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Meeting Irene

I spent the past weekend in Malmö in southern Sweden. The goal of the journey was meeting Irene Waggener, author, knitter and independent researcher.

”I will be in Copenhagen in August”, said Irene a few weeks ago. She is currently living in Yerevan, Armenia. ”Do you know any yarn shops there?” ”No, I don’t”, said I, “but I can take the train down from Stockholm and we can meet in Malmö!”. ”Yay”!! said both of us. And so we met.

On the train to Malmö to meet Irene Waggener, I read her book Keepers of the sheep.

Irene Waggener is the author of the beautiful book Keepers of the sheep – knitting in Morocco’s High Atlas and beyond. You can read my review of the book here. I have admired her work for a few years now. Two years ago I knit a pair of High Atlas pants, sirwal, that used to be traditional in the the Moroccan High Atlas and that she interprets in the book. They were typically knit by male shepherds from yarn spindle spun by their wives and worn for sheepherding and snow shoveling in the cold season. I use mine for going down to the lake for my daily bath when the air temperature goes below -6 °C.

Meeting pants

I met Irene and her husband Josh in the castle garden in Malmö. Both of us had brought our sirwal pants for them to meet too. Hers knit by spindle spun Moroccan yarn, mine knit with my spindle spun Swedish Gestrike wool yarn.

Our sirwal pants finally meet! Mine to the left, Irene’s to the right. Photo by Josh Waggener.

The pants look very similar, but there are also differences. I spun and knit mine tighter to fight off the cold of the Swedish winter. The white wool in her pants is somewhat reddish from the High Atlas soil. My black stripes are fading towards the hips. I knit them from the first and second fleece from the same sheep, Gunvor, and her black spots had faded with age. Both of our pants have traces of the pastures where the sheep have grazed. While the wools come from quite different lines of sheep, both the fleeces are strong and sturdy with both soft undercoat, long and strong outercoat and quirky kemp.

Spindles, spindles, spindles!

Irene also brought spindles – one floor supported High Atlas spindle, izdi, one floor supported Middle Atlas spindle, maghzal, and one suspended Armenian spindle, ilik. The Armenian spindle was a gift to me, a precious one. I brought hand carded batts from Swedish Gestrike sheep to try the spindles with. In my Instagram highlights you can see me spin with all three spindles.

High Atlas izdi

The High Atlas spindle is the one the yarn for the pants would have been spun with (and that the yarn in Irene’s pants was spun with). The spinner sits on the ground or floor. The spindle rests on the floor and sometimes in a bowl and is flicked with the fingers of the spinning hand. Irene had published Instagram videos with Moroccan spinners spinning on these spindles back when she lived in the area, and I had saved all of them. On the train to Malmö I studied them to be able to spin on the izdi with some amount of grace and dignity.

I’m spinning on the ground supported High Atlas izdi spindle. Photo by Irene Waggener.

The High Atlas spindle is simple – a wooden shaft and, in this case, a whorl cut out from a car tyre. This type of spindle is traditionally spun with hand carded batts. The spinner inserts the twist into the whole length of the batt before making the draft. I love spinning this way, feeling the yarn do its magic as I move my hands in different directions, aligning the fibers softly in the twist with a draw that reaches between my outstretched arms. The High Atlas spindle typically spins fine high twist sock yarns and bulky low twist rug yarns.

Out of the three spindles I got to try, this was my favorite. The spindle was very simple in its execution and in the requirements to use it, yet it is operated with an advanced technique. In Irene’s videos there is also one showing a very special plying technique. The spinner pushes the spindle tip with a flat spinning hand outwards against the arm of the fiber hand. I didn’t have time to try it, though. The technique reminds me of the plying technique used for Andean pushka spindles.

Middle Atlas maghzal

The Middle Atlas spindle was hand carved from one piece of wood, with a belly instead of a whorl. It is supported on the ground, and rolled with a flat hand against the outer thigh of the spinner, who sits on the floor or ground. I believe this type of spindle was primarily used for bulkier yarns for rugs.

The Middle Atlas spindle is rolled against the thigh when the spinner is sitting on the floor or ground. Photo by Irene Waggener.

The wool for the Middle Atlas spindle would have been carded into rolags. I had only my batts with me, so the yarn I spun was a bit on the fine side, but it worked.

Armenian ilik

The Armenian top whorl spindle is also very simple in its construction. A long shaft and a whorl that looks a little like a door knob. This one is very sweet in its wonkiness and with its worm holes.

The Armenian spindle came home with me on the train. Photo by Irene Waggener.

The Armenian spindle is spun suspended and the twist inserted by rolling the shaft against the thigh of the standing or sitting spinner. This spindle is used for different types of yarn for both weaving and knitting.

Traditional spindles

I have one antique French in-hand spindle, one antique Turkish cross-arm spindle, two Andean suspended pushkas and one Peruvian suspended chaj-chaj spindle. These are traditional in different parts of the world, and still used in traditional textile communities. All the other spindles I have are modern, western made hobby spindles, some of them very luxurious. The traditional spindles were made with simple means and for production spinning, some of these very well worn, wonky and with little worm holes.

Don’t get me wrong – I love all my modern spindles. Holding the traditional spindles is something completely different, though, in the extra layer they add. Smooth in my hand, with the shaft echoing the skilled hands that had once flicked it. I felt so grateful to Irene for bringing them and to the spinners who had flicked them before me. My hands are there now too, together with theirs, in the magic of spinning.

Unfinished conversations

And we talked, the three of us. With ease and dedication we talked bout spinning, writing, knitting. World politics, pandemics and spiked bike tyres. About everything and anything. I loved every second of it.

And we talked. Photo by Josh Waggener.

Suddenly, the magic was broken and I had to go back to the train station. There was still so much more I wanted to talk about. If it hadn’t been for a working day coming up I would gladly have postponed my train ride back home. The three and a half hours we spent together were over way too soon. But we will continue the conversation the next time we meet.

