Earlier this week I shot, edited, transcibed and captioned what I call a video postcard – a simple and straightforward video greeting from me where I talk about a project I am working on. I create the postcards for my patrons.
If you want to get my video postcards you are welcome to become a patron on patreon.com.
I made my first video postcard a couple of years ago when I was on holiday in Abisko with my family. I talked about the area and the vast landscape in the northernmost part of Sweden and the middle of Sápmi.
A compelling format
That first video postcard was just a spontaneous greeting. I did enjoy the format and decided I would do it as a regular thing, just saying hello to my patrons once a month. It gives me a more personal connection to a smaller group of readers than I can provide in my public videos.
In the March 2022 patron postcard I start weaving a rya Beach pad for my husband’s 50th birthday (video screen shot).
I create my video postcards as a perk for my patrons. They have chosen to support me financially because they enjoy what I do. By the monthly fee they support me with, they play an important role in helping me keep my free stuff free for those who can’t pay. This way a large part of what I publish is free and accessible for a larger audience; this blog, my youtube videos, webinars and a lot of the courses, challenges and lectures in my online spinning school.
Cutting down the rya warp in the Weaving room in the June 2022 patron postcard (video screen shot).
Relaxed
The video postcards are always very simple and unpretentious. To keep them as simple as possible I don’t use a script and I usually shoot the video in one take and with a minimum of editing. I allow these videos to be as natural and low tech as possible. I want to enjoy making them and not see them as a burden. It’s very liberating to make these videos totally unscripted for a group of people that is as nerdy as I am, very differently from how I would approach a public youtube video.
In the August 2022 patron postcard I am in Austria, pointing out Schafberg/Sheep Mountain (video screen shot).
Sneak peeks and deep dives
Sometimes I make the postcards as a sneak peek into something I blog about later, sometimes I dive deeper into something I write about. Other times it’s just a simple greeting from a place I am visiting. Every postcard is a sincere thank you for the support I get from my patrons.
An improvised camera setup for a weaving moment for the October 2022 patron postcard. Photo by Dan Waltin.
Fresh from the editing room
The video postcard I made this week was about a project I have been working on for several years now and that is almost finished. Two shots in different angles, a bit of editing, transcribing the narration (this takes time, though) and captioning.
In the May 2023 patron postcard I show some påsöm embroidery on my two-end knitted sleeves.
Just to give you a glimpse of what a video postcard can look like, I will share one of them with you. This one is from July 2022 at Sätergläntan where I talk about my course A spindle a day. Enjoy!
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
I have a live talk for you today! On Saturday, April 15th at 5 pm GMT+1 (world clock here) Christiane Seufferlein and I will chat live about working with local fibers, and you are invited!
It feels so good to finally be able to talk about this! Christiane and I have been planning this live talk for months now and we are both so happy it’s finally happening.
Under the theme local fibers we discuss how we started spinning in the first place, what our main focus is in our teaching and how we work to inspire our students to work with local fibers. There is a limited amount of seats in the course, so enroll now!
Christiane
I first heard about Christiane a couple of years ago when she started the Berta’s flax project. She has custody of a large amount of Austrian dowry chests filled with around 100 kilo processed flax each. The chests are between 80 and 120 years old. You can read more about Christiane and the Berta’s flax project here. At first Christiane used the flax in her teaching, but then she started to send stricks to spinners all over the world.
Christiane Seufferlein when I met her in Bad Ischl in Austria.
I hesitated for a couple of months, but then I couldn’t resist anymore and asked Christiane to send me a strick. Last summer as I went to Austria with my family I met up with Christiane and we had the loveliest afternoon. I also bought some more beautiful flax from her. We had so much to talk about and I keep our afternoon close to my heart. You can read more about our meeting here.
With Christiane’s passion for flax and stories and mine for wool we hope to make some magic for you. This live talk is very dear to us both and we hope you will join us!
Happy spinning!
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
In the classroom I want to find each student’s way of learning. I want them to flourish and feel that they have achieved something when the course is over.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see more of the course and the surroundings in my February 2023 video postcard.
Last Friday I took the train six and a half hours north of Stockholm. I ended up smack in the middle of Sweden, in the city of Östersund. Since Östersund is on Sami land it also has a Sami name – Staare, meaning city. I spent most of the train ride weaving and blogging. It ended up in sort of a train weaving poem you can read in last week’s blog post One more beat.
Östersund/Staare at dawn
As soon as I had found the hotel I dumped my luggage and went out hunting for a hole in the ice for the next two days’ morning baths. I did find it. Saturday morning, 7 am, I took a 20 minute walk in -8° C through the empty high street. Flanked with two story wooden buildnings from the turn of the last century it meandered itself along the lake. I crossed a pedestrian’s bridge across the lake to Frösön island and the jetty with the bathing ladders. They all had neatly organized holes in the ice and I enjoeyd the shy and quiet dawn from the bubble tub. The ice sang and my heart tingled by the thought of my sweet morning adventure and kept tingling all the way back to the hotel.
Early morning ice bath in -8 °C in Östersund/Staare.
Ullforum Yarns and Barns
The aim of the journey was to teach a beginner’s class in suspended spindle spinning. The local spinners had specifically asked for me, hence the long journey. One of the organizers, Karin, was sweet enough to pick me up at the hotel and drive me to the venue 20 minutes outside the town centre.
Lake Storsjön and the Oviksfjällen mountains from the Ullforum spinning mill.
The spinning course was held at Ullforum spinning Mill and the Yarns & Barns yarn shop, all housed in a large barn on a hill with a breathtaking view of lake Storsjön and the Oviksfjällen mountains. As I opened the barn door the smell of wool and fleece greeted me with a warm embrace. This was a place of wool. I have taught in dull and soulless premises. Even if the group of students always is sweet, the environment does matter. The Ullforum spinning mill was one of the loveliest venues I have ever taught at.
