Talking Turkey

Turkey Tail Mushrooms

I did not know crocheting fungi could be so much fun.  It does sound like a strange past time.  I found it a little too absorbing and I am very proud of my 100% handspun fungal creation.  It is for a Fall/Autumn challenge at the International Freeform Forum on Ravelry. Each week there is a different weird and wonderful shroom to recreate in knit or crochet.

I did the best I could with what I had.  I had a rummage in my stash.  The orange and green yarn was a gift from someone, it is handspun but I don't know what it is.   I am guessing it is hand dyed too, I really like the subtle colours.  The dark brown yarn is 100% alpaca.  The colour is lovely. The bright green is some beaded Corriedale (I remember that name as it is a cross between Coronation Street and Emmerdale, two popular  TV soaps in the UK).  The yarn was plied with cotton thread with tiny, clear seed  beads.  The white is 100% silk. I have been working on more Turkey tails in lilacs, silver and purples to go with my other freeform  crochet scrumbles.  If it would stop being so cold and wet and stormy I would like to take my creation to photograph outdoors where it can pretend to be real.  I would also like to walk in the woods to see if I can find any more fun guys  fungi!  xx

Spinning Shropshire Fleece and other stories...

Do you remember in September me showing you this photograph of our Weaving Spinning and Dyeing Guilds meeting.  This is Evelyn, an incredibly skilled and knowledgeable spinner demonstrating how to skirt a fleece in preparation for spinning.  Skirting is the term used for sorting the raw unwashed fleece into that which is worth washing and spinning and that which is better off being put on the compost heap.  This is a Shropshire fleece.

As a Guild we are preparing for the Six Guilds Exhibition in September 2013.  I have never been to a Six Guilds Exhibition before...I think they take place every three to five years.  Our task as a guild is to spin and create a collaborative project using only Shropshire fleece.  The fleece has now been washed.  At our Annual Exhibition it was carded and my Mom and I have a chunk of it, actually a shopping bag size full of it each to spin in its natural colour.  It is a nice fleece to work with.  It has a springy texture and I really do not know how to describe it as it is coarse but soft at the same time soft and airy.  It is not as soft as Merino but not as coarse as Hebridean.  I think I would wear it but not directly next to my skin.  This particular fleece is rather a labour of love though.

I have oiled my wheel and lightly oiled the fleece too but look!  Oh dear it has rather a lot of VM (Vegetable Matter) embedded into the fibres.  It is clean!  For my first couple of sessions spinning it I was spending more time picking bits out than spinning.  I find that quite a chore and an irritating task.  Spin a bit, pick pick pick, spin a bit more pick pick pick pick...you catch my drift!  Seriously if this fleece was mine I would have abandoned it.

The resulting singles looks like a little white dog with fleas!  Nice eh?  So I have had a bit of a dilemma.  I have decided to just try my best and get it spun without worrying too much about it.  The end project is not going to be a garment it is going to be an 'Art Piece'.  I just worry in a collaborative project that I will be letting someone down.  Really though I do not have the personality type to cope with hours and hours of pick pick picking!  It is rather like counting grains of sand.  I did find some commercially prepared Shropshire 'tops' to buy but decided that would be cheating!  I will plod on and keep that in mind as a back up plan if the resulting yarn is too disappointing.  I love it's fuzziness.  If I could have fuzzy without the bits it would be perfect.  
             I have also been 'Corking' some of my handspun.  I have corked myself into oblivion!  Let me tell you corking this particular handspun is not for the faint hearted.

This yarn I called 'Rainbow Scrappy Beard'.  It is two ply.  I spun one bobbin of commercial scrap fibres;

 and one bobbin of 'Old Man's Beard' a fleece from an old work mate who rears sheep for meat.  They are crossbreed 'mules' and he was previously burning the fleece.

 I spun this in 2011.  I like the yarn and now it has been washed it is nice and soft.  I love the colours as I am corking.  Small things please small minds and all that!  I only have one skein of this yarn but I really wish I had enough to make a cardigan.  

Today has been incredibly blustery and wet.  The garden is turning into a swamp but it does not stop the chickens from having fun.  Lavender is still broody and only getting off the nest if I pick her up.  She is a lovely girl and this broodiness is a nuisance now.  I feel sorry for her.  She had a brief run around in the wind and drizzle today before returning to her imaginary duties.

