On the loom and on (and off) the needles

20.04.2021 Only one of my looms (the small Good Wood) is empty at this time.  Recently, I re-warped the tapestry loom and made new string heddles for it...only because I could not locate the other heddles.  I lost one warp thread in the process.  My current read is Rebecca Mezoff's book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Techniques for Making Images with Yarn.  It is a good book with plenty of photos and well-written instruction for self-guided learning.  

Sampling on the little loom.

Schacht Tapestry Loom, cotton warp approximately six-inches wide.

A couple Saturdays ago Louie and I into the shop and I plied a full bobbin of Jacob yarn from roving purchased years ago at Shepherd's Harvest Festival.  It will be helpful to have more Jacob if needed for a knitting project in the planning stage.

My office (using the term loosely) is a bit cramped, so it was time to reclaim yarn, needles and markers from a couple of UFOs.  The blue Gansey is frogged along with the Eid Top.  I would get more wear out of a blue cardigan and keep the Eid Top's yarn and repurpose into another colorwork vest.  

Looking pretty good.

I love the yarn colors, yarn type and the pattern, but
sometimes one just cannot get into the groove with a project.

It was the end of the road for this Gansey.

Needles and markers reclaimed from the depths of the knitting bags.

I finished a shop sample for beWoolen using the beautiful Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn.  The pattern is Strange Brew from Tin Can Knits using Aran weight yarn, top-down construction with short rows at the back, and extra colorwork at the cuffs and bottom.  This was such a fun knitting project and the class is going well with all the lovely sweaters in progress.  Next will be a cardigan version...steek!

Happy knitting!

The barn sweater and some spinning

13.02.2020

The barn sweater is named for the lovely red color of the yarn, which came to my stash in a round about way.  The original color of the wool cone yarn was tan and part of a stash, which ended up at Anoka Fiber Works after a yarn swap event years ago.  Mary, the shop owner, gave it to Linda, who dyed the yarn red and proceeded to knit a swatch for a sweater project.  The yarn was (and still is) not next-to-the-skin soft, the project was abandoned, and the remaining yarn was left at the shop with Mary.  Mary and I were having a chat about yarn, particularly sheep's wool and that not all knitting yarn needs to be soft to be useful in garments.  The bag of yarn ended up with me and the well-worn copy of Knitting Pure & Simple V-Neck Neckdown Cardigan For Women #994, was the logical choice for the project.

I added length to the bottom back with short rows and then knitted two by two ribbing at the cuffs, bottom, and the neck.  Seven light-color wood buttons from the button jar looked very nice with the red.  The fit is oversized, comfortable, and given the freeze and thaw of winter weather up here, the sweater works as a warm layer under a jacket or as an outer layer on the warmer days.  Either way, I wear a long sleeve shirt or turtleneck underneath and have no issues with scratchiness.  It is meant to be a working sweater, just like the well-worn garments I used to see hanging by a door on family farms many moons ago.

15 days pass...I love the sweater and have worn it often.  Yesterday, it was a great jacket!

Now, an update on another project!  I've been hand-carding and mixing colors for a small tapestry project using Lincoln Longwool from Snake River Acres and dyed wool from Ireland.  Carding the  the Longwool with the dyed wool makes drafting and spinning a smooth process.   The colors look so pretty lined up in the natural light near my easel.  I have a general idea of what to weave, but when a new idea pops into my head, I thank goodness for the notes feature and the iPencil with the iPad.

The weather is warming and the days are getting longer.  Spring is fast approaching and I have upcoming classes on the schedule at Anoka Fiber Works and BeWoolen.  The newsletter for AFW is released on the first of every month.  I'm excited about teaching a yoked sweater class at BeWoolen because the shop just got the first delivery of Lett Lopi yarn this week!  My classes at AFW include Stranded Colorwork, Yorkshire Buttons, and First Socks, a new class.

Wrapping things up

I started this post a few months ago...

