Highland Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers

Blog

  • Fleece Workshop March 2021

    Amanda Hannaford ran this workshop, which focussed on fleece – the different properties of fleece from a variety of breeds, how to process and spin them to get the best from them, and what the resulting yarn can be used for. [envira-gallery id=”4426″]

    She started by showing us samples of short, medium and long stapled fleece processed in different ways. First a short lambswool, showing an even, bouncy yarn spun longdraw from hand carded rolags; then three Jacob’s skeins spun: without preparation, longdraw from rolags, combed and worsted spun; Zwarbles fleece she said varies from long and curled (ideally worsted spun) to short and crimpy (ideally woollen spun); Wensleydale she had flick carded and spun with a short, worsted draft to produce a lustrous, smooth yarn. All of this demonstrated the importance of good preparation and an appropriate spinning technique.

    She then went on to talk about some of the fleeces she likes to use and which are available to her locally, and showed us samples:

    Southdown and Dorset Down: short downs fleece with a crisp handle, ideal for carding and woollen spinning. The fleece had been put through a swing picker before carding. Both had produced sock yarn and Aran weight yarn. A very fine Southdown had produced lace weight yarn.
    [envira-gallery id=”4430″]

    Cotswold and Wensleydale: lustre longwool. Amanda had produced enough 5 ply gansey wool for an adult gansey from Cotswold fleece, which would knit up at 7-9 stitches per inch. She told us she always counts the wraps per inch of her singles – the singles for the gansey yarn were 60 wpi. The Cotswold also produced an excellent curled loop boucle. The Wensleydale had been dyed and most had been combed and worsted spun: a few skeins had been tail-spun. This had been knitted into a shawl, with the tail spun yarn as an accent.
    [envira-gallery id=”4434″]

    Romney: medium fleece with slight lustre; quite long, so best combed
    [envira-gallery id=”4439″]

    Portland: rare breed; fine creamy fleece with slight lustre; can be combed or carded

    Exmoorino: Exmoor Horn crossed with Merino; very fine; comb
    [envira-gallery id=”4440″]

    North Ronaldsay is a breed more local to us. It is double coated, with a very fine undercoat, which will spin up to a thickish laceweight, and a longer hairy outer coat.
    [envira-gallery id=”4441″]

    Soay, a primitive breed, sheds its coat naturally. The fleece needs to be gathered in bits and varies in quality from fine to coarse and in colour from blond to chocolate.
    [envira-gallery id=”4442″]

    Dealing with raw fleece: unroll and spread out on a sheet out of doors; skirt: remove lower part of each leg, edges of belly and dirty fleece from the britch area; soak overnight just in cold water, then leave to drain; then put into hot water (more than hand hot, but not boiling) with a good squirt of cheap washing up liquid; leave for about 20 minutes, then rinse in gradually cooler water till the rinsing water is clean, and leave to dry. N.B. You can wash fleece a section at a time, you don’t need to do the whole fleece at once.

    Amanda finished by demonstrating combing and the use of a diz to draw off the combed fibre into a sliver, and showed her hand carding video: Hand carding wool – YouTube. This is one of a number of handspinning related videos. Amada’s YouTube channel is ADHUK.
    [envira-gallery id=”4396″]

    Pictures from the afternoon craft and chat session are below.
    [envira-gallery id=”4443″]

  • Silk Spinning February 2021

    Jaine Mahon of (Skye Silks) gave us a wonderful workshop on silk spinning via Zoom on the morning of 13 February. She started by taking us on a tour of her studio, showing us some of her lovely handwoven silk scarves, and other handwoven and hand dyed items, then on to spinning. She had made up boxes, beautifully packaged, containing a range of types of silk, which participants were able to buy beforehand. Jaine worked through these, talking about the production process, and showing us the most effective way to spin them. The pace was relaxed, with time for us to have a go at spinning each type of silk as it was introduced, and plenty of time for questions.

    I took a lot of screen shots, so have divided the photos into sections. The first includes shots of the studio, then Jaine holding up some of the items in the pack: a cocoon; tussah silk which ranges in colour from light to dark honey’ eri silk – dark and woolly; carrier rods which are waste from the reeling process – these can be used for silk papermaking.

    [envira-gallery id=”4315″]

    Cultivated silk comes from the cocoons of bombix mori moths, which are fed on mulberry leaves. The grubs inside the cocoons are stifled with steam so that the silk can be reeled off as one continuous filament. For spinners this silk is often sold as a top folded into a brick shape (a silk brick). To spin open up the brick, divide off a section and pre-draft it. Jaine recommended spinning from the fold (i.e. with a section folded over the finger) to give more control. She recommended this method also for tussah which also often comes as a top. Recycled sari silk (the blue top in the pictures below) gives a textured yarn, and can be spun from the fold or straight from the top.

    [envira-gallery id=”4325″]

    Degummed cocoons need to be opened out then held gently in the hand while drawing out into a long triangle to spin as the fibre is very long. It can be spun very fine. Mawata caps and hankies consist of layers of degummed cocoons stretched over a shape. To spin separate off a layer, make a hole in the middle with your fingers and carefully (silk is strong and can cut!) widen the hole, pulling the cap or hankie into a large circle until the circle breaks; keep drafting to the thickness you want, then add twist.

    [envira-gallery id=”4335″]

    The first three photos below show Jaine spinning noil, which gives a textured yarn. It varies in quality – some can be very short – and Jaine recommended getting a sample before buying a quantity. Floss is the final bits from the centre of the cocoon, and comes as a carded mass. It may need to be opened up on fine hand carders before spinning. To dye it needs to be separated into layers or the dye will not penetrate. Throwsters waste is a by product of the commercial spinning process. It produces a very textured yarn.

    [envira-gallery id=”4345″]

    In the afternoon we had our usual craft, chat show and tell session. Anne and Isobel held up some textured silk spinning, Isobel a woven silk scarf, Hilma a collapse weave scarf in silk and wool, Sheila was putting the finishing touches to her woven blanket, Alison had one of her little woven baskets, Norah was spinning flax, and Sarah showed us a notebook with a lovely felted cover which she uses to record her projects. Both sessions were attended by around 30 people.

    [envira-gallery id=”4302″]

  • January gathering

    The morning Crafters’ Question Time, attended by 18 or 19 people brought an interesting range of questions and answers and ended on a light note with “What is the most extravagant craft item you’ve bought and has it improved your crafting, which everyone had the chance to answer!

    The afternoon session, again attended by 19 people, was filled with friendly chat and exchange of information. Ruth had just bought a tape loom, which many of us hadn’t heard of – it will enable the production of inkle type bands without the length restriction of an inkle loom. Scandinavian band looms were also mentioned – something to look up!

    The pictures below mostly relate to the show and tell. There were three Fair Isle patterned hats; two sea-themed pictures; Terry was wearing her handspun jumper, Denise was finishing hers; Alison had made a patchwork fabric from hexagons woven on a pin loom, and showed a picture of the bag she plans to make; Sheila had used her handwoven fabric for the base of her patchwork bag. Alison showed how her inkle loom is set up with supplementary heddles for the pattern she is weaving.

    [envira-gallery id=”4261”]

  • December pm gathering

    Following the Teneriffe Lace workshop in the morning several people proudly shared their completed medallions, while some continued to work on theirs, or spin, or just join in the general chat. There was some interesting headgear which we all admired, plus the usual visits from pets! Later we had a show and tell – easy to do as we’re all at home and have things to hand. Photos below:

    [envira-gallery id=”4227″]

  • Teneriffe Lace December 2020

    Teneriffe lace medallions are worked on a circular loom (cardboard and pins!), a bit like Dorset buttons. They can be quite simple or more complex as the pictures show, and were used for collars table cloths etc. They would also make snowflakes for your Christmas tree. Mary has provided instructions for making a card loom:
    Teneriffe Lace on card
    Mary used this YouTube video to help demonstrate the stitches:
    video on working Teneriffe Lace

    Here are some photos from the workshop, plus Mary’s samples. There are more pictures in the gallery for the afternoon gathering as people shared what they had completed.
    [envira-gallery id=”4104″]

    If you want to follow up on the technique there is a book on the technique which is a free download: The Technique of Teneriffe Lace.

