Shopping trolley makeover

I have a shopping trolley that I pack all my gear in when I teach spinning. It is lightweight and easy to bring on the metro or train. It can easily swallow three shoe boxes on top of each other, filled with spindles, cards, combs and other tools. This is the story of a shopping trolley makeover.

A shopping trolley makeover

Lately my shopping trolley bag has started to come apart and I decided it was time for it to retire. My husband suggested I look for a new one in wool. That was an excellent idea. The one I had was in some synthetic canvas which wasn’t climate friendly at all. When I browsed for a shopping trolley in wool, though, I couldn’t find one.

Creativity by bike

On an early bike ride to work I got an idea. My 10 K morning bike ride to work is one of my most creative moments during the day and I usually get so much sorted out in my head on these rides. I direct and edit videos, brainstorm for new videos, outline articles and blog posts etc. When I get to work I just write all of it down and e-mail it to myself. This was one of those ideas. I was going to make a new trolley bag myself – I would just copy all the parts and measurements from the existing trolley bag and stitch them together.

I had seen a made-over shopping trolley before and fallen in love with the idea. A while ago, I took a wood-carving class, and the teacher had upcycled her shopping trolley. Instead of the regular canvas bag she had made one in woven birch bark. The handle was made of carefully carved wood with an ergonomical grip. It was really beautiful and personal. The idea of making one in my own crafting material made my heart jump with joy.

Wool needle punched felt

On a recent fiber event I passed by a vendor who sold needle punched felt in 100 percent wool from Swedish sheep. They sold it by the meter in large rolls. That would be a perfect material for my shopping trolley!

I bought a meter of medium felted needle punched felt. The material is about 6 mm thick and quite sturdy. However, it works excellent to hand sew in.

Cozy sewing

I measured the original shopping trolley bag and copied it right off (I did leave the cane compartment, though, I figured I wouldn’t need it for a while yet). Then I just used a simple backstitch to sew all the pieces together.

The sewing was actually really comfortable. I loved holding the thick wool in my hands and the needle went through the thick material with ease. I used glue clamps to pin the pieces together. And of course I used my handspun yarn for the seams, a 2-ply worsted spun yarn from the black parts of a Shetland flecked fleece.

A woolen shopping trolley in a beech forest. — A personalized shopping trolley, ready for teaching adventures. Photo by Dan Waltin

The compartment was made of a front and a back, two sides, a bottom and a top flap. The top flap closed with velcro. There were steel reinforcement frames in the front and back pieces. I made extra pockets on the tops of the front and back pieces for the frames to fit in. A shorter handle on the back of the bag and a longer on the front. A closing mechanism for the handles, secured with velcro. Two horizontal straps on the back piece held the bag securely on the trolley. After the pictures were taken I got rid of the ugly foam handle on the trolley and replaced it with a cozier one in the same material as the rest of the bag.

All that was left of the original trolley bag was a sad and hollow bundle of polyester canvas.

Embellishments

Needle felted logo

Before I sewed the bag, though, I had some decorations to make. First of all I needle felted my logo to the front of the bag. I tried to pre-trace the logo onto the felted material first, but it was way to fuzzy, so I had to needle felt it all off the cuff. I used a handspun rya yarn I had used earlier for a logo embroidery on my spinning apron.

A needle felted logo. Photo by Dan Waltin

A spinner’s quote

After having finished the logo I thought it would be a shame to waste such a blank and lovely canvas. So I embroidered a quote on the closing flap. I used the same handspun yarn I had used for the seams.

I chose a spinning quote from Mahatma Gandhi. He was a spinner and wanted to liberate India from the British by non-violent civil disobedience and spinning. I found it quite fitting.

A quote embroidered on a felted material — ‘Every revolution of the wheel spins peace, goodwill and love’. Photo by Dan Waltin

I couldn’t pre-trace on the lid either, so I had to embroider all the writing off the cuff as well. I used a simple backstitch. Embroidering handwriting by improvisation was really a challenge, but when the quote was all finished I was really happy with the result. Despite the rather uneven ‘handwriting’ I am quite fond of it. It has sort of an animated touch to it.

A shopping trolley makeover success

When the shopping trolley bag was finished I just slid it over the trolley handle. I fit like a glove and I was happy as a clam of my beautiful and personal trolley bag. The walls of the bag are really sturdy and it actually looks professional. I can’t wait to board the next train with my new traveling companion!

A spindle case

I also got another idea. It may have come to me on another bike ride. I had fallen in love with the felted material and I didn’t want to stop sewing in it. So I came up with an idea to make a spindle case. Just a tube with a bottom, a lid and a loop strap for hanging or holding in your hand or sliding onto your belt.

A woolen tube with an embroidered flower — My pretty spindle house, ready for a house-warming party. Or, rather, a spindle warming party. The house is already warm and cozy. Photo by Dan Waltin

In afterthought, the rim of the lid was a bit too short. It is 3 cm and I should have made it around 5 cm. The top of the lid is a bit too small, which makes the rim point outwards a bit and result in an unsmooth fit. I’ll make some changes for my next spindle case!

More embroidery

I have not embroidered much, but a spindle case is a perfect opportunity to practice. And I did love sewing in the material, so there was no hesitation. This time, however, I didn’t use my handspun yarn for the embroidery. Instead, I used thrift shop embroidery flax yarn I found in the back of a cupboard. This case needed colour and most of my handspun is undyed. The silky linen yarn was a perfect match to the matte and sturdy feted wool.

As in my previous embroidery adventures with the needle punched felt I couldn’t pre-trace anything, so I just started with the center ring of a flower and improvised from there. The beauty of being a beginner at something is that you don’t know the rules and I could just make everything up as I went along. And I’m quite happy with the result.

The flower reminds me of a pansy. The dangling tentacles are inspired by an anglerfish. You know, the deep-water fish that has sort of an antennae on the top of its head with a flashlight on it to lure its bait.

Decadent lining

I also chose to line the spindle case, for two reasons. First of all, the spindle would get stuck in the entangled mess at the back of the embroidery without a cover. Second of all, If I would keep some spinning fiber in the case (which I most definitely would), it would stick to the felted surface if I didn’t line it. Of course I didn’t want a synthetic lining material, so I bought a decadently pink silk lining and hand-stitched it to the inside of the tube before I assembled the case.

A woolen tube with silk lining. — Decadently pink silk lining in the spindle case. Photo by Dan Waltin

As a final touch, I cut out a circle of wool to put in the case as protection. This way I can put a small spinning bowl or puck/disk in the bottom of the case. If I put the wool circle on top of the bowl and then slide in the spindle I don’t have to worry about any damage on the spindle tip.

Josefin Waltin sitting on a log in a forest. A shopping trolley and a tube case beside her. — Wool, spinning and a beech forest in autumnal colours. Couldn’t ask for more. Photo by Dan Waltin

I’m ready for my next spinning teaching adventure!

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

November 3, 2018November 3, 2018

Spinning cotton on a Tahkli spindle

I have a new video for you! In this video I spin cotton on a Tahkli spindle. I shot the video on a windy September day at our allotment. Handling the cotton rolags was really challenging and I had to twist and turn to avoid the rolags getting caught in the twist in the wrong place.

This is the third post in my cotton blog series. Previous posts have been about my opinion of the cotton industry, and about cotton processing. So, here is my video about spinning cotton on a Tahkli spindle.

There are different spellings of the word, both Takhli and Tahkli are common., Tahkli seems to be the most common spelling and I will use this throughout the post. However, I didn’t know this when I made the video, so I refer to it as the Takhli spindle there.

The Tahkli spindle

The Tahkli spindle is a small Indian supported spindle. It spins very fast and is a good choice when you want to spin a short stapled fiber like cotton. The whorl has a smaller circumference than your average Tibetan supported spindle and the shaft (or the whole spindle) is usually made in metal. A metal shaft is easier to make thin than a wooden one.

A spindle with cotton yarn — Tahkli spindle by Malcolm Fielding

The thin shaft and the small whorl circumference are both very helpful in making the spindle very fast. The Tahkli spindle I’m using in the video however, is made of wood, but it has a metal tip.

Cotton behaviour

The properties of cotton

The properties of cotton are very different from the properties of wool. This means that spinning cotton is a very different experience from that of spinning wool.

Since cotton fibers are very short, the ideal preparation for cotton is hand-carding, either as rolags or punis (which are a lot denser than rolags).

Like other plant-based fibers, cotton fibers have no crimp. This means that cotton yarn has no elasticity. This is important to have in mind when you make a project with cotton yarn.

Cotton has no memory. If you compress cotton fiber it will stay compressed. If you wear a heavy cotton sweater, it will eventually sag.

Cotton fibers have a very strong will to catch on to neighboring fibers. This makes cotton very easy to draft. You hardly need any twist at all for cotton to draft.

Spinning cotton

When spinning cotton you need to have these properties in mind. To be able to spin the short cotton fibers you need to get the short fibers into the twist. This means that you need high speed on your spinning tool and you also need a lot of twist for the fibers to stay in the yarn.

Since cotton has no memory and no crimp, it is not nearly as forgiving as wool. Therefore, cotton needs to be spun with a lot of focus. You need to make sure the yarn is strong and durable in every inch. Spinning cotton on a spindle is a good idea, since you have a lot of control of the quality of the yarn. You also have the yarn right in front of you and the chance to check the quality inch by inch.

With no memory in the fibers you need to be very gentle when you handle the rolags. Through trial and error I have learned that prepared fiber is best fresh – an old rolag or hand-combed top will eventually get tangled and slightly compressed. This is especially true for cotton. When you have carded your cotton the best thing is to spin it right away. If you store it, make sure it doesn’t get compressed. The same goes for when you hold the rolag – pretend you have a newly hatched chicken in your hand – don’t compress your rolag.

A person spinning on a small spindle — Hold your rolag very gently.

Spinning cotton on a Tahkli spindle

The technique of spinning cotton on a Tahkli spindle is basically the same as spinning on a Tibetan supported spindle. There are Tahkli spindles with a little hook at the end of the shaft which makes it possible to use the spindle suspended to add extra twist. As with other very short fibers you need to spin cotton with a long draw.

I spin my cotton with a double draft. This means that

I flick the spindle and pull the fiber back to make a first draft. This is kind of a preliminary draft to make sure the twist goes all along the drafted part. At this stage the yarn is probably bumpy and uneven.
Then I make a second draft to even out the yarn. To do this I untwist the yarn slightly. This allow the fibers to become mobile for a short while and rearrange themselves into a more even yarn.
When the yarn is even all along the spun length I add more twist to make sure the yarn is strong. Twist is crucial in yarn with such short fibers and you need to get used to adding a lot more twist than you would on your regular wool yarn.

Close-up of a person spinning cotton. — Bumps in the yarn in the first part of the double draft.

Feeling the spinning

When you spin cotton you need to listen to the yarn and hear what it tells you. Spinning cotton on a spindle helps you to do that. When you spin cotton on a supported style spindle you have both your hands on the yarn and fiber. Your hands are in sole control of the quality and the tension of the yarn. This is a superpower you need to take advantage of.

When you work with drafting, untwisting and keeping the tension, you will feel how the fibers work their way into the yarn.
On the second part of the double draft you will literally feel which bump that lets go and rearranges itself into the twist. This is truly fascinating.
When you see no more bumps to even out, you tug lightly on the yarn. When you feel no give there are also no more uneven parts to even out. All fibers are engaged in the twist and you can say that the twist is balanced.

