Foodball Yarn!

This Sunday is a national celebration of competition known as the Superbowl. It is the biggest day in professional football, and the biggest day in yarn shopping, at least at Springwater.

The store will open at 7 AM on February 4 when sale items will be 60% off. At 8 they go to 50%, and at 9 they become 40% and stay there. What items, you ask? Why, anything any fiber artist could ever want! There will be a wide variety of yarns for knitting and weaving, rovings, and even equipment like a knitting machine! Certain of our regular stock will also be on sale. Here are some pictures for teasers:

review: Cascade Ecowool

Cascade ecowool is a unique product. Simple in form and style, it offers an alternative to the variety of designer options available to the modern knitter. Made from100% Peruvian wool, this yarn is not dyed, nor is it processed. It is simply a cleaned, spun, two-ply. For what it is, though, this yarn comes in an astounding array of natural colors— everything from a deep chocolate to off-white— and knits with a drape and evenness that is to be envied by much of its fancier competition. For a no-frills unprocessed wool, it is also surprisingly soft and comfortable on the skin.

Source: http://www.cascadeyarns.com/cascade-eco.asp

Probably the best part about ecowool, though, is the value. Each skein of this product holds over 400 yards of yarn, bulky weight. This makes it ideal for large projects, such as loose sweaters and blankets. And if you don’t like the colors? Well, just pull out your kool-aid packets.
Source: http://www.helloyarn.com/ecowool.jpg

A different approach to fiber

A stormy Sunday afternoon. A fairly quiet afternoon at the yarn shop. A heated competition. Two artists go head to head with one goal: make bags out of a single square of fiber. One felts, the other chooses fabric. One goes for simple shapes: squares, diamonds. The other makes an item ever-popular in women’s wear from evening wear to a business engagement: a pig purse.

The two artists are Randy Scheessele and Sylvia Saborio, both of whom use their own styles and techniques to create variations on this single item. Each purse must be made out of a single square of fabric.

These two artists show us infinite possibilities from a single source, and incorporation of various art forms, including origami, felting, and sewing into manipulation of fibers. So when thinking of your next project, don’t just look at a pattern, but think about it, and figure out how you can modify that hat, sweater, bag, sock or purse to be a unique piece of art.

Vote for your favorite purse by responding to this post!

color

At Springwater, it is an inevitable question that comes up with each customer: what to do about color. It is an essential element to every piece of fiber design, and a beast that must be tackled by even the most beginner knitter, crocheter, weaver, felter or spinner.

At times, I dread the color question. When someone wants help with their baby blanket, I struggle to be of help, for not only am I unfamiliar with the baby situation having never had one and no friends so far who have, but I am also not a fan of blue-for-boys pink-for-girls, or pastels in general for that matter.

I have learned a great deal about color from my time working with fiber. And one thing that I have noticed, which I would like to pass on to you my dear readers, is that the best way to figure out what matches and what doesn’t is to look outside of yourself, and also outside of your craft. As a knitter, the best color lessons I have ever received were from learning to weave and spin. This is because these crafts force you to think of color differently.

In Spinning you work with pure color. Whether your initial product is an undyed fleece or a colorful piece of roving, all that you have in front of you, as Sylvia DeMar has repeated to me on several occasions, is potential. While spinning you focus on the color, and meditate on it, watching how it moves into its spun form, and how it pairs with what is around it. Spinners must understand if only intuitively how certain colors interact with each other to lighten or darken the overall affect of their yarns.

Weaving, on the other hand, moves the color to another level. Unlike knitting, shape is less of an issue on a loom, since (with some exceptions) your product is going to be a rectangle. So you think about color. You think about not only color changes, though, but how colors will mix, as you combine your warp and weft, you have to be cognizant of contrast or else your design will get lost. Plaid is an excellent way to work on this. As the various strips overlap, you see how the colors play with each other, and compliment or contrast their tones and values.

Knitters: for you color is something that more likely than not is going to be worn. Sure, you are concerned with contrast and value, but your primary interest in how it will look on you or whomever you are knitting for. I know, not all knit products are worn, but this is the primary use of the craft. You get, though, what works with your body, or on a body, walking down the street, or on your feet.

