Christmas Party 2011

Updates

The North Peace Spinners and Weavers are updating their blog.

Currently the North Peace Spinners and Weavers will be starting their annual Fibre Academy.
The following schedule is for the NPSW Fibre Academy has been currently adopted.

NPSWG Fibre Academy Schedule for 2011/2012:
All classes are planned for 10:00 – 12:00 Saturday morning at the Studio.
October:
22nd – Drafting for Weaving (continued) - Cheryl
29th – Intermediate Study Group
November:
5th – Kumihimo – Frankie
12th – Cotton Spinning on a Tahkli – Marjo
19th -         “
26th – Intermediate Study Group
January:
7th – Introduction to Inkle Weaving – Rene
14th -         “
21st – Felt Pictures -Jill
28th – Intermediate Study Group
February:
4th – Chinese Knotting – Sue
11th -         “
18th – Blueberry Retreat
25th – Intermediate Study Group
March:
3rd – Inkle Pick-up – Rene
10th -         “
17th – Card Weaving – Debbie
24th -         “
31st – Intermediate Study Group
April:
7th – Lace on a Rigid Heddle Loom – Frankie
14th -         “
21st – Open
28th – Intermediate Study Group

Check back here often for changes.

Update 2010

Saturday past was the annual trip to HH for a day of spinning with our sister guild in HH, B.C. It was a great day as we visited Frankie's home and had a look at her new lambs and got to walk in the nearby woods to check out the wild flowers growing at this time of year before settling down to an afternoon of eating (what we do best) and spinning, and showing off what we have accomplished over the last few weeks. I wish I had thought to take pictures but as usual I think about the camera after everyone has left and gone home! Rene g. had some awesome scarves woven and some tea towels that she was taking to her sisters as gifts. I unfortunately cannot figure out why anyone would want to waste all that time on weaving tea towels when you can buy them for a buck at the dollar store and I wouldn't want to use towels that someone spent hours weaving to wipe my dirty pots and pans. But everyone else swears that once you use a hand woven tea towel you will never go back...... I have yet to use one! The scarves on the other hand were awesome. One scarf was woven in a multi-coloured tencel warp with an undulating twill as the pattern and she used a chenille..... I think cotton..... which was gorgeous. The other scarf was knitted in a variegated bamboo (I think) and was also lovely.

Marion brought along beautiful woven baby blankets in huck lace with soft pastel blues, greens, yellows, and pinks..... very pretty. I did a demonstration on how to spin on a Navajo spindle and then demonstrated how to Navajo ply. then I gave a short demonstration on how to spin cotton on my charkha.

We also had a chance to look at some fleeces one in particular that I had just bought from a friend who is a shepherd. the fleece was lovely and unique in that it came from a Shetland cross ewe that had a fading gene. The fleece was white but it hadn't always been that way. I haven't spun any of it yet but I am hopeful to try it very soon.

we will be getting together again next month at Mary T.'s cabin on Ch Lk. i look forward to that and seeing what everyone is working on and hopefully I will be able to show and tell a little something myself.

Christmas Celebrations & All That Jazz

Our objective this year was to send our parcel off to the Pembrokeshire guild in late October, so that they would have our gifts in time for Christmas. The theme of our gifts to them was bookmarks with quintessential Canadian fibre or embellishments..... Rene packaged up the parcel and got it in the mail with assurances from Canada Post that we were sending it in plenty of time. It still hasn't gotten to them and it is now after New Years... You can count on Canada Post to be on time (not!). Go figure!

In the meantime that didn't stop us Canadian girls from celebrating our Christmas with our annual potluck and gift exchange.
We decided that we would all make Art Hats for our gift exchange and so there were quite a variety, with everything from the sublime to the rediculous, as they say. But don't ask me which is which... that would be too unfair. It was a lovely day, hosted be the wonderful and very gracious Rene. With the exception of Anita all the gals whoexchanged hats are in the following pictures. I have to appologise to Chrissy as I promised to get a picture of Anita in her hat and post it here but suffice it to say that Anita is not co-opperating on that score and so I will hopefully post one later of Anita in her hat.


Group photo!



Our gracious hostess Rene G.



Mary T. looking like a day skiing in the cross country fashion wouldn't go astray.



Marion J. looking like a flower in her garden hat.



Sharon K. reminded us of Jackie Kennedy with her lovely curl peeking from her Peace River landscape hat.



Faye E. smiles radiantly in her lovely chicken bonnet.



Marjo W. looks glorious in her seashells by the shore hat against the beautiful afternoon sunshine.



Lauralee L. looks spritely in her Tam O Shanter.



