I put down my raw fleeces for a bit to spin up some Manx Laoghtan top (Hearthside Fibers). I’ve been curious to try this particular wool after hearing great things about it from a few other spinners. And the natural brown color is amazing.
It was easy to spin and reminded me a great deal of Shetland wool, but it was a bit slick, so I had to really pay attention while I was spinning it. I have a tendency to watch TV while I’m spinning, but I had to focus all my attention on the wool with this one. (In the pictures, the spun yarn looked like a muted brown, but it’s actually more of a reddish brown).
78g yielded 139 yds of 2-ply worsted weight yarn. I bought 400g total, so I’ll be spinning up more in the future.
Here’s what the Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook says about this wool:
What can I say about spinning Swaledale wool…. Well, mine was FULL of kemp. Not that I didn’t expect kemp, but dang. It fell out when I spun both singles, it fell out when I plied, it fell out when I washed/tensioned it, and it fell out when I wove it into a table runner.
My singles kept breaking when I was plying, also, which means I should’ve put more twist into the singles, but I was afraid if I put too much energy in, they would feel coarser…and this is already a coarse wool, so…
It was mostly pleasant to spin, other than the constant falling of kemp onto my lap (see photo), but it’s probably safe to say that I won’t be spinning Swaledale again, since I mostly spin yarns that will end up against the skin. It was a good experience, however, and shows just how different one breed can be from another.
With 104g of roving, I yielded around 156 yds of worsted/aran weight 2-ply yarn.
Kemp from spinning Swaledale roving (this was when I was plying)
Woven Swaledale Handspun Yarn (weft), Commercial spun Kent Romney (warp)
I made a quick trip to my weaving studio last night and brought home my small loom (15″ Schacht Cricket) so I can weave from home again. I decided to weave some of the Romney wool yarn that I bought the year before last during the 2019 Deep South Yarn Hop. This yarn came from River Cottage Farm in Rockfield, KY. It was labeled “Son of Chieftain” which I’m pretty sure is the sheep that it came from. I used one full skein and a few yards from the second skein since the first skein was only 130 yds. Because it was bulky weight yarn, I used my 5 dpi reed.
After I blogged yesterday, the mail person arrived with my North Ronaldsay roving from Hearthside Fibers…which I’m very excited to start spinning today (after my kids’ dentist appointment, anyway).
I ordered 300g, so it should yield enough for a couple of woven scarves. If you’ve never heard about this seaweed-eating conservation breed sheep, here is a great video to watch.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been on a spinning kick, mostly because I haven’t been in my weaving studio as much because of bad weather here in the Southeastern U.S. (tornadoes, thunderstorms, flooding, etc.). I’ve had to cancel multiple classes, which is a bummer, but it has given me a chance to start processing fiber from my raw fleeces and spin yarn again.
I started scouring part of a Shetland fleece last week on one of the clear days we had before the storms started up again. I bought this Shetland fleece (and another) from Ballyhoo Farm & Fiber Emporium in May 2019 at the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival. Both fleeces were washed, but I waited to scour this particular fleece because we were in the middle of a move. Hand picking and carding has begun on this section of fleece, but it’s a slow process, so I don’t expect to start spinning this fiber for a few more weeks.
Brown Shetland Fleece I’m currently hand processing
In the meantime, I’ve spun a small art batt (about 24g) that I put together when I visited Claire Cabe of Lucca Dot Yarn in Sewanee, TN several summers ago. Because it yielded so little yarn, I’ll probably use it in a scrap yarn woven scarf at some point.
Small art batt that I finally got around to spinning
I spun another 100g of the Shetland/Silk hand painted roving from Hearthside Fibers (of the 200g) that I bought during the 2020 Deep South Yarn Hop from Haus of Yarn in Nashville, TN.
100g of Shetland/Tussah Silk from Hearthside Fibers (2nd batch of 200g total)
I also ordered more fiber last week from Hearthside Fibers so I can start a British & Scandinavian Wool fiber study series at my weaving studio for those who might be interested. My first order arrived on Friday, and I started spinning immediately. I ordered 100g each of Swaledale Top, Black Welsh Mountain Carded Sliver, Icelandic Top, Finnish Humbug Top, Norwegian Top, and 200g of Manx Loaghtan Top. In a separate order (arriving today), I’ll have 200g of North Ronaldsay Wool (seaweed eating sheep wool).
So far, I’ve spun the Finnish humbug (white & brown mixed) top and the Black Welsh Mountain carded sliver. The Finnish top was amazing in the hand, practically drafting itself (and a little slick), while the Black Mountain Welsh (a TRUE black wool) was a little trickier to spin and had a fair amount of VM and kemp to pull out. All in all, I’m happy with the results. Now, I have to decide what to make with each skein that I’ve spun so far.
I finished up this project on Monday when I was dyeing kitchen towels. I hadn’t tried Shibori dyeing any of my woven scarves before, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m mostly happy with the results, but there are a few things I would do differently next time–both with the weaving and the dyeing. Finished scarf is now available in my Etsy Shop.
Since I’ve been knitting my tail off this summer, I haven’t woven as many projects as I normally would on my loom, but I did manage to weave another shawl using remnant yarns that I had sitting around.
Woven on 32″ Kromski Harp rigid heddle loom; 8 dpi reed
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.
Another remnant yarn shawl came off the loom this week after spending a really long time on the loom. I normally finish weaving projects in a day or two, but with all my knitting lately, I put this project off for quite a while. I’m happy with the results, even though I considered it a “boring” weave while it was on the loom.
I used several different yarns for this project, so I won’t list them all unless someone is really interested, but the fibers are baby alpaca, mohair, mulberry silk, merino, & cotton.
I finished my Anker’s Summer Shirt by Petiteknits a few days ago and I’m super pleased with the end results. Part of me already wants to make another one, but I would like to try a few other top-down raglan tops before I circle back around to this one again.
Yarn used on this top: Sublime Yarns Merino Cashmere Silk DK (Cinnamon colorway)
Diary of a Yarnophile 