Early stages of le Tour de Fleece 2019

We are off & spinning as they ride the Tour de France!

A practical Grand Depart

This starting picture has all the openings for a flexible 2019 Tour de Fleece with favorite containers.  It is very sensible; let me count the ways.  On any given stage we could:

• Ply from the outer-pull balls in my WIP jar or the long-standing cotton on my Andean low whorl (back, Jennie the Potter mug);
• Leave the house with either the Zwartables wool for the Jenkins Delight or mohair for the captive ring Andean spindle;
• Love on some luxury with Muga silk for the Pau Amarillo Hounddesign or merino/alpaca/camel/silk for the holly Tabachek top-whorl; and/ or
• Be good and finish the Targhee spinning already on my Blue Mahoe Bosworth.

So naturally, I immediately changed a section of this most sensible plan… as in on the morning of Stage 1 immediately.

Impulsive aren’t I?

Rather than continuing to spin the Targhee wool from Sheepy Time Knits as last discrete sets of 3-ply, I took the 23 g of ‘The Water’ and am blending it with the 31 g of grey from ‘Carol Danvers’.

New look for the Malcolm Fielding pocket Dervish

This is my end of Stage 1 picture.  Not shown is the Jenkins Delight that came with us to the movies that afternoon.

The supported spindle is a Malcolm Fielding ‘Dervish’ Tibetan-style in Silky Oak with a Dymondwood shaft, 0.9 oz.  It was in out-takes of blog posts but also mostly unused since I bought it new in 2014.

Stage 2, slightly expanding the spins

Yesterday we received word that a dear family friend who had a long illness passed away.  She had been in hospice care, and went peacefully without pain.  I am grieving her loss, and sad to be away from family and friends.

It is good to be spinning with Team Spindlers, and also to pause & write here while Ty is at his day camp.  Maybe I will card some more of the two Targhee tops before an appointment this afternoon.

 

 

 

The practical Tour de Fleece, a plan

We are fresh off a happy-go-lucky Canada Day weekend, and thoughts are finally coming together for the Brussels Grand Départ.

Summer sidekick: captive ring Peruvian pushka

The Tour de Fleece is a great container for new approaches to stash & tool.  This year Le Tour rides from this Saturday, July 6th – 28th, and celebrates its first century.

In terms of a plan, I have been fairly stuck.  Are you?  Clearing spins was supposed to help, and the shiny new Female Heroes Club braid did but I have still been a little lost and a lot tired.  Then early yesterday in a bored moment of waiting for N, I put this new spin together.  It is just a scrap of mohair top and an under-used captive-ring pushka from Peru.

In spite of greedy mosquitoes we enjoyed this stop

After our morning walk, I got spinning time with the gentle chak-chak of the ring, and I am moving through the scrap of mohair.  This spindle has a history of 2 great summery parenting spins, and now I am taking it on the Tour either with other scraps or to continue this first undyed Corriedale wool top project.

A very nice challenge spin aeons ago

This is a September 2016 spin that I completed quickly while helping with a Spindlers’ group monthly challenge and then folded on.

Sweet Corriedale balance

Folded so heavily that I did not share this 50 g of fibre turned approx. 226 yards of 2-ply delight.  It was an intense time at home, and I can look back now and admire that skein all the more knowing what I had on my plate as it were.

Last of my Ent Batts!

The next & last spin with these spindles was of beautifully hand-carded Ent Batts “Coffee & Cream” through summer 2017.

Coffee & Cream skeins

The 2-ply skeins measure 258 yards, and are still in stash.  This was the last in an incredible run of batt sets that are no longer in production but brought much joy across different spindles.  This ‘Coffee & Cream’ is a blend of Corriedale & Merino wools with soy-silk.

The whimsy factor

Each TdF can use a touch of whimsy, and mine will be thanks to the long percolating flax thoughts.

Published by Crowing Hen Farm

Helping to Kickstart Raven Ranson’s book, “Homegrown Linen – transforming flaxseed into fibre,” did not disappoint when I had to place the single flax plant on Canada Day.

On a whim, “Hello, flax plant.”

It is tucked behind some rampantly self-seeding Black-eyed Susans and has kept on blooming each morning.  I noted the ritual involved in preparing the soil for fibre flax, and had at our very own strong clay with a view to creating this new-to-me word tilth.

We may not be in perfect tilth but I did break every clod, remove all of the stones, give it the best of the compost bin, etc.  It is at the very least encouraged to be showy for the next few weeks.