Chrissy looks marvelous in her Thistle shapeau!

Yarn Snob

My clock is chiming 6 am as I sit here. I have been awake for awhile watching my new kitten freaking out at everything that happens to move.... my yarn, my nightgown, my toe... ouch! Hang on, back up, what was that I said?.... Yarn?.... Yes, I have knitting on the go and yarn that I am using. Now I will admit that I am a bit of a snob when it comes to my knitting. I do tend to think that wool is better than acrylic, and that alpaca is better than wool, and silk is the ultimate... well maybe not the ultimate.... there’s always bamboo, and soysilk, and yak and quiviet...... but you catch my meaning I’m sure. I need to talk here a little about being a yarn snob. I became a yarn snob slowly over a number of years without realizing it was happening. How did I discover that I had become a yarn snob you ask? Actually it happened quite recently. I was offered several bags of yarn from some quite nice ladies in my guild at my last guild meeting. They are the type that go out garage saling each Saturday morning and are quick to be at a place where there are freebies being given out. They have offered me some of their “steals” in the past and I’ll be quite honest I have been given some very lovely items..... I am never one to turn down a free item if I can make use of it. Then these two wonderful ladies offered me several bags of yarn and of course the first thing I asked was, “Are they acrylic?” Now that was not when I discovered that I was a yarn snob. That discovery came later after I had picked out all the exotic yarn with the glitzy bits and was left with reams and reams of acrylic, just plain acrylic. You know, the kind that you find in bargain bins at Walmart. Some was very nice colours, I’ll give you that, but once I got it home and laid it out, I thought what am I going to do with all of this, as I looked on in dismay. I had actually turned it down originally but when pressed I thought perhaps my mother might make use of it, so in actuality I took it for her. I started to play with the colours thinking that perhaps I might make something with it for my church fund raiser. A blanket or afghan or something that someone might appreciate. And so I set to work with large needles and two different colours of purple. It wasn’t very long before I began to realize that I wasn’t enjoying the process. The yarn felt lifeless in my hands. I am continuing to knit but all I want is to get it done. I will be passing on what I don’t use of the acrylic to the other ladies at my church.

Enough about the acrylic and more about being a yarn snob. I started spinning my fibre about ten years ago. I was “all there” to buy a fleece, wash it and card it and finally spin it. The whole process made me feel like I was truly accomplished. When you take something that has no use other than to keep an animal warm and turn it into a beautiful product, especially when it is so labour intensive there is a feeling like no other. It is called success and it is a heady feeling indeed. Addictive might be a word that could describe it. You look at what you have created and you think, “Wow! I made that...”

Wool and it’s versatility are impressive. Then when you add a little glitz to your wool by throwing in some exotic fibres, some silk, or some quiviet, some yak or a little possum, hmmmmmmm, how can a body resist.

After a few years of this very addictive behaviour I decided that it was time to take it one step further. If I was really going to start from scratch, then I needed to invest in some fibre animals. I started out easy by getting a wolf/husky dog that had spinnable fibre. I’ve been spinning her fibre for quite a few years now and am pleased with the results. Then last year, when the lady that I buy my alpaca fibre from, decided to retire, I purchased some of her alpacas. Now I am the proud owner of ten sheep and five alpacas, soon to be six. We sheared this spring and that gave me more fibre than I will ever need. Next purchase a mill to prepare all that fibre for spinning.... then I can share all that beautiful fibre with my friends.

There is a problem to this though. Now I look at everything with an eye to its spinnability. My last purchase?.... Some seeds for flax..... my husband is getting worried... he should have been a long time ago.

Nature Dyeing

Well folks, it is the time of the year when most of my spinning friends are in a frenzy to finish the last of their nature dyeing before the cold weather comes and the leaves and blooms have faded for the winter. If you are like me, you will be thinking of nature dyeing too. I like to dye in the early fall with everything from woad and ornamental apples, to beets and lichen. Once the snow comes we are limited in our nature dyeing to what we can order from other parts of the world or using what come from the grocery store like onion skins and turmeric, or if you are very diligent what you have saved and preserved from your summer jaunts through the bush. I like to get together in September for a day of dyeing with woad with my friend Anita McWilliams who has been dyeing for many years. It has become a bit of a tradition. She has a lot of experience nture dyeing and so she is a wealth of information. (She even remembers all the latin names for the plants that she uses which is beyond my linguistic capabilities!) I asked her to write a few thoughts about what she does and I've included a few pictures. This is what she had to say.....