Inside Yarns & Barns yarn shop at the Ullforum spinning mill.
The owner Ingela Fredell was there as a host and she also joined the class. She told us about the mill, its stories, the people in it and showed us the machines and a lot more than three bags full of Swedish wool.
In the classroom
When I come to a new group of students I am always nervous at first. I obsess for a bit about whether they will like my perspective and my way of teaching, whether I will be able to teach them something and whether they will enjoy the course. But quite quickly I make myself at home as a teacher and enjoy all the activity around me.
Welcome to class!
I generally start with an introduction and some theory before we dive into teasing and carding the wool. I try to talk about why we do things rather than about dos and dont’s and how it “should” be done. With the whys available it’s easier to understand why things go wrong.
Sitting in a circle
In the classroom I always arrange the chairs in a circle, like the spinning bubble we will all enter mentally once the initial chatter settles. In the circle we are all facing each other, nothing blocking our view. I want to have an undisturbed connection between us. I want the ability to move within the circle to be available to the students. To be able to see the students’ activities properly I squat or sit on the floor in front of them. In the close circular setting we can have a conversation about whatever they are focusing on. Without tables the students can come closer to each other and listen to individual tutoring and conversations should they choose to. The circle makes it easier for the students to learn from each other and to take part of each others’ challenges and successes.
A conversation
As the initial buzz has faded I look around the room to see where I can be of service. The students have closed the door to their own spinning room, a personal bubble within the group bubble. Every expression is a signal I can pick up and react to, the beginning of a conversation. A frown about an uneven rolag, a sigh about not remembering what to do next, a bewildered look about which card to transfer the wool to. I may see a struggled combing in the corner of my eye or a spindle that keeps falling to the ground. A movement, a gaze, a pattern that I respond to. I see a tense shoulder and ask if it is more comfortable to rest the card in the lap. I see an over charged comb and a grimased face and ask them to see what happens if they rest the card in the lap.
One of my best party tricks is to ask the students to place their rolags in chronological order in the floor in front of them to see the progression.
Even if the students don’t always ask me questions directly I pick up on the signals. I ask them what they need or if they know what caused their struggle. Some welcome the support, others need to work it out in solitude before they are ready to invite me into the conversation.
Moving from park and draft to continuous spinning in a flash. This student and shepherdess had never spun before the course. Look at her sweet white rolags on the floor!
After six years of teaching spinning, I have a big bank of teaching experiences. By now I know some of the most common mistakes, questions, challenges and struggles for students, beginners and advanced alike. I know how to address issues. I reuse the previous deposits in the bank and refine my approach to them to create a learning situation. And I always learn more.
Learning styles
Every student has a different way of learning and prefered way of taking on a new challenge. I want to find each student’s learning style and guide them in the best way for them. Some ask a lot of questions, some are quiet. But I try to look at their body language to see beyond the verbal questions.
Teaching in the right environment makes a big difference.
I want to guide the students to find the answers themselves. When someone asks a question I often ask one in return. Can you explore this? Test your theory? See what works for you? If a student is struggling I ask them to take a step back and see if they can find the cause in an earlier step. Did you tease the wool properly? Have you charged the card with a proper amount of wool? Did you tuck in the edge of your rolag in to make it more compact?
Added value
My goal with the course is for every student to feel that they have achieved something. I want them to be able to walk out the classroom door with some added value, something more than just a lovely weekend, something to build upon when they get back home. In skills, understanding and flow I want them to cherish the progressions they have made, to understand more about how wool behaves and what they can do to trouble shoot the process. I want them to feel proud.
Look at how casually this student makes a shank hank!
I want them to be able to find the answers themselves and challenge themselves rather than worry about what “the teacher said”. A ground to stand on and explore from. During the class I gave them a few mental tools. I want them to be able to use them in several ways and understand why they do it and when.
Bursting the bubble
When the course is over we gather in the circle for some final reflections of what we have learned, what has been challenging and what we are proud of. This is one of my favourite moments of any course, a time for my heart to sing the song of the progress and growth of the students that I have had the pleasure of guiding.
Ingela, the owner of the mill showed us this luscious Klövsjö wool with outercoat a mile long. Believe it or not, but this fleece is raw, straight off the hoof.
As we put the chairs back in the traditional classroom seating we burst the spinning bubble. It’s time to go home and bring the contents of that bubble into the day-to-day spinning in their own environment and keep exploring.
Thank you Östersund/Staare, Ullforum and sweet students for inviting me!
And oh, my next course is En slända om dagen (A spindle a day) at Sätergläntan this summer with a few spots left.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
I have a long queue of fleeces. In the storage of my sofa bed I have at the moment 12 fleeces that are washed and picked but not spun. These are my ladies in waiting.
When I buy a new fleece I try to keep a strict order – first in first out. It’s not always that easy, a new fleece is so exciting and shiny and much more tempting to dig my hands into than the older ones. But I have had fleeces that were too old go brittle, so I try my best to work my ladies in waiting in strict order.
The fleeces in the featured image above are not part of my stash.
Pressure
Out of the twelve fleeces in the sofa bed nine were shorn in the autumn of 2021. This means that nine fleeces are older than one year. I try to keep my queue no longer than one year, and obviously I have failed at keeping this goal. Having that many fleeces in my queue and knowing that the quality will deteriorate does put pressure on me.
Gestrike, Gute and Tabacktorp fleeces when I forst got them, now in paper bags waiting for me to spin them.
The ladies in waiting
So, here are my ladies in waiting, all washed (with water only), picked and stored in paper bags in my sofa bed:
On the spinning wheel I have Nypon (Rose hip), the last of a silver medal winning finull fleece from the Swedish fleece championships of 2020. This is my oldest fleece, but still in excellent condition.
