Margaret Miller

Have been working on ideas for B&W. Flirted with the idea of not doing marle but actually trying to reproduce the yarn used in the original for the Jacket   a very slubby wool/linen blend . But I only had a bit of hemp for the sample. I made a batt from white and black tops fed in side by side, I removed the batt to add a little hemp and then recarded. Trying very hard to minimise creating grey. I spun thick and thin singles then knitted swatch (approx 9-10wpi). The result was too much grey and the singles were not thick enough for the jacket project, but I loved the effect and will keep it in mind for something else. There are no pictures of the preparation, but here is the swatch and a closer view of detail. Mostly garter (which I love) with a few rows of stocking stitch. On with the marle which I will need to cable ply to get it thick enough. And just to add some colour - I finally wound the pink merino/silk into balls. Week two also saw me winding balls from recently f...

Not much spinning, but plenty of thinking. I finished drafting one of the articles I am writing for our Guild's new book. The book will be fairly a eclectic collection of spinning/weaving/felting tips, stories, ideas, patterns, instructions. I am writing the wool combs, Andean plying and drop spindle (short) articles.

Not much happening today. It was a guild day but I had too much chasing around to do getting people to test patterns for the new Guild Book that I didn't get much time for my own spinning. I did get to watch the solar dyeing demonstration which was being done for the photos, though. The Yarn Store didn't have any silk throwsters waste, so I will have to rethink my plans for an inclusion into the black singles. Although I bought 200gm black merino I've decided that it's probably not going to be soft enough for what I want (I did spin 10m!), so I will, with great trepidation, attempt to dye black some of the white I have already spun. BTW - all this B&W is for next year's Guild Exhibition with the theme "Black and White with a splash of colour:" So no exciting colours for me over the summer :( I did manage a tiny bit of spindling at Guild - I had the spindle made for me when we moved from QLD to TAS. The shaft is Huon Pine for Tasmania and the whorl is B...

Day 1: Finished plying pink superfine merino which I had previously blended with silk on wool combs. I also finished plying the last of the Merino Lamb's wool (16micron) which is for a project I am doing for our Guild's Exhibition next year. And finally began washing an Alpaca Fleece which had come straight from the farm, which is also for the Exhibition.