Spinning

My attempt at blogging at least once a week, has well, been a disaster, so my first blog post in over 3 weeks, is about spinning. The Irish Spinners Group on Ravelry, have started a Skein-a-Month spinalong. This has been great to get me motivated with my wheel again, and to use up that stash of fleece.

January's theme was Fire and Ice
(Fleece from Kerry Woollen Mills)

February theme is Hope Springs Eternal

The Inspiration:


The Fleece:


For this month we're getting a bit technical (there's a prize involved!). I used 100% Corriedale from Derrynaun Crafts. Originally intended for felting but spins beautifully! I decided not to ply it, as it was lovely as a single. But put it under the rack while drying to get the twists and curls out. (Knitting Needles being used for something!!)





The Yarn:



Approx 80m of Single, 15 WPI

And because I LOVE my skein-winder....

Dealing with WIP's

Doing OK so far on the Yarnaholic 10 Step Withdrawal Programme. Although I still only have 3 steps thought up of so far, I felt that was enough to deal with.

"RULE NO 3: Dig out all WIP and frogged projects and finish them before starting any other. Found a few very old projects under the couch today. Spun yarn waiting to be washed, bag and blanket waiting to be felted, bag needs lining, etc..."

The past week, I have dealt with all the WIP/frogged projects that were under the couch. Here is the finished projects... my son insisted on modelling for me, and he did a pretty fine job too.

180g 2ply handspun Ashford Merino/Silk from The Yarn Room

170g 2 ply handspun.
Don't ask me what this is, I lost the label, there loads of different fibres in it. Batt from Rockpoolcandy

200g 2ply Handspun Jacob from Kerry Woollen Mills

Crocheted bag made from first handspun yarn. Tried to felt it, but Irish yarn just doesn't felt well. (Good for beginner spinners who are nervous at washing their precious handspun!!)

Shopping bag made from vintage linen string, scrap upholstery fabric and salvaged lining

Washing Handspun Yarn

Lady spinning at Museum of Folk Life, Co. Mayo

I spent ages searching for my hand spinning book, and couldn't find it. I am so nervous of washing my hand-spun yarn, that I always need reassurance I am doing it right. Thankfully I blogged about washing my first hand-spun yarn last year, but it was rather a long-winded affair.

World Wide Spin in Public Day 09

A lovely day was had in The Crafty Alley in Killarney, as we took over a corner of the shop to spin for WWSIP day 09. It was spitting rain all morning, so we just settled into the corner of the shop rather than risk our precious wheels in the damp outside. We had 2 great spinners come along, Ewa from Cork, with her Louet, and Myfanwy, from South Kerry, with her Ashford traveller, and me with my old granny-style wheel... I didn't do much wheel spinning because well, the hands were a bit shaky from too much vino the night before, and sitting beside those 2 great spinners, I was a bit embarrassed. I don't know why I get embarrassed spinning in front of people, I'm a bit of a chancer, and I'm used to working in front of an audience. 3 summers crafting in Dingle does that to you. But I can't seem to use my wheel in public, my yarn comes out crap. So, I pretty much stuck to my spindle, which I'm fine with. We also have a new convert to spinning, on a DIY spindle.

There was great chat, lots of fibre-related stories, some very happy tourists, (who have pictures of spinners in Ireland, like we do this all the time), and one lady who has been searching out spinners for years and never found any before...we made her day! Thanks to the other ladies for coming such a great distance. It was lovely to meet up, and maybe we'll organise another spinning event soon...

We were thinking we could even go busking with it, throw on an ole shawl, and spin for the tourists, or charge for photos...

Big thanks to The Crafty Alley, Felicia and Cathy. I think we amused a few of your customers, and hopefully didn't disrupt too much...

See you at the knitting group on Friday so we can plan International Day of Felt!!

Garden, more books, Spindles and spinning, and other home crafts

What fabulous weather! Its like the summer we never had last year. Or maybe its our summer for this year, so I am determined to enjoy every minute of it. I haven't been blogging as much, even fleeting visits to Ravelry, because I've taken up gardening. So, between the spinning and gardening, I actually haven't made anything in ages.

