This winter I borrowed a 32" wide rigid heddle loom from a friend.  I wanted to be able to have two weaving projects going at once and have one of them be portable, so this loom is doing exactly what I need it too.  It is warped up with an ash brown unwashed Harrisville Shetland wool and the weft is  Icelandic that I spun from roving my boyfriend purchased at the Shenandoah Fiber Festival a year and a half ago.  (Yes, I am doing some stash busting and trying to wrap half-finished projects up!)

Because the warp is unwashed, it will compress and fluff on washing, filling in the gaps of the weaving and tightening the whole textile up.  I hope to have enough finished fabric to sew for him a hood.

The other bit of project fun this weekend was to finally try to use the reproduction firestarter that I got at Pennsic (from Viking U Like/Feed the Ravens).  I had flint imported from England, my firesteel, a ball of unspun flax and a piece of dried Tinder Fungus (Fomes fomentarius) that was given to me when I purchased the firestarter. 


I tried many times, striking the flint over and over with the steel.  Sparks came easily, but it took some time before one landed in the right spot on the mushroom to ignite it (and when it took, it REALLY took).  The flax next served well to catch fire so I could see how this method served well in the past.  Unfortunately, there are no images of the actual fire because we were both so surprised when it actually took that no one thought to reach for the camera (and, to be honest, I almost dropped it I was so surprised)!

Now I just need to find some more of that fungus so that I can create more material on which to catch the spark.

I excited to finally get this project underway!  I had intended to start it in the fall, but the vendor I was hoping to buy fleece from disappeared on me.  I found another white Icelandic fleece in December and finally got it washed last week and started combing a portion of it this past weekend.

I am curious to see how different fabric looks when dyed at different stages in the textile creation process.  At Coppergate wool was found that was dyed in the fleece with madder (Walton, 1713) and some of the tabbies from the Oseberg ship burial were dyed after the cloth was woven (Ingstad).  This got me thinking about how garments that are dyed in the wool, yarn-dyed or dyed after weaving would differ in final appearance and feel. 

So now I have a fleece which is cleaned and separated into 3 equal portions (of about 7oz each) which I will process and dye.  One sample will be dyed in the fleece, spun and then woven.  The next will be spun into yarn, dyed and then woven.  The last will be spun, woven and then the resulting fabric swatch will be dyed.  All wool will be combed prior to spinning and all samples will be woven on a rigid heddle loom.  The dye will be madder and all samples will be dyed at once (with locks, yarn and fabric going into the same dyebath to insure consistency).  I hope this goes well as I look forward to seeing how the results compare.

Resources

Ingstad, Anne Stein.  "The Textiles in the Oseberg Ship". http://forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/Oseberg/textiles/TEXTILE.HTM

Walton, P. "Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate." The Archaeology of York Volume 17: The Small Finds.  1977.

Where do I start?  I am still completely wiped from this weekend and more than a bit brain-fogged as well, but it was an amazing in so many ways!

I spent Friday helping load the RV to move over to the event site for Defender's Tourney where my BF and I laid out the smoker and prepared for him to start smoking pork at midnight for the feast.  Yes, he smoked the meat for 16 hours (adding wood as needed every 1.5 hours all night long....)  That pork was DIVINE and so worth it!

I was also official taste tester for Lady Rosamund's Viking Pancakes that night and also spent time playing with her new kitten and chatting with friends.  The next day things got hectic as we started preparation for the other feast dishes.  For the first time, I was responsible for how a couple of dishes actually came out (I have done dessert before for feast, but never a main dish).  There were many compliments of my "Viking Beef Stew" so that made me happy.  Much thanks to my uber awesome household for all the prepwork and their kitchen fantasticness!  I saw little else of the event as I was cooking most of the time.  I missed archery (so sad!), but I guess I can do that another day.  I also missed the chance to really hang out with some of the folks there that I wanted to see.  I hope I can catch up with them at War!

I was also unbelievably honored this weekend on several levels.  I won the title of A&S Defender for Sylvan Glen and get to wear the lovely hood until next year.  My piece submitted was the handwoven wool sample I did a few months ago using my handspun Icelandic weft (I will upload my documentation later).  I am thrilled to be part of the Shire and touched to be given this title!