Dyeing With Plants by Anita McWilliams
With rare exceptions, plant dyes will give earth tones and subtle variations. Most plant dyeing requires mordanting to ensure fastness of the dye. I use alum, as it is easy to get, cheap, and not toxic, so no need for rubber gloves and a mask.

Some plant material is easy to come by - onion skins, for instance. Who doesn't have handy a source of these? I find, as a person living alone, that a years worth of skins saved, will suffice, giving a golden yellow colour. I was able to achieve an interesting "saddening" effect simply by adding a quantity of rusty nails into the dyebath.

One of my favorite natural dyes, is the raspy, fern-like Marestail or Horsetail (Equisetium) which grows usually in ditches or along roadsides. It is easy to gather and doesn't take much bulk to achieve a desirable weight of material. It is a pleasure to go out on a sunny spring morning and gather them. (I speak as a country-dweller!)The best results come from early season gatherings.The light, clear greenish-yellow is suited to overdyeing, in my opinion, as well.

As to proportions and recipes, I have gone mainly by guess, just go ahead and gather and experiment,just remember to make a note of proportions so that you can repeat your successes next year.

Anita's and my recommendations for resources:

1. "Dye Plants and Dyeing", Brooklyn Botanic Garden, may no longer be in print.
2. "A Dyers Garden", by Rita Buchanan,
3. "Flowers of the Yukon", by Mickey Lammers
4. "Wild Colour" by Jenny Dean no longer in print.

Shawl

I've started working on a shawl with a pattern from a book called Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman. It is called Garter Lace Triangle Shawl. I've knit this shawl pattern before and found it to be a real treasure. The first time I knit it I had a fairly bulky weight peach woolen homespun yarn it turned out to be simply lovely. It was very soft and cozy and it made me think of soft kittens curling up. The next time I knit it I used a light grey coarse wool with stripes of woad dyed woolen yarn, that I spun myself. It too was lovely though not as soft as the peach version. It had a much more hardy look and would have been "in the olden days" considered a working shawl. So yesterday, I decided to knit the same pattern again and this time I am using an ivory coloured yarn that I spun worsted to enhance its lovely sheen. This yarn is called Karaoke and is a combination of merino, and soysilk. I spun it fairly finely at about sport weight. Once again I am pleased with the results so far.
I love shawls because they are triangles of perfection and I have knit many. I have also woven many too. I tend to pick patterns that I like and knit them over and over trying different types of yarn to see what each yarn will bring to the pattern. This pattern could easily be adjusted to turn it into a sweater or a blanket just by changing the increases or not having increases at all to suit the shaping of your chosen garment.
Drape is an important factor in considering the perfect fibre for a shawl. The yarn you use should be knit loosely but not so loosely that the stitches become holes (unless that is the effect you are trying to achieve). The sport weight yarn that I am using is being knit on 3.25 mm knitting needles. This is fine but I would have liked this shawl to be a bit drapeier. I did try a size 3.00 mm knitting needle however, that was definitely too tight. Then I tried it on a 4.00 mm knitting needle and that was too loose. So I didn't have 3.50 mm knitting needles so I chose a pair of 3.25 mm knitting needles. #.75 might have been better too but I didn't have them either. Soysilk feels a little like cotton when it is being knit with very little memory and so that also detracts from the drape of the shawl. Still this shawl is pleasing to touch and I feel it will be fine when it is finished.

Mini Retreat in Hudson's Hope

When the NPSW didn't get enough people to attend their annual summer retreat at the Cameron outdoor centre, Frankie invited those who had wanted to attend back to her farm for a mini retreat. Here are the results:

Marnie, and Norma were spinning and Faye and Frankie were knitting. Here are Frankie's results. Zig Zag scarves are easy to do.

Norma was spinning a lovely green Romney and Frankie was stewing some avacadoes for a natural dye bath:


Marnie had some lovely Shetland/Romney x fleeces to sell so how could anyone pass up such lovely locks....


The rest of Saturday was Colour, colour, colour....



Faye went home on Saturday with a Counter Balance loom in her wee car..... have a look at how she fit it in.....

Crowded dye pots are fun to do so Marnie and Frankie kept on going with them on Saturday.....



Wow! We did a lot this weekend.....

We all had a lot of fun. It was a great opportunity to try some different dyes that we had never tried before and also just to catch up on projects that we were already working on. The avacadoes are still in the dye pot stewing and today will be strained in preparation for being used to dye some fleece. These retreats offer a prime opportunity to just relax and do what we love best. It's all about fibre!

Navajo Spindles

So I am trying to get myself on the ball about posting new articles for this blog. Today's article is about Navajo Spindles and the Navajo Churro.

