Machine Knitting and everything else...
The Wensleydale fleeces I sent to the mill to be spun into yarn are now back. The yarns are so beautifully spun and have a nice sheen to them. The colors are natural white and black/silver. The natural white yarn is available in fingering 2 ply and aran 3 ply. The black/silver yarn is aran 3 ply. I have the yarns available for purchase in my Etsy shop.
I have stocked my online farm shop with some farm fresh, hand dyed locks (from coated fleeces). There are hand dyed Cormo, Wensleydale, and Coopworth lamb locks in the shop along with some washed locks, top, and roving.
I finally finished up the warp that was on the Saori loom. I had decided I was going to use my AVL Warping Wheel to wind the next one. The Warping Wheel is primarily used for sectional warping, but there is an optional cross maker attachment which is used to wind warps for a plain beam.
The Warping Wheel is great for winding long warps. It tends to work best for 8/2 yarns and thinner. I usually use a mix of thick and thin yarns for my Soari warps, but this time I used 8/2 bamboo. You cannot fit too many thick yarns under the clip on the Warping Wheel. This was the first time I have used the cross maker. It worked GREAT!
The photo below shows the warp going under the clip. There are 80 threads of 8/2 under the clip.
I made a makeshift paddle so I could wind on 4 threads at once.
Winding on 4 threads at once results in a 2 by 2 cross. I prefer a 1 by 1 cross, but the 2 by 2 worked fine.
The Warping Wheel raddle has 4 threads in each raddle space. Since I was not warping sectionally, this was not an issue at all.
I wound 2 bouts on the Warping Wheel. Each bout was 80 threads. Now on to the weaving. I will keep you posted!
