Warburton Yarn Bomb

How timely for International Yarn Bombing Day! We were walking along the river in Warburton, Victoria yesterday and spotted this massive standing snag.

They Came on Viking Ships

A local school invited members of the Handweavers & Spinners Guild of Victoria to do demonstrations on Viking spinning and weaving techniques. The year 8 students had recently read They Came on Viking Ships by Jackie French and were interested in some of the techniques mentioned in the book. I was charged with demonstrating fingerloop braiding but I also had Viking combs and carders to talk about wool preparation. If there was extra time, I gave a quick demonstration on spinning flax. Other members demonstrated tablet/card weaving with naturally dyed wool, spinning on a drop spindle and spinning on a spinning wheel.

The day was quite hectic with only fifteen minutes per group of 5 or 6 students but the participation level was high and quite successful. I began by introducing the differences of woollen and worsted preparation and showing the students how the Vikings would have combed the wool. Two students then started carding and making rolags, while I showed the others how to make a simple 5-loop braid. I used extra long loops so that I could have a second student use a ruler to tighten the braid in an attempt to engage as many students as possible in each activity.

The students caught on really quickly and were even able to help each other. A few were already seeing the potential for friendship bracelets. One team of girls successfully completed a yellow and blue 10-loop coordinated braid, in the centre of the final photo below. I was able to take a quick photo before the samples were snagged by students proud of their work.

Tablet Backstrap

Remember this warp? I thought about finishing it off and using it for samples, but thought it would be more fun if I had some help. E. was the first to get hands-on with a modified backstrap setup. N. and G. were next to have a turn. We didn’t have a good way to use clamps so the weaving took a little more coordination, as both weavers had to keep the warp under tension. Overall, the results were a success and I wish that I had kept track of the total number of weavers that participated in the project. I would love to do it again some time. The weaving also had three distinct sections of various length once the warp was finally cut and the cards removed, so I resorted to “drawing straws” and each girl received a length of weaving to take home. I suspect at least one weaving will be made into a headband or a toy scarf.

Confetti Polworth Tweed

I found some confetti-like fluff at an op shop and could not resist. I used some Polworth seconds that I had recently combed. Even though the fleece was long and lovely, I don’t try to get every single fibre off the combs and the seconds were still quite nice. I used a drum carder for blending and spun at a high twist ratio in the hopes that it would lock in the confetti. I have some left over and I think that I will use hand cards to see if I can get the fleece a little more blended prior to spinning.

Breed: Polworth
Wool prep: woollen, carded on drum carder
Wool spun: semi-woollen

Breed: Polworth
Wool prep: worsted, combed with English wool combs, tips cut

Rustic Tweed

I finally got around to spinning the tweed batts that I carded on the drum carder. I’m very happy with the results.

Breed: N.Z. Romney and commercial wool blend
Wool prep: woollen
Wool spun: semi-woollen

Maybe Merino?

After my last experience with Merino, I thought I would try again but this time combing the wool. The bag of fleece wasn’t labeled, but I am pretty sure it’s Merino. I also separated all the colours so that I can create a skein that transitions from light to dark.

Breed: Merino?
Wool preparation: worsted, combed with English wool combs, tips cut

S.A. Merino

This was my first attempt at working with raw Merino fleece. I definitely prefer combed fleece to flicked fleece. There were just too many joins and it was hard to keep an even rhythm going. It was also the first time that I had dyed grey fleece and I am loving the results.

Breed: S.A. Merino
Wool prep: worsted, flicked, tips cut
Wool spun: worsted, 2-ply
WPI: 14
Light blue: 27 yards
Blue: 99 yards
Grey: 199 yards
Dye: natural Indigo, dyed in the skein

scoured fleece

raw fleece

Jindivick Yarn Bomb

Stop the car! Out of curiosity, we took a detour through the little town of Jindivick, Victoria. I knew there was something appealing about the place, before we even got there. It was just a quick stop but we’ll definitely be back for a longer visit.

Australian Tapestry Workshop

I finally made it to the Australian Tapestry Workshop for an open house and tour. The work is simply beautiful and so is the working space. The colour blending on the bobbins was very inspiring and gave me some ideas for future projects. I couldn’t leave without a bobbin from the shop, as they are made in Australia and have lovely brass tips. The woman at the register remarked that they sound like chimes when they hit together. I’d imagine they could create some some very interesting sound effects.

Concerning the wading birds of the Warrnambool wetlands
John Wolseley
2012

Concerning the wading birds of the Warrnambool wetlands
John Wolseley
2012

All tapestry wools are Australian wool and dyed on-site with a basic palette of 60 colour ranges for a total of 366 colours. The yarn is a 3/20 worsted from a 28 micron fleece type.

Tapestry wool

Berwick Show 2012, Hands-On

I read about an idea in Tablet Weaving by Ann Sutton and Pat Holtom on p. 40 for double-ended tablet weaving. After a brief test run, I thought it would be a great activity for the Berwick Show. The tables were quite long, which gave me plenty of warp for two days of demonstrating. I occasionally had to be the weaver but most of the time I was able to get a participant on each end, while I turned the cards in the middle. Some participants really got into it. It was amusing to see the different weave variations depending on how lightly or firmly the shuttle was used to compress the weft threads. Each weaver definitely left his or her own mark.

The best part of this technique was that it did not matter how many time the cards were turned in each direction, the extra twist was never a problem. It was also very quick to wind the warp with two teal and two navy threads through each card. I used the second pattern from the left on p. 79 in Tablet Weaving that looks like a chevron when the cards are turned continuously in the same direction and a heavy cotton to make sure that the warp didn’t stick. The playing cards also held up well.