While at Olds College this year, for my Level 2 of the Master's Spinner's course, I learned a little about the Navajo Spindle, enough that I felt I wanted one of my own and enough that I wanted to work on some research about the Navajo Spindle and the unique method of spinning that the Navajo people use to ply their yarn. They use their yarn for rugs and blankets and they have become famous for them.

First let me tell you that it is not the easiest thing to spin on a Navajo Spindle because it is a "quill" style of spindle. At between 30 - 36 inches and with a 5 1/2 inches disk located at about 8 - 10 inches above the bottom, the spindle has no hook on which to harness your yarn. The spindle sits on the floor and is a version of a support spindle. There are smaller versions that are used in the sittiing on the floor position. The larger is used sitting in a chair, and this is the version that I am most interested.

Quill style spindles are not easy to get started. You roll a small amount of your fibre between your fingers and then with a small amount of spit you connect your fibre around the tip of the spindle. Then slowly twist the spindle so that the fibre is now twisting on itself. This is now your leader. Then holding the fibre source at a 45 degree angle from the spindle slowly draft out the fibre source while rolling the spindle in a clockwise manner either up or down your leg, depending on which leg you are using. This works best if working from a carded rolag. An even and consistent grist is not the intention here so don't worry if your yarn is looking lumpy and uneven. Once you've spun a length of singles make a loop as if to crochet a chain, then pull the singles through the loop. Twist the spindle in the counter clockwise direction and continue to pull the singles through loop after loop. In this way you ply the singles into a three ply yarn.

The Navajo Churro is a type of sheep that the Navajo people use to make their blankets and rugs. The Churro has a rather coarse type of wool that is strong and sturdy. With a staple length of 4 to 14 inches it has very little crimp and a double coat. The outer coat is about 36s while the inner coat is about 66s. The Churro is primarily bred for its wool, however, it almost became extinct when the American government tried to subdue the Navajo people by destroying the Churro. The Navajo people originally used plant fibres to do the same thing that wool eventually did but began to use the wool of the Churro after the Spanish introduced them to the new world. The Navajo method of spinning eventually became famous as the demand for their blankets and rugs increased. Today the Churro's wool is still bred for its strength and sturdiness and is still used to make blankets and rugs.

When I decided to buy a Navajo Spindle I started looking on-line to find a website that sold these giant spindles. They are not easy to find. Schacht has one for sale and that is by far the easiest one to find information on. But if you are trying to locat one that is a beautiful piece of furniture as well as a useful tool it gets tougher to find them. Here are two good websites that I found. The first is from Vermont www.graftonfibers.com and the second comes also from the US at www.woolworks.com Check out these two websites if you are interested in trying out this unique form of spinning.

Meanderings in more ways than one!

So we are coming up to the three month mark since the last time there was a post. While I know this is pathetic I have been working on some new articles. The first of which is an article regarding the Weavette.

I have found a gem of a website with patterns that you can download for the Weavette. But I'd better not get ahead of myself. First of all, for those of you that don't know, the Weavette is a mini loom that is sold by a company out of the United States (as usual!) called Buxton Brook. These are marvelous little gadgets that allow you to weave in a simplistic way and is handy as a take-along project. Buxton Brook is having difficulties with supply so I will warn you that not all of the sizes that these little looms come in are available. I purchased a 2"by 6" loom in the spring and I find that it is perfect for bookmarks. This loom comes in square, rectangular and triangular shapes and in various sizes for each shape. There is an instruction manual that teaches you step by step how to complete a project with the exact measurements for the amount of yarn you will need to complete a project on your loom.

Now that I have told you what the Weavette is, I will tell you all about the research that I did regarding the Weavette and the one site that I can safely say I will return to again and again.

The Weavette was most popular during the 30s and 40s and there were several brands including the Jiffy loom. There were many patterns that were published at that time. The Weavette was never intended to just weave a square or rectangle. Instead the weavette was used for all kinds of things from baby clothes to afghans to flowers for decorations.

I have misled you somewhat by telling you that the Weavette was popular during the 30s and 40s, however, this is not true. The Weave-it was popular during the 30s and 40s and then went out of popularity and wasn't made for quite a few years. Recently there has been a reinterest in this gadget and became highly sought-after items at garage sales and rumage sales and so Buxton Brook decided to begin manufacturing them again this time as the Weavette.

All this information can be seen on my favorite little website..... have a look at www.eLoomanation.com You will find patterns and history and all kinds of tips and hints when you go there. In the meantime Shuttleworks has them available in Canada, or you can order on line directly from Buxton Brooks as I did. Check it out it is tons of fun.

