Ketchup & Pickles | August 2023

Dear Spinning Circle,

This summer is passing in a complete and utter blur! Has it been really hot where you are? Has the heat been tolerable? I sure hope so. The podcast, spinning & making has been truckin’ along here at Casa de Welford. We carved some time away from the house and our town in July, taking the trailer and truck to Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It’s about 7.5-hours from our house but 9-hours with stops. It’s just the right amount of time for the kids to start fighting in the last 30-minutes or so.

Remember that we are getting down to the wire for knitting your Attune Shawls – share your progress, spinning & knitting in the Ravelry thread here and submit your FO photos here (chatter-free) for Prizes!

We have already had a Live Stream this month because I am writing this a little later than I normally would – it was a Spindle-Heavy show. We talked about slowing down, intentional making & celebrating long-term projects.

Wool n’ Spinning Radio

This month, I sat down with the lovely, exuberant and kind Crystal Hesser to talk about all things handspun yar, from textured to conventional and everything in between. It was a pleasure to talk to her – stay tuned for a Spin-Along in Early Fall.

Subscribe to Wool n’ Spinning Radio on all your podcast providers to stay up to date on the conversation! Click here to listen.

Do you want to be on Wool n’ Spinning Radio? Reach out and send Rachel a note – she’d love to hear from you!

Year of Colour | Spinning Purls

Rebecca and I introduced our Year of Colour idea back in the fall but now it’s time to really dive in. Getting started with colour:

• The Wool Circle | BONUS Episode 83 | Intro to Year of Colour (Part I) with Katrina & Rebecca
• The Wool Circle | Episode 84 | Intro to Colour with Katrina & Rebecca (Wool Circlers)
• Spinning Purls | Introduction & Describing Colour (Part I) Vlog
• Spinning Purls | Introduction & Describing Colour PDF (Wool Circlers)
• Check here for more!

Events in August include lots of dyeing, spinning and exploring!

Rebecca is exploring all things dyeing this summer, both on the blog and in The Wool Circle – follow along with her explorations!

• Dyeing School. DOS Testing here
• Dyeing School. Carding Approximations here
• Dye School. My Crayon Box here
• Dye School. Colourways in Review in Depth here

Rebecca has been exploring all of this in depth with us on The Wool Circle:

• Dyeapalooza: Getting Ready (Part I) here
• Dyeapalooza: Handpainting Method (Part II) here
• Dyeapalooza: Colourways in Review (Part III) here
• Dyeapalooza: Colourways in Review (Part IV) here (Coming Soon!)

In Spinning Purls, we are continuing with the Colour Contrasts!

This month, we explored Contrast of Saturation … I am kind of smitten with the yarns that I made for this study!

• Simultaneous Contrast Vlog here
• Simultaneous Contrast PDF here

Next month, we will be discussing Contrast of Saturation … hang tight — we are almost finished all the Contrasts of Colour!

Lastly, we have the PDF published of the Exploring Sheep Fleece Vlog ready! You can find that here.

Housekeeping

Indexes to Keep Up With All the Things:

• The Wool Circle
• Wool n’ Spinning Radio
• Spinning Purls & How I Spin
• Slack channel and Ravelry
• Useful Links here – click pin on the post to keep it at the top of your feed!

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• For a softcover copy of How I Spin: A Sock Study, check here & e-book link here
• For softcover copies of Unbraided: The Art & Science of Spinning Colour, check here

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If there is anything missing that you’d like to see in our Housekeeping post, please let me know!

Warmly,

Rachel

P.S. What is Ketchup & Pickles, anyway? It came from my son, James, actually! He told me it is a chance to ‘catch–up‘ and play (pickles).