tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54262580366574421512024-03-16T03:09:24.416+02:00Hillevis TrådarBarbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.comBlogger406125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-4204376428515963632013-10-13T17:36:00.002+03:002013-10-13T17:36:43.766+03:00My blog has moved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have started a new blog. This will be the last post here.<br />
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I thank you all for your interest! It's been a fun and interesting time. I also thank you for all the nice comments (that often come to my message box on Ravelry!) You're still welcome to comment there.<br />
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See you! I hope you all will go on following me here: <a href="http://barbrosthreads.wordpress.com/">Barbro's Threads</a>.<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-228333564731471162013-10-08T18:35:00.002+03:002013-10-08T18:35:41.175+03:00Åland sheep and Finnsheep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A few weeks ago I met a sheep farmer who breeds not only for meat, but also for wool. She has Åland sheep and Finnsheep, two of the native breeds of Finland. Today I had a chance to take photos. The farmer was busy elsewhere, so at first I was afraid I'd scare the sheep. But no! They only came closer and closer, and the camera lens I had chosen soon proved to be the wrong one. I had to pic up the phone for close ups!<br />
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Here they come! "Who are you?" they said.<br />
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The Åland sheep were not as brave as the Finns, they stayed in the background at first:<br />
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Two of the Åland sheep seemed to like each other very much. The kept looking for each other in the herd and rubbing their heads when they met, clearly in a fond way:<br />
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The white Finns are bigger and stronger than the small Ålands.<br />
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The sheep will be sheared at the beginning of November, and then I'll go back for a couple of fleeces. The spinners among my readers will see how yummy the wool of these sheep is. Here's a close up of the double coat of a young Åland sheep. I think this is a lamb from this year because it doesn't have ear tags yet:<br />
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And look at it's face!<br />
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Oh it's so beautiful...<br />
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Speaking of beautiful heads, we saw another beautiful face later today, the little terrier I've shown in an earlier post:<br />
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She's a little lovely devil :) Our Kasper got upset and wanted to fight, so he had to stay in the car and seemed quite content with that.<br />
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The Åland sheep are archipelago sheep from Åland, the islands in southern Finland where the Gulf of Bothnia meets the Baltic see. The breed was saved a few decades ago, but it's still extremely rare. The sheep lived much at their own in the stony islands, with little interference from humans. They are small and hardy with a double coat in all the natural colors. Both ewes and rams have horns. The rams horns can be quite impressive. This is from the island where the sheep in my photos live, but the landscape in some parts of Åland is much the same:<br />
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So now I'll wait for a few weeks, then it'll be time for wool scouring again. I have now doubt it'll rain the next weeks because it's that time of the year, and the sheep will get dirty, but on the other hand, the wool will be longer. In the mean time I will be busy with a few samples of wool from Estonian Native Sheep, and with Kainuu Grey and a few other breeds.<br />
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On the way home we had a glimpse of some 40 people fishing from the big bridge between the archipelago and the main land. They seemed to be just as happy as the sheep, but for other reasons. They had coffee and sandwiches on the parking ground, and it seemed some of them even caught a Baltic herring or two :) Those herrings are the best you can get, it's gourmet food, fried in a pan in butter and eaten with rye bread.<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-55137099000647409042013-10-03T12:25:00.000+03:002013-10-03T12:26:41.354+03:00Lammaskirja - Fårbok - Sheep book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Uusi lammastalouskirja ladattavissa ilmaiseksi (suomi ja eesti) - En ny fårhushållningsbok att ladda gratis (på svenska) - A new sheep husbandry book to download for free (in English)<br />
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<a href="http://vilkas02.vilkas.fi/epages/vilkas02.sf/fi_FI/?ObjectPath=/Shops/20110331-11092-32281-1/Products/lammaskirja_michelson">Lammaskirja - Fårbok - Sheepbook</a></div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-83226377702090508312013-10-02T13:05:00.000+03:002013-10-02T13:05:00.629+03:00Kainuun harmas on combs and carders<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been making faux rolags. The wool is Kainuun Harmas, Kainuu Grey, a rare Finnish sheep. It's traditionally been used for fur clothes, but now the wool is mostly spun into yarns. The sheep are naturally grey, with shades from almost white to dark grey. The lambs are black.<br />
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I love the color! I also love the loftiness of false rolags. They are so easy to spin! After days and weeks of combing, carding, and rolling, you can sit down and just enjoy.<br />
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I've also been knitting, and now I'm a bit afraid the pants and the cardigan are too small. The little girl has grown so much! If she's too big, she better have a sister soon. Did you hear that, Malin?<br />
