April's Fibre Club Letter

Getting later in the month, but finally April's Fibre club letter has arrived by e-mail.  She explains how busy she has been and that the fibre will be delayed due to issues at the processing company coupled with a 4 day Bank Holiday weekend and so the fibre won't even be sent out until 2nd May.  A little irritating but no big deal, its not life saving equipment, its spinning fibre, I can wait.

The letter reads:

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1949 Act of Parliament that established the UK national parks. In September 2016 we celebrated the direct action that had led to this moment. The Kinder Scout Mass Trespass highlighted the inequality of access to the UK countryside. You can read that letter in the archive of the club on the website. 

The first UK National Park was the Peak District, located in the northern centre of England this park covers 555 square miles 1440 square km, and is within an hours drive of 20 million people. There are now 15 Parks in all areas of the UK, from the north of the Cairngorms, to the New Forest in the South, Pembrokeshire in the West to the Broads in the East. They cover the huge diversity of ecosystems found in the UK. These parks are not areas of wilderness. All have felt the impact of man in some way, whether it be the early clearances of Neolithic farmers, oak trees felled for ships in the Napoleonic wars, or modern day mining. I’ve spent all of my life living on the doorstep, or inside a National Park, and many of my holidays have involved going and exploring others. 

The formation of these parks was a key part of the post World War II recovery programme created by the post-war Labour government. It meshed well with the creation of the National Health Service, the welfare state, improved public housing, and improved workers rights. While the land remained in private ownership, it was no longer off limit to the general population. 

As a spinner these parks are home to many of the 90 breeds of sheep found across the UK. Herdwick sheep play a key role in the maintaining for the landscape of the Lake District, and the valleys of the Yorkshire Dales are home to the Wensleydale and Teeswater. In honour of the first National Park, the Peak District I’ve chosen to use a breed this month that originates in the northern part of that park. The Whitefaced Woodland is considered vulnerable by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with only 500-900 sheep left in flocks.

Whitefaced Woodland is one of the breeds I have been promising myself to try as I have already tried, and fell in love with, both Wensleydale and Teeswater.

From the spoilers chat she has revealed that it is a texture fibre with noil that will produce a tweed yarn and that it might be best spun over the fold.  Interesting.

Spinning up Pink and Munstead Wood

As soon as last months club fibre landed in my porch I knew exactly what to do with it.  Spin it and combine it with Decembers Pink to tone down that bright pink.

I spun them both separately from the end, worsted style, and then plied them together to make two large skeins of barber-poled yarn and, because there was a small amount of Pink left over, I made a small skein of that plied back on itself.

Munstead Wood is 62.5% Merino, 25% Linen, 12.5% Bamboo and Pink is 75% Merino Wool, 25% Peduncle Silk.  I've worked out the final percentages of the main two skeins, which are a little less than a straight 50/50 calculation due to the amount of Pink that wasn't used in the main two skeins but its approximately 68.25% Merino, 13.5% Linen, 11.5% Peduncle Silk, 6.75% Bamboo.

All of it is spun sport weight with the two main skeins being 95g/332m and 85g/280 and then the small skein of pink is 75% Merino, 25% Peduncle Silk and weighs 15g/51m.

The bees are back!

Do you remember my excitement last May when I discovered that we have Mason Bees making use of our insect house?  Well almost 12 months on and the eggs they laid last year are starting to hatch and we once again have small bees frantically flying around the garden.  They are not wasting any time in getting to work on creating the next generation either.

They are really small, although my camera zoom will make them look quite big.

Another new design - Design A516 in green tweedy yarn

Another new design and another one that is fairly easy to adjust in size.  I used up some tweedy olive green wool that I bought.  I don't know the brand but it is 100% wool.  Not the softest yarn but its not too bad and despite increasing the needle size I have still managed to produce a fairly stiff fabric, which should soften with time and wear and is incredibly warm.

I took the product photos in two different ways as this shawl is versatile but I think the wedding setting is really nice.

My own blend - Merino and Sari Silk

I've been playing with my blending hackle and some bits of fibre that I bought in December 2018.  I picked out a large bump of purple merino and sari silk and then added bits of white wool to it to lighten it slightly as I feel that its a little too dark to show off that fabulous Sari Silk properly.

The ingredients.

Its been through my blending hackle

I'm ready for my bath now. (This multi photo looks different to the others as it was made on my phone).

 This finished yarn is a Merino Wool/Wool/Sari Silk blend, I don't know the percentages because I don't know the percentage in the main purple bump of fibre.  I've spun it to worsted weight and there is 85g/172m.  I think its fabulous!

Yep, its another Design A2 - Salmon Mohair

I decided to use up the leftovers from a Custom shawl next, I bought a little extra whilst I could just in case of any miscalculations or emergencies such as bad or damaged yarn, seeing as this is vintage yarn and almost impossible to get hold of.  It was a miracle I was able to find any.

This is Charisma Fashion Mohair from Colours by Adrian of Edinburgh in shade Salmon and its 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.

Its a lovely, pretty yarn, but its Mohair and does shed but not as bad as some that I've used in the past.

Once again, the product photos were taken a number of months after I made the shawl as I had a lot going on and I'd put so much weight on that I couldn't fit into the wedding dress so I had to lose weight before I could do the photo shoot.

Photography Backdrops

When you sell goods online the advice is always to photograph your item against a plain uncluttered, non-busy background.  Fair enough, it makes the item easy to see and draws your eye straight to it and doesn't leave you wondering which item you should be looking at.  I've done this method for many years.  I made my own backdrop using some blackout curtain material and some plain white voile and its done me proud up until now but that advice is probably better suited to small things like jewellery but it is really boring for things like shawls.

I'm seeing a lot of successful sellers who use beautiful settings to take their photos of clothing items, some are absolutely stunning, like fancy sweeping staircases, carefully manicured formal gardens or stately looking room settings, the kind of thing you find in stately homes, National Trust properties and old hotels.  I've even seen one seller who is lucky enough to live right by the coast and takes her photos up on the top of a cliff with the person modelling looking forlornly out to sea with the wind blowing in her hair and the shawls and they look amazing, full of life and movement.  I live on a housing estate, no such beautiful settings for me without costing me an arm and a leg to hire the place.

Printed backdrops, that's the route for me, carefully selected printed backdrops and I could get quite a few different ones, subject to finances.  I am limited on space though, so I have to bear that in mind, that I need to be able to use the backdrop without furniture etc getting in the way between the backdrop and the camera.

After much thought and search online I have ordered from a company called Katebackdrops, they have a US site and a UK site and are reasonably priced.  I've ordered two backdrops from them, I just hope I've ordered the right sizes, quite a bit of guess work involved as to which size is best to go for as they come in quite a good range.  One with an urban feel to it, something that I could use for modelling the scarf type shawls and shawlettes against and then a whimsical floral framed balcony setting that will be perfect for the wedding type shawls.  Fingers crossed.