Mixing Things up for a Sweater
words and photos by: Johanna Carter
I always admire those who are able to spin mountains of yarn for a big project, ready to knit a wonderful sweater or cardigan. It is a satisfying feeling when you finish all that work, especially if you started with washing and combing the wool or even raising your own sheep.
Mixing spinning and knitting
The typical way to work through a larger project is to spin all the singles first and ply them in a particular order so you get the yarn even throughout the whole project. I don’t have so many bobbins, but my bigger problem is that I am quite impatient and want to get on with knitting once I have an idea. And normally, my brain is full of ideas for fibre work and the limit is the time, as I am a musician and teacher. I can’t sit at the spinning wheel for a long time if I’m not on holiday, so during the school year I mostly knit, and during the holidays I can dye, spin, use my drum carder, and do lots of fibre work. The only time I was able to produce bigger quantities of yarn before I knitted them up was during the Tour de Fleece in the two years during the pandemic, when we did not go on holiday at the beginning of July.
A highly photogenic collection of naturally dyed fibres.
I like to finish knitting one big project like a sweater or cardigan before I start the next one, or at least until I can’t carry it in my bag easily anymore, so I have an excuse to begin the next one. Sometimes it is good to have a second project on the go – I call it mindless knitting, where I don’t have to look very much – which I can keep my hands busy during Zoom or other meetings, which helps me listen.
Mixing colours and fibres
Usually I dye my yarn with plants which I collect in the woods or get from garden flowers. I also use cochineal and indigo, which I buy, to get lots of different colours. I really love the greens and blues I get from dyeing with indigo. I have lots of dyed wool, and all those colours give me inspiration for further projects.
Beautiful greens and blues dyed by the author using indigo and other natural dyes.
Blending the wool on the drum carder I can get even more shades. I like to blend with fibres like silk, alpaca, or plant fibres, and I love sari silk, to get those little bits of colour in my yarn.
Fibres of different types and colours are blended on a drum carder for elegant results.
When I have an idea for the next sweater, I start carding, and then I can begin to spin. Once I have spun enough yarn – say, for one day – I cast on and start knitting, usually top down, so I don’t have to decide too much in advance about length and width.
An idea for the author’s next sweater in the gathering stages.
When I spin on my wheel, I have to sit at home, but while spinning I can read a book or talk to others during online meetings. I also like to spin on my spindles, and that works on a walk, or a museum visit. I take them on holiday as they don’t need much space, and when I spin for a lace shawl, I don’t even need much wool either. At home there are spindles all over the place; I can spin when I am waiting for the kettle to boil, when the computer is slow, when I am cooking. Like that I can make good use of a short time and the yarn still grows.
Knitting as soon as the yarn is spun helps the author complete sweater projects in a timely manner.
I can take my knitting almost everywhere, which is why I don’t want to wait to get started until I have spun all the yarn for a whole sweater. I knit at home, on the bus or train. The only thing I have to make sure of is to be one step ahead with the yarn.
I love to knit Fair Isle sweaters. My favourite method is to use only one bobbin, which I don’t even fill, because I need smaller quantities of lots of colours. Then I wind a ply ball and ply it on itself. For that I put my thumb through the ball, so I can tension the two singles with my fingers and they don’t get tangled, as long as my thumb (or a cardboard roll or a pencil) stays in the middle. I don’t have any leftovers from plying, and it is quick when I suddenly need more yarn.
Several charming sweaters dyed, spun, and knit by the author.
I have never had problems with the yarn not being consistent enough throughout a project. I just know what yarn I want and my fingers seem to remember what to do. I am sure it is good advice to have a little card tied to the spinning wheel with a bit of the singles you are aiming for, so you can check and make sure you are spinning a consistent yarn.
Mixing breeds
There are so many different breeds, but some of my favourites are Shetland, BFL, and Jämtland – a Swedish breed. After dyeing them, I often forget what I have used, so when I do a new project it often turns out that I have used different breeds and fibres just to get the right colour. For the Fair Isle knitting I want to juggle lots of colours, which is more important to me than making a sweater out of only one breed.
Recently I made a pullover for my husband using about 12 different breeds and colours, even mixing short and long draw. For me it was a breed experiment and a way to use up lots of smaller quantities of wool I had in my stash. For that sweater I used combed top without blending.
Mixing in knitting during the spinning process is a wonderful way for a spinner to avoid being overwhelmed during a sweater project.
My feeling is that some people don’t dare to start spinning for a bigger project because they get overwhelmed by the quantity they have to spin and then all the knitting there is to do, especially when you want to spin the yarn entirely on spindles. Mixing the spinning and knitting for the same project is more interesting; you get more variety and more freedom to choose what you want to do next as long as you don’t run out of yarn. It breaks the project down into smaller, less daunting parts. The only thing you might want to plan is to have enough fibre at the start, but even that is not necessary, there is always a sheep growing more wool.
Recent Textile Discoveries in Archaeology
Archaeologists have made some textile discoveries in the past year that are of interest to spinners and clothmakers.
