Spinning and knitting/Spinnen und stricken

Oh deer ;-) - it's been a bit of a time since last ... I'm sorry for that.

Yes, I have assembled my deers roughly -but I'm not satisfied with the result yet, and therefore it will have to 'mature' in a safe place until inspiration strucks me anew, I'm afraid.

Summer has come to Austria, and I've been spending a lot of time in my garden, also spinning and knitting.

Do you remember the hand-dyed wool I bought last month? I've spun it all during the last weeks, and the icecream-coloured New Zealand lambswool turned out like this, when plyed with a golden-yellow silk thread from my stash:



For the first time I made a fringe as well - wound it over a pocket book to get the size right, cut it and passed it through the border stitches with a crochet hook and made a slip knot.

This shawl is dedicated to become a luxurious present for someone later on.



The other wool roving I bought from Dornröschen was a wool/linen blend, which I spun quite thin and plyed with a linen thread - one part with a green, another part with a black one.

You can see how much darker the same wool appears with the black plying than with the green one!

I worked front and back the same again, so I can wear the vest/slipover both sides. This time, however, I knitted the mitered diamonds horizontally, like a patchwork, to receive a different look than for the Noro slipover though the pattern idea is the same.



It's a wonderful thing to wear, lightweight and yet warm, still with a touch of 'coolness', due to the linen part ... and it was marvellous to spin as well because of those long and grasping linen fibers - with eventual soft short-fibered bumps!

And while I was on the go knitting, I made myself a shoulder poncho too - one single string (100g) of one-ply Swedish Gotland fur sheep wool from 'Färgkraft' - this hand-dyed colour is called 'Dusk' ...

I worked two pieces of triangle shawls, beginning at the top center, sewing them together in front and back. This light-weight piece only has 100 g but is as warm as an oven on neck and shoulders - perfect to put on over a T-shirt when the evening chill comes around!



I finished it up with a crocheted picot border, using some Schoppel Crazy Ball Lace yarn I had at hand.

(German summary: Meine Rehe und Hirsche sind zwar grob zusammengefügt, müssen aber noch etwas nachliegen, bis mir die zündende Idee für den Abschluß kommt.

Inzwischen habe ich aber fleißig gesponnen und gestrickt - der bunte Schal und der Pullunder sind aus dem Spinnfutter von 'Dornröschen' entstanden - den Schulterponcho habe ich wie zwei Dreieckstücher gestrickt und dann vorne und hinten mittig zusammengenäht - die Wolle ist von 'Färgkraft', handgefärbte einfädige Gotlandspelzwolle ... mmm, luftig leicht und trotzdem warm wie ein Ofen an den kühlen Sommerabenden!)

Knitting sea waves .../Wellenstricken!

No, no, I haven't been lazy though I'm still enjoying my holidays!

I've been carding and spinning and knitting my blue water into a sea wave pattern, altering between knitting and spinning and spinning and knitting ...

and just for some change, treating myself to a couple of matching stitch counters after taking a dive into my magic stash!



...knitting ...



... carding ...



...spinning ...



... knitting!



And well - it wouldn't be me, if not - a couple of other projects as well ... But that's another story!

(German summary: Nein, ich liege nicht faul herum, trotz Urlaub - ich kardiere, spinne, stricke meine 'Wasserfasern' zu einem blaugrünen Meer ...!)

Spinning blue water .../Wasserspinnen!

Sorry for being absent for so long now - I'm fine, just enjoying my holidays ... Today I started carding and spinning 'water': blue and greenish silk and wool fibers, which remind me of the sea ...

I'm mixing my own self-dyed silk/wool fibers with those I bought from 'Dornröschen' - you can read about these fibers in my earlier posting here and have a look here - spinning a thin, quite even thread for a 2-ply, which I will probably knit with that 'feather&fan' pattern to make a gorgeous water-coloured sweater ...

(Ich spinne gerade so etwas wie 'Wasser': Blau- und Grüntöne von Seiden- und Wollfasern, handgefärbt von mir und von 'Dornröschen' ... luftig, seidig, erinnert mich ans Meer!

Quite busy spinning, crocheting, embroidering .../Textiles Allerlei

I've been carding some bamboo, fine wool and silk fibers together for a very soft and delicate yarn. As I didn't find any bamboo fibers in green, I decided to dye some and mingle them with the white roving - funny, but in my opinion it looks more 'bambooish' that way.

Slower treadling, just to the point of holding the fibers together, made this yarn as soft and delicate as I wanted it to be - then plied with a very thin cotton thread.

I still have some problems with the new slide yarn guides, though - they just don't seem to stay where I want them, but keep sliding towards the bobbin ... Anyone else who's got the same problem, or am I doing something wrong?



I've been playing around, doing some necklaces too - using cotton yarn and glass, bone and wooden beads from my stash. Thought it could be a nice thing to wear now to the summer clothing.



