WnS Ep. 210: Delving into Spinning Sheep Breeds Kit ||100% Suffolk
WnS Ep. 210: Delving into Spinning Sheep Breeds Kit ||100% Suffolk | 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.
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Dear Spinning Circle,
Live Stream: Saturday, August 7th @ 8am PDT
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!
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 || 100% Suffolk
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!
On & Off the Needles
In Progress – Knitting
Enchantee by Emilie Luis – Bowmont/Alpaca blend 2-ply, held double with Mohair-Silk lace; 4.5mm & 4.00mm // US 6 & 7
Larch Cardigan by Amy Christophers – deep stash, 100% BFL dyed years ago by Lynne of West Coast Colour; sport weight, ~1# of yarn or 1200 yards
Community Inspiration // Participation
I can’t believe it’s August already! We are more than halfway through this year! How are you doing with your yearly plans? Do you have any? Do you make plans for the year? How are you feeling about your making this year, so far? Tell us in the Ravelry group thread here or in the comments section on YouTube.
For July, the month of Tour de Fleece, tell us what your goal is for this year’s tour! Ravelry Episode thread here. The collection of fibre will be mailed out to
Breed & Colour Studies – Jacob
You guys wasted NO TIME in getting started with the Jacob study! Amazing!
Julie shares via Slack: Breed and color study Jacob packs arrived yesterday. I used my combs to make a lighter grey at four parts white to one part dark, then used combs as a hackle to split the green in half, and combine with pink and yellow then with blue and orchid. This is feeling like a sweater yoke in color work. My secret weapon is a Jacob fleece waiting in the garage whose dark and light are a very good match to the dark and light in the kit. Off to study patterns or perhaps develop my own. If you have yoke sweater patterns spring to mind, do share! Sampling ahead…
Kaylee shares via Slack: So despite having two partially completed previous breed and color projects the Jacob spoke to me instantly. So it hopped on the wheel the day it came. I made a three ply yarn of each color and will use it in a color work project. Ended up with 160 yards of a heavy sport weight.
Kellie shares via Slack: Singles spun and plied for my Jacob breed and colour study. I’m looking forward to winding this off and feeling the squishiness.
Spindle Spun Summer (SSS)
Spindle Spun Summer – Starting on the Summer Solstice! Co-hosted by Marce of Hey Brown Berry Podcast
Josee shares via Slack: I finally finished my corriedale that had been linguishing for years and the spindling bug bit me again! I have to admit I ply on my wheel though… I am always surprised to see I managed to spin relatively consistent singles. I love the finished skein!
Mary Jo shares via Slack: I was clearing off a spindle yesterday to make a plying ball and I realized that I had 3 spindles that I enjoy spinning with and I wondered why. The first picture is of the 3 spindles I use and the second are the spindles that remain parked on the shelf. The Turkish spindle is a Snyder spindle and is the type I used the first time spindle clicked for me, it is my most used spindle. Then there is a top whorl spindle made of cedar which I also tend to grab when I am sampling. The last is a pretty bottom whorl spindle from a woodworker that didn’t start out as a spindle maker, instead he carved Xmas ornaments and a spinner asked him to make modifications to turn them into spindles. So this week I think I am going to spin on the spindles that don’t get used and try to figure out why.
Shauna shares via Slack: I finished my most recent ply on the fly mini skein. 13g and about 57 yards. This will be going in my handspun Jelly Roll blanket.
Kimberlee shares via Ravelry: Have bike and spindle, will travel!
Elise shares via Slack: Hi everyone! I’m new here and excited to have people who get ‘it’ when it comes to spinning. I am having such a slog getting through this current spin I started almost a year ago now. It is mint fiber from Paradise Fibers (cellulose). I spun some of this fiber as a new spinner and hoped it would be easier coming back with more experience, but alas it is still difficult. It’s flyaway and doesn’t want to stay organized, is simultaneously sticky and slippery and so hard to keep consistent. There’s also little clumps that show up occasionally that don’t want to draft out. Every time I look at the bobbins I think “This is awful.” I finished plying the first skein which was initially severely under-plyed. After a second trip through the wheel, I remember why I love this fiber. It’s soft and drape-y and has a BEAUTIFUL sheen. It feels like silk but is a fraction of the price. This first skein is 130g and I got 687 yards of two ply, probably around 25 WPI. I’m intending to make the Olive Top with this, so don’t need too much more, but am also planning to dye the yarn a rust orange color first so want to make sure I have plenty of margin.
Josee shares via Slack: I have finished my finn fiber from SOS sheep breed study kit. Somehow I thought it was not so easy to spin (short staple, very little “grab”) but the resulting yarn is a beautiful 2 ply DK weight. I think I will start the down breeds now to catch up.
Zero to Hero // #sweaterspin #useyourhandspun #spinallthethings #weavewithhandspun
Amanda shares via Slack (also on the School of SweetGeorgia): Latest scarf off of the loom. I call it my ‘Felicia Scarf’ because it uses Sweet Georgia Yarns in the warp and is an amalgamation of a couple of the projects over at the School of Sweet Georgia. The BFL+Silk Fine in the warp were the skeins that I won as part of their spring MAL this year (lucky me!) and the weft is leftover handspun merino singles from a sweater spin. The weft wasn’t spun to be used as singles (the sweater spin was a 3-ply) but it worked out in the end. The scarf is a bit too orange for my current spectacles but it suits my husband so he gets a new scarf (lucky him!).
Jenny shares via Slack: I finished this some time ago but haven’t posted it. It totally reflects the fleece. I let the colours fall where they may also.
Sarah shares via Slack: I finished the baby sweater for a sweet friend. The fiber is Shetland and is super soft. The color way is called Frosted Pumpkin. I used a chain ply to ply the yarn and keep the colors together and that allowed the random stripes which I adore in this sweater. I used the Baby Vertebrate pattern by Kelli van Niekerk.
Suzanne shares via Ravelry: I am posting this in Zero to Hero even though it isn’t a full-sized garment since it challenged me in several ways that were new to me. For this project, the challenge was to pick a one-skein design and then create a yarn for that design. I picked Zuzu’s Petals and decided I liked the gradient versions from the projects area best. I had this Frabjous Fibers BFL with a repeated gradient colorway in my stash. I knew that since it repeated more than once, it wouldn’t end up being a gradient in the cowl without a bit of manipulation. I decided to separate it into chunks according to color after splitting it in half vertically to fill two bobbins for a two-ply yarn. I am pleased with the results. I spun the exact gradient I had in mind. The yardage was more than what was needed for the cowl, so I did have to break the yarn after the yellow and again after the spring green to get to each color and to make sure the teal was included. However, I still consider this a successful gradient yarn since it would have worked really well for a larger shawl as it was spun.
Sample Spinning // PLAY
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.
Carl Jung
Dana shares via Slack: I forgot to show you some towels I got finished on my loom. I had enough warp; Left on my loom for 4 more towels. It had sat untouched since last summer!
Diana shares via Slack: Blue BFL; merino/silk; sari silk weighed out into 4- 45gram sections and drum carded using three passes. No plans for these batts, just experimenting with making multiple batts.
Maria shares via Ravelry: I’m very excited to have bought a new to me Ashford rigid heddle loom. A 12 inch loom great for practice and sampling. About 10 years a go I had one of these but only used it a couple of times as my family were young then and my time felt limited. Anyway now I am really enjoying this new found craft. Dare I say I’ve already looked at floor and table looms – yes I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole … Anyway here are a couple of my scarves using handspun as a warp and lots of handspun in the weft too alongside some commercial yarn and hand dyed yarns by me.
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Spinning!
