Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom

Christmas has come very early to my house, with the arrival of this weaving loom.  Ryan very kindly put it together, not as easy as it first appeared and then I was straight into using it.  This is my first piece, a small table runner.   I used natural Galway yarn and then over dyed natural grey yarn that is a little too scratchy to wear.  Delighted with the effect and now to get more items made and to become more skilled

A Flecked Yarn

I am always trying out new ideas and this is the latest.  I have been asked to produce a 'flecked' yarn and after a few different ideas this is the best I can do.  This is natural black Zwartbles wool and the coloured batts are hand dyed silk noil.  I dyed the silk in a steamer a bright turquoise and pale brown.  It is difficult to get the dye to saturate the silk because the silk is like a blop of papier mache.   When it was dry I then carded it several times to separate the fibres. 

Then carded it into the Zwartbles fibre to make this yarn.

Hopefully I will improve it with practice.  

Hand Carding in the Garden

Carding wool is a very dusty job and when I am doing it I have to wear a substantial face mask to protect me from the dust and tiny wool fibres that are in the air.  I feel like someone doing a dangerous scientific experiment and all I am working with is wool!

This afternoon the weather was perfect for doing a few hours in the garden with just enough of a breeze to blow the dust away and not too much so my wool was not flying around the garden.   

This is a lovely grey fleece that I got from a farmer in Skreen.  It is so clean and soft it is a pleasure to work with.  Some of it is heading to Germany next week.

Before I worked with this fleece I carded some Alpaca,  Alpaca is so dusty to work with.  At the moment  I am carding a black fleece and I think that this Alpaca was out in a shower and then had a dust bath before she was shorn the fleece is so dusty that it is almost brown rather than black until I wash it after spinning.

Blue Faced Leicester Locks

A custom order for some B.F.L.  locks in shades of blue and purple. 

This fleece is one that a local farmer had thrown in the back of his shed.  He thought it was useless but it is perfect for locks as they are very fine and tightly curled.  It is very dirty but washes out fairly well.  The tight, fine curls are almost impossible to process to spin with as they knot up into tiny balls but it is lovely as locks.  They separate out easily but I only sell like this as I do not want to spoil the lock definition.

I dye them in lots of about 50 to 60 grams

Yarn from Dog Hair

 I have been a bit quiet recently,  not for lack of work with my wool but because I was having camera issues.   Back in action again.  This yarn is spun from Spitz dog hair which I blended with a little silk and some angora rabbit.  I spun it woollen and as a result it is very soft and has a lovely halo.   At the moment I am knitting it to make a cardigan for the dog owner's grandchild which is due early next year

Indigo from Woad

The story stared last spring when my very good friend Henneke handed me some Woad seedlings. I had not got a clue what colours I could get.  My husband planted them out in our tunnel and with luck beside a heap of manure.  I have now discovered that woad needs very fertile soil to produce Indigo.
Fast forward to a about a month ago when I decided that something must be done with these plants.
I got out all my books and read through my options,  it was all so complicated with temperatures and pH and also I needed something called Spectralite.  Where would I get it?  I had everybody asked and then I got a message that I could buy it from a company that sells natural dyeing equipment.  Why did I not think of that myself??  So I ordered it and some soda ash.
Monday was the day set aside.
First,  choose which book to go by, so I chose the simplest and one that needed the least equipment.
Most important, they all said the woad must be picked and used as soon as possible.  Even then you can not be guaranteed any Indigo.
Rain water, no problem that morning, the saucepan was flowing over in ten minutes.
On with the pan to boil while the woad was washed and shredded and in two other saucepans.  What do they say about a watched pot?  Well it would not boil.  I am hopeless at waiting and how many projects have I spoiled by rushing.  In the end I took the chance and poured the water over the leaves and left them for 30 minutes.  I had them on the lowest heat that my stove can do as the water was NOT boiling.   Strained the leaves squeezed the last of the dye out of them.
Now I added some dissolved Soda Ash until the water turned green.  It needed much more than I expected. I gather this is a pH of about 9.  I then whisked the mixture with a electric hand whisk for 15 minutes.  The foam was blue to start with and then gradually became yellow.  Indigo was there!!
Now I placed the pan back on the cooker which I had set at 50 centigrade and heated it up for a few minutes and then sprinkled a large teaspoon of spectralite over the top and left it to stand for 15 minutes
Last stage,  I lowered the wet wool carefully into the pan trying not to disturb the surface.  Left it for 20 minutes.  It remained yellow in the pan but as I lifted out it turned blue.  The Magic of Indigo.  Contrary to what I had heard my kitchen is not dyed blue but the smell was not that nice

