A few days ago, I decided to try the pinwheel pattern on my rigid heddle loom. A weaver on YouTube converted the 8-shaft weaving draft into a pickup stick pattern for rigid heddle, so luckily, I didn’t have to work that part out for myself. I used the merino/cashmere/silk blend yarns I’ve been using recently because of the autumnal colors. Everything turned out fine, weaving wise, on this scarf–although it did take me a full day and part of the next morning to weave it. Next time, I’ll probably make supplemental string heddles instead of using the pickup stick for six of the eight steps.
Yesterday’s knitting project was the “Finlandia” beanie by Paige Buursma, a free pattern on Ravelry. I used some handspun yarn made from a Gulf Coast Native ram fleece (“Freddie” from Yellow Bell Farmstead–Arab, AL). It’s a little hard to see the tree motif throughout the hat because of the dark color of the yarn, but when I put it on, I can see it a little better.
Sunday, October 3rd was the 3rd annual Alabama Honey Festival at Artisan’s Cove in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama. Since I teach fiber arts classes at Artisan’s Cove, I decided to become a vendor at this year’s festival. The forecast predicted 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms, but luckily, it only drizzled off and on throughout the event. The host said about half of last year’s numbers made it this year–about 1,500 instead of 3k. Considering the weather, I think it was a decent turnout. I sold about 10 scarves + some additional woven items on my table (bookmarks, tea towels, mug rugs, etc.). I normally don’t attend outside events, so my husband and I had to improvise my setup with some of our existing scarf displays.
This past Sunday, October 10th, I set up again at the same venue for a market day. The weather was sweltering hot, but we had a decent turnout. I only sold one scarf, but I did get a chance to talk with people about classes that I hope to teach in the up coming months at that location. I also brought my spinning wheel and small loom to show how things are made–something I didn’t get to bring to the honey festival because of the rain. The spinning wheel seemed to draw a good bit of attention and I have to remind myself how few people have actually seen handspun yarn being made.
The North Alabama Yarn Skip began on Friday, October 8th, but I didn’t get to start until Saturday. I visited Hook A Frog Fiber & Fun (Madison, AL), Fiber Artwork (Huntsville, AL), and Yarn Boutique of Decatur (Decatur, AL) on Saturday–then traveled to The Taming of the Ewe (Gadsden, AL) and Thread (Florence, AL) on Monday. The event runs through Saturday, Oct. 16th. The only shop I haven’t made it to is Knit Happenz at the Memory Haggler (such a bizarre name) in Birmingham, AL. Since the shop didn’t extend its hours, I doubt I’ll make it down there. But, five out of six shops isn’t bad.
Haul from Yarn Boutique of Decatur
Haul from Fiber Artwork (Huntsville)
Haul from Thread (Florence)
Haul from Taming of the Ewe (Gadsden)
I dyed a custom fiber colorway of Peruvian Highland wool for Hook A Frog Fiber & Fun specifically for the yarn skip, and I’m also selling my hand dyed yarns there as well through the duration of the event.
This week has been filled with dyeing, spinning, and weaving–as well as preparing for tomorrow’s Alabama Honey Festival in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama, where I’ll have a tent set up if it doesn’t rain us out.
Off the loom: Merino/Silk/Cashmere Autumn Plaid Scarf.
Off the wheel: “Carpo’s Sunset” custom colorway I’ve dyed for the upcoming North Alabama Yarn Skip (Oct 8-16th). Carpo was the goddess of Autumn, hence, the name. This is a Peruvian Highland wool roving dyed with professional acid fast dyes. It will be available in limited quantities at Hook a Frog Fiber & Fun during the event. This sample was spun from half of the 100g braid, so not much of the blue showed up in the finished 2-ply yarn.
On September 16th, I received a Scottish Blackface lamb fleece from McKinney Sheep Ranch that I ordered from a FB raw wool group. I’ve wanted to try Scottish Blackface wool for a while now, but had trouble finding it in the U.S. Ashley McKinney also sent me a handmade soy candle and a bar of goat milk soap along with the fleece. I’ve washed a small sample of the fleece, but it’s currently on my backlog.
After buying the Scottish Blackface fleece, I found some Dorset Horn (or Horned Dorset–however you like to say it) from New Hampshire, so I ordered three pounds of it –mostly because I loved the small bit of Dorset Horn I processed during the Tour de Fleece. I haven’t started processing it yet, but it looks amazing, so I can’t wait to get some of it washed and processed.
Then, after saying I would stop buying more raw fleeces because I have more than enough, I bought two Shetland fleeces, “Tim” and “Miel Rouge” from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium–because, why not? I’m already in over my head at this point, so I figure I’ll just go for broke.
Two scarves have come off the loom since last week. The first was from some handpainted + handspun BFL in purples and oranges from Claire Cabe of Lucca Dot Yarn–used for both warp and weft.
The second scarf was woven from a merino/silk/cashmere blend in three different colors. I wasn’t pleased with the pattern and had something totally different in mind when I warped the loom, but the scarf sold almost immediately, so I can’t complain too much.
My spinning wheel (a double-treadle Lendrum) has been working overtime over the past two weeks, so I thought I’d post some of the recent handspun yarns that have come off the wheel. I’m only showing finished yarns here, but I’m currently spinning a Merino/Sparkle blend from Frabjous Fibers. Two of the fibers below were rolags and an art batt purchased from The Spinning Wren–a sweet lady named Melissa who I met at Worldwide Spin in Public Day at Hook a Frog Fiber & Fun (Madison, AL).
Side Note: My electric drum carder has malfunctioned, so I had to order a manual drum carder…and it arrived the middle of last week, along with a box picker from BAM Fiber Works.
The first yarn shown is from a set of four rolags called “Summer” from The Spinning Wren–for a total of 1.5 ounces which yielded about 84 yards of worsted weight yarn.
The second yarn is also from The Spinning Wren and was a 2.5 ounce art batt called “Spice”, yielding approx. 132 yards of 2-ply worsted weight yarn.
The third yarn is more Gulf Coast Native from raw fleece (Alchemy Farms in Huntsville, AL)–45g yielding approx. 149 yards of sport weight 2-ply.
The fourth yarn (actually the first that was spun) was some Finn/Cormo (raw fleece from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium) from “Popcorn”. I ended up naturally dyeing the yarn with turmeric, so I’ve post before and after pics.
I also spun more Manx Laoghtan roving from Hearthside Fibers the week before last (approx 100g) of single-ply, but it’s not pictured here.
A friend of mine from Washington State has a Corgi named Samwise and wanted me to spin some of his fur into yarn. So when she came to visit last week, she brought about 38g of Corgi fiber with her and I got to work. The first bit that I spun was 100% dog fur, so it was really fragile and tedious to spin….especially since I have little experience with short fibers on the wheel. After spinning about 10 yards of pure Corgi fur, I opted to blend it with some wool. I grabbed some Polworth and blended it with the Corgi fur (not sure about the ratio, but I’d guess about 10% dog fur to 90% Polworth). On reflection, I should have used a shorter wool fiber too, and I probably will use merino or a shorter staple length wool for future projects with dog fur.
I spun just enough between the 100% Corgi and the Corgi/Polworth blend to weave a scarf for my friend to take back with her when she left. I plan to spin more so I can knit her a matching hat in the future.
A few weekends ago, I bought some handspun wool/alpaca yarn from Thread in Florence, AL. The spinner wasn’t listed on the tag, but I’m assuming it was a local who spun the yarn. I had just enough yarn to weave a scarf from the handspun and I’m pleased with the results.
Diary of a Yarnophile 