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!

UPCOMING Yarn Substitution Content – May – August 2020

Our mini-series trailer was released back in January and I have been working on this content in the background for a long time! I hope you will watch the TRAILER and find out more. An Intro video will be released at the end of April/early May to get you started.

Q&A Sessions for our YARN SUB content! A new tier is active on Patreon for those wishing to participate in Q&A sessions for the YARN SUB content! These will occur twice per month for an hour with LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE. The sessions will run Saturdays, May 16th & 30th @ 8:15am PDT. They will repeat in June, July & August for those wishing to continue to participate! Dates TBA.  

Be sure to sign up for the Wool n’ Spinning Newsletter at welfordpurls.com. 

For a softcover copy of How I Spin: A Sock Study, check here. 

Unbraided: The Art & Science of Spinning Colour – EBOOKS available here & book orders can be made here. 

Community Participation

PLEASE NOTE THAT SHIPPING WILL BE DELAYED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE DUE TO ACCESS ISSUES.

For April, James and I have been carding up a storm and we would like to send out a batt made from the Friesian wool to someone in our community! It is a spongy, downy wool in dark brown and spins like a dream – more on it in the show today! What do you love about the Down breeds? Post no. 13 – cookgoalie (Florence!) says:

I love their no nonsense behavior, there really is no such thing as a primadonna in the down breeds. Just by changing the twist angles these fleeces will make anything from the airiest yarn to rope. They are robust but not scratchy. They wear incredibly well and are forgiving of laundry error. They are a dream to drum card and a joy to spin. (I know, ‘favourite’ suggests just one thing…. Impossible here, I really could go on and on and on).

Book Club

#booksbooksbooks channel on Slack

As a community, we are delving into a Jane Austen Book Club. We will be reading Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen. Reading can begin anytime and @bethy40 (Becca) in our community will be coordinating Zoom Book Clubs for us to meet within to discuss chunks of the book at a time. 

Made with Love – ALONG

Community-wide call to everyone in the community to participate in our Crafty Jaks Along to honour some of the people in our community! Cast on date: April 1st, 2020 with cast off deadline July 31st, 2020

Prizes! There will be fun prizes! Read the post linked above for details!

This is a time to do what we do best and get creative. This is the time to make and lift up others – please read Rebecca’s blog post to learn more about this Makealong and event if you would like to learn more about the creation of this amazing event.

Excited to be casting on with Katrina’s B-fabu-licious yarn in an OOAK that she had in stock (that I love) and making Anker’s Cardigan by PetiteKnits, a PURELY selfish knit at this time!

Kelly (@tomatl, post no. 162) shares:

My Lakeside sock spin in Katrina’s targhee is all done, split, and ready for cast on for socks!

#zerotohero Make-Along – Spinning from fibre -> yarn -> item

Bridget (@bridgetflynn, post no. 239) shares:

Finished the jacket. The Zero to Hero prompt gave me the inspiration to try something I would never have thought I could do. In the end I used 2 lbs. of Jacob fleece! I chain plyed it and created a bulky weight yarn. It is woven plain weave and I used a Burda sewing pattern. I learned quite a few things from this project beginning with an answer to my simplest of questions, how much raw wool will it take to create a hand woven garment. In addition I will be more careful in picking out a sewing pattern in the future. This pattern called for a lining and interfacing which I had no intention of including in the garment. That meant that I had to improvise a bit at the end. I am so happy with the results!

Thanks so much for sharing Everyone!

Make NINE Progress – Image Capture on Product View

Making some changes to my projects that I would like to make this year, based on some purchases from ‘Fibres West’ last weekend & thinking about what I would like to make, wear & add to my wardrobe.

Many recent changes have resulted in some major purging of my closet so I have been thinking about what I’d like to add & make!

Thoughts have lead me to some simple, cropped sweaters & some really lovely lace, open-front cardigans that can double as ‘jackets’ in the Spring and Fall

Make Nine Ravelry page Part I and II – changing & fluid project page as things progress, my thoughts solidify & I think about what to commit to going forward

Work in Progress – Knitting

Stonecrop Pullover by Andrea Mowry

• Virtual Spin Group Make-along together – anyone interested in making the Stonecrop, please comment!
• After much, much reflection on the yarns I spun for the Ashford article – featuring Crafty Jaks fibres & colourways – decided to utilize them separately
• Have always felt this pull to always use yarns together in big projects but I’m finding more and more that this doesn’t always work out in real-time
• Obtained gauge on 3.75mm needles – called for in-pattern
• Working with Katrina’s Tough & Tender Targhee yarn so that I had a ‘matching’ yarn to compliment the Targhee/Bamboo/Silk handspun in ‘Fractured Dawn’ 
• Feeling very excited about this yarn & knit! Lots of actual knitting in it though – many hours ahead!

Works in Progress – Spinning

Friesian Fleece – Sampling for the Shore Cardigan by Carrie Bostick Hoge

• James is helping me to card it all — very downy and spongy
• Lovely dark brown with heathering from the lighter tips
• Spun to a DK (11 WPI) and very light to the hand – sample is just a few grams
• Knit sample on 5.00mm, 4.5mm, 4,00mm needles

Finished Objects – Spinning

• Pivot project: CHEVIOT from stash – Gentle-Morning by Trine-Annalie
• Unable to knit with Romeny/Gotland on 4.00mm needles without a lot of pain in my right hand
• Decided to save yarn, will re-skein – think about knitting with 5.00mm needles or weaving
• Cheviot – short backward, smoothing very gently, 24WPI singles (finished yarn: ~12WPI DK)

Thank you so much for joining me today! 

Until then, Happy Spinning!