The 6 towels that I beamed on my Mighty Wolf loom at the end of October, 2020 are hemmed as of yesterday.
Happy New Year!
At first taking space to breathe felt strange. It was not a choice exactly. Wanting to weave with a loose aim of the holidays meant starting, working around the tough regular school-at-home pace.
Beaming triumph! And then it sat.
Taking 2 months let some new thinking in. Some of that shows in the towels. Mostly it helped my weaving not tick everyone off.
Now I go up to this spare bedroom but return fairly quickly. When I return we can carry on because I am not exhausted. A trio of knitting projects got equal play. The hat design calls for its own post but Ty is happy with this year’s Teamh variant.
Rhichard Devrieze Denim E yarn has a new fan
After the hats, alongside the towel weaving, I had enough mojo to bring back this good idea: Pinked Socks for N. His first pair is so loved that it wanted back-up. Judy Alexander is the designer.
Loves them!
Tired brains innovate sometimes
Upstairs, the loom was sorted at the end of November. Sustaining regular school-at-home was by then very hard but workable for the most part (still waiting on those supports hrm…).
Two recipients asked for nautical blue (back cone)
The good thing about a white towel warp is that you can get such different looks for a 1-shuttle weave like this. It wove as 19.25″ wide under tension.
Gold is Ty’s favorite now
The warp plan is a 2-block straight twill adapted from Tom Knisely’s table runner Pumpkin and Harvest design in “Handwoven Table Linens,” (p. 57). It uses all 8 shafts of my Mighty Wolf loom, is a ‘false satin.’
Tired warping led to some asymmetry you can see below. It’s a ghost of Block A that I kept after the threading discovery, 16 extra ends.
A bigger problem was uneven tension but I started anyway with gold for Ty. This is where I lost the plot of weaving entire blocks and stumbled into a nice effect.
(l-r) selvedges: gold oops!; nautical blue; dark yellow
In tromping not as writ, treadles 1-8 straight there is a nice textural border to be had. The traditional read the book correctly pattern woven to square is nice too.
For 6 towels aimed at 31.5″ each + sampling, I made a 6.67 yard long warp. The 8/2 cotton is mainly Valley Yarns (3,360 ypp): 8001 white & 2550 nautical blue.
End of November
When my thinking evened out for towel no. 2, I still had waves from tension being uneven. This too is staying for our kitchen needs.
The studio is open!
When weaving is to happen, I started to announce in my fun voice, “The studio is open!” Sometimes that comes out as, “Nope! The studio is open!”
I might need a sign for them though.
Weaving on the Mighty Wolf, storing stuff is really the only craft work done in this space. Since I do all appointments behind the closed door it has become more like an office-in-pandemic than a studio.
Hemstitching on the loom
The idea now is to take things as “brick by brick,” a favorite poem encourages:
build me your story brick by brick your
history foundation walls
don’t worry if it doesn’t fit together
no life does
The Fires of Naming, Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes, 2001 Seraphim Editions, p. 9
Machine stitching is less intense, I know
I am almost sure who is getting a towel from this warp. There are 4 going out this time. Luckily, I fixed the early waves of tension on the loom.
However each towel is received, I did make them under some hard circumstances and am proud to call them last-made for 2020.
A year ago, yesterday, we brought this guy home. Spark was a little damp & a lot bouncy back then.
Eager to eat the treat in my hand
It was an inspired decision helped by my Mom (thanks, Mom). The main pros for this Double Doodle dandy were correctly plotted. Ancillary pros (size of the Best Bud, whoa shedding) were slightly incorrect.
Mel cat is just fine after all
We underestimated a few things – sorry, Melvin, and boy does this breed need its chew time.
Ty shares his thoughts, also yesterday
Never in a million years did we foresee the pandemic or that public school would be accessible from our couch. It does sometimes get a little wordy as Ty was quietly sharing in a long morning Math class.
Today, I can hear that and give ourselves a break.
In-progress queue
Melvin is hugging a Stitched by JessaLu project bag with the start of a handspun sock (yesterday had its good points). This is the Southdown/Silk spindle-spun that I shared in this summer’s post here.
