The first stranded knit sweater I purchased was back in 1977 and I have been smitten with stranded knitting ever since. Over the years I have, for the most part, knit smaller projects; children’s sweaters, mitts, cowls, hats, and the like. In 2023, I took the plunge and knit a… Read More »Stranded Knitting Journey So Far…
The slate of workshops and lectures for 2025 are updated and can be found under the Workshops tab. Topics include: “Eri, The silk with humble beginnings”, creating wool/silk blends, handspun from handpainted eri and tussah silk, how to use value keys as a tool for fibre preparation and plying, different… Read More »Workshops for 2025
It is always a bit of challenge to find/spin a background or main colour yarn that works well with yarn spun from handpainted braids. On the left is the handpainted braid used to spin the five different skeins seen below and on the right is my solution; a construction method… Read More »Background/Main Colour Yarn Design
One of my piques, when working with floating selvedges and a 2-ply wet spun line linen on a recent project was that the floating selvedge thread twirled around as it dangled off the back beam. This undid the ply twist and without the ply twist the linen was more susceptible… Read More »Floating Selvedge
As mentioned in Part II, my hands get quite warm and sometimes moist when I spin silk. Not a good combination at all. As the silk starts to stick to my hands, the fibre source becomes disheveled causing the fibre to draft poorly. Several years ago, I decided to see… Read More »Eri Silk, Part III
HYDRATING ERI SLIVER The night prior to preparing rolags, I place a length of sliver in a baggie along with a damp cotton ball, which has been gently squeezed to prevent dripping. After tucking the damp cotton ball into a corner of the baggie away from the sliver, the baggie is… Read More »Eri Silk, Part II
The handspun textural accents in this scarf were spindle spun from hand-painted eri sliver. The fibre preparation had a silky soft hand and a satiny sheen. Quite a contrast to my first experience spinning eri fibre from India in the early 1980’s. At that time, the traditional degumming process subjected… Read More »Eri Silk, Part I
I recently purchased a new nøstepinne designed and turned by woodturner, Ed Pretty. The nøstepinne is both exquisite and thoughtfully designed. Here are a few answers to some questions you may have. WHAT is a Nøstepinne? A nøstepinne is a tool used to wind yarn into a center-pull ball. Unlike… Read More »NØSTEPINNE
This course is now live on the School of SweetGeorgia website. See my “Workshops” page for SOS coupon codes. Each of these skeins was spun from SOS’s Beachside Brunch colourway. Left to right are a Gradient, Fractal, and Rill and Marled yarn. The Marled yarn incorporates a natural white as… Read More »Spin a Hand-dyed Braid 5 Ways
The SOS has released two free tutorials which you may be interested in. One, “Fractal Preparation with a Diz and a Hand Card”, reviews my technique for creating fractal yarns from handpainted braids. The other tutorial, “Dizzing Fibre off a Hand Carder”, demonstrates my technique for doffing fibre from a… Read More »School of SweetGeorgia (SOS)