Summer is over, ready for autumn!

28.09.2021 This year has been a blur.  We managed to get some camping in and one of the first was Cascade River State Park in Lutsen, MN, where the water looks like root beer.  It's so beautiful there and I particularly love the hiking trails.  Gus did great coming down the "ladder" stairs.  Our first day hiking was beautifully sunny, but I have to say I really enjoyed the second day of hiking in the fog.  

Since then, we added a few more pins to our MN state park map including Scenic, Whitewater, Split Rock Creek and Blue Mounds.  There was also a trip to Ohio using Harvest Host sites along the way including an aviation museum, and a heritage museum in Iowa, two wineries and a farm in Illinois and a farm and private property in Ohio.    We recently returned from the Camp-Inn Campout in Wisconsin and it was nice to see familiar faces and meet some new folks.  

There was and is lots of fiberwork happening with spindle spinning more colors to use in tapestry weavings, a dive into the Shetland yarn stash for this year's Wool Week hat designed by Wilma Malcolmson. 

I went back to plein air painting briefly, but the cool weather did not last long and the bugs came out early this year.  We have had a hot and dry summer.  Lately, there has been some much-needed rain with cooler temperatures and shorter days.  We have a day or so of warmer weather and then it will once again be cool.  I am ready for sweater weather.  Bring on autumn!🍁

Cascade Falls

The "Ladder"

Spinning little skeins

For little tapestries.  Perfect projects for deck time under the umbrella.

Wool Week 2021 hat.  My color way was inspired by my favorite outfit,
blue jeans and a white tee.

Houndstooth fabric on the home loom, Buttercup

Knitting a Strange Brew cardigan.  As of this writing, I still have to cut the steek,
finish the bands and block...buttons.  Must choose the perfect buttons. 

Springtime plein air painting in progress.  

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!

A learning curve with weaving.

Tapestry weaving has been a skill I have wanted to learn for some time since receiving a small Good Wood loom.  A friend of my brother's gave it to me in honor of him when he died twenty years ago.  At that time spinning was a relatively newly-acquired skill for me since learning how to spin in 1997.  Upon returning home, I promptly warped the loom with crochet cotton and wove with a bit of white handspun weft.  It is the perfect size for a mug rug and has graced my computer desk for years. The experience of weaving was okay, but not something I felt compelled to pursue at that time...until Jim bought me the Cricket loom for my birthday in 2014.  The scarf I wove with the yarn that came with the loom (enhanced with some yarn from the knitting stash) was instant gratification.  That gift led to being in a small group at Anoka Fiber Works that wove vests on our Cricket looms, which then led to me writing an article for Spin-Off Magazine about the experience.  It became clear early on in my weaving that I enjoyed weaving with wool and particularly loved weaving fabric for garments.  A few months later, I purchased a floor loom from Deb, of Old Man Wool Farm.  Weaving fabric for sewing has been fun and satisfying and as time goes by, there is more to learn and opportunity to grow as a fiber artist.  The next step for me is to paint with the yarn with tapestry weaving.  My experiment is approximately three-inches wide by six-inches long.  The piece for me was a success and I look forward to more tapestry weaving.  My plan is to use some of the handspun from the Snake River Acres Lincoln Longwool for weft (and possibly warp) in a tapestry project.

I borrowed Mary's Harrisville lap loom and warped it for a small project using cotton rug warp and handspun woolly bits for the weft.  The simple landscape is made with simple shapes using contour, slanted, and straight lines.  The tension was not an issue, but I should have addressed the start before diving into the weaving.  

About halfway through the first project, I warped the Good Wood loom with two strands of rug warp per slot.  The advantage to the lap loom is that the yarn ends are easy to move to the back when not in use.  This time I wove with one warp thread per pass.  Next time it should be two strands per pass.  I still like how it looks, even though a bit of the warp peeks through the weaving.  

The varying thickness of yarn was tricky on the edges, but I like the overall texture.

The finishing at the top and bottom were a bit of a challenge.  I did two rows of twining and managed to stitch down the loops at the bottom.  Next time I will do a continuous warp.  

The long threads at the top was nice for tying the piece onto one of sticks I picked up on a hike last year.

Sheep in the woods vest

Yesterday was a good day to sew.  I finally decided to cut into the twill fabric and make a vest.  I'd found a pattern on eBay that I'd used in the early '90s.  I still have the bolero I made and thought the pattern was still filed away.  It was a good find and one that will be used over and over.  Rather than cutting out the pieces, I bought some pattern yardage (lightweight interfacing) and drafted the two pieces from view 2 in the S/M size.  Plan A was to add a seam allowance on the back pieces, but I didn't like the thought of seaming the fabric.  I visited my closet of good intentions (thank you, putzycrafter, for that saying) and shopped my small linen stash.  I had lightweight brown (intended for a summer dress) and neutral (intended for another summer dress), but figured I could do better.  Off to Joann, ETC.  Sigh, I found the linen and didn't like the linen/rayon blends.  After a bit more searching, I thought denim or corduroy would be good options.  Most denim now has spandex and the corduroy was too light or too stiff.  Back to the linen section, and since it was on sale, a yard of natural color was the choice.

There be sheep in the woods!

 Home again, I washed the linen and hung it to dry in the basement.  In the meantime, itching to get to work, I went back to the closet of good intentions and pulled out a yard of printed linen purchased some years ago at Treadle Yard Goods in St. Paul.  Treadle is a small shop that carries lovely fabrics, patterns, buttons (oh, the buttons!), so much more, and a knowledgeable staff.  Suffice it to say, it's worth the drive from here!  Anyway, when the twill met the printed linen it was a match made in heaven.  Taking the time to think about it and then consulting Mary I knew I had to go ahead and begin the project.

Cutting into the fabric was not easy.  Handweaving gives one a particular appreciation for fabric and because the twill has a diagonal design, I took my time placing lining up the second piece after cutting the first piece since I cut them out one at a time.  Speaking of cutting out the first piece...after pinning the pattern to the fabric I took a deep breath and made the first cut on the side, put down the scissors, took a deep breath, snapped a photo, and then proceeded to finish cutting.  Before sewing, the machine needed a new needle and threading was a bit of a challenge with dark thread and a bit more farsightedness.  Stay-stitching around the handwoven pieces with straight stitches stabilizes the fabric.  Dampening and ironing the prewashed linen smooths out any large wrinkles.  

Cut, breathe, cut, breathe...

The construction of the vest is quite simple--sew shoulder seams on right side pieces and lining, sew lining to the outside pieces leaving the side seams open, clip curves, turn inside out and press.  (Between each step I steam press, keeping the seams tidy.)  The reveal was exciting with only two more seams to sew.  The right sides of the back and front pieces got machine-stitched and then the lining seam allowances are whip-stitched by hand after pressing.  Whoa, I was so excited after giving the finished vest a good pressing and trying it on.  Now I'm excited to plan my next yardage using Harrisville Shetland for the warp and weft in a broken twill for an allover surface design.  

Finished!

I love the curve detail at the center back.

It's worth mentioning that the vest fits better on me than on the dress form.  I am so happy and cannot wait to weave more yardage for sewing projects!