On 2.25 mm needles I knit stockinette in the round at 8 stitches per inch. Thanks to the same ennui that Ty expressed + his dentist visit, yesterday, we are at a fresh k1, p1 sock cuff of 1.75″ long. It’s shiny and happy knitting.
Other FOs-to-be include my Columbia second mitt, dishcloths against anxiety, and the kitchen towel warp that I have finished threading but need to tie-on next. There is also the spinning.
When not working the queue, swallowing objections to curriculum, making nice with the housework, I get to help Spark rid himself of undercoat & get pulled more than I like on walks. Yay, Spark & yay, a day off of academic pressures we didn’t need to be quite that boring.
Happy chilly morning of Halloween! Going out with Spark this morning, I had to wear my longer, warmer coat for the -3C temperature.
It’s been an exhausting lead into this Halloween. The start to this virtual academic year (by choice in our Province) with the same school/new administration was intense.
As if that were not enough we had news that put a new light on our parenting journey. The summary of a 14-month process that then had to be put to other people.
For Dad with love
We just completed week 6 of instruction. I would be lying if I were to now flood TKK with the collection of images & sing Halloween from the crafter’s songbook.
It might be nice to paper over the trouble a Mom has when yes:
I have projects on the go, some lovely;
last year’s advocacy gave refreshing results;
the new folks seem dedicated; and
we have a better bead on inclusion virtually, sort-of.
Here is where that would be a lie: I am still going into week 7 pushing for invisible differences. No law to date requires Ontario boards of education to develop policies & guidelines for those differences.
Oh, and everybody is bone tired.
We said goodbye to technical difficulties with virtual school Halloween for a better plan.
Instead of whipping up an illusion, here is what I am proud of. If the Mighty Wolf gets dressed with what’s on her warp beam, I may tell that tale later too. Let’s skip that & the onion skin dye job & everything else.
Perhaps you have pandemic brain too, a post.
Spark gets his first grooming visit & barks at a man
We celebrated Spark’s first birthday on September 9th. He is a Very Fine Pet & stays in touch with his mouthy side. This stocky Double Doodle is 2′ from paw to shoulder (hey, breeders lie, surprise!)
A lot of good comes of improving on 1 concrete thing. Shaggy, over-heating Double Doodle comes out of a pet store’s service all fancy & look! I got an idea!
Garter stitch is my love language I guess
These 2 things were definitely linked. Naturally, Melvin wanted in on the action from time-to-time. He too is a Very Fine Pet after all.
He thinks nothing of interrupting but is the best cat
Neither N nor T really gets this shawl. They are right, it does (sort-of) look like others I have knit but don’t tell them I said that.
Making more than a thing
This asymmetrical shawl pattern is by Annie Baker Designs, the Freesia Shawl. Their website is here.
The rows get very long as you go
For some reason the yardage requirement kept me from knitting this for a long time. The spinning side was a quick few days this past May.
The fibre is 85% Polwarth wool/ 15% Tussah silk combed top handdyed by Sheepy Time Knits. It is a beautiful base for Mandie’s Mermaid colourway, and I had 8 oz.
The yarn was spun (quickly!) on my Watson Martha spinning wheel in double drive. Yield was 615 yds (i.e. a cool 1,230 yds per pound.
[ignore the mess] Parent advocate
Please bear with less posting – there are no extra hands on deck now & the laptop has a new life for online learning + video conferencing.
I am still using Twitter, and post more images on instagram. You can find me in both spaces as irieknit.
Handmade cloth sure does come in handy (sourdough cozy idea)
Welcome, if you are a new follower! I smile each time a TKK notification comes through.
Warming my nights: an indigo dyed handspun cardigan knit
Currently on my needles with enough yarn for a second long sleeve is the handspun Polwarth 2-ply wool from last summer’s indigo dye fructose vat.
The knit’s pattern is the popular 2012 Vodka Lemonade by BabyCocktails, Thea Coleman. Needle keeper shown is by @knitspinquilt.
