A Celebration Of Wool

UPDATE, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Just to let you know of my next Event at Quarr Abbey.
I'm very excited to be taking part in this new event and it will be so nice to be exhibiting at Quarr in early Spring time for a change.
If you are on the Island we hope to see you there.

Meanwhile we will be busy in our home studio making new items to sell through our online shops

Grow Colour, Dye, Spin, Weave, Handknit.

                                                              Our Garden in Summer.


The end of 2019 already, my that was a fast year! Got a lot done, but still have so much more to do. Wintertime is always a bit of a struggle for me, cold, grey days wet, windy not my idea of fun. But I understand that Nature needs to rest and nourish herself to come back strong and fit.
 I love sunny warm days, blue skies and a happy sailing breeze. I look forward to the days getting longer and lighter.

However the winter days mean;
 I can start to plan next year's garden.
 I can get spinning the fleeces into skeins of gorgeous woolliness in preparation for natural dyeing from my garden plants.
I can sit at my looms weaving in colour, texture and joy to my cloth.
I can sit in front of a roaring fire knitting next year's stock of handwarmers, cowl and socks.

So as this year comes to an end and we start a new decade, I hope you will pop in and enjoy reading my blog. I will be updating its look, so please bear with me.

2020 will be exciting, I have plenty of posts to share.

A big thank you to all our customers, thank you for making Woollen Tree grow from strength to strength.
Wishing you all a Happy Healthy New Year!

Our Annual Craft Show At Quarr Abbey

We will be attending our annual craft show at Quarr Abbey. 

We open next Thursday 5th December and run to Tuesday 17th December.

Our online shops will be open every evening from 5.00pm GMT throughout this time.

Coat Jacket - Hand Woven On My Saori Loom

Making the cloth

Here you can see the warp and weft of the cloth on the loom as I weave the colours and textures together.

Woven cloth rolled on the beam.

Newly woven cloth cut straight from the loom and laid out. Can  you see the small slits in the fabric at intervals through the right hand side of the cloth. These are where I wove the collar shapings as I created the weaving. It means that there is less cutting to do when I sew the jacket together so giving me a neater finish. 

Cutting and Washing the Cloth

I always have to take a deep breathe here. Double check, measure twice, cut once.

Then all the pieces are washed to Full the Fabric and hung out to dry on a lovely sunny day.

SEWING A GARMENT

 A little bit of sewing and the Jacket all comes together!
I hand knitted the drop sleeves, the collar and front trim.

THIS JACKET WAS HAND WOVEN AND INCLUDES HANDPAINTED AND NATURALLY DYED YARN WITH SOME HANDSPUN SLUBS IN THE CLOTH.

IT HAS HAND KNITTED SLEEVES AND FRONT TRIM.

WOVEN IN THE SAORI WAY, BEAUTIFULLY SLOW CLOTH.

Year End, Year Begin

Here we are at the end of the year.
 Thank you to all for dipping into our blog, we hope you enjoy the posts and to all our customers for your support and purchases whether at our exhibitions or online shops.

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful 2019,

Italy- Verona and Lake Garda

 Back from Italy, we spent a few days in Verona and then went up to Lake Garda. We had a lovely holiday. Verona is a beautiful place and with so many things to see.We visited all the tourist spots. Below a photo of the famous Juliette House. Our hotel was a minutes walk from the Arena- the Roman Amphitheatre, very central to all the sights so great for us as we could walk and explore.

Now you know me, I'm always on the look out for anything yarn related and a little search online before we went walking meant we could explore the quiet streets and tucked away places where the residents of Verona live and find this beautiful yarn shop!
I love the yarn bombed window with a rather lovely woolly tree and rainbow design. Inside such a warm welcome and some lovely quality yarns to choose from. I treated myself to a few balls of Italian wool.

https://www.facebook.com/jennyklaerfilatiericami.it/

After a good few days of walking and enjoying Verona with plenty of stops for coffee and gelato I might add!! We headed up to our next hotel on the banks of Lake Garda. Here we spent a wonderfully relaxing time swimming, sun bathing and exploring the little towns.

One day we took the ferry across to Limone. It was market day and we had been told it would get very busy, so we took the early ferry, brilliant as being "early birds" it was only us and another couple on the crossing! We sat at the bow, it was a breezy morning and quite choppy so really good fun with splendid views across the lake.

Limone is such a pretty harbour with lots of lemon groves. The market was vibrant. There was a sweet little museum which was full of amazing old photographs well worth a visit.

And in the museum I spied this very ancient spinning wheel displayed with some weaving shuttles. There was no information about it and the museum attendant didn't really know about it and I sadly speak very little Italian.

A view of Malcesine Castle on our ferry crossing back.

Mid Summer Splash of Colour

 Well it's Mid Summer's Day today- the longest day of the year and it is promising to be such a lovely bright, sunny day too! I have lots to do, time to get outdoors to work and enjoy the weather. Taking my inspiration from the beach and our garden where everywhere is vibrant, colourful and full of energy.
 

 I have a Shetland fleece to work on. I shall get it carded and then hand spin some, as well as grab my dye colours to make some unique yarn.

