The book is out!

Perhaps this proves how busy I have been. The day I had long been waiting for came and went, and I never told the news. On a day back in April I came home to find a package in my mail box. Volume 11 had arrived! I am so pleased with how it turned out. And besides my article, the others are equally interesting. I've really been enjoying reading it when I can grab a spare minute.

 


I hope you will find it interesting, too.

a spinning experiment

I've completed spinning trial #1, in an effort to get a feel for the difference between spinning on a modern spindle vs a medieval spindle. As a reminder, using my "moosie" (36 grams with a 22 cm shaft) I spun 155 meters at 10 wraps/cm. I stopped spinning when the total spindle weight was 81 grams and the thread tended to slip off the shaft.

For the medieval style spindle I used my #6 whorl and the Ribe style shaft. The total spindle weight is 26 grams, and the shaft length is 30 cm. The purpose of the experiment was only to test the amount of thread which could be held by the spindle.

I began by spinning a thread at a gauge of 14 wpc. When the total spindle weight reached 35 grams I needed to add a second half hitch to the shaft to keep the thread in place until the spindle reached the ground. At 45 grams the second hitch began to slip occasionally, and I had to be more careful tying it on. At 52 grams it was very difficult to keep a consistent thread diameter. The spindle spun backwards before I could draft more than once. When the total spindle weight was 53 grams, I stopped. The result measured 170 meters of thread. However, by the end my gauge had changed to 12 wpc. It had happened so gradually that I hadn't even noticed. When I spin for a particular project, I generally make a little sample to help me keep a consistent gauge and twist. I did not do that this time. But, the ordinary medieval spinner probably didn't do that either. While there is a visible difference in the size of the thread at the beginning and end, I do not believe it is enough to make an appreciable difference in the finished cloth.

In retrospect, I would have had a more consistent thread if I had stopped spinning when the spindle weight reached about 50 grams. That would have given me about the same amount of thread as the modern spindle.

I forgot to take a picture before I took the thread off the spindle, so here is what I spun in the first trial, and the beginning of the second trial.

a new knitting project

The January/February 2014 issue of Piecework Magazine is the historical knitting issue. I found all of the articles very interesting this time, but one in particular enticed me to actually knit something. One of the articles is about textile artifacts found at Magdelena de Cao Viejo, Peru. According to the article, the town was settled in 1578 and abandoned around 1712, after an earthquake. The textile artifacts found are presumed to date from that period. Four stocking remnants have been identified - two made from wool, two from cotton. I decided to make myself a pair of stockings based on the information given for the four pieces.

For my pattern, I knit the stripe pattern found in the cotton stockings, but used my handspun wool. My stockings reach my knee, and will be held up with tablet woven garters. The original wool artifact is made with ss-Z yarn, with a gauge of 14 stitches and 20 rows per inch (see p. 12 of the magazine). My yarn is spun zz-S, and it is knit at a gauge of 9 stitches and 12 rows per inch, using size 1 needles. Clearly the original was much finer, but I began with some Finn yarn that I had previously spun, so that set my gauge (and my spin direction).

Two shades of madder-dyed wool are used for the stripes. The lighter one is BFL; the darker is merino.

I soon discovered that I didn't have enough of the lighter shade of wool to complete both pieces. For the second stocking I am reversing the colors. It takes a lot of yarn to make knee-high socks!

a nalbinding project

First, I would like to thank my son for working his computer magic so that I can post again. He makes it look so easy.

So, once upon a time, in medieval Ribe, Denmark, a person lost a mitten as they were walking down Gronnegade, a street in the middle of the city. Had the day turned warm so they had taken their mittens off? I can picture their distress (or perhaps their wife or mother's distress) when they got home and discovered they had only one mitten. Did they go back to look for it, to no avail? In any case, it sank into the mud where it lay for many years, waiting to be dug up by archaeologists in 1955.

It has been safely kept in the Sydvestjyske Museer since then. Now, I have been studying the mitten and am attempting to make a similar one. I've made measurements and drawn a scale pattern; I've examined the deteriorated sections to try to determine the stitch; I've made several "test mittens" to work out parts of the overall pattern; I've spun enough thread to make a pair of mittens.

 I've used combed Jacob wool, spun on 38 gram whorl.

I've spun a total of 103 grams (3 5/8 oz.). The plied thread is 7 wpc.