On the train back home

On the train back home I did my best to process our time together, all the things we talked about, everything I learned from both Irene and Josh, all the laughter, and spending time in the beautiful castle garden. As I browsed through all the photos and videos they both were so kind to take with my camera, my heart tingled. It was a wonder that we did get to meet – Irene living in Armenia and me not flying don’t give the best odds for meeting. But we did, and I will cherish our day together. I’m so glad I came and that we managed to synch our calendars. Thank you for everything, Irene! I hope to see you again soon. My pants send their love to yours.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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Blue ice

I have had lots of blue adventures this summer with my homegrown Japanese indigo and woad, and they are not over yet. Today’s post is about blue ice and leaf pounding.

To learn more about fresh indigo dyeing, pop in at the Dogwood dyer‘s!

I love that I can dye straight from fresh indigo leaves. I have tried the salt rub method a few times with both Japanese indigo and woad, and they have all given lovely results. Another fresh leaf method is the ice method, also called the blender method. You blend freshly harvested leaves with ice cold water, strain the blended leaves away and plop prewet textiles in the indigo juice for 5–20 minutes.

Silk cuffs

Usually when I play with indigo dyeing, I test with handspun silk yarn, a linen button and strips of linen and antique cotton. This time I had an addition to the dye bath – a white silk shirt I bought second hand online. It has wide and billowing cuffs that I wanted to dye with the ice method.

I used two plastic clamps to make sure the cuffs came straight and organized into the dye bath. I also clamped the neck strings together with the cuffs. To keep them off the dye I tied the rest of the sleeves and the body in a plastic bag. I prewet the shirt with the rest of the textiles overnight and prepared some water to cool in the fridge and an ice tray in the freezer.

Blue ice

In the morning I realized the capilarity had done its thing and wandered up into the rest of the garment. I knew that was a risk, but I didn’t mind. It could turn into a lovely effect.

The blended leaves have been strained off the liquid and the silk shirt is swimming around in its blue ice bath.

I picked 100 grams of Japanese indigo Maruba leaves and blended with the ice cold water, strained off the leaves and carefully added the cuffs and the rest of the fabrics into the green fluid. Anything could happen now. But I was okay with that, it was an experiment and I would learn from it either way.

Baby teal

After only five minutes in the ice bath there was a clear difference and after 15 the material had transformed into the loveliest baby teal.

The blue ice bath after 5, 10 and 15 minutes.

I have a contradictory relationship to the colour teal. While I do love the colour, we don’t have the concept in Swedish so I am never sure whether or not I can call it teal. I don’t always know how to keep it apart from turquoise and other neighbouring colours. I decided though, that the colour of the cuffs is baby teal, and so it is.

The shirt is still wet and the colour a little more intense than when dried.

The dye did creep up an inch or so above the cuff seam, as I suspected. I really like it, though. It’s a perfectly imperfect transition between dyed and undyed, like a blue shadow.

Leaf pounding

I had planned the blue cuffs for quite a while, but it was only a day or two before I dyed that I realized that the perfect partner to the blue ice experiment would be pounded indigo leaves. I would place them as a decoration above the cuffs and around the neckline. So I picked some Japanese indigo leaves, placed a piece of cardboard between the fabric and the hammer to protect the silk and and pounded away.

The newly pounded Koyoko leaf prints are still green (left). All that is left is a thin shadow of the leaf (center) that still has some blue to offer (right).

I used leaves of different sizes from both the rounded Maruba and the arrow shaped Koyoko. Both for their different shapes and for their different blues. I turned the silk shirt inside out and placed the leaves between the layers to take advantage of both sides of the leaves. This means that every leaf print has a mirror image somewhere on the shirt. Placing the leaves between the slipaway silk was a bit fiddly, but with pins and focus I think I did a pretty good job getting the pattern symmetrical.

Yoke play

I have been designing the yoke in my mind the past few nights. In the early hours I knew just the way: I wanted the yoke to resemble a knit Fair Isle yoke.

A fair Isle style leaf pounding yoke for my silk shirt. In the center picture you can see the handspun silk and wool yarns I dyed in the ice bath together with the cuffs.

I started at the neckline with downward pointing Koyoko leaves. Below that upward pointing Maruba leaves and to give some structure to the base line I added the tips of Kyoko leaves. To create the tips I placed the whole leaf where I wanted it. I placed a piece of cardboard on top of the leaf, with the baseline covering the Maruba leaves to the left and right of it and pounded on the cardboard.

My leafy blue ice shirt is finished and I love wearing it!

There is still some green left in the leaves, but I assume it will fade away and reveal some more blue. This shirt will mature and change over time, just like we all do.

My leafy garden blue ice shirt is finished and I have lots of ideas of more leaf pounding with my homegrown flowers. There is so much to discover and play with. I am buying another second hand silk shirt right now!

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Flax patch yarn

I have grown an experimental flax patch in my community garden allotment every year since 2014. This year I have spun my flax patch yarn for the first time.

I always felt I needed to deserve to spin my own flax, to be procifient enough to spin it. There was so little of it and I wanted to be sure I could make it justice. The first years I practiced with commercially prepared flax and last year I got to spin the exquisite 80–100 year old flax from the Austrian Berta’s flax project. And this year I allowed myself for the first time to spin my homegrown flax.

My homegrown flax 2014–2022 is finally spun!

Post prep prep

I always rehackle my stricks right before I spin them. I work every strick through rough hackle, fine hackle and flax brush for a fresh preparation. This gives me the best odds for a smooth yarn. And old preparation can be dense and tangled.

I rehackle and brush my flax right before I dress my distaff.

After I have rehackled and brushed I make a fan of the golden fibers and dress my distaff. My distaff holder is a bit on the short side, so I hold it in my hand when I spin and draft with the other hand.

2014–2017

The harvests from the first years were so small and I decided to spin the flax from these years together. 2014 and 2015 in one joined preparation, 2016 and 2017 in separate preparations but in the same stretch of yarn. 2016 was the year the neighbour’s cat decided my flax patch was the perfect napping spot. The harvest that year was minimal and very bent. 2017 cat free, but quite underretted.

