Your friendly neighbourhood chaos goblin, up for all fiber shenanigans! Join me and my spinningwheels Bernadette, Rachel, Jillian and Kristine on our craft journey, with only slight Cruella de Ville tendencies...
You talk about combing vs drum carding. You should try both. I have an 18" hackle for my combs I card a batt and then I lash the batt onto my hackle. I use the comb for a few quick passes to even out the hackle and then I dizz off from the hackle. You get the speed of carding and combed top fibre faster than combs alone
"Radicalize me even more!" While I can't say fiber arts specifically radicalized me, they definitely sat along the trajectory I set myself upon when I developed IBS over a decade ago. I was barely out of college, but it radicalized me in how the modern production of food in agriculture is so... removed from not only healthy produce but a model which encourages starvation and greed, as well as the mass usage of chemicals and pollutants that ultimately destroy our planet and agricultural foundations rather than sustain it. I started my own gardens ten years ago and have never looked back. I supported small businesses in clothing up until I developed chronic illnesses which left me housebound, upon which I took up knitting (my ultimate therapy!) and now spinning. Pretty much ALL of these things sort of cascades into the overall understanding of how much we have lost in 'modernizing' our lives for the sake of 'ease' - where we compromise health and wellbeing of not only ourselves, but the surrounding flora and fauna and natural ecosystems - of which we are very much a part of - for the sake of 'convenience'. I am lucky enough to live in an area where local farms can still operate but it is heartbreaking to see a lot of the standard crops and businesses that have been around for centuries start to collapse under capitalism. I am so happy to hear you talk about your own journey and views on this and hope more people can align with sustainable living habits and living within the means of the world around them, not the world that is 'offered' to them for convenience.
bonjour ma petitte dame j'aime beaucoup vos video vous etes du nord moi du sude de la belgique mais je constate que plus d'une chose nous reunisses j'ause esperer q'un jour nos chemain ce croise
Yes I agree! The more into fiber arts I get the further I get from wanting store bought clothes and new things. I have always loved thrifting as it's affordable, but now it is the main way I get my clothing other than crafting. Second hand things honestly feel more valuable to me because I have to hunt around to find things that I like and that don't bother my sensory issues! Very exited whenever I find linen or wool at the thrift store 🐑✨️
Yeah, I started the descent down the pipeline when I learned how to crochet and was happily crocheting my little heart out for years, and then one day saw crochet bags for sale in (I think) H&M or somewhere, thought, "ooh, I wonder how they're made (and if I can just make one myself... 😏) and then saw they were selling them for like £12. When I worked out how long it would take me to make it, and what I would want to sell it for, suddenly my eyes were opened to the fact that not only were there like 20 of these on the rail, they had been made in and shipped from Vietnam and for those shipping costs to be worth it to sell at such a low price must mean that the workers are not being paid fairly... and then it's been all downhill from there. I do buy new clothes still as my sewing is not good and charity shops don't seem to ever have my size, but it's pretty rare now, and I am much choosier about where I'm buying my clothes from.
i spun a couple of skeins last week ...but now i am working on my braided rugs again. next knitting socks! then there is the big garden! its that time of year! lovely days!
I have 3 prs of handwoven trousers. I did not spin that yarn but my sweater is part woven and part knitted and all drop spindle spun. I have to replace it now since a laundering error wrecked it. The new sweater is handspun alpaca/wool blend and nearly done. Now hoe to use the sweater fabric? Hmmmmmmm
I did some knitting while watching this video, instead of my own spinning/fibre prep as I have been doing while watching the earlier tdf vlogs. I finished plying a big project last night. Later I will do some spinning on my spindle or some plying of various leftovers that have been accumulating on my bobbins. I was also taught to knit by my grandmother, as well as some other crafts. While I didn't really pick it up in earnest until a few years before she died, when her dementia was quite bad, I know she was and would be proud of me, and I love feeling connected to her across time by our shared live of fibre arts. Miss you Nan 💞
my fibre arts to anti-capitalist pipeline goes something like this: in Australia we have entire cities that were based on wool production. we have some of the most sought after wools in the world (for some reason. okay lets be honest, because capitalism and they're all some kind of merino variant here) and yet 90% of our wool is exported directly to China, which has lead to many of our yarn companies and wool processing mills to either close down or move overseas. I grew up in the state of Queensland. there is a yarn brand called the Queensland Company, which is inexplicably an American brand, even though its main line is called "Perth" and all the colourways are still named after Australian things. We have so many more breeds in Australia than just Corriedale, Polwarth and merino, and yet even as a spinner its tough to find texel or dorper fleece because those animals are mainly bred for meat so the wool just gets wasted because everything is commercial in our sheep industry, and nobody's buying texel or dorper fleeces for mass production of fabrics.
