Illuminations

 I have another spinning show and tell for you!   I bought some pretty roving from a UK company called Fellview Fibres.     They have consistently beautiful colorways and quality fibres to spin up. A real treat for the senses.

This roving colorway was inspired by the illuminated manuscripts from various ancient abbeys such as Lindisfarne and the Book of Kells.  Carol has three or four colour ways in this series but this one appealed to me for its softness of yarn and color.

The truth was it was a bit of a challenge to spin as the fine merino and silk liked to stay separate and it was a struggle at times to keep a flow moving. So it was a slow spin up and I would do a 50 gram amount and then do something else for a change and then go back and do another.  Eventually, when I dug for another bundle, it was all gone. 

So this was apparently the last 50 gram ball to be spun up.... and the balance shown were in various stages.   Such as 'on the rack' or noddy noddy.

All skeined up and ready for a soaking.

Washed and dried and behaving like it was never a 'problem child" 😁

I wound each skein into cakes and they store up nicely, ready for use.  (For sale in my Etsy store: Thrums Textiles)

My next new adventure?   Learning to use a Turkish drop spindle!

A friend convinced me to give them a try. They make a neat little centre pull ball called a 'turtle' and you can easily ply from two turtles.  The spindle parts all come apart for easy storage and for releasing the turtle from captivity!   🐢     Checking the mail box daily for it to come!   I hear they are addictive and you need more than one.... a whole herd perhaps?    😁

Just William

 

So when you buy a batch of rolags from Fellview Fibers, Carol slips in a complimentary rolag to tempt and tease you!    She added one of these beauties and what could I do?     I ordered some more!  😁  I was a total push over as I fell for the jewel colours. 

I don't know the story behind the name "Not Just William".... I'm sure its a good story.

I got busy and soon had three skeins of plied yarn. Here's a skein to show the colours and two have been wound into cakes. 

There's a variety of blues and turquoise, a dash of green and some black.   I'm very pleased with it and would order again.  But after I've tried some others of course. 🤩

On the personal front:  I'm waiting for a MRI  for my lumbar spine (which will take months to get) but in the meantime I have a physio appointment scheduled and also to see someone to talk about orthotics.   According to the orthopaedic surgeon "your feet and ankles are a mess.... and sadly there is not much that can be done".

So.... I will be making some changes in the studio and so have started making a list of what is going to find new homes and owners  down the road.    I knew this day would come sometime, I just thought it would take longer!   

Silk Road Red

So as I explained in my last post, spinning is all I can do for now while my back heals and I have been enjoying the time.  I have become much more familiar with my Hansen e-spinner and how to get the best out of it and my spinning / plying has improved.  It's a different approach to a regular spinning wheel and takes some time to get used to. (Or it did for me at least).  Anyhow, it has saved my arthritic feet and I enjoy the portability of it.    

Some how I found this web site: FellviewFibres on line and bought some of their rolags to spin.  There is always a little bonus rolag as a tease and it sure works!   Her rolags, puni's and batts are literal works of art and a joy to spin!   Each one is prepared by hand and takes time to build an order, and she's very popular..... so orders can take some time to arrive.  (Subsequent orders get a 10% discount which is nice.)

I spotted this selection called Sogdian Rolags and the inspiration really spoke to me. I'm a huge fan of ancient textiles and so have researched the Silk Road, the various cultures along the route.   The Sogdians were a very sizeable empire along the silk road and controlled a great deal of the traffic along the Road.   They faded into obscurity and their descendants live in the general area still..... and a tantalizing glimpse of their history is in grave goods and mummies and some ancient city sites.

click to enlarge and read the inspiration

I have 'borrowed' these images from Fellview's web site as I failed to get decent pictures of the rolags before spinning. You can see how rich the colorway is.  It's a fine micron merino and tussah silk and a touch of ruby bamboo. 

I had approx 400 grams of rolags (or just under a pound.... 454 grams is 16 ounces or one pound)

I got four skeins of varying weights and they are simply yummy. Its difficult to photograph skein and red ones  properly so it will take me some time to find the right method to show them to their best advantage.

I recommend this book if this sort of ancient textile 'mystery' appeals to you. 

