Friday, May 27, 2016

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? 

Friday, May 20, 2016

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.

Friday, May 13, 2016

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!).
IMG_4820
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!
IMG_4809
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::
welfordpurls
<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>

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.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

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!

welfordpurls
<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>

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

-r. xx