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Hand Spinning News Spring yet? This newsletter may look better online: hand-spinning-news.com Welcome to the new-look Hand Spinning News! As well as the new name, some polish and its own web domain (hand-spinning-news.com) you'll also find more content, new features and more giveaways. This time round I've tried to put an emphasis on knitting with handspun, to accompany a new feature in which I'll include some knitting crochet and weaving patterns suitable for using your handspun. If you're not a knitter, don't stop reading now - there'll still be plenty of interest. The now-traditional spring competition is in its third year, please give it a go if you haven't taken part in the past (and of course if you have). So on with this month's digest of spinning-related news, views and amusement.
Top Stories March giveaways
Golden orb shawl
We have a winner for February's survey, the spring competition springs off and an independent dyer gives away some delicious fibre.
This cape is so beautiful in colour and lustre, you'll be surprised to hear what material was spun and woven.
Contents News and articles from around the web Golden Orb cape, Spun violin strings, Exhibition down under, Knitting with handspun, World's oldest sheep dies, Vintage French spindles, Niddy noddy wraps and yardage chart From the blogosphere Handspun girasole, Felted handspun cushions, Coast, Design source, Challenges, Handspun blanket, Weaving tip of the month Gallery A new feature to show some of the month's best images. Featured fibre artist and fluffy giveaway A new feature in which an independent dyer offers some lovely fibre. Free patterns Another new feature in which I'll choose some free patterns which will work well with handspun yarn. News from handspinner.co.uk The spring competition and what's new Events Some 2012 dates for your diary! Courses and tuition Where to go for a day, weekend or a week to learn or improve your skills
News and articles from around the web Cape woven from the silk of a million spiders Watching the master weaver (at about 4:40 in this video) 'picking up' the warp to make the pattern would be fascinating enough without the fact that he's weaving with so many counted threads of golden orb spider silk. 80 people worked for five years to collect the silk from about a million spiders to make this silk fabric and five expert weavers and a further group of finishers made the woven panels. Each warp is made from 96 individual strands - 24 fibres come out of the silking machine and are spun together and then doubled and doubled again for each warp thread. The golden colour is natural. Each spider was returned to the wild after having its silk harvested. The fabric has been made into a two-metre shawl and a richly embroidered cape. The silk panel has been on display around the world and the pieces are on display at the V&A museum until 5 June. There is more about these spider silk garments on the web and Youtube but this video is my pick. We learn lots about the history of spider silk use, technical comparisons with silkworm fibres and see the cloth being woven. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LFF68_bME9E
Spider silk spun into violin strings By coincidence, spider silk has featured in another news story this month. Shigeyoshi Osaki has collected and spun spider silk into violin strings, which are said to have a brilliant quality of tone. I deliberately used the word 'spun' - he bundled filaments together and twisted them, then twisted three of these bundles together to make each string. Processes we would recognise as spinning and plying. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21540-spider-silk-spun-into-violinstrings.html
KnittySpin Spring 2012 The Spring 2012 Knittyspin is just out. A 'spin-off' from the free Knitty e-magazine Along with the regular features; cool spinning stuff, fibre fiesta and free patterns, this issue also has an article about spring cleaning and maintaining your wheel. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss12/KScontentindex.php
Exhibition down under The Wool Modern exhibition that helped to launch Wool Week here in Britain last September is about to open in Sydney; its third stop. The show features work from designers Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith. There will also be a number of exciting additions for the Sydney audience including designs from Ellery, Josh Goot, Collette Dinnigan and Romance Was Born. The exhibition will be at Pier 2&3, Walsh Bay from April 24 - 31 Britain's Wool Week 2012 will be 15 - 21 October. More about Wool Modern and Wool Week in The Campaign For Wool's most recent newsletter available at the link below. http://www.campaignforwool.org/newsletters/the-campaign-for-wool-mar-12newsletter.pdf
Knitting with handspun yarn In this article from last Spring's Knittyspin, Jillian Moreno gives us 3 tips for knitting with your handspun. You'll also see that I've started a new feature in this newsletter in which I suggest some patterns which will work well with handspun. http://knitty.com/ISSUEss11/KSFEATknittingwithhandspun.php
Forum: Knitting with handspun I think that this is the first time that I've linked to a forum conversation. Again on the subject of knitting with handspun, this discussion on Spinning Daily is a good read and contains some very useful tips. http://www.spinningdaily.com/forums/t/606.aspx