The stricks were quite different. All quite short, probably due to the seed variety I had at the time. Retting and processing was of questionable quality in some of them, but all the flax was definitely spinnable.

2018 and 2019

2018 was a very dry and hot summer. Still, the flax that year was long (due to a new seed variety) and plentiful. I had extended my experiment with a second patch. A bit coarse, perhaps. The flax also had a yellowish tone. 35 grams of processed fiber in total.

I was really into flax that summer, and shot a video that for some reason got quite popular. In the video I dress my distaff with commercial flax and spin it on an in-hand spindle. In the background the lawn is visible, yellow from the drought. A month or so later I shot another video where I prepared my 2017 flax harvest at the Skansen open air museum. The 2018 flax was also prepared at Skansen, one year later.

I’m fanning my flax out in thin layers to prepare for dressing my distaff. The blue distaff band (right) is my spindle spun nettle yarn woven on a backstrap loom and dyed with my homegrown woad. The distaff pin was a gift from my grandfather to my great-grandmother Berta.

The following year was quite modest and underretted. I have no record of how the processing went, I only see a sad little strick of 11 grams.

2020

In 2020 the plants were quite uneven in both maturity and length – some were still green and a lot were totally wiltered when it was time to harvest. This was the last year with the spot I had used from the very start. The plants just didn’t thrive there any longer. Still, spinning the 14 grams from the 2020 yield was quite enjoyable and I managed to spin a fairly fine and even yarn.

2021

I had such high hopes for the 2021 flax. I had two patches in the allotment and the flax was tall. Unfortunately I managed to underret it. As I processes it I cried for all the waste, in both length and amount. I got 58 grams out of it. As I spun it, it was indeed uneven in length. The fattest of the three stricks was rehackled waste and second hand quality.

2022

The 2022 flax is my largest fiber yield yet – 123 grams. When I harvested this flax I did so in sections, beginning with the coarse edge plants, then moving on to the rest in order of length. This technique resulted in four different qualities.

I’m spinning my homegrown flax on my Kromski pre-prroduction Mazurka Henrietta, named after my great-grandmother and my aunt.

It was a pleasure to spin these and experience the difference. The two medium coarse stricks were a joy to spin as they were both long and thick. I could create very well organized fans and lovely distaff dressings.

The rehackled waste

I always rehackle my flax before I spin it, unless it has been newly hackled. A lot of fiber ends up in the hackles as waste. I do rehackle the hackle waste, though, and spin a second quality flax from it. This resulted in 62 grams from the hackling and rehackling of the 2014–2022 flax harvests. To my surprise it was a lovely spin. I thought it would be rough and tangled, but it worked quite smoothly. I did spin it indoors, though, since our neighbours had decided to eat fermented herring on their balcony. It did not smell like raspberry pie. At all.

Experiencing the experiments

As I have been spinning nine years of flax harvests during the past couple of weeks I have gone through all my flax husbandry successes and challenges. I have seen and experienced what soil, rain, sun, cats, retting and preparation does in the spinning and in the resulting yarn.

My flax patch yarn before and after scouring.

Through this I have learned that

  • different fiber lengths in one distaff dressing can result in an uneven yarn. It is worth the time and effort to harvest the flax in bundles of different lengths. A taller plant is also usually a coarser plant, so this separation also results in different coarseness in the bundles.
  • underretting influences all the upcoming steps. From more work needed for hackling and more waste in both hackling and spinning to more tangles in the fan, less spinning flow and a lower quality yarn.
  • rehackling with both rough and fine hackles and brushing does wonders for making the fan. The fibers are well separated and fan out smoothly and untangled.
  • creating the fan in thin layers will result in smoother spinning and higher quality yarn. Think one fiber thin layers.
  • cats need to be kept off the flax patch
  • Switching the patch from one year to the next is important.
  • retting is still a mystery.

I knew all this in theory. But experiencing it – literally – first hand is something completely different. My hands now know things they can’t unknow and I am richer for it. I can look at my 1136 meters and 223 grams of handspun and homegrown yarn and remember all I have learned. I may weave a towel or three with it.

And oh, I ended the week in the most perfect way by spending a whole day with my Austrian friend and flax princess Christiane Seufferlein of the Berta’s flax project. We had the best of times.

I met with the Austrian flax princess Christiane Seufferlein at the world heritage of Birka outside Stockholm.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Blue magic

Mmmm… the blue magic of indigo seems to be my theme for this summer. This week I have tried a fermentation method to extract indigo pigment from fresh Japanese indigo Koyoko leaves.

The cold water fermentation method is described in one of Liz Spencer’s (the Dogwood Dyer) online courses. I liked the slow and unhurried pace of the method and decided to give it a go. After all, I’m totally new at this and have no idea what I am doing really. The chemistry of indigo dyeing seems quite daunting, but I am equally intrigued by the variety of techniques and range of colours I can get from my sweet little plants.

Koyoko

When I started an in-person class in indigo growing and extraction here in Stockholm in April we got seeds for European woad, Chinese woad and Japanese indigo Maruba. We also got a pot with a few plants of Japanese indigo Koyoko. These take some time to grow and flower very late in the season, so to be able to harvest the Koyoko seeds, our instructor Katja provided us with baby plants instead of seeds.

All my Japanese indigo plants have grown very nicely and I giggle with joy and excitement every time I see them. Since I don’t have that many Koyoko plants I wanted to do something special with them. When I saw the cold fermentation method in Liz Spencer’s online class I knew I wanted to try it with my Koyoko plants.

Fermentation

For the extraction I picked most of my Koyoko plants for the extraction. I saved a few plants to flower so I can get the seeds for next season. I do love the brightness in the colour that I have managed to get so far with this variety.

The fermentation pot when I started it, after 24 hours and after 48 hours. The indigo leaves are underneath the lid, weighted down with rocks.

Sunday morning was the day to start. I picked my plants and prepared a pot outside our front door, just next to the container where the rest of the plants grow. I checked the fermentation pot twice daily to keep an eye on the process. Liz lives and dyes in southern California, so the temperatures there are a lot higher than here in Stockholm, where it also has been unusually cold and rainy during the past week.

