Art Yarn For The Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show 2016

Handspun "cloud" yarn 

After exhibiting for a second time at "The Knitting And Stitching Show" in London's Alexandra Palace this year, I thought I would pack up my trunks and travel with them to their northern counterpart in Harrogate, which is between the 24th and  27th of November 2016. Now, I've spent a couple of wonderful weekends in Skipton and Haworth in Yorkshire, but I have never really been to Harrogate before, and I'm really looking forward to it! 

So, I have been busy making pretty things to take with me, including some fun new art yarns. 

Me and my beautiful Mum (Karen) at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show

Super Coil Yarn 

 I've mostly been experimenting with super coil yarns. These guys are seriously fun to make! Firstly, I gather all my ingredients ( hand dyed roving in merino and corridale, hand dyed wensleydale locks, glittery bits, Llanwenog farm fleece  for texture) and carded myself some big chunky batts. Then, I spun a thick n thin singles yarn, making sure to add slightly more twist than I would normally. THEN, here comes the fun bit, I plied it using a strong cotton weaving yarn, and kept pushing the yarn up and up and up until it created these gorgeous jumbo coils.

Art Yarn

I just love they way they have turned out! It is pretty crazy yarn. I've taken to immediately winding them into skeins and then.. trying them around my neck as they look like arty necklaces to me. :-)

I also think this yarn would look gorgeous needle felted in lengths on a plain background , then cut and sewn into accessories- you could easily weave this too, making sure to weave some plain yarn in between rows to space it out a little, to really show off the texture.

The picture at the top of my post is another favourite yarn of mine I've called "cloud yarn" because the little white coils look like clouds! This is a similar techniques but with the super coil only in certain areas.

Hand dyed roving 

I've also been dyeing some Polwarth fibres, and carding my lovely balls'of'fluffness (AKA batts) in a rainbow of colours to take to the show.
This batt was made from merino, corridale, BFL locks, and chunky angelina in corals, midnight blues, purples and aqua. Yummyyyy.

Hand carded batt

Art Batt for Spinning and Felting 

Perhaps I'll see some of you in Harrogate. :-)

The London Knitting and Stitching Show 2016

I thought you might like to see some pictures from this year's Knitting and Stitching show.
I decided to take up the offer of returning to the same spot as last year, but this time I made sure I made enough batts and spindles to last me the whole week! I was so overrun last year with customers that I all but sold out of things on the last day.
The Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally is a five day show at the beginning of October in North London, and was always the highlight of my year as a visitor for many years.

Bright coloured batts on my vintage dresser

I really liked my little corner of the show- which is MASSIVE by the way, in case you have never been before. The Knitting and Stitching show is made up of four ginormous halls full of exhibitors of all genres in the craft world - sewing machines, yarn, fabric, artist exhibitions, haberdashery, books, felting supplies, needles and notions and so much more. I was surprised anyone found me at all, so thank you to everyone who came to see me and supported me.

My stall - batts, spindles, spinning wheels, art yarns, roving, weaving looms! 

I started preparing for this show three months before. I made 250 batts for the show- Thats 25 kilos of fluffiness! I also made a similar number of drop spindles, and dyed up 50 rovings in fake cashmere and my favourite- polwarth too. I loved making and designing all my handspun yarns, full of texture and hand collected fleece.

My handmade drop spindles 

Relaxing with mum at the end of day three, spinning of course! 

We offered to teach people how to spin on the stall, with a little difference from last year- this time we brought our spinning wheels too! Mum was so lovely teaching people on the (blue) wheel while I mostly showed visitors how to use a drop spindle.

There is always time for more spinning - we were kicked out most nights by the security guards for being the last ones there! 

Everyone loved my "Ice Crystal" batt - I think because the gold glittery angelina in the batt sparkled so much under the lights!

Ice Crystal Batts

I was surprised and excited to meet American superstar crochet designer Vickie Howell (http://vickiehowell.com) who popped by my stall on the Saturday with her film crew (eeep!) and got me to show her a few spindle moves. I also met the lovely team behind VAV magazine, a specialist weaving periodical made in Sweden with beautiful pictures and articles about the modern weaving community.

A shelf stuffed full of my hand carded batts

It was nice to be opposite my show pal textile artist Katie Essam again, who I met for the first time last year. Katie makes gorgeous embroidered and mixed media art pieces and it was lovely to catch up in-between the crowds.
We packed up after our five days in London and travelled home to Cambridge in no time at all. I can't wait to be back next year!
I will be taking my wares up to Harrogate later this month, so if you are nearby, come along because I'm sure you will have a fantastic day out.

Yarndale - Preparing Fibre For My Spin City Stall

Batts on my studio shelves, including my new planet inspired colours! 

Yarndale is almost upon us! If you have never been, it is a crazy show full of colourful crochet and stuffed full of all the yarn, needles, fibre and patterns you could ever dream of. Even the crafters who turn up appear to be more colourful! One of the highlights for me last year was seeing all the gorgeous crochet cardigans and coats people were wearing at the show. There's a real community atmopshere, which is a pleasure to be part of. If you don't know already, Yarndale was created by the wonderful crochet designer Attic24, check out her designs for some gorgeous project ideas!

Wensleydale lock batts! Locks-a-licious! 

I've been working away in my studio at home in Cambridge preparing for the show- carding batts, dyeing fibre and making more spindles! 

I'm creating a range of batts inspired by the planets- in the first picture you can see the hot pinks of "Venus". I've also been going lock mad and carding up locks-a-licious batts chock full of Wensleydale curls or suri alpaca. These are proper art batts for free-form spinning! 

Dyeing Wensleydale locks in my garden 

Only four more sleeps until the show! I've got my Air BnB booked in a nearby village and new business cards printed, i'm almost ready! 

See you at the show! 

Louise x

Blossom Batts, Pottery and knitting ties

This had been a very constructive week for me so far, not to mention very busy! 

I was featured on the Susan B Anderson blog recently which led to lots of orders in my Etsy shop from her readers- which was totally unexpected but very very exciting! So I have been working over in my Spin City studio creating batts and fibres for all of my lovely new customers. 

Yesterday afternoon I was creating a few blossom batts for an order, and they looked so gorgeous and sweet I posted a picture on Instagram. 

They really do look like blossoms! I've been overjoyed watching the dainty flowers unfurl along my road recently- I always plan to do a watercolour of the plum tree nearby but I never find the time. At least I get to think about the blossom trees while making this gorgeous batt! 

I have also been busy as a spring bee knitting ties for my friends wedding! 

They are a very creative couple and asked me to make 18 (!!) knitted ties for all of the groomsmen. Of course- I said HELL YES.

It gave me a chance to get back on my old 10 guage industrial knitting machine that I used during my knitwear degree. She is beautiful- made in the 40s, she is solid metal and has rows of shining needle teeth, 20 needles (or stitches in hand knitting terms) per inch. That's a lot of needles!

I wanted to make them look really professional- and seeing as I had so many to make, these machines are such a dream to use I sped my way along! 

Each tie was over 800 rows long? And I think it probably took me over a solid working week to make them all if I add up all the hours. 

I knitted it in a semi rib pattern for stability, and made a rainbow of pastels to fit in with their theme. I am so proud of them, and I can't wait to see them on the groomsmen! 

For the last update about my week, it was the final day of term of my pottery class! Noooooo! (Cries) 

I have enjoyed it so much, having two hours put aside on a Thursday to get my hands messy and concentrate on something other than daily life is blissfull, and addictive! 

I made these pots on the wheel last night, and I am very pleased with them. Conquering the wheel is something I want to master next term.

I hope your week has been busy!