Elsa is a Gestrike fleece shorn in the autumn of 2021. I have sorted the fleece according to staple type and spun all of one category into a hat and a pair of mittens. The rest of the categories are neatly stored in individual bags.
My sweet gute fleece that I am planning to tease together with recycled sari silk is also from the autumn of 2021, but the lanolin feels a bit sticky. This will be the next fleece I spin.
Four Åland fleeces from 2021, long, fine, silky and delicious.
Three medalists from the 2021 fleece championships – Fjällnäs, Helsinge and Dalapäls wool.
Tabacktorp, Dalapäls and Icelandic fleeces shorn in the autumn of 2022. My most freshly shorn and therefore most attractive fleeces. I’m spinning the dalapäls fleece at the moment (see below). I have separated the Icelandic fleece into undercoat and outercoat.
Lately I have been spinning my newest fleece, a shiny dalapäls fleece with long, silky locks, shorn in October 2022. The fleece ruthlessly cut in line since I needed more yarn for a pair of two-end knitted sleeves that had run out of yarn. Spinning this wool this fresh is a dream – the staples are open and airy. The fibers lightly and smoothly join into the twist like a breath of fresh air and a dance. An older fleece on the other hand can be tougher to spin, as if the lanolin has gotten tired and cranky, fighting me as I try to get my head around it. An older fleece can also have become compacted and slightly felted after having been compressed in the sofa bed, even if I have picked it before storing.
Putting my foot down
As I was spinning my merengue white and fresh dalapäls fleece I realized that I need to make some changes in my fleece purchasing pattern. I don’t have to buy every unusual, unique, special or otherwise interesting fleece I see. Wool grows back again. There will be other chances. And I have enough of a network of sheep owners to get a high quality fleece when I need it, not only when I see one that looks interesting.
Sweet dalapäls yarn, spun from freshly shorn fleece.
This new and fresh thought got my shoulders to sink in relief. Spinning is such a joy to me and should never, ever be involved with pressure of any kind. It is and should always be a sanctuary, a place for creativity and making.
A new plan
I decided that I want to shorten my fleece queue to a level where it doesn’t stress me. I have so many other projects and baby ideas I want to work on– mending, upcycling, designing, destashing, course creating, webinar planning, writing etc. And of course spinning the twelve ladies in waiting, beginning with the oldest and/or most urgent fleece. I will in no way, shape of form be without craft.
Mending, sashiko and embroidery are on my list of crafting for 2023.
So, my plan for 2023 is to not buy fleece, at least not before I have spun the 2021 fleeces. This is not a resolution, not a promise. A plan and a wish, a year of cleaning up and organizing in my idea cabinet.
A current weaving project in the local weaving room – 1/3 twill from handspun singles in both warp and weft. If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see the beginning of this almost 4 meter weaving project in my January 2023 video postcard.
I will still spin, knit, weave and write. I will just create from what I already have. Perhaps that will give me the opportunity to expand my creative horizons. One plan is to frog old garments (handspun and commercial) that I don’t use anymore to knit new and shiny things from.
How do you deal with a large fiber stash?
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
It’s that time again, when I look back at the year gone by and summarize my blog posts. Whether you are new to the blog or have followed me for a while, this is your chance for an overview, looking back at 2022.
Come join the 2022 blog post ride! I have divided the posts into categories for easier browsing. Read them all or pick your favorite categories, there should be something for everyone.
Preparing and spinning
Have you missed my breed study webinars? Well, I did, but there was only time for one this year. I hope to invite you to more in 2023. The breed this time was not Swedish, but as close as you get, the beautiful Åland wool – long, silky and full of contrasts. Åland wool is, just like many of the Swedish heritage breeds a dual coat and I wrote a post about that too. To stay with the eastbound theme I also demonstrated and reviewed my new Finnish hand cards – 108 tpi and with leather pads.
The Finnish hand cards and eight different yarns from Åland wool.
Teasing and picking are steps I don’t want to be without when I prepare a fleece. As I wrote the post on picking my husband asked me what steps I may skip, what I never skip and why. So I write a post on Cutting corners.
Picking, teasing and Austen.
A few years ago I got the opportunity to spin on and shoot a video of a great wheel at Vallby open air museum. This year I was invited back to spin in public on the same wheel. Of course I wrote a blog post about spinning on the great wheel too.
I’m spinning on the great wheel at Vallby open air museum.
Sometimes when I go on an excursion in a fleece I make a wool board to put down my discoveries and ideas on paper. Perhaps you get inspiration to make one too.
Projects
During the year I have finished lots of smaller projects and a couple of big ones. I finished the first project of the year with perfect timing in early January – a pair of Moroccan snow shoveling pants that I wear when I go down to the lake for my daily dip.
Photo by Dan WaltinPhoto by Isak WaltinA rya bench pad, an Icelandic style sweater and a pair of snow shoveling pants.
When I had finished them I started another large project – a rya bench pad for my husband’s birthday. I also managed to produce an Icelandic style sweater. Before that I wrote a love letter to the Icelandic fleece I used for the yarn.
During the spring I got a sudden urge to make tie-on pockets. One pocket led to another and suddenly I had made four. The first one was made from two eBayed linen towels with an amoeba shaped pattern in couching stitch. The second was also in linen, but made from a 60’s evening clutch, and I made the third from a vintage Harris Tweed jacket. The fourth didn’t involve any recycling at all. I used påsöm embroidery on broadcloth.
Three out of four pockets – linen (made from an evening clutch from the -60’s), påsöm embroidery and tweed (made on the bias from a Harris tweed jacket).
Teaching and learning
A few times a year I teach spinning courses here in Sweden. Preparing for and teaching a five-day course at Sätergläntan has become a sweet tradition in the summer. In the autumn I taught another course in a beautiful setting. One thing that is important to me is to find every student’s way of learning and to see them make progress. In this search of people’s learning process I learn so much myself and I am truly grateful.