With no flax preparation tools, growing won’t be my whimsy focus anytime soon but this fibre flax for local linen is where I’d love to land.

Actual beautiful fibre flax

These 2 stricks of line flax are from the Black Cat Farmstead.  It was grown in Stockholm, WI at both their property & A to Z Produce and Bakery.  I was happy to see that it was processed at the Taproot Fibre Lab, Port Williams, Nova Scotia.

There are still ifs involved in spinning flax but it is on my bucket list.  We are not just heading from a season of stress but into a slew of appointments that will have their own challenges.  A little whimsy won’t hurt.

The rub is having the energy to spin line flax at night, moving everything for the morning.  It is easier now to have wheels out in our living space but narrower project rotation has evolved for a reason.  It may just ultimately be a nod to whimsy but these are the thoughts!

Happy planning!

 

Weaving the weaving in – Swedish Anna cotton towels

Woven with love, hemmed in the fullness of time

The simple idea to keep weaving after the handspun scarf brought the second Joanne Hall designed kit off my shelf & onto the Mighty Wolf’s beams.  One is in our kitchen, and these 2 are shipped to loved ones.

For Keisha and she says that it matches their kitchen

This kit was expertly wound, tied and had a 3×3 cross that cannot be blamed for my threading error in a mid-yellow stripe!  Herringbone over 12 threads, and at 24 ends per inch.

At the relaxed stage of a walk

Through spring, and now the beginning of summer, I went in for longer-than-usual morning walks.  Life this school year took a very troubling turn, and the walks are after Ty starts his day; while I need to order mine in some peace.

Best light

One right step after another, I began to see the days differently, choose new ways, and wonder why I ever rushed home via the shortcut in the first place.

Minerva Masham awaits her end use

The spindles’ WIP jar is noticeably clearer now but knits have fallen by the wayside.  These are heavy topics that I feel in my body – something had to give.

Ty’s first loom dressed with all the colours!

As I set about weaving a retirement gift for Mom (only about 3 design rounds with her!) we have a new weaver in the house.  This is a Harrisville Designs Potholder Loom, and Ty is closing his eyes to choose a loop for each pick to meet his well thought-out warp.

Flax for the garden

A gem from the local farmer’s market, yesterday:  flax.  If only for the beautiful blooms but I am going to enjoy every second with this single plant!

In keeping with those walks, I am trying new ways of doing things.  It is a watershed year.  The good news is that support is coming.  One professional told me last week that I am ahead of others at the same point.  I scoffed and then took it back, thanking her for a compliment.

The Tour de Fleece is coming up now, and I am riding with Team Spindlers.  It is good to participate again and I will be going gently with myself.

Elizabeth Bennet, I have plans for you

The spindle plying work is all well and good but my Tabachek Holly spindle really does need to see some Female Heroes club love, don’t you think?  The label has the most wonderful run of words together: merino/alpaca/camel/silk.

This and WIPs will round out my Tour plans.  The wheels are also busy but one team is all I can manage this summer.

Scissors meet handspun – a twill scarf

The year is unfolding in tough & unexpected ways.  As we work hard to adjust, meet these challenges, I have been pressed out of regular posting as just one result.  By Eastertime, I wanted to pivot and weave something beautiful.

Out came Sarah Jordan’s stunning handspun merino/tencel that I won from her summer 2015 Shawl for All knit-along.

Prized! Handspun yarn by Sarah Jordan, PAKnitWit

Four years ago!  The KAL was hosted in Sarah’s Ravelry group, Knit/Wit Designs Fans and this was not just a happy prize but a real honour to have Sarah’s yarn.

Sarah’s yarn on its way to the loom

Close examining with a yarn wrap & Ashenhurst calculation led me to a sett of 16 ends per inch.  Sarah’s yarn is 3,154 yards per pound.  The plan was simple – to warp along plain weave lines for a finer (4,480 YPP) wool weft and weave a 3-shaft point twill structure.

An Easter improvement plan – threading Sarah’s yarn

There was enough to wind a 3-yard long warp, go 14.5″ wide in the reed, and proceed to sample wefts but carefully!

Can you see me smiling – scarf start!

The weft experiments in the header led me to the 2/16 light grey lambswool from WEBS.  The draft itself is from “Linen Heirlooms” by Constance Gallagher, p. 54 taken from a 19th century linen cloth.

Erica de Ruiter’s voice is what carried me through to using this draft, however:

Three-shaft twills have a better drape than plain weave but their structure is slightly tighter, and they have less take-up than four-shaft twills, thus producing a lighter weight fabric (see “Weaving on 3 Shafts“, page 5).

