Valborgsmässoafton - Walpurgis Night

Valborgsmässoafton med fin gäst - sjöborrekaktus. Den första bilden tog jag klockan 15.22, den sista 18.04. I morgon är föreställningen över.

Walpurgis Night with a celebrity - Echinopsis. I took the firs picture at 3.22 pm, the last one 6.04. Tomorrow the show will be over.

Ute hämtar violerna krafter efter att ha fått större krukor.

Outdoors the violets are gaining strength after being planted in bigger pots.

Och Kasper njuter av kvällssolen.

And Kasper is enjoying the evening sun.

Butterfly and socks - Fjäril och sockor

There are lots of butterflies now. And I have new socks, knitted from my own handspun yarn.

Det finns mängder av nässelfjärilar nu. Och jag har nya sockor av eget, handspunnet garn.

Teeswater. My Fiber Studies 20

I take part in the SpinDoctor Rare Breed Wool Challenge on Ravelry. My blog posts are tagged SpinDoctor. The challenge ends June 30, 2011. You find SpinDoctor's podcasts in my Link List to the right.

The Sheep

Teeswater sheep has been bred for about two hundred years in the Teesdale area in UK. It's a large, white, longwooled sheep, hornless, and with a big topknot. The face has dark brown markings.

The sheep is listed as "Vulnerable" by Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

If you google for "Teeswater sheep" you'll find plenty of pictures. It's an impressive sheep even on photos.

The Wool

This is a citation from the British Teeswater Breeders: Teeswater wool

Good, clean open lustre staple, not too strong and of medium length, with no black fibres.
Uniform over the whole fleece.
This should be fine, long-stapled lustre wool with no dark fibres in the fleece. It should be uniform in texture over the whole body.


The wool is mostly used for hand knitting yarns.

My Experience

The Teeswater top I bought from International Fleeces was just like it's described in the citation above. It was a joy to spin, I wish I had bought more of it.

Spinning

Fiber preparation: top from International Fleeces
Staple lentgh:  15-33 cm
Hand: medium
Spinning wheel: Louet Victoria
Ratio: 1:8.5
TPI in singles: 12
TPI in finished 2-ply:
WPI in singles: about 33
WPI in finished 2-ply: 25
Twist angle in singles (unwashed and at an average): 50
Twist angle in finished yarn: 45

I spun a thin high twist 2-ply yarn I thought could be used in a shawl.

Conclusions

I'm still not so used to spinning longwools. I liked this Teeswater top even if the big differences in staple length made it more difficult to spin even than a staples of the same length would be. I'm pleased with the yarn. It's quite soft and it has good luster. I didn't measure the yarn, but I think there is enough of it for a small scarf. The color is yellowish, which may come from the canary stain that sometimes occur in longwools. It may also be the natural color of the fleece.

I'm getting more and more fond of longwools. I need to spin much more to get the yarn I want, but I feel I'm closer to my goal this time than with other longwools I've spun.

Read more

Internet
Teeswater Sheep Breeders
American Teeswater Sheep
Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Literature
M. L. Ryder, Sheep & Man. Duckworth, 2007
Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius, The Flecce and Fiber Sourcebook. Storey Publishing, 2011
British Sheep & Wool. British Wool Marketing Board, 2010
Nola & Jane Fournier, In Sheep's Clothing. Interweave Press, 1995

Flygekorre

Ibland är livet bara så förunderligt! Vi stod ute vid fönsterrabatten och tittade på vad som överlevt vintern när en grå varelse flög mellan oss i höjd med våra huvuden. Jag såg den inte först för jag studerade tulpanerna, men min man såg den landa några meter bort. En flygekorre! Den flög upp i en tall, sprang uppåt längs stammen, ut på en gren och så flög den vidare in i skogen.

Nu vet jag vad det är som håller till på taket ovanför mitt huvud ibland. Jag brukar tänka, "vad är det där, det är inte en skata och inte är det en katt". Flygekorre! Små skrapljud från små klor!

Här kan du läsa om den: Flygekorre i Wikipedia

Påskhäxor - Easter Witches

I våra trakter går små påskhäxor omkring i byarna och tigger godis på påsklördagen.

In our region small "Easter witches" walk around in the villages begging for goodies on Easter Saturday.

Barnens påskvandring går tillbaka på äldre påsktraditioner då man skulle avvärja ont bland annat genom att tända påskbrasor. Hur det kom sig att onda häxor förvandlades till små oskyldiga barn vet jag faktiskt inte. Antagligen är det en omvänd besvärjelse. Genom att föreställa det onda värjer man sig mot det.

