WnS Ep. 203: Delving into Spinning Sheep Breeds Kit

Dear Spinning Circle,

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!

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).

Spinning On The Wheel

We will be spinning at the wheel! Looking at samples from the Spinning Sheep Breeds Kit from the School of SweetGeorgia, which is the kit from my new workshop – link here (affiliate link). This week, we will start off with the first couple of breeds in the kit and work our way through the entire set over the coming months – which will take us into the summer! Exciting!

Community Inspiration // Participation

Spindle Spun Summer – Starting on the Summer Solstice! Co-hosted by Marce of Hay Brown Berry PodcastFor June, tell us about your plans for the summer as we approach more opening & gathering! Ravelry Episode thread here.Breed & Colour Studies – ShetlandMegan shares via Ravelry: They’re done- my breed and color study yarns! I spun these with color management in mind. I wanted to make a fade over a large object that didn’t have just overt striping, and I wanted to spin each skein in a different way as far a color management goes. I divided the fiber into 4 groups, the darks, the brights, then the moorits/reds and the greys/reds. The darks I stripped into very small strips and spun random for an overall black yarn with little pops of color. It is 2 ply, woollen spun, soft twist. The moorits I put through the drum carder, with a little black added to it to give it a dark depth of tone. This made a lovely overall fall heathery tone, I love it! The greys I stripped into small strips and pun randomly, but for a higher contrast marl than the darks. These are also 2 ply lower twist soft woollen spun yarns. The brights I stripped into very very small strips and then spun singles. I slightly felted the singles in finishing by hand. I want to combine these into a large fade with the addition of 2 commercial yarns from my stash. I knit up a sample and I love it!! It was really fun to think primarily about color management and how to get the different effects I wanted for this project. Overdyed colored fibers are always my favorite, so these were really fun to spin up. Now on to knitting!51 Yarns – Group BMaria shares via Ravelry: For May I did the flicking Finn ewe locks and spun first with short-forward draw from butt to tip of the locks. I have a teal ribbon on this skein. The other skein is spun starting from the tips of the locks. May be the spinning from the butt end was smoother, but not much difference. The skeins feel the same and both have a nice luster. I may try to spin more of this kind of yarn. At least with the longest locks. Somehow it felt quick. I have a good amount of this fleece.Spindle Spun Summer (SSS)Marce shares via Slack: I am using my usual organization method for clearing my spindles – take it all out and see what’s what… Some of these spindles were purchased from different Etsy sellers as part of my testing for starter spindles when I was teaching beginners. Some are my precious tools (Classy Squid is a fave). I can see from this pile that I have mostly been using my spindles for sampling and for small amounts of leftovers from plying on my wheel. I will clear these as a lead up toward our spindle-along, maybe there’s a scrappy knit or crochet project in my future.Christine shares via Slack: It will have to be spindlespunwinter for me now we’re officially in winter season, perfect time for digging out my support spindles, I have some mulberry silk on this one!Charlette shares via Slack: As a follow-up to an earlier post about joining 9 Turkish spindle-spun turtles, numbered to retain color sequence,  yesterday  I used the wheel to chain ply the entire 4 ounces with no breaks (but was really gentle pulling up new loops when chaining, of course).  The braid was so neatly space dyed that it begged to be chain plied.  132 yards, 9 wpi, Corriedale cross from Fiber Obsessions, “Spinning with Friends” colorway, stripped lengthwise into 4 snakes, Snyder Turkish Glider 23 grams.Sarah shares via Slack: My spindle and I went on an adventure today to Hollywood Studios. Here’s a phot of me spinning while waiting in a line at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.Natural Shades ALONGSarah also shares via Slack: I did it. I hand processed and spun up my first fleece. This is a gorgeous Border Leister that is 14 wpi for a 2 ply fingering weight yarn. I got just under 1500 yards. I am planning to knit the Clara Jane by Hanging Rock Roost. Time to start my gauge swatch.ianelay shares via Ravelry: I got 4 lbs of Miss Delaney (CVM/merino cross) from Never Say Never Farms back in 2017, spun half of her back then, took a break, and returned to her this year. She’s all done! Most are from flicked locks, but the last 3 bobbins of singles were from hand-combed top. Not sure when this will be knit, since I now have a golden retriever and her hair sticks to everything and shows up so starkly against dark clothes.Denise shares via Ravelry: I just finished up 12 oz. of Shetland roving, 4 oz. white and 8 oz. grey, from Ross Farm. I plan to make the Harriet Hap Shawl – but with a