Category: Spinning
Spinnkurs! Kehruukurssi!
Kom på spinnkurs! Det är roligt att spinna på slända. Med slända kan du kan spinna alla de vanliga garnerna, och många inte så vanliga. Du kan leka med färg och struktur och olika fibrer. Välkommen!
Tule kehruukurssille! Värttinällä kehrääminen on hauskaa. Värttinällä voit kehrätä tavallisimmat langat, ja myös monia ei niin tavallisia. Voit leikkiä väreillä ja rakenteilla ja eri kuiduilla. Tervetuloa!
En av mina elever spann det här garnet på en tidigare kurs! Yksi oppilaistani kehräsi tämän langan aikaisemmalla kurssilla!
A note for my English speaking friends: the skein above was spun by one of my pupils at a spinning class.
Spun, crocheted, and knitted
It’s been a rather hectic January. I had articles to write, and a spindling class to start planning, but I have also spun, crocheted and knit. I want to show you some of what I’ve done.
In the autumn I suddenly saw how I should knit a sweater I’ve been thinking of for a while. I spun the yarns from different fibers, mostly Swedish Finull but also Merino, silk, and cotton nepps during several years without a special project in mind. One day, as so often happens, I picked through my yarns in search for something, and saw these skeins together in my mind, laid them out, and started the sweater later that day. Here it is:
I also took part in a spin-together event in the Swedish spinning group on Ravelry. I spun green, lilac, blue, and red fine 2-ply yarns from Swedish Finull. I dyed the wool last spring, and carded it during the summer. The grey and black skeins are Norwegian Pelssau, a very nice and soft wool. The yarns are part of a project where I try to spin different fibers on different tools, trying to make yarns I can use together. I used one of my old Finnish Saxony wheels, Louet Victoria, and Hansen Minispinner for these and the brown and red skeins below. The yarns in the sweater where spun on Kromski Symphony, Louet Victoria, and Hansen Minispinner, and they are much thicker.
The red skeins has company from a natural brown Finull skein.
I wanted to test the yarns i one of my favourite techniques, tapestry crochet. This purse is now on its way to a spinning and dyeing friend in Sweden:
The sheep are my version of stranded knitting sheep you can find in many patterns. I already know my friend likes them, even if she doesn’t know they are hers. I showed the purse on Facebook the same day I had sent the package, and got a positive comment from her. I hope she’ll be happy when she opens the parcel! She’s a skilled dyer. As you can see, the colours in my yarns are uneven, which is what I’m after when I dye. I think it makes the finished item more vivid.
This is an experiment: white cotton and purple silk noils. I had a high quality cotton sliver that I wasn’t able to spin into a nice yarn. So, with an aching heart, I took my hand carders and turned it into punis. I had just seen Sarah Anderson blending cotton and silk, so I wanted to give it a try. I’ll use it as an effect yarn in a woven scarf one day.
I’m looking out on a white world. We have snow, which is wonderful this time of the year. It makes the world lighter. The morning sun gives a golden glow to both snow and creatures!
“Spin like an Ancient”
A comment to my earlier post about the supported spindle I made took me here: Spin like an Ancient and this: Spin in the Wilderland. Beautiful, aren’t they? I love the photos – and the tool 🙂
This time we live in. Despite all the bad that happens all over the world, there are also good things that connect us. Thank you Rebecca! Your posts made me so happy!
For two perfect spindles
I have this obsession with taking spindles with me when travelling. I have loads of purses, but these two spindles with big whorls haven’t had any earlier. Now they have one!
Square spindle from Michael Williams, Comet from Woolly Designs. Both are perfectly balanced with long and fast spin.
Tapestry crochet, yarn Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit. Lining polyester, I think. Card woven strap in Mandarin Petit. Old rag rug gifted by a kind neighbour.
I have been spinning also. I started this yarn at a training camp on Ravelry before Tour de Fleece, and finished it a few days ago. Spun on three different light weight spindles and Louet Victoria. Sock yarn, 4-ply, 697 meters, 200 grams, merino and silk. I think for needles 2 mm, but still have to swatch.
Busy
I have been spinning and sewing. I’ve been bad at taking photos. But here’s one from my room, where the chaos at least shows I’m working. I’ll tidy it up this week so a spinning friend from Sweden who’s coming to visit me next week will have space for her wheel. We’ll spend a fiber day together!
The brown-black Saxony wheel is one I bought a few weeks ago to replace my blue faithful servant from 1896. It’s made by a well known Finnish spinning wheel factory in Kiikka. I have no date for it, but probably around WWII. It’s well used, which I hold for a good sign in old wheels. You don’t want to spin on wheels that aren’t good, do you? I haven’t had time to spin much on it yet, but I like the little I’ve spun.
