Niddy Noddy 'ing'!

Niddy Noddying... this made me smile, one of my customers bought herself a Niddy Noddy from my shop and left feedback saying 'Thanks and that this is a lovely product', then she finished by saying 'I shall have a great time Niddy Noddy 'ing'?!' I thought what a great new term... so I'm now Niddy Noddying my own spun yarn! She's right... how else do you say it?!



I got myself one of my Ashford Niddy Noddys, so stretching the yarn onto a winder would be easier. I have a great respect for Ashford products, so it was for me something I knew would do the job.



So now that it's all wound on I have to try the next step and heat set my yarn so I can create either a skein or ball of Merino hand spun yarn.

I'll let you know how I get on... and don't forget to check out the community group at Spinning Web

If you are looking for some fibre to spin with, or spinning equipment visit http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Saras-Texture-Crafts

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Fibrefest!

I will be showing at Fibrefest on Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd August 2009 at Coldharbour Mill, Uffculme, near Tiverton, Devon.

I don't have a stall number allocated yet, but I can tell you a bit about the event... Fibrefest is a festival celebrating the best in UK Fibre, Yarns & Textiles.

FIBREFEST will offer the visitor an array of exhibitor stands & stalls; a selection of workshops, seminars & demonstrations, an animal paddock, a knitting emporium & a multi coloured fibre swap shop; plus free mill museum entry and musical entertainment.

MARKETPLACE – an array of exhibitor stands / stalls offering a wide and unique range of high quality fibres, yarns, textiles and textile craft equipment.

KNITTING EMPORIUM and MULTI COLOURED FIBRE SWAP SHOP (hosted by P/HOP) - this promises to be a hubbub of activity hosted by P/HOP ... P/HOP is a fundraising knitting project for the humanitarian medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres ... several designers have donated free knitting patterns to P/HOP – copies of patterns will be available FREE to all FIBREFEST visitors for an unspecified donation which will go straight into P/HOP’s wonderful fundraising kitty...
...meanwhile P/HOP will host the KNITTING EMPORIUM - where folk can sit and knit and chat and exchange ideas...
...and also run the MULTI COLOURED FIBRE SWAP SHOP – which enables visitors to bring along a textile related item (be it yarn or top or a bit of craft equipment) and swap it for a different item brought along by someone else...

WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS - a selection of workshops and seminars to indulge in, including:
SASHA KAGAN knit / crochet technique lecture in the Museum cinema
VINTAGE CRANKERS sock machine workshops within the Mill building
DYEING, FELTING, CROCHETING workshops / talks in the Mill and the Old Stables
(see following pages for full confirmed workshop and seminar line-up and details)

DEMONSTRATIONS - there will be textile / natural fibre related demonstrations taking place around the site - such as machine knitting courtesy of the Guild of Machine Knitters from Taunton and spinning from the Devon Guild of Spinners and basket making demonstrated by Basketmakers Southwest.

Hope to see you there!
Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Second Spin...

Do you remember my post http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com/2009/03/spinning-myself-in-knots.html? Well I've had another go and over a few evenings before Woolfest I produced this spindle full of yarn...

One of my good customers picked up her first drop spindle about the same as me, so when she said she was going to Woolfest we though it was a great opportunity to compare our yarns. Tips too if time allowed...

Dawn's spinning looked really good, she's obviously been working quite hard... so I was a bit worried to show her this, but she was very encouraging and gave me a bit of a push to try some more... I have to say I really enjoyed meeting Dawn, it was nice to put a face to the emails.

Luckily my stall at Woolfest was next to a professional spinner's stall... beautiful yarns, beautiful... had to have D look after the money belt while I swooned! It turned out that the Spinner and I were friends of a friend, so while we were chatting I picked her brains about my drop spindle spinning and she gave me some really good tips and encouragement. She had a good look at my yarn too and said it was ok for a first attempt at drop spinning, I was really quite chuffed to hear this... this craft is going to be particularly hard to master, so I felt much better about my being able to progress.

The things I have to consider before I have my next go are:

• to consider the weight of my spindle, about 30/40g is ok for standard yarns. I must weigh mine...
• practise my drafting. For this second spin I used Merino strips as a pose to rolag techniques... must go back and practise! Although I have read that both options are ok.
• Consider a natural fibre like Blue Faced Leicester (which you can find in my shop) because the longer staple creates a better tensile strength across the width of the spinning yarn/rolag and will be easier to spin than chemically coloured Merino which is less clingy (because of less scales on the fibre hairs)... Although Merino is also very good to spin with too!
• Maybe try standing while I spin, so that I can draft a longer length as I spin.

I'll let you know how I get on... and don't forget to check out the community group at Spinning Web

If you are looking for some fibre to spin with, or spinning equipment visit http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Saras-Texture-Crafts

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/