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The wasps have been invading the house the last few days. They are of the dark, very poisonous kind, so we really don't want to make them nervous. This morning I found out why they are so lost:</div>
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Their nest has been destroyed. I wonder who did that? Or is it the normal thing in the autumn, because they die and only the queen survives. I know very little about wasps. We help them to find their way out, but not all of them are co-operative.</div>
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-90083684830238707822013-09-25T10:49:00.003+03:002013-09-25T10:49:32.512+03:00Spinning machine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm very proud of myself: I made a "charkha" this morning:<br />
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It works really well. It's much faster and easier to spin cotton on the bobbin winder than on any other of my spindles or wheels. Attaching a bobbin and a quill makes it a real spinning machine! I'm sure you can spin any short fibers with it.<br />
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The bobbin is from Ashford. I use them as storage bobbins for my spun singles, and I also have bigger ones from Schacht. Many of you may have bobbin winders and bobbins, so start making you own spinning machine! The quill can be anything that fits into the bobbin and has one sharp end. I made mine from a piece of wood I had lying around, only needed my beloved Swiss army knife to fix it. You can finish it with sandpaper if you want, I didn't, as you can see. It works splendidly anyway.<br />
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Off to Twitter to boast. I already did on Ravelry and Facebook :D</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-13623877826075931352013-09-20T11:49:00.000+03:002013-09-20T11:49:19.835+03:00Fox and crows. On the field today<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So what am I doing midst of these crows?<br />
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I'd better get up. They won't leave me alone.<br />
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Damned field. Why do they have to plow so early in the autumn?<br />
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Almost home! They can't follow me under the barn.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-20344400166859646222013-09-18T11:33:00.000+03:002013-09-18T11:33:00.495+03:00Books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This summer I have purchased a few books. Some of you may know I worked as a librarian for forty years. Books are an essential part of my life. Even if I read lots of e-books and listen to audiobooks nowadays, I still want printed books also. To touch and feel a book is a great pleasure and a very tactile sensation.<br />
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"Keskiajan puvut" (Medieval dress) by Satu Hovi, Hannele Maahinen and Katri Niemi is a book I've wanted to have for years, if not decades, but never thought anyone would write. The book is a thorough guide for making you own medieval dress, for child, woman, and man. Tunics, gowns, dresses, nalbinded mittens, shoes, bands and cords, embroidery, details in the dress. I can't wait to find fabrics so I can start sewing!<br />
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Easy to copy patterns, and good photos. This one shows the typical bronze embroidery used in the medieval Finnish dress:<br />
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It was often used in hems, where it adds weight so the dress is easier to wear. We all know the Marilyn Monroe effect, don't we?<br />
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I have also bought a book I've been looking into for very long: "Ur textilkonstens historia" by Agnes Geijer. It's a thorough history of textile in the Western world since ancient times. I'm especially happy about the weaving section, as that is a field I know almost nothing about.<br />
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The book has been translated to English, "A History of Textile Art". The illustrations are typical for the time the first printing was published in 1972: adequate and clear, with many drawings. The printing from 2006 which I now own also has color photos. The pictures below foresee something that's coming into my life very soon:<br />
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Kasper likes books, here he's reading Elizabeth Wayland Barber's "Women's Work. The first 20.000 years". He was very interested in the picture of a woman spinning on a drop spindle, I couldn't make him move so I could take a photo. Sometimes I think he knows what he sees, because this is not the first time he's been looking at pictures of spindling women.<br />
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I also have Barber's "Prehistoric Textiles", that I like very much. "Women's Work" is an archaeological and sociological study of women's work with producing textiles, starting 20.000 years ago and ending in Classic Greece. The thoughts such a study gives you are overwhelming. So much work, so much struggle, and all done while taking care of your family and your house. It makes you shiver. My motto, "Not one day without thread", comes from reading books and studies like this one. The book is full of wonderful examples of how textiles have been made, and of the conditions during which the women worked.<br />
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Please give a thought to the women and children in the textile factories in India, China, Pakistan, and other countries where all the cheap clothes are made in our days.<br />
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And look here! Deborah Robson's and Carol Ekarius' "The Field Guide to Fleece"! This little book is a shorter version of "The Fleece & Fiber Source Book". It's meant to be exactly what it says, a field guide. Small enough to take along to fiber festivals, and sturdy enough to be thrown into your back pack together with cameras, phones, snacks, knittings, drink bottles, and spindles. The book is bound, and glued strongly enough to for rough handling (= you can open it without fearing it'll fall into pieces!) The paper is glossy, of a thick high quality, so you can't very easily tore it.<br />