Fair Isle Knitting

I have always loved Fair Isle knitting. In fact it is one of my favorite techniques in knitting and more so now that I’m a spinner. I’m sure you are wondering why there should be a connection between spinning and Fair Isle knitting any more than spinning and Lace knitting, or spinning and Aran knitting. I like Fair Isle knitting because I, as a spinner, tend to enjoy trying various types of fibre. It is a pleasure to go to spinning vendors and pick up 100 grams of this and 100 grams of that and take my many little samples home and spin them up. I tend to have a ball of this and a ball of that. So when I look in my basket I find that there are little bits of many colours and textures but not enough to do something like a sweater in any one given colour. That is where Fair Isle knitting comes in.

We tend to think of Fair Isle knitting in this day and age, as any knitting that uses more than one colour. However, this is not the case. Fair Isle knitting actually comes from the Island of Fair which is sandwiched between the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands off the North coast of Scotland. I went on the Fair Isle travel web site and this is what they had to say:

The real ‘Fair Isle’ knitwear

The term ‘Fair Isle Knitting' is now used worldwide for a type of stranded colour knitting with horizontal bands of geometric patterns. But this unique style developed on Fair Isle long ago, when local knitters discovered that fine yarns stranded into a double layer produce durable, warm, yet lightweight garments.

For hundreds of years demand for hand-knitting kept Fair Isle women busy. Islanders traded with passing ships, bartering their homemade textiles and fresh produce for goods they couldn’t make themselves.

Today the only source of the genuine article is still Fair Isle, where a small cooperative - Fair Isle Crafts - produces traditional and contemporary sweaters on hand-frame machines, quality-controlled and labeled with Fair Isle's own trade mark.

The traditional colours of red, blue, brown, yellow and white, combined with the original patterns, were much sought after for their unique value, but in the 1920s Fair Isle sweaters knitted in the natural wool colours of brown, grey, fawn and white became highly fashionable.

Elizabeth Zimmermann also said that “Fair Isle knitting uses distinctive pattern of “OXO” in one band followed by a skinnier band of stranded knitting where two or more colours are used, however, it is the OXO pattern that makes true Fair Isle knitting distinctive.

The Norwegian use double stranded knitting (knitting where the second colour is carried across the back) as do many other countries, but they have their own distinctions that are significantly different from Fair Isle.

The Fair Isle knitters were able to sustain themselves in times of hardship because their knitting was in high demand for its distinction. The men of the household would take their boats out to passing ships where they would trade their wives knitting among other things and barter for goods that they could not attain otherwise. In fact it was just such a trip in the late 1800s that became a tragedy for the Fair Islanders when two of four boats were caught in a storm and one was lost with all hands while the other made it back to shore with only some of its crew still alive. This was devastating for the small population of the Island and has left a significant impact, with a monument left to the dedication of those men lost in that accident.

So, if you enjoy stranded knitting, then check out the many Fair Isle patterns, as a way of using up your odds and ends. I like to adapt the patterns not just for “jumpers and vests” which are the traditional product but for afghans and shawls, or mittens and sox. You never know where the adventure of Fair Isle will take you.

Try A Breeds Book Of Your Own

Now that I have finished the work for my Master Spinner Level 1, I would like to give those who follow this blog an idea about some of the work that I did to complete the projects. I will begin by telling about the research that was required for the breeds books.
When I received the assignment requirements, the breeds book project intrigued me and so I was quite happy to start on it almost immediately after I returned from Olds College last July. I had returned home with several samples of breeds that I had collected while at the college. For you laymen out there, sheep are not just white fluffy things with an odd black one thrown in for variety. There are over four thousand breeds of sheep all with their own genetic lineage. My assignment was to research ten of them, and of course being a fanatic, I ended up with many more than that. I finished eighteen in all but I have another five waiting my attention and will probably do more than that as the opportunity arises. Then there are the thousands of cross breeds which I haven’t even yet begun to explore. My list went like this:
1 Cheviot
2 Corriedale
3 Cormo (New Zealand)
4 Cotswold
5 Icelandic
6 Jacob
7 Leichester (Blue Faced)
8 Merino
9 Polwarth
10 Polypay
11 Rambouillet
12 Rideau Arcott
13 Romney
14 Scottish Black Face
15 Shetland
16 South Down Baby Doll
17 Teeswater
18 Wensleydale

