Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Yarn Swift


Back in November I began my internet search for 100% wool yarns to use for rug hooking and came up with some wonderful possibilities.  Maybe in my travels I will happen upon Halcyon, Blackberry Ridge, Harrisville Highland or Violet Jane and I am sure there are many more just waiting to be discovered.  Two great yarns I have already started collecting are Cascade 220's and Briggs and Little yarns. 


Briggs and Little are located in York Mills, New Brunswick and is Canada's oldest woolen mill,   established in 1857.  The photo above is just a few of the Briggs and Little sample cards I received in the mail with many wonderful colours, in several ply's and roving too. 

I plan to stock up on Natural White, Washed White and Bleached White for dyeing and also the Natural Sheep's Grey and Light Grey for overdyeing.  Another mill of interest is MacAusland's Woolen Mills in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island, established in 1870.  Both MacAusland's and Briggs and Little offer free colour sample cards.


All it took was a couple of hours in the wood shop and for under $10.00 I made myself a wonderful yarn swift, built from pine, stained in English Chestnut and finished with a little Tung oil.  I have already spent many a happy hour turning skeins into balls.  Winding the balls by hand is relaxing and how I like to do it, but you can purchase an electric ball winder to use with the yarn swift.


I did try one center pull ball of yarn, but nothing beats the look of a ball of yarn wound the old fashioned way.

Until next time.....happy rug hooking!

Karen

15 comments:

sunny said...

What pretty yarns!

LuAnn said...

Your yarn is gorgeous. My personal favorite is Cascade 220.

Daniëlle said...

I wholeheartedly agree on that one! Hand wound balls here also! Have to do some winding on a burgundy red wool skein I bought years ago in a wool mill in Scotland, thanks for this post so I can't forget! Have fun hooking! Hugs, Daniëlle

Merilyn said...

What wonderful wool!!!! I have made a note of the two Mills you mentioned - living in a subtropical climate we only get to enjoy wearing and working with wool for such a short period of time in the year!!!

Karen said...

I took a class on how to hook with the wool yarn but have not touched the piece since the class. I forget that it is even in the closet. I need to get it out and finish.

Quilting Chemist (Danette) said...

Beautiful Yarn. When I was very young I held out my arms often as my mom wound her balls of yarn. My mom did LOTS of knitting or at least it felt that way!

Raewyn said...

I love the colours of your wool. Looking for 100% wool can be really hard, I've discovered. Never heard of a yarn swift before but what a great idea.

Crispy said...

What lovely yarns!! I'm really loving your swift and with your permission, I would love to save a picture of it to show my DH so he can build me one :0) I purchased a yarn winder, as I love to work with a center pull, but draping the hanks of yarn over the back of the chair just doesn't work that well.

Crispy

Kats Studio said...

Wow, those colors, in the first photo, are beautiful and would look great in a quilt.

Marg said...

Lovely. I am so looking forward to this journey into the world of rug making. Thanks for sharing with us.

Funoldhag said...

It will be fun to follow along as you do your rug hooking, Karen. I know it will be equally as beautiful as everything else you do. And thank you for your sweet words, my blogger friend! Carol

Paula said...

Ohh I can just feel that soft wool, it is so beautiful. Great colors, I'm looking forward seeing your rug hooking, I'm sure it will be as beautiful as your quilts.

A Colorful World said...

Karen, thanks for coming by my quilting blog! I just realized you also have this site, as well as your other blog and I read the last few posts. Very nice! Love all the wonderful yarn, and the yarn swift you made is amazing! Wow, I am impressed!

Melody said...

The wool colours are fabulous. When I did heaps of knitting years ago. I used to buy my wool from Bendigo woollen Mills here in Australia andI spent many hours winding the hanks into balls. And I agree a ball of yarn wound the old fashioned way is a delight.

Sandra said...

Love the deep, rich colors of those yarns. Looking forward to seeing what you will create with them:)