In Turkey, at a rather large Stone Age settlement known as Çatalhöyük, cloth was found in 1962. It took decades of discussion and new data and discoveries to determine if the cloth was made from wool or linen. Ultimately, researchers determined the cloth was made from bast fiber from oak trees. (from Norwegian SciTechNews)
In Spain, in a cave near Cordoba, archaeologists found a piece of fabric that is “the oldest evident of textiles in the Iberian Penninsula.” This loom-woven fragment is about 5400 years old. (from The Olive Press)
In Wales, in an Iron Age hillfort, one of the artifacts founds was a “stone spindle whorl.” (from The Past)
Two burial mounds in Poland, from the Wielbark culture about 2000 years ago, contained a number of items related to weaving such as spindles and spools. (from Heritage Daily)
In Norway, a number of discoveries have been found along Viking trade routes. One well-preserved piece of clothing has been called the “Lendbreen Tunic” and was made of wool. Also find was a distaff made from birch. (from Artnet News)
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Comfort Fiber
words by Sylvia Smith
I write this while enjoying a cornucopia of natural offerings brought on by changing seasons. These seasonal changes have caused me to shift my focus from outdoor activities back to my fiber arts pursuits. My link to emotional quietude has been through fiber. Specifically, I am working through the home study (PLAR) option of Master Spinner Level 2 offered through Olds College. I completed Level 1 in September 2020 and elected to immediately dive into Level 2 as a positive focus for my energy during a pandemic-altered winter. The homework for both Level 1 and Level 2 of the Olds College Master Spinner program requires the student to spin specific fibers, as well as to spin fibers using specific methods and to recommended specifications.
I received a beautiful Athena Capricorn wheel for Christmas and an Electric Eel Nano for my birthday in January. I also recently bought a Dundas wheel from an old friend. Each of these spinning wheels operates differently from my Lendrum double-treadle wheel, on which I have treadled hundreds of hours to produce many miles of yarn. Upon receipt of each of these new spinning machines, I wanted to explore their unique traits without worrying about the quality of yarn that I would initially produce. I dove into my fiber stash and emerged with a bump of my good ole’ comfort fiber.
My comfort fiber is the result of purchasing a fleece produced by a dark colored mixed-breed sheep that I saw in a field about 25 years ago when I was still an inexperienced and solitary spinner living in central Idaho. After the owners sheared the sheep and sold me its huge dark-colored (possibly) Rambouillet cross fleece, I attempted to scour it and then sent it to a mill in north Idaho that processed it into thick pencil roving. This comfort fiber represents the very first raw fleece I ever purchased, and I have used this wool in countless public spinning demonstrations. I include inspirational amounts of this roving when I send aspiring new spinners out into the world with their own spindles featuring whorls made of either CDs or popsicle sticks.
I am much more experienced and discerning about raw fleeces than I was when I purchased that first fleece. I now know I did not do an excellent job scouring the fleece and the fleece likely had second cuts and possibly a break in the fiber. The mill did a fine job processing what I now recognize was a mediocre fiber product
This comfort wool was the perfect fiber for me to use to acquaint myself with my new spinning wheels. Since I have spun a lot of this roving in different circumstances and for various purposes over the years, I have become quite familiar with its woolen and somewhat slubby characteristics. I understand that I will never produce a completely smooth and uniform worsted yarn with it. By using my comfort fiber that will never produce a perfect worsted yarn, I felt free to just play with my new wheels and become familiar with their unique personalities. I relaxed into the spinning process while drafting my imperfect comfort fiber and gained confidence in my techniques with each wheel without judging the yarn as it formed on the bobbin.
I compare my bond with my comfort fiber to our society’s gusto for such foods as baked macaroni and cheese, ice cream, or burgers and fries. We know that a steady diet of these foods will not contribute to a state of optimal health, just as spinning my comfort fiber will not produce perfect yarn. However, the aromas, textures and flavors of our comfort foods remind us of pleasant memories and link us to experiential traditions. It is a good thing to occasionally give our spirits and bellies a moderate dose of such treats, though we may choose to partake more regularly in other foods in order to promote well-being. Similarly, I have learned over many years to be quite discerning about the types of fiber and method of preparation if I spin a yarn for a specific use. When I sat down to a brand new spinning wheel in a world that has been so changed by the pandemic, it felt so very reassuring to smell, touch, and spin my good ole’ comfort fiber because it elicited great memories and validated the knowledge I have gained since I first acquired that fleece. As I drafted my comfort fiber into yarn on my new wheel, I felt like I was spinning threads of possibility for more fun fiber adventures and learning opportunities.
Sylvia Smith learned to spin in 1994 while living in Challis, ID, and was a solitary spinner in that small and remote community. She and her husband now live in Kalispell, MT, where Sylvia has many friends in the fiber arts world and is active in the Alpine Weavers and Spinners Guild.