There is a new wool vendor at Anoka Fiber Works--Snake River Acres with Lincoln Longwool.  From Snake River Acres website (a bit of information about the wool):

Wool

Lincolns produce a heavy fleece that is long, coarse and ideal for spinning. The staple length in Lincolns is among the longest of all breeds ranging from 8-15 inches in a year. They are capable of producing a fleece that is 10-20 pounds with a yield of 55-70%. The fiber diameter of Lincoln wool is typically between 34-41 microns.

Wool from a Lincoln can vary in color, ranging from pure white, grey/silver, or black. Usually a naturally colored Lincoln will be darker on the shoulders and lighten up in color on the back.

Mary and I are working through a couple of lovely silver gray fleeces.  We washed the fleeces and then after trying to com the clean wool, Mary sent hers to Deb, of Ewespun Fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm, where it was prepared into a cloud.

My plan is to spindle spin a bit and then wheel spin the bulk of the fleece.  I started combing some of the clean fleece and found the fiber beautifully smooth to spin, but the nests fell apart making spindle spinning difficult.  Taking the same route Mary took in having Deb card the fleece into a cloud was a wise decision.  Using one of the Louët S10 wheels, I spun and plied a skein, but didn't care for the finished yarn.  it was a bit thicker than I'd intended.  I knew that using the small Louët wheel would be a better choice to create the yarn I wanted.  I can spin thinner singles, which made the yarn I want to use for small tapestry work.  The Lincoln wool is strong and can be used for warp and/or weft.  Although the wool is smooth and fluffy, there is a bit of grease left, making my fingers nice and smooth.  After a long spinning session, my hands feel a bit sticky.  The small skeins will be perfect for small tapestry weaving.  I may end up spinning the rest with Wendolene (S10DT) just to finish the  rest because the skeins will have more yardage.

16.12.2019  Wrapping up a few projects for December.  The second thumb for the sample mitten is finally finished after two years.  Using wool yarn from the stash, I worked on ornaments and have some in my space at the shop.  Using bits and bobs of handspun yarn and handmade felt, I wove a small tapestry on the hand-held loom and it was one of two pieces in the Rum River Handweavers show in November.  Mary loaned me the Harrisville Lap Loom and I experimented with simple tapestry techniques.  It was so much fun and was immediately hooked, which led to my purchasing
a Schacht tapestry loom with the A-frame stand and the work in front of me as in painting.  It arrived at the shop the day of the handwaving meeting in November and I enjoyed putting it together.

Blomst is one of may favorite patterns.  The two-color stranded knitting is very warm and comfortable with the yarn floats  on the back side next to the skin.  I used Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK.  

Ornament in progress

The tweedy bits and the texture of the handspun are perfect for painting this small piece

Schacht 25" tapestry loom

I have been spinning the Lincoln and making progress.  Hortense, the Louët Victoria, and I are working hard and making our way through the fleece.  There  is plenty left, though!  Pictured below is a grayscale of Lincoln/Finn.

The small grayscale is pure LLW on the far right, and varying amounts of Finn roving carded with the Lincoln.  I was pleased with the results.

05.01.2020  Since December,  I have been going through my dyed Jacob stash and hand carding rolags for spindle spinning.  Most of the colors have varying amounts of LLW added.  The not-so-evenly-spun yarn had more Jacob added.  I can see I will have to work a bit harder to spin the lighter colors, as the Jacob is much fluffier than the Lincoln Longwool.  These will be part of my palette for a sample tapestry weaving.  

January 7 is St. Distaff's Day.  The Christmas holiday is over and it is time to get back to work.  I will look through my stash, pick a spindle, and find my distaff.  Tomorrow will be a spinning day!

Thursday

I am knitting boot cuffs using my least favorite technique - Brioche stitch.  I am using Noro Kureyon (main color) and Ella Rae heather (contrast color)

Deb from Ewespun Fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm prepped the Lincoln Longwool into a cloud.  It is beautiful!  Right now, I am spindle spinning some for a small weaving project.  The rest will be wheel spun.  

Catching up

I was busy and productive last week.  

