Out and About.

This was the result of a workshop I took for the Bucks Guild of WS&D's in Amersham on the 4th March. The theme of the day was using as many different fleeces as possible and preparing them in different ways. The skeins here show the variety of finishes we came up with.
Carding, combing and spinning from the fleece were all tried as well as the large wool combs seen below left.
Thankyou to all those who took part and the organisers of the day.

 

This was the wonderful sight that greeted us as we arrived at the hall in East Hendred to the Wingham Wool day organised by the Kennett Valley Guild. It is a spinners dream to spin all day and sample as many different fleeces and fibres as you like.I recommend this day to anyone who has not been before, bring your purse as the shopping opportunity is second to none. You have missed this year but future dates will be on www they may be coming some where near you..winghamwoolwork.co.uk

Clipping Time.

Angora rabbits need clipping every 10-12 weeks. This not just to collect fibre, the rabbit will become very matted if neglected and that is a very sorry sight to see.

It takes about 20mins to clip Daisy. She gives about 55gms of pure white fibre and is very easy to do because I have had her a long time and she is very used to me. Rabbits don't like strangers.

 Don't have a fit when you see this picture. It is impossible to do a nice neat job, getting the fibre off is the important thing. Daisy does not mind what she looks like. I do have to make sure she keeps warm at this time of the year. In the summer the rabbits are glad to get rid of their long coats.

This scarf was knitted from 100% Angora so soft and warm to wear, my favourite.

Jacob Jumper.

In the Autumn I took on a commission for a friend to knit this jumper from a Jacob fleece from one of her own sheep. I don't usually take commotion's because you can spend a lot of time working on things you you don't like. But I really enjoyed this one because I know the sheep and have worked with the flock.

 

Jacob is a very easy fleece to spin. The sheep are always brown and white so you will know one if you see it. I spun it straight from the fleece, no carding. Taking each colour at random. It gives a lovely effect that you could never in commercial wool.

A Few Setbacks.

I have had a very bad back recently which has made any kind of work difficult, even sitting to knit or spin. This has meant missing out on my weekly knitting group and the monthly meeting of The Bucks Weavers Spinners And Dyers. A real shame this last one, the talk was on 17th century spinning and I was really looking forward to it. Still hopefully I'm on the mend now and can get back to work.
The next knock back came when a dear friend decided to move back to the US and take the Ashford Traditional wheel that I have my jumbo flyer on with her. Well it is her wheel and I have had it for ages so I can't really complain. The flyer does not fit my other wheels so I can't spin any very thick yarn at the moment. A rethink is needed and I have fallen for a Majicraft Wheel so watch this space.

(I don't think that is the right spelling of Majicraft.)

New Etsy Post.

 I have just posted a Angora Shoulder Cape on Etsy. It is hand knitted with my best hand spun angora from one of my favortie rabbits called Flute. He has a lovely coat which grows thick and long. It takes about 30mins to clip him because there is so much fibre to come off. It's a good job that I only do it once every 10 weeks because he gets a bit figerty in that time.

The cape is soft and warm with a lovely drape. A cosy cover up for indoors or out any time.

More colourful scarfs.

I tryed dyeing silk scarfs with cochineal and annatto with some very nice results.
The annatto was a gritty powder which gave a lovely yellow after using an alum mordant. I tryed dyeing some wool in the same dye bath which was a mistake because I should have strained the grit from the liquid. The wool was totally full of grit that would not wash out and had to be thrown away. The silk was fine and came out a lovely yellow.
The pale pink came from a cochineal vat using no mordant. After putting a small amount of citric acid in the vat I got a much deeper pink on the next scarf.

 

The patterns were made using shibori techniques, folding, wrapping and stitch gathering.

Colourful skeins.

One of the skeins I have for sale on Etsy at the moment is a Jacob mix dyed red and blue. Just to remind you Jacobs are a breed of sheep that are very popular with small holders because they are medium sized ,easy to keep, hardy and friendly. The fleece is good for hand spinners because it is easy to spin and coming in a mix of brown and white, it is easy to knit up to very effective patterns. The down side is that it is some times a bit course especially if the fleece is from and older ewe.

 I spun one single in pure Jacob randomly straight from the fleece. Meaning no carding. The other single was a white Oxford down dyed with Madder and Indigo. Spun alternately red and blue. When plied together it was surprising  how much of the Jacob was lost but the overall result was just what I wanted.