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The text is of the kind we've been spoiled with from FFSB: interesting, informative, easy to read. For each breed the authors give suggestions for use, and they also tell how the wool takes dyes. The order is alphabetical, so it's easy to find what you're looking for. The photos make you want to purchase the wools immediately, and start spinning. Here's one Deb's favorite wools:<br />
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The book loving dog and the new books about textile:<br />
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Oh yes, two more books coming my way this autumn :) Kasper may have a look at them also.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-1969099996397420672013-09-15T09:27:00.001+03:002013-09-15T09:27:04.144+03:00Dyeing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been dyeing lately.<br />
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This is lovely NZ Merino from <a href="http://butik.enuldenaffaere.dk/shop/sve/frontpage.html">Ullaffären</a>. I bought 1 kilo white top a couple of years ago, when Renee had this wonderful quality. Some of you may know Renee from Ravelry, where she has two groups: Sponsor a Spaelsau Sheep, and Longbacken. She always has high quality fibers in her shop.<br />
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This is British Longwool, also from Ullaffären.<br />
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And this is 1,3 kilos of Corriedale from <a href="http://www.worldofwool.co.uk/">World of Wool</a>. I dyed the tops for the spinning class I'll teach this autumn. I want the beginners to spin tops with lots of colors, so they can see what's happening when they draft and add twist.<br />
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I bought a steam cooker for dyeing, and that was a really good investment! It's so easy and really the very best way for me. I don't like kettle dyeing, and dyeing in the oven, even if it's also an easy method, doesn't feel quite comfortable. I use the oven for cooking also, and I'm not sure there won't be anything not so healthy coming from the dyes.<br />
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I wrap the wool in glad pack. I use only the two upper bowls, as I read somewhere that the lower is too hot. I'll test that when I have wool I don't care so much about. I don't use this steam cooker for cooking! I leave the wool in the glad pack until it's cooled, then I rinse once, press out as much water as I can and hang to dry. As you can see all tops are open and airy after a very slight stretching (wouldn't call it pre-drafting). No felting, very little compacting. I can dye 200-230 grams in one pass.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-69480343004293420082013-09-13T20:40:00.000+03:002013-09-13T20:40:02.115+03:00Shetland textiles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So here's a book we all must have: <a href="http://reformlane.blogspot.fi/2013/09/my-book-is-born-shetland-textiles-800.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+ReformLane+(Reform+Lane)">Shetland Textiles</a>. </div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-19796010872938657232013-09-08T12:44:00.001+03:002013-09-08T12:44:20.339+03:00Troll butter and weavers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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That's what it looked like yesterday evening, and this morning:<br />
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Fuligo septica, in Swedish trollsmör, "troll butter", <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuligo_septica">"scrambled egg slime"</a> (amongst other names) in English.<br />
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The spiders are busy in the nights, weaving fantastic, incredible traps:<br />
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Our whirlygig looks so nice in the mist. It's really running wild up in the pine tree! A horse from a fantasy story!<br />
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And Kasper shows his beautiful autumn colors:<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-88674247926328294822013-09-04T08:57:00.000+03:002013-09-04T08:57:07.768+03:00Birds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yes, they are leaving!<br />
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<span id="goog_1809078850"></span><span id="goog_1809078851"></span>Barn swallows<br />
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Crane birds<br />
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But they'll be back next year :)</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-44908722087976305852013-08-29T17:51:00.001+03:002013-08-29T17:51:33.032+03:00Harvest time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It feels a bit too early, as always, but also like this is the meaning of the summer:<br />
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The neighbor is harvesting his barley, and his pigs will eat it and grow pork for us. The valley is almost done, there are only a few fields left to harvest. Sometimes I think of my grandfather. In the 50s it would've taken him and his horse a week to harvest the same area as this small combine does in a couple of hours. The war had left the farms without both men and machines, much was done as in the 30s and with much less people working. A hard life.<br />
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But the barn swallows are still here, and the house plants are still outdoors. I thing my stellar pelargoniums are Brian West's Vectis Glitter. I got two cuttings from a Swedish spinner in Stockholm last autumn, and both survived the winter. I love them! They are so beautiful, especially in the twilight. The begonia loves to be out in the summer, and shows some spectacular red flowers.<br />
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Every August I look at the fireweed: what if it has longer fibers this year?<br />
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But no, they are as short as always. There were some efforts to use them in the the 18th century, but it can't compete with cotton. So better just look at it:<br />