I was also completely surprised to find out that my duplicitous Matriarch, Household and the BigMan (I should know something is up when he asks me to get his regalia out, lol) had conspired to have my apprenticing ceremony happen at the event where I (muddy and covered with kitchen drippings) was taken as an apprentice by Mistress Mary Isabel of Heatherstone ("Molly"). That she would have me was an honor itself, but that she took the time to come out-of-kingdom to do this when I was surrounded by my Thunder family and my friends from the shire just took the words from me (and that is not an easy thing to do).  I also saw in-person the belt she is weaving me and I was floored over not only the craftsmanship that is going into it, but in the fact that she is taking the time to create such a thing of beauty for me.  Until it is finished, she has given me her own personal belt (in the photo) to wear.  I guess I better behave because everyone will know who to report me to if I step out of line ;-)

As for the rest of the weekend, well, I was too tired for too much else.  I did show my Norwegian friends (who came over for the end of the event) my loom, my weaving, and how to spin and card wool (because they were actually really interested in it).  So I got some more wool separated and had a chance to spin some of the Icelandic thel with my new supported spindle.  The staple on this wool is short, so it is not easy to spin fine, but this lovely tool made the process much easier.

And this photo I have to include for the sheer level of awesome that it represents!  Wadded up in this box is my new green and purple wedge tent!  How amazingly beautiful is that???

Sometimes you just have to Use What You Have.

For some projects, I set out to make something very period, buy the best materials I can get my hands on and away I go with it.  Other projects, however, do not have as much pre-planning or time to collect the appropriate resources.  I am using a piece of my weaving (using my hand-spun weft) as an A&S entry soon and needed to hem the edges.  I have no linen or wool thread in neutral colors (nor any uncolored) and most of the colored thread is actually part of other projects, so I could not justify it for this even if I didn't mind, for example, bright red thread.

Unfortunately, the idea of using regular Gutermann also made me twitch.

I came up with a solution that I like well enough now to later expand upon!  I made my own handsewing thread.

I have Vaxbo linen singles yarn from my weaving experiment in both 8/1 and 12/1.  I had actually used a bit of the 8/1 for sewing some time ago but found that the act of sewing was causing the thread to untwist, lose its strength, and eventually, pull apart. 

Sewing thread, however, is not single ply, rather it is a strong plied yarn that can hold up much wear.  My solution for this, was to make my own thread.  I took the 12/1 (the thinner of the two) and plied it more tightly (Z spun, as is the original direction of the yarn's twist) with my spinning wheel onto two bobbins.  I then plied those with the wheel in the opposite (S) direction.  I used a small plastic hank from some camping rope to wind and block it by submerging in hot water and allowing it to dry.

The result is unevenly spun (I was varying my amount of twist as I went so that I could determine how much to use in the future) but the result is still a nice, strong thread for heavy sewing.

I actually am considering ordering the 20/1 Vaxbo linen yarn and making a more fine thread for general purposes.  I also am not confident that the very fine weft in my current weaving project will ply nicely into a thread that I can use to sew the final garment.

I love have always loved the Sheep & Wool festival, but love it even more now that I am involved in spinning and weaving!

We were there for over 4 hours on Saturday.  Walked through all of the vendors, had some yummy lamb sausage and kabobs, saw the sheep dog demo and got to see some of my favorite sheep - Icelandic, Gotland, Shetland and the adorable little Soay!

There is just so much there for the fibre enthusiast, but I have to say that I am glad that knitting does not interest me as the vast amount of lovely yarn there would really cause me to have a meltdown.  As it was, I was able to focus on spinning and weaving items.  Above is the Golding drop spindle that my BF bought for me.  If you have not seen their items before, I highly recommend you click the name and check out the site.  True artisans (make sure you look at the looms and wheels as well, they are breathtaking)!

My bargain of the day was a 7.5 pound cone of lime green rug wool.  Yes, over seven pounds of obnoxious color!  The price was an excellent $21 and I love lime, so really, I could not go home with out it.

While there, we talked for quite a bit to a gentleman who has an Icelandic sheep farm.  He gave us some great info on sheep raising in general and Icelandics in particular.  From his stand we purchased a pound of rich brown roving, a black Icelandic pelt that is so amazingly soft (for in the new Viking tent), and the adorable supported spindle to the left that is shaped like an acorn!  (I love oak trees so this find was a delight). 

In addition to my new Icelandic pelt (to the far left in this photo), my BF purchased the center one this weekend at the festival.  It is a Lincoln Longwool and had lovely shading and you can just dig your fingers into it.  On the right, is the Merino pelt he purchased at the Shenandoah Valley Fibre Fest last fall.

