New Logo, New Look

Dear readers, I'm happy to announce that Northern Delights is back from its summer hiatus! This means new blog posts about everything fiber related. 

To kick off the blog's return I'm proud to unveil Northern Delights' new logo:

Created by graphic designer Molly Abrams.
She can be contacted at abramsme@yahoo.ca

Here's a sneak peak for my next post which will center around immersion dyeing techniques, so stay tuned!

Check out the fun colours I applied to this un-dyed merino roving!

Something Old, Something New...

Hi everyone! As you may have noticed it has been a while since my last post. This was primarily due to exam season and all of my creative energy being focused on my essays. But its all done now! I have complete my undergrad! Yippee!

With my undergrad completed I now have more time to focus on my spinning, knitting and overall fiber artwork. As a graduation present I received the best present a spinner could ask for from my mother: a spinning wheel!

I am in love! Here is a picture of my lovely Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel (I need to do a proper photo shoot for it). I was able to get it used from a fellow spinner in London. It is 20+ years old but it works wonderfully. 

My lovely Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel

I have been trying all kinds of fiber combinations out on the wheel, including alpaca. Yes that's right, I have finally begun spinning my alpaca roving! It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Alpaca - Merino blend from Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm

My most recently spun yarn is a 100% merino wool in beautiful blues and purples. It is a two ply yarn and the colours are absolutely lovely. My spinning wheel has been invaluable and has significantly cut down on the time it takes to produce a skein. The size of the skeins that I can produce on a spinning wheel in contrast to a drop spindle are much larger. Altogether my spinning wheel has been one of the best gifts I have ever received.

Fresh off the wheel! I haven't event taken it off the bobbin yet!

Stay tuned for more blog posts! Is there a specific topic you want me to cover in my next post? If so let me know in the comment section below! Happy Spinning!

Alpaca Your Bags!

Hi everyone! So its been a while since my last blog post (the life of a university student gets exhausting this time of year). I have been playing with some beautiful Sweet Georgia BFL top, and made a nice 2-ply yarn (haven't had a chance to do photos yet, next post!) As I slowly get better at plying on my drop spindle (thanks to my DIY Lazy Kate!) I grow less scared of spinning my lovely alpaca roving that I purchased in February. 

Here I am at the Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm, it was a lovely sunny day!

In February I visited the Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm where I not only got to make friends with over 50 alpacas but was able to purchase the LOVELIEST alpaca roving. I have yet to spin it. Maybe its because of my busy schedule, but its more likely that I don't yet feel confident enough to spin a luxury fiber. 

The Ladies of the farm. 

I have been spinning primarily Merino and BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) fiber, which is lovely but not as luxurious as alpaca fiber. I have the bags of roving siting untouched in my yarn box. I'm hoping with more practice I can add alpaca fiber to my list of roving I feel confident spinning.

Such cuties!

Fun Facts! 

Alpaca produce fleece in more than 22 different colours

Alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic

Alpaca fiber is much warmer than your average sheep

DIY: Lazy Kate

To ply or not to ply? This is a common question for many hand spinners when creating yarn. Plying yarn, at the simplest level, is taking a minimum of 2 singles and spinning them together to create a more durable, textured, and balanced yarn. Many factors go into plying yarn, from the angles of the singles to the spinning speed.

One of the difficulties I had when plying was the tangling of the singles together. The more affluent hand spinner can purchase a tool called a Lazy Kate, which supports multiple bobbins and prevents tangling. The average price of a Lazy Kate ranges from $25.00 to $100.00. After examining the structure of various  Lazy Kates, I decided to try my hand at making my own out of supplies found around my apartment.

I only have one spindle loaded in this picture. 

Supplies:

1 cardboard box

4 circular cardboard cut outs

1 paper towel roll

Scrap cardboard

2 knitting needles (or any dowel-like objects)

Hot glue gun

Step 1: Prepare all cardboard pieces. Cut out 4 cardboard circles with a larger diameter than a paper towel roll. Make circular holes in the center of each circle.

Step 2: Cut paper towel roll in half.

Step 3: Cut out 4 cardboard rectangles with rectangular slits in the middle (they will need to be wide enough for your knitting needles - I will refer to these pieces as "cardboard windows").

Step 4: Glue a cardboard circle to each end of the two halves of the paper towel roll. This creates the bobbin.

Step 5: Glue the cardboard windows onto the side of the box. Two windows on each of the longest sides of the rectangular box. Make sure they are parallel.

Step 6: Place knitting needle through the bobbin, then insert ends of the needle through the 2 parallel cardboard windows.

VOILA! You now have a make-shift Lazy Kate for under $10.00.