Woodland Witches

I am having fun making these felted figures.   A mixture of needle felt and wet felt and my wool fibre that I sell for felting works really well as it can be needle felted easily after wet felting.  These figures are about 12 inches tall

Wet Felted Rug

This is not part of a dead animal,  it is my first attempt at felting a fleece to make a rug.  I tried to get some information on how to do it but could not find much.   So I decided to have a go anyway.  It took me over a day of felting and pummelling,  even walking on it in my bare feet.  I was so stiff when I had finished I could hardly move!! I am sure I will find some use for it and I hope it doesn't fall apart

Jacob Yarn drying on the line ready to go to The Crafter's Basket

The first of this lovely fleece from Sara of Woodville farm in Sligo.  Spun and drying on the line to set the spin.  I take the fleece as it comes to me from the basket,  this gives each skein a very different proportion of black to white.  A lovely soft fleece which I have spun woollen. The first of this fleece is in The Crafter's Basket, Cliffoney, Co. Sligo and I am working on the rest.

Blue Faced Leicester Locks

I just missed the main shearing of the farmer's sheep that has a flock of pedigree BFL and the bags had already gone to the collection point and were mixed with hundreds of other bags,  but they found a few fleeces and one man had some rams that were not shorn so gradually I managed to get some of this amazing fleece.   Do I love it or do I hate it??  When I dye some locks like these I love it, they will look wonderful felted into a anything.  Lots of different sizes of locks to suit so many projects,  but when I am sitting teasing out the tiny locks so that I can spin it I am not so in love.  I know it will spin to make the softest of yarn but it is tedious to prepare.  All in all I have only ended up with 2 small bags so it will not last long.  I will find it hard to part with these locks but I will have more to follow.  Dyed using food dye in the microwave,  so simple,  if it goes right!!

Landes de Britagne, Mouton de Britagne

The first of the fleece off the spinning wheel.  It is a very greasy wool and not that easy to spin as it is glued together.  I have given it a gentle wash while setting the spin and this has removed some lanolin but it will still knit up an old fashioned waterproof garment.  It is soft to handle and I think will knit really nicely.  I certainly will suggest that is used by those wishing to knit waterproof hats

landes de Britagne

I collected this fleece during the week from Co. Down.  I am so far delighted with it and the first of it is in the ferment bath.  This breed was imported from France and there are very few in the country.  They come either black or white but I only have the white fleece.  The sheep are a delight,  tiny only 60cms high and if I had a piece of land they would have been in the back of the car along with the fleece.

The staple length is longer than seen here and it appears to be free of kemp and have a soft handle.  Such fun to have something that is different to play with and hopefully sell as well

This Year's Fleece Galway

The first of the 2016 fleeces have arrived.  Some Galway fleece seen here as it arrived from the farmer.  This is a little known fleece which gives a wonderful stitch definition.  The Galway sheep is the only native Irish breed and is traditionally used for Aran sweaters.  Classified as a Rare Breed and is now making  come back

Lumra Rugs Traditional Irish Rug making

There appears to very little information about this wonderful way of making rugs.   I have met many people who could explain how they were made and some even had made them.  It is done with a large hook with a eye of a needle at the opposite end and so the  work is 'locked ' in with wool yarn. 

There is a strong tradition here in the North West of Ireland in the making of these rugs but it dyeing  out fast.  As far as I can gather the word Lumra is the Irish for fleece.   To make a rug for the floor would be a big job and it would use a lot of wool.  This is a small square that I have made, my second attempt.  My first was made with different coloured natural fleece which is very affective

Natural Dye Gorse Flowers

I love to use what nature gives to me.  It is a question of using what is out there and remembering at the right time of the year.  The gorse is in full bloom in Ireland at the moment.  Places a golden glow with their flowers.  We had some beautiful spring weather this week so I spent a morning on the edge of the Curlew mountains picking gorse flowers and enjoying the views over Lough Arrow.  Fishermen out in their small boats looking for a trout or two..  For those who do not know gorse is extremely prickly and I forgot my gloves!!

