Handspun, handwoven

This blanket was woven from commercial yarn dyed with natural dyes. All of the yellows and greens were done at Penland over the summer, using plants in the areas. As a general rule, the yellows are from alum mordants, the greens are the same dye baths with an iron mordant afterwards. The blue is indigo I did at home, and the orange is madder I also did at home on a marathon dye weekend when the hubby was away. The colors are randomly arranged. I separated them loosely into "dark" and "light" and picked without looking from those piles, trying to alternate in no particular order. As always with fiber, it looks better in person. The blue ribbon is first place in the plain weave blanket competition at the Maryland Sheep and Wool.

The Fabric From H*ll has redeemed itself. I managed to have enough to make this really cute "jacket"--almost a vest--from the singles fabric that tormented me so. I added beaded ties because I didn't want a button to claim the focus of the garment (and because I like playing with beads). It won First Place in the Handspun Garment category at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and will be in the gallery at Spin Off Autumn Retreat, if you are going. Seeing as how it's summer and 90 degrees outside, I haven't worn it yet, but am looking forward to fall!

Waaayyy back when The Lord of the Rings was a big movie sensation, several articles came out in Handwoven and/or Spin Off about how the magic cloaks were woven of Gotland fleece. It sounded so wonderful, I ordered one from New Zealand. The description was of a charcoal grey/light grey fleece. It was beautiful. I washed it and was surprised to find that was really a description of the color of the New Zealand dirt. The actual fleece was a very pale grey. (see above). I decided to spin and weave with singles. I carefully calculated the amount of yardage I would need, and spun and spun. I constructed a PVC pipe niddy-noddy so the yarn would be kink-free and easy to warp. In the past, some single yarns have formed little Shirley Temple ringlets as I threaded. I was determined it would not happen this time. So, the spun skeins hung around for a couple of years as I determined that they were really pretty boring, and I didn't think I'd want to weave yardage that dull. Then last summer I went to Penland and learned to paint pretty yarns.. Problem solved.

This was a nice grey coopworth, handspun and handpainted in purples, greens and golds. I think this one is prettier than the blue ribbon winner. And here are some shots of a whole bunch of scarves--some handspun, some just handpainted commercially spun. All are handwoven.

Here is a sampling of scarves made from some of the handspun yarn I designed at Penland. First up: This was alpaca roving, one grey and one white, both painted the same colors. When it was dry I stripped each roving very thin and held the 2 together to spin a singles yarn for the weft. The warp is a laceweight yarn that I chained on the warping board, tied really well, and painted the using the same colors as for the alpaca. This was highly sucessful, and especially nice since the warp was already measured out and just had to be threaded on the loom. I think the colors are kind of anemic, but the scarf is nice and soft. This one has singles (blended colors) weft, and a painted roving handspun 2 ply warp that I had spun for another project. It matched the singles so well, I just had to use it.
This is a 2 ply corriedale white handspun, painted with reds, golds, and accented with greens. I wish you could see the REAL colors-they are stunning. It is a rich autumnal orangey-red.
This was the most nerve-wracking. I used singles for weft AND warp. I only had 2 broken warp threads, so I was thrilled. I had bits and pieces of yarn, so I chose the largest amount to be the warp, and divided up the rest into 1/4 ounce balls and wove it in large color bands. I will be using singles again for warp.
And the last one is 2 ply light grey Coopworth handspun and then painted with greens, golds, and purples. The color on this one is a rich green/brown reminding me of the forest. Coopworth has a lovely sheen to it too.
And that's all I have spun up. I have lots of little bits, but not enough to make anything. I have lots of spinning to do, but due to a lot of life stuff won't be getting to it until the end of September. See you then!

I can't think of a clever title. Penland was absolutely extraordinary. If you love working with your art/craft, please do yourself a favor and take a class here if they offer something that interests you. And it better interest you A LOT because you spend 8-12 hours a day at it. Actual class time is probably 6 or 7 hours a day, but the studios are open 24/7 and believe me, you will want to be there "working". I say "working" because it was so much fun. We decided we were either 1) in some time-warp continuum, because time went by so fast (lunchtime! didn't we just have breakfast? No, wait, that was 4 hours ago) or 2) dead and in heaven. We had a discussion about this prior to one field trip, and decided that if we couldn't leave the campus, like we were on some mobius road that kept bringing us back to Penland, then we were dead. This was my view coming into the back of the textiles building every morning. I love this picture. I may have to dig out my watercolors. Note the open door. No AC anywhere. This will become significant as the week rolls on. I took a yarn design class from Deb Menz. We spent the first week painting commercial yarn, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that. The second week was color blending of commercially dyed top, and then spinning a yarn. She brought 70 colors.
More fiber. I was at Penland when the East Coast was baking in 105 degree heat. We probably only got up to 95 or so. We kept telling ourselves, "at least we're not in glass" or "at lease we're not in iron" . We were only on the 3rd floor in the dye kitchen. Remember, no AC. It did cool down enough at night so you needed a sheet and very thin bedspread.
Here is a miniscule portion of Deb's samples. She has boxes and boxes of yummy yarn.
Here is my painted yarn. I still have a lot of spinning to do for the blended yarn. You can see a few balls of roving to the right.
Penland has a lot of outdoor art work. This is a retaining wall, decorated with ceramic work. Iron railings were graceful and decorated with scrollwork, leaves, hands, etc. It was all lovely. William Morris would have been proud.

There are other smaller works, too. Mrs. Felt Troll visits the castle.
Naptime for baby.
Mr. Troll says thanks for stopping by.Come back to Penland real soon!

Remember back during Convergence, when I was talking about overdyeing a shawl, but it was not cured yet so you couldn't see it? Sure you do. Here's what I did. First I dyed a cotton shawl in fustic (alum & tannin mordants). Then, I used these automotive clamps that Michelle had to clamp the fabric. I folded and then tried to apply the clamps in a regular pattern. I don't know what these clamps are used for, automotively speaking, but they have square plastic clampy parts with a nice grid pattern on them. They are not the same type of clamps that you would use to jump your battery. They come in several sizes. I think I used 28 clamps. This was dubbed "the caterpillar" by the class. It was awkward to fit into the dye pot, but I circled it up and it just fit under the surface of the liquid. This is the shawl after curing for a month or so, washed in the washing machine with regular detergent. Some of the folded edges didn't get as exposed to the indigo as I would have liked.
And here are the beads I got for the fringe. It'll be another month or so before I get around to that.

*title suggested by Gail from Penland, who thinks I can also play the lute (I can't).

So we were eating dinner late, just the 2 of us, and he says, let's watch in front of the TV. Sure, says I, unawares. Well. "So you think you can dance?" Hmmm. I propose to you, ladies and gentlemen, a REAL reality show : "So you think you can weave?" (followed by its spin off (har har) "so you think you can spin.") See weavers locked in a house with hideous yarn! Who can make the prettiest item the fastest! Vote, America! Who can figure out the mistake in the pattern first? Vote, vote. Who can wind the tidiest warp? Who can warp on front to back fastest? Shall we pit front to back vs back to front? And what about finishing techniques? I see a hit on our hands!
So who do I call about this?