Spinning Guru dispenses wisdom at Woven Art

Patsy Zawitoski, the Spinning Guru, gave us two workshops this past weekend. Saturday we focused on woolen and worsted spinning. These are spinning techniques that result in very different yarns. A woolen yarn is lofty and fuzzy, where a worsted yarn is smoother. An important aspect of this is how the fiber is prepared. Worsted yarns are made from combed fibers, where woolen yarns are better made from fiber that has been carded. I learned how to use combs (you should see my knuckles), and hand cards. I learned how to doff, meaning, I learned how to take the fiber off the cards. I tried using a longer draw, because, even though the fibers are often short for woolen yarn, you use a long draw, allowing quite a distance between the fiber hand and the one letting in the twist. This, I can see, will take some practice. I reverted immediately back to thick and thin yarn. Partly lofty with areas of string.

On Sunday we learned more about fiber preparation, and moved quickly to exotic blends. Yes, we used exotic fibers, like Yak, silk and bamboo. We also cut up some thrums from my latest weaving project, threw in a little angelina, and combined some colors you might not normally put together. I made twelve inches of an amazing yarn with cut tussah silk, yak and cut up warp threads.

We broke into teams. Each team was given a prepared bag of 4 ounces of stuff. My stuff was called "potluck" - literally some fibers left from previous projects, plus some handpainted silk and some angelina flash. Another team had an all white mix of silk, wool, linen and again with the angelina. All the blends made beautiful batts. Everybody got to take home about half an ounce of everyone else's blend. The proof will be in the spinning - which I plan to do this week.

Here are some pictures:



Michelle and Helen making their blend, called Autumn Sunset.

Jenn and Faina carefully planning their all white blend. This one is so elegant.
These are Rhonda's hands - carding some wool.

This is Pat and Patsy - what a pair! They are blending black mohair with soy silk and purple merino. The mohair and soysilk don't like each other at all, but they were tamed, and co-exist in one roving. I wonder what will happen when it is spun?

And finally, Patsy Z herself, unfurling some wool for us to learn with.

It was a great weekend. I got so much out of it. I improved my spinning knowledge so much, but more importantly, I got to spend a lot of time with wonderful people. Really, really fun.

We had a full weekend of workshops at WovenArt! Andrea Wong was here on Saturday, to teach us the ins and outs (over and arounds?) of Portuguese style knitting. I personally really enjoyed learning a new way to knit. This is the easiest and fastest way to purl, for sure. While I am not sure that "fast" is an ideal goal for all knitters, it sure will be great for me. Because of the shop, I am constantly knitting shop models, class samples, and, natch, presents! So, for me, fast is good. For others, learning a new way to knit might be beneficial as a way to prevent knitting fatigue, or a way to tease the brain a bit. I love brain work! There are all kinds of studies that prove that new challenges are good for your brain.
This is Andrea, showing two students how to get the correct angle. See the pin? Well, see the yarn, tensioned from the shoulder? It is around a pin.
Here is the pin! A nice view of the knitting pin on Jennifer. What a pretty smile! Thanks for posing, Jennifer!

On Sunday, I taught a full day workshop on Rigid Heddle weaving with two heddles. It took the morning to set up the looms, and the afternoon was devoted playing around with different color and weave variations. I was teaching, and didn't have a chance to take pictures, but if you pop over to Carol's Blog, you can find out more.

Up North Table Runner

I would like to share with you a project I recently completed on a 15" Flip rigid heddle loom. We have a condo in northern Michigan on Crooked Lake. We are trying to sell the condo. I had this idea that the dining room table needed a little dressing up - to impress prospective buyers. The look I wanted was to have an up-north, rustic feel, with out being too Summery.

I decided on the stripe sequence, and hem stitching instead of a knotted fringe:




Notice in the picture above how open the weave is. Pictured below is the same thing, after washing. It closed up and softened up. Before washing the texture was like a very stiff, thick canvas. After washing it had the perfect floppiness for table runner. Certainly not flimsy - but not the least bit stiff either.

Finally, above is a picture of how it looks on our table. The runner distracts very well from the gouges, crayon marks, and other tragedies of the table's long membership in our clan.

Here are my notes:

Up North Table Runner
Warp and weft yarns: Euroflax light worsted from Louet
Planned Finished length: 96”
Planned Finished Width: 13”

Width in Reed 14.5”
length of warp: 110”

8 e.p.i

total warp ends: 112

Warp color order: (12N 2B2T2b2T2B) repeat four times, end with 12 N
N= Navy
B - brown
T= Tan
b= light blue

Weave an inch or two in plain weave, secure ends with an overhand hem stitch. Continue weaving to the end. End with hemstitching.

Notes: Lost tension while moving loom around. Plus, found it very hard to create an even tension with linen on a rigid heddle loom. Hole threads always tight, slot threads always loose. Still managed to weave through - and the finished product looks mostly even - a little bit of a problem on the edges - where the threads were much looser.

Cut off. Wash in washing machine on hot, dry in dryer. Hold breath. Remove from dryer, and admire lovely "hand". Trim fringe to length.

Finished dimensions:
Before washing 12.5” x 100”
After washing 11.25” x 83” not including fringe

This turned out to be narrower and shorter than I had planned - but I still think it looks right on the table.

Charity Knitting Contest

The Spartans team of Woven Art in East Lansing hereby challenge the Wolverine team of Knit A-round in Ann Arbor to a charity knitting contest. As everybody knows, this year has been a tough one for many families in Michigan. It has been especially hard on the families of auto workers in Genessee county. Let's pull together and warm up our fellow Michiganians with hats, scarves and mittens! The kick off of the knit off is NOW! We'll knit and crochet and weave until the end of the U of M vs Spartan football game. The winner takes the honors - but the real winners will be Michigan Families!

New handpainted sock yarn

I have added a new sock blank to my stable. This one is called Treadsoft. 100% superwash merino, it has a nice, firm twist. A real bonus is that I have it wound in 4 ounces skeins - each with 490 yards. Enough for a generously sized pair of socks. My camera and my monitor have conspired to gray out the top one - which is a rich burgundy/brown blend. I am tempted to scoop one up and cast on for Damson. Be sure to scroll down one page.

It's not Fall yet

But I can't resist the Fall colors. From left to right: Merino, Soy and Merino blend, Merino Superwash.
8 ounces of each. All available for sale. Call me! 517-203-4467

Surface Design and other projects

I just received the Summer 2009 issue of Surface Design - and the focus this month is on knitting! Grab a copy, or browse mine when you are in the shop next. Find out how sculptors are using knitting both for it's structure and for it's metaphoric power. It also address collaborative knit projects, such as the Gas Station cover we helped with a couple of years ago with the International Fiber Collaborative. Have you heard about the Canada based Revolutionary knitting circle? Be sure to google this. Their motto: "Building Community, and speeding forward the revolution, through knitting. I love this.

I have been quiet (at least in the blogosphere), but I've been knitting, and weaving, and spinning, and dyeing. Below are a few "starts".


Eyelet cap from Vogue Knitting Fall 2009, knit in Mericash handpaint from Duchess Yarns.



Shop hop tease - do I see a toe?



Shop hop tease number two - a long, open cardigan designed by Nancy McRay (why that's me!), in hand dyed Monty 3/9's. What do I mean "Shop hop tease"? This is the pattern you will get when you visit my shop during the CAYSC shop hop this coming September 17 to 20. The other tease is the pattern you'll get once you visit two of the four shops - can you imagine what you'll get if you visit all four?