That was convincing enough for napkins let alone this handspun project, and I was well & sold on the idea.

Sheen, drape, pattern YES!

This below is the face of the cloth as I wove it.  After wet finishing the wool weft has receded to the reverse leaving the beautiful warp colourway dominant on one side.

Pattern shows as texture on right side with warp stripes

The fringe buckled when I finished the scarf before twisting.  Ty strongly suggested that I should not trim the ends.  They are scraggly but soft!

Weaving selfie smile

One small detail is that I threaded the full 12-end repeats, and this gave double shaft 1 ends that I wove in the same way (tromp as writ).  It modifies the twill to a little basket, and that probably has helped the drape.  It gave the weaving a good rhythm for this small motif.

Cutting Sarah’s yarn was harder than cutting mine but I am glad that I braved the process!

Inn on the Twenty, Jordan, Ontario

Weekend before last, N & Ty took me to visit the Fibre Garden in Jordan, Ontario.  After lunch at the local cafe, I fell in love with the Inn on the Twenty’s window boxes.

Spinning is getting a lot of love right now – the tv-room is crowded with my wheels & spindle projects are also moving forward.  The Falkland wool top that I got from the Fibre Garden is already improved with Logwood.  The kitchen is a crowded mess but purple!

Logwood dyed combed Falkland wool top

The darker purple fibre will hopefully play well with my recently (May 3rd) finished sequence of Blink from the 2019 Female Heroes Fiber Club + Paint It Black by Sheepy Time Knits.

Blink met Paint It Black for a sweater spin (3-ply)

Mandie’s club continues to delight.  That I also got to cook-up Logwood dye liquor is a wonderful bonus!

Early spring Forsythia

Spinning, weaving, even prep work is happening thanks to walks that I have started to take after dropping Ty off at school.  There’s been fatigue, crowded thoughts, and the walks help a treat.

Four-strand cable creation with Babydoll Southdown wool

Should my mojo for sharing ‘impossible yarn’ production that takes place around here, I would like to explain about this ongoing 4-strand cable idea from the Olde English Babydoll Southdown fleece.

For now we have these rolags that were a delight to spin against prevailing ideas that I hear being (wrongly, strongly & ever so cutely) offered to new spinners as our placeholder.

 

Handspun hello – big finishes

Fresh out of the blocking pins is my Lacymmetry shawl reveal.  It’s come through an antique flax wheel, madder dye bath, and knitting with 4 posts here on the Knit Knack, phew!

Lace selfie

Wireless headphones on during Ty’s ‘quiet time,’ and I was smiling along to Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn’s music.  More solid FO pictures may yet happen but this was a busy weekend and now we are getting our roof replaced.

Warm but light BFL/silk knitted lace shawl

The dots of shine in the larger lace holes (double yarnovers) are the gold 8/2 Miyuki beads that I mentioned in my post last month.  In this design they are on 1 side of the asymmetrical triangle.

While still pinning the wet shawl on my mats, Ty came in, approved & added, “… it’s just like a pizza slice!”  Kiddo sees negative space as pattern!

The beads are the cheese, and the big holes are the pepperoni.

Ty, age 7

Project is forever to be a.k.a. irieknit’s Handspun Lacymmetry aka Pizza Slice shawl.

Creative licence says it’s a wearable pizza slice and who are we to argue?

In the last beading stitch, I used a ceramic starfish.  It is pink and sits to the upper left of this image.

Wet blocked for length

It took around 1.5 hours to secure the wet shawl in this hard blocking.  The triangle type is different from the pattern sample for 2 reasons.  First, I ran out of yarn with more than the recommended stitches remaining to the left of my marker.  Those vertical stripes changed things.  Second, I blocked for depth and did not match the pattern’s schematic.

Blocked to this obtuse type of triangle my Lacymmetry is a similar width at 61″ and much deeper at 49.5″ compared to Naomi Parkhurst’s sample.  I used all of my yarn at around 646 yards.  The pattern sample uses less at 610 yards.

A shimmer of gold beads, why not?

Working with one-of-a-kind handspun also changed the ‘pepperoni’ side’s edge.  In the grips of yarn chicken, I did a basic cast-off.  It is straight and not scalloped as a result.

Handknit love: a handspun baby gift

A little over a half of the Mother of Dragons BFL yarn (mid-September 2018 TKK post in link) is for a bouncing baby boy cousin.

