This blog is dedicated to my Aunt Yvonne.
My favourite crafting is my knitting and here I share my ideas, projects, pitfalls and successes.
Vancouver, Canada
Welcoming 2024 for The Wool Circle & Spinning Staples here
Queries & Explorations is diving deep into creating structurally sound joins in our yarns, including on the wheel & spindles. For more information, check out the Queries tier on Patreon here.
In the show today …
Spinning
Longway Homestead Bowmont{Ravelry Project Page here} – Majacraft Rose 27:1, dizzed off handcards prior to spinning to open it up properly after sitting in my stash
Knitting
Field Day Cardigan by Ozetta: Hailey {Ravelry Project Page here} – Corriedale Capstone Project yarn {Ravelry Project Page here} on 3.5mm / US 4
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
Welcoming 2024 for The Wool Circle & Spinning Staples here
Queries & Explorations is diving deep into creating structurally sound joins in our yarns, including on the wheel & spindles. For more information, check out the Queries tier on Patreon here.
In the show today …
SKEINED!
Longway Homestead Romney {Ravelry Project Page here} – Majacraft Rose 27:1, dizzed off handcards prior to spinning to open it up properly after sitting in my stash; >600 yards prior to washing (100g)
Spinning
Bramble Ridge BLF ‘Scruff’ {Ravelry Project Page here} – divided into 4 parts for a multi-ply; dizzed off handcards for another smooth spin; Majacraft Rose 27:1
Knitting
Field Day Cardigan by Ozetta: Hailey {Ravelry Project Page here} – Corriedale Capstone Project yarn {Ravelry Project Page here} on 3.5mm / US 4
Snow Crocus by Midori House (pattern avail here) – Cascade 220 Heathers w/Garnstudio DROPS Kid-Silk in yellow; 5.00mm needles {Ravelry Project Page here}
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
Welcoming 2024 for The Wool Circle & Spinning Staples here
Queries & Explorations is diving deep into creating structurally sound joins in our yarns, including on the wheel & spindles. For more information, check out the Queries tier on Patreon here.
In the show today …
Spinning
WoolieBullie Columbia roving {Ravelry Project Page here} – turquoise, raw roving, roughly dyed; attenuating aggressively; started spindling but no progress
R-r-ripping & Re-Knitting
Snow Crocus by Midori House (pattern avail here) – Cascade 220 Heathers w/Garnstudio DROPS Kid-Silk in yellow; 5.00mm needles {Ravelry Project Page here}
Knitting
Field Day Cardigan by Ozetta: Hailey {Ravelry Project Page here} – Corriedale Capstone Project yarn {Ravelry Project Page here} on 3.5mm / US 4
WPI Toque by Rachel Smith Anderson (pattern avail here) – Ancient Arts Fibre Arts Polwarth in Scottish Mist (Ravelry Handspun Page here), 3.00mm/US2.5 needles {Ravelry Project Page here} – modified to a tubular 1×1 rib cast on – ONGOING TESTING, Please contact rachel @ welfordpurls [dot] com for PDF
Community Participation
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
Welcoming 2024 Post here: Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs information
In the show today …
Spinning
Combo Spin (Contrast of Proportion sampling) – Crafty Jaks Boutique & Smith Targhee + Ewe Polwarth + Silk, added Chaotic Fibres royal blue Sari Silk; ratio 2:1 with just 2% of sari silk, blending on drum carder (~3 passes to blend nicely); Majacraft Suzie Pro, 20:1 {Ravelry Project Page here}
Capstone Project: Corriedale in equal parts (red/yellow/blue) with equal part white added on drum carder {Ravelry Project Page here}; swatch: 21.5 sts x 4 in
Knitting
Snow Crocus by Midori House (pattern avail here) – Cascade 220 Heathers w/Garnstudio DROPS Kid-Silk in yellow; 5.00mm needles {Ravelry Project Page here}
WPI Toque by Rachel Smith Anderson (pattern avail here) – Ancient Arts Fibre Arts Polwarth in Scottish Mist (Ravelry Handspun Page here), 3.00mm/US2.5 needles {Ravelry Project Page here} – modified to a tubular 1×1 rib cast on
I’m publishing this early in the month because although links won’t be live yet, this way you will have an idea of what’s to come this month! Let me know how you find this compared to publishing later in the month.
Happy Month of Love! We finished off January with a crazy snowstorm, receiving about 45cm of snow in a very short period of time, closing schools for 3 days and leaving kids at home with tons of snow to play in. It was great fun and the kids had an absolute blast!
The cul-de-sac crew in all their snowy glory! My neighbour’s motorhome was completely covered but the kids shovelled her driveway several times, which was awesome (I didn’t even have to ask them!).
For those who can’t connect Google Calendar (share link here), this is the snapshot of the month ahead:
Remember that things are changed sometimes to accomodate my schedule.