Each craft has something to learn from the others here. Knitters: pick up a spindle (you should do this anyway—every knitter should at least know how to spin!) Weavers: learn to purl, and Spinners: warp yourself a scarf. You never know what might you might learn from it!

January is a Card

For the month of January, that middle-month, that inter-holiday no-fun winter take-down-the-Christmas-tree but its still cold out month, we though we’d get ready for the next holiday coming up, and provide an evening for the design and construction of valentine’s day cards. We invite our members and their families to come by the shop on January 17 from 7-9, to get crafty and learn new techniques to brighten those depths of the winter with bits of joy for those around you. For the kids we will be demonstrating many techniques including band weaving, spinning and felting, so remember to bring the family!

Spectrum

As many of you know, as part of our quest to provide high quality unique products, Springwater provides a series of house-dyed yarns and rovings under the title of Spectrum. This line includes chunky bouclees, wool mohair blends, wool silk blends and wool tencil blends, as well as domestic merino roving.

The designs for these beautiful blends are made by our dyemaster, Sue Wroton. Her style trademarks the Spectrum brands with wonderful variegation. But Sue needs your help! Over several days in January and February, she will be holding dye days, during which she will be leading groups of volunteers in the dying process. At no cost, you can sign up for these events and have a hand in creating Spectrum and learn about dying and color. The upcoming dye days are Sunday, January 21, Monday, January 22, Saturday, March 17, and Saturday, April 7. These are all-day events, and they do fill up, so if you want to dye, be sure to sign up!

January Sale!

For the month of January, all Manos of Uruguay and Vittadine yarns in the store are 20% off. Please check here for our monthly promotions!

around the world with yarn

The year turns as the ball drops, and the old becomes the new. We welcome 2007, and as we hang our new calendars displaying pictures of yarn, sheep, alpacas or spinning wheels, we must also be reminded of the new slew of courses at Springwater!

Winter term brings an international flavor Springwater, with classes by visiting artists from all over the globe. Chapuchi Ahiagble will be demonstrating and lecturing on kente strip weaving, which is associated worldwide with his native Ghana. Deb McLintock will be lecturing on her recent trip through the fiber workshops of Thailand and Cambodia. In another workshop, she will focus on the female fiber artisans and the techniques they have developed in making this unique form of textiles. Beth Brown Reinsel’s workshop will look at how Estonian knitting has integrated and changed along with the culture of this rapidly modernizing Baltic country. In Sweedish Twined Knitting, Beth will show us how the Sweedes use two strands to created particularly warm socks.

Returning for another year, Alexander Gallardo Pinco will be with us for another weekend, demonstrating and teaching his craft of Preuvian weaving. In a series of lectures and workshops, he will be illuminating the process of natural dying and backstrap weaving that creates textiles of incredible beauty and variety.

So no matter whether you’re looking to weave, dye or knit, we have your armchair textile travels covered. But remember! Classes fill up, so if anything looks good, sign up now.

A drop spindle is something quite personal. More than needles, more than hooks, for some even more than a loom, the quality of a spindle is measured against the individual user. Of course, it must have good balance and not inclined to fall apart, but these are simply the basics. Two seemingly identical spindles will feel worlds different in a spinner’s hands. When you buy a spindle, you hold it, you cradle it, you try it out. Why would you settle for something less than ideal?

Clearly, this is a unique product. One of the oldest tools in human existence, no textile was made without the use of a drop spindle through most of human history. In ancient Greek and Roman cosmologies, a spindle created the substance of time itself. So why would you buy a spindle that was not special in its own right?

In the spirit of these amazing devices, Springwater now carries two local artists’ handmade spindles. Each crafted with unique care and beauty, they are the ideal addition to the old spinner’s collection, or a great introduction to the new fluffers among us. Jayme Stahl of Fairfax makes a chunky spindle that is ideal for the beginner, but also useful for the veteran who wants a slower whirl. Mack Ferrebee of Falls Church uses exotic woods and ornate designs to create more lightweight, fast whirls for the sportier spinners among us. We are quite lucky to have access to these artists in our area!

We also have a selection of Ashford student and lightweight spindles, so there is something for everyone’s budget. Spindle spinning is a wonderful way to take your first steps into creating your own yarns.

An extra tag: if you want to become a spinner, Sylvia DeMar is offering her course in Drop Spindle on January 15.