This is how the embroideries proceed for 'My Neighbour's Garden':



and for 'The Vineyards':



Sara is coming on Saturday - maybe we'll do some acid dyeing this time ... :-) By the way, if you want to read about really archaic natural dying, go visit Manya Maratous' wonderful Greek 'Mythcolour'-blog!

(German summary: Bambus-, Woll- und Seidenfasern - und laaangsames Treten - machen diese Wolle sehr weich und geschmeidig. Allerdings wollen die neuen gleitenden Fadenhalterungen immer wieder von selber Richtung Spule gleiten - ärgerlich. Mache ich etwas falsch oder hat noch jemand die gleichen Probleme damit?

Und dann gibt's noch ein paar Bilder von Halskettenspielereien mit buntem Baumwollgarn und verschiedenen Perlen, für's Sommergewand - und davon, wie die beiden gestickten und gepunchten Bilder voranschreiten - fleißig diesmal, gell?)

Almost to good to be true!/Fast zu gut, um wahr zu sein!

A couple of days ago, I was surfing the net for this and that - and suddenly I read that Ashford, the producer of my "Joy" spinning wheel, had come up with a "Freedom Flyer" - a new flyer for artyarns, provided with a 25 mm/1" orifice hook and slide yarn guides ...



... and large bobbins (left - the 'old' one to the right, as comparison) ...



Maybe you remember my earlier posting about making a DIY solution for bypassing the former small orifice? I have been using it since, but of course I was eager to get that professional gear now!

Anyway, I ordered the new equipment online the same night, and this afternoon the parcel arrived! So now I'm looking forward to quite some new spinning sensations :-)! Maybe someday I'll be able to spin such wonderful yarns as Jana does ... This is really a site to find inspiration!

On Sunday I'm leaving for a trip to Sara - I'll be gone for a week this time, as Sara has asked me to assist as a translator for a group of Swedish ladies attending an embellishing workshop at her place.

I must admit I do feel tempted to take my fancy equipped spinning wheel with me - but I guess there won't be that much time for spinning this time ...!

(German summary: Als ich vor ein paar Tagen im Netz herumgesurft bin, habe ich erfahren, daß es jetzt einen neuen Krebs für das Joy-Spinnrad gibt, mit dem man auch Effektgarne spinnen kann, dazu noch wesentlich größere Spulen. Das neue Einzugsloch - eigentlich ist es ein offener Haken - beträgt 25 mm, statt bisher 10 mm. Heute kam die Zusatzausrüstung mit der Post!

Viel ausprobieren kann ich es im Moment noch nicht, da ich nächste Woche bei Sara bin - aber bald! Bis dahin ;-), schaut Euch die dollen handgesponnenen Garne von Jana an - die sind wirklich wunderschön!)

A Country Lace Shawl/Ein Bauernspitzenschal

Have you experienced this too: You're learning a new technique, practising and working a lot on it, until you reach a certain level of skill - and then there is no forthcoming anymore. Frustrating!

So you put it aside, you do something else, maybe for quite some time - and when you finally return to this earlier project, all of a sudden you discover that your skills have improved all by themselves while you were busy doing other things! Funny, isn't it?



Last year, I tought myself to card and spin and spent a lot of time with it - still, my yarn always turned out worsted, no matter what I tried to change in order to get it soft and delicate instead.

Anyway, at the end of November I stopped spinning, as there were a lot of Christmas preparations to do - I had decided to knit a whole bunch of scarves for Christmas presents for example - so last week was the first time I felt the urge to get back to my spinning wheel again.

I had an idea in mind to spin a very soft and gentle wool for a lace triangle scarf, or wrap - a warming and comforting something out of natural white Norwegian sheep wool and light-brown baby camel wool which I had carded together - using a very basic and plain lace pattern. A kind of rustic country lace shawl, simple and yet delicate.

And it worked! It is just as soft as I wanted it to be, thin but not too thin, some soft bumps and irregularities here and there for the natural look - and lovely to knit with! I'm not an expert, but I think the main difference is that I now tread more slowly and allow the yarn to go faster into the orifice than before, the whorl set to a medium speed.

I found the simple pattern I'd been looking for in 'Victorian Lace Today' by Jane Sowerby - a wonderful lace pattern book covering it all from the very simplest to the quite complicated ones and illustrated with beautiful photos:



The charts make it easy to find your way through the pattern:



I haven't decided on the final size yet, but I think I would like this shawl to be quite big - and I'm planning to work a special border around it afterwards, probably out of one of Nicky Epstein's gorgeous edge-and border knitting books, which I've discovered lately ... but this will deserve a posting for its own!