A new spindle delivery from Björn Peck just in time for my five-day course A spindle a day at Sätergläntan.
My main teacher, alongside with my students, is the wool. It is by listening to the wool and hearing its response that I learn and understand how it is constructed and how I can work with it and not against it.
On the 2022 wool journey we learned about påsöm embroidery.
I try to take a course myself every now and then too. This year’s wool journey with my wool traveling club was a sweet September weekend with påsöm embroidery.
The Twist model online course, the Åland wool webinar and the Hands-on five-day challenge.
Online I recently released a lecture, the Twist Model where I give you a tool and a theoretical framework about how to work between spun and unspun with ease and quality. Take it if you haven’t already! The Åland wool breed study webinar of course. In the beginning of the year I had a sore thumb from spinning, which resulted in the Hands-on five-day challenge.
Summer is my flax season. This is when I bring my spinning wheel out on the terrace and spin my daily flax in the shadow on warm days. I wrote about having a temporary flax brain, about my flax harvest, about a custom made scutching knife and my retting process. I wrote an interpretation of Sleeping beauty, that I call the flax princesses and released a video where I show how I rehackle old flax. As a sidetrack I also played with harvesting, processing and spinning Nettles.
A band woven with my nettle yarn, spinning flax on my sweet wheel Henrietta and harvesting this year’s flax. The harvesting picture resulted in someone making a necklace with the pattern from the flax bundles. And I bought the necklace.
Spin where you are
In Ground and explore and Spin where you are I invite you to explore from the place in spinning you are at right now, both when it comes to your skill level and spinning shape at this moment. In I am a spinner I explore back in time to the place where I went from knowing how to spin to being a spinner. I was surprised to actually find a specific moment in time when this happened. I cherish the memory of a moment of the opening up of doors, just as I cherish the memory of the moment when I cracked the reading code (a 10 x 10 cm booklet about a hedgehog flying a red air balloon) when I was around five or six.
Ground and explore
This and that
Well, I tried, but not all the posts got a natural spot in the categories I chose for this looking back at 2022 post. But don’t worry, they will get their own category.
I read, I mend and I carve nalbinding needles.
All posts on the blog aren’t about wool and spinning. I managed to Mend a pair of jeans hems, exploring techniques I hadn’t used much before. In sloyd I explore different materials and techniques and show you how I carve nalbinding needles. Finally, I give you some tips of sweet books I recommend.
In Reciprocity I reflect over all the gifts I get and cherish when I spin. In an effort to pay both back and forward I write to show my gratitude for all I learn and receive from spinning. Another way to pay forward was the Auction for Ukraine I held in March. Together we donated $450 to UNHCR for Ukraine.
I write.
All in all I have written 52 blog post (including next week’s) in 2022. I have also made one five-day challenge, one breed study webinar one YouTube video and one course. If you are a patron I have sent you 12 video postcards during the year. If you are not a patron yet you are more than welcome to become one.
Coming up in 2023
I do have plans for 2023 too. The past two years I have released a free five-day challenge. There might be one in 2023 too. Perhaps a new short lecture, in the same style as the Twist Model. There are still spots left on my five-day course A spindle a day at Sätergläntan in June. Weekly blog posts of course, breed study webinars and some sweet, sweet spinning. I hope to see you and learn from you in any of these contexts.
From my woolly heart to yours: Thank you.
Oh, and I will turn 50 in 2023, something I look forward to. I may make you a part of my celebration.
I wish you peace, wool all the best for 2023!
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
Last week I indicated that I might not be able to write a blog post this week. I have been a good girl and not bent over backwards to squeeze a blog post in. But I did pick out an old blog post to give you something to read if you want to.
On November 20th 2021, one year ago, I wrote about what I do when fleece happens. You know, when a fleece just comes to you, without you knowing what really happened. The fall shearing is usually the highlight of the year for many spinners in Sweden, fleece happens a lot this time of year. This autumn, for example, fleece has happened thrice for me.
In the post I write about what I do with a fleece when it comes to me, in terms of washing, how I prepare it for storing and what documentation I do, how and where.
I will spend the weekend on a gym instructor course for the gym chain where I am an instructor. It will be tough, and I’m really excited about it.
P.S. A week ago I was interviewed by Daniel Howell of Folk Craft revival about spinning. Listen to the podcast episode here!
Happy reading!
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
Through learning, sharing and making I often feel a strong connection to the spinning students in my classroom as well as to past and present spinners around me.
Just recently I taught a two-day course in floor spindle spinning. There were seven students in the classroom, with varying degrees of spinning experience. Through wool, wool preparation, spinning and learning we all felt a strong connection to each other as spinners.
Knitting in my hands and teaching on my schedule. The Gandhi quote on my trolley reads “Every revolution of the wheel spins peace, goodwill and love”.
Connection through sheep
My very generous friend Lena was one of the students. She lives near the church school where I taught the class and had brought a soup for us to share at lunch break. She had also brought beautiful raw fleece from her gene bank flock of the Swedish conservation breed dalapäls sheep that we prepared and spun in the course.
Lena’s dalapäls sheep. Screenshot from video shot in 2019.
Lena told us tales about the sheep and the shearing. Usually she shears the sheep herself with hand sheers, which tends to take around an hour for one sheep, but this year she had booked a professional shearer to do the job.
Seed pods with nasty barbs.
Just a few days before the shearing the sheep had walked through a patch of some sort of plant that spread its seed pods with the help of barbs. Suddenly all sheep were covered in nasty little seed pods that had caught the fleece with the barbs. Lena had to brush every sheep for an hour each to get rid of as many seeds as possible. Even if there were still some seeds left, the brushing left the shorn fleeces very clean.
The light room is ready for day two of the spinning course, with Lena’s dalapäls wool in the middle of the circle.
Through Lena’s stories we connected to the wool in the basket in the middle of our spinning circle, as well as to the sheep that had given us their fleeces. We all carded and the same rolags, with the oh, so soft undercoat fluffing up the shape and the shiny outercoat armouring and adding strength.
At the end of each day and/or course I always encourage my students to reflect over the day in quietude. We sit there in a silent room while they make notes of what has happened during the day, catching and developing all the thoughts, questions, aha-moments and frustrations that are still vividly floating around in the room. I watch them as they write, stop, think and write again. I can see their minds settling as their thoughts take a written form.
Despite differences in spinning experience we all connected through wool and learning.
When all notebooks have closed and the students sighed in the calming silence I ask if anyone has something they want to share: What have you learned? What was difficult? What are you proud of? The students are generous, sharing personal insights, struggles and successes: “I finally carded an even rolag!”, “The joins were so difficult to get right.” or “When I learned how to open up the twist everything became much easier.”.
Connection through learning
On this course one of the students, a total beginner, said she so enjoyed the connection we shared in the course. Learning together, connecting to each other, back to spinners before us and out to spinners beside us. She was proud of having given herself the time to learn something new.
New experiences are simmering in the room, waiting to be articulated and shared.
I too experience a deep connection in the courses. Just like this student said, to each other, to the spinners before and beside us, but also to the wool, to the sheep, to the making and to our learning process. The students in the classroom all have different spinning backgrounds, skill levels, learning styles and learning pace. Still, we all take part in each other’s joys, frustrations and vulnerabilities with kindness and compassion.
We’re in this together
After all, we are all there, in that same room, with the same wool and the same tools. In that room we take that wool and those tools and make our connected, collective, but still individual journeys. As soon as the first chafing of being in a new context has settled, we find trust and a connection to the group. We are in this together. During the course we are making, learning, frustrating, progressing and exploring together. We may be vulnerable in the new learning context, but by having an open, generous and curious mind we can disclose our fears and struggles, explore together and learn through both our own and each other’s experiences.
In my classroom I want to make the learning a connected experience. As I see or hear struggle or success, I encourage exploration, articulation and reflection of what happened. How can we all learn more from this? There is such a power in learning in and through a warm and safe connection. We give ourselves time to learn.
As the day settles
When we had finished the first day I went home with Lena to her house. We talked for hours over a sweet dinner she had prepared for us while the fire mumbled quietly in the background. I picked up a two-end knitting project with spindle-spun dalapäls yarn. The yarn reminded me of that connection we shared to spinners before, beside and after us.
Raw fleece from Lena’s dalapäls sheep Nehne.
When I went home the following afternoon I had an extra paper bag with me, with the soft and shiny fleece from Lena’s dalapäls sheep Nehne, reminding me of all the connections we shared during the course. The connections will be spun into the yarn, passing the sweet memories on to the touch of my two-end knitted sleeves.
The fleece from the dalapäls sheep Nehne has been washed in water and is drying in front of our fireplace.
The following day I washed Nehne’s fleece that I got from Lena. It has been drying in front of the fireplace, smelling faintly of sheep. She reminds me of the course and the connection we all shared in the classroom. I even enjoy picking out the last remaining seed pods.
Next weekend I will attend a gym instructor course and can’t promise a blog post.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
The first step I take with a fleece after I have washed it is to pick it. Staple by staple I pull the tip ends out of the fleece until I have picked myself through the whole fleece. Today I discuss the advantages of picking fleece and why I don’t skip this step.
When I first learned to spin and process my wool I was taught to pick it. Somewhere along the way I omitted this step, for some odd reason. Recently, perhaps a year ago or so, I started picking my new fleeces again. There are so many advantages of picking fleece and I don’t want to omit this step.
Here is a short summary of the steps I take when I pick a fleece:
When the fleece has dried after washing I lay a newspaper on the floor and prepare a paper bag where I write the breed of the fleece and when it was shorn.
I take a bundle of fleece in one hand and search out the tip ends with the other. With the holding hand as resistance I pull the tips straight out.
If I see any vegetable matter I remove this. Some will probably fall to the ground as you pick through the fleece.
I also remove felted parts, solidified tips, heavily dirty sections and poo.
I take notes of characteristics of the fleece and any ideas I get for handling it in preparation and spinning.
When I have picked through the whole fleece I put it in the paper bag and either store it or go on with processing the fleece.
All that I have removed will be used. I generally put it in the compost or in my Bokashi bucket.
Model: A Tabacktorp fleece
The model I use in this post about picking fleece is a Swedish Tabacktorp fleece. It’s one of the rarest breeds in Sweden. The official statistics say that in 2021 there were a total of 25 breeding ewes in seven flocks in Sweden.
Tabacktorp wool. Raw (left) and washed in water (right).
My friend Sandy of Swedish Fibre was kind enough to let me buy 1 kilo of her Tabacktorp treasure. The content of the kilo I bought could be from one individual or from several.
Picked locks of Tabacktorp wool in my ullkränku (wool basket). Two saigkorgar (baskets for carded wool) in the background. Both basket models are traditional from Gotland.
I will make a breed study blog post and webinar about this fleece later on. For the sake of this blog post the Tabacktorp fleece is just modeling for my picking demonstration.
Air in
When I pick a fleece I hold a bundle of the washed fleece gently in one hand and pick out staple by staple from the tip end. The staples are usually slightly interlaced at the cut end and picking the staples will open up the cut ends and invite air in between the fibers.
10 grams each of unpicked (left) and picked (right) tabacktorp wool.
Getting air into the fibers makes the upcoming preparation steps easier – if the cut ends are detangled there will be less strain on my body and on the fibers. Picking the fleece will thus reduce the amount of waste compared to an unpicked fleece.
The staples in the Tabacktorp fleece are quite defined and untangled already. Some fleeces are held together to different degrees at the cut end throughout the whole fleeces, but this one almost falls to pieces when I pick it up.