Stormborn Baby Surprise Jacket in handspun BFL

With 3.5 mm needles, I had 5 stitches per 1″ of garter.  It was a big decision to use this yarn.  Knitting a gift is a personal dicey affair for me the knitter with millspun let alone handspun yarn.

All of the ideas were good here. Handspinning win!

The subtle shift of the blues in Mandie’s colourway that I spun as a 3-ply yarn more than convinced me that this was a great use of my yarn.  The new parents of baby E are thrilled but maybe on less geeky grounds!

Knits mostly but also some handwoven for babies/ kids has spanned the last decade here.  Responses are all over the map, and I found there is nothing for it but to make them when prompted to make.  Four days of avid knitting, more to get a card + cute HBC mitts for these US-based folks, packaging, pictures together and all for a baby you wish dearly to outgrow the jacket.  It’s bananas!

When the parents weren’t really staying in your circle anyway (e.g. last December kid’s wool hat effort, sigh) the heart of it is that a little person has value added in the hands to use for that time of their childhood.  If not lost & preserved for the memory of it as well.  That’s the point.  You hope for more but know it’s fleeting at best.

Zwartables wool gracing the Lark Turkish-style Jenkins spindle

Let go; make more!

 

 

 

Mid-winter morning and two types of lacework

Yesterday brought our 3rd winter storm in as many weeks.  It’s been a mess of snow days in already shorter school weeks that has knocked my craft life for six.

For several reasons Ty & I have needed time-off for more unstructured time together, however.  This boon has kept the cabin fever feeling from setting-in but I hope there are no other Colorado lows on the way!

Prettier than the car

The impact of 24-hour long winter storms hitting mid-week each week aside we are safe & warm through it all, so far.

Ice upon ice this morning

All-over lace shawl update

The Lacymmetry shawl only saw the inside of a project bag between early November and 3 Saturdays ago.

A growing Lacymmetry handspun shawl

The shawl transitions once 2/3 knitted to a ‘diamond’ lace motif that shows strongly with its double yarn-overs.  I paused at the transition point, and am now 7 repeats into this second, final section.

Starting at the 2nd of these repeats, I decided to add gold duracoated 8/2 Miyuki beads on a single return row in the ‘diamond’ lace motifs.

Forming diamond lace with beads hidden

The designer is Naomi Parkhurst of String Geekery, and I love how she advances the diamond lace 3 times evenly in each ‘diamond’ lace repeat.  The beads are highlighting this diagonal advance sequence.  It’s fun to knit!

How I place these beads is with a 0.6 mm metal crochet hook.  My handspun BFL/silk yarn is gently thin to thick, and it can be slower to fit the beads.  They are getting on there with persistence so far… fingers crossed?

Working with this madder orange dyed yarn is also a push back to the dyepots… hopefully soon!

Another kind of lace update – weaving Swedish Lace sampler

Shortly after my last TKK post, I did wet finish the table loom Swedish lace sampler.  I am not quite done gasping but can share the results.

Test of contrast weft in Swedish lace (weft floats)

This 1st section of the sampler is better than I expected while weaving.  That said, it is really much more appealing with white on the white warp.  They (every book & my workshop teacher) told me so!

Okay, traditional, I see why now

The sampler was not finished schooling my(over-excited)self.  Oh no, it was not.

Woah Swedish lace windows, and maybe never with contrast weft then.

Not for napkins was coming through very clearly by this time.  This is the section where I wove turning the weft and warp floats regularly in their A-B blocks as writ.

You may notice that I had a warp-wise (threading) mistake.  The napkins were to be in finer unmercerized cotton (16/2).  I am considering keeping blue weft on white warp but changing to an 8-shaft crackle structure.  Exploring crackle is a definite interest.

For now the loom is closed as I dig-out from storms and continue the Jane Stafford on-line lessons when possible.

Four ounces of Norwegian wool top in singles form!

These lessons & outings around town allowed me to finish spinning this other 4 oz of Norwegian top dyed by Mandie of Sheepy Time Knits.  The 5 singles balls will probably be chain-plied like the 1st set was.

We are also up a kid-sized Honey Cowl/ down a braid of Rambouillet wool from the 2018 Woodstock Fibre Festival.  Ty announced that it would go with him to school this morning, “… Because you worked so long on it!”

 

 

Weaving Wednesday and regrowth is important

Happy new year!  We rang ours in with my Mom on a working visit with us, and hit a snare of challenges in the good thereafter.  Having time + head-space to post is a sweet spot in the month.