Garden
At the moment my garden is a mess, but it is a genuine Work
in Progress. I do apologise to my neighbours for the unsightly black fabric/cardboard and seaweed coverings, (especially those trying to sell there houses!). But as I'm going au natural, organic and all that, this is the only way to go. It is hard going getting a garden started, takes up a lot of time, but once I have the beds established, it shouldn't be so hard. Less digging thats for sure! I have started a course at the local Community Organic Garden, just 3 hrs a week, but its great. Great for learning, chatting, and getting free cuttings. As well as the herbs and veg I've started a dye/fibre garden. So, as this blog is supposed to be all about textiles, I will only bore you with the dye-garden. So far I have planted rhubarb, goldenrod, marigold, teasels....


More Books
I am a book worm, in fact I would say its my only serious addiction. So when I came across a fellow Irish Raveler selling these books, I just had to have them. 2 books on Freeform Knitting and Crochet, a book on felt, and a Prudence Maplestone Never Enough Handbags! Then along comes another offer. Natural Dyeing, by Jackie Cook, I have a copy of this book from the library, which I have renewed and renewed for the past few months. Hogging it is an understatement! Then Laura, of Aran Brew fame, spotted it for 5euro in Borders bookshop in Dublin. Being such a lovely lass she got it for me, and posted it down. Thank you!

Spindles and Spinning
At least I'm back spinning again. We have all recovered from our various sicknesses, and I can spin away to my hearts content. Thought I am confining it to one room, just to stop the bits getting everywhere. I finally got my DIY spindles finished. I got a small branch of ash, and whittled it down to fit onto the spindles. Slightly tapering it so the spindles would fit snugly. The great thing about my whorls, is one stick fits all, so I got to practise with the different weights. Now I know it depends on what fibre you are using, but my favourite is the disk whorl on the left. For the fibre I was using it spun really smoothly.













So, as I said I'm back spinning again. Out came my spinning wheel, and I finished off the brown roving I got from Kerry Woollen Mills, and I then started using the merino/silk mix I got from Stephannie of The Yarn Room.

After the rough, tough Kerry fibre, the silk/merino was just lovely, but needed a a good twist, and I'm not sure if I did it tight enough. I just made it 2ply, maybe next time I will make 3ply. Then, it occurred to me, what will I make with my first lot. The bobbly- uneven-over-under-twisted-first-ever-hand-spun yarn. Its too rough to make clothes out of it. It wouldn't look good as a hat either. So, humming and hawing, not wanting my lovely first born homespun to end up as garden string, I decided to make it int a coiled basket.

One of my favourite books is the Complete How-To Book of Indiancraft, by W.Ben Hunt. or as I call it my how to be an Indian book. This book is great, full of everything from beading to weaving, totem poles to ti pees. There is a basket weaving technique for making Coiled Grass Baskets, using Lazy Squaw Stitch. I have made one before and they are easy enough. I've just started the base, and will gradually add all my spinning mishaps to it.

Home Crafts
Since I didn't really have anything new and finished to show off, here is some other projects I have done. Over the past year I have been doing up my son's room. Trying to make it more enticing for him to stay in bed in the mornings, (what a surprise, it isn't working). For some reason its my favourite room in the house. Blue is probably my favourite colour, I have to admit I like having a boy for this reason..

This is a foam protection cushion thing, I made for his bed. He's a mover and shaker, even when he is asleep, and so was constantly bumping his head.

It runs the length of the bed with ties on each end to keep it in place. Its very light and I even bring it with me when I'm staying in someone elses house, so I don't get woken up with cries about bumps in the night!

