Colour Collab // Katrina Stewart: Sprinkles of Joy
In January, we invited our spinning instructors at the School of SweetGeorgia to share what sparks their creativity during the winter months. Each person offered an image that captured their seasonal inspiration, and we transformed those ideas into a stunning set of hand-dyed colourways. The result is our Colour Collab Collection: Winter Inspirations, a vibrant celebration of the season, spun from imagination and brought to life through dye. They spun these colourways, and we are sharing with you here! Whether inspiration comes from a photograph, a colourway, or a finished yarn, we love sharing that creative spark with our fibre arts community. Katrina Stewart: Sprinkles of Joy is the last post in this series.
Enjoy all five posts as inspiration for your next spinning project:
- Kim McKenna- River Walk
- Diana Twiss- Shadows on Snow
- Rachel Smith- Wesley’s Field
- Debbie Held- Winter Skies
- Katrina Stewart- Sprinkles of Joy
Sprinkles of Joy
The Inspirational Photograph
“One of my favourite winter activities is to bake with my kids, especially as Christmas draws near. In our house, we gift a lot of homemade items, and cookies happen to be one of the things I’ve gifted for years. When my girls were really little, they especially liked to decorate the sugar cookies with me. They would help to cut out the dough, and then after they were baked, I would give them icing and sprinkles and let them decorate as they desired. It was a lot of fun, and this particular photograph was taken when my oldest was about 5, and her joy at the number of sprinkles she was able to use still makes me smile to this day.”
The Fibre: Trifecta & Corriedale
Trifecta: This base begins with Bluefaced Leicester wool, a fibre known for its strength and surprising softness, making it perfect for next-to-skin projects. We then add mohair, not to create a fuzzy texture, but to boost durability. Finally, a touch of silk brings both extra strength and a beautiful sheen, enhancing the natural lustre of the blend. Together, these fibres create a yarn that is strong enough for socks yet soft and drapey enough for the dreamiest shawls.
Corriedale: Corriedale is a favourite among many spinners, and for good reason. It’s easy to manage while spinning, takes colour beautifully, and is durable and soft enough for next-to-skin use. Many beginners start with Corriedale because it leads to satisfying results right from the start.
The Handspun Yarns
Katrina is always experimenting with colour, blending her technical skill and creative play to make stunning handspun yarns. You’ll find her full step-by-step process just a little further down in this post.
Fractal Spun & Chain Plied
Katrina: “I decided I wanted to spin for socks, and one of the ways I love to spin socks is to spin a braid two different ways so that I get non-matching socks that still look like they belong together.
I decided that I would spin one half of the braid as a fractal, and the other half I would chain ply. As I wanted the fractal to line up as often as it could, I decided to take two full repeats of colour for each of the three plies. I chose to do a 1/3/6 fractal.
For the chain plied half of the braid, I simply spun it from one end of the braid to the other with no further splitting.”
Katrina Stewart
After a 25-year career as a professional photographer, Katrina is enjoying a second career as a fibre artist. Her company, Crafty JAK’s, was started with her mom as a way to share their love of making with the world. She has blended her knowledge of colour and design to create colourways inspired by the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia that she calls home.
Photography by Katrina Stewart.
Katrina’s Courses
Ice Dyeing with Fibre Reactive Dyes
Ice dyeing offers a simple and playful way to explore colour, whether you’re dyeing yarn for knitting, a warp for weaving, or fabric for sewing, before or after a project is made. Let one-of-a-kind patterns emerge naturally on the cloth, and dive into this inspiring workshop with Katrina.
Tuning Up Your Wheel
We spend hours at our spinning wheels, and like any well-loved tool, they need regular care to keep working smoothly. In this workshop, Katrina and her husband Eric share their tips for daily upkeep and yearly maintenance, helping you keep your wheel in top shape for many years to come.
Carding for Colour
Blending colour is pure magic. In this course, Katrina Stewart walks us through the basics of colour theory and brings it to life on a drum carder. Along the way, you’ll learn how to use a double drum carder with confidence and begin to explore the endless possibilities of creating your own unique blends from fibre.