Are you in the Mid-Atlantic area and have not been to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival?  I highly recommend it for next year, it is worth the drive if you are into any type of fibre arts!

So many SCAdian projects all in one weekend!  In addition to gathering my books to take to the Middle Easter garb class I am teaching next weekend, I got to work on a variety of projects. 

The first thing I started the prep-work to dye with Weld.  Friday night I soaked my wool and prepared the alum mordant.  The yarn and wool was added to that solution and allowed to sit over night.  (To the left you can see some roving and my Icelandic handspun soaking in the water.)

The roving is pure white but the yarn is actually a natural heathered wool, a pale tan shade.  I am choosing to work with some natural colors, rather than just white because I have never seen anyone's experiments dyeing over naturally colored wool. I added the white roving to the bath as well so I can see the pure resulting color.

Saturday morning I poured the dye from the jar into the pot, added some more water and then put the plant material into a nylon stocking to steep a bit longer while I simmered the pot.  After an hour I let the pot cool a bit and then  I added both the yarn, the roving and a small bit of undyed yarn from Renaissance Dyeing to the bath.  You can see how dark the dye became (yes those are bits of plant material that escaped and were still floating in the water).

I was not getting the rich color that I had hoped for, so I let the wool steep in the brew for about 6 hours before removing to dry.  The resulting color is very pretty (and Easter egg yellow) but very, very pale.

I finished the weekend with a lovely class by Marija of Sylvan Glen about Russian and Slavic garb.  Can I just say that I would love to have a set of temple rings???  It was a nice time with fun people, great food and some very lovely books to drool over.

After that I headed home to work a bit on some new garb for my BF, including this linen tunic with some handwoven (not by me) fabric being used as trim.

There is never enough time to do everything!  I am working on processing Icelandic fibre by hand combing it, but it is a very slow process.  That hand combed wool is for one project, but I always work on multiple things at once so I started looking for other sources of Icelandic wool to use to spin fine for some dyeing and tablet weaving.

During my search I came across Icelandic pencil roving called Plötulopi.  It was fairly inexpensive so I opted to get a spool of it to test out.

I am in love.  It is a very thin strand, would make a nice lace weight single.  With a TINY bit of drafting though, I was spinning it super fine.  I am already devising more projects for which to use this stuff!

As it is, I have over 600 yards of this natural golden/heathery color.  It should spin up to 600 as any take up from the twist is being counteracted by my slightly drafting it.  Because I am only drafting a bit, and it is so uniform, it is actually spinning quite quickly and this makes me happy.

After I spin both wheels of roving, I will ply them and then dye half of it with madder and warp up for some tablet weaving.

I mentioned before that I have to sort of multi-task with my projects.  A half hour on one, then move to the next and then the next.  It's not bad, it just makes me feel rushed at times.Right now my cycle is spin my brown/white Icelandic mix on the spinning wheel, then do some hand embellishing on my 12th Night dress, then finish off the evening spinning my silver Icelandic with the drop spindle.

I should be done with the silver at the end of this week and that will leave me free to start spinning the fine white Icelandic on the spindle (it will eventually be plied and then dyed with madder and weld and then be tablet woven for trim).

More interesting is the spinning project I am working on the wheel.

At the Shenandoah Valley Fibre Fest I purchased pure white Icelandic top and another batch of Icelandic that appeared at first to be a mix of white and a grey. 

In reality, it is white roving with a dark brown streak down the centre.  In the photo the left (which really has bad lighting) you can sort of see that there is more white on the outside but it is much darker inside (I peeled it open so that you could see it is not really a blend of colors, but rather one contained inside the other).

I love how it is spinning with some areas being predominantly dark with a white spiral and other areas being light with the darker twist.

I don't like the actual feel of this wool as well as the other batches of Icelandic I have sampled (and I assume that its because its carded rather than combed wool), but it still spins nicl I love the way it looks when spun and would definitely consider getting more at some point.

The painted Merino handspun scarf with a commercial yarn (baby alpaca!) warp is finished! 


I actually like it well enough that I am considering doing another :-)

Just after Pennsic I purchased a bit of commercially processed Icelandic top from the Woolery and then contacted Nancy at Ingleside Farm about purchasing an entire fleece.  Because I wanted Moorit (brown), she sent me the fleece of a ram named Ukraine (pictured above).  Nancy's photography is very nice and I highly recommend looking at some of the great images she posts on the Ingleside Farm Facebook page!