PLY Magazine believes that Black lives matter, as well as LBGTQI+ lives. Those most vulnerable and persecuted in our communities deserve our love and support. Please be good to each other.
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How to Navigate a Rut in Your Creative Life
words by Jess Cook
As I type this, my spinning wheel sits in a corner of my home office, gathering dust. I can’t tell you the last time I spun anything at all, let alone a whole skein – and I work for PLY! I’m surrounded by inspiration from all of you, and our amazing contributors, every single week. Yet for some reason, my own enthusiasm for the craft has waned, and I’m really not sure why.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, now or in the future, here are some tips I’ve been gathering for how to handle a rut in your creative life.
Follow your enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is a fickle muse, and sometimes it leads us to unexpected places. If you’ve found yourself not making time for spinning, but you want to make that time, maybe you need to mix things up a little bit. Is there a new fiber type, prep, or dyer you’ve been dying to try? A new technique you want to experiment with at the wheel? Maybe you even hear a new tool calling your name. Whatever sparks that enthusiasm inside of you, follow it. You may just find a path right out of your rut.
On the other side, it may be time for you to fall back into what feels natural and comfortable. A familiar fiber, a favorite color combination, or a go-to technique might get you back into the groove again, like reuniting with an old friend. Whatever your enthusiasm is telling you, it’s best to listen to that inner voice.
Remove unnecessary restrictions
A wise woman once told me that I was inventing timelines in my head for things that didn’t need to be restricted that way, and she was absolutely right. What restrictions have you placed on your life as a spinner or creative that simply don’t need to be there? If you’ve been telling yourself that you have to finish Project A before starting Project B, or that you can only make time for spinning once your hallway closet has been reorganized, or that you can’t start a project if you won’t be able to finish it by next week – stop doing that! You’re giving yourself limits that don’t need to exist.
For me, this tends to be a problem when I agree to complete a project for someone else. I love to use my creative skills to make things for people I care about, but as soon as someone asks me to make something for them and I agree to it – I immediately don’t want to do that project. (As an example, I’ve been crocheting a bed-sized blanket for my best friend for over a year, because I can barely pull together the enthusiasm to make a single row most weeks.) If you’ve put yourself into a situation like that, it may help to give yourself deadlines, but also build in time to work on other projects that are more exciting so you don’t lose the creative spark altogether. For everything else, the timeline you’ve invented for yourself should only be allowed to persist if it motivates and helps you, not if it makes you feel boxed in and resentful.
Stash with intention
Stashing is another hobby altogether, and for me it comes in seasons. Sometimes I like having a large, varied stash so I know there will always be something to inspire me when I open the closet where it’s stored. Other times, having a large stash feels like a To Do list that’s hanging over my head, with an imaginary project for every braid and skein, weighing down on me and making me feel like I’ve buried myself under the weight of unfinished projects.
If your stash inspires you, put it somewhere you can see it, and visit it often. If it makes you feel overwhelmed or obligated, give it away or sell it! The sheep are growing new wool every day, so you can always get more. I have done this several times with all of my creative hobbies, and I always manage to get more supplies when I need them. Sometimes clearing out my stash to make room for something new is all the enthusiasm boost I need to get back into my hobbies again.
Go easy on yourself
The most important tip is to give yourself grace and peace in all things. If spinning isn’t calling to you right now, maybe it’s because your inner voice is trying to tell you to make room for something new, and that’s going to be just the thing you need in this season of your life. Time is a finite resource, and we’re under no obligation to parcel it out to every creative hobby at all times. If this needs to be a season of rest for you, let it be that. If you want to be creative but spinning isn’t calling to you, listen for the call of something else. Taking a break, for however long it lasts, doesn’t mean your life as a spinner is over. Give yourself time to do what you want and need most, and trust that you’ll come back to your wheel or spindle when the season for spinning returns in your life.
Harness the power of community
If you aren’t feeling inspired to spin alone at your house, find a local spinning group or make one yourself if there isn’t one nearby. You can also find a lot of inspiration in an online community – join us for one of PLY’s vlog sessions or use the hashtag #InspiredbyPLY on social media to find folks who are trying new techniques and projects they found in one of our issues. Use Ravelry or another site to find spinners who want to join a challenge together, or just share ideas and photos with other creative spinners around the world. There are so many ways that spinning can bring us together with others, and sometimes seeing the things other people are making is all the inspiration you’ll need to get back to your own projects.
Here’s to a New Year that brings us all creative inspiration, time to rest, and the peace that comes from balancing both.
Jess Cook is a middle school teacher and freelance content marketer, who also works for Team PLY as the head of our wholesale & advertising departments. She lives in the Nashville area with her 3 kids, a menagerie of pets, and a closet full of craft supplies. Find her online at tinyurl.com/jesscookonline.
PLY Magazine believes that Black lives matter, as well as LBGTQI+ lives. Those most vulnerable and persecuted in our communities deserve our love and support. Please be good to each other.
Did you know we also have a monthly PLY newsletter? Sign up here!
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