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Apples, vegetables, herbs... I love to go out in the morning and stand on the porch for a while and just sniff the air like our dog. There's a strong scent of ripe things in the air, and it's chilly and fresh. Later we take a walk, the dog and I, and look at the lingonberries. They are temptingly red, but not ripe yet. But next week I think I could cook lingonberry jam. Hubby likes it with food, a bit like catsup, but I like it better in yoghurt or to just eat as much as I can directly from the plant while I can, and then wait for the next autumn and new lingonberries.<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-76580729753400968072013-08-27T09:24:00.001+03:002013-08-27T09:24:28.742+03:00Spinnkurs - kehruukurssi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Spinnkurs i Vörå MI med mig som kursledare! <a href="https://www.opistopalvelut.fi/vora/course_sv.asp?tietuenro=2684">Garnspinning för nybörjare - Langankehruuta aloittelijoille</a>. Pidän kehruukurssin Vöyrin kansalaisopistossa!<br />
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Välkomna! Tervetuloa!</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-76394794100188696412013-08-23T13:02:00.002+03:002013-08-23T13:02:27.776+03:00Certificate of Achievement - report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I retired in January 2011 I knew what I'd do for the rest of my life: spin yarn. But I didn't know it would swallow me so totally.<br />
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I wanted to develop my skills, so I looked at ways to do that without moving away from home. Moving was naturally not an option! I was thrilled by <a href="http://www.oldscollege.ca/programs/ContinuingEducation/fibreweek/master-spinner-program.htm">Olds College's Master Spinning Program</a>, but realized it's far to demanding for my needs. I decided to try <a href="http://www.onlineguildwsd.org.uk/index.html">Online Guild</a> and their <a href="http://www.wsd.org.uk/">CoA</a>, so I joined the Guild and followed the discussion for a while. In January 2012 I was ready to start spinning for the assessment in August 2013.<br />
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I was appointed a mentor, who to my delight was <a href="http://www.mandacrafts.co.uk/">Amanda Hannaford</a>. I have admired Amanda for years, and I had watched her spinning videos on Youtube over and over again. She guided me through the bureaucracy and procedures during the work. It would've been good for me to be able to sit down behind the wheel with Amanda beside me, but of course that wasn't possible.<br />
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There are advantages and disadvantages with studies online. Not being able to have your mentor sitting next to you is one of the disadvantages. Some of the ways of spinning were new to me, some of the fibers almost new, and flax completely new. So I read a lot, followed conversations on Ravelry, watched videos.<br />
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But one of the big difficulties was a surprise: it was hard to find the three wool types I needed. I don't have many contacts in the UK, so finding raw fleece from buyers that were willing to ship abroad and whom I could trust proved to take much longer than I thought. I hadn't realized good fleeces sell out almost at once, so I had to wait until the late summer of 2012 until I had all the fleeces.<br />
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Meanwhile I spun some of the other fibers. I gave both cotton and silk much of my attention, and practiced quite intensely. After all, the reason why I did this was to learn more. When the wools had arrived I scoured, prepared and spun them, then spun alpaca, fancy yarns, and started looking for flax strick. Flax also approved to be difficult to find, so it was late spring in 2013 when I started with the fiber that was totally new to me. I started feeling a bit of stress - and I still had to decide on how to do the portfolio, which was a big part of the work. I had made notes during the work in a program I like very much: <a href="http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php">Scrivener</a>. There I had gathered ideas, plans, sites, pdfs, and also notes about how the work proceeded. That helped me a lot when working with the portfolio.<br />
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The assessment for CoA takes place at Online Guild's Summer School every second year, this time in Wales. I intended to go there, because the Summer School in itself would be a treat, but life came in between. My son and his partner announced I would become a grandmother - and I so much wanted to go to Stockholm and see the baby! Our car broke down and as it was pretty old we had to buy a new. I saw my trip to Wales fade and disappear each time I looked at my bank account. But I did go to Stockholm! Three times since last October! And the little girl is lovely :)<br />
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Shortly, this is what you have to do for the CoA: spin the three qualities of British wool, spin silk, cotton, flax, two other fibers of your own choice, a minimum of six fancy yarns. You have to show yo know how to prepare the wools and spin them appropriately, the other fibers can be spun from commercially prepared fibers. You make a test piece in a technique you choose yourself. You document everything in a portfolio. The yarn samples have to be at a minimum 100 meters long, and you show also the singles. The guild estimates it takes 2 years to work through the syllabus if you also have a job, less if you can do it more or less full time. The process took me 17-18 months + the time I spent looking for wool. I worked more or less full time, as I considered this to be a learning process that I really wanted to do properly.<br />