I still have some Suffolk, Gotland, Coopworth, Dorset, and Border Leichester, to try and I am hoping to get my hands on some fleece from a Newfoundland sheep or a St Jacques sheep, both of which have developed from natural crossing of various sheep in Newfoundland. I guess from natural selection, these animals, being isolated, have developed their own genetic identity.
The exercise has been a real eye opener. I couldn’t believe how much I learned from the variety of breeds. They all have their unique qualities that are more distinct than you might think. Briefly, I would have to say that my favorites so far, are; Cheviot, Polworth, Polypay, and Wensleydale. Wensleydale was bizarre but in the end I have to say that I loved it. It was really cool and naturally wanted to be a lovely novelty yarn. (I’ve discovered that I really enjoy the process and creativity behind designing a novelty yarn. But more about that on another day....)
Trying out a variety of breeds is very helpful if you are interested in designer yarns or if you have a specific project in mind. By spinning as many varieties as possible can only help a spinner be better equipped to choose a fleece that will best suit a specific project. Though I was not in favour of Cotswold I could definitely see the benefits of using this fleece for a carpet. It was by far the strongest fibre in my selection of breeds and would not break when I tried. As a matter of a fact, it cut into my hands and I ended up having to use scissors. At the opposite end of the spectrum was Super Fine Merino.... this stuff, in my opinion, was awful, mostly because it was so very subject to breakage. It was so weak that I never did find a method of opening the fibres that didn’t subject it to breakage. I think teasing it carefully was probably the most one could do to prepare it for spinning.
Each breed differs from sheep to sheep so trying just one of each breed gives you only a snapshot of the breed, and everything depends on the health of the animal and the ability of the shepherd to care for the animal. And I won’t even mention the difference between the different sections of the sheep itself.
Along with my research on he qualities of my selection of breeds, I was able to find some historical information about most of the breeds that I tried. This too was very informative. If you are a bit of a history buff you might find this aspect of such a project very interesting. It also gave me a clue as to the work that is involved with developing a new breed and how natural selection can develop breeds spontaneously over a period of years,
The variety of fleeces that are out there is amazing and new breeds are being developed as you read this. The newest one that I have heard of is called Spinsleydale..... hmmm.... I guess I shall have to try to get my hands on some of that too! Happy Spinning!

Life Gets In The Way

I am finally able to get back to this blog. Now that my very crazy March month is over I will be trying to be fresh and keep up with new articles. I thought that I would have more interest with people suppling articles but that doesn't look like it will happen at least for a while. Shall continue to work on that. In the meantime I will try to keep putting articles here myself. You will find some information on Carding/Combing equipment below. Hope you enjoy.

FYI Carding/Combing Equipment and Uses

TEASE
Teasing fibre is the most unmechanized method of preparing fibre to be spun. The locks of fibre can be opened just by gently pinching the tips of the locks and pulling the fibre open towards the tips in a plucking motion. This is done lock by lock and can be very labour intensive. However, it is a good opportunity for the spinner to remove any inferior fibre like second cuts and any kemp or veggie matter. Each lock must be teased open on either end. While this process can be used to prep fibre for spinning most commonly it is used to prepare fibre for the drum carder or the hand cards.

FLICK CARDER
A flick carder is a small paddle that has metal teeth and is used to open, separate, and comb fibres of individual locks. This preparation is used mostly to prepare yarns to be spun in a worsted manner. The flick carder or also called the flicker, is used to remove veggie matter and weathered tips as well as shorter or damaged fibres. There are two motions used by a flicker. Laying a lock of fibre on your lap gently tap the flicker against the tips. This will open the fibres. Repeat the process on the other end of the lock. The second method is the one that I prefer which is to actually comb though the fibres of the lock on each end. A dog brush can be substituted for a flicker.

HAND CARDS
Hand cards are one of the many tools used to prepare fibre for spinning. Hand cards are rectangular paddles that have a sheet of curved, metal teeth on their face. The fibre is laid across the teeth of one paddle in such a manner that when the other card is passed gently over the it, the teeth will separate, straighten and open the fibres. Most hand cards for wool have a slight curve to the paddles so that when they pass over each other they will not bite into each other. It is a birdlike motion, often called a butterfly kiss, gently rocking one card over the other to pick up and comb out the fibres as it moves. Once the fibre has been transferred through the combing process from one paddle to the other, the process is repeated in the opposite direction by switching the paddle’s from one hand to the other. This process is repeated several times until the fibre has been completely separated and opened. The fibre is then lifted off by the other card and formed into rolags or sausages.
The teeth can be close together for finer shorter fibres like cotton or farther apart for coarser fibres like wool.
Hand cards can also be used for blending fibre types as well as colours.