When I was a child my step-cousins lived on a mixed farm in the Mallee region of 640 acres. My step uncle and step aunt worked hard, they had sheep, they alternated between growing wheat and barley, they had quite a lot of free range hens (the hen run would have been about the size of the average suburban block, and the maximum number of hens was typically around about 120). There was a cow for milk and butter for the family, and a bull to service the cow (my uncle specialised in unusually tame bulls!) and there was a milk goat as one of my cousins was lactose-intolerant and there were two or three pigs, and some turkeys. My aunt grew some vegetables, if I remember correctly. When the youngest child turned about 5 my aunt went to work at the local school as a teacher. The lactose intolerant cousin caught quite a lot of rabbits, there were lots of those. Their sheep were (if I remember correctly) border Leister merino crosses (other than the merino that wandered in from a neighbouring farm and was a pet sheep for some years). The sheep were shorn during the spring school holiday, they hired shearers, as there were quite a lot of sheep. One of the shearers was a real joker and went on to have a career as a comedian. We kids (I was visiting during said school holidays) helped out with the shearing by jumping on the fleeces in the bales, to fit as much into a bale as possible. We may have done some minimalist skirting, I do remember fleeces being expertly tossed by the shearers or my uncle onto a skirting table and we might have pulled off a few dags. The thing was, my uncle and aunt were able to give their family a decent standard of living, including being able to send all four children to private boarding schools for their high schooling. The first signs that things were going downhill for small producers were already there in the mid 1970s, small scale egg producers were already being pressured out of business. The egg board accepted or rejected suppliers' eggs and suddenly my uncle and aunt were being told that large numbers of their eggs were broken or rotten, despite the production and transportation methods for said eggs being unchanged. My uncle had a bit of a win one time when he was able to prove that none of the eggs was broken when they got to the egg packing factory but that was probably a moral victory, rather than an on-going one. Another friend grew up on a small dairy farm in the Adelaide hills. They were some of the earliest dairy farmers to be pushed out by larger producers. Her parents did earn money from working off the farm as well as on it but, even so, it wasn't enough for them to be able to hang onto the farm. The loss of the farm may well have been a factor in her parents getting divorced. My impression is that, a generation earlier, people were able to make a respectable living on that farm, and my friend's description of her earliest years suggests that they lived well, if not lavishly. So I've definitely seen smaller producers being pushed out by larger producers (often with less than ethical methods). Fast forward another twenty five years or so and a lot of smaller retailers were pushed out of business by big franchises.
@@resourcedragon yep. It's been really nasty. I have family from Bogan Shire NSW, specifically around Nyngan. They were farmers and my second cousin was a shearer. As far as I know it was a similar thing for them, hence my second cousin becoming a professional shearer instead of working the family farm.
While I do buy a fair bit of new clothing, it does tend to be from other makers. I’m planning on buying about a dozen new linen dresses from a vendor in the Sca (historical reenactment group-and often really cool people) but I’m buying new ones because I’ve had three die in the right armpit this year and they are pushing a decade old and worn about four days out of seven in a week. I can work with that. I don’t know anything about the providence of the linen she uses, but it certainly better than T-shirts. One of the things that it’s important to remember is making steps forward does not mean 100% abandonment of modern fabrics and garments cold turkey. If I actually wear out enough of my underwear that I need to buy more, I’m going to buy modern underwear. Same with socks, but I haven’t needed to buy replacement socks in a long, long time. I need to buy a different shape sock that I didn’t already own because of reasons. do I sometimes buy a thing that I think looks pretty? Of course I do. I’m a 3X and it makes it very hard to find good thriftable clothing. Though occasionally I find a brilliant haul, and make out like a bandit. I will probably buy the next pair of blue jeans that I need, but given that I’ve owned a combined total of less than five pairs since elementary school, I don’t think that’s a big deal. I think it’s more important to make it a commitment to improve rather than full on radically, take that dive. But I definitely agree that a lot of the making it by hand, the legitimate making it by hand, not the a sticker on a blank from China and call it handmade, does lead one to a more radical point of view. even when we do buy new, we tend to buy local or buy from other makers. We talk with our money in a more direct way than many people are conscious of doing. It’s one of the beautiful parts of being a maker.
Being conscious about what you buy is really important, but yes thriftstores aren't always very size inclusive, and sizing has changed so wildly over the last 20 or so years...
