Haunui and Spinning for a Traveller

Recently, I had the opportunity to spin a new to me breed of sheep wool …. Haunui. I

had no idea what to expect because I had never heard of the breed before but it was an absolute delight! The wool is very fine and soft but it still has a teeny bit of that tooth to it that I love.

True to form, I settled on a 2 ply fractal and I’m very happy with the finished yarn. It was a smaller spin …. Only 2 oz … but I’m eager to spin more of this breed.

In other spinning news, I’m currently working on spinning my last braid for a Traveler Shawl in three beautiful colorways of a merino, silk, and flax from Inglenook Fibres. I love the texture of this blend and am excited to start knitting a largish project in my own handspun. The last large handspun project was a Nightshift and it was a blast to knit (and I love to wear it!).

That’s all the spinning news for the moment. I hope you have a peaceful Sunday, wherever you may be, and that you find a little time for craft.

Haunui and Spinning for a Traveller

Recently, I had the opportunity to spin a new to me breed of sheep wool …. Haunui. I

had no idea what to expect because I had never heard of the breed before but it was an absolute delight! The wool is very fine and soft but it still has a teeny bit of that tooth to it that I love.

True to form, I settled on a 2 ply fractal and I’m very happy with the finished yarn. It was a smaller spin …. Only 2 oz … but I’m eager to spin more of this breed.

In other spinning news, I’m currently working on spinning my last braid for a Traveler Shawl in three beautiful colorways of a merino, silk, and flax from Inglenook Fibres. I love the texture of this blend and am excited to start knitting a largish project in my own handspun. The last large handspun project was a Nightshift and it was a blast to knit (and I love to wear it!).

That’s all the spinning news for the moment. I hope you have a peaceful Sunday, wherever you may be, and that you find a little time for craft.

Sunday Spinning

Well! Please forgive my absence. It has been a hot minute since I’ve shared anything here on the blog. I have been crafting lots and I could come up with many reasons for not sharing but the honest truth is that I’ve just fallen out of the habit! Habits are like muscles we need to use them to keep them strong and I’ve let my blogging muscles get quite weak 🥴 Time to get back into the habit!

Today, I’ve decided to share a few quick shots of my spinning projects. I’ve become much more proficient at support spindling since I last shared and always have a project on my spindles on the go. This photo is of a delightful batt I picked up from the Paisley Defender at the PEI Fibre Festival. It is a blend of fibres and textures and it is such a pleasurable spin. Sue’s colours are always on point too!

The next two photos are finished yarns in a delicious merino, tussah silk, and flax blend from Inglenook Fibers. I am busily spinning away for a Traveler Shawl by Andrea Mowry. I have one more braid to spin and I will be time to get knitting!

I’ll spare you the long parade of projects since last posting but will make a better effort to write more often. I actually really enjoy blogging but with day-to-day to do lists and time demands it is usually the first thing to get shuffled to the back burner.

Do you have habits that you’ve let go a little? Are you an infrequent blogger like myself or a person who suffers from cast-on-itis? Please tell me I’m big the only one to let habits wane sometimes 😆

The Weekly Wool – Fibre Prep

Lately, my Fridays have been spent in a scramble of errands, food prep, and driving the kiddos around but today, I actually have a free day! So …. I’m spending my time prepping some really beautiful wool for spinning.

For a bit of background, I had the pleasure of helping out at Fleece and Harmony on shearing day. The major perk of working at the skirting table means you get to preview ALL the lovely fleece 😆 and I fell in love with some of the silvery grey that passed along the table. Kim and Ken sent a big bag full of this precious wool home with me and I promptly washed and dried it for later processing.

Having previously been a hand carder here at home and stepping up to a drum carder, there is a bit of a learning curve to creating lovely and smooth spinning batts but I have to say, I feel I’m getting the knack of it!

I started out by flicking the tips open and moved on to picking. Each generous handful of wool went through the box picker twice. After picking, I put the wool through the drum carder twice as well. I made sure to add the wool slowly and to spread it out. The resulting batt is EXACTLY what I was going for …. Smooth, airy, light, and soft. I can’t wait to spin it!

What kind of fun crafty things are you working on? Are you working on expanding any of your skill sets? I’d love to hear!

The Weekly Wool

I know it may be early in the week but I’ve been enjoying some woolly escapades already.

I’ve recently received some beautiful Shetland X fleeces and a Romanov fleece from a neighbor and I’ve been processing away. Below is a quick little snippet of sorting and skirting out in my yard.

I’m getting much better a skirting and sorting efficiently and effectively (it helps that I get to do this at my day job as well!) but my home processing is a work-in-progress. I’m quite fussy about my fibre prep (IMAGINE!) because I’ve been so dang lucky to enjoy batts from epic creators like Melly Knits, so I feel my fibre processing needs some fine tuning and tweaking to be up to my quality preference.