How much of a commitment is it to make a pair of mittens? First, the wool would have been washed. I'm sure no one washed less than a fleece at a time, so that would have readied enough wool for at least several projects, depending on what it was going to be used for. But, I'll allow a half day for washing the wool. Once the wool dried, it had to be combed. While this wool was commercially combed, I know from past experience that it would take me about 6 hours to comb this much wool (I'm rather slow at combing). It took me 8 hours to spin this 103 grams of wool, and another 2 hours and 40 minutes to ply it. So, almost 15 hours of work would go into these mittens before even beginning to stitch. 

Spinning success!

I have been studying variations in methods of using a drop spindle. In addition to examining historical representations of spinners, such as

  I have been watching videos of modern spinners who still drop spin as part of their culture. This includes Navajo spinners, Andean spinners and African spinners. There is so much to learn!

While I do not desire to spin with a long Navajo spindle, from watching these spinners I have learned a trick to join together the thread from two or more spindles before plying or setting the wool, in order to have a longer continuous thread than could otherwise be had from one spindle. This seems very useful for warp thread. Simply take the ends from two spindles, fluff them out and allow them to twist together, The Navajo spinners will sometimes spin the wool twice - re-spinning the thread to give it enough twist for plying. This second spinning also allows them to correct any thick spots, resulting in a very even thread.

Andean spinners do not comb or card the wool. They gently pull and stretch the locks, having fluffed them out first. The wool sticks together, and they give it just a gentle twist to keep it together as roving. When they spin, they seem to use a form of double drafting.

This summer I purchased a small amount of quivet to spin. I expected it to be rather like spinning cashmere. The fibers, however, are extremely short and fine. It felt like trying to spin dryer lint.No matter how finely I spun, I could not make a stable thread. I only had success when I switched to long draw drafting - holding a palm-ful of fluff and letting the twist grab the fibers. By keeping the spindle in my hand after initially adding twist, I could add more twist as needed (frequently in this case) by turning the spindle between my fingers. After the thread reached arms-length, I spun and dropped the spindle to add strength to the thread and to give it enough twist for plying. I cannot spin well this way with combed wool, but I have been successful with spinning from locks and carded wool.

The brown yarn is quivet; the white yarn is BFL which I washed and spun from the locks. While I've had success, I am much slower at it than when I use a short draw method of drafting. But speed comes with practice.

Thoughts: This method of spinning looks very much like the frescoes and illuminations of women spinning flax. If women were spinning wool this way, too (although I have not seen it illustrated), would they have been using carded wool, as seen in this picture?

All of these types of illustrations post-date the Viking Age. Only wool combs (not cards) have been found at Viking sites. So, did Viking women use this method of spinning, or was their spinning more like the Greek and Egyptian illustrations? Or did they spin in another way altogether?

Finishing some projects

I've been trying to get a few projects off my plate before the busy autumn months. I finally finished a project to nalbind mittens for a friend. She wanted them to be very warm. Here they are:

They are made from hand spun Jacob wool, with hand spun BFL for the fringe. The stitch is Balsta which picks up 5 loops from the back of the thumb. It is not a difficult stitch, but it uses up a lot of yarn. They are definitely very warm.

I also spun some Polworth. I love the color - it's called "cider house" - and I wanted to make sure I used it all. Here are the socks I knit:

This was a real learning experience for me. First, I had to learn to make a sock from the toe up - I used a short row technique. Then I had to learn how to nicely increase my lace pattern so that I could increase the width of the sock at the calf. I've also finally gotten the hang of negative ease. I invented the pattern as I went along, and these are the first socks I've knit that fit me perfectly. I'm looking forward to colder weather so I can wear them.

My third project is gloves. These are made from hand spun Romney. I spun the wool while my Dad was in the hospital over the summer (I needed to play with a cheery color). Once again, I didn't have a pattern, but I've made many mittens, so I figured out the fingers as I went along.

They were fun to make and I'm looking forward to seeing them peeking out of the sleeves of my black coat this winter. I think the next gloves I try will be done with nalbinding.

With these last two projects I feel that I have gained a better understanding of the knitting process. I've gotten used to knitting with small needles by making the socks (and two other pairs), and it has made me confident enough with my skill to think about trying something based on an historical project.

New fibers to spin

We are back from Pennsic. I'll write all about it later this week. I was excited to be able to buy a few new fibers to spin. I've come home with hemp, musk ox and guanaco to spin. Can't wait to try them!

A & S Project for Pennsic

It has been 3 months since I began spinning thread for the embroidered pillow which is to be a gift to the King and Queen of the Midrealm from the King and Queen of the East. Today I finished. I am very happy with how it came out. Here are a couple of detail pictures:

I like the way the chain stitches and French knots add texture.