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Now, over to the photos below. I show you all the yarns and the test piece, and some of the portfolio. It was easy for me to choose the form for the portfolio after I had taken the decision to send everything by mail and not going to Wales myself. I bought two A4 files, and was lucky to find old diskette (do you remember them?) plastic pockets on a sale. I gathered texts, photos, WPI-strips, fiber samples, swatches in the files. I was surprised to know after the assessment that my way of minimizing the work gathered attention and admiration at the Assessment. Another thing which surprised me was that my cotton spinning was admired. So lets start with a photo of a pile of cotton with my punis on top:<br />
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Below the Cheviot with text, photos showing the work from carding to skeins, plastic pockets with fiber, prepared fiber, WPI-strips, and the swatch. As you can see I spun much more than the test skein that lies on top of the yarns. This is how I work through the syllabus: I spun until I thought I knew at least something of how to spin the fiber I worked with.<br />
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The yarns. I think you can see from the photos what the yarns are. About the bouclé: I got mohair from a spinning friend in Sweden, Melica on Ravelry. She has angora goats that I showed earlier this summer in a post from the spinning camp in Sweden. She does some very nice dyeing also.<br />
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The test piece: I chose to compose and knit a shawl with the beaded yarn you can see on the photo above. I see now that I turned the label of the singles upside down. The fiber is BFL/silk, hand dyed by spinning Ravelry friend Kariola. I chose lace patterns from The Haapsalu Shawl and Heirloom Knitting. I should have worked more on the test piece, I can see now. On top of it is an inkle woven band I made just for fun with my linen yarn.<br />
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The package. It's not big, as you can see. Kasper is a small dog, and he looks big beside it. I sent it to guild member Heather Seddon, who kindly had accepted to help me and arrange the display for assessment. Thanks once again Heather, if you see this!<br />
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The certificate:<br />
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My work was rewarded with a lower credit, which pleases me as I worked all alone. It would've been good to have seen the displays at an earlier Summer School, because I worked in almost total darkness. I did not know what was expected of me, except that I had to be serious about it and that the assessor would be uncompromising. The assessor gave me a total of 62 points of 100.<br />
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So was all this work worth the effort? Yes, it was, without any reservations. I loved the work, even if I got tired a couple of times. I then took breaks, as during Tour de Fleece in 2012 when I didn't do anything for the CoA. I also took a break in the spring 2013, when I felt I couldn't keep my mind focused. An afterthought is that I should've taken a longer break then, as it would have helped me to work a little bit more with the test piece.<br />
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If you follow the link above to the CoA, you find that new Syllabi will be published in September this year. It'll be interesting to see how much the spinning Syllabus differs from the one I worked with.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-73619100363458552812013-08-15T19:38:00.001+03:002013-08-15T19:38:41.606+03:00Window doctor, tomatoes and beans, and a beautiful and determined dog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Hubby broke one of our window panes when mowing the lawn. How? Probably a flying stone. Our house is old, so it's not quite easy to repair a window. We have been thinking about how to fix the fourteen windows, and now we had to decide. I wrote about the glass <a href="http://hillevisthreads.blogspot.fi/2010/04/naverfonster-tuohi-ikkuna-birch-bark.html">here</a>. We want to preserve the character of the building so we went to Mari Österblad in Björkö to ask for her opinion. She renovates old windows with traditional methods: <a href="http://www.ikkunaentisoijat.com/svkontakt.htm">Ikkunaverstas Pelargonia, Fönsterverkstad Pelargonia</a>. She and her husband are both members of my guild Björken. They live in an old house that they are renovating using all their skills in old crafts. </span>Their dog is very much a terrier, and a beautiful dog she is. Just look at that face, and the determined efforts to escape Mari's lap!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">After the visit we're convinced that our windows need to be repaired by an expert. The wood is of the old, hard type that's so difficult to find nowadays, and the glass is handmade in most of them. This will be a project during the next years, one window at a time.</span><br />
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I wanted to see another part of the archipelago, so we drove to <a href="http://www.korsholmsskargard.fi/?tocID=24&sprak=swe">Sommaröhallen</a> in Södra Vallgrund:<br />
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<i>Hubby in Sommaröhallen</i></div>
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I knew there would be local crafts and food, but I didn't expect to meet a sheep farmer who breeds Ålandsheep and Finnsheep! I was very happy about that, especially because she's also interested in the wool, not only the meat. I hope to have more to report after the shearing season in September-October.<br />
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I also met a person from our own community, Viola Back. She came in with vegetables she had grown, and bread and cakes. She also had glutenfree chocolate Swiss roll, lucky me :) Look at the beautiful and interesting tomatoes, and the beans:<br />
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Veggie lunch tomorrow? Yes! Coffee and Swiss roll as desert? Yes, if there's any left.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-90838085169838608672013-08-13T19:46:00.002+03:002013-08-13T19:46:35.440+03:00Fish leather<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was at a fair last Saturday and saw lots of beautiful crafts, but this pleased me the most: fish leather made by two ladies from Bergö, a small island off the coast of Ostrobotnia:<br />
