Woolly Wednesday - September

Welcome to the September Woolly Wednesday! There is an air of Autumn here in England this week, the perfect time to sit cosily in your home and think of woolly things to create. So what have you been up to this month?

Woolly Wednesday falls on the first Wednesday of every month. Think of it as a creative gathering, or a virtual guild meeting. Bring along any fibre-related project, whatever it may be. If you are starting out in fibre arts, share what you are interested in pursuing. Let's show each other our projects, share any tips, tutorials, ask questions, seek advice. Add your post to the Linky below and we can visit one another and share, support, encourage, be inspired!.

Please feel free to add the button to your blog's sidebar with a link to Spinspiration, a lovely way for us all to link together. Just copy the image to your desktop and then in your blog design - add a gadget, add picture - upload the picture and then add the url (http://spinwheelspin.blogspot.com/) and the image will link to here.

Join us with the linky below, link to a recent blog post of your woolly adventures in the last month, we look forward to seeing you ...

Woolly Wednesday - Dawn's adventures with wool this month!

As Autumn approaches there are usually more woolly projects creeping in for those cosy dark evenings. So as that time approaches here, I've got a few different things started or in mind - some knitting, some felting, some weaving and of course more spinning.

So what about the last month? Well I've been mainly spinning Dorset Horn fleece this month, in amongst lots of Summer fun with Imogen being at home for the school holidays. So not much to share this month but here are a few pictures of the Dorset which has carded so nicely - this beautiful fibre just pulls wonderfully from the rolags to the bobbin, almost effortless, here are pictures of the singles I've spun and the two singles plied on the bobbins.

 Dorset Horn spun and plied on the Louet

I've had a request for handspun house socks for a Christmas present so these I have cast on and am trying a new method for me - knitting two socks at the same time on a long circular needle. I have done the leg so far and about to start shaping the heel. It seems a simple method and avoids that problem of knitting one sock and not getting around to knitting the second - I like that!

 Shoeboxes are useful for holding two big balls of handspun wool!

2 at a time socks on a circular needle

My other main project on the go at the moment involves weaving on a hand held weavette frame. I picked these up on the Guild sales table last year and have enjoyed making these ever since. Some have become rugs for my daughters dolls house, others have become other playthings. These frames are so much fun and easy to use - I can whip one of these up in no time.

 Weavette weaving frames

 The growing pile of woven squares

This little pile is for a seat cushion/pad to make sitting at Guild meetings more comfortable. Our Guild like many has a yearly challenge and this years was to make a cushion for the seats. So these have been made with my handspun yarn oddments and a couple of other 100% wool yarns I have too. I think I shall try and make enough so it is all from my handspun yarn and use the others for something else.

Just need to sort out the order/pattern and sew them together

So that's what's keeping my fingers busy this month, how about you?

Kelly's September Woolly Wednesday

During August the only spinning I did was to spin and ply this French country sheep fleece.  The wool came from that wonderful little craft shop I have mentioned before.  I really loved spinning this up and wish I had bought more of it.  So soft and the wool simply slipped through my fingers.

The master spinner who has often shared spinning tips with me and valuable advice along the way, gave me five bags of wool, three of which were Wensleydale!!  One big bag each of white, brown and black.  For a long time I have wished for some Wensleydale and this lot will keep me going for ages.  What a gift!! Celia had already washed the brown, so I washed the black and the white.  Quite a process but both have washed up beautifully.

 

 This is the unwashed black Wensleydale.  So much lanolin and just look at the length of those locks!

 And here is the brown.  Beautiful colour!

Apart from that we moved house towards the end of August so goodbye to the Cotswolds and hello to the Midlands.  Still living on a farm and let me introduce our new neighbours...

Yes, there are sheep on this farm - lots of them and how happy this makes me!  They are Texels and it is delightful to wake each morning to the sound of their bleating.

Wishing you all a happy September!