January in Ontario often feels like this croton coming back from 100% leaf drop.  Let’s not put too fine a point on how I managed to capture beautiful croton regrowth, it’s a metaphor.  She has my apologies.

Croton perseveres

The turn came after I got postponed chores sorted, and declared a Family Day last Friday.  We had a spaghetti & meatballs dinner to cap that suspension of expectations off, and each day has built on that so well.

Walk before the storm

We all got out in blowing snow the next morning.  Racing with Ty a creek-side trail was still safe fun before the storm really came in.  Later, while N & Ty shoveled snow, I sat with a small sample that I had started weaving.  More about that idea is to come here & now.

Special thanks to those who showed appreciation for my last post.  Hands have reached out, and I am glad that the idea of connecting resonated for you too.  As things straighten again, I will reply to you properly.

Ducks in a row

That which was 34.5″ in the reed is now a finished 30″ x 38.75″ baby blanket on its way to my friends in Jamaica.

Softness – cotton baby blanket

The draw-in + shrinkage (widthwise) in wet finishing was around 13%.  If you didn’t follow the weaving posts, I used a Glimakra temple for that on-loom reed width of 34.5″.

The slub cotton (Monte Cristo, 1,150 YPP) carries up the right side were an issue visually & with wear in mind.  I rolled the 4-end plain weave edges, and all hemming was by hand.

Roomy hem came in handy!

The hems are sewn with 100% mercerized cotton quilting thread (Mettler) doubled.  Gail is excited, and I loved weaving for her 3rd daughter due very soon!

Daytime at the loom on this project was such a joy that continuing to sit at my looms & learn is my main 2019 craft intention.

Laura Fry is helping with this intention

Laura Fry’s work in encouraging all weavers made it easy for me to ask N very seriously for her book as a Christmas present.  Her Preface ends with the same encouragement I knew to expect, and it is to:

… learn as much as possible about all the variables involved in weaving, determine how those variables affect their cloth and choose strategies that will enhance their experience.

“The Intentional Weaver:  how to Weave Better” Laura Fry, 2018, p. vii

She didn’t tell me to buy yarn in the year-end sales but I did!  Ty found this book joy a little confusing.  He’s right, I do have other weaving books but understood when I pointed to Laura’s Efficient Weaver video that he watched with me one day, and that she is a Canadian professional weaver.

“Okay, Mom,” may also serve to end the soliloquy but I think he got the drift.

Another astute weaving move is also paying dividends – I registered for Jane Stafford’s online ‘guild.’

Two shafts become four! Louet Erica 30 cm table loom

The videos demo Louet looms, and I quickly wanted to finish & install my Erica loom shaft extensions.  Two became four!  The aim was to use this 30 cm loom to sample Swedish lace for a small set of napkins.

Swedish lace in 2/8 cotton on Louet Erica loom

Several boring mistakes later, I was putting Jane Stafford’s advice into practice with this 2/8 white cotton warp.  It is a traditional 17-end per A, B blocks repeated across 4 times.

Turning the lace skips by blocks of Swedish lace

From the blue colour as weft perspective, I much preferred alternating blocks of weft & warp lace skips.  After all the blue is Ty’s special request, and his buy-in is key.  The project threads will be in 16/2 cotton.

Now that I cut the cloth & took all tension off, I saw just how open the full-on lace blocks will be.  Washing is to come but it’s so very obviously in need of more plain weave sections for napkins.

Growth in another also serious sense

The past couple of weeks have been difficult in yarn communities on the internet.  By accident of opting out of a large platform, Instagram, I missed developing stories.  It was this thread retweeted by @DahlingDaughter, Jasmin Knitmore, that both raised my awareness and gave hope.  Much more reading followed but I am not caught-up.

There are relevant stories that I choose not to share publicly some brought to my ears by raw visible privilege.  Others are inherent to my family background in North America & the Caribbean.  None is taken lightly, and I work to grow by not just listening, research but also by stepping all the way back into my feelings.

We can treat the growth factor as having a table loom & letting my son throw the shuttle with me this past Saturday.  However, in this moment it would not feel right.  The impact of racism, colonialism, exclusion in the craft industries is real.  These are serious forces for creators, consumers, business people already operating in niches that are under economic, social pressures.

I do not expect the spaces that I have exited to change on a dime when I am clear about why I am leaving.  They on the other hand cannot expect things of me such as lending support to values of “non-political discourse” that are anything but non-political in the aggregate for example.

Burnout risk in community is also very real.  For the voices that I admire and hear, I hope the joy outweighs cost however you are able to share openly.