Fibre Friday

Each week, we all work on various fibre-related things that we are excited to share with one another. Some share on  Instagram (use #fiberfriday) but some of us still blog about our fibre-y pursuits. If you'd like to join in, link up and share with the rest of the community what fibre-related projects you've been working on! It's a great way to stay motivated, inspired and surrounded by a community of fellow handspinners! 

Remember, you can participate at any time throughout the weekend and week - I just happen to post on Fridays.

This week was an interesting one because I have spent much of my time writing! I have been working on fibre-related things but not in the capacity of actually making. I was fortunate enough to spend some time at my wheel this week to finish up a spin that is part of an upcoming article, which felt really good to have completed. As well, I had a chance to work some more on my hand-pulled roving from Sweet Georgia Yarns SW Merino -- I chat some more about that in Episode 23, which you can find here (it went live this morning).

 On a completely random note, I spent some time last night working on a weaving for my local guild's gallery show coming up in January 2017. I thought I should probably spend some time working on my presentation since I have a vague idea of what I'd like to put in the show but nothing actually started. Here is a teaser and if you follow me on IG, you can see the whole thing there.

 Lastly, I finished the first half of my Smith and Ewe SW BFL spin on my large Capar spindle. Here is a quick photo of these first 100 grams.

Now it's your turn! What are you getting up to this week and weekend?

Below is the link up list of everyone participating – I hope you’ll join us!

1. Be sure that the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post, not your main blog or a previous Fibre Friday post.
2. Include a link back to this post so that others can find it easily and join in!
3. Any troubles, just email me and I’ll be happy to help :: rachel [at] welfordpurls [dot] com.

An InLinkz Link-up

Fibre Friday

Each week, we all work on various fibre-related things that we are excited to share with one another. Some share on  Instagram (use #fiberfriday) but some of us still blog about our fibre-y pursuits. If you'd like to join in, link up and share with the rest of the community what fibre-related projects you've been working on! It's a great way to stay motivated, inspired and surrounded by a community of fellow handspinners! 

Remember, you can participate at any time throughout the weekend and week - I just happen to post on Fridays.

I found this week, while it passed in a blur of activity, to be really productive! I've been doing a lot of writing lately on an upcoming project that I feel really excited and passionate about which has fueled my creativity 100-fold. I've also been reflecting a lot on what it is to be creative and lead a creative life (am I late to that conversation? It certainly feels that way.). And I've been thinking a lot about why we share our making on social media and with one another. All-in-all, I feel a wee bit drained! In a good way, but acknowledging this emotional drain is important I think to ensure that burnout is not encountered.

For my spinning, I've been working on both my wheels and spindles. I've been working on projects that are stimulating and interesting. And I chat more about them in the first weekly (yes, you read the right) vlog post here. I hope you will join me there! These episodes will not be more than 20 minutes a piece and will not cover finished objects. Only WIPs (or Works in Progress) and my process. That's it! There is a giveaway announcement this week for the first one so all the more reason to check it out!

First, I've been working on my Kraemer Yarns Grey Rose 70% Alpaca/30% Merino roving that will eventually be a sweater. There's no pressure on this spin but I'm enjoying completing bobbins as I can! One more and I can ply, then start again. I don't have enough to keep spinning, then ply it all at once unfortunately. I need to rectify that but I haven't wanted to spend the money!

Next, I've been working away on my 200 gram spin from Smith and Ewe in SW BFL, part of the CTA Spin the Bin 2016. This has been a great spin thus far and I'm really enjoying the spindles I've chosen for the project. 
Now your turn!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fibre Friday

Each week, we all work on various fibre-related things that we are excited to share with one another. Some share on  Instagram (use #fiberfriday) but some of us still blog about our fibre-y pursuits. If you'd like to join in, link up and share with the rest of the community what fibre-related projects you've been working on! It's a great way to stay motivated, inspired and surrounded by a community of fellow handspinners! 

Remember, you can participate at any time throughout the weekend and week - I just happen to post on Fridays.

As per usual, this week has passed in a blur. Where is this Spring going? Pretty soon I'm going to be lamenting that Spring is over and Summer has come! I feel pretty lucky that we are having such great days and weeks because for a while there, it was pretty dark. The kids were incredibly demanding, I was chronically sleep deprived and the days were long. It was a slog. I found my creating to be a place of escape but now it is a place of renewal and energy. Looking forward to a few rows over my coffee in the morning is life-giving. 

This week, I have been working on two 'new' spindling projects and prepping for a new big spin, which you'll be able to read about more over on my home blog here. I also have a project on my Lendrum for the first time since teaching in February and March but it is a wee bit secret, so I won't share that with you quite yet. That is actually my priority this weekend!

The two spindling projects are working up on a truly lovely way. I called them 'new' because one is actually an old project with renewed energy behind it. I'd like to get it out of my WIPs section of my Handspun page on Ravelry and I thought maybe spinning on my TurtleMade would renew my interest and VOILA! it worked. 

This is some hand-pulled roving I made on my drumcarder about a year ago and I spun a little sample skein. It was really fun and I thought I would finish the rest immediately but it just kept being pushed to the back of my spinning WIPs basket. This will be plied from a centre-pull ball, probably on one of my wheels. 