The fermentation pot after 72 hours (left) and 96 hours (right).

Alkalizing and oxidizing

On the fourth day I didn’t want to wait any longer – there is a risk of over fermenting. Liz lists different signs that the fermentation is at its peak and I decided it was time to stop the fermentation. I removed the indigo leaves and alkalized the mermaidy turquoise fluid. I felt very grown up when I checked the pH with a few pH strips. When I had the right pH I oxidized by pouring it between large buckets for a while.

Look at that colour! My indigo plants say hello from their container. Oxidizing to the left, finished oxidizing to the right).

The colour was amazing. So much blue from my little plants. I left the blue magic to rest over night and allow the indigo pigment to sink.

More dye!

Meanwhile I did a salt rub with the leaves from the fermentation that were still fresh looking. There was still indigo left in them and I got some more shades in my collection of indigo dyed handspun silk collection. I tried to squeeze some indirubin out too, but failed – all I got was green that I suspect is chlorophyll only.

Salt rub dye from the fermentation leaves that were still fresh. Soy treated antique cotton, linen and linen buttons to the left, handspun silk to the right. The right silk yarn is overdyed after a previous experiment.

And I wait

This is where I wanted to write about watching the pigment sink to the bottom and then decanting the fluid to get access to the blue magic. But I can’t, not yet anyway. The morning after I had oxidized, the fluid looked exactly the same as the day before. Beautifully blue, but not a sign of any pigment sinking to the bottom of the pot.

I got nervous and described my predicament in a Facebook forum for indigo pigment extraction methods and got some reassuring replies with encouragement to give it a few days, perhaps even a week. So I wait, while at the same giddily planning upcoming blue adventures.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Chinese woad

After a local fox had raided our hügelkultur a few weeks ago my woad bed was a mess. I had only around eight plants of European woad left and two of the Chinese woad. This week I did a salt rub with the chinese woad.

Please don’t ask me for dyeing advice. I don’t know anything about it. For lots of courses in fresh indigo dyeing, have a look at the Dogwood Dyer website or instagram.

The woad plants that are left after the fox attack are thriving. Three compost grids under heavy rocks keep the fox away, although they don’t keep it off other beds. The Japanese Indigo is untouched so far, though.

Salt rub

Salt rubbing with fresh indigo bearing plants is a lovely method that is quick and requires only the fresh leaves and some salt. The salt helps extract moisture from the leaves.

A few weeks ago I did a couple of salt rubs with Japanese indigo, both Maruba and Koyoko. They resulted in clear greenish blues. I knew that woad has less indigo than Japanese indigo, so I counted on subtler colours in this Chinese woad salt rub.

The textiles

I picked the largest leaves from my precious Chinese woad plant in the morning and weighed them. There weren’t many leaves, but they are quite large and resulted in 50 grams. The recommendations I have got is to use at least twice the weight of leaves to textiles. My textiles weighed 10 grams, but I figure the midrib of a woad leaf takes up some of that weight.

The textiles go into the woad tub for a salt rub.

I popped in two small skeins of handspun silk singles, two antique linen buttons, a linen patch and an antique cotton patch. I had soaked the cellulose fiber items in soy milk a few days earlier to disguise them as protein fibers and thereby take on more dye.

Rubbing away

With the Japanese indigo, both liquid and textiles turned blueish green after 5–10 minutes, but with the woad it never did. After 17 minutes of rubbing, the colour of both liquid, leaves and textiles was still grassy green. Significantly darker than in the beginning, but not a trace of blue.

From light to dark, but still grassy green after 17 minutes of rubbing.

I still had hope, though. After a quick cold water rinse, a wash in mild detergent and a vinegar rinse, the woady turquoise emerged and lifted my spirits. My first try with woad a couple of years ago resulted in tiny plants that got totally eaten by flea beetles. How a person can manage to kill an invasive plant like woad remains a mystery. Still, after the flea beetle incident, a first very failed indigo trial the same year and the fox attacks I am very grateful for every tiny dye experiment with my homegrown colour.

Warm and kind nuances with Chinese woad.

There is a difference between the cellulose and the protein fibers – there is more blue in the protein fibers. The protein fibers take up more dye than the cellulose fibers and there is still some chlorophyl in the cellulose fibers. This might mean that the colour in the cellulose textiles won’t be as colourfast as in the protein textiles. But the linen buttons seem to have caught more blue than both the linen and cotton patches.

More than blue

The dye power didn’t end with the salt rubbing, though. With a little help from heat and baking soda the indirubin may emerge, a mauve colour. I covered the remining leaves with some water, added a little baking soda and kept it warm, at around 50 °C. I added a skein of handspun silk singles, a linen patch and a linen button and left it in peace.

Indirubin creates a dusty mauve colour.

After an hour or so the liquid was reddish brown and the textiles olive brown. After a quick rinse, though, the silk transformed into the loveliest dusty mauve. The linen patch also turned mauve, but a little lighter. The button, well, while I can see some traces of mauve, it is mostly brownish grey. There is some of that brownish grey on the silk skein and the linen patch too, and it may be where the leaves have been in contact with the fibers.

Giddy, giddy

Every morning when I open my door to get the paper I see my indigo plant bin and smile (and sigh of relief that the roe deer haven’t eaten it). I am quite giddy about this, and so far it is thriving. The European woad in the Hügelkultur also looks very healthy and I am glad I got so much dye out of my single Chinese woad plant, that now only has a few small leaves left.

The newly salt rubbed textiles are drying on our garlic drying nails in the woodshed. The salt rubbed skeins are a bit tausled from the massage therapy.

My plan is to dye my little skeins of handspun silk singles in as many colours as possible, using different techniques and my different indigo bearing plants. I keep spinning the silk singles (on a supported spindle), anticipating a rainbow of indigo colours. Eventually they will all end up in the same project.

