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.
Spinners during lockdown
Hiya spinners! We want to hear what you’ve been spinning during this, the strangest of times. If you’re up for sharing, please head over here.
Here are some of the responses we’ve received so far:
“The pandemic allowed me to slow down to embrace and savor the process of spinning, instead of just relying on the end product to bring me joy. Before all the fiber shows canceled, I was so busy working on business stuff and teaching, that I concentrated more on completing a yarn and moving on to the next project. Now it matters less that a yarn is made in a timely manner. I can spin with no deadlines just for the fun of it, getting lost in the process of creating. At first my inner hermit rejoiced at the chance to stay home more. However, as the pandemic drags on, I have been surprised with how much visiting with other spinners is essential to my mental health. Virtual fiber meetups help stave off the feeling of being cut off from the fiber scene. Spinning with friends, even though no one else can see my wheel, helps to bring my brain into order.” ~Sarah H., Keokuk, IA
“During the lockdowns when all my kids were home from school, I was able to seek respite from the wackiness mostly with my spindles, getting away from it all for a minute here or a few minutes there. The past two weeks, though, found me in isolation when I tested positive for Covid-19, which meant 10 days of uninterrupted time for spinning. I feel blessed to have had a mild case, and was able to spin every day. I chose to embark on a huge (for me) spinning project, involving 4 braids of Merino that I intended to spin as 3-ply fingering weight, creating a fade by switching out the plies one at a time as I transitioned from one colorway to the next. I managed to spin around one 40g skein a day. I spun as a wonderfully pleasurable mindfulness practice, and having my hands and feet to come back to again and again made my isolation and period of illness not only tolerable, but enjoyable. I’m so grateful to have spinning in my life!” ~Adi B., Jerusalem, Israel
“I tried spinning opposing ply yarn with Southdown. I space dyed this past summer. Changing up my usual spinning by trying to make the different yarns in Sarah Anderson’s book. First time dyeing – just another fiber related addiction.” ~Lynn M., Denver, CO
“I decided to challenge level 2 of the Master Spinner program from Olds College. I have been working on homework for the program.” ~Gail M., Canada
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.
January Vlog with Jacey and Jillian
On January 24th, Jacey Faulkner and Jillian Moreno hosting the second PLY vlog, with a live virtual chat with spinners from around the world. If you missed it (or want to watch it again), you can catch up with it here. In this vlog, Jacey and Jillian share their favorite parts of the Warmth (Winter 2020) issue and give a sneak peek into the upcoming Double-Coated (Spring 2021) issue. Get behind-the-scenes information about how Jacey decides on the cover images for each issue and her confession that she just couldn’t make a decision on the picture for the Double-Coated issue as there were so many good options (and you get to see those options and which one the live viewers liked best). Great fun abounds as Jillian walks Jacey through setting up and using the Akerworks Super Skeiner (which results in a race as they try to see who can wrap their yarn the fastest). And get to know a little more about PLY’s illustrator, Kayanna Nelson, in an interview with Jillian. Finally, if you’re a PLY print subscriber, you now have digital issues included as part of your subscription; find out how to download your digital issue(s) at the 49:20 mark.
Links mentioned in the video:
Sasha Duerr’s new book, Natural Palettes
Fiber and tools used in the Warmth issue:
Spinning Straw into Gold
Moonshadows Farm
Kayanna Nelson Interview Links
Kayanna’s Instagram @stitchtogetherstudio
Kayanna’s inspirational Instagram accounts
Kayanna’s favorite books
Dune by Frank Herbert
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jacey’s favorite books
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Ask Jacey
Do you have questions about spinning? Maybe Jacey Boggs Faulkner can help? Anything is possible, after all. We’re starting a new newsletter/blog feature where Jacey will do her best to answer your spinning questions. We’re calling it Ask Jacey. Wanna ask something? Do it here!
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.
Book Review: Nini Towok’s Spinning Wheel: Cloth and the Cycle of Life in Kerek, Java
reviewed by Sukrita Mahon
A part of the Fowler Museum’s series on textiles around the world, this book explores the textiles in a small rural community in East Java. The culture and textile tradition in Kerek are extraordinarily vibrant, forming an integral part of this society. Modern-day spinners, weavers, and dyers in the west are likely to find much inspiration in its pages. It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were all cloth-makers – not for pleasure but necessity. The unique imprint of each artisan’s work somehow creates a sense of deeper connection with society, nature, and spirit.
The museum had an accompanying exhibition to this book, and the format is very much the same as an art exhibit, with many pieces of handspun and handwoven textiles featured and explained in detail. Each piece has a cultural context and is worn by certain members of society or used for certain purposes only. They indicate everything from social class, land ownership, age, and marital status to ancestry. Largely made as single lengths of cloth, they are worn by both men and women, but in recent years commercially made clothes have come to dominate the menswear.
Spinning, dyeing, and weaving are all considered mythical and ritual activities, performed mainly by the women. Nini Towok is the mythical figure of a spinner in Kerek’s oral traditions. She is considered to be visible on the surface of the moon, spinning on a wheel. With the cotton fields resembling the night sky and the stars, she feels at once close to earth and ethereal. “Part goddess, part crone, Nini Towok sends her finely spun cotton yarn to earth in the form of moonbeams.” A type of guardian spirit, she is believed to watch over each part of cloth-making, and offerings are made to her at the beginning of a project.
The dyeing process is also steeped in ritual, although the book only mentions it briefly. Natural dyes produce blacks, blues, and reds, and brown cotton is also used. The patterns are formed mainly using batik techniques (wax resist dyeing), and the symbolism is deeply connected to the natural world. Common motifs include centipedes, flowers, birds – all imbued with meaning. Some colours and symbols can be protective, and some denote youth and fertility. Abstract symbols are also used, less commonly, often in the case of men’s clothing.
The life cycle of a woman is a theme that returns again and again in the fabric of this region. From youth and marriage to motherhood, and finally old age, women adorn themselves in different ways and acquire more status with age. Special cloths are used to carry children, and these are very often handspun and handwoven, even when other clothing is not. Funeral rites also feature certain textiles that are placed on the coffin of the deceased and left there until the final moments. Afterwards, they are taken home by the family and preserved as heirlooms.
As can be imagined, environmental degradation has affected the textile practices considerably. Indigo is the only natural dye still used, since other traditional plant dyes are now difficult to come by. Traditional textile worker families are all but gone, with many people no longer interested to take up the vocation. I can’t help feeling that a lot has been left out of this book in terms of the socio-economic context, and the reader is expected to make many assumptions that may be on the idealistic end of the spectrum. For instance, many of the residents are landless labourers, who form a vulnerable demographic, subject to urban migration away from the region. There is no mention at all of how increasing globalisation might affect the future of Kerek textiles.
With such awe-inspiring textiles featured, I was left wanting more from the book. The pages about the mythology and spiritual practices connected with the textiles were too fleeting for my liking – although readers may feel a sense of familiarity in them. Since it’s a small and isolated region, there were many questions I found myself asking, for which the answers aren’t easily obtainable. For this reason, the material feels a little clinical and academic. Personally, I hope for a future in which textiles are alive with intention and meaning in our everyday life in the west – glimpses like Nini Towok make it easier to imagine.
Rating: 3.5/5
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.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!