FibreJoy's Blog

::Dear English speaking visitors: sorry I am blogging entirely in Spanish about this. It is part of the Ravelry ‘Las Hilanderas’ swap I participated in, and I am describing the package I sent to my receipient::

El mismo día en que recibí mi paquete de Bea, supe que Mercè recibió el que yo le envié, ya que era mi sorprendida.

El paquete contenía:

1. La lana hilada por mí, merino y seda en tonos verdes, azules y rosados, son 2 madejas de aproximadamente 295 metros y 270 metros.

2. Más fibra merino y seda de la misma partida, para que Mercè pueda hilar.

3. Mercè mencionó que le gusta hilar ‘lana de oveja, simplemente’, así que le envié unos 100 gr. de fibra Jacob de ‘The Fibre Garden’ (www.fibregarden.com) y que me gustó mucho para que pruebe.

4. También de ‘The Fibre garden’, fibra Falkland en tono rojo con matices en negro.

5. Un patron para tejer ‘Lady Wannabe’ por una de mis diseñadoras favoritas, Tora Froseth, de Noruega. Es un par de guantes que asemejan el calce de guantes de gamuza.

6. Una bolsa con cierre para que pueda guardar su tejido o fibra, hecha con 3 telas diferentes: algodón con florcitas rojas, algodón en color beige y la interior bordó.

Aquí hay algunas fotitos del paquete que mandé especialmente para ella:

El paquete de mi sorpendida, Mercè

El paquete de mi sorpendida, Mercè

Gracias Mercè por la excelente organización del intercambio. Espero se repita pronto!

::Dear English speaking visitors: sorry I am blogging entirely in Spanish about this. It is part of the Ravelry ‘Las Hilanderas’ swap I participated in, and I am describing the package I received, which by the way, was beautiful::

Querida Bea, amo los regalos que me has enviado.

Paso a detallar:

1. La madeja que has hilado es bellísima, merino y seda 100 gr y unos 358 metros e hilada en huso!!! Preciosa. Dices que es solamente tu tercera madeja y la primera que regalas. No tengo palabras para lo que me gusta. Ahora tengo que encontrar un patrón que la merezca…

2. La fibra que me has enviado es bambú con tintes Iberia en marrón chocolate, caqui y morado. Son éstos los colores de Málaga que te inspiraron, como has dicho en uno de tus comentarios en Ravelry? Pues si es así, Málaga debe ser bellísima. Dices Bea que es tu primera experiencia tiñendo y realmente ni me imagino cómo saldrán tus próximas madejas, pues ésta me fascinó…

Mi paquete enviado por Bea desde Málaga

Mi paquete enviado por Bea desde Málaga

Miren qué belleza de madeja y de fibra teñida!

Mi paquete enviado por Bea desde Málaga

I am so excited these days! As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I am participating in a fibre swap organized by Mercè, one of the very talented members of ‘Las Hilanderas’ on Ravelry. This is a very interesting group, where fibre lovers who speak Spanish, but otherwise live around the world, work with different types of fibres, not only spinning them, but also dyeing with natural dyes.

I love the way she has put up the website where she also talks about the swap, ‘De oveja a oveja’ (From sheep to sheep).

So… are you waiting for a small sneak peak of what I am working on for the swap? It is 100 grams of fibre goodness, resulting in about 295 metres of yarn, plus 100 more grams that will be sent as fibre for the recipient to spin and see different results. I am thinking of either doing a 2-ply, or then leave it as-is, as a lace weight single, so the recipient can decide what she prefers to do with it. I really like the results until now.

Here you are:

Merino and silk... yummy!

Merino and silk... yummy!

Hello!

I’ve started spinning the other roving I got from EthnicityGoddess on Etsy.

It is one she called ‘Melon Fizz’, and it is a very pretty superwash merino.

I am not sure what I will be knitting with it after I am done with the spinning, though.

The original roving:

This is the stripped roving, ready to start spinning it:

And it is now on Pamina, my Lendrum:

I am preparing my wheel and fibre for a spinning gathering. I love Lauren’s bag and the way I feel my wheel is secured in it.

Off we go…

(Can you tell I love taking pictures of my wheel and bag and showing them off ?)

Because Spring started with cold days here in Toronto (we even got a bit of flurries yesterday!), I wanted to spice up my crafty weekend with some colourful spinning. I’ve finally jumped into spinning the hand-painted Merino Soft ‘Honey Raspberry’ I got from EthnicityGoddess on Etsy. It is a beautiful merino fibre in different shades of reds, burgundies, greens, yellows and brown.

Here is the fibre in its original braid:

Then I split it:

And it is now on my Lendrum:

I then need to find a good project for such beautiful colored fibre!

Remember this fibre that looked like 200 grams of cotton candy?

Ashford 80% merino and 20% silk

It continued the creative process of being a skein:

Then 3 pretty cakes of yarn:

So… what’s next? Well, I am not sure yet, most probably a pair of mittens and neckwarmer…

I met a lovely group of spinners from the Niagara region today. John Valleau and Alan McLean, co-owners of Fibre Garden, a new fibre shop in Jordan, Ontario, invited spinners to their Sunday spin-ins, and I reserved my spot through their Ravelry group, Fibre Garden @ Ravelry.

I had a great time spinning and chatting with these lovely people. They provided coffee, tea, cookies and a great ambiance, that inspired us all.

John and Alan have a great selection of fibres. Some of them are hand-dyed by John -aka ‘THE DYEGUY™ hand-dyed yarns and fibres’-, and have beautiful colours and textures. The batts are a dream!

I got 2 bags of natural Shetland, some natural Jacob, a beautiful roving of Jacob in ‘Heirloom Tomato’ colourway, John’s creation -a joy of earthy colours, reds, oranges, and browns. I also got some Corriedale in my favourite ochre/dark yellow. The Jacob fibre -from ‘Jacob sheep’- will be a first for me, I’ve never spun it before. I will most likely be posting pictures of my fibre goodness soon.

There were 2 more Lendrums, one double treadle -like Pamina, my spinning wheel- and another single treadle, a Majacraft Little Gem, 2 Ashfords and a gorgeous and antique Scottish wheel that Jean was using to spin her beautiful hand-dyed fibre.

Here are some pictures I took while I was there:

John explaining a new spindler how to use a drop spindle

John explaining a new spindler how to use a drop spindle

John explaining a new spindler how to use a drop spindle

Miss Rusty is the official customer greeter at the shop

Last Thursday I received the bag I had ordered for my spinning wheel, and I love it. The finishes are fantastic and it looks gorgeous and at the same time very sturdy and strong to protect the wheel.

Lauren makes carrying bags for Lendrum wheels in fabrics you can choose from her selection, or then from your fabric of choice. She chose the color for the lining, a light green, which beautifully matches the printed cotton I had chosen, which was a Robert Kaufman design, called ‘Native Arts’. You can check her Etsy shop here !

Here are some pictures for you to see why I am feeling so happy right now: