Christmas, 2020

 I love these gnomes by this person.  And I love our old pagan-based traditions at the holiday, although I think that Santa is a fairly modern invention.  These patterns allow for some creativity.  This is a Santa that I did this year; celtic Santa and the snowman are from last year (sometimes he is a Hallowe'en ghost.

Pumpkingnome is from this year. See my Ravelry page for more directions.

Merry merry, everyone!

Cut-Strand Tri-Loom Shawls

 I have been a busy continuous strand weaver this year. Now semi retired, I have more time. But I am discovering that the secret of semi retirement is using one's time well.  I've finished some things. I discovered the cut-strand technique on the "Tri-Loom and Continuous Strand Weavers" Facebook Group. You simply loop the strand of yarn over the hypotenuse nail and weave on the weaving side and tie it on each side. Each strand is the same length so you can pre-cut. I am Ms. Spontaneous so I never do. 

Here is the first one that I did last year; this technique was a revelation.  I used leftover wool and did the twisty-braid thing on the ends.  Strand were doubled and quadrupled to get a thickly woven fabric. Five foot hypotenuse on my standing loom. 

Below is another five foot hypotenuse shawl done on my standing loom in various yarns. I do love those colors that are close on the color wheel,  aka analogous colors, in this case red-orange with some pink-yellow tones. Most yarns are multicolored in that range, some handspun.  

I found a fun way to photo things on my antique hall tree.

I came up with a way  to loop the yarns at the top nail and weave one way with one color and the other way with the other; creating a checkerboard effect. 

This one is all handspun from silk and polwarth from  https://frabjousfibers.com/, done on my four foot hypotenuse table triloom. It's very soft.

Socks in the Lusekofte Spirit

Years ago, I bought a set of sock patterns by Beth Brown Reinsel. The patterning is based on traditional Scandinavian sweaters. I love the patterns and have knit a few. Here is the original Lusekofte Sock.

However, my laziness with some of the specific details has overtaken me (Beth used some very nice and interesting construction specifics). So with this pair, I just let the patterning fly over my vanilla sock pattern which is in my head.  The yarn is a washable wool that  I dyed at my very first indigo dyeing experience in a class taught by Tamara, whose website is here.  The white yarn is from one of my bunnies, who no longer live with me.  I originally tried reversing the colors, but it was just too much soft fuzz!  These are plenty fuzzy.

No, this is not a "snowflake" pattern. "Luse" refers to lice, and I believe that "kofte" is a type of jacket.

Processing Alpaca for Spinning Using Viking Combs

I am so thankful that the Tour De Fleece is happening. For those of you who don't know, the Tour de Fleece is a parallel event to the Tour de France, and challenges hand spinners to spin together with the cyclists. This years Tour de France has been postponed, but the Tour de Fleece is on schedule! If you want to learn more, check out the Ravelry group.

In preparation for it, I decided to prep some alpaca fiber for spinning. I am fortunate to have fiber from various sources at home.  Animals whose fiber was not long when they are shorn requires a different type of prep. I have some that is only 1 inch long, for some reason. This animal was not raised for  fiber use, at least not this year.  

Here is a photo of the results to keep you reading...

I have drum carded alpaca it before but did not love the results. When my friend was at my house for a distanced fiber fun day last month, she brought her combs. I've always been fascinated with those mean looking Viking combs. I had a chance to try them out at John C Campbell long ago.  So, I tried them out on the alpaca. It's a good match...at least for me. 

I have been lucky to get fiber for free. Some people keep alpacas as pets and aren't interested in the selling the fiber once the animals are shorn.

First, fiber is washed. Some fiber is dirtier than others. And, there are varying amounts of vegetable matter ("VM") in the fleece. That sounds bad but it just refers to straw! Unlike prepping sheep's wool, you don't need to worry about lanolin.

I wash in the kitchen sink (I don't have a sink in my garage or else I'd do that) with a 5 gallon bucket. I put a fair amount of fiber in the sink (1/2 lb maybe) and fill with warm water. Then I add about a tbsp. of blue Dove.  I let it sit a few minutes, maybe swish it around a couple of times. Then I drain. Add more warm water, and let sit a bit, swish, and drain. I do this until the rinse water comes out clean, perhaps 4 or 5 rinses.  It then goes into a strainer for dripping. 

You can see in the photo below a fair amount of VM in it, although the dirt is pretty much gone.

I squeeze it out; it then it is spread onto a sweater rack for drying.  Drying in sunshine is best as it is faster than indoors. 

Once it's dry, the combing starts. Combing is fairly time consuming. There is a fair amount of waste involved, i.e. the shorter fibers go either in the trash or into the pile of fiber for stuffing hand knit stuffed animals. But it give you wonderful combed "top" for spinning. Combing is also great because it removes a lot of the VM; it falls onto the floor or into my lap. There is extra vacuuming involved.   Here is a before and after photo.  These are "double pitch" combs with 2 rows of teeth. but the main thing is...safety first. When I'm not using the combs, they are put away and stored between  fat flat foam sheets.

How is it done ? Here's a good youtube video. I think everyone's technique is a little different.

And here are some different colors in beautiful puffs of combed top and the resulting yarns.

My yarn is double plied and pretty hefty, probably a heavy worsted weight.  