I discovered that my little Royal ball winder is not up to the task of winding the skeins into cakes so I have this ball winder on order and due to arrive this coming week.  Fiber Artist Supply Company made my fringe twister (with 10 clips) and they also now produce and sell Woolhouse Tools table looms.    

So that will take care of the winding....

Plus I have one of these yardage counters from Stanwood so I can tally the yardage properly as I wind them up.

Then next task is to design a paper sleeve to wrap around the cakes to have all their data listed ahead of (gasp!) selling them.  

 I'm not a knitter, an occasional crocheter and while I do plan to weave with some, not all will be kept.   I spin as I enjoy the process and find it calming, relaxing.   After the winter we had, I needed all the stress reduction I could get!

On a personal note:  Hubby is doing much better and we will soon find out if he is infection free, and a CT scan in late May will show how effective the kidney stone laser treatment was.    He back to puttering in the yard, and doing odd jobs, albeit with a daily nap.

Me? well the sciatica has reduced so it doesn't involve my entire leg and seems more localized to the hip area, but I'm still relying on pain meds to get through my day. So it's improving, but ever so slowly.....

It seems to be time to take a long hard look at how things will be going forward once I can weave for a time. I doubt whether I can be working two looms as quickly and often as I did before and must take a more sedate approach. I'm leaning more and more  to reducing to one loom only.   The Louet Spring would be the choice to sell as even with lifting the loom up and sitting on a stool, you still need to bend forward to do the tie up's.    I don't think my back will be so forgiving anymore, and I certainly don't want to go through all this again!    

So more downsizing to come......

Simplifying

Yes, some serious warp chicken has been going on! 🐔  Now the loom sits empty until I work out what I want to do next.    But let's back up on this project to the start for now

 

I tend to weave up complicated drafts and sometimes there's no place to go but back to basics.  Back to simple.  I wanted a nice long warp, easy treadling and to use up some small part cones from the stash.   So here's the answer to that.

6 shaft herringbone twill with a pop of colour where I doubled the colour accents. Using all 8/2 cottons, I used two threads treated as one, sharing one heddle and one dent in the reed.  

I found neutral colours worked best as weft: taupe, ivory, a medium blue... and one towel with royal blue to match the edges.  My favourite? The taupe weft.   One might be appearing in my kitchen soon. 

The warp was wound to 9.5 yards and laced on to save warp. Sett is 24 epi and I only weave 5-6 shots of a scrap yarn between towels.   The towels are woven to 36 inches each on the loom.  

The cloth roll got nice and chubby!   Very satisfying.  

Between warp and all the weft yarn, you become aware of the weight of it all when you roll it off the loom. So I wrapped it all up tight and weighed it.   3 lbs, 3 ounces!

My old White serger, running well after a tune up, chugged through all the cotton as I separated the towels.  A wash and dry, followed by a steam pressing and then they were prepped for hemming. I'm a fan of hand sewing hems as I'm not a fan of the stitch ditch line.  It breaks up the flow of your patterns. More honestly, it also shows I can't sew a straight line!  😁

So I was able to eek out 9 full-sized towels but no samples this time.  I can live with that!  So here are some of the beauty shots....

One of the ivory weft towels is on its way to Georgia right now as part of a towel exchange in honour of dear departed friend Padre Wayne. He would have loved this..... and also be annoyed he can't join in.  I'll post my exchange towel next time...

The towels are soft and generously large  21" by 30" so big enough to wrap around a large bowl.  They would suit any kitchen decor and be a fun colour accent.   Practical and pretty. 

So what have I been up to lately?   Well, I have been enjoying my Hansen spinner! Here's my first rolag experience. 

Today my most immediate project is to resolve this hole:

This is where my large Tissart tapestry loom was. Its on a ferry going to its new home on Cortez Island right now as I write to a very excited new owner.  I'm going to rearrange some items in the studio and so free up more room near the Spring loom.  It feels a bit crowded over there and I'd like more room to manoeuvre  when warping the loom up.   I still have a Mirrix Little Guy tapestry loom so can play with that.   

Simplifying things.   Its been part of my plan for time now as I downsize to what I really need and will use.   It feels good!