Learning and improving

Spinning cotton is very good for learning and improving your spinning superpowers. You need to be active all the time and watch, listen and adjust to the whims of your cotton master. By this, I don’t for a second imply that spinning wool is a walk in the park. However, the properties of wool and cotton are so vastly different that you can’t not learn new skills when you spin cotton. Even if you are not a cotton spinner, go ahead and try it! I dare you not to learn from it.

A spindle in a piece of hollow wood — I found the perfect spindle holder in the wood shed!

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

October 27, 2018October 27, 2018

Sätergläntan study collection

When I was teaching a course in supported spindle spinning at Sätergläntan earlier this fall, I also visited the library at Sätergläntan. It is a unique library with books on crafting and local cultural history. It also contains the Sätergläntan study collection.

The Sätergläntan study collection

At first I visited the library with the group I was teaching. It was interesting and lots to look at. But it was late afternoon and I wanted to catch the last daylight, so I went for a walk. When I got back it was dark outside and I went back to the library. I found myself blissfully alone in a room full of beautiful crafting books. My heart skipped a beat and I savoured the moment. This is when the librarian asked me if I wanted to look at the study collection. I did.

The study collection was basically a small storage room filled from floor to roof with boxes and old crafting tools and supplies. I knew exactly what I was looking for.

Twined knitted jacket sleeves

In the study collection I found it – a box with four jackets with twined knitted sleeves, probably from the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. I was in twined knitting heaven.

Two jackets with twined knitted sleeves in red. — Twined knitted treasures in a box.

The county of Dalarna is famous for a rich textile heritage with beautiful folklore costumes and local textile techniques. Dalarna is part of the region where twined knitting (or two-end knitting) was born. In twined knitting you use two threads. You alternate the two threads and twist them at the back of the work. Here is a short clip from an earlier post where I show the basic technique.

The wrong side of a knitted sleeve. — The wrong side of the fabric reveals the ridges created by the twining of the two yarn ends.

This results in a sturdy material with very little ease and it behaves more like weaving than knitting. The material also becomes very warm and wind-proof.

A jacket with a woven green bodice and sewn on twined knitted sleeves in red. — A traditional jacket with a vadmal bodice and sewn on twined knitted sleeves. The decorations on the bodice are machine sewn. The jacket is probably from the late 19th or early 20th century.

The method was called knitting back then, because that is how everybody knitted at the time in Dalarna. When knitting with only one thread became popular, that technique was simply called one-end knitting. Later, when the one-ended method had taken over the knitting market, the modern names were used – knitting for one end and twined knitting for two ends.

The yarn was spun with local wool, usually from the Dala-päls sheep. To accommodate for the twisting of yarns, you spin it S and ply it Z. Here is a post where I make a Z-plied yarn.

Twined knitting is a very old technique. The first found item, a mitten, was first dated to the 19th century, then to the late 17th century and recently as far as to the 16th century. The technique has been used mostly for socks and mittens. However, many everyday folklore jackets in the county of Dalarna have been made in the technique, for both men and women. Previously, I had only seen pictures of these truly exquisite jackets. When I heard about the study collection at Sätergläntan I knew there was a chance I would find one of these jackets. And indeed I did.

Distaffs

After I had Aaah-ed and ooohhh-ed over the twined knitted jackets I didn’t feel finished with the study collection. So I looked around to see if I could find any textile tools. And I stumbled upon a heap of beautiful distaffs.

I asked Marie, the weaving teacher at Sätergläntan about the distaffs and she knew a bit about them. They had all been donated to Sätergläntan and had probably been rescued from thrift shops in the area. Most of them had probably been used for flax, particularly the ones with combs. The two on the left are belt distaffs for spindle spinning, the rests were made to assemble on a spinning wheel. Fourth from the left (with a London theme) was made quite recently by someone at the school. Third from the left was probably also made recently.

A distaff with a mirror. — A newly made distaff with interesting details. Shelves of crafting and crafted tools in the Sätergläntan study collection in the background.

The rich ornamentation and the hearts on some of the distaffs suggest that they may have been bridal gifts. A few of them even had little mirrors.

A richly ornamented distaff with a heart-shaped mirror. — A paddle distaff. Probably a bridal gift from Russia.

More treasures

Marie also showed me a flax brush. It was a very local tradition in the county of Ångermanland to brush the flax after the final hackling and before the flax was dressed on the distaff. I’ll try brushing my flax next time I dress my distaff.

A brush — A flax brush, local to the county of Ångermanland. Probably made with hog’s hair and leather or birch bark.

The final treasure Marie showed me was a book charkha from the -70’s. After a lot of head scratching we finally managed to assemble it, but some parts were broken and we couldn’t take her for a test spin.

But she sure was pretty!

The quiet night at the library really paid off. And I can only imagine all the treasures I didn’t get to see this time. If I’m lucky, I will come back to explore more in the Sätergläntan study collection and library.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

October 20, 2018December 1, 2018

Teaching spinning at Sätergläntan

A wooden sign with the text Sätergläntan

This past week I have been teaching spinning at Sätergläntan – a five-day course in supported spindle spinning. Seven spinners have learned basic and intermediate techniques and developed new skills and perspectives on spinning.

Sätergläntan – a nordic center for craft education

Sätergläntan is a crafting institute that offers courses in different crafting techniques. The center is situated in the beautiful county of Dalarna, which has a very rich cultural and crafting heritage. Students at Sätergläntan can take one, two or three year courses in weaving, sewing, woodwork or forging. Sätergläntan also offers five-day courses in different crafting techniques.

A red house and a green field — Sätergläntan main building

Every corner of Sätergläntan is bursting with craft and creativity. From the creative minds of students and teachers to the littlest things like beautifully carved door knobs or embroidered flowers on armchairs. Inspiration is everywhere.

Teaching supported spindle spinning: Basics

We started the course in supported spindle spinning with getting to know the spindle and used yarn to learn the motions step by step. We also talked about the super powers of supported spindle spinning, spindle anatomy and differences in models and design. On day two we used the park and draft method and finally the students started spinning continuously.

Close-up of a person spinning on a supported spindle. — This student was basically a beginner spinner and the yarn on the spindle is her very first yarn on a supported spindle. A very smooth and well-spun first yarn! Spindle from Malcolm Fielding, spindle in the background from Texas Jeans,

Almost all of the students were experienced spinners, but most of them had never touched a supported spindle before. There was so much experience in the room and we had lots of very rewarding discussions about technique, wool preparation and the anatomy of the spindles.

Swedish spindles from Björn Peck

In earlier courses, I have had spindles for the students to borrow for the duration of the course. When the courses were over, I could only recommend them to buy their own spindles from spindle makers from the U.S. or Australia or in some cases the U.K. That meant that they would need to wait for at least a couple of weeks before they could practice what they had learned on the course. By that time they would probably have forgotten a lot of what they had learned. And it bothered me a lot.

This time, I brought Swedish spindles for sale! I have a cooperation with wood turner Björn Peck from Stockholm. He has made beautiful and very well functioning supported spindles and bowls in local Swedish woods after my instructions. I am very happy and immensely proud of this cooperation.

When I teach, I am very strict and force my students to try all of the spindles from different makers. I don’t tell them who made what spindle until they have knowledge about what to look for in a spindle. Before I reveal the makers I ask the students which spindle they liked the most. Since I have had Björn’s spindles in my stash, a vast majority of the students have opted for his spindles over all the other brands.

I don’t sell the spindles outside of my spinning courses and Björn doesn’t have them on his web site. Yet. If you are interested in buying them, he can open up a web shop. Just let me know.

Spindles and spinning bowls. — Eager students comparing spindles and bowls before making a decision on what to buy. Spindles and bowls in maple, apple, walnut, bird cherry and laburnum from Björn Peck Woodworking.

Intermediate

Day three we started the intermediate section with plying on our supported spindles. We looked at different methods of getting the singles off the spindles and arranging them for plying. Also, we made lazy kates from paper bags and shoe boxes, plied from toilet rolls, center-pull balls and tennis balls. We 2-plied, Andean plied and plied on the fly. Several of the students had been looking forward to learning how to ply on the fly on the supported spindle, and they all learned the technique and seemed to enjoy it very much.

Close-up of a person spinning outdoors on a supported spindle. — Students are making progress! Spindle and bowl from Björn Peck woodworking. China bowl is an Asian rice bowl.

We also pretended we were spinning seated on a rock in the forest (just like I like to do in my videos) and made skeins with arms and legs and yarn balls with our thumbs as nostepinnes. There is not much room to bring niddy-noddies or other tools to the rock in the forest, so learning how to use your body to take care of the yarn is very convenient.

Analysis

On day four we started digging deeper in analysis. So far, the students had applied their previous spinning knowledge and skills to this new tool and technique. Now we turned it all around and looked at what supported spindle spinning can do for our spinning with other tools.

Spinning on a supported spindle gives us the opportunity to control the yarn in a way I don’t see in other spinning tools. This makes it possible to spin with a very high quality.

When you spin on a supported spindle you have control with your hands on both fiber end and yarn end. You hold the fiber with the thumb and index finger of the fiber hand and the yarn with the same fingers of your spindle hand.

Supported spindle spinning gives you the opportunity to have control of both the fiber end and the yarn end with your hands. Spindle and lap bowl from Forsnäs Hemman (private).

With most other spinning tools you have control of only the fiber end. Even if you can have both your hands on the yarn and fiber on a wheel, your hands never control the tension. In supported spindle spinning your hands have total control of the tension of the yarn in both ends. This is a super power we need to take advantage of! By having this amount of control we can fine tune the yarn and master it in more detail than with other spinning tools. For this reason, I usually experiment and try out fibers and yarn on a supported spindle before I scale the production up on a wheel. Now, that’s a super power! You can see an example of this in my video Slow fashion 2 – from sheep to shawl.

Mindfulness

Another super power of spinning in general, and supported spindle spinning in particular, is the mindfulness it brings to the spinner (and to the people around them). Spinning on a supported spindle gives me the same sense of calm and peace that I get from meditation. I use the creative parts of my brain when I spin, but spinning also opens up my creative thinking. If I feel I’m in a jam, I take a break, spin for a while and – voilá – my creative thinking is back on track. We talked about this in one of the last sessions of the course. We also did sort of a spinning meditation. I had never tried it before, but I think the students enjoyed it. In fact, one of them solved a problem during the spinning meditation that she had been struggling with all week.

Wool tasting

Finally, on day five we did some wool tasting! I came up with the idea earlier this year. Compare a wool tasting to a wine or chocolate tasting where you get to try different brands or products and compare them. In the wool tasting the students got five different fibers to prepare, spin and compare.

They each got a chart where they noted characteristics of the fiber, what they wanted to do with it, how they prepared and spun it and how the result came out.

They got ten minutes with each fiber. The spinners quickly entered the crafting bubble and the spinning energy was intense in the room. Everybody was deeply concentrated on the making.

Close-up of a person carding brown wool — Carding long Rya lamb locks

They got the opportunity to use all the new skills they had learned during the week and filled in their wool tasting charts with great enthusiasm.

A filled-in chart — A finished wool tasting chart

And the fibers in the wool tasting? Well, it was actually not just wool. We kicked off with Gute wool, turned sharply to heavenly soft alpaca, went straight ahead to mulberry silk, surprised with Leicester longwool with nepps and finished off with long lamb locks of Rya.