  • Tapestry and Quiz Day 14 November 2020

    [envira-gallery id=”4126″] Our morning Zoom session focussed on tapestry weaving, with a total of 16 members taking part. We had a show and tell, and were able to admire a range of tapestry weaving styles. Sadie Paige showed some of the samples she has created for the Certificate of Achievement. She didn’t want those to be on show yet, so has sent a picture of another tapestry and its inspiration – the last two pictures in the gallery. Many of us had been influenced by Joan Baxter, who has done a number of workshops for the Guild. Halfway through the morning we watched a video called Threads of the Deep in which Joan talks about her work and what inspires her.

    In the afternoon we had a very challenging fibre related quiz devised by Serena, with 16 participants, plus Serena herself as quizmaster. Great fun – made us all realise how much we don’t know about sheep, yarn, fibre etc! Afterwards we relaxed with chat and a bit of spinning.

    We are beginning to get used to the technology and its challenges, and though it can’t take the place of meeting up in person, it’s good to be able to interact in this way. One huge advantage is that our members in Germany and the Netherlands are able to join us.

    The pictures are mostly from the morning session but ending with 2 from the afternoon.

  • Art Yarn


    This is Sue Varley’s idea: spin a yarn inspired by a piece or art work. Sue has started us off with a yarn inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

  • Britspin 2020

    BritSpin – The British Wool Spinning Marathon – Team Highland Guild report by Team Captain – Liz Armstrong

    For those that don’t know, BritSpin is a 4-day spinning event where teams of 10 spinners compete in a spinning marathon and some optional additional events. The event raises money for charity and this year’s charity was the RNLI (chosen by last year’s winning team).

    This was my 3rd year, but the first year our Guild took part. Our team of 10 was myself (first time Captain), Mary Paren (Deputy), Jane Kitchener, Bryony Silcott, Denise Carroll, Aileen Wilby, Caroline Mayson, Norah Shann, Serena Mason and Michelle Stirling. A total of 12 teams took part and our nearest competitors were a team in Dumfries. Our team sponsor was Doulton Border Leicester Yarns and we received over 1kg of lovely Border Leicester tops to divide amongst the team and spin. Some of the team dyed their fibre before the event.

    In the ‘Team Marathon’ we came 6th, spinning 21,880 BritSpin Metres (13.6 miles!). A fantastic result for our first year. But the event encourages you to not just spin a lot over the 4 days, but also you can take part in some optional additional events. These events help boost your points towards the overall result:
    ‘Bingo Card’ – 17 tasks such as Spin Outdoors, Spin Blindfolded, Spin using a DIY tool! 7 of the team achieved a full house on their Bingo card and there was a lot of laughter discussing our attempts at some of the tasks and me trying to capture a screenshot of Denise whilst she was spinning blind folded in gloves via Zoom!
    ‘Learn a new skill’ – between 6 of us we earned 11 new skill badges. These included spinning gradients, fractals, making and spinning punis and Norah learned how to use her Dealgan spindle.
    ‘Breedathon’ – spin at least 50g of as many different breeds of sheep. We hadn’t really co-ordinated ourselves so much on this event, but despite that we managed to spin 10 different breeds and came 7th. (The winning team spun 73 breeds!!!).
    ‘Photo Competition’ – this year’s theme was ‘Joy of BritSpin’. Uploaded images were ‘voted on’ by others liking the image. The image with the most likes by the event deadline won. I am thrilled to say that it was one of Mary Paren’s images that won this competition. A photo of her showing Leia what she does with her fleece (whilst also ticking off the Bingo tasks of spin outdoors and spin wearing gloves!) One of Norah’s images almost achieved 3rd place, another photo showing joy and ticking off the spin outdoors and spin in PJs Bingo boxes. All the images our team submitted were great though.
    ‘BritSpin Sprint’ – spin, ply and measure as long a length as you can within 1 hour. Only two of us entered this event and my own attempt was without doubt the worst spinning I have ever produced.