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You find one of them here: <a href="http://www.madde.fi/#">Mad(d)e in Bergö</a>. Maybe both are working there, I forgot to ask, but Madelene is the one on the left. Fish leather is a growing craft, but to say it's a big business would be exaggerated. At the fair Madde sold purses, ties, bow ties and other small items.<br />
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There's much rubbing to do before the skin is soft and nice:<br />
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I liked the booth also. It really showed where the craft has it's roots: in the sea. I liked the re-use of the lazy kates too!</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-47354136257945382822013-08-11T16:37:00.001+03:002013-08-11T16:37:23.173+03:00Certificate of Achievement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Combed Wensleydale</i></div>
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Dear friends: the assessment for the Certificate of Achievement is over, and I passed! I'm a bit overwhelmed and very happy. The next couple of weeks I will write about it here, but please be patient with me. I have a few deadlines to take care of first.<br />
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Meanwhile, links: <a href="http://www.onlineguildwsd.org.uk/index.html">Online Guild</a>, <a href="http://www.wsd.org.uk/">The Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers</a>, and <a href="http://www.wsd.org.uk/ca.htm">CoA and Diploma</a>. Note that new syllabi will be published in September.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-43483400622116315942013-07-31T17:43:00.001+03:002013-07-31T17:43:09.661+03:00Dreaming of Shetland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The fundraising e-book for Deb Robson's Shetland research will be published very soon: <a href="http://dreamingofshetland.com/">Dreaming of Shetland</a>. I have pre-ordered mine! Deb's blog post about the project: <a href="http://independentstitch.typepad.com/the_independent_stitch/2013/03/dreaming-of-shetland.html">Dreaming of Shetland</a>.<br />
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I'm so looking forward to see what Deb will come up with once the research and writing has resulted in a book or longer article. Shetland sheep and their wool are so fascinating!<br />
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Here's a flock I saw on the grounds of Shetland Croft Trail in 2010. I hope Deb may see lots and lots of sheep during her stay in Shetland, that island of my dreams (also)!<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-515810583157560052013-06-23T17:25:00.001+03:002013-06-23T17:25:28.625+03:00Gute, a cat, some goats<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On my trip to Sweden for the spinning fest I saw sheep I thought I'd never see: Gute! Gute sheep, once called Gotländskt utegångsfår, are the origin of Gotland sheep. They are strong, hardy sheep, mostly to be found on the small island Fårö in the Gotland archipelago, a thousand kilometers south from where I was. This is the only Swedish sheep breed where both ewes and rams are horned. If "Fårö" sounds familiar: this is the island where some of Ingmar Bergman's films were made. It means "Sheep isle". He was first going to film in Orkney, but after visiting Fårö he stayed there for the rest of his life.<br />
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There seems to be some confusion about the name "Gute" in the English speaking world, as it's also used for Gotland sheep, a thing that was new to me until I discussed Gute on a Ravelry forum and couldn't understand what the others were talking about (and they couldn't understand me either). Gutefår and Gotlandsfår are two different breeds. Those of you who have seen Gotlands will notice many things that are different in Gutes when you look at my photos below. The horns, the shedding, the short double coated fleece, all this distinguish Gute sheep from Gotland sheep.<br />
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I was excited! Sheep from way back in history, from Viking times, still very real and grazing in the field only 100 meters from the cottage where I and a few of the other spinners lived. It was a small flock, a family with a few ewes, a ram, and lambs. The lambs also had horns already, even if they were so young, about months I estimated.<br />
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The adults were shedding their old wool, while new had already grown from underneath. Shedding is not usual among modern sheep, in fact I don't think there are any modern sheep that are able to do that, they are all sheared. I didn't dare go in to the sheep to collect some wool, but if I had, I could have shown fleece with both soft undercoat, wool, and harsh overcoat, hair.<br />
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One of the ewes:<br />
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The ram:<br />
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For those of you who are on Ravelry and take part in Tour de Fleece: check the ravatars of Team Nordic Spinners! Many use a photo of this ram's head very nicely edited into personal ravatars by kristinnitsirk, the blogger who shows her awesome works <a href="http://nitsirkristin.blogspot.fi/">here</a>. Here's the original photo:<br />
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He's so beautiful! I fell in love with that calm, kind ram. One of the small ram lambs tried his horns on his father, who only went on ruminating and looking content with life in the green, sunny field.<br />
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I stayed for one night at the house of one of the spinners, and there I met an impressive Birma cat that was enjoying himself in the sun:<br />
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I saw the Angora goats that provided the mohair for our bouclé at the get-together:<br />
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There were angora rabbits also:<br />
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And hens and a cock:<br />