Spinning Up a Level
Easily one of the most popular courses in the School, and for good reason; Spinning Up a Level helps you build confidence and skill at the wheel. You’ll learn how to use multiple spinning draws, practice controlling yarn thickness, explore different plying and colour techniques, try textured yarns, and dive into project planning. It’s the perfect next step for any beginner ready to level up.
Not yet a member of the School? We invite you to come and see what it is all about! Use the code: EXPLORETHESCHOOL to save 15% on an All-Access monthly membership! All-Access gets you access to knitting, crochet, dyeing, spinning, weaving, tapestry, punch needle, and more! Or, choose to sign up for just the Spinning membership. Come take a look, we have something for everyone!
More About Katrina Stewart
Katrina also creates content on the SweetGeorgia site. Browse Katrina’s articles to discover techniques, refine your skills, and spark creativity.
Colour Collab // Katrina Stewart: Sprinkles of Joy
Materials
- 1 briad SweetGeorgia Trifecta fibre Sprinkles of Joy colourway
Instructions
Fibre prep
-
Open the braid to see how many colour repeats there are. This braid has 10 ½ repeats. •For the fractal yarn, take two full colour repeats for each ply; there will be three plies total. •The remaining 4 ½ repeats will be used for the chain plied yarn.
-
For the fractal yarn to have the colour line up as often as possible, this was split into a 1/3/6 split: •Ply 1- Do not split. •Ply 2- Split the braid into three. •Ply 3- Split the braid into six. Note: wind the plies up, so you are always spinning from the same end of the fibre.
-
For the chain-plied yarn: •No extra fibre prep is needed.
Spinning the Yarns
-
For the fractal spun yarn, spin the plies in the order as shown in the above step. A Note from Katrina: "I like to spin all my singles to one bobbin and then rewind them onto storage bobbins for plying. In order to keep track of the individual plies, I tie a knot in my singles before I join for the next ply. This gives me a tactile indication as I’m rewinding that it’s time for the next bobbin. I also like to rewind my bobbins to the end that was first spun. This helps to create a really smooth yarn, as the fibres continue to be smoothed in the same direction that they are spun, as I’m plying."
-
For the chain plied yarn, spin it end-to-end.
Plying the Yarns
-
For the fractal spun yarn, spin the three plies together in the opposite direction to how the singles were spun.
-
Use the chain plying technique to spin the singles into a chain-plied yarn. Note: Katrina demonstrates this technique on her School of SweetGeorgia course, Spinning Up a Level.
Notes
Katrina’s Final Reflections:
“I love how you can see that the two yarns work well together, but will knit up completely differently. Given that this braid is a complementary colourway, I knew there would be some softening of the colours in the fractal spin. This is because there are times when the purple and green line up, which creates a feeling of brown when you are looking at the skein. This is a phenomenon known as optical mixing. Up close, you’ll be able to see the different colours in the plies, but from far away, they blend to create a brownish colour. As I suspected, my yardage for the two skeins is a little different. The fractal spin is 262 yards, and my chain-plied yarn is 199 yards. The yardage is still enough to make myself a lovely pair of socks with a little leftover, which I will likely turn into gnome hats. Happy Spinning!”
Join Our Community!
- At the School of SweetGeorgia, we’ve built a vibrant and welcoming community of fibre-loving makers, passionate instructors, and dedicated staff. Whether you’re looking for guidance on a new technique or just need a little creative encouragement, we’re here to support you every step of the way.
- Not yet a member of the School? We invite you to come and see what it is all about! Use the code: EXPLORETHESCHOOL to save 15% on an All-Access monthly membership!
- We welcome you to join us in our SweetGeorgia Community. This is where we share projects that inspire, have fibre-filled conversations, host make-alongs, and participate in a variety of virtual meetings! We discuss all things knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, machine knitting, and more!
- Want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to our newsletter! It’s a simple way to stay updated on what’s new at SweetGeorgia and the School of SweetGeorgia, catch up on the latest articles, watch new SweetGeorgia YouTube videos, and be a part of our community without any pressure to post. We value your presence, no matter how you choose to connect with us!
The post Colour Collab // Katrina Stewart: Sprinkles of Joy appeared first on SweetGeorgia Yarns.
Comments
Post a Comment