Thursday, January 14, 2016

Dyed, Spun and Woven

I've been getting back into spinning over the last year. Trouble is I am not very fast at knitting or crochet. Then someone lent me a small rigid heddle loom. I was hooked from the first piece.
So this is a little visual storyline on how it all happens...

I start by dyeing the fibre. In this instance I have chosen a merino roving and some mulberry silk tops. They start out white but after I have chosen and applied the colourway it looks like this.
Next I card and blend the merino and silk together into gradients of colour.
I then spin the singles

Which look like this when wound on a ball winder ready to ply

I take one ball and using the thread from the centre and the thread from the outside, ply them together. This is the pink to purple gradient plied
And this is both balls plied, skeined and washed

They are then woven into a grey warp. I have used a dark grey 2ply merino for the warp. And viola! I have a lovely pure wool, hand dyed, hand spun, hand woven shawl.
I still have a bit of finishing to do but I am excited by this process.