New knitting

On today’s Taking Back Friday vlog, I want to talk a bit about the new knitting project I’m planning. Every year when September rolls around, I get excited about making a new sweater. And so, I’m about to embark on knitting an EPIC sweater this sweater season! How do I get myself into these situations?! Sweater season is here and I’m smitten with Caitlin Hunter’s newest design “ Girdwood “. I’ve knit a bunch of Caitlin’s sweaters already and I love her designs. I always feel great wearing them. For this project, I’ve decided to spin a gradient handspun yarn to use in the yoke. The success of this sweater will depend on many things, including my ability to spin a really great yarn for the colourwork design along with having the colours line up well. Fingers crossed! Are you knitting or planning to knit Caitlin’s Girdwood design, or another sweater this fall? I would love to hear from you in the comments — let me know what you’re knitting and working on! Notes from this Episode ...

Do you struggle with your spinning? Is your wheel difficult to treadle? Does your wheel have poor take-up? Is your yarn consistently over-twisted? Before your yarn is taken up onto the bobbin, are you getting a lot of pig-tailing or curlicues in your yarn? If any of this sounds familiar, don’t let your first assumption be that you are doing something wrong or that you are not a very good spinner. Sometimes all it takes to get on the right track is to make sure your wheel is properly set up. But to do this you first need to understand how your wheel drive systems works.  Categories of Spinning Wheels Spinning wheels can be divided into two main categories; spindle wheels and flyer/bobbin wheels. Well-known spindle wheels include the Great Wheel* and the Charka. There are two types of flyer/bobbin wheels; single-drive and double-drive wheels. Single-drive wheels are designed with either Scotch or Irish** tension. A Charka wheel. The biggest differences between spindle wheels an...

A versatile and adaptable block weave structure, crackle is a wonderful style for weavers to explore when looking to expand on and challenge their current weaving skills. Producing a range of designs, crackle cloth works beautiful for many things including kitchen towels, textiles, and upholstery through to shawls and scarves. Just one of the block weave structures we explore at the School of SweetGeorgia, Felicia Lo’s Hello Sunshine Pillow pattern is part of her Weaving Crackle on 4-Shafts  course. A bright and fun project to work on while exploring crackle weaving, while also later providing a beautiful pop of colour for your home. ABOUT CRACKLE BLOCK WEAVE Crackle is a weave structure derived from the Scandinavian Jamtlandsvaev. It’s a block weave which lends itself well to 4-shaft looms, and shares similarities with overshot and summer & winter block weaves while offering its own unique benefits. It is extremely adaptable and versatile, and perfect for weavers looking ...

When hand spinners first come to making their own yarn, one of the sentiments I often hear is some variation of, “I want to spin my own yarn from washing and processing the raw wool to preparing and spinning, before using that yarn to create cloth.” A major hurdle for new hand spinners to learn is about the fibres they have the opportunity to spin. Many of us dive down the rabbit hole quite quickly to begin sourcing sheep fleece but knowing a bit about the different classifications of wool can assist each new spinner on their journey of choosing and successfully spinning different wool types.  When we talk about wool classification, we are discussing the type of fleece that specific types of sheep produce. Learning about the different classes of wool, and the sheep that produce those wools, assists in being able to match a good wool to an appropriate fibre preparation for a lovely spinning experience to create wonderful fabric, specifically for this project at this time. Another w...

One of the issues that some weavers struggle with is their fell line being curved instead of straight. Having a ‘smile’ or ‘frown’ for a fell line can lead to issues with weaving and there are many different suggestions to help improve the situation.  Part of the reason for so many different solutions is because there are several different causes.  The challenge is to work out what is actual problem is, and then fix that. A Frowning Fell The definition of ‘fell’ is the last pick (or row) of weft in the cloth. A frowning fell is commonly caused by a warp that has not been wound well and the warp goes onto the beam in a ‘cigar’ shape rather than a consistent cylinder. The fell is frowning on the right-hand side of the weaving due to higher tension on warp ends at the right-side of the weaving. If the fell is frowning, the first thing to do is check the warp beam and find out if this is the problem.  If it is, the best approach is to unroll the warp from...