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!