Yarn samples — The wool tasting results from one of the wool tasters. From above: Gute wool, alpaca, mulberry silk, Leicester wool with lost nepps and rya wool.

All in all it was a successful course where the students made great progress. I learned at least as much as they did and I got lots of new pedagogical tools for my teaching tool box.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

October 13, 2018January 30, 2019

Processing cotton

As I wrote in an earlier post, I was given newly harvested cotton from a fellow spinner in Stockholm. I have never handled cotton for spinning before. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to investigate a fiber that is new to me and that I have avoided for environmental reasons.

This is part 2 of my cotton blog series. The first post was about my thoughts of the fashion industry in general and cotton in particular.

Ginning

After the blossom has withered, the seed develops in the cotton capsule (boll). Fibers are attached to the seeds to make it possible for the seeds to be swept away by the wind and start a new plant. Compare it to dandelion seeds. They wait for a gust of wind to catch them and transport them to a new home where they can start a new plant.

Each cotton boll has from 10 to a gazillion seeds, cozily wrapped in soft cotton fibers. Deseeding, or ginning the cotton is a time consuming process when you do it by hand. On the plus side, ginning by hand yields more clean cotton fiber than ginning mechanically. The fiber (lint) is also less compressed with hand ginning than with mechanical ginning.

When I researched cotton processing I stumbled upon this beautiful and very smart and efficient way of ginning cotton with a flat stone and a metal rod. I tried to do it with what I had at home – a wooden rolling pin and an equally wooden cutting board. I realized quite quickly that it wouldn’t work at all and I was frankly quite embarrassed by my naïveté. Instead I stuck to my original plan and ginned by hand.

The lint is quite strongly attached to the seeds and ginning by hand is a challenge. It took me quite a while to finish the whole 150 grams of cotton. 75 g of it ended up as seeds and the remaining 55 g was spinnable cotton lint.

Willowing

When I read up on willowing wool for a previous video and blog post, I learned that cotton also has a willowing tradition. So naturally I wanted to try willowing cotton as well.

Willowing means to open up the fiber by whipping it with willow sticks. Cotton is prone to compress itself if you handle it manually. There is another way to open up cotton bolls that I haven’t tried yet. You can open up your cotton with a bow-like tool. You place the bow close to a pile of cotton and strike the bow repeatedly. The string snaps the cotton, which opens up. Quite neat if you happen to have a proper bow. I have yet to try this.

I must say I wasn’t as impressed by willowing cotton as I was by willowing wool. Perhaps I did it wrong. I did willow on quite a soft surface. Or perhaps cotton don’t need as much willowing as wool. Either way, the cotton opened up in the beginning, but after a while nothing really happened. I have seen videos where people willow cotton with a lot smaller sticks, more like twigs, and keeping two twigs in one hand for willowing. Another thing to try.

Walter, the neighbor’s cat watched and hung around. After so many videos where I have looked for a cat to make an appearance on my set, I finally got a cat extra! I think he did well and he is welcome back.

The sweet thing about the cat appearance is that spinning and purring is the same word in Swedish: Jag spinner (I spin). Katten spinner (the cat spins).

Josefin Waltin sitting on the ground, looking at a big and furry cat — A dear moment between two spinners.

Carding

I used my regular cards. They are quite fine and work well for cotton. I have read that you need cotton cards for carding cotton, and I am sure the result will bet better with cotton cards. But wool cards are still better than no cards at all.

I use short and very light strokes for the short cotton fibers. Basically, I use the same technique as for wool carding, and finish by rolling the carded fiber into a rolag. I could of course make a pretty cotton puni as well, but I honestly didn’t think about it at the time.

Make sure you don’t make lots of rolags and then store them compressed. Cotton is not elastic and won’t spring back into shape after being compressed. Any kind of fiber preparation is best fresh, and that certainly applies to cotton.

Josefin Waltin carding — Cotton carding in the September sun

The vest I am wearing in the video is the Ivy League vest by Eunny Jang. The yarn is my own handspun (the ones that are not naturally colored are my own hand dyed), mostly of rare and endangered Norwegian sheep breeds.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

October 6, 2018October 6, 2018

Cotton blog series

I’m starting a cotton blog series. There will be upcoming posts with cotton preparation and spinning, but in this first post I want to air my thoughts about this fiber.

Fast fashion

I try not to buy cotton clothes. If you have seen my videos Slow fashion – from sheep to sweater and Slow fashion 2 – from sheep to shawl you probably realize that I try to live a sustainable life. I have also tried to show this in my latest documentary video I choose to stay on the ground.

Cotton farming is to a large extent governed by the fashion industry. Anyone who has been in a fashion store realizes that the range of clothes is changed at least four times every year. A large part of these clothes are made of cotton. Therefore, cotton takes up an enormous part of the farmland in the world, land that could have been used for food production. Cotton farming also uses vast amounts of water and pesticides. This in turn affects the nearby flora and fauna and, of course, the people working on the farm. Even if there is organic cotton available, it is still grown as a monoculture which will have consequences for the biodiversity in the area.

Spinning cotton

I have never spun cotton before. Cotton farming depends on a warm climate and I doubt that any of the cotton that is sold to spinners has been farmed in Europe, let alone here in Sweden. Buying cotton from another continent and having it flown back to Sweden just for my pleasure has not appealed to me.

Last year I tried growing my own cotton plants. It all went very well at the beginning. I cultivated five plants indoors and placed them outdoors by midsummer when there was no more risk of night frost. I was delighted to see the pretty flowers and I waited eagerly for the magic to happen in the bolls. However, last summer was a cold and wet one. All the bolls fell off, and one by one the plants died. I didn’t try again this year.

A white and pink cotton flower — A cotton flower from my own plant in 2017

This blog series could have ended here.

Instead, this is where it starts.

