Batts and Handpulled Rovings

I love the wonderful irridescent colours that you can see in the black plumage of the European Starling. When I saw this inspiration photograph I decided to try to put together a colourway based on the shades in the plumage, but MUCH more subtle. Therefore I blended together superfine (18.5 micron) black merino with some cobalt and purple tussah silk and some green bamboo. Finally I added some black Angelins to give just a little sparkle, but without distracting from the subtle shades of the silk and bamboo.

This batt was also designed for the Halloween Poisonous Plants Box. It is made from merino in soft shades of brown and gold, blended with Red Eri Silk, cream Seacell and white baby llama. I love the Hydrangea for its huge array of flowers in hugely different shades, and also the structure the plant gives during the winter. However, it turns out that this beautiful bloom is toxic from flower to root. The whole plant contains traces of cyanide!

This single colour batt is a dark, elegant shade of deep red, based on the colour of so called black or chocolate Dahlia flowers. This blend was also put together for the 'Warning - When I am old I will wear purple' box.

This blend uses a rather different base than normal. The batts are 2/3 Black Welsh and 1/3 tussah silk.

This slightly textured batt was inspired by the iconic photograph of an astronaut’s footprint on the moon and also some photographs of thin slices of moon rock observed through a microscope under polarized light. I have always considered lunar rock to be grey – whether due to their actual colour or because all of the photographs and footage I have seen is in black and white! So, I decided to combine the two ideas – grey rocks which hide flashes of colour.

This batt is based on the colours of a white wolf. However, the primary inspiration was a character called Angua - a blonde werewolf who works in the City Watch. She has the uncanny ability to extract information from suspects just by smiling with her preternaturally wide smile!

I used to the photograph of the pale wolf to help me identify the correct colours for this handpulled roving. All of the fibres in this bend are naturally coloured and are soooooo soft. The fibres used are;

18.5 micron Falkland fibre - to give plenty loft and bounce to the blend

The inspiration for these hand pulled roving nests comes from the Tour de France. Our thoughts turn to 'le Tour' as spinners enjoy spinning along - as the cyclists race through the French countryside. Thus formed the 'Tour de Fleece'.

The name AVEC comes from the author Terry Pratchett who wrote;

"Say what you like, the food in the Quirm Watch House canteen was pretty damn good, even if they did use a shade too much avec, thought Vimes; avec on everything."

The running joke being that people thought that avec was an actual ingredient ....garlic :-D

This listing is for just over 100g of beautifully soft and open roving that I made by pulling roving from my drum carder using a diz.

I took soft merino fibres in shades of dark gey and blues and blended them with blue and purple shades of tussah silk and Angelina.

The fibres were passed through the drum carder twice to blend the silk and merino fibres together slightly more, but still leaving streaks of colour. Finally the fibres were gently pulled through a diz to slightly pre-draft the fibres, and then carefully wrapped into easy to handle 'nests' for spinning.

These beautifully soft and fluffy batts are inspired by the sandy beaches where kids can made sand castles to their hearts content!

I took some gorgeous soft fawn Shetland fibre, that is sourced from the Shetland Islands, and carefully blended it with soft baby alpaca and mint fibre. I passed the fibres through the drum carded three times to ensure even blending. These are smooth batts from which any weight of yarn could be produced.

Hawthornes are extremely common as hedgerow plants. They brighten up the spring with their copious production of pretty white Mayflowers. In later summer, early autumn, the flowers have turned into hawes (berries) which give the shrub its name. They are a deep ruddy brown, with only a slight shimmer. Birds love these berries as a winter food source.

As I was walking along the forest tracks around Beck Wythop, I noticed the cuttings that the Forestry Commission had had to make through the Skiddaw Slate.

Skiddaw Slate I have discovered was laid down almost 500 million years ago in a warm shallow sea, and in the intervening millennia, the soft sediments have been metamorphosed by tectonic forces and volcanic activity - producing this beautiful, shimmering, grey rock, with intrusions of rust brown iron oxide bands and white quartz running through it.

The Manx Loaghton sheep is a primitive breed that originated on the Isle of Man. It is a striking animal to encounter, as some individuals can have up to six horns! This is a rare native sheep breed of the UK, and almost went extinct in the 1970's. Happily there are now a number of flocks throughout the Isle of Man and the rest of the UK.

I loved the subtle greens, pinks and champagne colours in this Hydrangea. I have used soft 21 micron merino, tussah silks and wonderful baby llama to make these hand pulled roving nests.

The fibres were passed through the drum carder once, to ensure that the subtle colours were not mixed together too thoroughly. Then the batt was carefully dizzed from the drum carder to make these lovely open, easy to spin, roving nests.

As the autumn draws in, the bracken on the fellsides turns from a deep vibrant green, towards golden and russet hues. The western facing slopes then seem to glow in the evening sun like golden jewels in the last rays of the day.

These rovings are made of merino and Shetland fibres in shades of gold and russet blended with tussah silk in shades of green and then just a sprinkling of Angelina.

The roving is light and open, so will be straightforward to spin into a yarn, or felt, if that is desired.

Masham sheep are crossbreds that have been produced for over 100 years primarily in the Northern Hills of England. They are named after the small town of Masham near Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

The sheep are normally produced by crossing a Teeswater tup with either a Swaledale or Dalesbred ewe. This is done to produce hardy offspring. In the process, beautiful fleeces are also produced. I was stunned when I had the opportunity to sink my hands into this Masham roving. As a hill breed, I expected it to have a much rougher handle. This is so soft and squooshy!

The photographs show two lovely, soft, bouncy batts, that together add up to 100g of fibre.

I used as a base organic falkland fibre which is divinely soft, and has more of a bounce and a longer staple length than merino. To this soft white fibre I added white baby llama, for even more luxurious softness and warmth.

I then added seacell and tussah silk for shine. The resulting batts are light and airy, with a greeny/blue hint, that reminds me of meltwater from a glacier.

I decided that I would like to make an elegant grey batt using some slightly different combinations of fibre.

These batts are made from a blend of naturally grey,fine Teeswater fibres blended with some absolutely gorgeous natural grey baby alpaca fibre. These are all carefully blended with some deep grey tussah silk. The batts are blended three times to ensure that all of the fibres are well blended together.

My inspiration for this blend is some photographs that I saw of ice storms, where ice builds up on a massive scale on buildings, trees and cables. See my pinterest board for my inspiration photographs.

www.pinterest.co.uk/carolhodgson201/beautiful-ice-storm/

The ice formed is normally opaque, with a sparkle.