(German summary:

Ich habe nicht geahnt, daß man auch beim Spinnen Lernstufen/Lernplateaus haben kann - aber nachdem ich eine mehrmonatige Spinnpause gemacht habe, geht's jetzt sogar viel besser als vorher: statt dem üblichen festen, dicht verzwirbeltem Garn bekomme ich jetzt endlich diese luftig-leichte Wolle, die ich mir für meinen Bauernspitzenschal gewünscht habe ...! Und das Buch ist wirklich Klasse, mit leicht verständlichen Charts zum Nacharbeiten!)

Back to Basics/Zurück zum Ursprung

Sorry to have kept you waiting again - of course I've been doing some textile things inbetween, but somehow, I was in the mood where nothing seemed worthwhile writing about or interesting enough to show ...

I'm not even sure about it now, but I'll share it with you anyway:

At the moment, I'm back to basics, re-reading books like "The Good Life" and "Simple Food for the Good Life" by Helen and Scott Nearing, "Gardening When it Counts" by Steve Solomon, "Spinning in the Old Way" by P.A. Gibson-Roberts and "Wer wandert, braucht nur was er tragen kann" by Anne Donath.

I've finally got my high-whorl handspindle, which I use for spinning a thick, yet soft single yarn out of quite harsh and rustic, 'original' fibers: the dark one is Mongolian sheep, the light one a Russian Karakul sheep blended with camel undercoat fibers.



This is truly slow work, spinning small amounts on the handspindle, then knitting the yarn in 10 stitches small squares, using my chopsticks, in a pattern similar to the one of Scandinavian birchtree bark basket weaving.

Although these are sturdy and archaic fibers (except the camel undercoat), the yarn still turns out quite delicate and comfortable through the handspindle and the loose knitting.

I just felt that I needed a break from all those soft and softest modern silky yarns in pastel colours - and as a friend told me of a journey to the Indian mountains, where she had seen a very basic way of spinning and knitting right out of a basket of raw wool, I knew that I wanted to try that out, too.



As this is a very basic wool, it will certainly be possible to felt it too, if I'd like to.



I haven't decided yet if to use it for a wrapping or for a garment - it has a touch of stone-age to it and might not be everyone's cup of tea - but it is basic, for sure ...

(German summary: Ich experimentiere gerade mit sehr ursprünglicher Wolle - grobe russische und mongolische Schafwolle und teilweise noch sehr fette Lockenwolle, die ich unkardiert direkt verspinne und erst danach wasche ... Es ist eine angenehme Abwechslung zu dem supersoften, pastellfarbenen Designergarnen - und irgendwie brauche ich das jetzt!)

Sock wool disguised buttons/Sockenwollknöpfe

I'm afraid you are starting to ask yourself if I've been bought by the sock wool industry for product placement (no, unfortunately not!) - so I guess I should stop this series soon.

I just wanted to show you a few more ways to use that colourful, variegated yarn besides knitting socks out of it - plying it with handspun wool, for example:



Or crocheting squares without changing the yarn:



Or disguising - i.e. recycling - ugly buttons (the ones in the middle and upper right):



The first two to the left are actually crocheted and then woven over O-rings - this was tought to me by Sara - and the last three ones I covered with a piece of wool, which I first punched on the embellisher. The flower in the right corner is not a button, of course - just another experiment!

And so - I started with the last two scarves for a while (although you can get addicted to it!) - one in my daughter's favourite colours, one for a friend.



(German summary: Noch ein paar Sockenwolle-Ideen, bevor ich dann mit dem Thema aufhöre: handgesponnene bunte Wolle, verzwirnt mit Sockenwolle; gehäkelte Quadrate ohne Garnwechsel und schließlich umhäkelte und umfilzte Knöpfe, teils auch Dichtungsringe. Und die derweil letzten zwei Schals sind auch angefangen - da könnte man richtig süchtig werden!)

Wheel of Life - Mahatma Gandhi

"The music of the wheel will be as balm to your soul. I believe that the yarn we spin is capable of mending the broken warp and woof of our life. The Charkha (=spinning wheel) is the symbol of non-violence on which all life, if it is to be real life, must be based."

Mahatma Gandhi

As I've been spinning a lot on my spinning wheel lately - and found this to be very comforting and meditative - I was quite touched by this poetic quotation by Mahatma Gandhi and wanted to share it with you.

Blending camel and bamboo ...

Did I tell you I ordered and received a drum carder - it's a Louet Junior - recently?



Hand carders are fine for carding and blending small amounts of fiber, but I've realized you really need a drum carder when working with a bit more of material.

Although wool is still my favourite fiber, I wanted to try out other ones as well - especially as wool is quite "hot" working with in the heat of the summer days ...

Today I blended camel with bamboo, which is a great soft and lightweight combination of the matt and short-stapled camel and the shiny, long-stapled bamboo fibers, easy to spin in all thicknesses.



As I've spun my yarn quite thin at a higher ratio, it is rather energized - and so I guess I will make a 2-ply out of the single - or maybe ply it with an old, slightly golden thread I found in a thrift store ... we'll see.