Substituting a handspun yarn
Knitters have recently been discussing the financial accessibility of new sweater designs on social media, blog posts. For a bunch of reasons that I do not plan to unpack the discussion gave a slight nod to spinning as an option, and then moved right along.
Premise of this post: spinning yarn for garments is an option. Yes, even slightly pear-shaped yarn.
November 2015, dreaming of a sweater quantity
It was a simple idea really. In September 2014, a 1 lb bag of Polwarth combed top from a large commercial mill cost A$38.59 plus tax & mileage to/from The Fibre Garden in Jordan, Ontario.
Comfort spinning on Spinolution Mach 2
Earl, the Spinolution Mach 2 wheel was a good choice for my easy default worsted-style yarn but I ran into a mechanical issue of the drive wheel knocking the frame.
Sometimes Melvin appears as if from nowhere to see about his spinner
Customer service was responsive. I was able to finish through to almost 1,400 yards of 2-ply 100% Polwarth wool but the wheel action changed. Time frame is August 2015 – December 2016.
Evaluating the handspun yarn
In addition to a big wheel action change, 2016 was my watershed year. The last 7 months were a special challenge. As a result, skeins 1 – 3 are finer weight (i.e. higher grist) than 4 & 5.
What the industrial yarn complex is very good at is giving consistent grist even between lots. And then there is my handspun sweater quantity (SQ) that we can follow Diane Varney & call a “coordinated yarn.” Her galley in “Spinning Designer Yarns”, 2003, p. 22 states:
Coordinated yarns come from spinning wheels not mills.
The text says how I ultimately resolved my issue:
Spin different sizes of yarn to be used in different parts of a garment, or in coordinating separates. For a bulky sweater, a lighter yarn may provide a more supple and comfortable ribbing.
The all-in number of 1,400 yards per pound is on the light-weight end of a DK mill-spun yarn. For a chart of yarn weights, grists, knit uses scroll through “Calculating Fibre Quantities for Spinning” by Felicia Lo here.
How a plan solidifies – Indigo!
The yarn found its voice last summer when the Botanical Colors 1-2-3 indigo vat recipe (adapted from Michel Garcia) not only dyed all of my Orlando mohair bouclé but still had legs.
Heya, Polwarth!
Seriously thrilling first indigo dye day here
This was when I settled the question – there would be no separation; I had an indigo handspun SQ for sure.
You see a shift in grist – what does this mean for a knitted garment?
When hoping to knit with any non-standard yarn, I start by looking for a suitable pattern that will flex. As June Hemmons Hiat writes in Chapter 23 on Stitch Gauge:
Some projects require greater precision for a good fit, while with others you can take a more relaxed approach… (“The Principles of Knitting – Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting”, 2012, p. 455)
The Vodka Lemonade cardigan has helpful notes on yarn character, and shouts ‘a more relaxed approach’. Over time, I have enjoyed knitting patterns from designers who also spin well. Even if the pattern itself features mill-spun, there is typically more attention paid to communicating about yarn choice. If a project database is accessible, a quick search using “handspun yarn” can also round out the information, offer inspiration. Many spinners work harder to shed light on the creative process in their notes. Handspun garments are rarely featured FOs on selling pages but information gathers slowly in the database itself.
Here the mill-spun given as the design sample is 1,100 yards Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK for a 38″ bust size with ¾ length sleeves. Each skein is around 250 yards/ 100g or 1,100 yards per pound standard DK-weight.
With more handspun also with a higher grist, I have been able to extend the sleeve length (yes, winter is coming) & to knit the body straight with no waist shaping. Polwarth is soft, has bounce & drape so is a good choice for a next-to-the-skin garment.
Gauge is a snapshot
Leaving the standard consistent grist market, I swatched a first (thinner) yarn. The substitution stuck but one thing my snapshot swatch is not going to safely do for my knitting is where The Principles of Knitting advises next:
Information obtained from a swatch can also be used to calculate how much yarn you will need if you are designing something, or want to substitute a different yarn for the one called for in a pattern.
It’s possible to swatch within your handspun SQ. I will leave that intensity for a heirloom knit (or still not!).