Stuff out
Picking the fleece also gives me the opportunity to remove any stuff I don’t want in it. This could be vegetable matter, short fibers, seconds cuts, felted parts and poo. A lot of stuff will fall out just by the air coming in when I pick the fleece. Other stuff will be easy to remove manually as I pick my way from staple to staple.
The most obvious vegetable matter is easy to remove in the picking stage if it doesn’t fall out on its own as I pick staple by staple.
When I have finished picking the whole fleece the stuff I don’t want is gone (resting cozily on my garden beds) and I’m left with clean and open full-length staples only. The fleece is ready to be used.
This fleece didn’t have very much vegetable matter in it, some juniper needles. No felted parts and almost no poo or dirty parts. It could be due to a very clean fleece overall or to a thorough skirting and rough sorting by the sheep owner.
Establishing a relationship
As I pick my way through the fleece I establish my relationship to it. To me it is important to learn as much as I can about not only the fleece, but also the sheep. In the newly shorn format that I get the fleece in it’s as close to its on the hoof-version as possible. In the unprocessed fleece I get the chance to explore what the fleece did for the sheep. Picking out leaves, needles and grass gives me an image of where the sheep has grazed, what kind of plants that have been in her living room. I get to tread in the hooves of the sheep.
As I pick my wool I establish a relationship with it.
Years ago when I had a thing for Shetland wool I got beautiful fleeces from Shetland Woolbrokers. The stuff I found in those fleeces made my heart tingle, it felt so special to be able to go back to Shetland in my mind. I didn’t find much vegetable matter in the fleeces, but some peat fell out of them occasionally. Especially on the sheep’s sleeping side.
That kind of information is not necessary for me from a strict spinning perspective, but it gives me an image, a feeling for the sheep’s life and surroundings. And with that important connection to the sheep I feel a closeness to the sheep and a deeper responsibility to make her justice. She has grown a beautiful fleece and made it available to me. It’s my responsibility to treat it with the humility and respect it deserves and spin its most beautiful yarn.
A first glimpse
Looking at the wool off the hoof in its on-the-hoof state as staples I get the chance to get to know its characteristics.
Visual
Visual aspects can be
colour
staple length
staple type. To me the staple type is connected with the outercoat to undercoat ratio. Is there mainly outercoat in the staples, equal amounts of outercoat and undercoat or mainly undercoat?
crimp – are the staples straight, wavy, curly or crimpy?
openness – are the fibers bundled together in the staples or more open?
evenness – are the staples more or less similar over the fleece or variegated?
an approximate relationship between outercoat and undercoat, if applicable.
What I find when I look at the list above are not good or bad, just information I get from looking at the fleece. Information that I take into account in further processing.
There is a lot of variety in my Tabacktorp wool. Raw (left) and washed (right).
Tactile
I can see a lot from just looking at the fleece, but it’s with my hands in it that I experience its more subtle characteristics. When I dig my hands into the fleece, I can get more tactile information like
How the staples detach from the cut ends. Is it easy or do I need to struggle to pull the staples out of the staple bundle? Sometimes there is a resistance or even sort of a felted carpet right at the cut ends. Whether it is from the shearing itself or from when in the growth period the sheep was shorn or something else I couldn’t tell. But if I do have to struggle it tells me that I need to take measures to ease that struggle as I prepare the fleece. A struggle indicates risk of strain, in both my muscles and the fibers.
What is the bounce like in the fleece? If I take a bundle of staples and squeeze them, how do they bounce back? This can be an indication of how the yarn will behave as I spin it and how it blooms after I have finished it.
How do the fibers relate to one another? If I draft from the cut end of a staple, how is the give in the draft? Does it come easily or do I need to struggle?
I can get lots of visual, more quantitative information from the fleece, but with the more qualitative feedback in my hands I get to know it on a more subtle level.
Sort?
With the information – quantitative and qualitative – I get from the staples as I pick my way through them I get an overview of how it is composed. With that information I can make decisions on whether to sort it into different categories or not, and which categories.
I can choose to sort by
Colour. There can be difference in colour over the body of the sheep or between undercoat and outercoat. Sometimes over the stretch of a fiber. This is an interesting way to sort a fleece. A multicolour fleece can give you lots of ways to play.
Staple length. For certain projects I may want evenness in the staple length. I can sort a fleece on that basis.
Staple type: In dual coats there can be different undercoat to outercoat ratios which can be a parameter to sort by.
Coarseness/fineness: Differences in fineness is not uncommon.
Crimp: Some fleeces with lots of variegation can have different degrees of crimp on different parts of the body.
Fiber type: Do I want to separate undercoat from outercoat?
My Tabacktorp fleece has lots of different staple types that I could easily sort and use for different purposes. Still, they are quite even in length and my plan at the moment is to card it all together, taking advantage of their collected characteristics in one yarn rather than go for individual characteristics in several smaller sections.
Store
When I have picked my fleece it’s ready for storage. My fleece queue is long, my oldest fleeces are from the autumn 2021 shearing. All the fleeces in my storage are picked. When I invite the oldest one to dance it’s all dressed up and ready – with far less vegetable matter, clean, easy to work with and perhaps even sorted into categories. It may be a bit flatter than the last time I saw it, but it will puff up again.
One bag of picked Tabacktorp wool shorn autumn 2022, ready for my wool storage to wait its turn in my fleece queue.
Before I store the picked fleece I make a few notes on my Ravelry page about the wool. Discoveries I have made through the picking such as how it drafts, if I have struggled with it, Perhaps any thoughts I have of spinning or what to make of the spun yarn.
My Tabacktorp wool now sleeps cozily with equally picked Åland, gute, dalapäls and other fleeces in my sofa bed. And when it’s Tabacktorp’s turn in line I will thank myself for having taken the time – and joy – to pick it, get to know it and make notes about it characteristics.
