måndag 28 maj 2012

About my Minispinner: Please try again!

Could the person who asked me about my Minispinner a couple of days ago try again as there's something fuzzy about publishing and answering to the comment.

fredag 25 maj 2012

Finull and Finnwool

I bought some gorgeous wool from Estonia. It's Finull from Ulles awesome sheep (see here: Vana-Olevi). Notice "gorgeous" and "awesome"? :) I don't know how to describe the wool otherwise. Look:

White, brown and black Finull, and on top of it an Ouessant sample

A closer look at the scoured brown wool:


And the raw black wool with the incredible crimp:


I have been thinking I won't scour the white wool, but will wash a sample and see how it behaves. I have never seen so clean wool before. It's winter wool! It should be felted and foul, but it's open and airy, a joy to kindly pat. It would be a shame to make it felt by washing it.

I'll start working with these wools next week. I have a few more orange Finnwool batts to card. This particular Finnwool is also of a gorgeous quality, but I'm not allowed to tell where I got it. It's rare nowadays. This is the wool I dyed some weeks ago and showed here: acid dyed Finnwool drying.


I have a plan. I'll spin the Finull and the Finnwool into yarns I can use together in a sweater. Please be patient with me, it'll take some time.

Finull and Finnwool? Yes, two different breeds from two different countries. Finull is a Swedish sheep with fine wool (that's what the name says, Fine Wool, Finull). Finnwool comes from my countries national breed, Finnsheep. The wool is fine and lustrous.

I find it very typical for our times to spin Swedish wool from Estonia in Finland. I love the thought of it.

I have finished a yarn, even if most of my time is spent on silk. I have a long time project going, ready to show next summer if all goes as planned. But here's the bobbins' ends wool yarn I plied earlier this week:


I had to empty my storage bobbins because there was no empty ones any more so I plied some of them into a 3-ply. That's why the yarn is so uneven. There are thin threads with much twist and thicker ones with less twist, spun on both spinning wheel and spindle. It'll be a nice purse.

lördag 19 maj 2012

Teasing

I'm teasing wool today. This is the Finnwool I acid dyed a few weeks ago.

torsdag 17 maj 2012

Spinning with children

Yesterday I spun at the crafts village Stundars just outside Vasa (Vaasa in Finnish): Stundars. We where 29 craft persons and about 200 school children having fun together. I spun on Louet Victoria, my "Peerie":

According to the rules of the museum I should spin on one of Stundars' old wheels, only my right ancle won't take that any more, so I may use Peerie. But my apron from Woolfest 2011 isn't quite accepted...

I shared a small cottage with two others. A lady knitting and crocheting the awesome Korsnäs sweater, purses, hats and mittens:


And her brother in law making beautiful things from birch bark:

My pupils made yarn with twisty sticks:

Someone had showed them how to make rope:

It was so fun! We where served coffee and the famous "grisar", a kind of donut in the shape of a pig with jam inside it. And after working for three hours it was time for the standard lunch for crafters, sausages and potato salad. Yummy!

lördag 12 maj 2012

Herdwick

Have a look at one of the most awesome sheep in the world.

Herdwick

They look wonderful, and they are wonderful: Herdwick sheep. I have half a fleece to spin this year, given to me by Sarah Jane

My blue battery

I bought a blue battery from China. I think I like it very much. At least I have liked it since this morning. I can spin for about 12 hours, then I have to recharge for about 2 hours. Handy? Yes. And it looks nice. I'm spinning blue tussah silk.


onsdag 2 maj 2012

I made a yarn ball

Yesterday evening I made a yarn ball. Now I can start knitting my Shipwreck shawl.

Kasper in bed on hubby's arm

Happily sleeping away while hubby's reading aloud for me