Needle felting fun If you haven’t tried needle felting give it a go. I had such fun yesterday with Maxine, our awesome needle felt tutor. We were creating a few props for the Halloween course on 24th October. https://beechwoodcrafts.com/needle-felted-halloween-pumpkins/ For a few hours you can forget everything else and create. Easy to dip your toes… Continue reading Needle felting Pumpkins
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Flax
Antique flax wheel One of my favourite wheels, Sonja, my Swedish flax wheel. Berta’s flax has inspired this post. Look at Berta’s flax group on Facebook to find out more. The project is led by an amazing Austrian woman and based on a dowry chest full of flax. The contents of the chest have been shared… Continue reading Flax
Tips on Blending for Spinning
Blending is Fun I love blending. It is my favourite course. It is great seeing students' faces as we play with colour and fibres, and introduce them to new equipment and techniques. Here are a few tips I share with them. Think why you are blending Is it for colour, or texture, to change the properties… Continue reading Tips on Blending for Spinning
Balanced ply in hand spun yarn
I was asked recently what balance means for hand spun yarn. What is a balanced ply? Balanced ply is when a yarn is twist neutral, i.e. the twist in the singles is balanced by the twist in the ply, the yarn has no tendency to twist. A yarn doesn’t have to have two strands the same… Continue reading Balanced ply in hand spun yarn
Wraps per inch of commercial yarn
Some of you will know I create sample wraps of all my hand spun yarns*. While working on our book, Alison Daykin and I wondered “how does our hand spun compare with commercial yarn thickness?” There are various charts giving the wraps per inch of commercial yarns but they seem to differ widely. How accurate… Continue reading Wraps per inch of commercial yarn