This is a lovely old stool, that had the most disgusting rotten fabric covering on it. Someone was throwing it out and I took it in. I had plans to sand and varnish it, but me being me never got round to it. Instead I kept the distressed look, simply stripped away the old fabric and foam and covered it with some fabric I got from the remnants box. No sewing involved, simply staple-gun the fabric over some fresh foam, (leftover from a foam protection cushion thing), onto the original board


So, now its sorting and packing because I'm off to the wilds of Mayo for the weekend, for toddler to be doted on by his granny, and for me to be blissfully ignored...I normally bring some handiwork with me, but this time I'm not bringing anything. Just a few books, so I can chill, read, and probably drink a lot of wine..

Spinning Practicals Part 2:

My exuberance for spinning was short-lived. As I mentioned in a previous post, everyone at home got colds and flu's, and I thought, spreading lots of thin, sneezy fibres round the house wasn't a good idea. So, I stopped spinning and started on the next learning process. Plying and washing.

Again, thank you YouTube for lots of plying videos. I can't remember which ones I watch, but I will look them up again and post them here...

One thing to remember while you are spinning to beat the band, is to leave a free spool for plying. Yes, I forgot, and filled all my spools to the brim, then had to unwind one of them so I could start plying. If you don't have a jumbo flyer and jumbo spool, I recommend you even keep 2 spools for plying, because it build up very fast.

Plying

Tools: Lazy Kate or box and knitting needles

Firstly to ply you need a Lazy Kate. The one I got with my wheel needed fixing, so a cut-up coat-hanger and I was ready to go. If you don't have a Lazy Kate, it is very easy to make on. Again, Ravelry to the rescue, there is a group for making all your own equipment: DIY Tools. So, while I couldn't spin, I've had great fun reading up on how to make everything from very basic materials. So, Guess what my next project is!?!?

Back to spinning practicals. So, you have your Lazy Kate on-hand and you start to ply. When I first started reading about spinning, the whole S-spin/Z-spin seemed very confusing. But its not really. Its just what-ever way you turn your wheel/spindle, clockwise or anti-clockwise. I'm not getting into anything fancy, so it was a simple clockwise/Z-spin spinning, and then to ply you do the opposite, spin anti-clockwise/S-spin. This holds the yarn together better.

So, I'm doing 2ply, as my first lot of homespun yarn is all uneven, bobbly, and quite thick. There seems to be different opinions the length of time to start plying after spinning. Mairead told me to leave at least a day, to let the yarn rest. In my main source of info, From Fleece to Fabric by June R. Lewis , it says it depends on the type of yarn, how twisted it is and what you want it for. Letting it rest, will also mean it will set. Setting the Twist is a whole area I have to look into yet. (You can read about it on The Joy of Spinning, a great website for simple practical info and videos). Its all about getting the yarn to relax, and to undo-any over-twisting. Have a read of this by AbbeyYarns, where she talks about the twist in spinning. Between general life stuff, I know I will never get to ply straight after spinning, I know that for sure. I thing for a beginner, I'll just be happy to have something that resembles yarn at the end of all this!

Niddy-Noddy

Tools: Niddy Noddy or wooden doweling rods

So, plying over with, its then time for the niddy-noddy. (I love this word!) The niddy-noddy is a tool for turning your spool of yarn into a hank or skein. Again, this is for setting the twist, but generally for getting the yarn into a manageable shape for washing or dyeing.You will also be able to measure the amount of yarn you have.

I have a niddy-noddy, but I found it was a bit small for my big chunky yarn, so back to DIY Tools again, I made my own. Now, I'm not very handy with a drill, in fact, all power tools scare me, so I made my niddy-noddy simply by binding doweling rods together.


Wrap the yarn round the niddy-noddy. An easy way to remember what way to wrap the yarn is to say,
diagonally under, up and over. Again there are videos on YouTube and on the Joy of Spinning , so you can see how its done...Cut several short lengths of yarn and loosely tie the skein in several places. I used a contrasting colour so you can see it better. (There is a very handy knot you can use. It's the same as if you are tying your shoe laces but you only make one bow. This will hold fast, but un-do very easily. I cant remember the proper name of it).


Then, take your freshly made skein off the niddy-noddy off.