plain garter interior square and perhaps border in the white.Hanna shares via Slack: After swatching for a few different patterns, I have decided on a pattern for my Grå Trønder-spin. It’s a 3-ply, sport weight yarn, about 1050 meters. I casted on the Peerie Leaves Jumper designed by Donna Smith, published in the Shetland Wool Week Annual 2020.Glenda shares via Slack: These socks are made from two natural shades of local Romney. The lighter colour was hand combed top that was gifted to me. The darker colour was pin drafted roving. I spun both fibres short forward with the same amount of twist and expected the yarns to be the same. They are different. The combed top made a dense yarn, the other yarn is a little softer and more stretchy. I’m not sure if the difference is because of the different preps or a difference in the wool. I had planned to use the darker colour for the toes and heels, but because I thought it would be less durable than the lighter colour I decided to change my plan.Jenny shares a big win on Slack: I did it!! All “firsts for me” in this process. I completed 1150 yds of Romney/Icelandic 2-ply in DK weight for my natural shades sweater spin goal! It was spun short backward, after I decided that I needed to relax with the short forward. I spun consistent yarn! Wohoo! It’s a 50/50 blend from a fleece that I took to a mill, to try mill processing. I spun it as a breaking in project on my new Ashford e-spinner. I’m not sure I’ll do the processing through a mill again, as I missed prepping my own fleece, but it was really nice to be able to spin so much fiber immediately, as the mood struck! I’m on cloud 9, and want to dance around shouting “I can spin! For real! Imposter syndrome be gone!” Thanks for the support and encouragement throughout! Now I get to pick a knitting pattern! Sigh. So content.Luxury Fibres ALONGZero to Hero // #sweaterspin #useyourhandspun #spinallthethingsLynda shares via Slack: This sweater is the first one I’ve made since I was a teenager in the seventies, so it feels very much like my first ever sweater! I am very happy with it! I made it from a Corriedale fleece from Iron Water Ranch, that I spun into a three ply. So is this my #zero-to-hero, #sweaterspin, #natural-shades-along, #first-sweater? I think Ill go with first sweater and get busy on the other three.Greta Lyn shares via Slack: Just outside the Grand Tetons this week, and starting my “The Twigs” sweater by Junko Okamoto. It’s a tight gauge so it’s going slower but the dark Finn singles are so soft. I love Finn wool so much!!!!Nathalie shares via Slack: My first two skeins for my Tunis sweater spin are done!  Skein on the left is finished, the right one is right off of the niddy noddy.  I took a moment to be in awe of the difference from the finishing. 10% shrinkage from a hot to cold soak to full the yarn.  Then a good thwacking and hang dry.Sample Spinning // PLAYBarb was featured in SpinOff for her Epic Jacket here! Congrats Barb!!Laura shares via Slack: Getting ready to start a gradient spin.  This has been one of those ideas that has been eating my brain. I’ve tried to hold off and do other stuff but it’s finally won in the war for my attention!Kristen shares via Slack: I was very inspired by our community inspiration during this morning’s live. I spent the afternoon tidying up my crafting area and have decided to go ahead and cast on something using handspun. Sadly, it’s not something that I just do! Why do we not use our handspun?! I spun these two yarns both 2-ply specifically for Botanic by Stephen West. I’m casting on this weekend and will report back! I’m so thankful to be apart of such a talented and inspiring community!Alex shares via Slack: I watched the longwool module of the breed class on school of sweet Georgia and I was so inspired to get out my combs and have a play yesterday. Though not long wool, I made samples of east fresian and zwartbles using hand combed fiber. I really like how the east fresian turned out- I was like a long, sproingy, light sausage of fiber (I wouldn’t say it was cloudlike, much too substantial feeling for that!) And it made a lovely 2ply sample. I like the zwartbles but I want to try carding it. I feel like the sun bleached tips are preventing the yarn from being really smooth.Pernille shared via Slack: I made my first sock yarn. It is supposed to be a crepe yarn. It is not the prettiest yarn I ever made, some places it is overspun or overtwisted, and some places the opposite. I S-spun the first 2 singles plyed them Z-wise, spun the last single Z and plyed S-direction. The fiber came as a gradient, prepered to spin two 3-ply skeins, as in 6 little braids. I couldn’t help being a bit annoyed that someone else had decided how I should spin my yarn – what if I wanted a 2- or 4-ply? I ended up having around 170 meters of yarn/86 grams – those litte braids didnt weigh the same, and I have some leftover singles. I’ll save those for later. I hope to have enough for a pair of socks. When the yarn first got of the wheel it was pretty tangled. After a soak and a snap it looked a lot different.Thank you so much for joining me today!Until then, Happy Spinning!