Just a couple of weeks ago I received a bag of cotton from a fellow spinner. The cotton had been cultivated right here in Stockholm! She told me that I could share the cotton with fellow spinners. I didn’t. Instead I will share my thoughts and reflections of preparing and spinning locally cultivated cotton.

A pile of cotton bolls — Locally cultivated cotton.

So, with all this said, let the cotton blog series begin! In upcoming posts I will publish videos and show you how I prepare cotton for spinning and three different ways to spin cotton.

Spoiler alert: One of the videos will contain a guest starring cat!

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

September 29, 2018September 29, 2018

Horse buggy cover

I have written in earlier posts about my miniature-scale flax patch and how I grow, process and spin my own flax. This post is about flax processing at a whole different scale.

This is the sixth and last post in my flax series. Earlier posts have covered flax processing in general, the 2018 harvest in my experimental flax patch, spinning flax on a spindle, flax processing and retting. Last year I wrote about the first harvests in my experimental flax patch and my first attempt at spinning flax on a wheel.

A horse buggy cover

This summer we rented a cottage in the Swedish countryside. The landlords are well aware of my textile interest. One day they came to the cottage and said that they had something to show me. I followed them into their kitchen and saw a giant piece of textile. It was a horse buggy cover. They had received it from a relative who was dying and who knew the cover would be well taken care of.

A piece of textile with stripes — The horse buggy cover

The cover was woven from handspun flax from the relative’s in-law’s ancestors. I don’t have a picture of the whole cover, but picture this: A woven blanket the size to fit a two-seat horse buggy for the riders to sit on and perhaps also be covered by in cold weather, like a blanket.

The cover is very densely woven in twill. It is constructed as a pillowcase, so that it can be filled with wool for the winter. The yarn is very fine and evenly spun.

Close-up of a striped textile — Evenly spun and densely woven hand processed flax

When we looked at the inside of the cover, we saw the difference in colour. The outside of the cover had been significantly bleached while the inside had kept its blue colour.

A textile — Looking at the inside reveals the unbleached dye.

The mysteries

How much flax?

So many questions arise when I look at this textile. Say the cover is at least about 150×200 cm, perhaps even more. And double it for the pillowcase construction. How much flax would you need to grow to weave something this size?

How many farms or harvests?

Did the people who made this cover have enough land of their own to sow all this flax? Were there more farms involved to grow the flax? Or did one family save flax for several year’s growth to process enough flax for the weave?

Who was the spinner?

Who were the people who spun and wove this cover? Was it only one spinner and weaver or were there more people involved?

When was it made?

I have no information of when the cover was made, and we looked for some clues to the time period it could have been made. We looked at the seams and they seemed to be machine sewn, so the cover was probably made in the 20th century.

For what occasion was it made

Was this the regular horse buggy cover that people in general made for themselves for everyday use or was it a fancy cover, or perhaps a community horse buggy cover used for special community occasions?

A little help from a friend

I talked to my friend Maria Neijman of Historical textiles and asked her if she could tell me anything more about the cover based on these photograph. She told me that the weaving technique seems to be warp-faced broken twill to make the cloth dense and durable. I asked if she could tell me anything about the dying. She said that the dark blue yarn in the stripes probably was dyed with indigo. The background colour was more difficult. She said that since the dye had bleached so badly, it may have been dyed with aniline, a synthetic dye.

Some questions answered and many still unanswered. But at the same time it is nice to leave the blanket with its mysteries. Just being able to look at it and feel all the labour and love put into it makes my spinning heart skip a beat.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

This was the last post in my flax series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

September 22, 2018September 24, 2018

Swedish fleece championships 2018

I wrote earlier about the Swedish spinning championships 2018. This post is about the Swedish fleece championships 2018.

A new dawn for Swedish wool?

On the one hand, it is sad that so much of Swedish wool goes to waste. Over 80 % of Swedish wool is wasted (here is a post about what I do with my wool waste). Partly because of the lack of profit for the sheep farmers and because of lack of an infrastructure for a fleece market.

But the knowledge, skills and love put in every single fleece at this event is truly astonishing and I see a strong will to cherish Swedish wool.

The competing fleeces

A table full of fleeces — The fleece table of the Swedish fleece championships 2018. Just look at that black rya at the bottom left!

Around 20 fleeces had entered the championships and with a wide variety of breeds, colours and mixed breeds. A silky rya fleece, black as the night, a fawn Swedish finull with unbelievably long staple, ridiculously soft Jämtland fleeces and so much more.

I spent a long time walking lap after lap around the fleece table just soaking it all in with all my senses (well not really all senses) – smelling the lovely sheep smell, looking at the different colours and structures, listening to the sound of my imaginary spindle spinning all the fleeces into their best yarns. And, above all, feeling the soft, springy, sturdy, silky, squishy, bouncy, creamy and beautiful fleeces with my happy hands.

An old friend

The light grey Jämtland in the picture above was ar real favorite for both visitors and jury – it received a silver medal and was sold for 140 € at the auction to two happy spinners who sisterly shared their loot. I have made its acquaintance before, though. The fleece is from the same sheep that provided me with the sweater I knit in my Slow fashion – from sheep to sweater video. The shepherdess Birgitta Ericsson got four awards for her fleeces – two medals, the people’s choice award and the best of all prize.

Finewool frenzies

I have a soft spot for Swedish finewool. The first fleece I ever bought and spun was a finewool fleece. Of course there were quite a few finewool fleeces at the championships.

A white finewool fleece — A beautiful and crimpy Swedish finewool fleece

I really loved the white Finewool fleece above. Long and crispy staples with a silky touch. This fleece got a gold medal. I can get high quality finewool fleeces at home, though, so I concentrated on other breeds at this event. But I can look and drool, can’t I?