Check out the Marina Skua podcast. She spun her yarn, wove the yarn into fabric on a rigid heddle loom, and sewed a skirt from the fabric. You can do this, too! harpingJanet
"The Crowing Hen" also has a series of 3 videos in which she spins the yarn and then weaves it and then sews it into a cape. I think the finished result is gorgeous. I don't have a loom, I'm not quite sure where I'd put a loom but I look at some of my hand spun hanks and wonder about making a cloak... Would take me forever, I am a slow spinner.
I nearly missed my photo being featured lol I was away to go toggling to check out the others when I saw something that looked familiar, so I checked and sure enough it was my tiny turkish spindle lol Thanks for the mention :) T x
So awesome you get wool free if I had been know back when I was younger that I would want to spin wool this much I would have had my parents keep all of our sheep wool
I greatly enjoy your videos. Have to ask though,since you are anti-capitalist, did you make your glasses? Are you growing all of your own food? You drove to Germany, I am assuming, so you had to buy gas. Did you drill for and process the oil to make the gas? You can be environmentally conscious and want to support local in any way you can, reduce your carbon footprint, without being anti-capitalist. I will take living in a capitalist society, where I can buy what I need to, be able to say and think what I want, over living in a socialist society, where everyone has the same stuff, because that is what the government tells you, you can have. Not trying to be a downer, as I do watch all of your vlogs and greatly enjoy your sense of humor. Just wanted to let you know that not everything about capitalism is bad.
Jente, please forgive me if I am spoiling the vibe of this lovely video. @roxannbannach4920: You are ascribing a lot of qualities to capitalism that it simply doesn't have. You can only buy the things you need/want under capitalism if you have the money to do so. Extreme capitalism will let you starve to death without giving a tinker's cuss. One definition of capitalism is, "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit." _Laissez faire_ capitalism means that there is little to no control over what traders and industrialists do, so forget woke garbage |s> like health and safety laws that reduce the likelihood of workers being killed on the job, or laws that require workers to be paid adequately, or consumer protection laws, "What? You mean I can't put stuff contaminated with insecticide in baby formula?". True capitalism inevitably leads to monopolies (as competition gradually eliminates all but one competitor), so you end up with a single supplier who can charge as much as they want, and they may or may not choose to manufacture and sell something at all. (So there goes your "where I can buy what I need to.") We're not quite at the stage of having only monopolies at present but we are down to a lot of sets of just 3 or 4 corporations providing virtually all the products or services in a certain area, e.g. in Australia we have two supermarket chains that sell about 80% of all groceries. Even 30 years ago I remember there being lots of independent retailers. A hell of a lot of them have been pushed out of business in the intervening decades. I miss those independent retailers, it meant that you got far more variety as a consumer, it meant that each shop had its own atmosphere, I think it made shopping a lot more fun than it is now. During the 20th century capitalism was sort of loosely linked to democracy, indeed, at one stage the theory in the West was that if China's forays into capitalism were encouraged the Chinese people would enjoy a greater level of democracy than they had. We can now see that China is the perfect example of a country that is largely capitalist (there are lots of millionaires these days and many people do enjoy a better _standard_ of living) but, in terms of political freedom, they are as badly off as ever. Your particular defence of capitalism suggests to me that you are in the US. The US is no longer a democracy, it's often listed as an anocracy. Other descriptions include oligarchy or kleptocracy. You have a country where 1% of the population owns 26.5% of the wealth. You have a political system where there is welfare for big corporations and "user pays"/"pull yourself up by your bootstraps"/"F you" for the poorer sections of the community. You have a political system where many women have lost a significant amount of control over their bodies and there are lots of plans (such as Project 2025) that intend to take it much, much further, with things like bans on contraception and no-fault divorce.
