I made a second pair of fingerless gloves in November 2018, with the body of the gloves knit, the edges crocheted, and embroidered flowers added to the backs of the gloves.
I’m not sure of the practicality of white wool gloves, but the embroidery sure looks nice against the light background.
While wool is traditionally spun, it is possible to twine if the staple is long enough. Long wool breeds like Teeswater sheep have longer fiber, which makes it easier to twine.
So it is entirely possible to make a yarn from wool without any tools but your hands. I twined this wool the same way I do other twining, by taking a small section of wool, twisting it in the middle to make two “legs”, the twisting the individual legs in one direction then twisting them together in the opposite direction. To add in more wool I lay the middle of the new piece between the two legs. Here is a simple video by Sally Pointer on how to twine.
In October 2018 I finished a pair of fingerless gloves. I’m quite pleased with these, I knit a brown glove with wool yarn with stockinette stitch for the base and moss stitch for the edges, then used white wool to crochet a simple picot lace to the wrist and fingers. Using the same white wool I embroidered a mirrored leaf design on each glove. To plan the leaf design I digitally drew on a picture of the gloves then used my drawing as a guide for the stitches.
I really enjoy making things using multiple methods in a single item. One day I’ll figure out how to make something spun, woven, knit, crocheted, nålbound, and embroidered.
There are so many applications for the word “twining” in crafting. I was going to start this blog post talking about twining wool, but I think I have to specify that I was making twine from wool. Typically twine is made from plant bast fibers: cotton twine, jute twine, hemp twine, for example, and forms a dense strong string. I took a long staple wool, Teeswater, and twined it in a similar manner. Twining wool could also refer to construction techniques in weaving or knitting, but not in this case. Here I am making yarn, nålbinding a few stitches, then making more yarn (I’m going to call it yarn because it is softer than typical twine, yes, I’m splitting hairs (haha)).
The problem I encountered was a strong twist in the small pouch I was constructing. I experienced this with a different project, so decided to try twining the opposite direction, by switching hands, but the twist still happened. I think it is in my nålbinding stitch. I do not enjoy twining with my left hand as much, so I halted the project.
Then I had the problem of what to do with the abandoned project. Undoing nålbinding is a difficult, sometimes impossible task, which is what makes it good for items that need to be sturdy. So what could I make from a small bit of wool? Well, a cat toy, of course. Thor the cat loves wool, and steals socks and doll clothes that are made from wool. So I sewed up the seam, stuffing it with un-spun wool as I went, and ended up with a little roll.
The new cat toy was a big hit with Thor the cat. He loved it and it was very difficult to get a photo of him as he carried it around the house, flipping it and chasing it at speed.
The Black Welsh Mountain Sheep is also on the Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em list as a threatened heritage species. I have finished single spinning my 4 ounce sample. It is very nice to spin, and I was able to achieve a nice thin single. My challenge for myself in this spin was switching direction half-way through, so I now have half the wool spun in the S direction, and half in the Z direction.
My plan is to do some parallel experiments with the two different spins in weaving, knitting, and crochet, until I run out of wool.