The border was adapted from a mosaic design in the Byzantine church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

Here is the finished pillow:

All of the thread is my handspun wool. It is embroidered on a linen ground.

What I learned:

• Gotland wool does not make good embroidery thread. That was all I had in purple, so I tried it. It spins a beautiful thin thread, but it does not pull nicely through the fabric. It tended to tangle and/or pull apart. Therefore, there is less purple in the piece than I originally intended. It was too frustrating to work with.

spinning flax

I've decided it is time to start tackling one of my goals for 2013 - learning to spin flax. I've started with tow, which was given to me by someone who was giving up spinning. I have about a 200 gram ball of it. The fibers are fairly short - about 8 centimeters. I am using a modern 40 gram disk spindle. I decided I should start with something very easy to spin with, rather than a medieval style spindle, so that I wouldn't have to pay attention to too many things at once. Even so, I have dropped the spindle several times when I haven't noticed it back-spinning. But I am making progress - slowly. While it is not particularly difficult, I cannot take my eye off the "roving" if I want a consistent thread diameter. It is S-spun at 9-10 wraps per centimeter. That  might be a good gauge for weaving a basket cover.

It's a very different spinning experience from spinning wool or other animal fibers. It will take getting used to.

My S and Z Spinning Study

I've been busily working on my presentation for the conference in Kalamazoo, but I thought it would be nice include my documentation from my study on the blog. So, if you are interested, you can find it under Projects. You will need to look at both the words and the samples for it to make sense. Most of the photos do not show the pattern very clearly (real life is much better), but at least you might get an idea of what I was up to.

the S and Z spinning experiment

I have spun the wool of 6 different breeds and woven 10 samples to test the effects of S and Z spinning in fabric design. You may think that is excessive, but it was so much fun, I kept wanting to try another breed. I won't bore you with all the results. The Romney wool was the most successful. Whether the wool was carded or combed, dyed or natural, the plaid pattern is easily seen.

The photos don't do it justice, but the slightly lighter stripes in this carded wool sample are the S threads.

While there is a slight variation in the natural fiber color, the threads are actually quite uniform in color. The stripes are formed by the change between S and Z threads.

I will have to add weaving a larger, usable piece to my 2013 to-do list. I already know from my samples that the larger the piece is, the more noticeable the pattern is as the fabric shifts in the light.

more sampling

For my next test I spun Jacob wool - "S" and "Z" - with my #6 cone spindle at 30 wpi. This wool has a higher luster than the Shetland wool. It also has a more uniform color. Here is a picture of my results:

It is more difficult to see the pattern in the photo than it is in person. The areas that appear to have a white haze are the "S" spun threads. There is an equal amount of white fibers in the "S" and "Z" threads, however, the sunlight is reflecting off the white fibers toward the camera in the "S" threads, making it more noticeable. Clothing made of this fabric would appear changeable as the person moved in the light. What a simple way to make a fashion statement!

More on my spinning project

As I am testing the effect of spin direction on fabric design, one of the things I am curious about is if and how the fiber choice impacts the looks and feel of the cloth. The artifact I am basing my study on is a 2/2 twill. My first test was made with the gray Shetland wool. I wove my sample in the same pattern as the artifact - 4s-4z-4s-4z-4s-32z...in both directions. Due to the natural color variations of the fibers it is difficult to see the pattern, except in bright light.

I then spun the same wool and wove the same plaid as a tabby instead of a twill. I was surprised to see that the thread difference was much easier to see.

twill

tabby

In both samples the S and Z threads lie differently in the fabric. With the tabby, the difference is more textural, and it can be felt when you run your fingers over the cloth, particularly at the narrow stripes (which are at the top of the photo). I hope you will be able to see the difference in the pictures.

My current spinning project

On page 85 of her book " Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials," Margrethe Hald described a fragment of cloth where the pattern of the material is solely formed by the spin direction of the threads. The artifact dates from the second century C.E. When you look at the photo of the cloth, it is clearly a plaid. I want to test this phenomenon for myself.

The sett of the artifact is 47/38 per 2x2 cm (59/48 per inch). While I can spin a thread fine enough to match that, I am not yet able to weave successfully with thread that fine. Therefore, I am spinning at about 30 to 40 wpi for my test pieces. I am testing 5 different fibers - Shetland, Jacob, BFL, Icelandic, and Romney, which vary in luster. Just for fun, I've chosen a variety of spindles for the project. I don't expect the spindle choice or gauge of thread to have a significant impact on the results.