Why did I want Icelandic?  The answer is simple - it's Period!  Icelandic sheep were taken to Iceland by the Vikings and have remain fairly unchanged since that time (and are considered a primitive, unimproved breed of sheep).  They also come in a broad range of colors and, honestly, they just look cool!  Eventually, I hope that life works out and I can start my own flock of Icelandic sheep.

Because we have been so busy, I just got around to dealing with the giant box of fleece that has been sitting in the living room at the cabin.

The first step is to wash the wool.  I found a bit of conflicting information online about the temperature of the water, one site listed 120 degrees and another listed 160.  There was a broad range that fell in the middle as well. 

I ended up working at about 130-135 because that is what the tap plus a little water heated on the stove gave me.  It seemed to work well enough for my purposes. 

Above is the fleece soaking in mesh bags meant for washing delicates.  I filled (but did not tightly pack) the bags and gently submerged them in heated water to which I added 2 tablespoons of Dawn.  After 15 minutes, I transferred the bags to a rinse that was the same temperature as the soapy water.  I did not wring the bags, but I did gently squeeze the excess water from them. 

One thing that all instructions had in common was the admonition to not agitate the wool in any manner.  One site even went as far as saying to not look at it funny, because it will felt if you do so.  I took extreme care and it all seems to be working so far. I think I have a good working method at this point.  (No, I am not ready to try the washing machine yet, as I am worried that i would accidentally let it start to agitate and I would have a large mass of ruined wool.)

The dissolved lanolin left the wash bath looking a very dismal brown, but after 2 or 3 rinses (15 minutes each), the water was clear and I deemed the wool clean enough to be set out to dry.  (I will note here, that the Icelandic was not very greasy at all, especially not compared to the bag of Shetland I am going to prepare next.  I am aware that I might have to adjust my water temperature, amount of detergent or amount of washes when I process that fleece.)

I used my Pennsic laundry rack for drying the locks.  Initially, my thought was to build a series of frames with screen tacked to them that I could lay the locks on to dry.  However, I have not had time to build the screens, so looked for another alternative.  My first try is pictured below on the left.  I used scrap fabric draped over the frame and secured underneath with D-clips.  The top layer was cotton broadcloth, which did not allow the water to drain away.  Below that was a cotton gauze, which definitely let the water escape, but stretched alot and caused some of the fleece to slump onto itself.

My second try involved cutting up a mosquito net canopy and stretching that over the frame and securing it with pins.  In addition to the mesh, I used a salad spinner to remove some of the excess water from the fleece before laying it out to dry.  This worked amazingly well.

To the left are pieces of the fleece after washing.  The wool feels nice and I was really amazed at the variety of colors I found in one fleece.  There is a range of browns in addition to some silvery-white and even black.

Initially, I was thinking of spinning this fairly thick to eventually weave a mat or rug, but the colors are so nice, and has a nice lustre, so now I am not sure.

Once I had a batch of clean, dry fleece, I was able to start combing it.  I chose combing over carding for two reasons.  The first is because it is more period for a Viking persona (carding is a process that came along later in history).  The other reason is that I read that carding is simply not the best way to handle this type of wool (given the length of the tog and that if you are not careful all of the nice thel could be pulled off as waste).

I had several sets of instructions, all slightly different, printed off regarding how to comb wool.  I tried all of these methods and think that for the most part I like those from the Woolery the best. ( http://www.woolery.com/store/pc/How-to-Use-Viking-Wool-Combs-d15.htm )

To the left you can see one of the combs loaded with locks that have been teased open by hand (I just flicked at them a bit with a hair pick).

After the locks are completely combed open and all of the usable wool is on one comb, I pulled the sliver through the diz I had recently purchased from the Spanish Peacock at the Shenandoah fiber festival.  You can really see the difference in the uncombed locks above and the lofty fluff on the comb with the diz.

The sliver is a length of organized fibres that are ready to be spun.  Of course, I have not yet decided what I will do with this wool, but I had to see what they looked like spun so I grabbed a spindle and twisted a small length of yarn. I am pleasantly surprised with nice sheen it has when spun (the photo does not do it justice at all).

So now I just need to wash the remaining batch, comb it all and then figure out what the heck I am going to make...