The pattern sample yarn has 10% cashmere & 90% merino adding plumpness to the stockinette fabric with US#5/ 3.75mm needles. A suggested substitute that I know well is far less plump, drapey Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. The handspun Polwarth stitches ease when washed, blocked.
The single swatch got gauge nicely down 2 needle sizes to 3.25 mm. How I arranged the skeins was to use the lighter-weight yarn in the cardigan’s body, heavier-weight yarn for warm sleeves.
Getting real with the limits of my swatch, I like that this still-on-the-needles cardigan seems organically swingy & light. We do still need to read the pattern well, and this is where I think Kate Atherley’s article “On Yarn Substitutions,” here, is helpful:
After all, there are lots of yarns that are called Worsted, but there’s a lot of variance in how thick they are, and how they knit up. Same for Fingering, DK, etc. A yarn weight name is a category, it’s not precise enough on its own for yarn selection. (And those category numbers? Same thing – they get you in the right section of the yarn shop, that’s it! They’re ranges.) The stockinette gauge is what’s used on the yarn label, so that’s how you can identify more precisely what to buy.
The spinner is just only reading from that industrial wool complex & not still within it. They take the range, gauge information & still keep an eye out for variance within the handspun lot.
What happened? At the top of the sleeve, I weighed 87 g for each sleeve & measured as I went. Now at the cuff of sleeve 1, around 48 g is used. The stitch gauge is constant. I marked each sleeve increase in case I needed to rip back.
For Designers, Technical Editors
After many sweater pattern searches (and flops) for other handspun in my stash, I ask that you consider adding these points in your pattern landing space. If you are able to contribute longer articles, interviews, texts there is a need for spotlights on the creative process details as well.
Materials specifications, including put-up & fibre content. Where you know yarn structure this would be very helpful as well, e.g. conventional plied yarns (single or how many?), chainette, cable, core-spun, etc. Yarn companies as a general rule give scanty clues about the structure of their bases. Journalism, texts that focus on yarn manufacturing trends seem to be on the decline. Your insider knowledge as a design professional is valuable.
Yarn notes, texture suggestions. Kate Atherley articulates this point very well in On Yarn Substitutions, linked above.
Yardage requirements within the size range. My last pattern purchase is Heverly Cardigan by Julia Farwell-Clay. It is a one-yarn fingering-weight design. The landing page broke out yardage per size, and this was critical to my purchase. The last 350 yard yarn package spans 3 sizes, including mine in the middle! Yarn combinations are especially difficult to eyeball when use shifts through a yoke, shawl construction and for borders.
Please understand that gauge is a limited tool at best when substituting off-market yarns because sometimes Life Happens, and also because spinners can do wonderful things with materials not available to conventional knitters.
Professionals have voiced strong opinions about customer skills (lack thereof), hand-holding. However, spinners who knit are expanding the tent beyond the mills, are able to add value themselves. Adding information diversifies your customer base, and is not hand-holding. Selma Miriam’s 1989 experience speaks to the craft’s possibilities:
She purchased handspun yarns for the first time when she couldn’t find soft, fine commercial yarns with which to make lace shawls and scarves, and then almost immediately decided that she had to learn to spin herself. “I had never knit with yarn that felt so good, alive, and beautiful in my hands,” she recalls. With a year she had… purchased a wheel and taught herself to use it… (“America Knits“, Melanie Falick, 1996, p. 50)
Handspun garments are sadly not always well-regarded even within spinning communities. Any that I have made have aged well, drawn me forward. A stalled project is out and in search of a solution as I type. These are barriers that can be eased, attitudes that can shift.
Indigo has my attention now
With luck, I will have an indigo fructose vat from The Yarn Tree’s kit to start new exploration & keep that puppy fed.
At the end of last September, I washed a beautiful Shetland ewe fleece. It is from Willow Farm, and was my first (run-don’t-walk) purchase at the 2018 Woodstock Fleece Festival.
Melly cat approves of my initiative and inches closer.