Sad news: World's oldest sheep dies after fall from cliff Thanks to Finding Nemo we all know how long sea turtles live, but how long do sheep live? Sadly this ewe, thought to be the world's oldest living sheep and known as Twiggy, died at 25 after falling from 150 foot cliff. Older sheep have been recorded in the past - up to almost 29 years old. I'm guessing that the erstwhile Twiggy's fleece was past its best, and from the photo it certainly looks that way. But she had her own teeth and was still producing lambs three years ago. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107938/Worlds-oldest-sheep-dies-25falling-150-foot-cliff-Western-Isles.html
Vintage French spindles I spotted a picture of one of these vintage spindles on Flickr and curiosity led me to the owner's Etsy shop, ChezPlum. She is selling a collection of these vintage spindles and she also has reproductions of an image of a spinner using such a spindle. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SylvChezPlum?section_id=5848193
Niddy noddy wraps and yardage chart I wrote an article some time ago about calculating the number of yards in your skein. If all that maths is a little bit daunting, and if you're using a standard Ashford niddy noddy, or any other niddy noddy 15" long, Spinstar has made a handy chart which you can use to easily look up the yardage based on the number of wraps. http://spinstarcreations.wordpress.com/spinning/
From the blogosphere Blogpick: FO: handspun girasole Lilirious's first 'raw fleece to finished object' is a massive 60" in diameter and has taken the best part of a year to spin and knit. Frustrated about running out of yarn when she first tried this pattern, she decided to spin her own yarn. She says " I started this project because I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could spin extra yarn if I ever ran out of it." Click through to her blog posts over the last year to see 'in progress' pictures and information. http://www.lilirious.com/?p=1013
Blogpick: Felted handspun cushions red2white likes wet felting and exploring natural colour, texture and form. For these pieces she has worked with her own handspun and really seems to have preserved the colours and textures of the original fibres. She doesn't crochet or knit very much and has developed her felting technique for using her beautiful handspun yarn. There's little detail about exactly how she's made these pieces but her blog does contain some lovely tutorials and further information about wet felting. Do follow the links to her Flickr photographs, there are some gorgeous finished projects in her beautiful style. http://red2white.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/handspun-texture/
Blogpick: coast Thanks to Josiekitten for this lovely post. A lovely collection of photos that made me yearn for home (I know the beach in question) and how good to see a selection of images of our beautiful coastline, together with a set of photos of her spinning some fibre that she's fallen in love with, called 'Coast'. It's also interesting to read that she split the fibre down its entire length in order to achieve colour repeats. http://theknittingexploitsofjosiekitten.blogspot.com/2012/02/coast.html
Blogpick: Design source Allabitrandom has made a couple of posts recently in which she photographs her naturally-dyed handspun yarn alongside the design source - in both cases images from the National Geographic. This is my favourite, she says that she was given the fleece and doesn't know what dyes were used, but she has selected those colours based on the photo.
http://allabitrandom.blogspot.com/2012/02/from-design-source.html
Blogpick: Challenges This lovely post features some beautiful spindle-spun yarn and compares the uncooperative singles to her autistic daugher. There are five comparisons and the last one is very moving. http://weekendknitter.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/challenges/#more-542
Blogpick: Handspun Blanket This lovely blanket is, according to the maker, woven from a 'mish mash' of small bits of handspun yarn. It was woven in plain weave on a rigid heddle loom and there are lots more details on the blog post. http://50.56.100.10/project/jen-brown/handspun-blanket
Willington Weaver's Tip of the Month If your weaving tends to get narrower as you weave, or if your edges are generally uneven, then this month's tip from Willington Weaver will help you to keep them neat and straight.
http://willingtonweaver.blogspot.com/2012/03/tip-of-month-march.html
Handspun yarn tattoo A while ago I reported a 'pure wool' tattoo. Here, Mary Heather has had herself tattooed with a picture of her own handspun. Click the link on her Flickr page to see the photo of her handspun that was used to draw the tattoo. Read more...
Gallery Sometimes I find pictures of lovely finished Handspun projects with little or no additional information (with apologies to the owners of these pictures if you have blogged about them elsewhere, please let me know and I'll pass on the extra information in the next HSN)
Handspun hat Handspun black sheep hat by strickknit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/strickknit/6923517265/in/photostream/
Handspun linen stitch scarf Handspun linen stitch scarf by rjrahardjo yarn: handspun black and grey fibre from fairy yarnmother, spun 2 ply sport weight. Needles: US 7 for cast on and body. US 2 to bind off. 380sts http://www.flickr.com/photos/rahardjo-knits/6922260973/in/photostream
Handspun hat A lovely image and a lovely hat by Ragademalion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ragademalion/6738092455/in/photostream/
Featured fibre artist and fluffy giveaway A new feature in which an independent dyer offers a gift or a discount.
