2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Wraithlady

Laura_Elsewhere said:

For those with wool problems... do bear in mind that modern cheap wool is cheap because it's produced on he same machines used for processing cotton entirely mechanically, which chop everything into iirc 5mm lengths - that means a) you have tens of thousands of little hard sharp cut-ends sticking into you once the manufacturers' smoothing-gloop was worn off or washed out, and b) it is basically only spun into a yarn by brute force and gloop, and so it is going to wear thin very very quickly. 
IF you can find real vintage cashmere, my god, the difference! Phenomenally smooth and soft, and literally lasts decades with care. That's why it always used to cost a fortune, because cashmere processing is really labour-intensive but it retains the very very long smooth fibres.
Failing antique cashmere, if you can knit, or persuade someone else to knit for you, try the old-fashioned smaller producers, and if you're really serious, contact a small producer to ask them which of their wool yarns is softest and least likely to cause a problem. They should know their breeds and fleeces (in the case of Ewe & Ply, they even raise some of them iirc) and be able to advise... some more primitive breeds for instance have longer stiffer hairs which make their wool very hard-wearing, but others have much softer hairs which make their wool softer. 

I always thought I had a problem with wool - I could tell at a touch, it felt like little spines, like barbed wire.
I can totally concur with what you say, Laura, when I found some wool at a re-enactment fair (think it was the Mulberry Dyers) - and for the first time in my life, I didn't have that sensation and the itching hands for 30 minutes afterwards. I bought 3 skeins of a lovely green - ok they were not cheap (I think they were on discount, 3 for £20-odd) but I think worth it. 
I really need to get round to knitting some socks with them.

skogar

Given Laura's comment on short bits of wool and modern manufacture I wondered if she has had any experience with wool from these sheep. They always make me smile because they look like the old english sheep dog of the sheep world, and also they look like they've had a perm. You don't see them much but they are a local breed - the Lincoln Long Wool. It is an endangered rare breed but you can get the wool locally. I was wondering if Laura had any experience of it as if it is any good I may try and track some down. Pre covid there was a stall on the farmers market - they did some lovely peg rugs with the fleece - I quite fancied having a go at doing one but they also sold the wool and some had knitted things - of course now I can't find the details to get in touch.

Also if anyone who is wool mad is thinking of what they might wear for getting married this year you might like to have a look at this dress.

http://risbygrangelongwools.co.uk/wool-wedding.html

skogar

A better picture showing how long the fleece can be.

thriftwizard

skogar said:

Given Laura's comment on short bits of wool and modern manufacture I wondered if she has had any experience with wool from these sheep. They always make me smile because they look like the old english sheep dog of the sheep world, and also they look like they've had a perm. You don't see them much but they are a local breed - the Lincoln Long Wool. It is an endangered rare breed but you can get the wool locally. I was wondering if Laura had any experience of it as if it is any good I may try and track some down. Pre covid there was a stall on the farmers market - they did some lovely peg rugs with the fleece - I quite fancied having a go at doing one but they also sold the wool and some had knitted things - of course now I can't find the details to get in touch.

Also if anyone who is wool mad is thinking of what they might wear for getting married this year you might like to have a look at this dress.

http://risbygrangelongwools.co.uk/wool-wedding.html

She came & gave our Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers a talk - apparently it was inspirational but I was ill & missed it! (We've also had one from a lass who's woven the fabric for her own wedding dress - brilliant again...) 

Lincoln Longwool is not the softest of wool, but lovely in its own right; it has a lustrous sheen to it. To all who have problems with wool: you need to look at the average micron count of the breed whose wool you'd like to use. Some breeds have very fine fleece with low micron counts, and these are far less likely to cause irritation, though of course rough processing can ruin any fleece; Merino is reliably low, Shetland usually pretty low (but naturally variable) and the more recent breeds like Corriedale, Falkland & Polwarth are bred for low micron-counts & softness too. Portland is one of my favourites to spin and a good shearling fleece can also be very soft. Alpaca, vicuna (fibre of the Gods) yak, camel & bison underdown too. I always believed I was allergic to wool and/or lanolin, having grown up surrounded by Dartmoor sheep; they're very cute, and relatively calm & sensible, but they're carpet sheep! But when I started to spin I was amazed to find that fine fleece, even raw (i.e. unwashed) didn't irritate my hands at all. 