You can play spot the chicken here as there are actually four in this picture.  The wind was so strong they were actually getting caught off guard and blown along the garden with their feathers all puffed up.  They have found a sheltered spot here.  It was funny to watch because they looked like 'old ladies' getting pushed at a Bus Stop and the noise they made as they got blown along sounded like how I imagine an old ladies getting pushed at a bus stop would sound.  The chickens would still rather be out running around in the elements than cooped up though.
XXX

Camping Crochet - 'Crazy Art Batts'

I posted about 'Challenge Day' for the 'Tour De Fleece' where I spun 200g of 'Crazy Batts' into singles.  The Crazy Art Batts were bought at a discount price for a group 'Spin along' in the Yummy Yarns UK  group on Ravelry.   I practiced slubs but didn't quite master control of  them.  I could make them but not every time I intended to and I had no control over their size.  I am partial to a big fat slub in a Yarn though.  The resulting yarn was very thick and slubby in places and very unpredictable.  I loved it for all its lumps and bumps.  It was great fun to spin.
'Tour De Fleece' Challenge Day - Crazy Art Batts Blog Post
I washed the skeins to set the twist  and  took them with me camping along with my trusty 'Jumbo Crochet Hook'.

This Hook is 'The Beast' of all my Crochet Hooks' I love it!  I think it is a 25mm.  While Euan played on a park that backed on to the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, I peacefully crocheted and played 'Frisbee' with Lacey.  (You see, I am talented like that and a master at multi-tasking).  Whatever you make with this hook grows very quickly.  I have previously made two shawls with it and they grew at warp speed.  I have also experimented with 'rag' crochet using it.

Handspun Natural Grey Gotland with Pink Merino - Made with Jumbo Hook
(This came Camping too and it was perfect)

Handspun Corriedale Beaded Yarn 

Whilst Camping I decided to make a 'Crazy Art Batt Hat'.  I would have made another shawl or shrug if I had enough yarn.  (I see more Art Batt singles on the horizon).  The 'small' hat took 100g of yarn.  Have you ever tried to photograph a hat while it is on your own head?  I do not know why I am admitting it here, but I have!  I can be a bit ditsy sometimes.  ( You may have worked that out for yourselves already!)

Take 1 - A glimpse of the chaos I live in but not much hat!

Take 2 - A glimpse of the chaos I live in and the Budgie cage, but still not much hat!

Third time lucky- Certainly not!

Good Old Henry saved the day and was a willing Model again wearing my 'Crazy Hat'

I am on the look out now for a large Grey and Pink felt flower to go on the side of the hat.  I think I will have to make one.  I am sure Henry will model again when the hat is completely finished and fitted with an suitable  embellishment.

Spinning Ramie 'Cherry Blossom' Beaded Yarn

Shiela at Handspinner.co.uk is having another 'Spring' spinning competition.  You can win £40 worth of vouchers to spend in her online spinning shop.  Which is too good to be true.  Last year I had a go at Daffodil-yarn this year I am more than a little late off the starting block and have been rushing 'Cherry Blossom' for the last couple of nights.  I have chosen to spin a Beaded yarn with 'Ramie' and tiny golden yellow seed beads.  To spin a beaded yarn you spin two 'Z' twist (clockwise) singles.  Then you get sewing cotton to match your fibre or contrast with it.  You thread all of your beads onto the cotton (carefully I have had several seed bead accidents!)  Then you 'Z' twist the cotton and one of your singles to ply together, feeding the beads in at intervals as you go.  You then 'S' twist (anti-clockwise) your beaded singles with your non beaded singles to get a plied beaded yarn.  I learnt from Alison Daykin and Jane Deane's book 'Creative Spinning'.

Ramie is one of the oldest vegetable fibres used by man, it is a  hardy perennial belonging to the nettle family and it can be harvested up to six times a year.  It is a fibre that was used in Ancient Egypt for Mummy cloth in the period 5000 - 3000 BC and is renowned for its strength.  It was used in China long before cotton was introduced,  The fibre is naturally white and does not require bleaching.

