So my submission to Spin Off’s Your Yarns section was accepted. While it didn’t make it into the magazine, it is in the expanded online section available here (registration required). Lesson learned from this exercise was that if I submit again, I should use a darker fibre–you can barely see my yarn against the white background!
Leslie Ordal
@mitoticspindle Ottawa, ON
Knitting, Spinning, Weaving, Sewing
IndigoIndigo dye
McCall’s 3341 – A-line skirtMcCall's 3341 - A-line skirt project
Best Handspun Yarn at Pagosa SpringsBest Handspun Yarn at Pagosa Springs
Let’s call it a learning experienceRussian style spindle
New (old) toyAntique bulgarian
Buttons in Montreal
Last Thursday I made a quick trip to Montreal, and in the middle of a flurry of activity I ended up searching out Rubans Boutons. My friend Mary was on the hunt for “little tiny buttons,” so after leaving Effiloché we began to wander further north on the Plaza St-Hubert, stopping occasionally watch massive piles of snow slide off the glass awnings in the sun.
My knowledge of how to get to the little ribbon-and-button shop was limited to a quick glance at Google maps at 5 am that morning, and all I recalled was “on St-Hubert, north of Jean-Talon.” This proved correct, though I had my doubts once the more reputable-looking stores became scarce.
It’s a tiny shop-cum-theatre, with ribbons one on side and buttons on the other, presided over by Richard Lentendre, fibulanomiste:
Like many tiny shops in Montreal, it’s full of an assortment of not just items for sale but interesting knickknacks and, well, stuff. Not shown are the anti-zipper posters and many, many buttons put up as decoration:
In the back of the store Mary found suitably little and tiny buttons, stored in tubes that pull out like colourful ice core samples (says the scientist):
No buttons for me, but by my next trip I’ll have finished another sewing class and will likely be in need of some…
Fractal spinning: an experiment
Spin-Off’s Summer 2007 issue had an article on what’s been called, among other things, fractal spinning. Multicoloured rovings/tops, while beautiful, often come out looking muddied or busy in the final yarn. I know I’m not the only one who’s been attracted by colours on the shelf only to be disappointed by the garish and unpredictable colour combinations of the resulting yarn. Fractal spinning turns these fibres into a somewhat predictable self-striping yarn, yielding a nicer-looking final product.
Fractal spinning is essentially this: take a multicoloured strip of fibre and split it in half. Spin one half as is, which makes a singles yarn with very long colour blocks. Split the second half further, into two or more strips, and spin them in succession on another bobbin. Same colours as the first singles, but with more repeats. Ply together, and marvel at the orderly stripes (some solid, some barber-poled) that result.
I decided to try this for myself. I don’t usually wear super bright colours, but I wanted obvious colour changes, so this Fleece Artist merino braid in a clown vomit rainbow colourway fit the bill.
I split the braid in half and divided the second half into three equal parts.
What I didn’t do was weigh the two halves first to make sure I’d have equal amounts of wool on each bobbin (this becomes important later).
On the bobbins, trouble begins to reveal itself. The first half of the braid wound up on the bobbin on the left. See how much less yarn is there, compared to the bobbin on the right?
When I plied the two together, I realized the second bobbin contained about 30% more yarn than the first, meaning I’d done a pretty poor job of splitting the braid in half initially. I decided to Andean ply what was left, which still gave me stripes, but not the same stripes I would’ve had if both bobbins had been equal. I was going to hopefully compete this skein, but not with that kind of mistake. It’s a nice yarn, so I may go ahead and knit something with it (something I’d only wear at Pride, I’m sure), or sell it.
Live and learn, I suppose. Time to find that gram scale.
FO: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret
Judging by its popularity on Ravelry (6805 projects at last count), the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret is as appealing to others as it was to me. I needed a new winter hat, and the pattern looked like a quick and easy knit.
And that is basically what it was. Done over three evenings in Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran yarn (100% merino, cabled, and aran weight as the name implies), it was a straightforward pattern. I didn’t modify it at all and am very pleased with the result, though I may block it out a bit more:
It’s also warm enough that my head didn’t freeze in the -30 C temps in Montreal yesterday. It’s amazing how much warmer a light wool hat is than a thicker acrylic one.