 The rambling roses on our old cherry tree stump have mixed themselves up in a pleasing jumble of pale pinks and magenta, add in the shades of fresh green and a summer blue sky- a feast for the eyes! giving me a template colourway for weaving some cloth.
   

 Deep purple with red is bold and looks great in a hand knitted accessory. Remembering green  (as in Nature) balances the combination.

 Soft greens and whites makes for a soothing colour palette, great for knitted and woven homeware.

 Natural tones with highlights of neutral shades are perfect to use when wanting to pay attention to detail and textural structuring.

Using photos is a great way to quickly note, collect and capture an idea for a project.

Organization And Tips

 In my workroom I have my yarns, wools and materials stored on shelves that go around the top of the room rather like beach hut shelving. I love to be able to see all the colours and find it much easier to select items for a project whether it be weaving or hand knitting with this system. It also frees up floor space for my looms and spinning wheel, allowing room to work.

However things do get untidy especially when I'm working on several projects! so it is good to get organized and have a good sort out. I now have all my cones in one area rather than stored by colour. I have my handspun and hand dyed yarn ready to use for my next project in wicker and hessian baskets. I always have dried lavender sprigs from my garden and homemade lavender sachets to keep my wools naturally stored and fresh.

 My commercial yarns surround the room with a net of colourful and textural oddments for Saori weaving ready to grab and mix.

 This is a view of the heddles on my Saori Weaving Loom Ready to start to warp up once more.

A couple of tips I would like to share with you;
 Tip One
 twist the little wire ties that you get with sandwich bags in place at every 10th heddle. I find it makes it so easy to count the number of heddles needed for a weaving this way, it works so much better than pieces of yarn or cotton for markers as they don't get tangled and you can hold the "wire twist" and slide the heddle along the shaft with ease.

 Tip Two
I use large headed pins when sewing my hand woven and hand knitted items. They are easy to see in the cloth and are larger than normal sewing pins.

 I write how many pins I have before I start sewing on the underneath side of the pin cushion.

That way I know exactly how many pins I have used and when sewing some of my textural cloth it makes sure I haven't accidentally sewn in a pin or two!

In Search Of Colour

                                                           Basket of Hand Spun Yarns

                                                         Hand Dyed Batt of Wool Fibres

January finds me searching for colour. With foggy cold days here on the Island I yearn for the sunshine and blue skies and a little warmth in the air. I am a sunshine girl at heart and I’m looking forward to any signs of Spring

This month we are busy doing some painting and decorating around the home, certain rooms are in need of a lift and so it seems a good time to get on with the chores. I do enjoy choosing and planning room colours, textures and re designing a space. A lovely new carpet is being fitted as I write, so once it is down I will be able to style the room. Of course it is a very good opportunity to do a de- clutter and sort through what needs to stay and what needs to go!

I’m working on some small knitting projects at present but will be warping up my loom once I have my work space organised again.

This year I shall be experimenting, discovering and developing my skills with dyeing my own yarn. I have been doing this for a number of years but I really want to delve into this discipline of wool creativity with gusto!!

Taking a  fleece , preparing it for spinning; dyeing the yarn to my own colours either before or after spinning it. Then knitting and weaving with it, is so thrilling and the sense of achievement is immeasurable.    

So I’m in search of colour, colour in my garden to grow some plants this year that will add to my natural dye pot stock, colour for my wools to lift the spirits, cheer the heart and lots of colour, texture with  design  to add  individuality to my weaving and knitting projects.

 I create my hand knitting and hand weaving, using combinations of colour and yarn types  producing unique cushions, bags, table runners, throws and small rugs.

I also make hats, scarves, warmers and socks; which are colourful, soft and practical.  This year I shall be adding my hand spun, hand dyed yarns to my online shops along with a small collection of  woven clothing.

 Casting on and casting off is going to be lots of fun this year, hope you will pop in to see how my colourful creations work out.   

My Next Event

Casting On For 2016

 I'm Casting On A new year and new adventures!

I want to show you some "tools of my trade" my wheel, my loom, my needles and wool.

SWH Spinning, Weaving and Handknitting.

I Spin, my spinning wheel is oiled and ready for some work, some raw fleece and some textural coloured batts awaits.

I Weave, my Saori loom is dressed and ready to weave, I am taking photos of the process and look forward to showing you in more detail of my current project in my blog posts over the next few weeks.

I Knit, all my knitted work is hand knitted, some of my knitting needles are vintage as they belonged to  my Grandmother.  I  love to use them, they feel more special and remain just as functional- made to last in those days. I have been keeping the needles clicking over the Christmas break so have things to talk about and show you on knitting too.  

Here is some wool I recently brought to the front of my stock shelves!

 Over the festive period I rearranged my workroom as it was needed as guest room for family to stay. This means I have to have a big tidy up! things I had forgotten about,  put in boxes or stacked in coloured piles of woolly loveliness all have to be sorted through. It is a really good exercise and gives me a fresh look at my wool stock and a new rush of excitement and inspiration takes over, plus my workroom gets a good spring clean to start the year. 

Of course Skipper and I will also be Casting Off  on new sailing adventures too!

More about all of the above to come.

 Just to let you know I will be restocking my online shops soon so do please  pop over to view (click on my links in the right hand column)  hope you enjoy.