#using handspun yarn

[creativeseal]

Just before Christmas I made an “emotional support chicken” as a gift.

Finally in February I took the two additional patterns (for chicken accessories and for little chicks) and made those to coordinate with the original chicken.

Now the set is done - back to my never-ending scrap blanket and figuring out the next project.

[makerandbean]

some cat hair rolags, ready to be spun…

[disgruntled-lifeform]

My dumb ass just had a stunning Epiphany

I can knit with store bought acrylic yarn.

[crabbarts]

I'm having tons of fun with my current spinning WIP! The batt is Corriedale that I bought a few months ago from a local yarn and fibre show.

[yarning-with-em]

finally getting the hang of nålbinding. this is using a merino yarn I spun a year ago and then left sitting as I debated plying it. not my most even yarn, but it's working nicely for this.

[guardevoir]

Fiber arts update: we have achieved ~hat~

Bonus: WIP, and Hat, as modeled by my trusty assistant Yorick

all of this is handspun; the grey is "Polarfuch"/fine icelandic wool, the colors are superfine merino.

I honestly don't particularly enjoy crochet, but it feels good to have made a piece of clothing, however small, from scratch. Might try to add fingerless gloves, but I don't think I have enough yarn left.

/EDIT: slightly more info - the yarn's all spun worsted and as a 3-ply; the Icelandic was plied from singles, the Merino was chain-plied because I only had 10 grams per color. It's stuff meant for wet-felting, very fine and quite expensive, but it was still cheaper than paying for shipping, and the colors are really nice too. The "Polarfuchs" on the other hand is quite cheap, and something I intend to work with a lot more because it's just such a nice, rustic option. Spinning took me a couple of days, plus two or three more for crocheting. The hat is worked as a rectangle in back-loop only single crochets and sewn/cinched at the top. Could've turned out a bit longer tbh, but that's the risk of following standard patterns I guess.

[fennopunk]

I think I might have done something extremely ADHD...

I tried nålebinding once something like ten years ago, and gave up after about an hour. Since then, it's been on my kilometer long craft to-do list to try learning it and obviously haven't tried it since. I never gave hope though, I even kept my nålebinding Pinterest board and the needle I made!

So, this morning obviously I woke up full of confidence that today's the day when I will nålebind again (because I'm avoiding another task on my more pressing craft list). And apparently I have retained more info from my short stint 10 years ago and/or have acquired information by osmosis because I have managed to do this with only couple pics on Pinterest as my guide:

Yes, it not great, but considering I haven't really done this before beyond a quick try, it's weirdly good.

My actual theory is that the stitch I'm using doesn't differ from sewing blanket stitch all that much and I've done A LOT of hand sewing in the past decade... Plus, I've also gotten pretty good at knitting and crocheting too and so far the increase has worked very similarly to crochet.

[caves-crafts]

staring at this ball of yarn like it will tell me how many more rows of this scarf i can knit before i start decreasing

[highlynerdy]

Profesh camera glamour shots of some of the yarns I spun from the dyed fiber while my friend was here

And all of the undyed fiber I've spun in the last few weeks...oof, you can tell I've been going through it™️ because all I've wanted to do is spin and watch tv

The final (I think) result of all the dyeing I've been doing for The Bestie Art Retreat

I may do a few more pale shades for contrast, but oof, it's probably been a decade+ since I've dyed this much fiber at once. Wools used: Rambouillet, Targhee, New Zealand Romney, Domestic Wool Blend, Falkland, Shetland, and Merino/Silk.

[creativeseal]

I finished another project!

They did go right from my needles to being used - so if they looks a little lumpy in places then you know why items are usually washed after they are finished.

The color is somewhere in between these two, neither shows it completely accurately.

It took me three tries to get the gauage and pattern options to match up and give me the right size. I ripped out a mitten twice before I split the thumb off, and then was able to get it right. My daughter chose the yarn, chose the charts to use, helped me troubleshoot, and was available for many fit checks as I worked. She is now rewarded with warm hands.

[blackbearmagic]

the agony of wondering "is this project going to be Special and Good Enough to use this handspun on" must be fought stubbornly with the mentality of "yarn is yarn, you ninny"

[thefearofcod]

look. here’s the thing. If you have a relative or family friend or some such who does a craft/hobby/skill that you’ve “always wanted to learn” you should ask them about it. Your grandma does embroidery and you want to learn? Sit down one day, or call her, or write a letter, or something, and say “I am interested in learning this craft.” There’s basically zero chance that Uncle Francis is gonna refuse to teach you about his model ships. Grandma is THRILLED to show you her quilting. Ms Barbara from the church bake sale WILL teach you how to make the fudge that made her second husband propose.

your friends and contemporaries are also a tremendous resource, and you should ask them too! But there’s just no replacement for the expertise of someone who has been knitting for sixty years. Part of this, also, is that older crafters can often give you materials to help you start, and your broke millennial friends usually can’t. My mom has more wool than she will ever use in her life, and she knows it. When one of my friends wanted to start knitting, my mom just gave her this gorgeous silver handspun yarn she’d made but wasn’t attached to. Yarn like that is expensive! Handspun yarn from someone who has been spinning for thirty years doesn’t often happen to beginners! And starting with good materials is better than starting with bad, because it helps you develop taste and a sense of quality more quickly.