Your wool has a lot to teach you. Listen to it.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) I have just released my November video postcard where I demonstrate how I pick my Tabacktorp fleece.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
I have several little bands in my project basket that are only half-finished. The other week I decided to actually finish six little bands, in four different techniques.
My problem is that inspiration jumps me from behind and craves all my attention and I jump from one unfinished object to another. On the one hand I like having parallel projects. If I get tired of one I can always work on another and then get the mojo back for the first one. Working in different techniques is also a good way to stay our of strain. But I can also get very stressed knowing I have several unfinished projects in my basket, not to mention all my ideas for unstarted projects. It feels very good to finish some sweet little bands.
Little bands
Once you start weaving bands you realize there is always a need for one. Even if you don’t necessarily know the practical purpose of the band as you create it there will come a time when that very band is the perfect candidate for a job.
Six little bands have been the loveliest companions on inner and outer journeys this summer.
The more obvious purpose of the band is of course the making of it – spending time with a small, often handspun, project, watching it grow into an actual something and enjoying the weaving process without having to drag a loom around. All I need is a couple of sticks and I’m ready to dive into the process.
Parks, trains and automobiles are lovely places for weaving little bands. A nettle band in the car to Gothenburg for my aunt’s funeral and the same band in a park, soaking in the city where my aunt spent all of her life (left and middle). A pick-up technique band on a train to county Dalarna with my wool traveling club (right).
One of the sweet things about little bands is the portability. I weave all my bands with a backstrap loom – just a couple of sticks, a belt of some sort around my waist and something to hook the back end of the warp with and I’m ready to weave. I have spent time weaving in cars, trains, parks and office coffee breaks on both inner and outer journeys.
Braiding a band on a coffee break at work (left) and weaving a pick-up technique band in the September sun on my recent wool journey. There is a band for every occasion.
Recently I have also learned to appreciate my feet as part of my backstrap loom – I simply loop the end over my foot propped on top of my other knee and I weave until the foot falls asleep. Then I just change feet.
Three braids
First up in my collection of finished bands are three braided bands from odd balls of handspun wool yarn. Making braided bands is a technique I wanted to learn, so I tried different amounts of ends, different colours and different patterns.
Three 16-strand braids made of leftover balls of handspun wool yarn.
The first one was a simple grey band, I think I like that one the best. I also did one in blue with white patterning and one green with pink and white patterning. The pattern bands revealed my beginner’s mistakes, though, and they look quite sad. But it was a sweet technique to explore and I’m still happy with all of them.
You can see a lovely video where Sally Pointer braids a twelve-strand braid in linen yarn here. A twelve strand linen belt like Sally’s is on my to-craft list.
Nettle band
In July of last year and February this year I harvested nettles that I processed. There was a lot of waste, but I did manage to spindle spin two balls of nettle yarn, one tiny with the dew retted July nettles and one less tiny with the root retted February nettles. You can read more about the process in this blog post.
I wove my 2-ply spindle-spun nettle yarn into a 6 millimeter band.
Throughout the processing and spinning the two retting techniques showed different colours. Once I had scoured them, though, the colour difference was smaller. Still, I used the dew retted yarn as a stripe down the middle of the warp. You can see it very subtly on the picture above.
Weaving the nettle band was lovely, it felt so good to make a little something out of material most people would frown upon. Weaving from weeds makes me feel rich, it’s sort of empowering to know that I can make something useful with my hands should I need to. And I do need, not of some material necessity but for the sake of making, to feel the making in the hands and the connection between hands and brain.
Scrap nettle yarn lucet cord
When I had finished the nettle band I had one tiny little ball left. I wanted to use as much of it as I could, so I decided upon a lucet cord. This is a very old technique that can be described as a 2-stitch I-cord. You use a fork-like tool called a lucet to hold the stitches. With this technique you can take advantage of all the length of the yarn except for the beginning and end.
A lucet cord made with the last little ball of handspun nettle yarn.
I have made a few lucet cords before, but only with wool yarn, which has some bounce, even in the worsted spun outercoat fiber yarns I have tried. Making it with plant fiber is a totally different story. Pulling the loop over the new yarn is more of a struggle and the yarn is less forgiving when it comes to uneven settling of the loop into the cord, but it was still very interesting. As always, spending some time with a material allows you to get to know it and how to work with its characteristics and its own mind.
Pick-up technique backstrap weaving band
I have a secret project going and for that I needed a band. I realized that it needed some extra sparkle, so I decided to make it with a pick-up technique. This takes a lot of time and is quite fiddly, so it’s not ideal for train rides or coffee breaks at work. But I did that anyway. I wove most of it at home, though, with full focus on the 16-row pattern.
A sweet band in a pick-up technique. The yarn is my handspun on an Andean Pushka.
One of the big perks of working with a pick-up technique is all the time you get to spend with the yarn. The technique is time-consuming, but that doesn’t bother me. Quite the contrary, I relish the moments when I get to dig my hands into the warp and pick the pattern up into the weave with a naturally curved wooden stick (or, I think I used a shawl pin made out of a twig). The natural materials in my hands make my skin sparkle with joy.
I spun the yarn from hand-teased Norwegian NKS wool on an Andean Pushka. You can see the process of spinning the yarn for this band in this video and the pick-up technique (for a different band) in this.
Little band in progress
When you read this I’m on a weekend getaway with Dan. Naturally, I needed a band to weave on the train. I warped, failed and rewarped, but all went well in the end. I used two colours of worsted spun outercoat wool from Swedish rya sheep from the same flock. The dark brown yarn is from the ram Bertil. The light fawn may be from the ewe Beppelina.
Band in progress: A wool band for an upcoming tie-on pocket project.
I will use the band for an upcoming tie-on pocket project I’m working on. I like playing with stripes in bands. There are so many possibilities and no right or wrong.
