Category Archives: Sweet Georgia Yarns

Finished shawl from SGY Advent Fibre Calendar 2022

I have finally finished my Sweet Georgia Yarn Fibre Advent project. I spun the entire project on my support spindles. Fortunately I have plenty of spindles, so I don’t need to empty them to continue the project. Once all the fibre was spun, I was able to line up all the spindles organize them into a kind of gradient. The plan was to create a simple two-ply yarn.

There were a variety of fibres and colours in the advent gift packets. The colours were mostly solid, so after a few days of opening plain packets, I decided to save up a few, add some sparkle and sari silk and make some unique blends. It’s all about fun so why not?

Once done, I lined them all up, and put them two at a time into my make-shift lazy kate – plastic basket with rocks to add weight. See below. From there I wound a two-strand plying ball. When one spindle ran out, I chose the next one in line, and fused that fibre to last one, for a continuous thread. There were many different wool blends in this mix, so I had my fingers crossed that everyone would play well together once washed.

I continued winding and adding new yarns until all the spindles were empty and I was left with a 203 g plying ball. And then, to get the job done quickly, because there is a part of me that is quite impatient once I get this far into a project, I plied this baby using my Majacraft Rose wheel. I washed, admired, and wound the yarn into two cakes ready for action. And then they sat until I figured out what they could be.

My plan was to make some kind of simple shawl that would feature the hand spun yarns. The Grain Shawl by Tin Can Knits came to mind. I worked from the middle out on both balls of yarn. To add a bit of fancy, I added an eyelet couple of rows and finished off with (seemingly never ending) picot edging. (Not in the Grain pattern.) Washed, blocked and posing for photos, I think she’s going to do the trick. A nice cover for a cool summer evening, and a cozy shawl/scarf for colder winter walks.

Sweet Georgia Advent 2022 – Days 1 – 3

Below are some photos of the first three days of fibre from the Sweet Georgia Advent 2022. Each packet featured fibre from different breeds, (some dyed) probably a total of 10 different breeds. In addition to different colours, the variety of breeds allowed for some learning along the way. My original plan was to open each fibre packet, choose a spindle from my fleet, and spin it up that very day.

The photo below is day 1 and the spindle I chose is a TDF (Tour De Fleece) Mirkwood that I bought from a fellow guild member and support spindle enabler. It has a ball bearing tip, a gem stone at the end of the flicking tip, gem stones all around the whorl that sparkle as it spins, and it’s heavy. And, I love it.

The spindle on the right in the photo below is day two spun up on The Spindle Shop Dyavol style spindle. After a day of spinning with the Mirkwood, I was able to feel the difference that a heavy spindle makes, particularly when the fibre is on the medium/coarse side of things. The extra weight helps to get that twist into the fibres and keeps the momentum going. The Dyavol still performed well – spinning fast and long, with a long shaft for easy cop building and temporary cop storage.

I got to day three which was white Corriedale and decided it needed to add SOMETHING to it. White Corriedale is lovely, but so very, can we say it – plain. I added some silk/camel to it and made a smooth luxurious blend with it on my blending board.

For these rolags I chose my Allen Berry  Acorn and Oak spindle. This spindle is a beauty and brings me great joy when I spin with it. It too is on the heavy side, and despite the weight, it spins effortlessly and long.

And the final photo shoot of days 1 – 3. More to come.

The Big Leap: SGY February Fibre Club

The February fibre club is a superwash Targhee. The colourway is called The Big Leap. Fine, soft wool. Would be a good candidate for sock yarn, but after spending 10 days spinning 413 yards of three-ply yarn for socks last month, I wanted something different. My fellow spinner friend Rachel was playing around with singles, so I thought I’d try my hand at them again.

I split the top into eight equal sections and spun them with just enough twist to lock the fibres. I tried to make them at least a DK weight. Targhee has a lot of crimp. My hope was that the DK singles would plumb up after washing and end up a wee bit thicker. Here’s what the eight nests looked like, ready and waiting to be spun.

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And here’s the bobbin, a mere two hours later! After the marathon of spinning for the sock project, this two-hour spin was a dream!

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I wound it off the bobbin and onto a niddy-noddy. Tied it up with figure eights and let it sit overnight. Here’s what it looked like when I took it off the niddy-noddy. Active twist, but not crazy so. (Terrible colour due to poor lighting, but you can still see the twist.)

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Then it went into a hot, soapy bath. I squeezed and squished it to get the fibres fully saturated with soapy water and moving back to their original crimp. Even though it is a superwash wool, I still shocked it, by tossing it from the hot soapy water into ice cold water. I was hoping that at least a few of the fibres would full and make for a stronger singles.

And here it is, dried and happy for its photo-shoot. I hung it to dry for the day with no weights. It is a lovely, soft yarn. 363 yards of soft, goodness. Not sure what to make with it yet. I am just happy to hold and admire it.

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