A student is attending Fibres West https://www.fibreswest.com later this month and asked me about the features I look for in a Plying Kate. Free Standing: The ability to position the Kate a distance from the wheel helps to even out the twist. Compact: Can be broken down for easy storage.… Read More »Hardworking Kates
Any Guild or Associate Member belonging to the MidAtlantic Fibre Association is eligible to register for this virtual workshop being offered in the Spring of 2026. Membership info may be found here https://mafafiber.org/about-us/join-us/guild-membership-application-renewal/ or here https://mafafiber.org/about-us/join-us/associate-members/ One Handpainted Braid – Six Different Color Effects Handpainted braids are wonderful sources of… Read More »MAFA Virtual Workshop
Dressed distaff before… I thought this might give you a gigge. When I wrote the “Dressing my Distaff” post I could not find the photo of how I dressed the distaff before I dizzed handpainted braids in one long strip or thought of adding the twist. This worked fine, but… Read More »Dressing my Distaff 2
Dressing my distaff with dizzed sliver or carded roving has been an evolution. In the beginning I placed the lengths of dizzed sliver/roving in a bowl (see above). As my lengths of dizzed fibre became longer, I needed to figure out a better system. This is when I turned to… Read More »How I Dress My Distaff
Leanne Paulin of Huespun Fiberworks is a talented dyer, spinner, knitter, writer and photographer. I follow her blog and really enjoy reading about her thought process as she decides how to dissect and prepare fibre from handpainted braids. If you enjoy reading about all things colour and fibre or are… Read More »HUESPUN FIBERWORKS
My last two handspun, hand knit projects were stranded knit hats. I used a gorgeous natural dark brown for the MC (main colour) and a handpainted braid from Crafty JAKS in their “Sea Stars” colourway for the CC (contrast colour). I choose Sea Stars because to me the colours and… Read More »A Distaff & A Lock-Pop
I recently participated in a really interesting collaboration with the team at SweetGeorgia Yarns. They asked their spinning instructors to share pictures containing colours or ideas that express something that inspires them during the winter season. My inspiration was a photo of a Common Kingfisher and the Greek legend which… Read More »SGY Winter Inspirations Collaboration
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
The handspun textural accents in this scarf were 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 cocoons… 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