Washing Skeins

Need: Baby bath, Baby bath thermometer, Woolite, Flat clothes Rack, Water

After spending all that time spinning and plying, the last thing I wanted to do was ruin it all by turning my lovely hand-spun into a felted mess. So, I googled, and read all I could about washing skeins. A bit dazed from too much information, I decided to just go back to my one spinning book, and use her techniques. All the articles I read went on and on about hand-hot water. But what exactly is hand-hot water? I always have cold hands, and hate hot water, so my hand-hot is different to someone else hand-hot. But I couldn't find a rough estimation of hand-hot, so I am using the child's bath thermometer which has 3 markings, cold, warm hot. Hot is 37 degrees, warm is 31 degrees, so I picked 36 degrees. (Also because of the ad on telly, where the hunky man tells you that is the temperature of the body and also that chocolate melts at that temperature...) You might think I'm being pedantic about this, but I have spent a lot of money on the spinning wheel and fleece, and a lot of time on reading and actually spinning, so I don't want to mess it up in the final stages. I'm precious but I'm not that precious, so I am not using rain-water, which is the best water to use when washing wool. I'm using plain old, hand-hot tap water, which is on the softer side of hard. (I know because we had to test it when we got the dishwasher).

Firstly a few never nevers and an always:
Never run water onto wool. Never wring, rub or generally agitate the fibres. Always use the same temperature of water.

I gathered all my equipment in the bathroom. I filled the baby bath with hand-hot water, 36 degrees, and then gently immersed the skeins into the bath. Leave this to cool, roughly about 45 mins. Then I removed them, gently squeezed, and placed them on the clothes drying rack. Gently, gently, gently, for someone who used to felt a lot this gentle thing is hard going..So, I filled up the baby bath again, to exactly 36 degrees but this time added a small amount of Woolite. The skeins went back in and I very gently squeezed the suds through the yarn. Out again, leave to drain on the clothes rack, but this time I measured the water temperature and its 30 degrees. So, when I re-fill the bath, I kept the water at 30 degrees. Repeat until the water is clear.

One blog I came across, which I cant find now, said its good to gently twack the skeins against the side of the bath. The first man-handling of wet fibre I came across. So, I decided to do it because it would get more of the wet out. So, holding the skin at both ends, I gently twacked the yarn against the bath. Don't know if it did any good, but it didn't do any damage anyway...

Drying Rack

Tools: Adjustable Curtain Rail, optional doweling rod, plastic hangers.

This is where the real Setting the Fibres comes in. The yarn can be tensioned now, to remove kinks and as my yarn was plenty kinky, I needed to tension it. But over-stretch it, and it will loose part of the twist and natural elasticity. The spinning is the easy bit, all this other stuff is nerve-racking!

So, DIYing again, I made a tension rack from an adjustable curtain rail. I don't know where you get these, they were in my house when I moved in. I'd been meaning to get rid of them for ages, but now they have a use! So, I put the damp skeins over the curtain rail and wedged it into the shower. Because I had loads of kinks in my yarn I added a doweling rod through the bottom, and a few plastic coat hangers for a little bit more weight.

Nearly Finished!

So, a few days later, my lovely skeins were dry. I wound them into balls, and they are now sitting waiting to be turned into something. I don't know quite what. The funny thing about all this is I don't really like bulky yarns, thick home-spun knits. I don't wear scarves or hats, I'm not into handbags. In fact I mostly wear cotton!

So, hm mm, what to do...whose birthday is coming up? Oh, my super-cool niece, I'll bet she'll love something hand-spun!!

Spindles, Nice Packets from the Postman, Lemsip and Calpol

I have a kind of ignorance, soup and garlic attitude to sickness. I am not a very good patient, and usually decide to clear out that cupboard as soon as I feel the onset of a cold. Like I'm keeping myself busy just to ignore feeling sick. Then its daily doses of soup and lots and lots of garlic. I found a herbal remedy for colds which is basically chopped raw garlic marinated in honey for a few hours, then take teaspoons of the honey on a regular basis. The fact the child also takes it is astounding, (he thinks medicine is a treat, any kind of medicine. I sometimes give him a teaspoon of honey and say its medicine just to stop him nagging for more medicine!...Weird kid...).

