Spinning a yarn
June 10th, 2008 - Posted in crafts, self-sufficiency - by Sarah|
The onset of winter always encourages me to start a knitting project but this year I have gone one further and have made my own yarn!
I had noticed the local spinning group, the Woolly West Coasters, at various events over the summer and a month or so a go I made contact. The group meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at the RSA rooms in Greymouth (anyone is welcome). They kindly showed me how it’s done by the experts and one lady lent me a wheel to have a go on before I took the plunge. It didn’t take me very long.
Last week we hopped over the hill to Ashburton and paid a visit to the Ashford craft shop. I spent a hour or so trying out various spinning wheels and drooling at the amazing selection of yarns and wool. In the end I eschewed tradition and went for an electric spinning machine. Although I really like the look of some of the more modern design wheels I decided that the machine was more practical for me.
Me spinning wool
I aim to be spinning the fleeces of our small flock every year in one go and then putting it away for the rest of the year – I don’t want a spinning wheel sitting in the corner of the room all the time. I like to sit cross legged on the sofa in the evening and find that sitting in a straight backed chair makes my back ache. The machine can be used from any position, even standing up or lying down, because it doesn’t have a treadle. This difference also makes it much easier for a beginner to use as I can just concentrate on what’s happening to the wool in my hands and not have to worry about my feet too!
The staff at Ashford were incredibly helpful and sent me away with a bag of greasy Romney wool to work through as practise before embarking on the wool that we sheared off the Leicesters this summer. I have read that beginners should always start with an unwashed fleece if they can and having tried washed and machine carded wool too I would definitely agree. The fibres are much easier to draw out and yet they cling and attach easily too. The raw wool needs to be combed or teased before it can be spun as it has a tendency to knot together at the tips of the fleece. So I got a flick carder as well.
Me combing out a few staples of Romney fleece.
Once I had spun all the Romney I transferred half of it onto a second bobbin and, putting both bobbins onto a Lazy Kate, then plied both halves together to make the final yarn. I wound this onto my new homemade Niddy Noddy and hey presto, the skein of yarn shown in the first photo! Just don’t ask me where the daft names for things come from.
Shopping Kete
June 8th, 2008 - Posted in crafts, sustainable living - by Brendhan|
As part of our search for more sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel based products, last weekend I attended a flax weaving workshop. I hoped to learn how to make kete (traditional Maori baskets) to use for general house hold and garden purposes as well as an alternative to supermarket shopping bags. On the first day I began by making two small kete.
My very first attempts at weaving kete.
The one on the left was my first and I accidentally made the strips of flax a bit too narrow which meant I ended up with a tiny kete that was extremly fiddly to make. However all of the women on the course (I was one of only two men) thought the result was “cute” – hmmmmm.
On the second day I moved onto a slightly more involved design and, determined to make something a bit more sizable, I decided to use the full width of the flax. To make the kete big enough to hold a reasonable amount of shopping it also needed longer strips of flax. so the stems were left on to allow the prepared flax to be twice as long (ie a strip coming out from each side of the stem).
The bottom of the kete taking shape.
The stems were arranged as in the photo with the shiny side of the leaf facing down to become the outside.
The finished base of the kete being held flat by some steel weights.
Once all 20 pieces of flax were arranged and woven together the stems were woven into the resulting mat to create a flat base as in the picture above. This was then folded up at the corners (between the white and blue pegs) and the weaving continued up the sides.
The complete collection of kete and flowers.
Finally the top of the kete was plaited together to form a flat top. I have still to make some flax rope to make handles that will wrap all the way under the basket so as to be strong enough to hold the full weight of shopping.
Always on the lookout to curry favour at home I even learned how to make a flax flower to present to Sarah after the course. The next day to try and re-enforce what I had learned and to spread the knowledge I showed Sarah how to make one of the kete and the flower.