Left: All the textiles dyed with the Chinese woad. Right: The silk skeins from the Chinese woad dye next to the two skeins I dyed with the Japanese indigo Maruba a few weeks ago.

The patches of cotton and linen are just for comparison, but I hope I can find a project for my sweet buttons. I am sure their perfect match will appear sooner or later.

As I write this I look at my dyed textiles with joy while at the same time planning my next dyeing experiment. There are so many techniques to try and when I feel bold enough to try something a bit more challenging I will. I lean on the courses I have bought at the Dogwood dyer and the local course I am taking here in Stockholm. Just two weeks until the last class of the course.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

To the sea

Today I give you an essay, something that wanted to be written after a walk down to the sea. There is no textile connection in this post.

Asana and ants

Tuesday morninyg yoga asana practice, 6 am. I stand in downward facing dog, hips in the air, feet and hands on the floor, creating a triangular shape with my body. Upside down I look back at the garden fence behind me. I see something moving on top of the lower horizontal board of the fence, something shiny. I realize they are ants, scurrying along the board edge between the two neighbouring lawns. From a slit in the fence the ants are lit by the morning sun from behind. It creates a sweet backlight halo on their bodies. I smile and continue my practice. Every time in downward dog I see them again, still scurrying along the board, still with that soft backlight.

Ants scurrying back and forth between neighbouring lawns.

A couple of ants find their way up my feet. I can feel them, but let them be. They are welcome to join my movement. Perhaps they enjoy the flight as I lift my feet into new asanas.

Rituals and adventures

I am on vacation with my family on the east coast of southern Sweden. In this new place I need to find new ways and spaces to go through my morning ritual. The space I choose to roll out my yoga mat is a narrow stretch of wooden floor decking just outside the front door to the Airbnb flat we are renting. As I go through my practice I find new spots to rest my gaze in balancing poses. A crack in a brick, a twig on a board.

After some reading, freewriting and breakfast I pack a bag and start the half-hour walk to the sea. I smile as I walk through the little town, passing tightly spaced houses bound together with patches of roses, lavender and hollyhock. Not many people are out, just a few dog owners and bikers, silently rolling past me. We nod and say good morning, as morning people tend to do.

Eventhough I am in a new place, this is still my morning ritual. I still do the same things as I do at home. I practice my yoga asana, read a few pages squatting on the floor, write whatever wants to be written and go down to the waterfront. Only in a new town with new surroundings and different waters. At the same time I explore a place through those same rituals and feel a little adventurous in my search of how to marry my habitual pattern to spaces new to me.

Straight ahead

I come to a footbridge that stretches across a stream, binding the town and a summer cottage area together. Near the southern end bramble branches peek through the fence spaces. I wonder if the town citizens will pick the berries once they ripen in a couple of weeks.

Brambles nestling their way between the fence posts.

I pass a parking space with a single bread truck, hatch closed. A right and a left turn, then south. A straight and narrow paved road is my guide, edged by cottages of all shapes and sizes, wedged in between tall pines. As I squint at the pines I realize they could be strands of grass in a lawn and I one of those ants on the edge of the fence board.

The road feels soft beneath my shoes. Mindfully I place one foot in front of the other. The movement is slow but solidly forward, I can barely feel the moving of my center of gravity. After a while I hear it – first a swish and later a roar, from the sea. The salty smell becomes increasingly noticeable. In the corner of another parking space, white sand has run down onto the pavement. With two steps forwards and one step back I climb the dune, bare feet sinking deep into their own tracks.

The door to the sea

In one single moment the dusky pine forest cracks open and reveals the sea, vast and open. As I cross the ridge, the bright, yet subtle colours hit me to a degree that I nearly need to take a step back. Yet, I stand and take in the majestic sight, inhaling it with all my senses.

The magic gate to the sea.

The endless sea spreads out like a blanket in front of me, rhythmically rolling its flaired edge to the beach. Somewhere in the other end of that blanket is Lithuania. The sand is soft and warm underneath my feet, but not too hot yet. My feet sink down and the sand yields to my step.

A dip

I get changed and walk slowly out into the sea. The waves meet me, greet me and present a new medium for my body to explore. The water is cold, perhaps 13 °C. The further I walk, the more powerful are the waves. At waist depth I stop, place my feet wide to prepare to meet and receive the striking forces. I stand and breathe, let the sea breathe me through its rolling rhythm. I smell the brackish water and allow it and my senses to have their way with me. All I can do is surrender to the moment.

The power of the sea. To the right, the gate back to the pine forest.

After a few minutes I walk back slowly toward the beach. As I reach it I turn around, thank the sea for having me, get dressed and exit through the magic door at the ridge of the dune.

Lucky ducks who don’t need to remove the sand from their feet.

I spend several minutes trying, in vain of course, to remove the sand from feet and shoes. Is that even possible?

Sourdough surprise

As I walk back along the paved road the view is new. Not only because of the reversed direction of my path, but through the new experiences and sensations that have enriched it. I walk lighter, brighter, humbler and with new tingles in mind and body.

8:15. The bread hatch is open and three people have formed a line outside the truck. I buy four sourdough rolls to bring home to my family. As I walk back to the flat I feel the warmth of the rolls through the paper bag.

The bread truck is open (left)! We have taken a foot photo on every vacation since our very first, back in 1992 (right).

On the following morning walks to the sea I am accompanied by my family. When we get back home to Stockholm I smile at the sand still in my shoes.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Blue story

A mystery linen shirt, a hedge top, a cauldron and a summer sky are the main characters in this post. Today I give you a blue story.

Ms Klein

Once upon a time there was a shirt, a white linen shirt named Calvin Klein. At leas that was the name on a tag at the back of the shirt’s neck. One morning, sky blue with just a few fuzzy clouds, she found herself casually draped over a hedge in a residential area, a very peculiar place to wake up in for a white shirt. Her back ached and she wasn’t very pleased about her situation.

