28 November 2013

To Infinity and Beyond...

Sawston Cowl & Infinity Scarf  by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
You have to admire Mathematicians. They figure out how to do remarkable things like calculate the distance from here to some distant planet, and how to make a three-dimensional object which only has a single side!
Moebius Strip diagram for Sawston Cowl & Infinity Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
We have all done this experiment at school, haven't we — you take a strip of paper, give it a half-twist and fasten it together. Then you start tracing a line with your pencil and before you know it you are back at the beginning and, what's more, you're still on the same side!

Wikipedia informs me that this was discovered by two German Mathematicians, one called August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, and he gave his name to what we now know as the Mœbius strip.

In the 1930's some Mœbius designs were seen in the work of the fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet. Then in the 1980's, Elizabeth Zimmermann realised that you could work this idea into knitting and that the twist made the item sit beautifully around your neck. The Mœbius Scarf was born.

These have become high fashion items over the last few years and wonderfully oversized versions can be seen in all the leading magazines. Referred to by their other name "Infinity Scarves", they have been featured on catwalks, runway shows and television programmes.
Sawston Cowl & Infinity Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The pattern I am featuring today is called the Sawston Cowl and Infinity Scarf and there are two different versions. The long scarf in the photo at the top of this page is warm and cozy and can be worn open with a nice "pocket" for your hands like a muffler. Alternatively,  it can be doubled up to give a wonderful sense of warmth around your neck on a cold day.

The shorter cowl version gives a wonderfully cozy light-weight covering for your neck and is easy to slip into a pocket or pop over your head as you head home.

Both are especially comfortable to wear as they are made from one of the softest wool fibres around, the Bluefaced Leicester, or BFL for short.
BFL Sheep, photo for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The BFL sheep breed was developed in the North of England over the 18th and 19th centuries and became acknowledged as a separate breed in the early 20th century. Now it is one of the most highly prized breeds in England and is also well represented in a number of other countries.

The fibre is soft and fine, measuring about 22-25 microns (close to the range of merino, which is usually about 18-24 microns). The wool is lustrous and items made from this yarn drape beautifully. The fibres have very smooth scales on the surface so the wool does not felt easily and is comfortable to wear. It also takes dye very well so good strong colours can be obtained.

One lovely BFL yarn that I like to work with is West Yorkshire Spinner's "WYS Bluefaced Leicester DK”. This is a wonderful yarn and I have used it many times, especially to make items for people who usually find wool itchy to wear.
Sawston Cowl & Infinity Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
And now for Wovember, here are some facts about the Bluefaced Leicester breed:
  • The Bluefaced Leicester is one of three Leicester breeds, which also includes Border Leicesters and Leicester Longwool sheep.
  • The BFL sheep is so named because the skin on the face has a blue tinge. The wool is white!
  • They are large sheep, with adult ewes weighing about 80Kg (175 lbs) and rams about 115Kg (250 lbs). However, their average fleece weighs only 2-3 Kg (4-6 lbs).

If you haven’t tried Bluefaced Leicester wool yet, try knitting with some this month! You're in for a treat!

For more details of the Sawston Cowl and Infinity Scarf knitting pattern, please click here. The pattern is available for immediate download from the site.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini exploration of some of the many sheep breeds available for knitters to use. I’ll be back next time with a topic that vexes many people – when do you join in a new ball of yarn?

Until then – Happy BFL knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Women’s Scarves & Wraps,
scarf, scarves, wrap, knitted scarf, reversible scarf, reversible stitch, knitting stitch, Blue Faced Leicester sheep, BFL, wool,

10 November 2013

Two strands held together...

Maine Line Yarn for Elizabeth Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
I am continuing my month-long look at sheep and wool as part of the on-going Wovember celebrations that are happening right now, and today I am going to look at Merino sheep.

They say that no learning is ever wasted, and that really proved to be the case for me with machine knitting. I had two knitting machines some years ago, one for standard-gauge and one for chunky. The chunky one would work up every yarn that I was using for hand knitting – even a Lopi sweater that had stalled in my hand-knitting basket was completed on this machine.

However, it was the standard-gauge knitting machine that was really an eye opener, with its punch-card patterning, the ease of shaping a garment from a hand-drawn outline and the wonderful range of additional yarn options using coned yarn.

I had never really appreciated coned yarns before, thinking that they were purely for machine use or weaving. However, when you use them doubled or even trebled then they can easily be used for hand knitting too.
Elizabeth Scarf by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
For example, one of the versions of the Elizabeth Scarf pattern is worked using a DK merino wool yarn called Swish from Knit Picks. However, I had recently purchased some wonderful coned yarn at a machine knitting yarn store in Massachusetts and decided to work a version of the scarf using two strands of this yarn held together. 

This was worked from a cone of Jaggerspun "Maine Line 2/8" yarn which is a wonderfully soft 100% merino wool yarn. I was actually spoilt for choice for colours in this range as you can see from the shade card at the top of this post. In the end I settled on this one, Emerald, which is wonderful deep forest green shade. 

I pre-washed the yarn in my usual way (and please click here for more info on that), and then wound the yarn into two balls. Holding the two yarn ends together gave a super-toasty result. The separate strands trap air between them, making a light-weight but cozy combination. And that is not the only benefit of using coned yarns: they are often spun a little tighter too, which reduces pilling and makes the final fabric stronger.