Willow Farm is a great spinner’s flock. After the joys of working with Shepherdess Jocelyn’s Romney ram fleece 10 years ago, I also loved an Icelandic ewe’s raw wool. They do also carry mill-prep but these are lovely fleeces too.
We like the drying part too
Taking a break: hand cards
This week I was able to admit something to myself. The other fibre prep in progress was actually not. With draining days, busy house, etc., I was not moving well on the Olde English Babydoll Southdown locks.
This project was last featured on TKK here. It was going along but in short bursts.
From Olivia’s Babydoll Southdown, January 2020
The devil is in the decision fatigue.
Flick locks ⇒ hand cards ⇒ rolags ⇒ bring out the antique wheel + spinning chair from a corner ⇒ spin happy ⇒ wind-off (repeat) ⇒ {major gap} ply; cable-ply.
Melvin saw the {major gap} part as magical. We had words (again), and I had to confess it was maybe too slow now at around 262 yards.
Sometimes Melvin makes a good point.
Lovely cabled yarn but that’s intense even for me.
Luckily, I had fairly recently given myself the gift of a new spinning space in the house. That’s key.
Elbow room if not blissfully quiet
The plus for everyone else is less spinning equipment in a room that we all use the most. More importantly, I am using the space!
Enter the pillowcase of Shetland locks
As the fog of What to Do in Ty’s quiet time lifted this Monday, I figured out a way to leverage new space + enjoy the Shetland fleece responsibly.
Aha! Meck peasant combs!
A plant stand is re-purposed for the oh so dusty peasant (Russian style paddle) combs by John A. Meck. There is not much VM, and I am not using the flicker at all.
Now, I can stop typing so much, and show the happy outcome of this week as it happened:
Comb charged twice = 4 lengths of Shetland top
A quick pivot to the Watson Martha spinning wheel, and then:
As short as quiet time and sweet
The 2-ply sample shows the variation of the prep & has bounce.
Sweet!
This seems like a good plan. With 4 lengths of top in each ply, yield is approx 39 yards.
Afterword on the last post
Shortly after pressing publish on Friday, I saw more about the Ravelry rebrand, site accessibility.
If you are farther behind these discussions, Ravelry designer @ktb38 has given her/their side of Cassidy’s now deleted tweet on Instagram, Twitter. I am not following closely but am engaged.
Secondly, the established searchable, open forum ‘For the Love of Ravelry’ listed in the FAQs as “the place to ask or comment about site information updates and spread love,” is now entirely (and tersely) closed to this topic. Users are directed to a private in-site email channel.
Hibiscus is thriving
The upshot for TKK is that I will aim to give more detail here as needed. Posts may get swamped again – in fact, they probably will – but an effort will be made to not assume the audience is able to access this user-driven resource.
If credit is due then until solutions are found, I will add content warnings for links, etc. going forward.
Huge stretch of a gap between posts, and this in the 10th anniversary, Dear Blog. In winter as we started to see the benefit of folding new supports in with the old, I opened a first IG account. This is how I first discovered the story of Ravelry having a new look.
We had been in the thick of it as I last posted, and at the end of November we also added a puppy named Spark to our family. Spark is a cross called a Double Doodle, and he is almost 11 months old now. The growth spurts are a running joke and who knows how much growing into his paws we are still looking at?
A sometimes vocal stack of joy
Spark has been to a first level of training, and some fun nights of puppy social learning. He is Ty’s first dog, and everyone is thrilled to see the fun they get up to. This is the sparkliest Sparky (many more nick-names are in rotation but I will spare you), very wet & challenging winter and all.
Meet Spark. He likes to retrieve things.
Chewing has gone from teething to serious business. He is after all Labradoodle x Goldendoodle. One stack of trouble was how put out Mel cat truly was by this invasion. They now get along but there are sore points… What do you mean this pup gets all the treats? Wait, why is that puss on the counter/dining table/ soft chewable furniture?
Baby Spark back in January when the leash was in one piece
In general, Spark is enthusiastic about moving humans towards water sources. He also has a passion for dandelions, and other growing things flora and/or fauna. I soon worked out that we both need for me to comb his double coat & that should always end in chest scritches.