Weaving bands with handspun
Most of my handspun yarns are spun from Swedish breeds, and most of these breeds are prone to felting. This can make the yarns sticky, even the smoothest worsted spun outercoat yarns. A project that would be almost impossible to weave wide (like my Frida Chanel bag and loom stick wrap) is far less fiddly as a band. I do have to uncling the warp threads one by one for every new shuttling, but it doesn’t bother me at all when there are only 20–30 warp pairs. I’m just happy to see a brand new band take shape, ready to take its band space in the world.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 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.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.
On my recent wool journey I started three påsöm projects. Since then I have been working for many hours on the first project, a pretty påsöm pocket. None of this is my handspun.
If you have read my blog posts during the past year you may have seen my growing interest in tie-on pockets. A very old accessory – necessity – to give women the freedom of bringing things with them just like men have, only men’s clothes have been equipped with built-in pockets for specific items. A tie-on pocket can be placed hidden or visible and contain anything the wearer’s heart desires. My previous pockets were made of two kitchen towels and an evening purse.
On my wool traveling club’s recent påsöm embroidery wool journey we first learned how to sketch the bouquet of påsöm flowers on the surface (broad cloth in this case), play with templates and stencils and transferring the shapes onto the sketch. When we were happy with the design we filled in both inner and outer borders with a permanent marker.
Once I’m happy with the design, I fill in all outer and inner borders with a permanent marker.
I chose a dahlia (at least I think that’s what it is) for the main attraction, flanked with roses and rose buds. All surrounded with greenery. I’m actually not a very flowery person, but the abundance of this technique and tradition appeals to me.
Bold flowers in rich colours flanked with greenery is the foundation of the påsöm embroidery tradition.
Colours
The colour palette is usually very bright, with especially reds and pinks among shades of green for the leaves. An occasional spectrum of blues or oranges can make a visit every now and then, with accent details in white and yellow.
Planning the bouquet
Just like planning a regular bouquet, you need to plan for the påsöm bouquet too. What is the centerpiece and where do the stalks go. I started with the giant dahlia and went on with the smaller flowers and the three flowers on top of the back piece of the pocket. Then I added the greenery, just according to my sketch.
Filling and blinging
Once the main pattern is in place it’s time to fill out the empty spaces with some more greenery and an occasional bud or smaller flower. The key word is abundance. I really enjoyed this part. I needed to watch every angle, see where the stalks went and fill in the gaps in a way that seemed logical in relation to the bouquet.
Once there was no more room to fill out I started the blinging process – extra sparkle to fill out the smallest spaces.
To fill out and add bling I watched the photos from the course carefully, as well as the book I had bought earlier, Påsöm, by Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg (who was the teacher of our wool journey påsöm course). In the book as well as in the course there were lots of examples of old påsöm items to get inspiration from, as well as Anna-Karin’s new ones. From extra greenery incorporated in the flowers to bright stamens, pistils and unidentified leafy things to create depth and abundance.
Making a pocket
Once I felt finished with the filling and blinging it was time to make a pocket out of the embroidered broadcloth. I used a wild strawberry vintage cotton fabric for lining and inner pocket. A mora band (common in the traditional costume from the town of Mora) made a lovely edge of the pocket opening.
I chose an -80’s wild strawberry fabric for lining and inside pocket. To the left you can see the wrong side of the embroidery. Quite intriguing, don’t you think?
I joined the front plus lining with the back piece by hand with a backstitch, using a waxed linen thread. I like having the inner pocket for my mobile phone in the pocket. It keeps it steady and away from any accidents involving too close encounters with keys.
After I had finished the lining I steam pressed the embroidery. The result was quite astonishing, the stitches landed sweetly together in the flowers and leaves.
Close to the tradition
With the front and back neatly joined and the Mora band for the pocket opening I was getting closer to a finished pocket. But I wasn’t sure how to do the edging and the band. Anna-Karin’s påsöm pockets from Dala-Floda and the examples from the digital museum all had a buckle at the top to fasten in a belt or apron tie. The pockets were most commonly edged with velvet. I didn’t want either buckle or velvet, but I still wanted to stay within some reasonable closeness to the tradition.
Filled, blinged and pressed! The left picture shows the pocket before pressing and the right after.
I asked Anna-Karin for advice and she showed me pockets where mora bands had been sewn onto reindeer leather for the ties. She also showed me other items where reindeer leather had been used as edging and outer back piece.
I really liked the idea with soft reindeer leather for both edging, outer back piece and ties. So I ordered some reindeer leather while I finished the filling and blinging.
Reindeers and tongs
While the reindeer leather was indeed soft and flexible, it was still hard to work through with the needle. My solution was to use tongs to pull the needle through for a sweet waxed linen thread running stitch seam. Using the tongs worked very well, but it also took a lot of time to grab and let go of the tongs for every stitch. Still, in the end very much worth the effort.
I ended up sewing every stitch through the reindeer leather with the help of tongs. Tedious, but efficient. I only broke skin once and a needle once. To the right you can see a join in the reindeer leather.
It took a while to sew the 180 cm band back and forth. Edging the pocket was less complicated than I thought. The friction between the broad cloth and the suede side of the reindeer leather prevented the materials to slide from their position.
I used reindeer leather for the band and as an outer back piece and edging for my pretty påsöm pocket.
Even if the pocket is a mix between traditions from different villages in and around Dala-Floda it still looks reasonably traditional. At least in my beginner’s eyes.
Parting
As with any finished project, I felt a little sad when our journey together was over. Perhaps that is why I am such a project hoarder – I can’t seem to want to let them go. The process is such a sweet time to learn and dig deeper, to be in my hands and in the material. Even if the end product turns out beautifully and shows me a map of what I have learned, I do cherish the time I have spent together with the material, the crafting choreography and the mental process. Lucky me I have more pocket ideas in store.
A pretty påsöm pocket, ready to house sweet treasures.
Happy spinning!
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