Wandering Thread

 Have you been missing the excitement and joy of fiber festivals this year? Do not despair, Anne Frost has you covered! She is arranging the Online International Fiber Festival in November 9-16, and my Etsy shop LaceKnit will be featured there. You can use the coupon code  OIFF25  for the duration of the festival, it will give you a 25% discount on everything in my store. Meanwhile, you can enjoy Anne Frost's awesome podcast about knitting and life and all sorts,  I Thought I Knew How . Have fun!

My background It was only very natural for me to start spinning some day. I grew up in a small village in Siberia. Very harsh weather always called for woolen socks, hats, mittens, sweaters, scarves. I love snow. It's purity, it's magical sparkles when flat snowflakes reflect the light of the sun or an electric poll. But I prefer to have occasional snow, which comes and goes the following day. My parents both were knitters. My father was an avid spinner as well. He had his electric spinning wheel, which he used to spin some sock yarn while watching TV. I still remember the humming sound of it, which was somehow adding comfort to the already cozy home. How it all started Maybe because I wanted to make my home more comfortable and cozy, on 12th August, I purchased an Electric Eel Wheel Nano 1.1 from Dreaming Robots. It had to sit in the closet for a while because I had a new Ashford Rigid Heddle loom 32", which was gifted to me by my dear husband (the best...

My third weaving! This is a placemat with Matrix design. Here, I used the clasped weft technique for the first time. It is very simple, but interesting method to add some interest to your weaving. I learned that from Kelly Casanova's YouTube videos. Thanks to her a lot! Used CotLin by Knit Picks DK, 70% Cotton, 30% Linen / Flax, Blackberry and Sprout colorways. The yarn created surprising amount of purple and green dust bunnies during the weaving. I am a new weaver and don't really know if it is going to be the same situation weaving with any yarn? Hopefully not. And I understand that there are some artificial fibers that create smooth and sleek yarn that doesn't shed, but I'm not interested in those, even slightly bit. I prefer to work with natural fibers such as wool. silk, cotton. Most of all I love wool. I love it so much just a thought of anything wool related makes me feel some tickles inside.  More details on specs of this project at my Ravelry page. via Gfyc...

This is my second weaving experience  This is a short story about my second weaving project. I intended to create a kitchen towel using CotLin by KnitPicks on 7.5 reed. It was a fast and pleasant weave. My edges were way better, and the fabric I was creating was more balanced and even this time. After washing, the fabric tightened up beautifully, and some tweed pattern appeared, which I think is very lovely.  But then I tried to wipe my hands with it... and it left fuzz all over them 😖 I guess it's not going to be a kitchen towel anymore. Maybe a placemat?  However, my fellow weavers that have more experience are convinced that a second wash and dry will help to resolve this issue. Let's see. Somehow, I doubt it. So, what kind of yarn is being used by experienced weavers to create premium quality kitchen towels? I pocked around to find out what is recommended. It turned out that the most popular yarn is 8/2 Unmercerized Cotton from Maurice Brassard et Fils I...