DRUM CARDER
A drum carder is a useful machine that processes fibre in a similar manner to hand cards, however, it is used to process larger amounts of fibre than hand cards. The carding cloth which holds the metal teeth are attached to two drums that move in opposite directions to each other by turning a crank. The two drums are close enough together that when the fibre passes between them they open, separate, and straighten the fibre.

COMBS
There are many types of combs from small mini combs with single or double rows of tines to English or Dutch with three or four rows of times. The reasons for using combs is to get the best parallel preparation of fibres for worsted spinning. Each type of comb is geared toward a particular length of staple. The tines are sturdier than the teeth of carders and are longer as well. This is a very dangerous tool as the tines resemble nails and are very sharp. This tool should be treated with respect at all times.
Combs can be used so that one comb can be clamped to a table while the other one is passed through fibre that has been laid into the tines of the one that is clamped. This will pull out any fibre that is good leaving knotted and tangled fibre in the comb that is clamped. Mini combs do not use the clamp but are held stable by the hand. The knotted fibre is then removed as waste, leaving only the top fibre. This can then be passed through a diz to form a sliver.

HACKLES
Hackles are similar to a comb but it is longer in length and is clamped to a table and there is only one. It’s main purpose is to blend fibre types as well as colours.

Pembrokeshire Guild

NPSW COME HAND TO HAND WITH THE PEMBROKESHIRE GUILD OF SPINNERS, WEAVERS AND DYERS

It’s been a few years since the NPSW contacted the Pembrokeshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers via Rosaleen Ward in an effort to become familiar with a guild other than our own. Arrangements were made to exchange gifts for Christmas alternating every year. There have been many happy occasions when our secretary has collected the mail in late November or early December and found a package full of exciting gifts which our guild giggles gleefully over. While we have always received our gifts with pleasure and joy, I have to admit that I, for one, have born a great curiousity for the members of their guild that create such wonderful and interesting surprises. Many gifts have gone back and forth. One year we created felted balls and decorated them for hanging on their Christmas trees, we have created pins and ????. In return we have received Chinese dumplings, felted pincushions in, believe me, all shapes and sizes. This Christmas we received our package in perfect timing for our annual Cristmas luncheon, and as usual, there was great anticipation as we all chose our packages. Inside were lovely wrist warmers with the common thread (no pun intended) being cashmere. They were lovely and we all appreciated how wonderful they are. I left the party once again wondering who had spent so much time creating the wristlets that I received. Mine were pink with aa loop that fitted precisely over the middle finger. So it was very exciting when our secretary made contact with the guild and actually asked about the wristlets. I am so glad to be the editor of this blog because when I asked our secretary if she could forward a picture of our group with the wristlets on at the 2007 Christmas luncheon, which is the only picture with most of our group in it, I was tickled pink to get the pictures that their guild had forwarded to Sharonin addition to the picture I was seeking. So here it is folkes, have a good look, because these ladies are the ones that have been creating for us just as we have been creating for them. They look like they could fit right in with us don’t they....

If you want the names of those in the picture you can contact me privately and I will be able to tell you their names perhaps we should pass pictures back and forth to them too.....

I will be away!

I'm sorry to say that I will be away for the next week and will not be able to post any new articles until I return Check back again any time after the 9th of March. I will be posting article about the Pembrokshireguild of Spinners and Weavers and hopefully by then I can finish my article on my odyssey through the Master's spinner's program..... if you need to contact me I can be reached via our email wooliest1@hotmail.com. Over and out.

Mercerization

Mercerization by Renate Giesbrecht
MERCERIZATION Mercerization is a finish applied to cotton yarn or fabric that was discovered by John Mercer in 1851. He found that by immersing fibers like cotton and linen in a caustic soda bath, usually sodium hydroxide or lye, their strength was increased and they were able to take dyes more easily. Because his discovery caused a 20-25% shrinkage loss in cotton cloth and increased the durability of the cloth, the mill men feared that less fabric would be used. In spite of the fact that the industry was not very interested at that time, Mercer did patent his work. The process became popular in the late 1800’s when Horace Lowe discovered that if the fibers were kept under tension while they soaked they did not shrink as much and they became very lustrous and “silk-like”. He found that after sitting in this highly alkaline bath the fibers could be neutralized in an acidic bath. So Mercer discovered the process, Lowe refined and popularized it. Mercerization is used on fibers for many different reasons. It makes threads stronger, smoother, more absorbent, gives luster and increases the ability to take dyes. The process shrinks the fibers and smooths the grain of the thread. Because of this preshrinking, mercerized cotton tends to shrink far less than regular cotton. Greater absorbency results from mercerization because the caustic soda causes the molecular structure to open up so that more water can be absorbed. The moisture regain is about 11 %. This also means that dyes can enter the fiber more readily and when they can be fixed inside the fiber they are more colourfast. Another important gain is increased strength. Mercerization causes a permanent swelling of the fiber which increases strength but also lustre. For this reason these threads are often sought after by weavers to be used for warp. Pearl cotton refers to mercerized cotton and comes in 3/2, 5/2, and 10/2 sizes rather than the 4/8, 2/8 and 2/16 sizes of unmercerized cotton used by the weaving community. by Renate Giesbrecht Source: Textiles by Hollen.Saddler, Langford, Kadolph