The children's Easter passage goes back on older Easter traditions to avoid evil by for instance burning a bonfire. How the evil witches came to be small innocent children I don't really know. Probably it's a reversed evocation. By visualizing the evil you protect yourself against it.

En annan tradition är att tuppen värper på påsklördagen. På söndagens morgon finns det godis, förslagsvis chokladägg, gömt i barnens sängar.

Another tradition is that on Easter Saturday the cock lays eggs. On Sunday morning the children can find hidden sweeties, like chocolate eggs, hidden in their beds.

Påskhare - Easter Bunny

Vi var ute och gick i det vackra påskvädret. Bland grannens blåsippor låg den här lilla bollen:

We went for a walk in the beautiful Easter weather. Among the neighbor's liver leafs I found this little ball:

Det är bottenull från en skogshare. Den har antagligen suttit bland blommorna och putsat pälsen ren från vinterull.

It's under coat from a Eurasian hare. It has probably been sitting among the flowers cleaning it's fur from the winter wool.

Harens ull har använts till vantar och mössor. Den är otroligt mjuk, varm och vit.

Under coat from hares has been used for mittens and hats. It's incredibly soft, warm and white.

White Face Woodland. My Fiber Studies 19

I take part in the SpinDoctor Rare Breed Wool Challenge on Ravelry. My blog posts are tagged SpinDoctor. The challenge ends June 30, 2011. You find SpinDoctor's podcasts in my Link List to the right.

The Sheep

The Whitefaced Woodland sheep is one of the largest of Britain's hill sheep. It has a long tail, and both sexes are horned. The status of the sheep is "Vulnerable" due to Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

The photo shows pictures from "British Sheep & Wool" and "Sheep & Man". I'm very fond of the shepherd's dress code in the newer photo!

The Wool

The white wool is mainly used for carpets. Handspinners find it very interesting for blankets, and blended with other wools for garments. Softer fleeces can be spun for sweaters and cardigans. It takes dyes well.

My Experience

Fiber preparation: roving from International Fleeces
Staple lentgh: 4-12 cm
Hand: medium to coarse
Spinning wheel: Louet Victoria
Ratio: 1:6
TPI in singles: 8
TPI in finished 3-ply:
WPI in singles: about 22
WPI in finished 3-ply: 9
Twist angle in singles (unwashed and at an average): 45
Twist angle in finished yarn: 45

I found the roving from International Fleeces very easy to spin with a woolen draw. I wanted to spin a yarn that could be used in a light carpet, so I used a low ratio and plied a 3-ply. A 4-ply would be even better, and a 2-ply could be used in blankets.

Conclusions

I have a feeling my roving was of the softer kind. Roving from coarser fleeces would be even better in carpets.

I remember my grandmother used to weave stripes in her rug carpets with rough, colorful yarns spun from wools that I think where very much the same as this. My hands remember how it felt. I think she bought the dyed yarn in the local store, because I never saw her spin even if I later was told she was a good spinner. But she was still weaving when I was a child, so I like to think she used yarn from a sheep bred for the kind of wool you get from Whitefaced Woodland.

Read More

Internet
Whitefaced Woodland
Rare Breeds Survival Trust: Whitefaced Woodland

Literature
Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius, Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. Storey Publishing, 2011
British Sheep & Wool. British Wool Marketing Board, 2010
M. L. Ryder, Sheep & Man. Duckworth, 2007
Jane & Nola Fournier, In Sheep's Clothing. Interweave Press, 1995

Stockholm

I took a weekend trip to Stockholm to see my son. We spent a lot of time in the underground. Here Jukka is waiting for the train while I'm trying not to loose him. He moved pretty fast when not sitting down... I was happy about my new shoes which I showed you in an earlier blog post.

We spent a lot of time in Moderna Museet, because my son was working during the weekend. He was playing the organ in a dance performance he had composed the music for. Here he's waiting for the performance to start. The audience has not yet arrived, so you can see the fantastic Andy Warhol wall:

There were three dancers moving their way along a pretty long and narrow corridor on a yellow carpet:

The choreographer was Helena Franzén, who also was one of the dancers. I liked both the performance and the corridor with the interesting light. The audience became part of the show because we were so close to the dancers and the musicians. The was a cello also, played by Mattias Helldén. People were moving all the time, going to the photo exhibitions in the other parts of the museum. It was interesting watching their reactions when they realized they were part of a performance. Go tip toe, try to be invisible, just walk on, or stay and watch?

