Another new toy!
My new toy – an Ashford blending board. A great piece of equipment for blending fibres to create wonderful ‘art” yarns. It is like mixing paints but with fibre.
The first thing I did was to try and create yarn using a piece of fabric as my inspiration source.
Picture shows just the wool bits but I also added silk and some sparkle
Then you just put the fibre on the board. Keep on adding layers until the board is full – i.e. the teeth are covered. The fibre is brushed down between each layer, just like you would on a drum carder.
Then you take off the fibre in rolags. They are a bit tighter than rolags as you use sticks to roll them., so more like punis
I then spun up the rolags. Here are three hanks. The one on the left I kept colours together in strips on the board to make a striped yarn.
There are some good instructional videos on YouTube. I like the one from Ashford, Kate always makes everything look easy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_FenT3pshrU
I am still playing at the moment, doing lots of samples. It is good to see exactly what a finished yarn looks like when knitted or woven. Eventually I intend making enough yarn for an actual project! The trouble is I just love playing and experimenting.
By the way for my friends in other hemispheres Spring is coming very slowly but the signs are there which are so welcoming after a rather dreary winter.
That’s all for now. Helen