More about the Spin to Knit course - this time from Carol Leonard

Any of these questions sound familiar?

• What do you do with this yarn?
• Do you need to ply that?
• Is there enough to make.....?
• How do you manage to spin a thicker yarn – I can only manage very thin these days!
• What patterns can you use?

The first question on that list is one that I have been asked so many times over the years. What is more, I have asked it of myself! When I started out, I spun everything I could lay my hands on, with no thought whatsoever as to what that yarn might grow up to be. I then spent many hours attempting to make silk purses out of sows’ ears, entire sweaters out of 6 ounces of Herdwick, and then when I did have enough to make something, being faced with a quantity of left over yarn not quite sufficient to knit .....well, anything, really. And I did love every minute of it, even when a bit frustrated by not quite getting it right.

Gradually, as I learnt more, I started to assess the fibre that I was about to spin. I even – yes, really! – would sometimes do some samples. I came to understand what my wheels could do or I could do with them, how different fibres behaved. The Cormo lesson could have been a bitter one as, completely inexperienced with this fleece, I did not remember to sample, spun what I thought was a fine yarn only to have it poof up into more like a DK weight on washing! Fortunately, there was just enough to make a cosy shawl, if you ignore the fact that the border is merino and silk!

“Spin to Knit” came about because I came to the realisation that I, as something of a reluctant knitter initially, had collected over the years a rag tag body of information about spinning yarn and what could be done with it. And that it would be great fun to share this with people, whilst at the same time benefiting from what they might have discovered as well.

So in this course, we shall be looking at fibre and yarn and projects in a coherent way – what process might work to what end, there are many ways to express it. The whole craft of hand spinning has changed hugely from when I first learnt, with a sack of unwashed fleece of uncertain origin at my side, and maybe a simple dog comb to hand if I remembered. I could take it one little step at a time, and nothing wrong with that, of course, but maybe learning a few tips, wrinkles and shortcuts might be a good thing, eh?

 Because Pete and I team teach this class, we are able to encourage very new spinners to take it. As long as you have had a little tuition, can treadle reasonably fluently, draft a yarn that is not so twisty that it refuses to go on to the bobbin, you will be fine. This is not of course to say that more experienced spinners will not find plenty to keep them occupied as well!

Martin Weatherhead introduces his Ikat Weft course for 2015

Martin Weatherhead (pictured in his ikat woven 'snail coat' here describes his plans for the 2015 summer school and the roots of his interest in ikat).
I was first introduced to Ikat by the Japanese weaver Jun Tomita in a workshop with the Ceredigion Guild back in 1979.  We wove warp Ikat samples using Indigo.  Later, with Mary Restieux, I discovered you could have as many colours on a single thread as you wanted.  What an eye-opener!  From then on I was hooked,  experimenting with both warp and weft Ikat.

In 1998 I gained a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study Ikat in Central Asia.

At the 2013 Summer School in Carmarthen we experimented with warp Ikat.

This time we will be exploring weft Ikat. We will concentrate on balanced weave because the patterns show up more readily. The most striking thing is the way the patterns move. The patterns shift left and right as you weave creating a diamond mesh. The process is dynamic. The pattern is affected not just by how you dye the threads but also how you weave them.

We will examine how to control this dynamic technique and we will create a variety of patterning both with static blocks and with shapes that move.

The principles can also be applied to weft- faced weaves. My rugs (below) are weft-faced. 

Click on image to see weaves in more detail

The ultimate in weft Ikat is Picture Kasuri to give it its Japanese name. This is where a single weft is Ikat-dyed over a distance of many meters and when it is folded up in the weaving process the picture emerges as if by magic. This will be covered more in theory than in practice but it would be fun if there was time to try making one as a group so that everyone could take away an Ikat weft to weave at home.       

Picture Kasuri lobster by Jun Tomita