Author: vikkihaffenden

Ready to spin

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, fibre, fibre preparation, hand spinning, hand spun, making, spinning, Textiles, WoolLeave a comment

An hour spent blending on the drum carder has got me set for some serious spinning.

The yellow and natural are broken Merino tops that I picked up at the John arbon Open Day last year.  I’ve blended these in equal parts with a very strong ultra marine blue which I won in my local Guild raffle.

I tested this first on hand carders and it produced a very nice yarn so now I’ve done it in bulk and taken rolags of a batt from the drumcard.

The singles so far.

I’m aiming for a 2 ply hand knit weight yarn, so spun the singles trying to let in a bit more fibre than I usually do. I read once that as you become more proficient at spinning you tend to spin finer, and that does seem to have been the case. Not that I’m claiming to be brilliant at it, just more practiced than I was.

This was spun the 1:8 whorl on my Louet S95 ‘Victoria’, which is the little folding portable wheel I take out to demonstrations. I aim to ply at the same ratio although I know it will probably work out a bit less. I am looking forward to spinning and plying this.

Testing the set of home made pectin

On By vikkihaffendenIn cooking, cooking and baking, foodLeave a comment

I think I have another post about this, but here goes with my latest version.

Windfalls, some were smaller and more bruised than these

We have a prolific harvest this year, so jam and other preserving is under way. Because there are several punnets of raspberries waiting to cook, I need more pectin. So I made another batch from the windfalls from the apple trees. I cut all the bruising and bugs out, and cut the pieces into 2cm chunks. Then squeezed 2 lemons and put the juice and the squashed peel into a saucepan with the apples with water to just about half way up.

Cook them until they are soft and squash them into a mush. Then strain through a muslin overnight.

Pectin after straining, such a lovely colour..

I am tempted to squeeze more juice out, but that will make the pectin cloudy, it’s up to you. 

Now check for the set of the pectin. You can put small, equal amounts of sugar and pectin into a saucepan, stir, boil and rest.  But I out the two ingredients into a ramekin  and cook in the microwave for 40 seconds on full power. Take it out and stir. Repeat.

A nice form set, I couldn’t resist licking the spoon – and the blob!

Whichever cooking method to have used, drop a blob onto a chilled saucer and if it sets into a soft lump, the pectin is ready to bottle. Otherwise, return it to the saucepan and boil to reduce then retest.

Bottle the pectin in a sterilised bottle, (use the microwave for the glass bottle, but boil the metal lid).

Once cooked, store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. Can also be frozen in a plastic container.

I use about a third to half a cup to 500g fruit when making soft fruit jam, but always test for the set before bottling jam.

Happy jam making.. 🙂

Spinning at the WSRA Steam Rally

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, fibre, fibre preparation, hand spinning, hand spunLeave a comment

Today I’m with the Somerset Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers,  demonstrating spinning at the WSRA Steam Rally in Norton Fitzwarren. I have brought my dinky Louet S95 Victoria with me and a trolley to take it all back across the showground.

 Because plain colour fleece doesn’t always look so interesting to the public I am blending yellows, now and cream tops on hand carders make a heathery yarn. 

https://www.somersetguildwsd.org.uk/

https://steamrally.org.uk/

Blending coloured tops on hand carders

Final sample for my latest book about machine knitting

On By vikkihaffendenIn clothing, craft, Creative machine knitting, creativity, Flechage, Knitted textiles, knitting books, knitting machine, knitting patterns, knitwear, Machine knitting, Machine knitting; knitmaster;silver reed; knitting, making, Short-row shaping, Short-rows, TextilesLeave a comment

I think this might be the final sample for my latest book. The manuscript went into the publishers a week or so ago and I’m just working in a few outstanding samples and photos.

Of course machine knitters, well knitters in general, will know that ‘sorting out a sample’ is a shorthand for:

knitting several design swatches

knitting a tension swatch (or three)

working out the garment pattern

knitting it

finding you’ve made a mistake

knitting it again

steaming it

sewing it together

washing it

blocking it

etcetera, etcetera….

So I am just at the first steaming stage and getting ready to assemble the garment. And of course I’ve had to re-knit one piece because the dratted yarn got caught by the brushes irrevocably and it was easier to restart than try and sort that out. More haste, less speed is so very true in machine knitting. Nice and steady is always the best way.

I’m hoping this garment will be nice enough to go on the cover, but we will see.

Meanwhile let me tell you a little bit about the book. The title is still to be finalised, but it is all about short rows and partial knitting on a machine.  There is a lot in there for beginners, for example the first chapter is all about the principles of short rows and how you knit them and there is a whole basic techniques appendix at the back for additional support. Chapters 2 to 5 offer loads of information, samples, examples and exercises for more experienced knitters to really come to grips for short rows, and to understand how and when to use them for different results.

Chapter 6 has patterns that use short rows as they’ve been described in the earlier chapters, but applied to an item. So from these patterns you actually get to use short rows purposefully to create shape and form combined with colour and surface pattern.

So once it’s published I will obviously be shouting about it,  but keep an eye out and do pop back here for updates.

Preserving time is almost here

On By vikkihaffendenIn cooking, cooking and baking, foodLeave a comment

The warm spring and early summer has meant that everything’s cropping madly in the garden a bit early.

So to get a match on jam making I’m making a batch of pectin from the wind for apples. If you’ve made jam before you will know that pectin helps soft fruit jam set. I’ve made it before and then forgot about it as we didn’t have any windfalls  from our two apples trees worth speaking of, so I bought commercial pectin. However, after we moved here with lots of fruit trees and seeing all the wind falls and the piles of blackcurrants and mulberries saying, “make me into jam”,  reminded me that I can make my own.  Hence there is a large pot smelling very ‘appley’ bubbling on the stove right now.

Simmering windfall apples to make pectin for settng soft fruit jam

If you’ve never made your own pectin it’s very, very simple. You just chop up the little windfall apples into  chunks about two, two and a half centimeters size.  Core, peel, all goes in, then put them in a big saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for about two hours, until mushy.  Then strain the whole lot through a muslin bag overnight or for about 6 hours. Give the muslin bag a good squeeze to get all the liquid out.

The liquid that you’ve strained out is the pectin and the apple pulp in the bag can be put in the compost bin. Return the pectin to the pan and reduce it until a bit thicker. There is a test with alcohol to check if it is strong enough, but I boil it with a little sugar and test the set as if it were jam and that has worked fine for me. I store the pectin in sterilised jam jars in the fridge and use within two or three weeks, but you can also freeze it, in which case it lasts about four to five months.

Just got to make all that jam now.

Enthusiasm is trumped by poor organisation

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, making, weaving, Woven textilesLeave a comment

When we moved house I had only the first few centimetres worked of a rather intricate (for my level of skill) pattern on my big Inkle loom. So I carefully tied it all down, added tape and made it secure on the loom. Wrapped it in bubble wrap etc etc. and it travelled fine.

The first 4cm of pattern before I had to pack the loom.

Sadly, whilst unwrapping it, I somehow managed to cut the warp! Idiot….

So the loom and dangling warp has languished in the conservatory for the best part of a year, unloved and testament to my incompetence. Today I decided, was the day to grapple with this and repair the warp. I refused to be beaten by it and started to analyse what needed to be tied to what. Luckily I had the written threading pattern to follow.

And I’ve done it! Only two mis ties hat to be undone and retied. I think that it will be OK. I’ve put in several pieces of card to re-tension and organise the warp and it looks good to go.

So I go to wind the shuttle, and realise I have no idea where the weft thread is! It’s somewhere in the loft in a box of unlabelled yarns, and believe me there must be about 20 of these… So do I want to go and search for it? Probably not today. That’s a job for later…

Somerset Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Skill Share day

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, fibre, fibre preparation, Textiles, Wool, WorkshopLeave a comment

Yesterday, Easter Saturday was the Guild Skill Share. There were many generous members who shared their knowledge and skills in weaving, knitting and spinning related sessions.

Kathy and I offered a Wool Fibre Preparation day so that members could have an induction on the Guild equipment or bring their own carders and combs etc. along to learn how to use them or just pick up some tips.

The morning was all about using swing or box pickers and hand and drum carders plus how to use these for blending. After lunch we tackled wool combing using a  pair of English Combs and smaller Valkyrie ones plus blending in a heckle.

We enjoyed running the session and everyone seemed happy. After my initial H&S talk it was me that pricked my finger on the combs!

Inkle loom warped up and ready to go

On By vikkihaffendenIn craft, creativity, Textiles, weaving, Woven textiles1 Comment

After almost a year I have got round to putting the warp on my Inkle loom to make the second curtain tie I started last April, (and ended up not finishing until July). The yarn is Drops 8/4 cotton.

I hope I’ve got the warp threaded according to the pattern, but my notes were a little sketchy but I hope it will approximate it. Fortunately the curtains are at different sides of the room so there won’t be much opportunity to compare.

Of course not only had I forgotten the pattern, I’d forgotten how to put the warp on. So to begin with I put everything over the top bar and had to re-thread the first four or five threads.  Luckily I had saved my heddles so I know I’ve got the right number of threads because I’ve got the right number of heddles.

The first band I made is in the photo. After a wash the cotton becomes soft but still holds it’s shape.

Or really sorted up the process of warping to leave a long tail attached to the first thread and to tie every new thread onto that tail as I worked across the warp. So you don’t have to cut your threads  until get to the end which I really like.

Getting going

Pink tradescantia flowering

On By vikkihaffendenIn gardeningLeave a comment

I had no idea these plants flowered!

This plant is sitting in the conservatory waiting for the spring. It was only when I watered all the plants in there that I noticed these sweet little flowers.

I bought the plant as a tiny cutting and repotted for the conservatory and it has flourished in there since then. Clearly the best place for it.