I hope July will be less busy. As for now I’m looking forward to the Nordic Knitting Symposium after Midsummer. I’m spinning a few yarns I will use in the workshops I’ll attend. The work for my own teaching at the event is done, so now I can relax and concentrate on other tasks, like pink and orange yarns for my class in Estonian mittens. Our teacher is Kristi Joeste, and I really look forward to learning more about Estonian knitting. I also spin Z-twist yarn for a intermediate class in two-end (twined) knitting with Karin Kahnlund. A blue yarn is spun, today I spin orange for that class also.
In May hubby and I had two dear guests from Sweden, Monika and her husband Inge. Monika is a new spinner, but very efficient in her learning. We spent an intense wool day together while the men went kayaking, and the next day spun at the outdoor museum where the members of my guild work in the summers.
Have a look at my apron and the yarn I’m spinning: thin red/white wool/silk on the high speed flyer against red and white stripes. I wonder what I was thinking when I arranged that? In that light? In front of an audience? I barely could se the thread, luckily I don’t have to see much nowadays as my fingers can feel what I’m doing, but it still made me uncomfortable. I also forgot to take along the threading hook, which as everyone with a Louet high speed flyer knows can be a disaster. A kind person gave me rusty iron thread for an hastily made hook! I spun a 4-ply cabled sock yarn:
Now we’re looking forward to the Finnish Midsummer. It’s usually a cold and wet holiday, and as the weather report isn’t of any comfort this year either it may be my husband and I and the dog spend the night indoors.
Spinnarmästare – Master spinner
I går fick jag mitt spinnarmästarbrev, överräckt av de två åldermännen i mitt gille Björken. Det siktade jag till redan före jag avlade mitt certifikat i Online Guild förra sommaren. I många år har jag följt mästarna på Stundars och tänkt att en dag ska jag också vara mästare! Deras lugna och säkra utstrålning vid sitt hantverk har imponerat djupt på mig. Tidigt insåg jag att ska jag bli som de så måste jag jobba hårt. Och det har jag gjort. Jag spann mycket för certifikatet, och månaderna efter det spann jag minst lika mycket, i princip åtta timmar varje dag. Resten av tiden gick till läsning av spinnlitteratur, diskussionsforum, videor. En underbar tid, en krävande tid.
Yesterday I received my diploma in handspinning, presented by the two aldermen in my guild Björken. I was aiming for this already before starting to work on my Certificate in Handspinning in Online Guild, which I achieved last August. For many years I have admired the masters at Stundars, and thought that one day I will be a master craftsman too! Their calm and confident karisma while working with their crafts has made a deep impression on me. Vey early I realised that if I want to be like them I’ll have to work hard. And that I have done. I spun a lot for the Certificate, and the months after I spun at least as much. I spun for eight hours every day. The rest of the time I spent reading about spinning, talking and reading in forums on internet, I watched videos. A wonderful time, a demanding time.
Jag vill visa något av vad de andra mästarna gör också:
Målarmästare/tempera (painter/tempera) Ann-Mari Svahn
Bagarmästare (baker) Anna-Lena Björkman
Korgmakarmästare (basket maker) Roger Sandelin
Hantverkarmästare (craftsman) Anders Enlund
Glömde jag att ta ordentliga foton av min egen avdelning? Ja det gjorde jag. Min man som också fotograferade trodde att jag redan hade bra foton av mina egna saker så han tog inga han heller. Därför får ni se mig i stället. Jag håller en sjal av alpacka, kamelhår och silke som jag just ska hänga upp bredvid min tröja som redan hänger där. På det andra fotot ser man bordet jag håller på att arrangera. De flesta av garnerna har jag redan visat här i bloggen tidigare. Tröjan och sockorna ska jag visa i ett annat blogginlägg.
Did I forget to take proper photos of my own exhibition? Yes I did. My husband who also took photos believed I’d taken photos of my own items, so he didn’t take any. That’s why you have to look at me instead. I’m holding a shawl from alpaca, camel and silk that I’m going to hang beside my sweater already hanging there. The second photo shows me arranging the table. I have showed most of the yarns on the blog earlier. I will show the sweater and the socks in another blog post.