So far I have spun commercially prepared Jacob and Shetland top, as well as BFL that I have washed and combed myself. I spun a small amount of Shetland on my #2 whorl (a 15 gram cone) at 35 wpi, and a larger amount on my #6 whorl (a 26 gram cone) at 28 wpi. The BFL was also spun on the #2 whorl, and the Jacob on the #6 whorl, at similar gauges to the Shetland.

Drop spinning

When I was first learning to spin on a drop spindle, I was told that once I was able to control my drafting, I would find my natural gauge - the size of yarn my hand would tend to naturally make. Instead, I found the key to making any size thread or yarn I needed.

That "natural gauge" is more a matter of the optimum gauge for the spindle in use than it is the natural gauge for the spinner. Some people only like to make one thing, and they have found a spindle and spinning technique that fits their need. I have a friend who's favorite thing is to knit gossamer weight lace shawls. She has no need to spin anything but an extremely fine thread. Her spindles are small and light, which makes the spinning easy. If she had a heavy spindle, it would be much more difficult for her to make those gossamer threads.

I prefer variety. Some days I want to spin a fine thread to try my hand at weaving or lace knitting or embroidery. Some days I want to spin a thicker yarn to nalbind a warm hat. I choose my spindle accordingly - light and compact for a fine thread; a heavier rim-weighted spindle for a bulky yarn. A few of my spindles are versatile enough to make a wide range of gauges.

I learned to spin on a modern mid-weight (just under an ounce) rim-weighted spindle. It's perfect for making a DK weight yarn, and will spin a nice sock yarn or even a heavier worsted yarn. I spun happily, making scarves and mittens with my yarn, until the day I got an antique whorl. Suddenly, everything I thought I knew about spinning went out the window.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not make a thread. That "natural gauge" was gone. In fact, I was trying too hard. What was required to spin with that whorl was a gentle touch and finer drafting. Spinning a thread of 28 wraps per inch instead of 17 wraps per inch, that spindle would hum. I could efficiently make thread all day long. And it was a thread perfectly suited to making cloth. What could be more natural?

So, don't get stuck in a rut - play with your spindles and see what they are capable of. Push your spindle to its limits. For me, that play time opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Modern drop spinners

I received my copy of the September-October 2012 Natural History Magazine yesterday (their publishing is behind schedule). Usually I read these quickly and toss them. But this issue includes an article about spinners and weavers in South America. The article is called "The Murua Code," by Lynn A. Meisch. It is a fascinating article about saving ancient textiles and tracking down modern textile craftspeople who are still creating the same motifs in the same way, 4000 years later. The article gives a clear explanation of drop spinning, as well as the Andean style of warp-faced weaving. I highly recommend finding a copy of this issue if you have any interest in the uninterrupted history of creating textiles by hand.

Hunter's Moon

This weekend was the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, put on by our neighbors to the east, the Shire of Anglespur. It is one of my favorite events - a very relaxing way to end the summer. On Saturday I taught a spinning class - Spinning with Period Drop Spindles. I really wanted to give people who spin only with modern spindles a chance to touch and try and experience the difference between modern and ancient spinning.

We talked about period sheep breeds, combing vs. carding, using a distaff, and spinning for the intended use. We spun with both the antique spindle whorls and the reproductions. The class was small but enthusiastic, and I think we had a good time.

On Sunday I made glass beads. My first beads were made on the torch. I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Then came the best part. Irene von Lassen had one of her Viking bead kilns there. She based it on the finds at Ribe. She taught me how to make beads in the kiln. It's completely different than making beads on the torch! It took a while to get the hang of it. The fire is made with charcoal, and is hotter than the torch flame. You begin by heating both the mandrel and a piece of glass in the fire. The glass sits on a little piece of clay so that it doesn't fall into the fire. But sometimes it does fall into the fire.

When the mandrel and glass are hot enough (the only way to know is practice), you touch the mandrel to the glass and it sticks. If the glass has become too hot, it sticks to the clay more than it sticks to the mandrel, and it is difficult to pick up. Once you have the glass on the mandrel, you hold it in the hottest part of the fire until the glass slumps all the way around. At that point you turn the mandrel until the bead becomes round.

It sounds simple, but it's not.