A hedgerow conundrum

The house occupants were puzzled about the shirt’s arrival in their hedge, a perfectly fine white shirt, hanger and all. They confered for a while and decided to leave it in the hedge for a couple of days in case someone recognized it as theirs. But nobody claimed the shirt. The mother of the house decided the teenage daughter would be the new guardian of the shirt. And so Calvin came to stay with the family in the teenager’s closet.

A white linen shirt appeared on our hedge one morning in the late -80’s.

This was over 30 years ago. Calvin was worn and enjoyed for many years. For a while she was too small and for another while just fine again. The owner wasn’t much of a white shirt wearer, though. Still, Calvin was worn on a beloved auntie’s funeral only last summer.

Blue is coming to town

An indigo dyer came to town and offered a dip in their cauldron to clothes in need of some vibrant blues in their lives. Calvin had got some mysterious stains, and the now 50-year old woman figured Calvin would be the perfect candidate for some indigo dyeing.

I mended the holes under the arms with a linen patch on the back and running stitches with a linen yarn.

When the woman was about to scour Calvin to make her susceptible to the dye she discovered some torn spots in the armpits. She put a linen patch behind the spots and made neat stitches with linen thread to protect them from further damage.

Dyeing Day

The dyeing day came. The woman rode her bike the nine kilometers to the museum where the dyeing was to take place. She met up with her friend, she too with garments to dye, and together with lots of other people looking for some more blue in their lives and wardrobes, they began to dip their textiles in the cauldron, that looked a lot like a large plastic tub. The friend had brought two pieces of natural linen folded into cubes to experiment with some shibori-style dyeing.

Soaking textiles and textile cubes (left), starting the indigo bath (center) and dipping time (right).

The indigo bath had a yellow-greenish colour and a compost-like smell. Yet, the two friends trusted the instructors and kept dipping. And there was magic. Once they took the textiles out of the cauldron the limey green started turning blue. They swayed the sopping wet textiles in the air and watched the blue magic happen.

Learning curve

This was the first time the woman had dyed with indigo and she made lots of mistakes. But she learned from them and got a first sense of what it is like to dye with indigo. There was lots of dipping, drippning, airing and laughter. Some rain too.

The textiles are green when they first come out of the tub, and then turn blue.

After a few hours, cauldron (and stomachs) was almost empty, the rain plenty and the woman really had to pee, so the two friends gave their dyed textiles a final wash and went their separate ways.

Results

Wet and hungry and with soaking wet textiles in her backpack, thee woman rode her bike the nine kilometers back home. She tossed the garments into the washing machine and got a lovely dinner that her teenager had made.

Calvin in her new summer sky look (left) beside a wardrobe friend in the same look (center). To the right a tunic that used to be the same purple as the garment underneath it. For some old reason it got a more greenish colour. Still lovely! In the background the unfolded piece of natural linen.

The following day the clothes were dry. They were a bit lighter than she had expected and a little more uneven that she had hoped for. But still, very beautiful. Calvin was very happy with her new look that reminded her of the sky that day when she had woken up atop the hedge.

Nice and orderly in the armpit.

And the mending? It turned into a beautiful blue too.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Spinning on the road

I have a long vacation and I will be traveling with my family. One important part of packing is of course crafting projects. A student recently asked me how I plan for for spinning on the road. Here is an extended answer to her question.

One favourite spinning technique for traveling is supported spindle spinning. In fact, I started to learn how to spin on a supported spindle after my husband and I had decided to stop flying, for climate reasons. I was looking for a craft that would be practical for the long train ride to Austria, and supported spindle spinning was my answer. And look where it got me! I published a short video of me spinning on the train, and continued to create videos. Just a couple of months later someone asked me if I could teach the technique, and that is how I started teaching spinning.

Favourites

In the post I will talk about how I prepare for spinning and crafting on the road, but first I will give you some of my favourite techniques:

  • supported spindle spinning
  • suspended spindle spinning
  • band weaving on a backstrap loom
  • different kinds of braiding
  • nalbinding
  • two-end knitting
  • other small sized knitting

And if there is room

  • portable spinning wheel.

Important factors for spinning on the road

There are several things I consider as I pack for spinning on the road:

  • how much luggage space I have
  • how I travel
  • having a variety of techniques
  • portability
  • where I’m going.

This year we’re going on two trips – a week in a log cabin where we will be taking day hikes in a nearby national park, and five days in an Airbnb apartment near the beach.

Luggage space

When I plan what crafts to bring on a journey one important thing is the kind of bags I will be packing in – suitcase, soft bag, backpack or a combination? The sturdiness or squishiness will determine what I can bring and what will be wiser to leave at home.

A small band weave and a 10 gram cross-arm spindle takes up no space at all.

If I travel with a backpack I make sure I don’t bring things that can break or that can injure me. I don’t bring combs or cards on a backpack journey, but a supported spindle is a good companion, as well as small backstrap weaving projects. Smaller knitting projects will usually work fine. Perhaps a suspended spindle if I plan to walk and spin.

If I pack in a suitcase I may bring things like combs, they will be easier to pack in a hard bag than a squishy one. In a suitcase I would also be able to bring fleece in a vacuum bag. If I go by car I bring a basket for various tools if there is room.

The journey

The journey itself is also a factor that plays in. Can I spin on the journey? I don’t craft in the car since I easily get car sick if I need to focus on the project. But a train ride is perfect for crafting!

Crafting on the train

When I travel I prefer to do so by train. Knitting is of course a good option, preferably not a stranded colourwork, though, since there are too many potentially loose items to keep an eye on. Supported spindle spinning will always be a favourite.

When I weave bands on tre train I fasten the warp between my waist and the coat hanger on the back of the seat in front of me (left). If there is no coat hanger, I loop the far end of the warp around my foot, either with the leg straight or propped onto my other knee.

Lately I have also come to love to weave bands on the train. It doesn’t take up much luggage space, none at all, really. Weaving is also quite unexpected and can be quite the conversation starter. I also like the image of the band getting longer the further I go along the rails.