A fawn finewool fleece — Finewool with an exceptional staple length

Another finewool fleece and silver medalist I just couldn’t take my eyes (and hands) off was this dreamy fawn one above. Look at that staple length! It must be nearly 15 cm, which is very unusual for this breed.

My precious

I did end up buying two fleeces at the auction. I had my eyes set on a few, but I could only get two home on the train (and into my fleece storage in the sofa bed). My initial plan was to buy two white fleeces. I find it much easier to see white wool when I spin and I realize that this also goes for my videos and when I am teaching. White wool shows better on screen and will also be easier for my students to see.

The first fleece I bought was a white finull/rya mix breed with long and soft staples. Last year I also bought a finull/rya mix breed at the auction, and it was from the same shepherdess. She knows what she’s doing!

Finally, it was the amazing Åsen/Härjedal mix breed (25%/75%) in colours from chocolatey brown through rose grey to creamy white. The staples were amazing with their matte and sturdy looking cut end and wavy golden tip ends. And look at those sweet lamb curls! Just dreamy. I do realize that this fleece is not white. But can you blame me for wanting this beauty?

Ok, it’s time for a Swedish lesson. “Vill ha” is the translation to want. “Behöver” is the translation to need. Some genius came up with the fusion “villhöver”, which would translate into something like “I want it so much that I think I really, really need it”. I villhöver this fleece. End of story.

I just spent a couple of hours sorting the chocolate creamy fleece and I was constantly amazed by the colours and variations within the fleece and within the staples. The shepherdess didn’t really want to sell it, but she did part with it for me anyway. I hope she thinks I am a worthy spinner for her baby. The sheep’s name is Chanel.

Wool staples of different natural colours arranged in a Sul pattern. — Colour variations in one single fleece

To summarize, I had a few favourites and they all got medals. I guess I have some sort of feeling for what’s in a good fleece.

Spinning class

I was also at the championships as a spinning teacher. For the third year running I taught a class in supported spindle spinning at the championships. I had four eager students, some of whom had taken the class before. Two of them brought their own spindles, which they had bought from me two years ago. It felt good to see some of my first spindles again! The students were very happy with the course and they have all made great progress.

I love teaching. All my classes are for intermediate to advanced spinners and it is such a treat to just geek down in a subject with fellow geeks and really talented spinners. I learn something new every time and collect new pedagogical tools for my tool box. We dive head first into technique and function and my heart explodes with spinning joy.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and I can’t wait for the 2019 championships.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018

Swedish spinning championships 2018

Last weekend I attended the 2018 fleece and spinning championships in Dala-Floda. I was there as a visitor, spinning teacher and participant in the Swedish spinning championships 2018. I have entered the championships several times before, and in 2017 I won a bronze medal in the advanced level.

My yarns din’t get to enter the competition, though, since the yarns I spun got lost in the mail and I still don’t know where they are. Still, I am very proud of the yarns I spun and I will share the process with you here.

Spinning championship levels

There were two levels for the spinning championships, intermediate level and advanced level. For both levels the participants got wool and instructions for the construction of the yarns.

Intermediate level

In the intermediate competition the spinner had to spin a 3-ply yarn. We received industrially carded grey batt and the yarn was supposed to fit 2–2,5 mm needles. I am not used to either industrially carded fiber or fiber without lanolin. The spinning was really frustrating! Since the 3-ply yarn was supposed to fit small circumference needles, the singles had to be really thin. I tried to spin in some sort of English long draw, but the yarn kept breaking. It was not the most relaxing spinning I have had.

A skein of grey yarn — Finished 3-ply yarn. 147 m, 43 g, 3410 m/kg. Fingering or light fingering weight.

Spinning this yarn 3-ply and so thin took a long time and a lot of frustration. In fact, I longed for the spinning to be over so that I could go on to the advanced level yarn.

A row of grey handspun yarns — Intermediate level yarns for the spinning championships.

Advanced level

For the advanced competition we received a periwinkle carded batt and dyed locks in dark and light pink of what looked like Swedish finewool. The instructions was to spin any kind of yarn with a combination of the batt and locks.

An obvious choice with a carded batt and untreated locks would be a tailspun yarn. But to me, the dye work in these fibers suggested something else. I wanted to emphasize the contrast between the fluffy batt and the silky locks. I also wanted to show the beautiful two-colour dye work in the locks.

Carded periwinkle wool and pink wool locks — The fiber for the advanced level yarn: Carded periwinkle wool and dyed wool locks in different shades of pink.

I browsed through The spinner’s book of yarn designs and found the perfect yarn to show off the fiber I had received. I only had to manage to spin it…

The yarn I wanted to spin was a cocoon yarn. It is a singles yarn with spool-shaped cocoons every now and then.

This is how I did it:

I spun the batt in a thick single. After an arm’s length or so I broke the yarn so that I had a couple of inches of unspun fluff at the end. I divided up this fluffy end and
inserted a combed lock perpendicular to the single, cut end first. Then I treadled and let the lock roll on to the single in a cocoon shape.
I fixed the cocoon by exhaling warm air and rolling them and thus felting a little.
For extra security, I needle felted the cocoon slightly.
After the cocoon was finished, I let the single untwist a bit before I continued.
I attached the batt to the remaining end on the other side of the cocoon and continued spinning the single.

Here is a short video I made of the cocoon yarn. I did not have the time or the energy to make a pretty video outdoors, so you will have to settle for our ungroomed living room.

After soaking, I still thought there was a bit too much twist in the cocoon yarn, so I ran it through the wheel in a counter-clockwise direction to relax it a bit.Baby cocoons on their way to the big championships adventure

As a final step, I went through the whole skein and did a quality check of all the cocoons. The first ones were less than perfect in their shape and density. Also, the cocoons closest to the bobbin were collapsed under the pressure of the outermost layers of yarn and not so much cocoon-shaped anymore. I rolled the misshaped ones between my palms to remind them of their original beauty.