Experienced crafters are often able to help you avoid learning bad or damaging habits—as a teenager, my sewing teacher spent a lot of time teaching me how to do things so that I didn’t get repetitive stress injuries (like she did). They’re going to be able to lend you books, send you ancient angelfire html pages with the most exacting instructions on earth, show you the good places to get crafting supplies that aren’t am*zon.

But you have to ask. Do not wait until these people are dead, and then say “I wish I knew.” You have to do it now, while you can.

[archaeology-findings]

Adventures in Plant Dyeing Part 10: Onion Skins

It's been quite a while since I've done any dyeing, and that's because I've been slowly accumulating handspun yarn to dye, as well as saving up onion skins to dye with for several months at this point. But I finally got enough, and have a spare day to give dyeing with onion skins a go.

Yellow onion skins should produce warm yellows, red onions produce a more brown or red hue. I only had yellow onion skins. I soaked them in water overnight in a bucket, then in the morning transferred them into my metal dye pot and simmered them for roughly an hour. In the meantime I mordanted four 25g skeins of handspun wool yarn with alum, at 12% WOF (weight of fibre - so for 100g of fibre I used 12g of alum).

Then I strained off the dye liquor, it had turned a lovely deep red colour.

I rinsed my yarn and immersed it in the dye bath on low heat. I made sure to stir every few minutes, as this is often the step I forget and I end up with patchy yarn.

After about fifteen minutes I took out one of the skeins as the colour looked quite dark already and rinsed it. It was already a lovely bright mustard yellow so I decided to take the others out at the same time.

I decided to use one skein as it was, keep two for overdyeing with other colours later (will probably be indigo to make some nice greens), and use an iron modifier on the fourth, to produce an olive green.

To produce the green colour on the fourth skein, I added it to another dye bath consisting of hot water and a pinch of ferrous sulphate. I left it for about ten minutes, stirring regularly and watching for the colour change. When it had sufficiently darkened, I took it out and rinsed it extra well. Iron is mildly corrosive to the wool fibres, so I didn't want to leave it in any longer than necessary for fear of weakening the yarn.

As a final step, I washed all four skeins in a detergent made specifically for wool, and left them to dry outside as it was a sunny day.

Here's the final results! I'm really happy with how even and vibrant the colour is and I can't wait to use these shades in my tablet weaving!

[beif-weaves]

I wanted to go with a copper patina look with this one and got to use a really lovely brown handspun yarn from a friend.

Finished: 10/17/24

Warp: brown is handspun by a friend (it feels like merino but I'm not fully sure), teal is Queensland Collection Shetland Lite, Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia- Moss

Weft: teal shetland

Dent: 8

Structure: plain weave

Notes: I learned a lot with this one, especially that I should not combine shetland with merino :l they shrink different when wet setting and shetland is rougher (I also did a crime last time I washed it so I need to reshape it) but despite the shetland being a little rougher I love wearing this one a lot. The brown and teal look great next to each other but muddied a little when woven together but this is good reference for future yarn pairings. I think a combination of doing the fringe too tight and different yarn shrinkage made the diamond a little wonky again. Also green was not part of the original design but I didn't have quite enough of the brown so added a stripe of it ^_^;

Bonus process and detail pics:

[carmelves]

I feel like Sylus would be the perfect partner for someone with a million hobbies

You want to learn archery? Good, you can never be proficient in too many weapons. He has a couple of different bows lying around in his armories, pick out the one you like best

Ballroom dancing? Buckle up, because he's coming with you and he's taking it seriously. The two of you will be dancing circles around everyone else in your class. (You might have to lead though, because he can’t stay on beat to save his life)

Piano? A keyboard is already on the way to your apartment, and he's hired the best tutor money can buy. He's also gotten a piano for his place, just in case you want to practice while you’re staying over. (Spoilers: you never manage to practice much at his place. It always seems to end with you bent over the piano… Good thing he bought a sturdy model)

Oh, you want to try boxing? Here’s a meticulously planned training regime for you to follow, including warmups, stretching, and rest days. He’ll be doing the teaching himself: only the best for you, after all.

Traveling? We already know he enjoys travel and does so often, so wherever you want to go, he’ll be right there with you. He’s happy to sit back and let you do the planning, enjoying how enthusiastic you are about researching destinations and drawing up timetables, but if you want to just enjoy some relaxation he’ll handle all the details, don’t you worry about a thing.

You want to… raise sheep? Sure, why not. He has a property out in the country he doesn’t use often, might as well turn it into something useful. Get as many sheep as you want. Some ducks too, while you’re at it, since you can’t stop talking about how cute they are. Hell, you might as well turn it into a whole farm. Don’t worry about taking care of it when you’re busy: he’ll find someone trustworthy to do the hard stuff. (and he’ll absolutely wear the first sweater you knit from your handspun yarn. Stop saying it’s lumpy, it’s cozy. Perfect to wear while cuddling with you.)

[ezekiellsplayground]

Completed crochet shawl made using my handspun. Yarn is WoW Dragons Breath colourway which is 80% merino and 20% mulberry silk.

Pattern is the Darjeeling Tea shawl by RedTeaPotAtelier.