Category: Chat

Inspired by Fiona Dendy’s procion dyeing on grey fleece, members of the dyeing interest
group agreed to consider incorporating this into a challenge for the winter months.
The details will be finalised at our meeting on December 3rd but are likely to include the
following ideas:
• Grey fleece dyed with a range different colours
and/or
• Grey fleece dyed with a range of different/alternative dyestuffs e.g. hair dye

Open to everyone in the guild, the spinning challenge is intended to be fun and to
encourage each other to be productive with our spinning. There will be one afternoon and
one evening spin-along session on zoom on different days each week during January and
we particularly hope that newer guild members will join in the fun. It is a great opportunity
to get to know other members informally, put some names and faces together, find out
who is interested in what in the world of spinning and discover who can answer questions
and help with techniques or difficulties you may be having. You can use the guild facebook
page to share pictures of your work if you are on facebook, but all communication will be
by e-mail so members who do not use facebook will not miss out on any information.
There are a number of different things in the challenges to do with friendship, fibre and
frivolity, and you are welcome to try as many or as few as you wish, and to spend whatever
time suits you on the activities. The challenge is not a competition, it’s just a chance to
socialise, maybe try something new and get some good spinning done while the weather is
poor and the daylight hours are short. If you are interested in the spinning challenge
contact me (see December newsletter) and I will send you the details of the challenge, the
list of activities and I will add you to the e-mail list to receive the links for the zoom
meetings.

Sue has sent the first photo:

This is what she says about the skeins:
The fawn/brown skein is alpaca, it’s a standard 2-ply but done on a handy Andean plying tool (borrowed) – a new piece of kit for me, which I liked a lot and it’s now on my “must have one” list.

The white skein is from a blackface fleece, it’s construction is similar to a cable but it was done by chain plying first S-wise, then more S-twist was added before I chain plyed it again Z-wise giving a 9-ply yarn in total. It’s seriously chunky, spun at 16 yarns per inch with the final skein being just over 3 yarns per inch and it’s for a hearth rug I want to
weave.

The blue skein is a commercial merino and stellina blend core spun and spiral plied with a multi-coloured lurex commercial yarn which I was lucky enough to find in a charity shop.

Sue spinning standing up

Mary’s art yarn, inspired by late autumn colours.

Sue’s art yarn. Her inspiration is a picture of a tiffany glass lamp. Here’s what she says:

The yarn is a bubble crepe made by plying a multi-coloured core with two separate plies of black bamboo to give the stained glass effect. The core is a simple thick-and-thin single spun from a selection of three different sets of colours – blues, yellows and pale colours, each set blended in turn on my blending board, and spun sequentially.

It is a very easy yarn to make, and I think it is my new favourite of all the yarns I’ve spun yarn.

Our annual report and accounts 2018-19 can now be viewed on this site. Follow the link, or go to the Forms page to download.

Busying away with my spinning and weaving I wonder at differences of everyone’s creative processes.  One friend said to me today that she and her grand-daughter have been sorting out all her bits and pieces of hand-dyed fleece and ended up with 5 baskets full of the different colour ranges!  Goodness, I thought, I’d better get on with some dyeing.  I don’t have nearly enough stash!  No, what I have is “stash envy”, and no where to put anymore.  Well I could just maybe…  Do you get that?  This slow brewing craving for anything of any colour or fibre type to just have, ready to use in a fabulous project, or not?  I know another friend (and you might be able to guess who) may disagree.  For her the colour has to be very specific.  Red actually.  Red and black and greys.  But boy it’s amazing what she can do with that palette.  It’s all about finding what ignites our flame.  Some people can seemingly throw anything together and it works, others plan then dye, spin and weave accordingly.

What kind of creative are you and what are your must have elements?  I get tingles with turquoise and copper (yes, there is some in the project pictured below… just a hint, if you look hard.)

Here we have a lovely picture of Aileen and Mary (Paren) demonstrating at the St Boniface Fair.

I’m hoping either will add a comment here and tell us more about the event.

I hope your summer is going well.  The last few days of warm weather has staved off the approaching autumn quite nicely.  Since the Black Isle Show, which Serena wrote a good report of in the newsletter, I haven’t been out and about much but I thought I’d show you the results of my alpaca treasures from our day out at the alpaca farm.  I bought a small quantity of white which I spun up with merino (on recommendation) and silk at a ratio of 6:10:1.  It has turned out beautifully soft and fine.  I spun worsted from double carded thin batts torn into strips and managed a fine lace weight 2ply.  I’ve heard people say “why is everyone obsessed with spinning fine” but I wanted to stretch the rather expensive alpaca fibre as far as possible.  Sooo now to the knitting.  I’m not a knitter by nature so this is a tasksome project.  I’m doing a mobius scarf in a 4×4 basket weave on 3.5 needles and it’s like knitting baby clothes for a big person… wish me luck!

What are your thoughts on alpaca yarns?  Some say they are a bit lifeless without the bounce of some wool added and I wonder what your experiences are.

Hope to see you soon at some of the events !

All the best

Helen

Displacement activity- had to see for myself how easy (or hard) it was to post to the web-site. Success, like the tablet- weaving seemed a bit hit or miss, but I’ve done it!

Generally in spinning I have been taught that preparation is key. However I am off to help at a Spinning class in Gairloch tomorrow and am only just now getting organised and thinking what key information or stuff should I take. Too late to ask for advice but I am always interested in what got people hooked. I also still think most of us could improve on the way we demonstrate. I need to watch my language and stop tutting. If it goes well there might be some more west coast members….