(German summary: Ich habe mir endlich eine Trommelkarde gekauft - und bin gerade dabei, eine Mischung aus Kamel- und Bambusfasern zu verspinnen. Die Kombination dieser einmal kurz-, einmal langfaserigen Materialen ist sehr angenehm zu verspinnen und auch optisch recht gelungen.)

Spinning the Dog - Auf den Hund gekommen!

Well, I know I'm likely to put about anything in my carders, but I never knew I would be spinning a dog some day ...

No, not a whole dog - it's the winter fur (underwool) of a Leonberger lady, belonging to a friend of mine - see what a dog like that looks like:

http://www.leonberger-oeclh.at/gallery/album/slides/DSCN3430.html (about 75 cm shoulder height - glances over the dining table, still standing on all four feet ...)

One combing/brushing (and there will be a few more this Spring) already contained about 100g, although it is light and soft (and clean!) like angora wool ...!

I blended it a bit more than half-half with white Merino to make it spinable, and the medium 2-ply now looks like this:



I think it looks quite promising!

Another experiment which I made lately was to spin a slightly variegated brownish/grey thick-and-thin wool and ply it with a skiny, metallic looking viscose yarn I had in my stash:



I have also spun more of that ice-cream yarn plied with beads and sequins and have now started knitting it with 15 mm needles:



It will probably become a slipover with separate arms (in another design) to button on ...

And as I'll be leaving for Stockholm for a week now, I wish you all a very happy Easter time!



(German summary: Ich spinne gerade die feine, seidige Unterwolle einer Leonberger Hündin mit 40% zu 60% weißer Merino, und bin recht begeistert über das Ergebnis!

Ein weiteres Experiment ist die braungraue Wolle, dick/dünn gesponnen, mit einem metallisch-glänzendem Viskosegarn verzwirnt - und dann noch mehr von der Eiscreme-farbenen Wolle mit Perlen und Pailletten, aus der ich gerade einen krausgestrickten Pullunder mit 15 mm-Nadeln angefangen habe - da überlege ich eine Lösung mit separaten, angeknöpften Ärmeln in einem anderen Material ...

Da ich demnächst für eine Woche nach Stockholm abreise, wünsche ich euch jetzt schon ein frohes Osterfest!)

Bypassing the orifice - and recycling yarns ...(Einzugslochumbau!)!

First of all, I've got to show you this:

It looks like a very modest - and a bit ugly - modification on the flyer, but it really means a lot for spinning bulky yarns and plying beads and sequins ...! Maybe I'll find an even better hook someday, but I'm very content with this solution for the moment - if you want to try it out, make it reversible, like I did, using strong sticky tape (the black one) for holding the wooden plug (where the hook is attached) fixed in the original orifice.

When spinning with the hook, I find it helpful to increase the tension on the brake a bit more than usual, and to sit a bit more to the right, so that the yarn doesn't get off the hook.

(German Version: Ich habe noch eine Veränderung am Flyer vorgenommen, damit ich auch dicke und knubbelige Garne spinnen bzw Perlen und Pailletten verzwirnen kann, ohne daß sie im Einzugsloch stecken bleiben.

Der Haken ist etwas aufgebogen und in einem passenden Holzdübel hineingeschraubt, danach habe ich den Dübel mit starkem Klebeband am Einzugsloch fixiert, damit alles auch noch rückgängig zu machen ist. Damit mir das Garn nicht vom Haken fliegt, habe ich die Spannung an der Bremse ein bißchen erhöht und sitze auch etwas mehr links vom Rad beim Spinnen.)



I've also been experimenting with recycling yarns from my stash, mostly through core spinning and overspinning dull yarns. Another solution is to ply together a couple of thin, matching yarns of different qualities first - creating a new base for further plying or partial overspinning.

This one, for example, consists of a weak and slobby acrylic yarn in Indian spice colours, which I think got more of a character being tightly plied with the black wool:



Below, I've used different short, blue yarn ends, which I found in my stash, and overspun them with a blue/green/brown carded batt, forming nubs when overlapping two yarn ends. For the finish, I plied it all with a thin blue thread holding blue sequins here and there.



Here you see three yarns from my stash - blue cotton, turquoise viscose and green wool - which I just plied together to form a single yarn. I even have enough to knit a slipover out of it - and it sure looks much more interesting as a single than separated.



(Ich experimentiere mit verschiedenen Möglichkeiten, "gehortete" Garne zu verwerten, indem ich sie z B ganz oder teilweise überspinne. Manchmal erreicht man auch recht interessante Ergebnisse durch einfaches Zusammenzwirnen verschiedener Einzelgarne - als Endprodukt, oder auch als Basis für weiteres (Teil-)überspinnen oder Verzwirnen.)