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.

New Venture

Because I am a bit of a butterfly never keeping my mind on one thing for long. I have taken a bit of a side ways step with my business and started to produce hand dyed silk scarfs. It is still natural dyes on natural fibers. This is the core of my work and I will stick to it as much as possible. But if I can create something wonderful using other materials I will. Nothing is written in stone, and I won't be hide bound by rules. The end result is the important thing for me.

The scarfs are brought in and I dye them in the Shibori style with indigo. The indigo vat can be tricky to start with but once you have mastered it the results are fabulous. It would take to long to describe here but if you are interested these books have been a great help to me.

Wild Colour by Jenny Dean, if you are interested in natural dyeing Jenny Dean is must. Any one of her books are full of the best advice and information you could want.

A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing by Vivien Prideaux.

Shibori by Mandy Southan.

There are many more but these three have been the ones I use the most at the moment

I will be a bit more precise about the methods I use in future posts.

Best Laid Plans.

The plan was that I would go on holiday to Northumberland and take some lovely pictures of the fells and the hardy Hexham Black Face sheep that are kept in the area. Well a bad back starting day two of the holiday meant that I spent most of the time laying on a sofa, literally my bed of pain.
HBF sheep live out on the fell all year round they lamb outside needing very little help. Extra food is only given in the worst of weathers. The fleece of these tough little animals is very course, straight locks that the rain slides off, dense and hairy for warmth.
You might think that the hand spiner would have little use for this kind of fleece but it was an interesting exersise spinning it. I found it very easy to spin an even yarn. Making it a good fleece for a beginer to start with. As long as you don't want to wear the result and have another use like rug or bag making in mind your item should be very tough and last a long time. The sheding of the hairy bits will be a problem if you are not careful when sorting the fleece at the start. Leave out the worst of the gard hair.
Sorry no photos I'll try again next time.

Jacob Fleece

I have just taken on a commission and I don't usually do that. In the past I have found myself spending a lot of time working on a project that I do not like which may or may not be going well. There is usually a dead line, and that does not suit me either as my work has to fit in with the rest of my life and I can't always spend my time as I would like.  Luckily the client has always liked the finished article.

This time is a bit different as the client has supplied the wool from her own sheep, a flock of Jacobs in our village. I helped on shearing day and know the sheep personally. I love that. The wool is lovely to work with and I have made a similar jumper before so I know that I will enjoy doing it.

Jacobs are a medium size sheep, brown and white with two or sometimes four horns. Easy to look after and very friendly. Two colours in the fleece make for supper patterns in the finished yarn.