Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Handwoven Cuffs

Making Handwoven Cuffs


 I'm in my sewing room today busy making up some new cuffs. Here are a few.




 My sewing room.
 Woven bits of material  ready and waiting to be made-up into more cuffs.
Spinning Tip.
 
Here's a good tip on how to hold your yarn in place on your spinning wheel. I use a velcro circle, and when I'm done spinning the yarn gets placed here.

♥

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Spinning Singles

Spinning Singles.






 
Spinning singles on my Louet wheel.
♥


Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Dye Day

Dye Day


 Getting ready.


 Soaked yarn in water and a bit of soap overnight.


 Getting pans on the stove.


 Getting dye ready.


 Using food colouring dyes and vinegar as a mordant.


 Combining Red and Blue to give me a purple.
 

 Shades of green.



 Red and Yellow for my orange.





The last 2 pans of straight red and blue.

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Thrummed Headbands

Thrummed Headbands




These are hand spun, hand dyed, thrummed headbands spun from my flock of sheep.
I used the natural coloured fleece to make the thrums in the headbands. These are wonderful for walking the dog, or just plain walking . I've had customers from Japan buy them to wear for golfing in the early cool mornings. 

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Needle Felting

Needle Felted Dryer Balls

This is an old fleece that I had laying around, and I didn't know what to do with it. It had been washed and carded by a friend, but didn't turn out as I would have liked so I procrastinated and wasn't happy with the spinning result of it. Finally, I decided to make dryer balls. I chose to needle felt the balls so they are quite packed and firm. I then put the balls into nylon knee-highs, one at a time and tied a knot until I filled the stockings. I then placed them in a mesh bag and into the washer using the hot water cycle to felt them. Then into the dryer. I now have my own dryer balls.