April 2019 - Spinning

Slightly fewer numbers than usual, as some are away on holidays, and it was a cold and wet evening. The guest speaker for the evening was Valerie Thorne from the West Surrey Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.

News and events

For those who are a member of the Guild of Machine Knitting, please check your email as the voting details have been sent out. Please vote.

The exhibition "Soft engineering - Textiles taking shape" is currently on at the Whitchurch silk mill (between Andover and Basingstoke) until the 23rd June. In addition there are also talks and events on the 27th and 28th April.

Show and tell

Nina had machine-knit a white cardigan on a mid-gauge machine.

Spinning wool

Our guest speaker for the evening was the highly-skilled spinner Valerie Thorne from the West Surrey Guild of Spinners, weavers and dyers. Val brought along a spinning wheel, several drop-spindles, and a selection of hand-dyed yarns.

There was a wide selection of drop-spindles to look at including this beautiful hand-crafted wooden drop-spindle made by Ian Tait (prices from £30).

Using the traditional facilities at Butser Ancient Farm, Val had produced a whole blanket made from yarn spun using a drop-spindle and dyed with natural dyes.

Here are some of the varieties of wool dye colours from some natural and less natural sources.

The spinning wheel is an Ashford upright spinning wheel that is a compact design in the Shetland style for smaller houses. The Ashford Handicrafts website lists a whole range of spinning wheels and accessories. Few people still produce hand-made spinning wheels. The spinning wheel produces a soft thrumming noise, unlike the noisy kersh-kersh of a knitting machine. In this photo Val is wearing a Japanese-style cardigan that she hand-knit from her own spun yarn.

The Blue-faced Leicester and the Merino yarns stood out as the softest. There was a useful tip shared that the best stain remover is white vinegar if you accidentally spill your tea or coffee on your knitting. There were some gorgeous shawls of many colours produced using tops from John Arbon Textiles. There were also some unusual fibres including this mobius scarf made from Qiviut with camel and silk from Vancouver island.

Forget-me-knot the jingling lamb (Heidi bears pattern)

Here is my first piece of yarn produced from spinning using a drop-spindle.