But this time its different. The last 2 weeks have been very tiring as the whole household has come down with a bug. More the has enough time passed yet so I can take more drugs? Feck the herbal remedies at times like these we need the drugs. So we've been holed up at home watching hours of kids TV, administering Lemsip and Calpol with an eerie precision.

So, because of the general nasal noisiness from sneezing to blowing, I felt I should give up the spinning for a week or two, until the preboscus passages are back on track. (My nose isn't big, I swear, I was just trying to find another word to describe nose...)

I was scared my little fella was allergic to my new hobby of spinning, which usually left me and the sitting room covered in fine bits of sheep. But now I'm sick too, with the same symptoms, I don't think he's allergic. I can spin again as soon as we're all cleared up. My ever-useful partner suggested I only spin at night with the window open. Thanks! Just as well we don't have a tower in the back garden, he might expect me to lock myself in it, grow my hair really long, and spin gold from straw..Well. I suppose I'll finally make all the money I've been promising..I really need this tool, or this type of wool, then I'll be able to make stuff, open an Etsy shop and make loads of money!!

So, I'm going backwards, that's the Lemsip and Calpol story, now here's the Nice Packets from the Postman...
Recently I received a lovely LOVELEY packet of fibre from Rockpoolcandy. I was moaning about not being able to enter the St. Patrick's Day Competition, and win that great prize. So she kindly sent me some fibre as a consolation prize. Thank you, Thank you!! I love it, and can't wait to start spinning again..

Also, in the post was a packet from Stephanie from The Yarn Room. The packet arrived late into my hands, not because of Stephanie, my order went through very quick, but because of the bloody postman, who for some crazy reason put the packet through the window into the other half's workroom, where it lay hidden un-noticed for days. So now, if I am expecting something in the post (like my Travelling Scarf*), I will check all the windows every day. In this packet was a fantastic gadget, the Clover Yarn Cutter, yarn cutter and pendent in one! A brilliant gadget I saw Peeko use at the Knit and Stitch show last year, and I have coveted it since..I previously used a very small, sharp needlework scissors that my little fella is very good at finding, so this is great. I have to make a nice cord for it yet.. I also received a pack of Merino/Silk Sliver, this is just beautiful fibre and can be spun or felted. I am dying to try this out too, that is when I can spin again..Thanks Stephanie.

Now for the Spindles..
I have always been interested in history, and guess what...the history of textiles. I have books on Mexican, Indonesian, Egyptian textiles, all full to the brim with lots of great pictures and diagrams. But I always found when it came to Irish textile history, its a bit lacking. I have Mairead Dunlevy's Dress in Ireland book, but its a bit vague on the earlier periods. I mean, "unspun black horsehair in herringbone twill carefully woven without a prominent selvage...with a separate band woven independently and sewn inter place" Do you understand that? I sure as hell don't. this is the start of the book. This is c750! If they could do that, what else could they do? Herringbone twill is not on any beginner weaving course I know, and horsehair isn't the easiest to work with, so where did the knowledge come from, what other textiles were they doing at the time? Sorry, I'll try not to rant...

Recently I joined up the Irish Living History forum. Unfortunately, its more swords and helms then any practical textile how-to advice. I mean, they all do a good job of getting their kits together, can be very fussy about getting it periodically correct, but its still a bit lacking in detail about how. I want to know HOW!

So, I have embarked on a crazy scheme, to try learn everything there is to know about early Irish textiles, the hard way. By actually doing it. I must admit it has been a goal of mine for years to do this, and I am thanking the economic downturn for giving me the hopelessness of finding a good job, so I can finally take some time to start this project without feeling guilty at not having the good job...So, feeling very lousy with this cold, and trying to amuse the child, I embarked on a spindle making session. He had his Playdo, I had half a bag of self-hardening clay.


