The CVM fleeces have arrived…and another Lincoln x.

June 21, 2021June 21, 2021 Emily Wallace Handwoven2 Comments

Friday brought 3 new raw fleeces: 2 CVM fleeces ( California Variegated Mutant (CVM)/American Romeldale) from Cactus Hill Farm in Colorado and a Lincoln/Targhee fleece from Montana.

The CVM fleeces were seriously discounted since they were 2020 fleeces, so I got a killer deal on them (so much so, I’ve ordered 4 more). One fleece is 7.5 pounds and the other is 8 pounds—and both are heavily skirted. I’ll be posting more pics when I start processing them.

CVM fleeces from Cactus Hill Farm in Colorado

The 2nd fleece that arrived on Friday was a Lincoln/Targhee cross —the second fleece I’ve bought from this farm in Montana. I’ll be posting more about it as I start working with it. (Notice the small box this 2.75 pound fleece was shipped in).

After Saturday’s drop spindle class that I taught at Alchemy Farms, my neck and right shoulder started hurting, so I’m forced to take it easy this week …even though I’m teaching Wednesday and Friday—and Tour de Fleece starts on June 26th!

Latest Finished Objects and Handspun Yarns

May 2, 2021May 2, 2021 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

Last Wednesday, I finished knitting a beanie from the Black Mountain Welsh carded sliver that I had spun several weeks ago. The beanie took 83 yards of the 115 yards total that I had spun in chunky weight 2-ply (about 61 grams). I still have some unspun fiber left from the 100g that I bought from Hearthside Fibers.

I also bit the bullet and found a used electric drum carder to help me with processing all these fleeces I bought. A fiber friend of mine was in the market for a newer/bigger electric drum carder, so she agreed to sell me her Brother carder. I’m already amazed at how much of a difference it has made in the speed of prepping fiber to spin.

On Thursday, I spun up 90g of the Whitefaced Woodland top I bought from Hearthside Fibers. It yielded around 172 yards of 2-ply worsted weight yarn…and I LOVED spinning this fiber. The micron count is a bit high, but it actually doesn’t feel that bad against the skin and I can totally see myself weaving a scarf from it, though I may buy a bit more to make sure I have enough yardage.

When I got home on Friday from picking up my new drum carder, I immediately started carding Gulf Coast Native (the washed fleece from Gulf Breeze Alpaca Ranch, Texas) until I had enough to spin with. I spun it Friday/Saturday and yielded 239 yards of 2-ply sport weight from 89g of washed fleece.

GCN washed fleece from Gulf Breeze Alpaca Ranch (Texas) before/after spinning

100% Tibetan Yak off the needles

April 5, 2021 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

When I owned my yarn shop (In the Loop Yarn Shop in Hartselle, AL), I bought several skeins of 100% Yak wool from Darn Good Yarn. I had knitted with yak/silk yarn before and found it glorious, so I was a little disappointed when the DGY yak yarn arrived. It apparently wasn’t yak down, but a blend of yak fiber in general, which meant it wasn’t the heavenly soft yarn I had experienced before. I sold most of it, though, with only the bright green and pink skeins remaining. They’ve been sitting in my yarn stash for almost 5 years now, so I finally decided to knit a hat from the green (which I may end up over-dyeing in the future).

The yarn (a bulky weight, single ply) was a little fragile in some sections, so I had to be careful when knitting it for fear that it would break on me. Otherwise, it was a bit hard on my hands while I was knitting it…but I probably should’ve went up a needle size, so that could be my fault. I’ll probably weave a bag with whatever yarn remains since the yarn is so uneven and fragile.

100% yak wool (bulky weight)
knitted beanie

100g of Shetland/Silk Yarn is off the wheel + Bulky Waffle Hat is Finished

February 24, 2021 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

100g of Hearthside Fibers Shetland/Tussah Silk Hand Dyed Roving is now off the wheel, soaked, and tensioned. Since I spun a heavier weight yarn, I’ll probably knit a hat out of this skein. I’m thinking about spinning the other 100g in a sport weight and then weave a scarf from it.

The “Bulky Waffle Hat” by Linda Suda (free pattern on Ravelry) in Universal Chunky Deluxe yarn is done as of last night. I’ve knitted this hat several times before and liked the results, so I figured I would use up some of my old stash yarn on it. It hasn’t been washed yet, but otherwise, it’s finished.