Upcoming classes
We’ve finally found a real winter here in Ottawa, complete with snow-packed roads and -20 C temperatures. Although I enjoy the winter, I’m still looking forward to spring, including my next round of classes in Ottawa. I’ll be teaching at Wabi Sabi (such a wonderful class space), with my Beginning Drop Spindle class on March 12 and the Intermediate level two weeks later on March 26.
The beginner class is for people who’ve never spun their own yarn before. The drop spindle is an easy, affordable way to spin–much less expense than a wheel and much more portable, too. In this class, you’ll learn to spin and ply yarn on a spindle, working with both roving and top (the most common commercial fiber preparations). The cost of the class includes a spindle to take home, two types of wool, and an extensive booklet of notes.
The intermediate class is advertised as being for drop spindle, but wheel spinners are welcome as well. Sometimes people are intimidated by the word ‘intermediate,’ but there’s no need to be–if you can spin a continuous yarn, you can take this class. You’ll learn to spin woollen and worsted yarns, discover how different preparations and drafting techniques can affect the yarn you make, and try spinning batts, silk top, and raw angora or mohair. Again, all fibers are included in the cost of the class, as are detailed notes.
Interested in taking a class or have questions? Comment below!
Russian supported spindle
As a little holiday present to myself, I ordered this:
That’s a Russian-style supported spindle, superbly made by hand by Lisa Chan of Gripping Yarn. Supported spindles, unlike drop spindles, rest on a hard surface while spinning. This makes them great for working with delicate fibres and very fine yarns, and can be easier on the hands and arms as well since there’s no ever-growing weight to hold up. It’s a different style of spinning–I’ve spun on a Takhli, which is a supported spindle, but there’s a notch at the top to hold the yarn which makes it more like my drop spindles. Russian spindles, as you can see, have no hook or notch to hold the yarn. One hand drafts the fibre (long draw), and the other both twirls the spindle and holds the yarn in a vertical position so twist can enter it. Youtube has a few decent videos of the technique.
There are a few artisans currently making Russian-style spindles, but I went with Grippingyarn’s after reading the positive reviews on Ravelry. I liked that sustainable woods were an option, and that there’s no polyurethane finish–what you feel is the grain of the wood itself, not a plastic coating. I selected a sustainably-produced curly maple spindle, and within a week Lisa had it turned on the lathe, finished, and mailed off to me. It’s lightweight, smooth, and very balanced. Here’s a look at the pattern in the wood, which catches the light when you turn it:
Lisa included a tuft of Merino top, which is the russet fibre in the photos. I had to pre-draft it quite a lot and the spinning was slow going, but next I’ll spin a puni or rolag which is better suited to the long draw style of drafting. I did manage to get the hang of the technique and produce a bit of actual yarn!
It’s hard to find local sources of the shorter down fibres this kind of spindle is meant for–not many cashmere goats in Ontario, so whatever you see in stores is almost certainly Chinese or Mongolian. I did find a yak farm in the Lanark Highlands that will send me some fibre in the spring, so I don’t have to rely on imported sources. I’m hoping to be a little more confident in my technique by then too.
Citron, finished
The fact that I last wrote about my Citron scarf in September should tell you a bit about the speed of my knitting. It might also say something about the pattern, which is appealingly simple, but that simplicity also makes for an uninteresting knitting experience. After 500+ stitches in stockinette on the last repeat, a complicated lace pattern suddenly looks very attractive indeed. Still, it’s an elegant scarf and easy to make, if you have the patience.
As I wrote in my previous post, I used Fiddlesticks Exquisite in Sapphire, a 50/50 merino/silk laceweight. It’s a smooth yarn and easy to work with. It’s also extremely warm–I was quite comfortable in the photos below even though it was a chilly day, even indoors:
I like wearing it as a small scarf rather than a shawl, but here you can see the orange-slice effect that gives it its name:
I really enjoyed the beaded bind-off, with 8/0 glass seed beads on every other stitch. I used Splityarn’s tutorial, and discovered very quickly that I needed to bind off much more loosely than usual. I’ll probably use this technique again (I certainly have enough beads left over…).