I usually fasten the warp between my waist and the coat hook in the back of the seat in front of me. From my experience with European rail companies, though, I know that not all have coat hangers. In fact, I think I have only seen them on the Swedish railway companies. But do not fret, fastening the warp with a loop around a foot works just fine. In the beginning I make the loop with the warp itself, and toward the end I use something like the torn off hem of an old sheet.

I’m weaving a linen band on a recent train ride.

Before many train rides I have warped for a band without a specific purpose, but the truth is, there is always room for another band! When planning the travel crafting for this summer I realized that I needed a band to tie the inner ends of a linen pinafore dress that I am planning. And so I had the perfect reason to warp for a sweet linen band.

A variety of techniques

When I pack my crafting for a journey I usually like to bring a variety of techniques, at least if I will be gone for more than just a few days. The techniques can vary for the mental variation, but also to avoid getting strained from doing only one craft.

In two-end knitting (left) the yarn won’t roll away since it is secured with a knot. It is knit with a circular needle (or dpns) and is quite slow. Nalbinding is done with a blunt needle only, and the technique is also slow. Both perfect for traveling, both sitting and walking.

I also consider where the craft may be suitable. For instance, I may bring a small band weaving project for sitting down, a two-end knitting project or nalbinding for sitting or walking, and a suspended spindle for standing, sitting or walking.

Portability

I want a travel project to be easy to grab and go. If possible, I want it to fit easily in a bag, both for the journey and for the stay. I don’t want it to be too flimsy or have too many loose parts. A stranded colourwork knitting is not my first option, neither is a large sweater or a lace shawl. I also wouldn’t pick a sewing or embroidery project. There are just too many needles and threads that can get lost.

A bronze-age braid from leftover handspun yarn from my linen shawl.

I also don’t want the project to end before I get back home, I don’t want to risk being empty-handed. Nalbinding and two-end knitting are perfect travel companions. They are both quite small and compact and I don’t run the risk of finishing them since both techniques are very slow.

Where to?

The destination can be important in choosing projects too. Will I be in a city, in the countryside or in the forest? What will I be doing once we get to our destination? A good project for a city may be knitting and a coutryside craft may be a suspended spindle for example. And there are lots of trees to weave with in the forest.

Forest, city or countryside? I choose my crafting projects depending on the destination. Left and right photos by Dan Waltin.

As you may realize, planning projects for a journey is something I truly enjoy. And, secretly, sometimes I may plan a journey depending on the craft I want to hang out with.

What about fiber?

The student who asked me about spinning on the road was more specific than I have described so far: She wanted to know how I pack fiber. She knew I don’t spin from commercially prepared wool and wondered if I pack wool preparation tools or if I process the wool before I leave. Well, that depends. If I go by car and stay for more than a few days I may bring combs or cards. Or just a flicker if I want to spin from lightly teased locks. Otherwise I may process my fiber before we leave and store it in a sturdy box. I do this usually the day before we leave – wool preparation is fresh produce and will go bad after a time. How fast depends on how the preparation has been stored and handled and how prone the wool is to felting.

Examples

So, my husband and I just came back from a trip to a rented log cabin in the countryside. We drove in a rental car that was supposed to be quite small, since our children decided to stay home, but we got a huge car instead. So I flung my travel wheel in and a pair of combs together with a bag of wool.

For a week in a log cabin we had room for my travel wheel in the for some reason giant rental car. I also brought a pair of combs. I used the wool waste as self-felting cushioning in my socks for a few hikes in a nearby national park.

To be on the safe side I also prepared a backstrap loom with a small band, a twelve-strand linen braid, a supported spindle and a 10 gram cross-armed spindle. I spun a silk yarn on both spindles. Now, I just wrote that I don’t use commercially prepared fiber, but this silk top was something I bought many years ago and was there for me to use.

For an upcoming train ride I am bringing a small band weaving (commercial yarn). These pictures are from when we waited for the rental car to charge. I do not recommend this sitting position for a moving car. Photo to the right by Dan waltin. Please admire the camera setup.

Some of these things I prepared for both this trip and an upcoming train journey, especially the weave and the braid. But I did weave for a bit in the parked car while we were waiting for it to charge. So for the train ride I will bring two small project bags – one with the band weave and the braid and the other one with the two silk spinning projects. I will have plenty to do!

Here is a video I shot a few years ago when we took the train to Austria, featuring lots of travel projects.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Linen shawl

Another long-time project is finished, a linen shawl in yarn I spun last summer and have been knitting off and on since then. The flax is between 80 and 120 years old and comes from the Austrian Berta’s flax project.

Many of you may have heard of the Berta’s flax project, started by Austrian Christiane Seufferlein who got a dowry chest filled with flax grown and prepared in the 1940’s. This was the first of many such chests, and now Christiane ships stricks of flax all over the world to enthusiastic spinners who want to honour the memory of Berta and all the other women whose chests have been donated. You can read more about Berta’s flax and become a member of the Berta’s flax Guild here.

My handspun linen shawl is finished! Photos by Dan Waltin.

Spinning on the balcony

I got a few stricks of flax from the Berta’s flax project, between 80 and 120 years old. I spun it in the afternoon shade on my balcony last summer on my sweet flax wheel Henrietta. Since I had learned that flax grows counter-clockwise I spun it counter-clockwise.

80–120 year old stricks of Austrian flax from the Berta’s flax project (left). Spinning on my flax wheel Henrietta, while wearing a blouse that once belonged to my Austrian great-grandmother Henrietta (center). To the right a finished skein of my handspun flax yarn.

The Austrian flax has an overwhelming quality. All the steps from sewing and growing to retting and processing has been performed with such skill and dedication. And why shouldn’t it have been – this was a vital life insurance for the women of the time. And I got to spin it, which I did with love and reference to their work.

I had no specific plans with the yarn, but having seen Christiane in a beautiful hand-knit shawl I decided I would knit something similar, so I plied the yarn into a Z-plied yarn.

Knitting

As I started knitting my linen shawl I realized that I unplied the Z-plied yarn as I knit – the yarn ended up in two strands held together in the fabric. I put some extra plying twist in the following skeins, which made it a little better. The lace fringe at the ends turned out biased, but after blocking it doesn’t really show. But I did learn something! As I keep telling my students: My mistakes are a map of what I have learned.