Links to Zoom groups hosted in the community (excluding Spinning Staples & Queries) are posted about 15 minutes prior in the Slack channel, #general.
Happening this Month …
Wool n’ Spinning Radio
Rebecca and I sat down to record Part II of Welcoming 2024 to talk about Our Making in 2024 specifically. I hope you will have a listen anywhere you catch your AUDIO podcasts or here.
The Wool Circle & Spinning Staples
Rebecca and I are continuing on our 2-year Book Study Journey of Sarah Anderson’s The Book of Yarn Designs. The syllabus for our journey is here. Tackling a very important topic this month, Rebecca is talking about spinning True Worsted and True Woollen yarns. Foreign concepts? Not familiar with these ideas? This is a great place to start to understanding why different yarns behave the way they do and how to make them!
The Wool Circle | True Worsted & Drafts (Links coming soon!)
The Wool Circle | True Woollen & Drafts
Spinning Staples will be meeting to deep dive into these concepts on the 2nd & 4th Wednesday this month, specifially February 14th & 28th @ 12noon Pacific. Zoom links will be posted the day prior on both Patreon and in Slack, within the private #spinning-staples group.
Spinning Purls
I have recieved quite a bit of feedback from people within the community about going back and revisiting some of this archived content – thank you! I’m glad it’s been so valuable!
Coming this month // Links coming soon! Published on Sundays @ 2am Pacific
I’m finishing up reading Demon Copperhead here, cooking from this amazing PDF download here that was a Christmas gift from a dear friend (love Ami’s recipes – so simple!), and enjoying lots of walks outside.
Welcome to another year at Wool n’ Spinning! To those who are new here, welcome. To those returning, thank you for continuing to be here & participating. You all make the Wool n’ Spinning what it is today & I am filled with gratitude that you are all here!
I have had a bit of a whirlwind start to the year. My family came for New Years and we had a lovely week together. Because my family is very small – about 9 of us – it was lovely to be together. I was fighting a head cold all week but at this point, it didn’t turn into anything too noxious.
As soon as they headed home, though, my mom and I flew to Winnipeg so that I could be there to support her as she visited her sister. Unfortunately, she is not well and it was important to go to be there, even if for a short time, with her. She continues a long battle with a very aggressive cancer and I was happy to be able to support Mom through the trip, which we will probably have to repeat a few times this year.
A little tribute to two of my favourite people in the world: My mom and aunt.
Onto events happening this month around this amazing community! For those who haven’t been able to sync up with the Google Calendar, which is listed in this post & the #general channel of Slack, here is a synopsis of the month for you to enter in your calendars:
For those who can schedule repeating events in your digital calendar, here’s a way to help you keep track:
Live Streams: 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month @ 10am Pacific
The Wool Circle: 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month @ 10am Pacific
Spin Group meet on Tuesdays @ 9am Pacific (may be changing to Mondays)
Weaving Group & Fibre Prep Group alternate on Fridays @ 8am Pacific
Europe & Australia Spin Group on Thursdays @ 8am GMT
For those in the Patreon Groups, the following dates & times are for those subscribers:
Queries & Explorations on 2nd & 4th Saturday of the month @ 9am Pacific
Spinning Staples on 2nd & 4th Wednesday of the month @ 12noon Pacific
For these two groups, there are private Slack channels (#queriesvirtualspingroup & #spinning-staples) for you to join if you are a part of these groups.
I hope this helps for those getting their feet wet for the first time and learning about the community and how to join in the fun!
Onwards …
Wool n’ Spinning Radio
This month, Rebecca and I sat down to chat about the year coming up – we did a deep dive into what to expect from our Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs Book Study for the next two years. Rebecca speaks to the different ‘tracks’ available to everyone, depending on how you’d like to participate! This study is all about ‘leveling up’ our handspun yarns to create the yarns we are excited by!
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!
The Wool Circle
Rebecca will continue to delve into the work she’s been doing by working through many of the topics discussed in Sarah Anderson’s The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs with everyone in 2024! The syllabus Rebecca created is here.
If you missed everything introduced at the turn of the year about our 2-year book study, check out these videos:
We are currently working through Part I: Back to Basics. Rebecca talked on the first episode of The Wool Circle this year about balance and twist. She discussed excercises to help everyone truly understand twist & twist direction. The episode is here.
Spinning Purls
We jumped in right away with our Book Study in Spinning Purls, covering spinning for consistency this month!
Welcome to another stream! I hope you are all well & good – I’m excited to share with you all the things happening here in the background as I make my through January!
Welcoming 2024 Post here: Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs information
In the show today …
Spindling
100 Days of Spindle Spinning – Started on Dec 1st, Keeping track in my Instagram highlights/stories here, working through lots of rolags! #100daysofspindling
Crafty Jaks Boutique BFL Gradient Set – · 11 colours, into the blending board, adding clear firestar {Ravelry Page here}
