Spinning Seminar 2010

I have been remiss in reporting on the lovely time Kris and I had at the 2010 Spinning Seminar at '>The Mannings back on June 12.  This is an annual event that we just discovered last year.  I’m sure the word “spinning” scared me off in earlier years.  The format is this: many demonstration/exhibition tables set up on the grass outside the shop, a lunch/snack booth run by the local church ladies, some animals on display, some local 4H groups practicing for Sheep to Shawl contests, and free time for spinning or knitting.  There is no charge (unless you buy pie, which we usually do – though this year we went with some good looking chocolate chip cookies, instead).

Here’s my Flickr slideshow of the day.  Double click to open it bigger and see the captions, too.  Enjoy!

Just in case you don’t watch all the way to the end, I want to show off Kris’s version of the Night Gulls sock.  She’s knitting this in a perfectly lovely Cascade Heritage handpaint that is such a great match for the pattern.  Doesn’t it look good so far? Now, who wants to knit dog hair?

Color by Kristin – book review

This beautiful book was a birthday gift from Kristina.  The cover art immediately pulled me in, and there’s more of this gorgeous swatch board on the endpapers.  (Can you tell I have a thing for endpapers?  I guess I’ve always liked them, but when a reader made a big deal out of them at a children’s storytime at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, I was hooked.  I always talk about endpapers when I read with children now.  They are so worthy of being talked about!)

One thing that this book really has going for it is that it’s more than a pattern book.  In the introduction, “A Life in Color,” Kristin talks about her background in art, craft, and fashion and describes the path that let to her current life, Getting Stitched on the Farm.  Then she launches into a color primer, complete with a color wheel made of fun pom poms.  All her color lessons are illustrated with full color swatches that jump off the page.  A chapter about Fair Isle includes a brief historical overview as well as technical instruction about how to hold/twist/carry yarn, work in the round, read charts, and steek.  She includes a practice project at the end of this section. Finally, she offers a chapter about how to design Fair Isle stitch patterns.  I read these first 33 pages with great interest and felt empowered to chart a new, nearly patternless course upon completing them!

But wait, don’t chuck all your patterns yet, because Kristin has 22 of them in the book.  As expected, these gloves, hats, blankets, sweaters, and scarves are a riot of color – no project calls for less than 4 colors.  The gorgeous photographs pulled me in right away.  I found myself focusing in turn on color combinations, edge treatments, and embroidery embellishments, thinking toward mixing and matching some of the things I saw pictured.  I guess I got where Kristin was going with the book, because following the pattern section is a great reference called “Designer Sourcebook” which encourages you to customize patterns by substituting edges and chart patterns.  She even includes basic information about seaming (so you don’t have to pull another reference book off your shelf) and embroidery stitches (which you may not have in your knitting library).

Everything in the book is knit from Kristin’s own yarn line, Julia.  Julia is a blend of 50% wool, 25% alpaca, and 25% mohair, and it comes in a rich palette of 33 solid colors.  This is a special yarn, and Kristin knits with nothing else.  I used it for a hat once and can vouch that it has incredible drape and luster, and rich, saturated color.  I wish I had the yarn budget to make this my basic worsted yarn for all projects!  My LYS, The Mannings, started carrying Julia a year or so ago, so I have the luxury of seeing it before buying.  Reading this book reminds me that I would like to knit with Julia again.  Hmmm, what will my next Julia project be?

If your LYS doesn’t stock Julia, you can turn to WEBS (America’s Yarn Store!).  They just began carrying it.  Hear an interview with Kristin on a recent episode of the WEBS podcast, Ready Set Knit.  If I had gotten this post out in a more timely manner, I would have directed you to a contest to win a copy of this book and some enough Julia to knit a project, but I didn’t.  Alas.  Maybe you can just cross your fingers and hope that I win!

A Quick Spin

Remember the batt I made at The Mannings’ Spinning Seminar back in June?  I decided that spinning it would be a good reentry project for me and my wheel.

Here were the fibers before they started on their trip through the drumcarder: Here they are after one pass through the carder: And another pass:I didn’t really think about this project very much.  I just grabbed the batt and spun it.  That worked okay, because the fibers in it were quite different and it would have been difficult to try to spin with great consistency.  I eyeballed the batt and ripped it in half, and ended up with the most even division I’ve ever had.  After plying my two singles, I had about 8” of singles left.

Here is this little skein.  It’s 1.15 oz (32 g) and about 74 yards.  It ended up looking kind of heathery, which I quite like.  I’m not that sure what to do with it.  I’ll probably combine it with other handspun yarn to make a quick hat or something.  Any other ideas?

Spinning Seminar at The Mannings

Yesterday was the 41st (!) Annual Spinning Seminar at The Mannings (description here). This is a demonstration event with a number of tables/booths. No sales (except for the usual stuff in the store). Spinners are invited to bring their wheels and stay awhile. Want to see my slide show? (Open in Flickr so you can read the notes.)



My favorite part was definitely creating my own batt. It's so much fun to have a participatory experience at an event like this. It would be great if more exhibitors incorporated this into their display/demonstration (the needle felter did, but I didn't get pictures of her). For instance, I would have welcomed the opportunity to hackle some of that flax or try spinning it for a few minutes. Same with the cotton.

I also enjoyed seeing how many knowledgeable children were at this event. Some of them were part of a sheep-to-shawl 4-H team who took the day to train for their next competition (there were 2 or 3 teams there, with multiple wheels and a loom each). There were lots of other kids around with various fiber club t-shirts on. I had a lovely conversation with one of them at the batt booth.

Next year, I'll bring a folding chair and my spinning wheel. This year I just had my knitting with me.

I was intrigued by the drumcarder. I wish I had access to one that I didn't have to purchase outright (they are quite expensive). I know some places have guilds with equipment that can be borrowed or rented, but there is none around here (that I know of).

Is this bug contagious?

Yesterday I went to a beginning spinning class at The Mannings. It was an all-day soup-to-nuts kind of class. First, we learned about evaluating and cleaning a fleece. We talked about different wheel styles and each chose one from the showroom to use for the rest of the day. I wanted an upright wheel with double treadles, and I knew I probably did not want a Louet wheel. I talked about it with the instructor, Thomas, and told him I'd been using an Ashford Traveller with my other spinning teacher, Gail. He recommended the Schacht Ladybug. Here she is - isn't she cute?

At first I wasn't sure I would like a spinning wheel with a big red piece of plastic on it. But I grew to love it - it's so sporty and fun, and very portable. I like the open style of the guide hooks (very different from the Ashford ones) and I like that the orifice is centered on the wheel rather than off to the left. I like the stretchy drive band. I really like the tensioned lazy kate attachment - see the little black bands on the bobbins down below? Those slow down the bobbins while plying, exactly what I was longing for when I plied on the Traveller.

Thomas walked us through dying fleece, carding, combing, spinning, and plying - it was a long day. A few more photos are over on my Flickr set.

I made some more yarn and bought some more roving (Louet Coopworth) to practice spinning with. I learned how to draft from the fold, which I found helped me keep control of fiber that is slippery. All in all, it was a very good day.

Don't I have a birthday coming soon? Do I deserve a sporty new wheel?