Tag: wool

Finished: 10 second rule

On By CarynIn Craft

I stopped knitting and bound off my rainbow brioche scarf months ago, but there were errors at the beginning when I was still getting used to the brioche knitting with multiple colors techniques. I thought I needed to rip out the first few inches and rebind, which is daunting, so I stuck the project in a bag and tucked it into the back of the closet until I was ready.

Months later, when I was on a finishing kick (see yesterday’s post), I figured I was ready to work on the scarf again. I pulled it out of the bag, in all its squishy soft amazing length, and couldn’t find the spots that bothered me before. I looked again and did eventually spot the small errors, but it definitely took over 10 seconds. I have a 10 second rule, that if you can’t see the mistake in 10 seconds, the item passes. If someone else wants to examine an item that closely, they deserve to find something.

I wet the scarf to block it, and noticed that the colors bled.

Photo description: rainbow scarf in blue tinted water in the sink

I rinsed the scarf until I could not see any dye in the water, and hung it up to dry.

Photo description: rainbow brioche scarf hanging from multiple towel racks

The dye colors were taken up by the white yarn as the scarf dried, but it doesn’t distract from the piece. I’m glad I didn’t add fluffy clouds to the ends, they would not have stayed white.

Photo description: finished scarf laying artfully on a leather chair

The scarf now has a happy home, two years after I started it.

Jacob roving

On By CarynIn Craft

I also visited Sweetgrass Farm in Michigan, met some of Peg’s Jacob sheep, fed them animals crackers, and picked up three colors of roving.

Photo description: two wound balls of dark gray and light gray roving, and a bump of white a gray separated color roving
Photo description: Jacob ewes, the one in the middle showing four small horns and a beautiful multicolored fleece of white and black

Jacob sheep are in the Threatened category according to the Livestock Conservancy. They were “park sheep” in England in the 1700s and were bred for hardiness, four horns, and spots. I love the color variation in their wool and their eye catching horns. Here is more information from the Livestock Conservancy.

Photo description: Jacob ram with breed typical four impressive large horns
Photo description: Jacob ram with recessive trait horns that look more like a Big Horn Sheep

I’m really looking forward to spinning this wool and am already playing with ideas on what I can do with the lovely variations of natural color.

Teeswater roving

On By CarynIn Craft

When I was up in Michigan I had the opportunity to visit Pitchfork Ranch and pick up some Teeswater roving.

Photo description: one pound of Teeswater roving with Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em sticker and Pitchfork Ranch business card

Teeswater sheep, according to the Livestock Conservancy, have a critical status. Because of preference for other longwool sheep, Teeswater nearly became extinct in the 1920s. The long lovely curly locks of Teeswater are often used in needle felting projects that retain the curl. I intended to spin most of the fiber, so was pleased that Pitchfork Ranch had roving available. To read more about this longwool sheep, here is the link to the Livestock Conservancy page, which has a detailed writeup.

Photo description: Teeswater Ram in a pasture with fence and woods in the background, photo credit to Pitchfork Ranch, used with permission

Wool goblin

On By CarynIn Cats
Photo description: Thor the cat with three articles of doll clothes in front of him, all made from wool

Thor the cat really likes wool. Awhile back we moved the gate keeping dogs out of the cat area and inadvertently removed the gap on the side that Thor used as a pass through. The gate was no problem for our two leaping female cats, but Thor is not a leaper. He can jump up, but for some reason doesn’t get that he can jump over. So he was blocked from the upstairs and our youngest’s room, which is full of wooly goodness. My eldest fixed his access by putting a stool on one side and a box on the other, giving him treats to entice him over. He learned, using supports, to get over and regained access to the treasure trove of doll clothes. He goes up, selects a wool item (always wool, never acrylic) and brings it downstairs. In the picture, the brown doll jacket in the middle was his latest prize, I threw the green doll shawl and pink doll sweater that he had previously brought down next to him for the picture. I could probably use him as a wool finder for fabric with unknown animal hair content.

P.S. he looks like a chonk, but the vet says Thor the cat’s weight is in the normal range.

Small sprang bag

On By CarynIn Craft

I warped my small sprang loom again using dyed wool yarn, once again determined to make this one a little better than the last. I warped on a few more times to make it wider to help combat the natural inclination to twist.

Photo description: small bent cane sprang loom with orange and yellow dyed wool yarn interlinked in a single direction (all S twist on the top, all Z twist on the bottom)

This attempt was an improvement on the previous tries. I achieved an even fabric, even though finishing the middle is still vexing me, it was less wonky than the last times. I tried a different method too: chaining each side separately, rather than both together. It still needs work.

Photo description: chain looped center of the sprang fabric, with a stitch holder in the last loop

I used the extra yarn from warping to sew up the sides, and strung yarn through the top to make a drawstring bag.

Photo description: small wool sprang bag shown empty and closed
Photo description: same bag shown slightly stretched because it is holding a mandarin orange

The sideways stretch of the bag is easily double the height. There is no stretch vertically, which I need to take into account when designing a piece. This tiny bag would do well to hold dice. I’ve seen some larger bags made with wood handles that would outperform a similar bag in crochet because crochet stretches in all directions and tends to droop over time.