    We came in 5th place. This was an outstanding result for our first year entering a team and far exceeded my expectations. A big thank you to all the ladies who took part in the event and I hope that next year we may have enough interest to enter more than one team. The feedback from the team was positive and Bryony said her spinning over the event improved significantly.

    For more information about the event see the BritSpin website, this has links to the Ravelry pages and you’ll be able to find more information and see other photos.

    [envira-gallery id=”4087″]

  • Zoom meetings 10 October 2020

    At the pre-AGM meeting in September we decided to start a programme of Zoom meetings for members, held on our usual Guild days – the second Saturday of the month. This was the first, and it worked extremely well. In the morning we had show and tell, and a fair bit of general chat. It was good to catch up and be inspired by what people had been creating. In the afternoon, with a slightly different group we had a spinning session, again with plenty of chat, advice asked for and given etc. There were 11 at the morning session, 10 in the afternoon, including Ann who joined us briefly at the end of the afternoon. There’ll be another session next month – hope to see you there! I took screen shots to give a flavour of the meetings.

    [envira-gallery id=”4016″]

  • Colours of Highland

    To start off this gallery Alison M has sent a picture of a tapestry weaving inspired by late sun on the hills. She used a variety of yarns, including Harris yarns and wool left over from the Scottish tapestry panel she was involved in stitching. She sent two pictures and I’m including both as I’m intrigued by the difference the background makes. I’ve just added some lovely pictures from Alison R of her weaving. The inspiration for each (shown in the photos attached to the cloth) is as follows: Fingal’s Cave on Staffa; the view from Fortrose towards Fort George; 2 views of Loch Ness from the great Glen Way; 2 views of Bettyhill; sunrise and sunset over the Beauly Firth; North Kessock woods. Denise spun and knitted her cardigan during lockdown. The fibre is BFL and Shetland.

    [envira-gallery id=”4022″]

  • Sea and Shore

    As it is difficult to meet up at the moment, we have decided to celebrate our crafts in a couple of on-line exhibitions. This is the first and will run to mid October. I will be adding pictures as they are sent in. To start off we have my Krokbragd weavings, following on from the March workshop, and Mary’s dyed tops in sea colours; then Hilma’s skein in summery sea colours. Two pictures from Terry next: of the first, white fleece, Terry says: a fleecy view that makes me think of swaying weed among the sea foam (Scots Blackface); and the second: the tide rushing on to seaweedy shoreline rocks (Blue Texel). I’ve just added Isobel’s tapestry to the gallery, although it’s been there in a comment for a while. And from Liz some of her dyed fibre and one of the felted lampshades she makes. Jane has sent some skeins created by combining several bobbin ends in similar colours which reflect the theme, plus a photo of the real thing from one of her walks.

    Note: because I’m building the gallery as the photos come in they are in reverse order.
    [envira-gallery id=”3990″]

  • Tomintoul Coat Project

    A builder renovating a cottage in the square at Tomintoul found a coat hidden in the rafters. It was dated to the 1830s. The community got lottery funding to research and create a replica which could be openly displayed in the heritage centre. Two child sized coats have also been made so that children can try them on. The 14th March was set as the date for a workshop day at the end of the project, and the Guild was asked to participate – a talk about spinning, weaving and dyeing, particularly relating to the period the coat was thought to have been made, plus interactive demonstration of spinning and weaving.

    I trawled my book collection for historical information for the talk. Gill, Fiona and Christine came along to demonstrate spinning and help people to have a go. Ada loaned me a large selection of natural dye samples; Fiona also brought some of hers. Linda and Sue were there as participants, but Linda had also brought along some of her natural dye experiments and was able to talk to participants about this.

    I set up my small rigid heddle loom with a black and white warp for a shepherd’s plaid type check pattern, and my small 4-shaft with a basic twill with a navy warp and lime green weft. We also had spindles and a pirn.

