WnS Ep. 234: Major Project Planning

Dear Spinning Circle,

We had some major technical issues today, which resulted in two separate streams – thank you to those who were patient and grabbed the second link! I very much apprieciate it — we haven’t had tech issues for a while and it’s so frustrating when we do. 

If you’d like to watch the show uninterrupted, follow the above link or this one here. 

If you’d like to watch the two streams so that you can follow the chat, you can watch them here:

Part I here 

Part II 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! Ketchup & Pickles for January 2022 here.

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

Project Planning

Metamorphic – Andrea Mowry

• WestCoast Colour Falkland – 2 ply, Contrast Colour
• Handspun stash – need warm grey ? CVM roving

Xs and Os Coasters – Amanda Rataj 

• Herdwick skeins

Ms and Os Tea Towels – my own warp

• 8/2 cotton, Maurice Brassard, 18EPI

Spindle Spun Stitches

Long-Term Goal: To Spin for a Sweater

Sarah Elizabeth Fibre Works Cormo // Processed by Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks – supported spindle spun

On & Off the Bobbins

SweetGeorgia Yarns silk puff (40% merino, 40% SW merino, 20% silk) ‘hearth’ – Ashford eSpinner 3; continuous backwards, lots of twist @ 1430 on speed knob

SweetGeorgia Yarns BFL+Silk (85% / 15% silk) in ‘Tofino Roadtrip’ – Lendrum Saxony, 18:1, 3-ply fractal

On & Off the Needles

In Progress – Knitting

Wool and Honey by Andrea Mowry – Disdero Ranch Copaca (camel colour) – Corriedale & Alpaca blend (80/20) – 3.00mm // US 2.5

Lunenburg Pullover by Amy Christoffers – Dominion Fleece & Fibre North County Cheviot, naturally dyed in Indigo, Marigold, Madder

On & Off the Loom 

(I kind of want to call this Looming b/c it drives me crazy)

Off Loom

School of SweetGeorgia 4-Shaft Twill Sampler – 8/4 cotton, Maurice Brassard

On Loom

Overshot Sampler – from Next Steps in Weaving by Patti Graver

• Handspun Ends –  Cheviot, kettle dyed from socks years ago

Community Inspiration // Participation

Ask Anything

Weaving // Breed & Colour Study – Jacob

Kathy shares: Here is my Jacob B&CS project – I was thinking possibly pillow tops for a total of four. I used the gamp in the warp and then crossed with the light, the gray and the dark which I ran out of and then had to rethink my plan. The last bit of light weft came from some shetland previously spun.  My leftover yarn was minimal. There is enough length for four tops of close to equal dimensions or I could do two pillows with woven fabric on both front and back.  I used Rosepath threading and 12321234 treadling for this pattern, straight draw threading in the multicolored stripe in the warp. The big question now is – shall I felt this fabric??  I was kind of planning on doing this but am unsure about felting it as a large strip of fabric (which seems likely to cause problems) or to cut it apart, sew the ends, and then felt individual pieces. Any recommendations?

Spindle Spun Stitches

Pia shares: 3-ply fractal coming up! This is Spunky Eclectic targhee that I got from destash mostly so I can practice spinning thin singles and play with fractals. They’re so pretty on the spindles.

Luxury Fibres ALONG

Sarah shares: I was inspired by the Wool Circle to get out my wool/silk/flax blend. It’s in a beautiful colorway called birthday cake. The silk is sari silk and this blend has a few different wools. I don’t remember which ones. The larger mini skein is a two ply where I striped the fiber down before spinning. The tiny mini skein is where I blended the fiber a bit with my hand carders.  The blended skien was easier to spin as I didn’t have large clumps of flax. The colors are a bit muddier, but I expected that. I like spinning the blended skien better. I honestly can’t decide which skien I like better.

Natural Shades ALONG

Suzanne shares: One of those skeins that will teach you a lesson – the hard way…. I carded some of my Columbia fleece and spun it a mix of supported and unsupported long drawn. The resulting singles were rather lumpy. I wanted to do a 3 ply and didn’t want to get out the drill to rewind onto weaving bobbins…. So I decided to chain ply it turns out, it’s better to chain ply a smoother single. I did get really good at fixing broken singles and it really helped me gain more confidence with chain plying. I’m a “learn it the hard way” kind of person it seems

Zero to Hero // #sweaterspin #useyourhandspun #spinallthethings #weavewithhandspun

Debbie shares: I spun/knit the Radiate sweater by Joji Locatelli. Another #zerotohero for me!

Kristan shares: I started sampling for this Illuminate sweater back in September and it’s finally done. It’s my first ever sweater + first time knitting stranded colorwork. So lots of learning. The CC is 1 ply BFL & 1 ply Cormo. MC is a 3 ply from pin drafted roving, the mohair has given it quite the halo which I’m happy about since the pattern called for mohair held double. Now I’m just crossing my fingers for some cold Florida days so I can wear it.

Sock Colour Study

Rebecca shares: OK, here’s my first sock spin for this study – maybe my fourth sock spin ever? It’s 100% superwash BFL. I spun the singles at 20:1 and plied them as tightly as I thought the fiber could stand. 45 degrees angle, pretty tight for BFL? I think the grist shows the yarn is pretty tight, being 1311 YPP with a 19 WPI. (I did short-continuous-backward draft, which is usually pretty light, so I don’t think the density comes from the singles.) Color-wise, the darker-looking one is a 3-ply fractal (I think when I broke the braid in half, that half had more black). The lighter-looking one is a traditional 3-ply, split not-too-much, colors mixed up intentionally. (I really need a shorter name for that.)

Shauna shares: I’ve been inspired to try spinning a cable plied sock yarn. If all goes the way I’m hoping that means this will be a four ply fingering weight yarn. Not wanting to take a chance on my “good wool” I raided my stash and found this braid I bought at my first fiber festival, the same one I bought my wheel at. That was over three years ago! This is 113g of Cheviot. I’ve never spun any Cheviot before so this is also new. It feels coarse but I don’t mind a scratchier wool for socks. Not only is it a struggle to maintain the thin single but I also have to add more twist than normal to accommodate for all the the plying that will happen. I’m using Rachel’s tutorial and will wind a center pull ball from the singles and ply it on itself, then ply the plied yarn back on itself again. Confused yet? Me too

Dana shares: I’ve finished a three ply for the DRK Everyday Socks SPA/KAL. Fiber was Just a Glimpse from Hello Yarn club. It was spun as a fractal, split end to in thirds, spun 1:2:4 (pieces). I can’t wait to get it on the needles and see what it looks like.

Sample Spinning // PLAY

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. – Carl Jung

Eve shares: Spinning some singles to be used as weft with this already spun yarn. The fibre is merino/tussah/sari silk/trilobal.

Becca shares: Finished two hats with the remaining Shetland/Polwarth 3ply after finishing my recent mitts.  One for me, one for gift bag.  Patterns are Rachel’s WPI toque and a basic 1×1 ribbed hat from PurlSoho and both are go-to patterns for me.

Elisabeth shares: Cluck cluck! 4 ounces by the skin of my teeth, lol :)

Kat shares: Small moth brooch update: almost finished!

Thank you so much for joining me today!

Until then, Happy Spinning!