This is the fibre I have dyed ,  mordanted with Allum to brighten the colour.  

Was it worth it,  financially no but I got out in the sun enjoyed the morning with the views, listening to the birds,  so YES is was worth it and ended up with this lovely fibre

Ferment Wash Suint Method the end result

This is to prove it really does work.  Two photos of the fleece before the wash and one of the finished product.  This fleece was in the ferment tub for 2 days and then I rinsed it 3 times.   It has come out so soft and lovely.  No detergents, bleach, soap or hot water.  All the rinse water goes straight back into the woods and I use rain water, when possible, off the roof for the rinse

Washing Fleece Ferment Method

Now,  two weeks have passed and it is time to take the starter fleece out of the bin.   Already pretty smelly but the water has only gone cloudy and a small amount of scum on the top.  At least I know that the wash process has started.  After several washes it starts to go black.
The first photo is of the bin with the wool removed.  You can see how cloudy the water has become and then a photo of the fleece draining into buckets.  This water will be returned to the black bin when the wool has drained completely.
The final photo is of the 'bath' I use for rinsing the wool.  Plenty of room to swish the wool around to get it well rinsed.  I leave it to drain for several hours between rinses.

Washing Fleece, the fermentation method ( Suint )

No photos at this stage,  really we all know what a dust bin looks like.

This is a method of washing fleece that uses the natural properties of fleece to wash itself.

Think about it,  when you handle raw fleece and then wash your hands and you need no soap to get that soapy feeling.

I am now starting my third 'brew' and decided that I would blog its development.
You need a dust bin,  draining racks that you can put containers under to catch the water,  large tub to rinse the fleece.  Somewhere not too near your house or any other house as the smell is pretty awful.
I am about to have a concrete area made now that I have no farm yard.

Stage 1 :  You need a black dust bin with lid.  Any water holding container that doesn't let the light in and has a lid will do.  Sunlight will allow the water grow algae and the lid prevents bugs getting in and laying eggs.  

Fill this with rain water,   pure and slightly acidic.  Hard water will cause precipitation of calcium and other minerals.  Add some fleece that you may need to discard afterwards although I have always used them.  This needs to have lots of natural grease.   I break it up so that I can lift it out of the bin when it is 'washed'.  It is extremely heavy when it is water logged.  Put the lid on and just leave it for 2 weeks.  Have the odd peep in to see how things are going.  You may see a scum developing on the surface of the water.  This a good sign.

My brew has been going almost a week now so photos will follow when I take it out of the water

Drying Rack for Wool Fleece

At last I have organised a large rack for drying my fleece.   I have used an old greenhouse table that was made to take seed trays.  It originally had wooden slats that have long rotted away.  I have replaced these with plastic mesh.  Seen here with a complete Jacob type fleece and a large quantity of Wensleydale.  I should have done this years ago but it is only recently that I have been washing and drying fleece in larger quantities

All Sold

A first for me put these locks up on my Etsy website and they sold in a matter of hours

https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/MarkreeWoolCraft?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Blue must be the color of the month!  Now I must do another dye lot

Combed Tops and Carded Batts

My New Year's Resolution is to finish what I start.  No more scraps of wool in bags and boxes and so this is the start. 
 I also am processing my fibers a little differently.  I was so inspired by a You Tube of Russian wool paddles that I decided to get most of wool ready to spin using my hackle and comb. Not exactly the same but the nearest I can get with my equipment.   This is the latest project.  The top photo is a carded batt made using the wool that is left on the hackle after pulling off through the dis and I then carded it with a little addition of white and angelina sparkle.  The bottom is the combed top which I pulled through the dis off the hackle.  This leaves all the short wool behind and gives a smooth top to spin.
 I have listed the carded batt on Etsy and called it Lillie the Pink.   The top I think I will spin myself .
So I have NO pieces of pink wool in a bag or box that is not ready to spin