    We all thoroughly enjoyed the day. There was a huge amount of interest in our crafts. A lot of people had a go and fairly competently!

    We were of course just one part of the day. We also heard interesting talks on the history of the village, and the way the coat was dated, and we had the opportunity to have a close look at (but not touch!) the coat.

    [envira-gallery id=”3928″]

  • Rigid Heddle Weaving 14 March 2020

    Jane Kitchener tutored this beginners workshop, which was held the day before the Krogbragd workshop. Apologies for not posting this sooner. I wasn’t there, but it seems to have been a very successful day, and Inga has provided photos which show what went on. The resulting weaving looks lovely. Here is Jane’s report of the day:

    As someone who regularly uses a rigid heddle loom, I was keen to share my skills with complete beginners. The day’s plan included a way of warping the loom, followed by the opportunity to weave a length of cloth, at a pace to suit all participants.
    The workshop began with an introduction to looms, associated equipment, woven samples and reference books. A worksheet was provided, with space for notes and as an ‘aide-memoire’. Working in pairs to put a warp on the looms made it quicker and less intimidating for all. I was on hand to give further advice, where necessary, and with a small number in the group there was a relaxed atmosphere throughout the day.
    By lunchtime, the looms were prepared and weaving could start. After a short lunch everyone enthusiastically set to work, with encouraging results: varying lengths of fabric were woven and admired. Progress was rapid and all-too-soon it was time to discuss how to finish the weaving, plus the benefit of record-keeping.
    A satisfied group went home with their woven cloth and expressed an interest in furthering their skills on a rigid heddle loom. There are more techniques and design opportunities available, so I hope the prospect of such a workshop is not too far away.
    Jane Kitchener

    [envira-gallery id=”3936″]

  • Krokbragd Weaving 15 March 2020

    Another excellent workshop tutored by Kathryn Kusa. Eleven Guild members took part, and there was a lot of bustle early on as everyone arrived and started to set up their looms – quite a variety of these, including 2 rigid heddle looms. We had warping instructions beforehand. Krokbragd uses just uses 3 shafts and is threaded 1, 2, 3, 2. It is a weft faced technique, so the warp, made of strong cotton, does not show. Kathryn began by showing us the lifting sequence on the 4-shaft loom: 12, 23, 13, then how the patterns are produced. She then demonstrated the set up for the rigid heddle, which we were all interested to see. The loom is warped in the usual way, with threads alternately through slots and holes, then supplementary heddles (Kathryn had used inkle loom heddles, which she said were just the right length) are attached to the threads in the slots. These are slipped alternately onto two dowels so that half are on each. The sheds are formed as follows: 1. rigid heddle in the up position, first lot of supplementary heddles raised; 2. rigid heddle still in the up position, second lot of supplementary heddles raised; 3. rigid heddle in the down position. Kathryn then handed us instruction sheets, with patterns to try. As ever the results were amazingly varied, with differences in colour and scale producing very different results from the same pattern suggestions. Later in the day Kathryn showed us how to draw out pattern ideas and convert them to weaving instructions. A brilliant day, just fitted in before the self isolation instructions from the government.

    Kathryn demonstrates the techniques:

    [envira-gallery id=”3875″]

    Our weaving:

    [envira-gallery id=”3887″]

    People:

    [envira-gallery id=”3900″]

  • Open Day and Challenge 8 Febrary 2020

    Between 40 and 50 people attended this event, with some coming and going in the course of the day. We had a big circle of spinners around the hall, with several weavers at tables as well. This was the day to bring along what we had made from the fibre distributed at the September Open Day: 50 gms Corriedale tops, 40 gms Blue Faced Leicester / seacell tops, 10 gms recycled sari silk. Apart from the sari silk the fibre was undyed. The challenge was to spin and make something from the fibre. We could dye it, and we could add up to 100 gms of fibre or yarn; felting was also allowed. The number and variety of items created was truly impressive – pictures below:

    [envira-gallery id=”3819″]

    plua a few pictures of people:

    [envira-gallery id=”3850″]