Museo de Trajes, Bogata: Traditional Clothing

The Museo de Trajes or Museum of Costume in Bogata, Colombia was a great visit for a fiber  enthusiast like me.  I was lucky to see the exhibits  during a visit in 2017.

The posters (in Spanish of course) gave explanations of the goal of the museum, which is part of the  University of America.  Here is the essence of the posters in italics

The museum was founded in 1975 by the anthropologist Edith Himenez de Munoz. It is a place where costume and dress come together with consideration of the past, present, and future of costume. Pre-Hispanic dress and the European costume arrived with the Spaniards, and the resulting dress represents the mixing during the colonial times of indigenous peoples, Spaniards, and African population.

Also presented is the meeting of textiles traditions and crafts related to dress making, such as looms and various techniques present in America and others in Europe.

The Spanish explored Colombia in 1500 and began settlements early in that century, beginning with Santa Marta, Cartagena, what is now Sante Fe, and Cali.

The Spaniards found a textile industry in full development in various regions of the Colombian territory. During the colonial period they promoted it, but also quickly imported their technology: the sheep, the winch(?), and the treadle loom, which allows production of fabrics of greater length than the indigenous frame looms. They also introduced shearing tools for sheep, and the fulling units where fibers were washed, carding tools, and spinning tools. They also took advantage of textile fibers (of the region) i.e. American fibers and the craftsmanship of the natives to meet their needs; they introduced among others the industry of espadrilles, "pieces of the mounts" (possible reins), sieves, canvas, and sacks. Since the end of the 16th century, in the Cundiboyacense highlands and the Narino sierra, the indigenous peoples were forced to weave woolen cloths. In Santander the artisans, natives, adapted the European tools to the cotton fabric and later to work with fique (sisal)

another poster noted that

The clothing speaks of the colonial regime, and ethnic and cultural mixing of the population. The Spanish crown appointed to its representative exclusive garments which were symbols of power. for whites, mestizos, black slaves, and natives. Many garments worn by the mestizos were simplified versions of the Spanish costume of the 16th and 17th centuries. These were made from natural materials: embroidered shirts, skirts, knee pants, and hats of vegetable fiber or felted wool and espadrilles. Other items like the ruanas, the muleteer (shoes of rope?), and the poncho, were closer to the pre-hispanic textile traditions. Wardrobes were created in the various geologic regions and adapted to environmental conditions. Traditional costumes in the museum were typical in Colombia up until 150 years ago, when development of roads plus industrialization allowed rural areas to be connected to national markets.

Here are samples of clothing from the exhibits, beginning with earlier indigenous costume. Photos were permitted, but of course were through glass.

Note the molas used in costumes below; molas are thought of as Panamanian but are also made in Colombis

It's interesting to note that the embroidered blouses,  were a derivation of the "chemise" brought by the Europeans. I am fond of these garments that remind me of the embroidered "peasant" smocks that I wore in the 70's and 80's, a modern day garment-descendent

Ukrainians in Canada: The Ukranian Cultural Heritage Village; Ukrainian weaving

I love museums. When I travel (and when I don't) museums teach me so much about the culture and heritage of a place or a person. Museums, like churches, contain bits of people's souls. (I didn't come up with that, I wish I could remember who did). 

When I travelled to Alberta to visit my friend Barb in 2017, we made a quick decision to go to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. Ukrainians have been recorded as beginning to move to Canada starting in 1891, although it may have begun earlier than that, according to Wikipedia. Ukrainians comprise an East Slavic ethic group; one name for them is "Cossacks." They by and large Eastern Orthodox Christians. More from Wikipedia:  Canada has the third largest Ukrainian population in the world following Ukraine and Russia. There were of course political "push" factors encouraging immigration, as well as "pull" factors, notable Canada's desire to populate the unsettled areas of Manitoba and Alberta, although Ukrainians also emigrated and stayed in the eastern provinces as well. 

So when visiting Barb and driving around Edmonton, we made a quick decision to go to the museum. The museum was impressive with reenactors, and the different buildings represented different time periods of Ukrainian immigration. It was a wet rainy day and these arches were very welcoming.

Of course, we arrived at lunchtime and proceeded to the restaurant for a Ukrainian-Canadian feast of a lunch. I wish I could remember what it all was but it included kasha salad and some sausage. 

Here, Barb inspects a loom housed for renovation in a barn.

The weavings were stunning, bright and colorful. I am not sure whether what I photographed were kilims per se;  here is a site with information on Ukrainian kilim weaving.  (It's a nice read, regardless).

There were some lovely embroidered garments as well; this may have been a wedding blouse

Here is the church; I love the three crossbeams on the Russian Orthodox crosses. They can be seen throughout Canada especially in the west

This is St. Barbara

In one house, this young lady showed us a dress that she had sewn "for her sister." She had a credible Ukrainian accent but came "out of character" once on the porch to give us directions to our next stop as it was pouring rain. This home was circa 1929. 

  This Singer Electric sewing machine would have arrived on the train from the East.

 The town store, circa 1929

Trains were present in the early 20th century in rural Alberta.

It was a wet and muddy day but worth it! Barb made pierogies for breakfast the next morning!

Artist William Kurelek, one of whose works I saw in Halifax a couple of years later, is Ukrainian Canadian. I liked this painting so much I photographed it