Knitting in Austria, on the train back home and at home on the balcony.

I brought the knitting project on the train to Austria that summer, the same route my parents had taken in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s to be able to be together. I really wanted to bring the knitting project back to where it had been grown and processed so many decades ago, to the land where my father and my grandmothers were born and where I have three of my four roots. When I met Christiane I could also show her what was becoming of the flax she had so generously sent me.

I could live in this shawl. It is cool, soft and has the sweetest drape. Photo by Dan Waltin.

Flax isn’t very flexible in knitting, so my hands hurt after a while. Other projects have cut in line, but the shawl has always been patiently waiting, cool and sweet.

Harvest shades

In one end of the linen shawl the colour of the flax is slightly darker than the in the rest of the shawl. And that is how flax works – depending on weather, location, retting and climate, the flax can differ in colour. It is a sweet reminder of the natural material and that nature is perfect in its imperfection.

Finishing

I finished the shawl this week. At the same time, we were packing for a vacation in a rented log cabin and things were scattered around the house in preparation for the journey. I wanted to block the shawl, but I realized that it would take up too much floor space. Then I realized I could just bring the shawl and my blocking wires to the log cabin and block the shawl on one of the spare beds. And so I did.

I blocked the shawl on one of the spare beds in the log cabin and wove in the ends down by the creek (photo right: Dan Waltin)

After having woven in the ends I had a finished linen shawl and the perfect location for a photo shoot.

Some numbers

Some questions always arise regarding measurements and weights, so here you go:

  • Shawl weight: 275 grams
  • Shawl measurements: 56 x 200 centimeters
  • Yarn grist: 3200 m/kg
  • Yarn meterage for the shawl: 880 meters.
A finished linen shawl. On the left fringe you can see a slight colour shift. Photo by Dan Waltin

The pattern is Veela, by Libby Jonson.

I am using the leftover 100 meters or so of yarn for a small traveling project which I will show you another time.

References

Here are some earlier blog posts about the Berta’s flax project and how I have rehackled and spun the yarn for this shawl:

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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Wool tasting

I always finish my longer courses with a wool tasting – an opportunity to try samples of five unknown sheep breeds, prepare and spin them. But it is also a lot more than that.

This past week I have been at Sätergläntan craft education center, teaching my five-day course A spindle a day. Every day for four days the students get to learn about a new spindle type – suspended spindle, floor spindle, in-hand spindle and supported spindle.

Crafters are welcome at Sätergläntan!

You can have a peek at last year’s course here.

Sätergläntan

This is the sixth time I teach at Sätergläntan, and the fourth time I teach this particular class. Sätergläntan craft education centre is a beautiful spot in County Dalarna in Sweden, with both year-long courses and five-day summer courses. Any day of the year Sätergläntan is sparkling with craft, crafting and crafters. The opportunity to talk about crafting at any of the meals during the week is truly unique, and very dear to me.

Students in deep concentration on suspendera spindles and in-hand spindles.

My students have had their share of joy, frustration, revelations and insights, all from their skill level and way of learning. My challenge as a teacher is to do my best to meet every student at their level and learning process. It is also a great inspiration.

Explore and learn

Although we focus on one particular spindle type each day, the knowledge the students get from one spindle type is of good use to them for the spindle types to come. They learn about the Twist Model and how they use it with all the spindle types, as well as how to work with the fiber we happen to have at hand for different purposes. Through the whole course the students also prepare their fiber. I encourage them to play and explore to be able to make informed decisions as they go.

Floor spindles and supported spindles by Björn Peck. In the background (right) spindle cases by me.

For the course I brought all the spindles for the students. That means 10 of each of the four spindle types I taught in the class. Suspended spindles and in-hand spindles for the students to borrow and floor spindles and supported spindles from Björn Peck for purchase. And there were purchases. My suitcase was a lot lighter on the train back home.

Wool tasting

The wool tasting takes place on the fifth day. By then the students usually feel safe in the group, they know their strengths and challenges and they have built a bank of experiences. They have made mistakes and learned from them. The lessons are worked into their muscle memories.

Wool tasting is an exercise I came up with when I started teaching summer courses at Sätergläntan. In the wool tasting the students get to try a sample of one unknown fleece for fifteen minutes, for a total of five different fleece samples. During these fifteen minutes the students’ task is to prepare (some of) the wool, spin it and take some notes on a wool tasting table I provide them with. They fill in their first impression of the wool, how they want to prepare and spin it, and what the result was. On the edge of the wool tasting table are holes so that they can attach a yarn sample. Everything is done in silence. As they explore the wool, take notes, prepare and spin it I sit and watch, secretly fizzing of pride of my students and the decisions they make.

A diploma

In the wool tasting the students get the opportunity to put all they have learned to the test. When I teach I want them to be able to go home after the course has finished and continue on their own, exploring and making choices based on the tools and the experience they have. And they really do. The table they fill in is just for them, I have nothing to do with it. But the questions I ask them in the table guide them into noting different things about the wool before they start, as they work, and how their little yarn sample turns out when the fifteen minutes are up.

The time limit isn’t there to stress them, it’s rather to force them to make intuitive decisions and not overthink their choices. As they are finished they don’t only have have a table with yarn samples, they have made their own diplomas of the just finished five-day course.

A spinning meditation

After the wool tasting we have a chat about their experiences of it. One final thing is left: The spinning meditation. This is when we spin together in silence. I guide them into noticing aspects of their spinning like the wool, the fiber, the spindle and the motions. Toward the end I invite them to close their eyes as they spin. This is another opportunity for them to realize how, through the week, they have gotten to know their wool with all their senses, trusting that it will guide them if they allow their hands to listen.

If you want to try a spinning meditation, I have a spinning meditation video in English and Swedish.

After a few train delays I finally got back home to my family. I will keep this week at Sätergläntan in my heart and hope to come back next summer. Thank you spinning students and other crafters for a wonderful week!

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.