We both made a mess, he got bored and went off to watch Socky and Emma and I came out with these.

I've been reading all about spindles, of different sizes/weights for different yarns. So, rather than buy several spindles, I decided to make my own. I read somewhere something about the difference of spinning with the weight centered in the middle, by using a conical whorl, so I made both to test out. These are the rough weights of each whorl, so they range from making lace to bulky yarns

.5 oz/15 gm
1 oz/28gm
1.75 oz/50gm
2.5 oz/70gm
3 oz+/85gm

I will leave them another few days to make sure they are fully dry, then I will get some doweling to make the rest of the spindles. I'm just wondering, does the wooden part of a spindle have its own name?

(*ah, the Travelling Scarf Saga. I joined a Travelling Scarf group on Ravelry. This is where a small group of people each start a section of a scarf, then post it on to the next person, who adds a section, then posts it on, etc, etc. It's a lovely little project, it takes a couple of months, and you get to chat to other like-minded folk, and end up with a multi-country scarf. Trouble is when your scarf goes AWOL, then someone elses, then someone elses, so you start a new one, then that also goes AWOL, then the original turns up , then the 2nd one turns up...As I said Saga!

A Big Big thank you to happysunshine, the poor sod who has been trying to keep control of our un-ruley group!)

Spinning Practicals - Part 1

Sometimes when you are on your own, its a bit daunting to pick up a (another) hobby, especially spinning, which seems to need a lot of expensive equipment to get started. I am not good enough at spinning to write tutorials, (I've only been spinning for 2 weeks!), but I am good at sourcing supplies and things on the cheap. So, I thought I would write up Spinning Practicals, ways to make spinning cheap and cheerful, with a variety of bits and bobs, hints, tips, etc that I come across as I learn to spin.

Buying a Spinning Wheel

New:
Do a google search for spinning wheels, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of wheels on offer. First thing is to read through a few websites, find a few spinning forums and ask questions. I will update this regularly as I come across new websites, books, etc I think are good.

Second-hand:
I bought my wheel from the Buy and Sell. It was a gamble, but it paid off, I got a beautiful wheel, with lots of accessories for a very reasonable price. If you are buying a 2nd-hand one, be prepared to ask professional sounding questions. Even if you don't know the answers, you will be able to tell if the seller is a genuine spinner selling a wheel, or someone who doesn't have a clue. This will help you in haggling the asking price..You could even place an ad of your own in the paper. Someone might see it, and remember their mother's dusty old wheel in the attic, and decide its time to sell it on.


You have your wheel, now what?
After you buy your wheel, whether it is new or second-hand, I would recommend you get an experienced spinner to check out it out before you start. Just to make sure it is in working order, and to help you get on your way. Check out the Irish Spinners Group on Ravelry, or The Guild of Weavers, Spinners, or Dyers, to see if you have anyone local.

Maintenance

Before you start spinning, especially if you bought a 2nd-hand, you should do a maintenance check of your spinning wheel. Working parts must be properly oiled.

OIL: Official spinning wheel oil, or any good quality oil will do. It must be oil grade 30 or higher. Sewing machine oil is the same grade, and I got some for 3.50euro from a local sewing supplies shop. Do not use Vaseline or it will become sticky. Neatsfoot oil (from a Saddlers Store) was recommended in one book, as its made especially for leather. I will have to check this out.

Clean and Oil the following parts:
(A) Axle bearing on the wheel
(B) The 2 bearings on the maidens carrying the spindle assembly
(C) The 2 Bearings carrying the treadle
(D) The leather connection between the footman and treadle
(E) The length of the spindle on which the bobbin rotates. this only needs to be rubbed with an oily cloth: applying oil to it can swell the wood of the bobbin, causing binding.

Starting to Spin

As I said, I do recommend you get someone experienced to check out your wheel for you, and give you one lesson. Somethings are hard to learn on your own.