When it comes to labels, there's something called Fraycheck which is used to basically glue thread-ends, so that facory stitchers don't have to stop & tie the ends of the threads off properly. Accountants love it, but I for one am fairly viciously allergic to it and it really, really irritates my skin after a few minutes, to the extent that I'll have to rip the garment off & tear the label out! Many a public loo has been utilised for urgent label-removal; I've occasionally wondered what the other users might make of the satisfied sigh when I put the label-less, smooth warm garment back on again...

Laura_Elsewhere

skogar said:

Given Laura's comment on short bits of wool and modern manufacture I wondered if she has had any experience with wool from these sheep. They always make me smile because they look like the old english sheep dog of the sheep world, and also they look like they've had a perm. You don't see them much but they are a local breed - the Lincoln Long Wool. It is an endangered rare breed but you can get the wool locally. I was wondering if Laura had any experience of it as if it is any good I may try and track some down. Pre covid there was a stall on the farmers market - they did some lovely peg rugs with the fleece - I quite fancied having a go at doing one but they also sold the wool and some had knitted things - of course now I can't find the details to get in touch.

Also if anyone who is wool mad is thinking of what they might wear for getting married this year you might like to have a look at this dress.

http://risbygrangelongwools.co.uk/wool-wedding.html

That isn't one I know - but @thriftwizard's yer wummun there for real knowledge about breeds and fleece - I told you to ask an expert! I only knit with the results - it's the farmers and spinners who have the real knowledge... I love all the different breeds and am lucky enough to be able to wear all wool (it's acrylic that makes me feel sometimes like it's raw liver wrapped in stinging-nettles...). 

As for getting married in fleeces - what a fab idea for a sheep farmer! 

Tempting fate and touching wood like anything but we do hope that sometime in 2021 there'll be some kind of wedding for me and My Intended... but I probably won't wear a fleece-dress  
My 'Wedlothia' is still awaiting its outermost row or three... and then all the thousand tiny tiny beads to go on...!

skogar

Thriftwizard - I was sure someone here would know. It does look fabulous especially the raw fleece. I will consider carefully what it should be used for. I am very tempted to try one of those peg woven rugs - they did look really nice at the farmers market and I' sure they would be prepared to sell the raw materials to make one. I am not really sensitive to wool so make find that it would be fine for applications where it comes into contact with less sensitive skin or where it would be work over another garment probably wouldn't be a problem.

Laura_Elsewhere

Quite bluntly, many sheep farmers are so wretchedly desperate at present, after having to burn or bury last year's fleeces for compost, that if you left a note at the farm gate or managed to email hem, offering actual money in exchange for a fleece, I bet they would happily sell to you! 
It's appalling, the whole situation... I hadn't even thought when I typed the explanation earlier about cotton-processing machines making wool unwearable for many, but the stuff that is processed as wool should be is actually most likely to be British wool! Lots of the smaller producers use British wool processed in Britain, spun in Britain, dyed in Britain... and they are not the mass-production factories using the wrong equipment to save money - so you have this awful situation where people are buying less wool because they think they "can't" wear it, and the wool that people still buy is the imported stuff mass-produced that is causing the problem... meanwhile the smaller producers are struggling!

Well, maybe it's one of many things that may change after this last strange inside-outside-upside-down year... maybe people will buy better quality, which feels better, lasts far longer, looks better and is more comfortable AND better at keeping you warm without making you swelter!  

PipneyJane

Good morning All

Oh, Lord, where do I start?  You are a chatty lot! Who do I answer first?  Yesterday was a very long, concentrated day for me, work-wise, so when I finally logged out (7pm), I was shattered.  (It’s month end.).

@skogar, I’ve heard of Lincoln Long Wool.  If I recall correctly, it used to be heavily felted and then used for coating, making a dense, water repellent fabric.   The closest to it that I’ve knitted with is Wensleydale Long Wool from the Wensleydale Sheep Shop  - they used to sell at the Knit & Stitch Show at Ally Pally.  (I understand they closed a year to two back.).  The fibres are l-o-n-g.  They had a square of sheepskin with unprocessed fleece attached.  The fibres were naturally curly/scrunched up and, even in that state, I’d say they were 6 to 8 inches long. 