WIP: On the Needles

February 17, 2021 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

When autumn started last year, I put most of my knitting projects on hold in order to weave more. This left two sweater projects on the needles: “Soundtrack” pattern by Marie Green and a seamless sweater from a Craftsy class. I’ve slowly been working on them since the new year, but I’m not pressuring myself to finish them anytime soon since I have five knitted sweaters that I can wear in the meantime (all knitted last spring/summer).

Soundtrack Sweater (Patagonia Organic Merino Yarn –Juniper Moon Yarn)

I’ve also started a hat from a pattern that I’ve knitted a few times already–the “Bulky Waffle Hat” by Linda Suda. I should have this hat finished in the next day or two–hopefully, while it’s still cold enough to wear it.

Bulky Waffle Weave Hat (Universal Yarn–Deluxe Chunky)

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2021 Emily Wallace Handwoven2 Comments

2020 was a super productive year for me…probably the most productive to date, weaving-wise. I did my best to make the most of staying at home for a large part of the year and it certainly paid off. I wove 42 items and knitted 16 finished items. Of course, this is my full-time occupation, so while it seems like a lot of projects, I’m hoping to finish even more in 2021…especially now that my weaving studio is up and running. I find that I can concentrate on my work when I’m in my studio–more so than when I was weaving from home. I’ve worked from home for many years, but it’s nice being able to separate work from my home life now. I now only knit from home unless I bring home my small loom on rare occasions.

I hope all the other fiber arts people out there have an amazing 2021. I know I’m expecting great things this year.

So, with that said, Happy New Year!

Finished Object: Cotton/Wool Blend Pullover

July 28, 2020 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

A week ago today, I finished the pullover I was knitting…using a pattern from a sweater app (knittingfool.com Sweater Generator). Essentially, you add in the row count/stitch count (4″) of the yarn, the recommended needle size and the bust size you want. I followed the directions up to a certain point…until I saw that if I kept going, the sweater was going to be mammoth-sized, so after trying it on before separating the sleeves, I decided to make a design decision and stop where I was. I separated the sleeves about 5-7 rows before the pattern told me to…and luckily, the sweater still fits. The sleeves could’ve used a little decreasing, but I just added the ribbing instead, so they are a little billowy.

I used Tahki Yarns Tucson for this sweater–an aran weight yarn–composed of 52% Cotton/ 48% wool, and it is cloud soft, but still holds its shape. I did toss it in the dryer (not recommended on the ball band), so the fibers fluffed up a bit–which I like.

Finished Object: “Nuuk” Pullover by Jonna Hietala

July 8, 2020 Emily Wallace Handwoven1 Comment

I finally finished my “Nuuk” pullover by Jonna Hietala yesterday and it fits really well, so I’m glad I decided to go down a size for this particular project. (Yarn used was Noro Tennen in Alpine colorway).

I have two other sweaters on the needles now…the new “Soundtrack” pattern being one of them (more on that later).

Finished Object: Wedge Yoke Lace Pullover

June 19, 2020 Emily Wallace Handwoven1 Comment

It’s finally off my needles! I’m mostly happy with this pullover, although I did make it too big. It still fits, but feels huge. I think I’ll start going down a size on future projects because this seems to be the going trend for me. The yarn I used (Louisa Harding Trenzar) had a little too much stretch in it too, so that may have been a contributing factor.

I’m still working on the “Nuuk” sweater, along with a few shawls, but I’m already starting to look for another top- down pullover to cast on. Suggestions are always welcome!

You can find me on Ravelry as ‘southernemma’.

Knitted Pullover Progress as of June 8

June 9, 2020 Emily Wallace HandwovenLeave a comment

In my last post, I mentioned my two WIPs: Nuuk from Jonna Hietala (using Noro Tennen yarn “Alpine” colorway) and the second is Wedge Yoke Lace Pullover by Eunny Jang (using Louisa Harding Trenzar yarn “Pumpkin” colorway).

I was hoping to be finished with at least one of them by now, but life has prevented that from happening…more specifically, my sore wrist has prevented that from happening. I have made progress, however, which I’m picturing below. Progress is progress, right?

I’ve been watching several classes on Bluprint (formerly Craftsy), using my subscription (and “own forever” classes) since they’ve announced they’re going to close everything down at some point in the future. Apparently, we’re supposed to be able to download our “own forever” classes, but we won’t have access to the subscription classes after they shut everything down. That could be a year or more from now–they haven’t said yet–but I’m soaking up as much knowledge as I can before everything does shut down. (I have at least 30 “own forever” classes that I’ll have to download since I’ve been on Craftsy since 2015). The Wedge Yoke Lace Pullover by Eunny Jang is from one of those Bluprint classes…as was my first seamless raglan sweater project that I recently finished.