Dye Spin Knit UK Kerry is a mum of 4 and loves dyeing yarns and fibres, spinning, crochet and knitting. In her Etsy shop you will find a wide variety of hand dyed yarns and fibres as well as handspun yarn. Appropriately, Kerry has offered 124g of hand dyed Merino, Cashmere & Silk (75/12.5/12.5) that she calls 'Spring Yet?' It is a custom blend which she has hand dyed using shades of yellow, green and pewter. To enter the draw, simply email me at shiela@handspinner.co.uk with the subject line 'Dye Spin Knit UK'. We'll make the draw just before the next HSN. Please state if you don't want to receive news from myself or Dye Spin Knit UK in the future. Kerry's Etsy shop is http://dyespinknituk.etsy.com/ and blog at http://dyespinknituk.blogspot.com/ If you dye or blend fibre and would like to be featured in this spot - please get in touch.
Free patterns A new feature in which I'll choose some free patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
Free pattern: EZ 100th Anniversary PI Shawl Lilirious's Girasole shawl looks so good in her fine handspun that I thought I'd feature the pattern. Girasole isn't a free pattern, if you'd like to buy it for $6.50 then it's here http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2008/12/girasole.html But for a free alternative, how about this one from Mwaa Knit Obsession? (Free Ravelry download - you'll need an account and to be logged in). It has a high average rating and a low difficulty rating. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ez-100th-anniversary-pi-shawl-camping
Free pattern: generic sock Sometimes a pattern just gives you a chart for a design or a pattern and leaves you to work it into your favourite sock pattern. You may already have a favourite generic sock pattern which you turn to at such times, or perhaps to adapt other sock patterns or when you just want to knit a basic sock. In case you don't yet, Holly Shaltz has developed this pattern over many years and used it for handspun as well as commercial yarn. http://www.hjsstudio.com/sock.html
Free pattern: crocheted apple and banana cosys These patterns are very quick and easy, I think they'll be great in your own handspun, especially those small quantities; left-overs or samples. They're practical too. As a walker I can tell you how easily fruit (especially bananas) bruise when jostled in a rucksack or lunchbox. Knitters, follow the links through to vegan lunch box's original knitting patterns (including orange and pear too) from which Eyespiral adapted these crochet versions. http://theindigophial.blogspot.com/2009/01/apple-and-banana-cozy-crochetpatterns.html
News and articles from handspinner.co.uk February's giveaway Thank you very much for the many responses to my annual survey. If I could I'd send everyone a gift because the answers and suggestions are so very helpful. I've made the draw and congratulations to our winner who would like to remain anonymous. The bundle including Competition lazy kate, bobbins and fibre is on its way to her.
Spring competition It's time for the Spring competition, which involves making yarn inspired by a Spring image. This year it's Spring Crocuses by Elenathewise. (Small version shown right, click for large version.) It usually has a small number of entries (all the more reason to get involved!) but it's always so good to see such different ideas from other people on the same theme and I really do enjoy taking part myself (exempt from the prize of course). It's a freestyle event - do whatever you like, use dyed fibre or dye it yourself, mix bought dyed or natural fibre, use animal, vegetable or synthetic, straight or funky, whatever you like. Have photos of your work ready by the end of April in time for the May Hand Spinning News. Entries will be visible on Flickr and Hand Spinning News and I'll send the winner, as chosen by an independent yarnmistress, a ÂŁ40 gift voucher to spend on or put towards anything you like at handspinner.co.uk
To enter Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieladixon/6829785550/in/pool1891089@N20 to access a bigger version of the photo. Post pictures of your yarn to the group http://www.flickr.com/groups/1891089@N20/pool/with/6829785550/ Post as many photos as you like, but please only one type of yarn per spinner and please stick to pictures of your entry and the stages of making. If you're not at one with the ways of Flickr, please feel free to email photo(s) to me instead.
What's new?