Any questions? Send an e-mail to northerndelightsfiberart@gmail.com or leave a comment below! 

Fresh Off the Spindle: 50 Shades of Plum

After spending some time spinning thicker, bulky yarns I wanted to practice my technique for spinning thinner, DK/Sock weight yarns on my drop spindle. I worked with a lovely merino wool composed of varying shades of purple - thus I've decided to call it 50 Shades of Plum. I'm not sure if I will keep it as a single or if I will ply it.Opinions? 

A close up of the lovely merino hand-spun single!

Tip of the Day: When spinning thin yarns, make sure that you have thoroughly pre-drafted your wool. If you forget to draft before you spin it is easy to end up with thinker spots on the skein. I find working with smaller sections of roving when spinning thin yarns helps me to create a consistent thickness. 

WIP: Knitting with Noro

Warm weather has finally reached London, Ontario (for today at least)! I took advantage of the lovely weather to stroll down to my local knit store: Knit Stitch. After browsing through their lovely selection of yarns I decided on a skein of Noro Kureyon (worsted wight, 100% wool). I picked this skein for its bold, nicely blended colours. 

While I have many other WIPs (Works in Progress), I could not resist and began knitting the Kureyon as soon as I got home. I have decided to make an infinity scarf/ snood with the wool. I am using a Debbie Bliss pattern found in the Fall/Winter 2011 edition of her knitting magazine. It is a simple yet elegant pattern. 

Debbie Bliss's Snood pattern

I am only a few rows in at the moment but I am already in love with the colours! The texture of the 100% wool combined with the variety of bold colours makes Noro Kureyon an absolute delight to knit. 

Lovely colours! I can't wait until I reach the yellows
and oranges I see hidden inside the ball. 

The first couple rows reminded me of cotton candy!

A Tale of Two Spindles: Top-Whorl vs. Bottom-Whorl

When looking broadly at the history of spinning the spinning wheel is a rather recent invention. The first appearance of the spinning wheel dates back to 11th century Asia. Before the spinning wheel became the tool of choice, most spinners used hand spindles, also known as drop spindles. Today I will look at two popular types of drop spindles: top-whorl and bottom-whorl.

Both spindles range on the inexpensive side, between $10.00 to $20.00. This makes them an ideal choice for first time spinners. The basic difference between the two is that the top-whorl has the whorl at the top near the hook. The bottom-whorl has the whorl at the bottom of the shaft away from the hook. 

When you spin on a top-whorl your fiber will be in constant contact with the whorl and the finished fiber will collect on the shaft below the whorl.

When you spin on a bottom-whorl your fiber will not be in contact with the whorl and the finished fiber will collect on the shaft below the hook and above the whorl.

Top-Whorl Spindle

Is one spindle inherently better than the other? The short answer is no. Both spindles make great yarn, but spinners tend to prefer one over the other. My personal favourite is the bottom-whorl as I find that I can spin at a quicker pace on it compared to my top-whorl. I also find that I have greater room for error on my bottom whorl, so I have to pay close attention to what I am doing until I get into a rhythm.

Tip of the Day: I recommend trying out both spindles to see which one works best for you. Also pay attention to the weight of the spindle when making a purchase. 2 to 3 ounce spindles is a good starter point for first time spinners.

Any more questions about drop spindles? Send me an e-mail at northerndelightsfiberart@gmail.com and continue following the blog for more posts about drop spindles! 

Fresh Off The Spindle - Sea Foam Merino

Fresh off the spindle is a two ply superwash merino in the colour Sea Foam. I spun the singles for this yarn AND plied it on my favourite bottom whorl drop spindle. Merino is lovely to work with - soft on the hands and easy to spin. I am currently using this yarn in a knitting project (I will include pictures in a later blog post).

 

Today's Tip: When plying on a drop spindle the angle at which you hold the two singles will effect how the yarn plies. Play around with different angles while plying to achieve different effects!

First Post - Welcome to my Blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog! With this being the first post I will keep it short and sweet while laying out what I hope to achieve on this blog.

First of all I LOVE fiber, especially in regards to hand spinning. As I was working on my hobby I found myself compiling notes on my projects and techniques. A friend suggested that I make these notes available to the public through publishing a blog. Now here I am!

In this blog I will be discussing all things fiber related. From knitting to hand spinning,   from crocheting to fiber dying. This blog will follow my Works in Progress (WIP), offer tips and techniques, provide free patterns, and discuss different aspects of the trade.

Northern Delights is the brand name of the yarn and finished knit goods that I create. This is a newly formed brand and I hope that in a couple months I will be able to stockpile enough product to begin selling to the public.

I hope you enjoy and share this blog with other fiber enthusiasts! Welcome and happy reading!