I started a hat from the ribbing I used for class and helical stripes are fun to knit and a nice option instead of a solid color.  The gray is carded with color bits of mohair locks and sari silk.  The colors pop beautifully against the brown striped fabric.

On Thursday, the plain air painters had to work inside.  Paul and Cathy opened their home to us.  It was a fun session...

...I worked on another painting in progress and blocked in this portrait of Gus.

Wearing my newly-patched bibs and continuing to spin the Finn roving from Gale Wood Farm.

Mary and I washed our Lincoln Longwool fleeces (from Snake River Acres).  We will be prepping and spinning up this beautiful, silvery gray fiber.  I am taking the time to read about the sheep and spinning the lovely wool into yarn appropriate for knitting and weaving.

Gus continued to work on his artistic blanket series.

Jim and I went to the zoo on Friday.  We went in the afternoon, and while some of the animals were napping, there were a few that were awake and fun to watch.

The wolves came running when their keeper was in the area outside the fence.  

The beaver was busy!

Progress!

Progress on the Gansey style pullover is going well.  I have been adding notes in a notebook and also on my Ravelry project page.  It has been an enjoyable project so far and now I have to type up the handwritten notes so I can use what I learned, knitting without a written pattern, to knit another sweater.  My early sketches included various texture stitches, neck gussets, the split hem, etc.  The split hem was the first element to go, and then the various texture stitches changed to a simple and easy-to-adapt stitch pattern that fit well with my stitch counts.  The Ridged Rib is a multiple of 2 + 1 stitches and a 4-row repeat.  The second sleeve is in progress and the sweater will be finished this week.

By trying on the sweater while the sleeve was in progress,  I could easily customize the length and  the decreases.  

There is a new vendor at Anoka Fiber Works, Wether'sfield Wool Farm.  I purchased some of the Shetland wool.  Two 4-ounce bags of Emily's white washed wool, and one 3.1-ounce ball of Treble's moorit roving.  I had some black Shetland roving I bought when we visited the Faribault Woolen Mill's 150th celebration a few years ago.  I combed the white wool and it is just beautiful to spindle spin with my Moosie spindle.  Mary held a second bag for me when Jim and I were camping last week.  I will have to see how much yardage I can spin and figure out a nice project for the yarn.

Emily's beautiful washed wool

Combing was the perfect prep for the wool.  I used my Valkyrie (fine) wool combs.

Moorit is a mid-brown color between fawn and dark brown.

It was a good thing I waited to finish spinning the last of the black.  There will be plenty to add to the future project.

Beautiful natural colors.

Sweater weather has arrived!

A couple of Sundays ago Ellie taught a basket class at AFW.  The class almost didn't go until I snapped a photo and Teresa posted it on Facebook.  The class had a waiting list.  It was great fun and we were happy with our baskets.  I will eventually stain mine.  The round oak handles are unusual and were not difficult to add.

It's official, we had our first snowfall.  Good thing it snowed before the new shed was built.  The concrete cured and on Halloween the he-shed was installed.  Now the little camper will have a home. The weather turned cold quickly and I didn't take the time to change out the warm weather clothes for the cold weather clothes, yet.

Big change in the back yard landscape.

I took the opportunity to walk when the snow was falling and the wind was blowing.  The chill felt good and there were interesting things to see along the way.  It was obvious the wind was blowing from the north!

Mother Nature iced the cake.

A cold wind was blowing from the north.

One does not always have to look up to see interesting color and pattern.

The hydrangea is prettiest in autumn.  I think this would be a lovely color story for a project.

This and that

Jim and I helped Ben with some yard work.  His maple tree is just lovely and I had to hug it.

Halloween night

We wore our costumes from the Scooby Doo themed Cub Scout Camporee.  Albert and Alberta.

Jody's bunny was a cute attraction to the booth at the Cambridge Fiber Fair in October.
He says, "Spin more cotton."

I was spinning some kitchen sink fiber from Old Man
Wool Farm and while sitting on a felted karakul wool seat cover that Linda made.

The fabric after washing, steaming, and brushing.
I have to do a muslin mock up of the wrap skirt before cutting into this!