Jaggerspun also make a few other varieties of yarn, including a "Superfine Merino" that would be fabulous for this scarf, and they have a list of distributors on their website. In the UK, Uppingham Yarn have whole rooms of coned yarns, including a wonderfully soft lambswool yarn spun by Z Hinchliffe in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire.
Merino stamp photo for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Lambswool is the short and springy fibre that comes from the first shearing season, and the material for the coned yarn from Z Hinchliffe is sourced from Geelong in Australia. Merino sheep have been bred here for generations and some of the finest and softest yarns have come from this part of the world. They are so prized that they have even made their way onto some Australian stamps!

And here are some sheepy facts relating to the Merino sheep:
  • Dwayne Black from Australia went into the record books in 2007 by shearing a merino lamb in 53.88 seconds!
  • Merino wool generally measures less than 24 microns in diameter, but Ultrafine merino can be as fine as just 10 microns.
  • Spanish breeders developed the Merino breed in the 13th and 14th centuries, and even up to the 18th century exporting any animals from this breed was punishable by death.

​Try using two strands of merino yarn held together the next time you fancy knitting something special, and enjoy the extra yarn options that that opens up!

If you would like more details of the Elizabeth Scarf pattern, then please click here. Next time, I will be looking at another sheep breed, and this time it will be the fabulously soft Blue-Faced Leicester.

Until then – Happy Knitting!

Moira
Reversible Knitting Stitches by Moira Ravenscroft & Anna Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs

Previous Blogpost: It's Wovember!
Next Up: To infinity and beyond

​​​​Our book: Reversible Knitting Stitches
My Website: www.wyndlestrawdesigns.com
Keywords: Doubled Yarns,
merino wool, wool, yarn, coned yarn, using two ends of yarn held together, scarf, scarves,zR-231114

01 November 2013

It's Wovember!

Sheep in the Brecon Beacons, Photo by Tim Ravenscroft for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
No – that's not a spelling mistake! November 1st sees the start of a month‐long Celebration of Wool. This began in 2011 as a campaign to encourage everyone to wear, use and appreciate this most basic, fundamental and remarkable fibre.

And this year they are co-ordinating with the well-known Campaign for Wool for a whole series of events with ideas on how you can make more of wool. There are links to current activities and photographs from shepherds raising sheep, shops selling wool yarn and crafters using 100% wool.
Rare Earth Rug by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
So I am going to join in the celebrations this month by highlighting projects using my patterns that can be worked in 100% wool. I'll also be talking about different sheep breeds that have been used for those projects and throwing in some interesting woolly facts along the way.

Today, I am going to feature the Rare Earth Rug and Rare Earth Cushions knitting patterns. These were inspired by the trees outside my studio window in New England the first winter we were living there. I had never experienced a winter in these northerly climes before and was amazed at how early in the season the first snowflakes started to fall.

​Indeed the trees still had a wealth of colour in their branches when the first snows arrived, coating every limb with a dusting of white. It was truly magical.
Spinning for Rare Earth Rug by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Yarns for Rare Earth Rug by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
I decided to see if I could capture those impressions in a handspun rug.

Earlier that year I had purchased a wonderful "bicolour" fleece with shades of black and grey which seemed to echo the colours I was seeing outside. I separated out the colours and carded them separately, then blended them together with some bright white wool to give 5 different shades.

I then sat with my spinning wheel, cozily ensconced indoors while the snow continued to drift down. I wrapped a card with the patterning I had in my mind and compared it with the new vision from the window. Unfortunately, everything was now blanketed with snow! However, I still had the mental image of how it had been earlier.

I love the fact that you can get such a wonderful range of colours in wool without having to step near a dye‐pot! Not only does this make the whole spinning process simpler, but the yarn is so soft and warm without the addition of any chemicals or harsh treatment.
Rare Earth Cushions by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
It was still snowy when I completed the rug several weeks later. I had spun a generous amount of yarn to make sure I had enough and still had quite a bit of the yarn left over. So I set to and made some cushions to match. I even managed to find some great sheepy buttons to finish them off!

Now, of course, you don't have to do what I did and start with a fleece and a spinning wheel to make these items, as there are great resources available right in your local yarn store. Cascade 220 or Knit Picks Wool of the Andes are both excellent alternatives.
Corriedale Sheep, photo for blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The fleeces I used came from Corriedale sheep raised in Wisconsin. This is a breed that came to the USA in the early 20th century and was derived from a Merino‐Lincoln cross in New Zealand and Australia. The wool still shows the softness of its merino ancestry, but has the extra length from its Lincoln parent too.
Rare Earth Rug by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
And to finish, I promised some fun facts on sheep and wool:
  • Sheep were domesticated between 9,000 and 11,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, roughly where Iraq, Syria and Turkey are now.
  • Wool can absorb nearly 30% of its weight in water, yet gives off heat when it dries – so hill walkers always prefer wearing woollen trousers to denim.
  • Wool is also fire resistant, tending to smoulder or even go out in a fire.

If you would like more details of the Rare Earth Rug pattern please click here, and for the Rare Earth Cushions patterns then click here. Both are available for immediate download from the site.

Until next time ‐ enjoy working with wool!

Moira

Reversible Knitting Stitches by Moira Ravenscroft & Anna Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Previous Blogpost: How long shall I make this scarf?
Next Up: Two strands held together

​​​Our book: Reversible Knitting Stitches
My Website: www.wyndlestrawdesigns.com

Many thanks to my husband Tim for the picture at the top of this blogpost, which shows sheep grazing in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Please visit his Flickr page to see more of his pictures.
Keywords: Patterns/Cushions,
cushion, cushions, pillows, wool, 100% wool, Corriedale sheep,

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