Hand Spun by Lexi Boeger I tend to spin thin and even but like to see the more adventurous ideas I find Lexi Boeger's work outstanding. A while ago I featured a selection of her photographs in this newsletter. She spins as Pluckyfluff and has just published her third book, Hand Spun. The book and my review are at the link below. http://handspinner.co.uk/spinning_books.html#hand_spun
Natural dye extracts I now carry a range of natural dye extracts. These eco-friendly natural dyes are concentrated, intermixable and provide all the colour possibilities of natural dyes with the ease and convenience of chemical dyes without the hazards. http://handspinner.co.uk/natural-dye-extracts.html
Events 2012 Wonderwool Wales 28 & 29 April 2012, Royal Welsh Showground A little bit later than last year. Promoting wool and natural fibre production and its use. Exhibitors and Trade Stands covering all aspects of felting, knitting, weaving, spinning, crochet and textile art with raw materials, equipment, books and finished products for sale. Competitions and a range of workshops tba. A list of accommodation And camping in the surrounding area is available on the Wonderwool website. www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk
Woolfest Friday 22 and Saturday 23 June, Cockermouth, Cumbria A celebration of natural fibres, especially all aspects of wool, wool products and wool crafts. From fleecy animals and rare breeds, through fleece, tops, craft equipment and materials, to finished clothing, accessories and unique hand-crafted woollen goods. Also workshops and masterclasses. www.woolfest.co.uk
Fibre East 14 & 15 July 2012, Thurleigh, Bedfordshire It's great to see that the Fibre East festival will be held again in 2012 following the success of the first one last year. It gives those in the Eastern, Midlands and Southern Regions an opportunity to join in an event which aims to encourage and promote natural fibres. Fibre-East has its own Ravelry group: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/fibre-east-2011 and Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/FibreEast (tweets for the 2012 event yet to appear) http://www.fibre-east.co.uk/ (New website under construction)
Wool Week 15 - 21 October 2012, multiple activities throughout Britain Run by the campaign for wool with patron HRH The Prince of Wales. Planning is under way for a highlight attraction which shows wool in the modern home - launching for UK Wool Week. It will show wool as a stylish, beautiful and performance fibre, and will inform visitors of the benefits of using the product in interiors. http://www.fibrefest.co.uk/
Courses and tuition Please let me know if you are or you know a tutor with a calendar of events. Cornwall: Audrey Durrant is heavily involved with the Cornwall Guild and works with the Rare Breed Survival Trust. She teaches spinning, basic weaving, is a hand dyer and gives talks and demonstrations. Find out more at www.hawthornfibres.co.uk Derbyshire: See listing above of spinning, dyeing and weaving holidays with Alison Daykin (external link to Skylark Holidays' programme and prices). Five-day or weekend breaks. Alison also has a less formal 'Monday night group': spinningandweaving.weebly.com Dumfries and Galloway: Sue Macniven offers Residential Courses or one to one workshops in Twynholm or at your own venue http://www.handspun-exotics.co.uk/workavail.html Hampshire: Spinning workshops at fibre craft studio Beaker Button, the Fairground Craft and Design centre, Weyhill. 31 March - Spinning with a wheel (£25 range of wheels available to use or bring your own); 28 April Spinning with a spindle (£30 includes spindle and a bag of fleece). For more details contact 07738 534164 or info@beakerbutton.co.uk Lancashire: Spinning workshops at Knit-Wise. 2012 dates: March 17, April 14, May 12, June 16, July 14. All materials included for £40, contact Cathy (lazykate) on 01695 580590 www.knit-wise.co.uk Manchester:Spinning courses with Dee Sayce. also sewing, felt making, weaving, dyeing, batik and silk painting (external link to beetlefelt) http://www.beetlefelt.co.uk/workshop_spinning.html Nottinghamshire: Spinning courses with Juliet Hill www.handspinning.org.uk/index.html (external link to Juliet Hill Handspinning) Norfolk: Single-day spinning courses www.norfolkyarn.co.uk/Homepage/News/tabid/77/Default.aspx(external link to Norfolk Yarn website) Sheffield: Tuition and Demonstrations by Diane Fisher, the Murmuring Wheel http://www.murmuringwheel.co.uk/events.html (external link to Diane Fisher's calendar)
Spinning and weaving holidays with Skylark holidays and Alison Daykin. If the listing below does not display properly, please view it on the web at http://handspinner.co.uk/links.html Introduction to Spinning Derbyshire Learn to Spin, have a dabble at spinning
Make the Most of Rigid Heddle Derbyshire Weaving – making the most of your loom
Start Weaving Derbyshire Peak District Learn to Weave
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As usual, if you know anything spinning-related, please let me know. Happy spinning and don't be a stranger! Shiela http://handspinner.co.uk shiela@handspinner.co.uk If you're reading this newsletter on the web and would like it delivered to your email inbox every month, just fill in your email address in the box somewhere up there on the right. If you've reading this in your inbox and would prefer not to receive any more, just use the Mailchimp 'unsubscribe' link at the foot of the email.