I thougth it was ideal for the soft, pure white blossom petals in the photograph.  It has very fine fibres like silk.  The golden yellow seed beads were to represent the pollen laden stamens in the centre of each flower.  I was hoping to create a snarl Yarn, however I have to admit defeat this time.  I love spinning but I don't think I have ever created anything that has not had a mind of its own, without the end product being a surprise.  Ramie was a fascinating fibre to work with.  This was my first time spinning with it.

My living room now has soft white fluff floating around the floor and furniture, it even floats in the air for ages too, it is so light.  It has completely coated all of my clothing, I look like some sort of Yeti in moult.  I lost a few seed beads too and they are also rattling around on the floor.  I am a messy worker but I love the end result.

First results from my new toy - Drum carder

Today is a nice bright day with the sun popping in and out from behind the clouds.  I could see the results of yesterdays carding in its full glory.  I took very quick photographs as the sun keeps disappearing.  I am beginning to realise it is very hard to take pictures of fibre.  I must try harder to take pictures that show the true colour and texture.  The fibre in the bag is Angelina which is very sparkly not that you would know from this picture.  The white is silk and the other is my Merino dye experiment/accident!

My six year old and I had fun drum carding for the first time yesterday and he christened the resulting batts 'Oil Slick'.  I think it is very apt.  Here are the batts and a small amount of spun single.

'Oil Slick' In all it's Glory

I have just found really clear turorials for using a Drum Carder on Alison Daykin's blog:
Alison Daykin's Tutorial for using a Drum Carder 1
Alison Daykin's Tutorial Drum Carder Part 2

The Recycled Sari Yarn Industry

I have been doing some internet research into the production of Recycled Sari Silk Waste Yarn.

Why?

1) Because the yarn is beautiful.
2) I feel there is something exotic about Sari Silk.

3) I am fascinated about life and culture of India/Nepal.

4) Something beautiful created out of a recycled waste product has to be a good concept doesn't it?
5) A product that enables individuals to earn a living from craft skills is also good.
6) Supporting others to support themselves.
7) I am interested in spinning and working with additional fibres to wool.


Visually this yarn is impressive not only for the mixture of vivid, rich colours but also the sheen the silk gives off enhances the yarn and reflects the light.  I have read this is because of the prism shaped celullar structure of silk threads.  Silk is a protein fibre harvested from the silk worm. 

So how does this...

Get to this...

Then to this...

So I can make this...

A silk worm is not actually a worm, it is the larvae of a moth.  Silk has been Harvested for thousands of years and used to make the finest cloth.  The purest white silk is produced from silkworms raised on Mulberry leaves.  They 'spin' silk to form their cocoons.  These cocoons are then harvested and they need to be de-gummed to have a sticky resin removed with warm soapy water.

The degummed cocoons can then be spun into very fine thread.  They do not need to be combed or carded and are very easy to spin with.  Long rovings can be pulled from the mass and the indidvidual silk fibres are long, fine and lustrous.

Spinning silk to be woven in to Saris provides a living for many across india. 

Skills get passed on by traditional methods.  Many familys have simple spinning wheels and large weaving looms.

The cocoons are often dyed prior to spinning and some rich, vibrant colours are produced.

It take skilled work and many hours to produce some of the finer saris by hand.

As with many processess silk production creates waste.  The ends of the threads off the looms can be gathered and recycled.

This is known as throwsters waste and it can be spun to produce beautiful and unique yarns.

These yarns can then be made into a variety of Garments and items.





Handspun Daffodil Yarn - Creative Spring Spinning

The Jonquils in the garden are now showing strong shoots, they are very pretty when they are in bloom  for quite a number of weeks during spring.  Each year they increase in number.  This picture was taken last year.  For a competition with Handspinner.co.uk readers were invited to spin a yarn that reflected the image and colour of a daffodil.  There were some fantastic art yarn entries.  I used Corriedale fibre and blended Green and Yellow using my Ashford Hand Carders.  I spun varieagated singles, getting lots of practice with colour changes.  Then plied the two singles.  The competition was judged by Alison Daykin the Author of 'Creative Spinning'. 

http://willingtonweaver.blogspot.com/



  Whilst I did not win the competition I recieved some encouraging comments and it was a good learning curve.  Here is a look at some of the other yarns...