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I'm perfectly content now. I have been longing to see Fårö because of the sheep. I have seen them, I don't have to go there. I can go on dreaming of Shetland full time :)</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-82754959705535094812013-06-13T21:20:00.000+03:002013-06-13T21:21:43.852+03:00Spinning in Sweden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was spinning with Ravelry friends in Sweden last weekend. It was absolutely wonderful! I took the old new ferry from Vaasa across the Gulf of Bothnia to Umeå, and it was so fun! In the 80s we took the ferry ever so often, but when Finland and Sweden joined the EU the ferry was sold because new tax rules and higher ticket prices forced people to stop traveling so often. She has sailed somewhere in southern Europe until this spring, when she came home and was repaired and put back in traffic. There is no tax free onboard, but it doesn't matter. The important thing is to be able to travel cheap across the Gulf, and so far it is cheap.<br />
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Here she is, Wasa Express, behind the ferry terminal:<br />
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Here we wait for the ramp to be let down so we can go ashore in Umeå:<br />
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I met the most exciting travel companion on the boat. He saw me reading an English magazine and so we started talking in English. He was an Englishman living in Finland since many years, and it appeared that he was researching - now sit down, hold on to your chair and take a deep breath: work songs, like spinning songs! The four hours to Umeå felt like four minutes :) You can see him leaning on his bike in the photo above.<br />
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There were 14 spinners at the meeting, one a completely new spinner. I want to show the second yarn she spun, her very first real skein:<br />
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Have you ever seen a beginner's yarn like this? I haven't.<br />
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We were invited by Lillemor (Ravelry name zassh) of <a href="http://www.limmo-design.se/">Limmo-design</a>. She kindly opened her studio in Vännäs to us, and the neighbor's studio also. When everybody had arrived and spread their tools, the rooms where crammed with spinning wheels, wool combs, hand carders, drum carders, spindles, people, and a funny cat that came several times a day to talk to us and beg for hugs.<br />
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One theme was wool from a Swedish landrace, Värmlandsfår. We took a closer look at how you can prepare three samples of the double coated Värmland: combing and carding. At home we can do proper studies of how the different preps can be spun, and what kinds of yarn you get.<br />
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The other theme was a bouclé yarn where the looping ply was spun from mohair sold by Ingrid (Ravelry name Melica), <a href="http://www.minagetter.se/">Mina Getter och Kaniner</a>. It's a great joy to see hand combed mohair turn into perfectly circular loops!<br />
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Mohair:<br />
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There was much talking, much laughter, good food, delicious strong coffee just as black and thick as I want it, lots of fibers and yarns to explore in Lillemor's shop. For some reason I had figured I could manage with a big suitcase (I had lots of equipment with me) and backpack, but guess what - I didn't. Parcels will arrive in due time from Lillemor and Ingrid.<br />
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There was wool everywhere. There was wool behind the corner! Someone found this heap that had been thrown away, and what can you do when you find a treasure? You save it. It was good wool, soft and quite clean after lying in the snow the whole winter. Much of it went home with happy spinners, some was scoured in Lillemor's studio and dried outdoors in the sun and wind. There was wool on the tables, floors, in the fridge. Yes, in the fridge :)<br />
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There was fiber and tools to buy:<br />
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There was beads for little girls :)<br />
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Many photos were taken:<br />
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It was warm, almost hot, sunny and lovely. I think we all had a great time. I saw lots of animals, will show you in another post very soon.<br />
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Wasa Express leaving Umeå, and the weather is still warm, sunny and no wind!<br />
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And there's some unpacking to do...<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-65357933143363208392013-06-02T10:41:00.003+03:002013-06-02T10:41:57.723+03:00Spinning at Stundars again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been spinning with school children twice in May. The home for my guild Björken (The Birch) is here: <a href="http://www.stundars.fi/">Stundars</a>. Every spring the staff at Stundars arrange craft days for 1400-1600 children.<br />
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This is Frida Paulin, a crafter I admire very much. Her main craft is bobbin lace, but she is also a skilled spinner and weaver. She's well over 80 now, but still spinning. She's surrounded by old Finnish spinning wheels, the oldest from 1818.<br />
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Frida had two bobbin lace makers with her in the big farm house. One of them later said it's quite comfortable to undo mistakes while making lace in public, because no one will know whether you're going backwards or forwards!<br />
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This is what she made:<br />
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And here's the other lace maker:<br />
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Beautiful laces, aren't they! I have made bobbin lace in my youth, so after a bit of practice I could do now also, but not as complicated lace as these two are making.<br />