 I’ve knitted a cardigan for me and a hat for DH in the Wensleydale. DH loves his hat, finds it very warm and it keeps his hair dry in the rain.   I don’t wear the cardigan because it’s too small around the waist.  (I have had plans to fix that for years but it involves unpicking the side seams and that puts me off.  I did such a good job of sewing it up that I can’t see my seam stitches and I don’t want to cut the wrong thing.)  I remember using one of the cardigan sleeves as a scarf, while I was out knitting, and it prickled my neck a bit, but I’ve just tried DH’s hat against my neck with no prickling.  I suspect is softens with washing.

As @thriftwizard mentioned, micron count is very important for softness, the lower the softer.  Although I could be described as a “child of merino” - Australia rides on that sheep breed’s back - my favourite wool to knit with and wear is Blue Faced Leicester (“BFL”).  It is incredibly soft and warm, with a micron count similar to merino.    

@Wraithlady, three skeins of rare-breed wool for £20 is actually really good value for money.  I save up to go to yarn shows, where I usually buy something I can’t easily find anywhere else.  I think I blew all my coupons at one show in 2019, but I bought enough Poleworth and Cheviot to knit a jumper in each.

May I second what @Laura_Elsewhere said?  Be fussy where you spend your knitting/sewing/wardrobe budget.  Buy quality, locally grown, spun and woven items and they’ll last you for years.  They’ll also keep your friends and neighbours employed.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

skogar said:

Given Laura's comment on short bits of wool and modern manufacture I wondered if she has had any experience with wool from these sheep. They always make me smile because they look like the old english sheep dog of the sheep world, and also they look like they've had a perm. You don't see them much but they are a local breed - the Lincoln Long Wool. It is an endangered rare breed but you can get the wool locally. I was wondering if Laura had any experience of it as if it is any good I may try and track some down. Pre covid there was a stall on the farmers market - they did some lovely peg rugs with the fleece - I quite fancied having a go at doing one but they also sold the wool and some had knitted things - of course now I can't find the details to get in touch.

Also if anyone who is wool mad is thinking of what they might wear for getting married this year you might like to have a look at this dress.

http://risbygrangelongwools.co.uk/wool-wedding.html

That isn't one I know - but @thriftwizard's yer wummun there for real knowledge about breeds and fleece - I told you to ask an expert! I only knit with the results - it's the farmers and spinners who have the real knowledge... I love all the different breeds and am lucky enough to be able to wear all wool (it's acrylic that makes me feel sometimes like it's raw liver wrapped in stinging-nettles...). 

As for getting married in fleeces - what a fab idea for a sheep farmer! 

Tempting fate and touching wood like anything but we do hope that sometime in 2021 there'll be some kind of wedding for me and My Intended... but I probably won't wear a fleece-dress  
My 'Wedlothia' is still awaiting its outermost row or three... and then all the thousand tiny tiny beads to go on...!

@Laura_Elsewhere, have you tried knitting in your beads?  I don’t mean by pre-stringing them onto your yarn before you knit but by slipping them over an individual stitch before you knit it.  This YouTuber explains the methodology better than I can.  I’ve done it using a tiny crochet hook and also using Oral-B Superfloss.  The latter is easier.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

The beads are only about 1mm, so even my smallest 0.6mm hook wouldn't go through the hole - most of my sewing needles won't! 

But also, the main thing is that I simply don't know yet where the beads are going. They aren't in the pattern and I didn't think of it til quite a long way through. I have two silks in the shawl, one in muted autumnal shades and one in bright autumnal shades, and I have the tiny glass beads in about 8 or 10 different colours from gold to dark crimson, some of hem with the hole lined in silver, some not. I even have some iridescent-green-gold which I think may really bring out the russets and reds in the silk. 

So they will have to be sewn on, once I have finished the shawl and blocked it so I can see where the beads want to go, and what colours where, and what colour thread they will be sewn on with. I have reeled-silk in quite a few colours which I can use with some beads to intensify the colours.