Felted singles

Having read about this spinning technique I though I’d have a go. It doesn’t save much time as you still have to run the yarn back through the wheel, which takes as long as simple plying. It was prompted by my practise at making a ”Z’ twist fat singles’ and so I decided to over-twist this singles yarn as I practised the night before a dyeing session. So I treated it cruelly when washed it, and also in the hot dye bath as well.

As there were several colour dye baths it was too tempting not to dip-dye the hank. Firstly it went into red-cabbage allover, and then the ends were dipped into madder and turmeric.

This is what it looked like before hot washing and dyeing.
And after re-spinning it’s open up nicely and is quite soft.

I’ll be trying this out soon to see what it looks and feels like as a knit.

Duck-bill scissors for trimming seams

I’ve just made a boiled wool dress with to stitched seams. These needed to be trimmed to reduce bulk, which have me the chance to try out these duck-bill scissors I’d bought at an exhibition. The wide blade is supposed to prevent accidental snips into the main fabric, and enables you to get close to the stitching line.

These worked well, and are nice and sharp. A successful purchase!

I’m not sure if this is the accepted easy to use these scissors, but it worked for me.