I got my experienced spinner to check out my wheel and one lesson, I knew technically what I should be doing, but the hands and feet were not very co-ordinated. So, feeling frustrated, I checked out YouTube to see if I could get a better take on this. My fleece is pre-carded so I could, thankfully, skip over the carding thing. After watching lots of well, crap videos, I mean they were nice but not very educational, I settled on 3 videos I really liked.

Drafting the Fleece
If you are hand-carding you make rolags, but with the pre-carded fleece, I'm told its not necessary. However I found the fleece difficult to manage, especially while trying to work the feet at the same time. Megan LaCore has a video of how to draft the fleece for spinning. As she says, some people might think this is over-preparation, but I did what she said, and I found I was able to spin much easier and better.

Learning to Treadle
Sue Mcniven has a 2 part tutorial on learning to spin. But its her advice on how to control your treadling and how to check the tension of your yarn that is very helpful.
Sue is a renowned spinner, who runs workshops in Scotland. Her website is www.handspun-exotics.co.uk

Short Draw Method
I though the tutorial by Ruth McGregor was one of the nicest I have seen. She doesn't speak, you simply just watch her hands. She also has some great articles about yarn blocking on her website, Spinningforth, which is the next step!


Enough banter, time to get spinning..

Spinning....and Edible crochet?

In case you were wondering what the Kermit thing was about, its for anyone struggling to come up with something for the St. Patrick's Day Yarn Competition on Ravelry...May I remind you it doesn't have to be green...but I know its hard to think Irish and not green...

So, what have I been up to...well..my new thing is spinning

Last year I was very lucky, and found a spinning wheel in the Buy and Sell...It doesn't happen often, but it was one opportunity I couldn't pass up. The lady selling it lived about an hour away from my mum (the other side of the country from me), so mum kindly picked it up for me. It was a month or so before I actually got up there to collect it. It was a bit of a gamble, buying before seeing, but it was a risk I thought I would take, and it paid off...As my ma said, its beautiful..it really is a nice looking wheel. I know its an Ashford Traditional, but I don't know what kind. The wood is quite dark compared to other wheels I have seen.


So my poor wheel, sat neglected as I crocheted coral reefs, and fish, and various other things, but I finally got it together to dig it out, and say, now is the time to learn. Thanks to Ravelry, I made contact with Mairead Sharry, a lovely woman, and a very experienced spinner. She kindly came over to my house and set up my wheel, and gave me a lesson. Thank you so much Mairead!!

Not only did she help me with the spinning, she loved my wheel! I discovered I was incredibly fortunate to get a box of bits with the wheel. I just thought they were bits, but Mairead said they were a great find. These bits included a jumbo flyer, niddy noddy, spare reels, lazy kate, 2 sets of carders, and a lovely book on spinning. I now feel very ungrateful, if I had know how fortunate I was with my buy, I prob wouldn't have haggled so much....

Flyers

My box of bits

So, after my lesson from Mairead, and watching a few videos on YouTube, I feel like I'm finally getting the grasp of my new gadget...In fact I've gone a bit overboard..I got a nice big bag of carded wool from Kerry Woollen Mills, thinking, it'll take me ages to get through this, and I'm nearly through it already! There are somethings you just know you will love. I remember feeling giddy the first time I set up a tapestry frame, knowing it would be something I would love, and I feel like this again...Its funny, who would have thought YouTube would be the saving grace of traditional crafts..

All I have to do now, is learn how to ply, and then decide what to make out of my lovely hand-spun wool!




OK, the edible crochet bit...mmm, whats to say. I was chatting nonsense with Camanomade, leader of the Crochet Liberation Front, and the notion came into my head, has anyone ever tried doing edible crochet? She said someone had crocheted red licorice and spaghetti. I thought, these days its hard to come up with an original thought, and she goaded me on by saying you'll come up with something different... Talk about a challenge. I had to think of something now! I blame her for always pushing us to crochet out of the box..not only making me think these crazy things, but actually doing them, and showing them in public!

So here you go, Fearless Leader, I dedicate this crocheted pretzel/bread to you!!

Crochet Foundation Chain

1 Row of US sc/UK dc