WnS Ep. 185: Weave All the Things! oh, and Spin them too!

Dear Spinning Circle,

Direct YouTube link 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 with me. You are most welcome. I hope you feel most welcome because you are welcome here.

Enjoy the show!

Live Chat Assistance here.

There is a lot going on in our community! It’s a lot to cover and remind you of each week. Have a look here for more info!!

If you are curious about what happens in our community, please click the links below, reach out to me: rachel @ welfordpurls (dot) com, or reach out on Instagram/Ravelry/Slack (if you are a Patreon member, @welfordpurls_admin).

On & Off the Needles & Bobbins

Works in Progress – Spinning

Disdero Ranch Romney batt – Ashford e-Spinner 3; short forward draft; carded preparation

Kingdom Fleece & Fiber Works Finn / Silk – Lendrum DT 18:1; long draw; 3-ply for Natural Shades ALONG

Small Bird Workshop Romney – Majacraft Suzie Pro 20:1; long draw; 3-ply for Natural Shades ALONG (possibly)

Spunky Eclectic Gotland (December 2020 fibre club – Thread Box) – Turtlemade Turkish spindle, split & pre-drafted fibre, spinning for sport –> DK weight, contrast naturally coloured Gotland

In Progress – Weaving

Silk Sampler – Sanjo Silk – Tabby Weave – mixture of silks that I’ve spun recently; plain weave sampler

Radiant Towels – SweetGeorgia pattern – 2/8 cotton gradient, sett 18EPI & 18PPI

In Progress – Knitting

Poet by Sari Norland

• Swans Island Natural Colors Collection in Goldenrod, fingering (100% Merino)
• gauge swatch, 3.5mm needles, got gauge!

Community Participation

For January, Tell us about your most recent spin — share in the episode thread here or comment below here on YouTube!

Breed & Colour // Natural Dye Studies

Kelly (via the Slack channel) shares: A little peek at some of my natural dyeing lately. These are my mill spun Cheviot skeins I got back at the end of last year. The yellow is marigold (it’s going to go in indigo so that isn’t the final colour). The middle is marigold and madder, and the red (which I can’t quite get, it’s a bit more “brick” in real life) is madder (R. cordifolia for those interested) and cutch. The marigold and madder one is R. tinctorum. Reminded me of the colours @rebbiejaye has been spinning!

Kaitlin (@makeronmission) shares via Ravelry about our Shetland study (just starting): I haven’t spun with Shetland before and I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the breed (but I’m looking forward to learning more!) My instinct with the colors is to split each braid into color chunks and spin those as 3-plys, one ply each for the different bases. I’ll probably split black+blue+purple and orange+red+natural. I did that recently with a braid that had similar colors and I was more than thrilled with the result!

Nicole (@nicolevarrette) shares via Ravelry: I absolutely love Shetland, and this will be my first time participating. I was able to order a half set from Katrina and I am sooo excited. I decided that I wanted to do some larger projects so here are some plans so far… I have 100 grams of all three natural colours. I also kettle dyed 100 grams of each colour with similar colours that Katrina dyed that I am going to do a combo spin of some sort & I’m thinking sweaters not sure which ones lol

Natural Shades ALONG& Zero to Hero

Hanna Elise (via Slack channel) shares: I just wanted to share my latest sweater spin. I got some wool from the Norwegian sheep breed Grå Trønder for Christmas. I started spinning with drop spindles over the winter break, and then plied it on my wheel. I got 890 meters from 300 grams of wool, a lofty and warm 2-ply, DK yarn. I knitted the Albini cardigan, inspired by the version Rachel shared in the autumn.

Kaylee (via Slack channel) shares: Finally took time to measure my Romney sweater spin! Totals 1020 yds and 550 g. Was planning on a sport weight yarn but it’s more like a DK. Was hoping to make Pink Fizz but need to swatch to see how far off my gauge will be.  Should have taken very detailed notes during my test spin because that was perfect for the pattern. Either way the shine makes me very happy! Also learned that cross lacing my flyer makes a huge difference with how evenly yarn fills a bobbin and it’s not just for lace spinning.

Cheryl (@ckao1011) shares on Ravelry: I’m still very new to spinning, having really only spun 2 skeins of yarn for actual knitting — Latrine Hat and BFL — but I am always inspired by Rachel’s Wool n’ Spinning videos and Katrina’s spinning classes. So I thought I should join this thread to push me to spin more in 2021. I want to make an Outlander-inspired shawl with hand-spun yarn. I’m thinking of the Hedgewitch shawl. It’s a worsted-weight yarn. I want to make woollen-spun yarn. Thought that would go with the “Outlander” theme. I’m still too chicken to use my growing!! collection of hand-dyed braids, so I’m going to use commercial top, i.e. Ashford Corriedale sliver. Will be braver and use those precious braids in my next spin. This week, I’ve been sampling and practicing supported long draw (watching Rachel’s video again). I’m just spinning straight from the commercial top (split lengthwise for 2-ply). I’m pretty happy with what I got with this 1st sampling of the natural dark colourway and may just continue with that, maybe aim for a tad finer spin as the sample was more heavy Aran at 8-9 wpi; I’m aiming for closer to 10-11 wpi. This will be the contrast yarn for the shawl. For the main yarn, I’m planning for a natural medium. This one, I’m thinking of making rolags for a true woollen spin. Might try throwing in some colour bits into the drum carder for a tweed yarn, just for some fun. I’m a little scared but eager.

Tin Can Knits ALONG – thread here– Dissolving into Zero to Hero at the end of January 2021

Thank you so much for joining me today!

Until then, Happy Spinning!