scarves

These are all woven with my handspun on a 12 inch Ashford Knitter’s rigid heddle loom.

textile

textile

textile

I made them at the end of 2010. It’s high time to warp the loom again, since the New Year it’s been all spinning and no weaving.

fibre

Work is frenetic at the moment but I am making time to go to a weekly patchwork class on the island – two peaceful hours with likeminded people, and lovely log cabin to play with.

And out of this something very exciting is being born – the new Tiree Tapestry Group – tapestry in the sense of community tapestry, using a wide range of creative textile techniques. We’ll have a web site soon but there’s a little bit about us on our Facebook page. Our first meeting is on Friday – I can’t wait!

since June…

I needed a blogging break after finishing my course but it grew rather longer than I intended. If anyone is still here reading, this is what I’ve been doing since then.

In July, I was given a couple of Tiree fleeces, a Jacob and a Suffolk, by a very kind crofter friend, and spent some time learning how to turn this

fibres

into this,

fibres

and then to this.

yarn

August brought visitors and walks by the sea.

birds

In September, we sadly said goodbye to Tansy, our darling companion of almost 17 years – this photo was taken in the spring. She loved to run on the beach and the machair right up to the week she died. I miss her so much.

Tibetan spaniel

In October I collected blues, yellows and greens together and made some little pieces of felt for the International Day of Felt. But I didn’t get myself organised in time to get other people involved as well – I will next year, I hope, when the colours will be Red-Purple-Blue.

felt

While all my flat surfaces were filled up with blues and yellows and greens…

fibre and fabric

I spun some of it too.

handspun yarn

In fact, I’ve been spinning a lot in the last few months. I’ve woven scarves with some of these yarns now, but the basket keeps filling up again.

handspun yarns

I think my birthday visit to the mainland deserves a post of its own, for another day. I don’t quite know how this blog will evolve without the focus of the OCA course. Mostly textiles still, of course, but maybe a bit more of life as well. I’ve tried keeping a separate blog for ‘other stuff’ but since it’s a challenge to keep one blog alive, let alone two, a more eclectic mix may be the way to go from now on.

orange scarf

I made this soft neck scarf for my Mum’s birthday using merino fibre in two shades of orange. The circles are silk tops – I love the crinkly shapes they make in the finished felt – and the green yarn  is plied handspun – my first attempt at plying on the  spindle.

fibre laid out and ready to felt

completed scarf and handspun yarn

felt detail and yarn

in a spin

Since I came back from Woolfest with this

Intertwined

I’ve been inspired to begin learning this

spindle and yarns

And this

plying

So (slowly) I’m amassing a small haul of slubby wayward yarns that should be useful for the weaving assignment in my next OCA Textiles 1 module, and for felting as well.

yarn

I tried a bit of crochet and like the random stripiness a lot…

crochet

I am loving spinning! It’s so addictive – colour flowing from one hand to the other, making magic as it goes. I don’t seem to be able to stop. And now I’m dreaming about one of these…

kromski sonata
1. i love spinning, 2. wool3, 3. Kromski Sonata, 4. IMG_0272
made with Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker