Manningtree Magpie

  • Home
  • Manningtree Magpie

Manningtree Magpie Hand spun yarn from mostly British breeds of sheep with the odd exotic fibre thrown in

I love handspinning all sorts of different fibres - sheep wool - mostly British coloured fleece breeds, dog fibre, cat fibre, yak, soya, cruelty free silk, recycled sari fibre - you name it I'll spin it. The trouble is I'm not very good at knitting or crochet, so this page is to find new homes for my home produced yarn to enable me to get new fibre to spin. :)
If you have some fibre you'd like m

e to spin, please private message me or leave a message on this page and we can chat about what you'd like :)

28/10/2016

I thought you might like to see something else that I spun the wool for and then a good friend knitted up for me - my very own Aran jumper. I spin loads of wool for other people, but I've never really had any items that I've spun for myself (other than the odd hat or scarf :) ).
So I spun up a load of beautiful soft Blue Faced Leicester in the natural caramel colour (the colour it was on the sheep - ie un-dyed) in Aran weight yarn and a good friend knitted it up for me. Here is a photo of the finished jumper - before it was pressed after having been made up:

15/10/2016

Finally once the yarn has dried, it is stored in skeins until it is needed for use. Its then a matter of personal choice as to whether you use it in the skein or ball it first. Balls are probably easier to use, but do compress the fibre, which is why its best to store it as skeins until you want to use it.
Here is a picture of the first finished skein. I'll post a picture of all the skeins when I've worked my way through the fleece. That may take me some time ;)

15/10/2016

Next stage - after the wool has sat on the Niddy Noddy for a few days it is then carefully taken off and gently handwashed without compressing the fibres too much. This takes some more grease and grime out of the fleece.

11/10/2016

After the plyed yarn has sat on the bobbins for a couple of days it is transferred to the Niddy Noddy, where again it sits for a little while

11/10/2016

Here's the next step - the yarn has now been plyed and will sit on the bobbins for a couple of days to 'set' it

10/10/2016

Next stage - here are the first two bobbins spun from the wool. Now they are ready for plying to make a strong yarn. Singles - or unplyed yarn tend only to be used for very fine work, such as the famous Shetland cobweb shawl that are light and airy but also warm. For most yarns it is plyed, which is what I'll be doing next with these bobbins.

01/10/2016

Thought you might be interested in seeing the process from start to finish, so here is a new fleece I've just bought. I checked the fleece over, removing the soiled fleece from around the rear end and between the legs. Then I washed it and hung it on the line to dry (The dirty water poured on to the flower beds is great for plants - its just water and whatever washes off the fleece - no washing liquid or powder).
Its now dry and I'm in the process of carding it and spinning it up, after having picked out most of the vegetable matter (VM) first. Updates to follow :)

01/10/2016

This album contains ready for posting available yarn. See the description by each picture for further info, prices etc

08/09/2016

Manningtree Magpie's cover photo

03/09/2016

Manningtree Magpie

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Manningtree Magpie posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share