Episode 142 Live: Rebecca’s Visiting!
We have SPIN GROUP in the morning, prior to the Live Stream. Think about joining us – check out the information here.
Thank you for being here today, especially those who were able to make it to the Live Stream. I appreciate your time spent here in this place and me. I hope you feel most welcome because you are welcome here.
Enjoy the show!
Live Chat Assistance here.
NEW! Virtual Spin Group! There’s been a call from the community for many months (ehem, years) for a virtual spinning group! There is LIMITED SPACE and the link is here (look to join the “Spinning Group” tier!) to learn more. We hosted our first one yesterday and we had a great time!
Attentive Spinners! Be sure to sign up for the Doodle to be part of Wool n’ Spinning Radio in the new year! We will be working on Word Prompt episodes and if you are a part of the Attentive Spinner tier – you are invited to join!!
Community Participation
Giveaway
For March, I’ll be sending out another 4oz of Shetland in pin-drafted form from Disdero Ranch in Tappen, BC. Please enter in the March Episode Thread and answer: What is your favourite YARN you’ve even spun & why?
For February, I’ll be sending out ~4oz of Shetland in pin-drafted form from Disdero Ranch in Tappen, BC. Please enter in the February Episode Thread and answer Amy’s question: what is the item that you made that you love to wear the most and why?
Want to feature the amazing projects people have been sharing in the episode thread! Will do so from now through March! Giveaway will be drawn in March!
There seems to be a pattern on this thread already! My favorite item to wear is my shift cowl by Andrea Mowry. It was the first project that used 100% of my hand spun yarn.it was also what I wore on the hike where I got engaged! So, it has multiple reasons for why it is special to me and makes me smile when I wear it.
Handspun Thread in Ravelry – Example of a Zero to Hero Make-Along Project
Liz – @LizzieH (post no. 111) posted about her Zero-to-Hero:
I will join in with a project I actually started a few years ago. I bought an amazing (in my opinion) Gotland lamb fleece while on vacation a few years ago. The locks have a beautiful charcoal color, luster, soft and are cool to the touch. I have several fleeces in my house, but this one…. I decided to hand comb and spin it with a spindle rather than my wheel so I can drag out the experience. It has worked, but it is time to move on. I have been spinning a 2-ply with the intent to knit up a swingy cardigan. Still looking for the right pattern, but am hoping this SAL will help me do something with the yarn.
Breed & Colour Studies
In December’s newsletter, I shared the beginnings of my Breed & Colour Study thoughts that will be vlogged about in the How I Spin content beginning January 2020. For the initial thoughts, please have a look here (YouTube). Part I and Part II of my personal study are now available! Part I can be found here. And Part II can be found here. Both are part of the How I Spin content released monthly!
Greta (@thewarmestrow, post no. 124) says:
I’m just about finished with my Montana Mountain Cowl , I just have to tuck in tails, block and graft the tube to itself after twisting once.
My notes on the project were:
I spun the study fiber by using the control braid as one ply, and the Graffiti Interrupted one as the other. The interrupted braid I broke into colors and rearranged them to match the other ply, with all the whites playing around in there too.
I chose a plain white Polwarth combed top I had in deep stash to use as the background color to the cowl, curious to see how the white in that one ply may disappear into the background when it came up.
I knew going into the project that i would have more yardage in the study braid than needed for the cowl (150 yards or so) so there would be some breaking and restarting of sections of the gradient if I wanted it to span the whole cowl, placing the blues towards the middle.
I went down 3 needle sizes to get the fabric I wanted, so I just made the cowl a bit longer by doing 2 or three extra repeats of the motif.
The Polwarth plumped nicely and spun so easily. The undyed braid by nature seemed to want to spin thinner than the dyed, but it worked out that the pattern used a thinner weight yarn for the background so that worked great. I love how the barber pole sections are subtle and the overall gradient is achieved. The white in that one ply didn’t fade out as much as I expected.
Thanks so much for sharing Everyone!
Finished Objects – Spinning
Westcoast Colour Camel/Silk 50/50 blend
Luxury blend fibre, stashed for years (?2015) from Fibres West
Handspun Ravelry page here
Ashford eSpinner 3 – set to ~2 o’clock for spinning & plying
Original plan for this fibre – ultra-fine cable plied yarn
Decided to spin a fine singles & 3-ply into a traditional 3-ply
Re-wound singles to 1st spun to ply – worsted finished yarn
Due to silk, decided to wash skein in boiling water – brought water to a boil & turned off element, added some Eucalan, submerged skein & left to cool down to room temperature
Sampling // Work in Progress – Knitting
Comfort Fade Cardigan by Andrea Mowry
Knitted & washed swatches – 4.00mm needles
Various gauges but overall ~19 stitches over 4 inches (pattern 21 stitches)
Fabrics are lovely – sizing needs to be determined
SweetGeorgia Yarns – Gotland, Alpaca/Merino/Silk, SW Targhee
Yarn Statistics resulted in sport weight, nice fabric on 4.00mm needles
Size TBA – possibly the XXS based on ease and gauge differences
Rebecca’s WIPs
Housekeeping
Be sure to sign up for the Wool n’ Spinning Newsletter at welfordpurls.com.
For softcover copy of How I Spin: A Sock Study, follow here.
Unbraided – EBOOKS available here & book orders can be made here.
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Spinning!