Hedersålderman Bjarne Hammarström och ålderman Krister Vidgren kallar den första gesällen till podiet. De fem nya mästarna Ann-Mari Svahn, Roger Sandelin, Barbro Heikinmatti, Anders Enlund, Anna-Lena Björkman har fått sina mästarbrev. – Honorary alderman Bjarne Hammarström and alderman Krister Vidgren addressing the first new journeyman to come to the podium. The five new masters Ann-Mari Svahn, Roger Sandelin, Barbro Heikinmatti, Anders Enlund, Anna-Lena Björkman have received their diplomas.
En del gesäller har redan uppnått så stor skicklighet i sina hantverk att de nog nått mästarnivå. Jag visar ett par av dem.
Some of the journeymen have achieved such skills that they could almost be called masters. I show two of them.
Näverslöjdsgesäll Siv Tarvos – Birch bark crafter Siv Tarvos
Stickgesäll Maj-Britt Hjortman, också mycket kunnig i flerfärgsvirkning och näverslöjd – Knitting Maj-Britt Hjortman, also very skilled in tapestry crochet and birch bark crafting
Jag vill också visa ett exempel på en gesälls stora skicklighet i knyppling. Tyvärr har jag inget namn på henne. TILLÄGG: nu har jag ett namn tack vare Mari: knypplerskan heter Ulrike Björkqvist. – I also want to show a necklace made by a very skilled bobbin lace journeyman. Unfortunately I don’t remember her name. ETA: I now have a name thanks to Mari: the bobbin lace crafter is Ulrike Björkqvist.
Andra nya och även de mycket skickliga visade virkning, smide, garvning, kopparsmide, och en glädjande nyhet för alla oss som fick höra henne: Neppe Pettersson är gillets första berättargesäll. – Other new and also very skilled journeymen showed crochet, smithery, tannery, copper smithery, and a new skill that was very enjoyable to us who could listen to her at the event: Neppe Pettersson is the guild’s first journeyman in story telling.
Gillets mästerspelman Kalle Berg spelade en gånglåt för alla gesäller som nu ska ut och vandra i jakt på en mästare som kan lära dem deras yrke. – The Guild’s master fiddler Kalle Berg played a marching tune for the journeymen that now have to walk out into the world to find a master who can teach them their trade.
Selma spelade klarinett med bravur. På somrarna kan man se henne här och var på Stundars, hela tiden igång med nåt hantverk. Valet av ett så svårt instrument förvånar mig inte det minsta – Selma played the clarinet with skill. In the summers you can se her at Stundars, doing something crafty the whole day. I’m not surprised she’s chosen one of the most difficult instruments there is.
Jag hoppas jag kunnat förmedla något av Stundars hantverkares mångsidighet och skicklighet. Det finns många skäl att besöka museet under hantverksdagarna. En väldigt bra sådan är Stundars egna bagarmästare Mikael Eriksson, som naturligtvis stod för trakteringen också denna fina dag.
I hope I have been able to show some of the great skills of the crafters at Stundars. There are many reasons to visit the museum during the craft events. One very good reason is Stundars’ own master baker Mikael Eriksson, who naturally stood for the catering during this fine day.
Och vem var lycklig när vi kom hem? And who was happy when we came home?
Dressing a distaff with wool
I love this video that I came across when reading old posts in the Spindle Lore forum on Ravelry. No, I don’t know what the lady says, but I can hear a word I know very well: “rock”. That’s the word for (spinning) “wheel” in Swedish. It originates in a German word meaning “distaff”. The spinner also shows a quite efficient way of preparing wool for spinning without other tools than her hands.
EDIT 26.4.14: so the video is no longer available, or there’s some other trouble. I’m sorry, it really was a nice video.
Finnsheep yarn!
Finished: 787 meters of 3-ply Finn. WPI in singles 48, 3-ply 24. I loved spinning this, and luckily I have some wool left. This is what I called Gold in My Stash in an earlier post. My snowman is melting and has dropped his bow tie, but he’s still on his feet today.
Finnsheep Wool
After spinning New Zealand Merino for a whole month I wanted to spin local wool. This is wool from a Finnsheep ewe I met in the autumn. I don’t remember that I’ve ever spun better wool. Soft, strong, with great lustre, very white. It’s a joy to work with. I’m spinning a 3-ply yarn. I flicked the locks open and carded them on my fine cloth hand carders. Next week I can show the finished yarn.
Scoured locks
- Hand carded rolags
875 grams of handspun yarn
I got a blending board a couple of months ago. Now I’ve finished the first yarns spun from rolags made on the board. This is a very fast way to use odds and ends from your stash. I now have 875 grams of 3-ply Merino yarn, WPI 16, spun with a double long draw. The real challenge is to use this yarn in a way that shows it without blurring the colours. I’m thinking moduls or stripes with a contrasting colour.
Barbro's Threads 