

Another thing that has become apparent, as I am loving spinning, but keep wondering what to do with all the yarn I am creating.  Do you spin with a project in mind?  Or just spin to process the fleece, and hope a project comes to you at some point! 

And just look what came in the post the other day!  A complete surprise from the wonderful Sarah.  She has been busy dyeing and thought I would appreciate some lovely wool to practice with.  Thank you, I will look forward to spinning this, and hope to do it justice!