Needle Felting

Needle Felting
NEEDLE FELTING There are some really terrific new books out there about the Art of Felting. The books that I find most intriguing are the ones that give me ideas for needle felting. I had always hated felting since I don’t have the strongest hands and felting tends to require strong hands, patience and diligence, (which I also lack) in addition to soap, water, good felting fibre and a rough surface, or a method of agitating. I would cringe each time my guild would set up a workshop for felting. But then I discovered needle felting and now I love to felt. My first foray into needle felting was a small workshop that my guild set up to felt balls and decorate them for Christmas ornaments. I very quickly decided that this “new” method of felting was fun. Soon I was felting ornaments for all my friends to attach to the outside of their gifts at Christmas time. Then one day when I had to provide a gift for a gift exchange I decided to felt a soap on the rope and make a hand towel to go with it. I was charmed with the soap on the rope as was the recipient of my little gift. Next came a pair of slippers for which I felted the fabric. First I felted several layers of wool on a foam cushion to get a fairly thick felted fabric and cut out a moccasin style slipper which I sewed together and decorated with felted embellishments. My next project was more difficult as it was a shaped sculpture of a small squirrel with an acorn in its mouth. I had a lot more difficulty with it as a 3-d felted object as apposed to a flat surface felted project. It turned out ok but I will definitely need more practice at this type of felting. The more I needle felted the more my imagination became charged with new ideas. Straight felting has its limitations but also has it uses but I find that felting with needles has no limits except for your imagination. I bought my first set of felting needles from my guild for our workshop. But since then I have discovered that there are different gauges for different projects and your project will dictate which gauge you use. I also discovered that there are felting tools that will hold a number of needles at a time making felting a quicker prospect since more needles will cover more of the surface you are trying to felt. There is even a felting machine that works similar to a sewing machine which felts very fast. Since my first project, I have invested in a felting tool that holds five needles at a time. The needles retract each time you stab the wool. However a single needle is what I like to use when I get to the point that a piece requires more detail and definition. A single needle can be controlled better and therefore when small adjustments need to be made to a piece it is easier to do this with just one needle. My felting interests have been piqued by this wonderful tool and method. It enables my creativity another outlet. How great is that....

Anita's Electric Spinner

Anita's Electric Spinner
Pros and Cons of an Electric Spinner by Anita McWilliams I bought my electric spinner in 2002 when it became apparent that treadling was causing a “misery” in my right hip. I ordered an Ashford from Treenway Silks on Saltspring Island. It wasn’t cheap but it has proved to be a good investment, and thoroughly dependable. The electric spinner does not resemble a conventional wheel, except in one crucial way, the Mother of All (flyer and spools) is identical. Otherwise, it is a compact unit, approximately 11’ x 15” x 12” high. The front or business end has an unobtrusive panel with an on/off switch, a forward/reverse switch, and a knob to control speed of spin. At the back end, a fuse receptacle and an extension cord furnish the necessary power. Two discreet knobs provide for tension control and a hook for draw-through. Tension is controled by single nylon filament which passes under a hook over the spool and back to the hook. Very simple. The unit is sold with a Lazy Kate and three spools. Since one’s feet have no part in the operation of an electric spinner, there is some loss of the satisfaction that is derived from co-ordination of eye, hand, and foot, but this is soon adjusted to. My Ashford sits on a small cupboard with casters, so it can be moved around somewhat. The cupboard measures 18” x 22 1/2” x 19” high. This is a convenient height for me to sit on a kitchen chair, and provides enough space on top for spools, carder, comb, etc... The cupboard could be used for storage of wool, etc., if it were not already filled with leftovers from earlier hobbies! There are other electric spinners on the market. The following are pics of other examples of Electric Spinners. (1)Babe’s Electric Spinner, (2)The Butterfly Electric Spinner, (3) The Fricke Electric Spinner, (4) The Rio Grande Electric Spinner, (5) The Roberta Electric Spinner.

Electric Spinners