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I was spinning here this time:<br />
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This is part of Gråbyn (The Grey Village), a part of Stundars with small crafters cottages. They are grey because they have never been painted. This was typical for areas inhabited by the poor in the old days (not so uncommon in our days either...)<br />
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In our cottage it was warm and cosy. There was a fire lit for us, because even if it looks warm outdoors it was still quite cold in the nights, and the cottages were damp after the winter because they had not been heated.<br />
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My company this year was Doris Bengs, who is a skilled decorative painter. Here she is surrounded by interested girls.<br />
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Some of Doris' work, and the beautifully coloured interior of the cottage:<br />
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The sheep where out, and this year there's a Finnsheep ewe with three lambs. They already graze and eat grain, but mother's milk is better!<br />
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The ewe will be sheared when the nights get warmer, which means any day now. She has a lovely wool, but the winter wool is not the very best as you can see. Lots of vegetal matter, and it's worn and fragile and has some shorter wool among the longer. The lambing hasn't made it any stronger. Three lambs takes a lot of strength from the ewe, so often there will be a weaker spot in the wool that grew during the pregnancy and while she was producing milk. But in the autumn she will most probably have a very good fleece for spinning.<br />
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When you're one of the crafters you can't go and see the others working in the area, which is something that most of us are sad about. But working here is one of the peaks each year. I was here for the first time in the 90s, when I first started spinning in public. I had to pause for many years while my job took most of my energy, but now that I'm retired I feel free to participate again.<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-6049697909743375962013-04-26T16:23:00.001+03:002013-04-26T16:23:19.714+03:00Dear everybody...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
... I'm here, I'm doing lots of things, but can't seem to get my photos from the camera, on the laptop, online etc...<br />
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So will show you an old photo:<br />
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Rhubarb 2012! This is what it looks like this year also. I love that clear pink among the grey and brown shades!</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-82878863786129388822013-04-14T14:14:00.003+03:002013-04-14T14:14:49.785+03:00Dyeing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been dying!<br />
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This is about 1.2 kilos Falkland top. I have blue Merino and very soft longwool in my stash, so now I have plenty to spin either as it is, or to blend on a hackle or combs. The "olive" green is Kool Aid, the others different acid dyes.</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-72325773454603059932013-03-28T09:35:00.000+02:002013-03-28T09:38:54.045+02:00Beautiful Stockholm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Since my son moved to Stockholm I have come to like that town a lot. I went there last week to see my granddaughter for the first time. I'm sorry the world we live in is of a kind where you don't want to show your family and friends in your blog. She's a rosebud :)<br />
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It was sunny and chilly, a perfect weekend for walking. On Sunday we went to see an exhibition at the photo museum, <a href="http://fotografiska.eu/">Fotografiska</a>. I have longed to see Henri Cartier-Bresson's photos for decades, and now I have seen quite many of them. And I would like to see more. The view from the excellent restaurant at the museum gives you Stockholm around Riddarfjärden on a plate.<br />
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Walking along Riddarfjärden:<br />
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Easter decorations for sale at Mariatorget:<br />
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Sugar at the bottom after a several kilometer walk (yes, I'm trying to be ironical). I call this "Hemska trappan" - "Awful stairs":<br />
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Views from the ferry <a href="http://www.vikinggrace.com/?lang=en">Viking Grace</a> when I arrived early Saturday morning:<br />
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There was still ice in the archipelagos of Stockholm and Turku.<br />
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Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426258036657442151.post-44739686742475090132013-03-28T09:05:00.000+02:002013-03-28T09:05:29.184+02:00For my granddaughter part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCv60nnrEBs/UVPpMPX_ifI/AAAAAAAAEp0/F7Jmbj7frz4/s1600/Vanja+cardi+socks+mitts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCv60nnrEBs/UVPpMPX_ifI/AAAAAAAAEp0/F7Jmbj7frz4/s320/Vanja+cardi+socks+mitts.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
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This is what I knitted from the <a href="http://hillevisthreads.blogspot.fi/2013/01/for-my-granddaughter.html">yarn</a> I spun in January. I love the "Old Shell" lace patterns of Shetland. It's designed for colored lace knitting, and works very well with the handpainted look of my yarn. The socks are called "Train Socks". I have written about them <a href="http://hillevisthreads.blogspot.fi/2010/01/tagsockor-junasukat-trainsocks.html">here</a>. In the mittens I also used a yellow commercial yarn.<br />
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A little girl has the right to be cute for a while :)</div>
Barbro Heikinmattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077584222677299445noreply@blogger.com0