Regardless, practice makes progress, so I’ve been getting very friendly with my wool box picker and my drum carder. I’m pretty pleased with the two batts of Shetland X that I’ve picked and carded today. They pretty smooth (they do have a few neps) and I’m just cracking to sample them. I might just have to spin a little bit on my Kiwi tonight. 😉

The Weekly Wool

I’ve decided to start a new little blog series about my adventures in wool during the week. No specific parameters, just what I’m doing, learning, enjoying, and without pressure to produce a specific finished result. As much as I enjoy structure and routine, I sometimes need the space for whimsy. The Weekly Wool is essentially a diary of my playtime with wool.

This week I received a new spindle in the mail from The Spindle Shop in Queensland, Australia and let me tell you, it is a beauty! It is made from a variety of beautiful woods and is smooth as silk. It also spins like a top!

Of course, I need to create a fun fibre batt to get acquainted with the new spindle so I went through my fibre stash and settled on a blend of locally grown Icelandic, a bit of Corriedale, some lovely dyed Shetland from Good Fibrations, some Cheviot, a smattering of sari silk, and just a little sprinkling of angelina. I’m pretty happy with the finished batt and it is spinning up with a wonderful texture. I’ve set aside half of the batt as I feel this really wants to be a two ply handspun.

Another bit of fun I’ve been having is skirting and washing some local fleece. Usually, I just skirt and wash enough to serve my immediate needs but this time I decided to complete a whole fleece. Part of the decision to prep more is the fact that I am now the proud owner of both a box wool picker and a hand crank drum carder. This should make processing a bit easier for me. Also, the weather was fabulous and I was able to skirt outside and, once the wool was washed, lay it out to dry in the sun. Truth be told, I’ll probably skirt and wash another fleece this afternoon 😉

And lastly, not related to wool at all, my chamomile is in full on bloom. I love these happy little flowers and very much enjoy making tea from them.

I hope today that you find a little time savour and enjoy the things that bring you happiness and joy as well.

FO Friday – Sea Glass Lace

Over the past little while I’ve been pecking away at spinning up my first little fibre batt that I created on my drum carder. It is a blend of all sorts of odds and ends from my fibre stash in beachy blues and greens. One of my friends says it makes them think of sea glass.

These singles were handspun on two of my support spindles.

A long term goal of mine is to eventually be able to spin and knit a wedding ring shawl. Whether it happens or not it’s a not crucial but it gives me something fun to work towards and spinning on support spindles is a step in that direction.

I can achieve a much finer single on support spindles that I can on either a drop spindle or wheel because I don’t have the weight of suspended spindle to contend with and I can more closely fine tune the tension with a support spindle. I can also get some great twist happening with ease.

Today’s finished project is something I’m pretty proud of. I have achieved fairly consistent singles and a whopping 373 yards for 30 grams worth of fibre. No too shabby!

I will continue my practice spinning fine singles and maybe one day I will achieve my goal of spinning fine enough for that shawl.

Unrelated to my crafting, I couldn’t help but snap a couple of shots of my beautiful centaurea blossoms. They grow next to the bench where I photograph my handspun and they bring me such joy. They look like magical Faery creations and I look forward to their appearance each year.

As we head into the weekend, I hope you find time for enjoying the flowers and some quiet and peaceful crafting time.

Sunday Snapshots

I recently acquired a drum carder so I’ve been quietly working away at using up some scraps and leftover bits of fibre.

Today, I made a very beachy looking batt with blues, greens, and the odd little pops of colour and have started spinning it on my Woodland Handcraft cauldron spindle.

The more I work with spindles, the more I seem to fall even more in love with them. I find them very peaceful and almost meditative to spin on and I particularly enjoy the fact that I get to really savour spinning the fibre.

So this is my Sunday treat …. A little spinning in the garden. What are you doing?

FO Friday – Spindle Spun and Plyed

I had a sweet little spinning batt made by my fibre friend Sue in my stash that I was saving for something special.

This was the perfect fibre for spinning on one of my support spindles as I get to slow down and really savour spinning it. For the fibre blend, I have no idea what is in it but it is soft, woolly, and I love alllllll the colors.

The singles were handspun on my Tibetan support spindle and I chose to ply it using my Dealgan. Both spindles are from Fox Mountain Spindles and are beautifully made. They are such a treat to use!

I’m very happy with the finished yarn too. It is a fingering weight 2 ply and it shows off all the pops of color so well. I have no idea what I want to make with it yet … for now I’m just content squishing it and daydreaming.