A skein of periwinkle yarn with pink cocoons — The competing yarn for the advanced level in the 2018 Swedish spinning championships is finished!

All the parts of the spinning process took a long time. I think I spent a good part of the evenings of almost two weeks to spin the advanced level yarn. But it was worth it. I am not an art yarn spinner by nature and I have learned so much in this process!

I wasn’t the only one who played with coils/cocoons/beehives in the advanced level. It was so inspiring to see all the creativity in the advanced level yarns.

A row of pink and periwinkle art yarns — Advanced level yarns for the championships. The rightmost yarn is actually mine. I had some fluff left and speed spun a mini skein the day before I left for the championships. It was too little to enter, though.

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!

September 14, 2018January 30, 2019

Flax retting

While I have been processing the retted flax from the 2017 harvest, I continue to handle the the 2018 harvest. In this post I invite you to a very unconventional rippling, windy winnowing and a real retting adventure!

This is part five in a blog series about flax. The previous posts are about flax processing in general, the 2018 harvest in my experimental flax patch, spinning flax on a spindle and flax processing. Last year I wrote about the first harvests in my experimental flax patch and my first attempt at spinning flax on a wheel.

Rippling

After the flax has dried completely I need to ripple it before I can ret it. This means that I remove the seed capsules from the stalks. The seeds will make a total tangle of the flax if they remain on the stalks and I need the seeds for next year’s cultivation.

Usually, you would use a ripple for rippling flax. A ripple looks like a giant comb. You pull the strick of dried flax through the tines and the seed capsules fall off the stalks at the other end. Easy peasy. If you happen to have a ripple. Which I don’t. I did see one at a flea market in Austria, though. I have never seen a flax ripple that big! The shop was closed, so I could only see it from the outside.

A rusty flax ripple in a shop window — Giant Austrian flax ripple

So, instead of a flax ripple, I do the MacGyvery thing and use a pillow case and a rolling pin! I put one strick at a time in the pillow case, put the pillow case on a table and start rolling on the pillow case with the rolling pin. The seed capsules break and stay in the pillow case and I can remove the strick of flax seedless.

A person rolling with a rolling pin over two bundles of flax in a pillowcase — Rippling without a ripple. Photo by Isak Waltin

This is where the neighbours walk past asking polite and curious questions.

Retting

When the flax is deseeded it is time to ret it. The retting process separates the flax fibers from the cellulose core with the help of humidity and mould. You can use running water, dew or snow – water retting, dew retting or snow retting. These methods take different amounts of time and result in different colours in the finished flax.

While we do have a creek nearby, I have never tried water retting. The creek is usually dry after the snow has melted and I can’t really count on it for flax purposes. I know some people use an inflatable kiddie pool, but I haven’t tried that yet. Snow can be very unstable too, so my best shot is dew retting.

As many of you may know, the summer here in Sweden has been exceptionally dry, so I was prepared to help the dew along with my watering pot. It rained the first nights after I had laid out the flax, though, and there has been lots of morning dew.

I spread the flax in a thin layer in rows. I make sure the roots are in the same direction in every row.

The neighbours are still curious and polite at this stage.

Turning and checking

Now I need to watch the retting carefully. Dew retting can take anything from 15 to over 30 days, depending on the rain and dew. I turn the flax once a week and check the process.

After one week I can see that the retting process has started, you can see that it has got dark spots. There is no sign of the fibers separating from the core.

A hand holding a flax straw. Flax on the ground in the background — Day 8 of retting. The retting process has started. You can see the dark spots on the straw. The flax fibers have not separated from the cellulose core.

Another week later the flax is darker but there is still no sign of the fiber separating.

On day 19 something has started to happen! After wiggling the stalk in different directions, the fibers actually separate from the cellulose core! It is still too early to break the retting, but I have to check every day now.

A hand holding a flax straw. Flax in the background. — Day 19 of retting. The flax is still darker and the fibers are starting to separate from the cellulose core.

Finally, on day 21, the retting is finished. Just as on day 19, the fibers separate from the cellulose core, but with significantly more ease. As soon as I wiggle the straw, the fibers separate fro the cellulose and I can pull the fibers off in their entire length.

I roll up the flax in bundles and dry them standing up in a conical shape.

A bundle of flax standing in a conical shape on the ground — The retted flax needs to dry before I store it.

When the flax has dried it will keep for decades. Rodents stay away from it, since it has retted. I will keep mine indoors over the winter and process it outdoors next summer.

Winnowing

While the flax has been retting, the seeds that were saved in the pillowcase have dried in a bowl in the window. There is a mixture of seed, capsules and vegetable fragments from the stalks. I want to keep the seeds. Had I been a chicken owner, the girls would have got the winnowed capsules for breakfast.

I wait for a windy day to winnow them. I pour the seeds between two bowls in the wind.

Hands pouring seeds from one bowl to another. — Winnowing the flax seeds. Photo by Nora Waltin

The light seed capsules blow away in the wind while the seeds fall down into the lower bowl. I pour back and forth until most of the capsule parts are gone. This particular day, the wind had a very hard time deciding which way to blow. I danced around, trying to find the direction of the wind and ending up with most of the stuff in my hair and on my clothes.

I am very disappointed in my neighbours who weren’t even around to be curious and polite.

Hands holding bowls, pouring seeds from one bowl to another. — The wind takes the dried and light capsules to new adventures. The heavy seeds fall securely into the lower bowl. Photo by Nora Waltin

I end up with a promise of a successful flax season 2019.

A bowl of flax seeds. — Winnowed flax seeds

Happy spinning!

You can follow me on 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.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other 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. The content I create is totally free from advertisement. 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.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better posts and videos. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
If you like what I do, please tell all your fiber friends and share these links!