Stockholm is a beautiful town, I suppose I don't have to stress that. Impressive buildings, water, boats. We took a sightseeing boat that took us under lots of bridges:

Food... we ate salads composed for hungry people...

... and tapas for hungry people:

Did I see anything fibery? Yes, we went to a yarn shop, Anntorps Väv. I bought three of the cones:

I saw spindle whorls and needles from the Chinese stone age in Östasiatiska Museet:

Jukka had booked a room for me in an awesome hotel in the Old Town. The place is loaded with antiquities, lots and lots of miniature ships and things related to seafare. This is the lobby in Hotel Lady Hamilton:

And this was my small and cosy room:

And the corridor on the second floor

It was a quiet hotel. I slept for eleven hours!

When I came home the snow had melted and the dog was the happiest dog on earth. Hubby had made  a reindeer dish for me!

Paraden

Jag har varit i Stockholm. Medan jag funderar på vilka foton jag ska visa kan ni titta på damen som deltar i paraden. Oj vad snabb hon var!

Portland. My Fiber Studies 18

This is my first fiber study as a journeyman in spinning in my local craft guild Björken at Stundars. Because I now have to be more thorough in my exploration of fibers and spinning, I introduce a few things I have mostly ignored earlier, such as twists per inch TPI, wraps per inch WPI, twist angles, staple length.

I take part in the SpinDoctor Rare Breed Wool Challenge on Ravelry. My blog posts are tagged SpinDoctor. The challenge ends June 30, 2011. You find SpinDoctor's podcasts in my Link List to the right.

The Sheep

The history of Portland sheep is obscure. It's probably what's left of the Western Tanfaced horn sheep that was common in the Southwest (Dorset) of England during the middle ages. Both sexes are horned. The sheep are small, and they have long tails. The breed is at risk for the moment. Here is a short video: Portland on Youtube. There are a few articles in newspapers and quite a lot of photos on Internet too. Google for "Portland sheep" and see what you can find. This is an interesting breed.

The Wool

The lambs have a foxy red color that fades into creamy white when they grow up. The micron count is 31-35 with a staple length of 5-9 cm. It's a wool suitable for many purposes.

My yarn on top of a photo of Portland sheep in Wild Fibers magazine, Winter 2010/2011

My Experience

Spinning

Fiber preparation: roving from International Fleeces
Staple length: 6-8 cm
Wheel: Louet Victoria
Ratio: 1:8.5
TPI in singles: about 11
TPI in finished yarn: 11
WPI in singles: 34
WPI in finished yarn: 18
Twist angle in singles (unwashed and at an average): 50
Twist angle in finished yarn: 45

The roving from International Fleeces was easy to spin. The roving was clearly directional, so you have to find out from which end it wants to be spun.  I spun two singles with a woolen draw, and plied a 2-ply, ordinary yarn, my default yarn.

Conclusions

I would use this yarn for hats, mittens, gloves, cardigans, sweaters. A 3-ply or 4-ply would be a good sock yarn.

Read More

Internet
Portland Sheep
Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Literature
British Sheep & Wool. British Wool Marketing Board, 2010
Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius, Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. Storey Publishing, 2011.
Wild Fibers, Winter 2010/2011
M. L. Ryder, Sheep & Man, Duckworth, 2007
Jane & Nola Fournier, In Sheep's Clothing. Interweave Press, 1995

Spring! New shoes, new socks, dirty dog, Hillevi

So it's spring. New shoes. The dog get's dirty. And Pelargonium Zonale 'Hillevi' is blooming.

Spring! Vår! Swap Yarn! Swap garn!

Det är vår! It's spring!

Fast det finns nog snö på gården ännu. But there is still snow in our front yard.

Jag spinner swap garn. Topen, chokladen och stickmarkören har jag fått av Lillmor. Tack Lillemor!

Lillemor's website: Limmo-design

I'm spinning a SWAP yarn. Lillemor sent me the top, chocolate and stitch marker. Thank's Lillemor!

Gesäll! Journeyman! Och/and Echinopsis

Nu är jag spinnargesäll och om ett par år är jag mästare om jag klarar provet! Now I'm a journeyman and within a couple of years I'll be a masterspinner if I pass the examination!

My Echinopsis is making good progress

And this is my newest little cactus