WnS Ep. 200: A Blast from the Past!

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!

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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).

Podcast Evolution – A Blast from the Past!

On & Off the Bobbins

Bowmont & Huaycana (Alpaca // pronouced: waa-kai-yah) on Lendrum Saxony; long-draw

Small Bird Workshop 50/50 Shetland & Llama on Lendrum DT; continuous backwards from roving

On & Off the Needles

Finished – Knitting

Fanel by Orlane Suuche – Disdero Ranch 100% Romney; woollen spun; Ashford eSpinner3

In Progress – Knitting

Florence Tank by Sari Norland – Drops Lace Unicolor (70% Alpaca/30% Mulberry Silk)

Cruiser by Kristen Finlay – Small Bird Workshop CVM/Mohair held double with Cascade 220 Fingering 100% Wool in colourway 9680

Aurealis by Jennifer Steingass – 100% spindle spun sweater in Gotland; Spunky Eclectic ‘Thread Box’ (December 2020 club colourway) with 100% undyed Gotland; Turtlemade Turkish Spindles (~35g); sample swatch finished!

Community Participation

For May, tell us about your favourite food & why! Ravelry Episode thread here.

Breed & Colour Studies – Shetland

Sue shares via Ravelry: I’m spinning some Shetland lamb I bought last year from Herman Hills Farm down in the States. 2 bags of 4oz each. I am flicking out both ends, and hand carding into rolags. I am learning to spin longdraw on my new to me Phileas Cadorette CPW that I bought 2 months ago for $100Cdn. It wasn’t working, but I fixed it and got it going, I think it is a beautiful old girl! I am loving the Shetland spin, it feels lovely and soft, but makes me feel like I need lots of hand cream. The fleece sticks to my skin! I am spinning one full bag to each bobbin… I only have one bobbin so it will be wound off to a Bobbins Up storage bobbin, I will ply the two together.

Natural Shades ALONG

Mary shares via Ravelry: Here’s one I did a while back. It had slipped my mind because I gave it to my sister after I’d finished it! All yarns are handspun. C1: 70% white Romney Lamb, 30% fawn Alpaca C2: 100% brown Romney C3: 100% white Cormo C4: 60% Hipstrings “American Robin” (Shetland, BFL, flax, silk); 40% Jacob from my cousin’s ewe, Polly. Modelled by her sister!

Sally shares via Ravelry: Hi All, I’m quite new to this community, and still consider myself a beginner spinner, so I’m really happy to share some of my current spin. This is from fleece from our small flock of gotland sheep – homegrown handspun has always been my aim (getting the sheep is what inspired me to learn to spin!) but I was always getting stalled with the fibre prep stage, so despite saving lots of nice fleeces I never ended up spinning our own wool. So I sent off a few fleeces off to be carded and I’m finding that after they came back as roving I am very much more inspired to sin it up! I’m aiming for a sweater quantity with this spin, but here’s the first 225g (and I’m a bit ridiculously proud of it, because it’s definitely my best spinning so far!)

Dana shared this project by her mom via Slack: I had to share this photo of my Mom!  This was in Mother’s Day and she’s 84!  She knit this Ginny cardigan from Andrea Mowry and the yarn is handspun I made for her last summer from a Romney cross fleece I got from Shepherd’s Hey Farm, a ram named Poe.

Luxury Fibres ALONG

Mary shares via Ravelry: looking through my stash I found several luxury fibers that I was excited to buy but when I tried to spin it I quickly abandoned the spin for a time when I was a better spinner. so first is this beautiful cashmere/angora/silk blend. it is a lovely light blue and the batts were a bit compacted when I refound them in the stash. these batts had lingered in my bins since (maybe) 2014ish. so I layered just a little on my hand cards and made tiny fluffs(in my mind this is a word). a short backwards draw later I have 293yards of a 2 ply yarn awaiting a project. next up is an alpaca roving that is maybe 1 1/2 years old. it was gifted to me from my daughter’s stash. this one is a beautiful roving. I spun a few samples and have decided this will also be a 2 ply spun straight from the roving onto 2 bobbins then plied. in the pictures you may notice I have a really great notebook with little pockets to put my sample cards in. my daughter made this notebook for me last year and I am going to use it to document my luxury spins.

Zero to Hero // #sweaterspin #useyourhandspun #spinallthethings

Claudia shares via Ravelry: I made my first pair of handspun socks!!! Woop woop! This gorgeous sock batt from Artifacts of Appreciation was so soft I wanted to use it as a pillow. I did a sample spin that was way over twisted and felt like rope, I’m glad a sampled!!! I ended up doing a 3ply sport weight gorgeously unique sock yarn and I knitted a vanilla sock that fits like a glove… actually like a sock! I’m officially in love with sock spinning, I have another sock project on my wheel!!! P.S. I’m I the only one who has favorite stitches in my handspun projects? The last photos are of my favorite sts in my socks ;)

Alison shares via Ravelry: This is my “Graphite Mandala” rug I made with all Se2Se (Shave Em to Save Em) fibers. I made this as a housewarming present for my son and daughter in law…I gifted it to them last week (it was the first time I had seen them on over a year). I made the “Graphite Mandala” pattern into a rug using the following handspun Se2SE breeds: Leicester Longwool (8oz roving and washed locks provided by “Kermit” who lives at Fuzzy Ewe Farm); Navajo Churro (8oz of white roving purchased from Fiber Frolics Boutique); Karakul (roving provided by Opal and Callie who live at Curly Goose Cottage); Lincoln (roving provided by Shirley and Nana who live at Curly Goose Cottage)…and when I ran out of the white Navajo Churro, I used 1.5 skeins of Gulf Coast Native I had in stash (this was purchased in 2018 so it is a Se2Se breed but not from an Se2Se provider). I loved making this rug…it is the first time I have done overlay crochet and the instructions were really clear so I recommend the pattern! My kids love it and have it by the side of their bed…

Josee shares via Ravelry: Finished my Pressed Flowers Shawl (Savory knitting pattern) in which I used handspun for the background green color. The yarn was a 2 ply from corriedale. As I knitted with it I could see I have put too much twist in this yarn, it was a bit ropey. Nevertheless I will enjoy wearing this as a warm second layer over my shoulders or on my lap.

Christine shares via Ravelry: I’ve finished my Crofters Smock. This was knitted in a 3ply yarn spun from 3 colours of Malabrigo Nube, which I combo-plyed. The pattern’s written for an aran-weight yarn, but I knitted the sweater at a DK gauge, which meant calculating which size to cast on to get the size I needed to fit me (I took a photo of my notes and calculations on working this out and put it on my project page). There are lots more photos on my project page, including some close-ups of the cuffs and saddle shoulder. I was going to add the pockets, which are optional, but finished the neckline with a few metres of the 5th ball of yarn remaining, so rather than use the last ball/skein for the pockets, I decided to leave them off as, at around 290 metres, I should have enough to use that ball for the yoke of a colourwork sweater. It’s a pattern I’d definitely knit again and would recommend.

Sample Spinning // PLAY

Greta Lyn shares on Slack: I have some dear friends leaving as the university here is shifting its structure around. I’ve been making neckwear for them and finally got them done and gifted.

Sue shares via Slack: My beautiful Katie’s Kep is all finished. The colours are Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper weight, but the white is all mine. Spun on support spindles last year. A bit uneven in spots, but the end result worked beautifully.

Thank you so much for joining me today!

Until then, Happy Spinning!