Next, if you follow me on Instagram or this week's blog post, you will have seen my most recent project is some pencil roving from Smith & Ewe. I'm really loving this spin. If I am able to finish this 50 grams today, I can ply it tomorrow and see the first of 2 skeins (total 200 grams of fibre). Sooo excited! I'm spinning this on my large Natural Knot Wood Designs Capar spindle. Oooh how I love this spindle.

Lastly, I'm almost finish the second fingerless mitt (to make a pair, haha) from my handspun Icelandic that I finished last weekend. These are not soft. They are going to be warm, hardy and durable. But not soft. Oooh no, not soft. 

Your turn! What are you working on? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Fibre Friday

This is the second week in our new home - thank you to those who joined us last week! Remember, you can participate at any time throughout the weekend and week - I just happen to post on Fridays.

If you’d like to join in, blog and post a photo of your fibre pursuits, link up and share with the rest of the community what you’ve been working on!

This week has been steady - I can't believe we are at Friday already. Where did this week go? Ahead is a long weekend for some of us and while I would love to say I'll be taking advantage to pursue fibre-y things, alas, this is not the case. I will be at work for a bit and cooking/doing laundry for the rest. Such is the life of a semi-stay at home Mom when she has a couple of extra hands to help with the kids for a few hours/days!

I have been working on some projects that are Top Secret at this time - I'm bummed I can't share because I'm really excited about them. Them's the brakes though. I was able to finish my Icelandic singles though and I have the second plying ball all ready to go for this weekend. This yarn will eventually be a pair of mitten or fingerless mitts for myself! 

Below is the link up list of everyone participating – I hope you’ll join us!

1. Be sure that the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post, not your main blog or a previous Fibre Friday post.
2. Include a link back to this post so that others can find it easily and join in!
3. Any troubles, just email me and I’ll be happy to help :: rachel [at] welfordpurls [dot] com.

Fibre Friday

We are moving #fiberfriday into a new space this week! I'm really excited to be released from having to have everyone's link up posts in a separate third-party platform. INSTEAD, they will all appear below for your clicking and sharing pleasure. Thank you for sticking with me as I figure this process out!

Each week, we all work on various fibre-related things that we are excited to share with one another. Some share on  Instagram (use #fiberfriday – note the American spelling to keep things simple on Instagram!) but some of us still blog about our fibrey pursuits. It’s a great way to stay motivated, inspired and surrounded by a community of fellow handspinners, knitters and crafters in general! Please keep it fibre-related, friends.

If you’d like to join in, blog and post a photo of your fibre pursuits, link up and share with the rest of the community what you’ve been working on!

This week was heavy on knitting and light on time. The kids were all-consuming this week, which is part and parcel for the course, but exhausting none-the-less. My mom came over on Monday to help out a little lot so that I could get grocery shopping and cooking done to load the freezer with some meals. Needless to say, not a lot of spinning or knitting got done. Some weeks are like that!

The little bit of time I did have, I furiously worked in my Featherweight Cardigan and I am so excited that tonight (I’m writing this on Thursday night so last night for you) over dinner, I cast off! And wove in the ends during bath time. It’s currently out on the front stoop basking in the glorious sunshine and drying while I sift through laundry to attempt to catch up on housekeeping duties (which is never going to actually happen but a girl can dream!).

I also had a chance to do a wee bit of dyeing this week and I’m really excited with how this turned out. At first, I was really disappointed but it grew on me as the week has passed. I particularly like the coral-red which is not a colour I wear at all but I think I’m going to really enjoy spinning it!

I hope you’ll link up below and join in! Feel free to grab the button below and share it on your own blog!

Use following code to place a button on your page/blog::

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.welfordpurls.com" rel="nofollow" title="welfordpurls"><img src="https://welfordpurls.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/fibrefriday-link-up.jpg" alt="welfordpurls" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Generate your button code

Below is the link up list of everyone participating – I hope you’ll join us!

1. Be sure that the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post, not your main blog or a previous Fibre Friday post.
2. Include a link back to this post so that others can find it easily and join in!
3. Any troubles, just email me and I’ll be happy to help :: rachel [at] welfordpurls [dot] com.

An InLinkz Link-up

Moving In.

As you may have noticed, this is not my 'home' blog of welfordpurls.com {Wool n' Spinning}, where I have been blogging for over 7 years. It is home for me, over on Wordpress, and I have no intention of moving out.

That said, sometimes different platforms require different software! This is the case with the weekly Link Up that is #fiberfriday. The InLinkz software doesn't love the old Wordpress software so I thought for ease of sharing with one another our fiber-y pursuits, I would move that one aspect of the blog elsewhere.

So, welcome to an off-shoot of Wool n' Spinning, which will now be my Fibre Friday posts.

Feel free to grab the button below and share it on your own blog!

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.welfordpurls.com" rel="nofollow" title="welfordpurls"><img src="https://welfordpurls.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/fibrefriday-link-up.jpg" alt="welfordpurls" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Generate your button code

I hope sharing and linking up with one another as we write about our crafty creations is now easier.

-r. xx