Violets

Prize yarn

I won a prize in Tour de Fleece. This is nittydread's handspun yarn. Two skeins singles, two 2-ply, fibers dyed by Spunky Eclectic. Have you ever seen so beautiful yarn? Nittydread is amazingly skilled in spinning space dyed fibers. Oh how I look forward to knit these!

Blending hackle

I bought a blending hackle from a spinning friend in Sweden. This is Carola's hackle:

Dark and medium blue longwool tops, light blue silk tops blended on the hackle. It's good to have prepared fibers in the stash.

Pepparkaka

För flera år sedan fick jag ull av en fårägare på Åland. Jag spann det mesta av den då, men här ljuvliga bruna ullen som jag sparat för att spinna när jag känner mig mogen. Förra veckan gjorde jag det. Jag maskinkardade ullen och spann ett grovt kardgarn. Det är stickigt, så det passar bra att använda tillsammans med andra garner av liknande kvalitet i en kudde eller till och med en filt. Tackan som hade så vacker ull hette Pepparkaka.

Several years ago I got wool from a sheep owner in Åland. I spun most of it then, but I saved this beautiful brown wool until I felt ready for it. Last week I did. I drumcarded the wool and spun a thick woolen yarn. It's harsh, so it will go well together with other yarns of the same type in a cushion or even a blanket. The ewe with the beautiful wool was called Pepparkaka, Gingerbread.

Lazy kates and more

The local museum, a small village museum, has about 5000 textiles and lots of other objects like furniture and tools. This year's summer exhibition shows cabinets that were designed for corners, and lazy kates. The oldest kates are from the 1740s, like this one in the front:

Also have a look at the cabinet that has been displayed in the stove. There is no back part in it, and has never been. It was made like this, was hanged on the wall and the shelves were attached to the wall.

I find this kate very beautiful:

Kates like the three following are common in Finland. They were often made in leasure times as a proof of how skilled the man was, and often given as a gift to his coming wife.

I was quite astonished by the blue kate. Blue spinning wheels are common here, but I haven never seen a clear blue lazy kate before (maybe I haven't seen enough kates yet). The design is interesting too. It must be very good, standing upright even if you have a kinky yarn.

This is an interesting one:

There were several kates of this type at the exhibition:

I also want to show a cabinet from 1815, with beautiful fading flowers painted on it:

And this one, made 1840 and painted white and decorated around 1900:

It's been decorated with wallpaper and something that looks very much like a needle point pattern:

This is a bed made up as they did in the late 1800s:

And this is a view from one of the rooms, with a loom to the right and one of the cabinets in the corner:

I love that museum. It's so full of beautiful things. There is a wind mill, and a smithy that is still in use for teaching new blacksmiths the old art of transfering iron into beautiful things: