Art Yarn - the journey

Today was the big decision to start a blog with the help of my friend and neighbour, Zeynep Welink Zara (artist - blog pranastyle).  Being at home now after a busy career has given me the opportunity to learn some new skills.  Hopefully this may help others to learn new skills and produce fun things.   A little background is necessary to start off the journey.

In about 2006 a spinning wheel was purchased...since called Doris.  Anyhow, Doris just sat in the corner and then moved into the attic and was never used.  Then one day my friend Patty Poot (Studio Textiel), bought me some roving for my birthday which kind of set the "wheel" haha in motion.  What a challenge. 

I must say this was not a great success but the all important fun was definitely had.

After what seemed an eternity the wool was knitted into this shawl.  So a new hobby as a "spinner" was born.

Jumping to 2012...lots of time to spin now, due to the fact that I am no longer working.

Of course the trend is for all these wonderful Art Yarns.  Well with my first challenge behind me and the fact that spinning perfectly thin yarn and plying was just over the top as far as I was concerned, off onto the next phase.

As can be seeing from the photo's this was definitely not going to pass muster by a long shot.  Trial and Error.  Mostly Error but hey!.....fun was being had.  How could it not with all those wonderful colours and curly bits (some very straight) but the spinning police don't come passed here :)

As you can see this one did not have enough spin in the wool.  Something which took me quite a long time to understand.  Where to tighten the tension and how quickly to allow the wool to wind through.  All these things are written about in books but until you actually give it a go it is not easy to understand.







This section was then spun too much.  It was sometimes so frustrating not getting it right the first time but that in retrospect was the fun in learning this wonderful new hobby which actually is extremely relaxing (I know, I did just say that)










Once completed this is the result.  I must say I was very happy with it in the end, curly wurly's and all.

 Now this is not everyone's cup of tea but it makes me happy just looking at it with all those bright colours and the way I stitched it up, it can be worn inside out as well.

I will continue the journey on my return....have fun out there !!



NAME THIS WHEEL??



This is my new wheel (well new to me) An S60 with double treadle.  Way better on the old knees.  I still have not named her...possibly a Jemima but not sure.  Any suggestions out there?  Leave a suggestion in the comments section and we shall see who she becomes. :)  Her and Doris will become great friends

SO FAR:

We have received:

Dizzy
Mavis
Emma
Jezzie
Jemima

Still cannot make up my mind yet!

I am posting this picture from a website in South Africa where I purchased supplies to make Pewter products.  I think one of these photo frames would make a great gift idea for family and friends

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012

Had a dyeing day!

Just remember to have really good gloves on....these even though new, were not strong enough to withstand the amount of use I put them through.  I now have trusted household gloves in the drawer for next time :)

This is all dyed using food colouring.  I loved the way it mixed together creating colours which I would not have normally used, or even thought would go together.  Feel free to experiment and don't be afraid of anything because all you doing is creating a totally unique yarn once you have finished.  I loved this one once it was ready to spin with.

Once you have kind of flattened it out to dry it does not take long in a well ventilated area.

I decided to try core spinning which I had not done yet and was really happy with the outcome.  I have since gifted this to an old friend whom I had not seen in about 10 years.  We have once again gotten together and she is also a spinner (which, gasp!!, I had forgotten over the years) so she, dear Michele, can appreciate the wool and hopefully knit something out of it.

Also on the same day as the dyeing day above, I had spun "thin" yarn and plied it using different techniques.  Some just double plied but a section I tried the Navajo ply.  You cannot see the difference when you look at the wool.  Anyhow, I used red and blue food colouring to make the burgundy colour and then blue with red for the opposite side.  Once heat set, I put it in the washing machine on wool wash and spun it to dry and hung it up for about a day to dry.  Once knitted up into a cowl for a birthday present I rather liked the pattern the two colours created.



I have also purchased a few colours from Landscape dyes which are totally different.  You obviously cannot get dye lots with food colouring which will always be the same so you do need help from other sources.  This lot I bought are called Landscape starter set "Coastal".

I laid this out on top of some plastic wrap turning the wool backwards and forwards in a curly way then painted the dyes on and squished them with my fingers (this could have been the cause of the hole in the glove).  Once I had finished this I rolled it up into a long sausage in the plastic wrap and put in in a microwave dish curled in a round and cooked it for about 2 mins, turned it over and again for about 2 mins till it was really hot and then let it cool off naturally.


I am sorry I did not think to take a photo of that part.

Once dried, I spun it thick and thin and then plied it together.  When the wool is kind of flat and wide I pulled strips off lengthways so that the colours remained in the same direction therefore once plied they did not match each other giving this stripy effect.

Again I knitted this sample of wool into another cowl.  Cowls are great for small experiments to test out your skills either with dying or spinning different ways, so the wool is never wasted and you always have something with you to show off.... :)

We knitters / spinners always appreciate looking at others works of art.