Here are the beads I made:

My first bead is the green one on the upper left. The mandrel was not centered on the glass when I picked it up, so there was much more glass on one side than the other. No matter how long I worked it, it was never going to get round. The broken blue bead was my second attempt. It, too, was misshapen. We suspect that it broke because of uneven heating in the kiln, or uneven cooling. Bead 3 is the transparent green bead on the left side of the picture. I was beginning to get the hang of it. Bead 4 turned out very round, but has bits of clay and charcoal stuck to it. The two beads on the right side of the picture are my "perfect" beads. They turned out round and I was steady enough with the long mandrel that I didn't get any unwanted bits stuck in the glass. I also found that I did better by starting with a smaller piece of glass. I am really looking forward to the next time Irene fires up her kiln!

Spinning silk

I have silk fiber (filament?) in two forms - hankies and "roving." The interesting thing about the hankies - when you peel them apart, each one is one cocoon - one very long fiber. The only reason to spin it is to get a thread that is thicker than a single silk fiber. My attempt to spin from a hankie was less than successful. I pulled the fibers apart and wrapped them around a paper tube to keep them from tangling. Then I spun the thread from the tube. My hands tend to be rough (even with lots of hand cream) and my fingers catch on the fibers. The result was a very inconsistent thread. It looks better after I plied it. I'm really going to have to keep practicing this.

I then spun from prepared silk roving. This was much easier, and I am pleased with the results. I plied the first spindle-ful and kept the second as a single. Perhaps I will attempt to weave something.

single, 2-ply, and 2-ply from a hankie

Although the silk roving is slippery, it isn't really much more difficult than spinning wool. However, this isn't a method that would have been used during the medieval age. Spinning from a hankie, once I have more practice, will result in a fine, smooth thread, suitable for tablet weaving, embroidery or loom weaving. Since the roving is made of relatively short pieces of fiber, it results in a "halo" of fiber ends because the silk has no crimp. 

So many breeds, so little time

For the past 3 years I have been spinning every animal fiber I could get my hands on. I am always on the lookout for a new breed to try. I haven't found one yet that I didn't like - even Herdwick, which is rather like spinning steel wool. Some of my favorite wools to spin are Shetland (a double coated fleece with a fairly long staple, and enough crimp to make it easy to spin - it makes a strong thread); Jacob (not as soft as Shetland, but it has a nice feel); Blue Faced Leicester (fine, easy to spin, and a nice luster); and Wensleydale (a modern sheep, it's not particularly soft, but its fleece has a very long staple and a beautiful shine; there is a crispness to fabric made from this wool). And then of course there are the luxuries - cashmere, yak and camel down - who could resist! (These are all short staples.)

Mistress Thora gave me horsetail to play with. It is not the same as horse hair, and I can't spin it. It is too "plastic-y." I tried to make whipcord with it, but it was too brittle. The best I could do so far was a simple braid.

I'm currently spinning camel hair. This is not the same as camel down. The fibers are long and course. I imagine it would make good tent fabric.

I think it is time for me to branch out and learn to spin silk and flax.

A sampler of breeds I've spun.

What difference does it make?

I finished carving my spindle shaft to match the dimensions of the shaft found in Ribe, and I have been testing it against the shaft I carved to be similar to the shafts found in Greenland. Serendipitously, the Ribe shaft weighs the same as the Greenland shaft, and is the same length. Since I am using the same whorl on each shaft, the only difference between the two spindles is the distribution of mass along the shaft.

The Greenland style shaft is on the top, the Ribe style shaft on the bottom. The total weight of each spindle is 29 grams.

I spun with each spindle, first using Shetland wool, and again using Finn wool. I set the wool and let it dry without stretching it. When I spun, I did not add additional twist to the spindle until it had stopped spinning. Here are my results:

Greenland shaft/Shetland wool: 14 wraps per cm/63 degree angle of twist

Ribe shaft/Shetland wool: 14 wpc/66 degree angle of twist

Greenland shaft/Finn wool: 13 wpc/59 degree angle of twist

Ribe shaft/Finn wool: 12 wpc/61 degree angle of twist  

I am not completely confident in my angle measurements of the Finn thread. While I can see the twist in the white wool, it is difficult to measure it accurately. The Shetland wool has variation in the color of the fibers, making it much easier to measure.

As part of my spinning study in 2011 I tested the Greenland style shaft against an equally long straight shaft. Then I found that the Greenland shaft produced an angle of twist of 62 degrees, and the straight shaft produced an angle of twist of 53 degrees, both using Shetland wool.

So, was the shape of the spindle just a matter of personal preference, or did experience show people that a different shape could have a positive impact on the final product? Clearly this is not enough spinning to make an educated guess, but it does make me wonder.