He is in short a joy. Not everyone gets that would be self-care but for us it truly has been through the pandemic. You kind-of need to walk this one.
A Spark that likes to make a splash back & forth
As life got more complex including for raw emotion, I had scaled-back my online volunteer work, social media. Adding a new account was a compromise and has helped me to post on a lower key, re-connect.
Stack with misgivings, books of new learning
In May, I felt ready to resume team work in a Ravelry group. It was good to be back except a family COVID-19 illness and other issues came up, de-railed.
It is now over a month since Ravelry rolled-out their changes to the site, branding. I have listened from outside of the site, engaged as I could saying that accessibility matters.
School’s out, let’s weave!
I also opened my loom for the first time in 6 months after the hills & valleys that were Grade 2 through in-school then distance learning. This is Deb Essen’s colour & weave gamp in 3/2 mercerized cotton.
While listening, transitioning our 8 year old, and getting back to organizing for myself too, I have thought a lot about inclusion. Even well-meaning neurotypical adults (therapy gatekeepers included) can misunderstand the true impact of policies, the systems they introduce or maintain. Learning has come through reading, always reading and podcasts around our constellation of needs. It’s a big part of how I deal.
Yesterday, I saw a screenshot of a tweet for the first time. The now-deleted post is by Ravelry co-owner, Cassidy. It exists; I am not linking. The post refers to an advocate/ally for accessibility. This unnamed individual is essentially called a multiple flier with the lies, and that this is a best-ever July in the site’s pattern sales gets asserted. The assertion is absent from today’s Ravelry.com updates post.
The unnamed advocate/ally is presumably lobbying for post-update communication & change to assist those suffering true impact now or later. This is how I read some raising pattern sales on Twitter although IG is the focus of this deleted tweet. No decision-maker in a system takes kindly to a lay person checking, balancing for pat accommodations rolled-out. It would be helpful if the phases were defined somehow in non-technical language or scheduled. As is a month in, the process seems opaque.
Not matching sock toes is okay too
To be clear, this blog, TKK has remained a one woman amateur project. Still no affiliates, paid advertising, agreements or tip jars here or elsewhere. My Ravelry profile does link to new updates as does WordPress, and I manually post a shortlink reliably via single tweet. There is a small group of readers who navigate through Ravlery. The benefits as a user, blogger are real but as yet not monetized, and I am 1 in 9 million users. The Ravelry team is appreciated up to this point but not personally known to me.
This new, fairly consuming checks & balances work of mine was in a non-commercial setting with a group of professionals crossing systems. It was met with snide comments, we were “crazy” to get a puppy, and even more cutting remarks followed. It is upsetting on the receiving end because inaction really does suck in crisis with power not in your favour. One can always walk, right? Well, often with an impact there too.
The work is hard, and the book that explained edge states, practical middle ways is “Standing at the Edge” by Joan Halifax.
Backlash, account scrubbing by Cassidy are frankly surprising. As one Rav Pro account holder that I follow said simply, “WOW.” The messaging does not inspire confidence about important calls for post-update changes. That a majority of users who find the site functional are carrying-on touches none of the true impact on those excluded for various reasons. In addition, today’s update forced me to log into the site – others were in the blog. I continue to hope that changes are implemented.
Stack of plans, all-ears listening
First fleece; first spindle
It’s hard to see what you haven’t seen & that you play a part in making that better. ⇒ Bertice Berry, Ph.D., July 24, 2020, IGtv
What I have seen of othering, intersectionality was not obvious to me in my personal work even 10 months ago. I may have found the texts as a good reader far from most of my close supports but would I have followed footnotes? No, that was hard to see as Dr. Berry notes.
The pressures as a caregiver during this pandemic have also shaped what I am able to see. How I am able to integrate and if there are no deeper complications where I play the part will come.
Socks-to-be: Southdown/Silk spun on my spindles
Accepting that human variations exist & working to remove barriers is both necessary, easier said than done.
Life this year has continued to come at us fast. The past quarter alone has included loss, grief, so many appointments, learning & back in school teamwork. There are new welcome supports & progress but it’s been a lot.
Relieving the strain
One plus of fall is that I am taking my walks again after morning drop-off on school days. We are now facing a strike that will close the doors as of tomorrow morning.
The work-to-rule this past week was fairly brutal, and I hope that the parties negotiate a settlement very soon.
Goldenrod blooms and good morning, Bee
The busy times included trips home to Jamaica – one very short for a funeral. My Mom just spent her first birthday after retirement with us last month. The biggest summer project was to weave her a throw as a retirement gift.
Best Planning is Asking First
There was a very specific idea wrapped up in Mom’s mind when she said the word, “throw.”
Yarn choice with lots of consultation
Here is how we got to a 34.5″ wide warp of Harrisville Shetland in Poppy #65 plain weave with a cone of white Rayon chain from Made in America:
Q: Handspun shawl-shape because I love you! Mom’s A:That sounds too narrow. Can you make it wider?
Q: Wider cool, I can do your first initials in twill! A:Hmm, that is not exactly a cushy throw but flat right?
Q: Wow, I found the cushiest! It’s mohair bouclé and the online classes told me how to weave with it! A: Mohair sounds very hot, Lara.
At each stage, N got the brunt of my But I Did a Weave Plan frustrations. He’s a champ.
Weaving is a happy place
Not shown here is the LeClerc temple that I used during weaving. The weft chain yarn is 8 ppi. The warp is threaded straight draw on 4 shafts.
Hand-delivered to Mom with love, the finished throw!
The loom still has our home throw warped, and ready for weaving. The luxury of Orlando mohair bouclé came home to me from a weaver’s destash, and I then did a thing.
Undyed Orlando boucle yarn
A very first indigo dye day at our house! The socks were a flourish for Ty who was not fully on board until he saw this happening.
Indigo you exceeded my expectations
Packs some insight
It’s still a season of wrapping our heads around a new paradigm, research and oh my word the appointments. None of my knitting has led to sweet finishes… in a good little while. I seem to be frogging more often, and casting-off far less. That’s okay.
To be Reknitted curse
Nobody is walking around with cold feet just because I made this first sock too tight. It will just have to be re-done.
Wound and now on the needles
The idea of a light Aestlight shawl in this Shetland wool handspun was my September pause from serious things. It hit a snag in the Bird’s Eye lace border that has me carefully using a lifeline now. I am short on yardage, and a second yarn will help finish.
A sock for me & a sock for N are on the back burner with handspun sweater ambitions. All in the fullness of time, I suppose.
Ty’s first potholder! Can you see the H?
Now is a time of reflection not speaking out or even following trends. When I post it may be focused on the finished projects, and how they fit with the new lessons.
Ty’s potholder is a bright spot. He loved choosing the loops.
Learning to weave is a bit like learning to ride a bike or play an instrument: the more you practice the easier it becomes. Sarah Swett, p. 5, Kids Weaving, 2005
This wasn’t our path to a potholder or other learning. I am starting to go beyond the typical, “This is seven!” thinking that I hear so frequently in the craft spaces. The consistent practice advice works well for typical learning & behaviours but cannot work for everyone.
What I am doing is different: a support for exploration. We got to stuck points, stepped back & I took out the expectation that Ty was going to do the tighter steps at all. Now there is a bright spot all arranged by his colour choices.
Starry and yum
Another great small loom weaving was this set of 5 mug rugs on the Louet Erica. Ty’s favourite is the stripey version with Peace Fleece alternating with my aqua handspun Corriedale as weft yarns.
Experiments in mug rugs = fun!
Here we have sage green 8/4 cotton sett at 8 epi in a 12 dent reed. I can weave quietly with the family, and Ty really loves to sit in my lap for his turn. It was 64 ends of cotton warp wound 65″ long.
Handspun mug rug in morning action
Each oversize mug rug was woven around 8 ¼” long. They really set our individual spaces apart at the large, round dining table. We use them daily. Why did I feel guilty about this loom? It’s a very good time-in tool.
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.
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!
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.