You are very much forgiven, as I wanted to write a similar reaction. (And I am still going to, because I feel really strongly about this) Being anti-capitalist does not mean being inherently anti-commerce or trade. That would be just downright silly, because humans are social beings that interact and help each other out. Living isolated and self sufficient is not what is in our nature. People have been making stuff and trading/selling it for millenia, while capitalism only found widespread acceptance in the 19th and 20th century. Capitalism is only one economic ideology, and one that only goes for profit and will turn people into wage-slaves to gain even more profit. The assumption that communism is the only alternative to capitalism is also false. We have had many economic systems before capitalism. Not that I'm advocating for for example feudalism in any way shape or form. But we can and must dream of and work towards a system wherein we respect the boundaries of our planet, give workers agency and a compensation that is equal to the work they produce, make sure nobody is being exploited just so some CEO can make a million more in profits. When my husband and I buy our vegetables and meat, we do so from a cooperation of local farmers that this way are allowed/able to price their goods at a fair rating. 90% goes to the farmers and 10% to the working of the cooperation. Why do farmers have to give their produce for pennies to big monopolies so that they can be sold in fancy supermarkets where only the prettiest of tomatoes make it to the shelves? Also, there is already so much stuff in the world that the coming seven generations would be clothed and would be able to furnish their houses comfortably. Why are we still producing ever more and more to the detriment of our fellow people and our planet? So I am very much a fan of degrowth. Oh and a particular thing, because my glasses were pointed out: I am immensely annoyed by the way capitalism has made my disability aid into a "fashion item" that corporations now charge so much money for, because the design is "special", yet they fall apart after a couple years of wearing (my previous pair only lasted me 4 years; by then the lenses were all scratched up and the frame felt so fragile it might just fall apart any moment). I get marketing ads every three months how you should change your glasses with the season... no. It is first and foremost a disability aid, for I would not be able to move around in the world without it. End of rant. (Unless anyone wants me to rant more).
Your grandmother must have been so impressed with what you have accomplished, the journey your crafting has taken you on so far, and so very proud of you. 😊
Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing this video podcast 😊😊😊 I hope you're having a Wonderful TDF🚲🐑🥰. I only have a 1 yd Niddy Noddy, so it looks like I've not done much Spinning, but I've done almost 250 yds. While I've not done many yds, I've managed to perfect my 2ply Handspun Yarns. Done my 1st Striped Chain Plyed Yarn. I'm hoping to Spin another 100yds (sorry, that I don't metres). Then I shall treat myself to something Fibre related.🐑🐑🐑 I've taken things slowly so that I don't suffer from " Burn out" which has happened before, during TDF. 🎡🚲🐑 I wish Everyone luck on the last Week✨️🌟. Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friends🎡🚲🐑🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Huge Hugs Jen xxxx❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🎡🐑🐑🎡🚲🚲🐑🐑
@MijnWolden, Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for the Heart ♥ Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞 Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend 🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
@Mijn Wolden, Hi Jente, I hope you and Dries are both OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing your video podcasts and your expertise, them and you are very much appreciated .✨️🌟🔆🌞 Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs to you both...Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
I watched this while darning a pair of my partner's socks. They are really hard on their socks, but I am diligently keeping them in rotation for as long as possible.
I've just found you and aside from your wonderful content, I love that your captions tell us accurately how your Chaos Goblin Brain speaks. "GOOOO! Do the thing!"
I don’t know if you check comments on old videos but I’m absolutely in love with the short sleeve cardigan you have on around ten minutes in - if there’s any chance I can get the pattern name, I’d love to have a go at making it myself! I really love your videos! I’ve been binge-watching them while I’ve been weaving the last couple of days and you are inspiring me to have a go at prepping my own fleece - I’ve wanted to but been so nervous about it but your attitude of “just try stuff” is really encouraging me!
Hi mijn wolden, I just made some avocado buttons. I was wondering if you wash your clothing with these buttons.. does it give off color? As avocado pits are also used as a natural dye. If yes, is there a way to prevent the color from leaching onto the fabric? Is there like a natural and durable way to seal the avocado buttons so they can endure washing and don't / or no longer give off color? What has your experience been like, after using them for some time now? Kind regards, L
Yes! !! You have inspired me to try blending some merino top that I have with a fleece I have to make my spinning more enjoyable. Thank you for another wonderful learning session! 😊
Ik vond Corriedale fijn om te spinnen en Blauwe Texelaar. Ik heb nog niet zoveel ervaring met verschillende wolsoorten. Ik begon met het geijkte commerciële Merino en Corriedale. Ik heb Veenkolonist gesponnen, maar dat vond ik niet zo'n succes, maar misschien had ik ook teveel twist in mijn draadje zitten. Ik heb nu Wallisser Schwarz-Näse op mijn wiel zitten en bij de laatste beurs/markt waar ik geweest ben, heb ik opgelet dat ik verschillende soorten gekocht heb. Dus ik heb nu nog liggen: BFL, Shetland, Flevolander, Romney, Rambouillet en Falkland. En nog 2 vuilniszakken met ruwe vacht waarvan ik niet weet van welk soort schaap het komt. En nog een halve kilo witte Corriedale lontwol die ik zelf wil verven. Ik heb dus nog genoeg om uit te proberen en te ontdekken!
I've actually recently had my first run-in with moths 🥲 I had all my handspun on a shelf in my office that gets full light but the little monsters managed to get to the very back of the shelf in the shadows and there they stayed and multiplied (so still make sure you inspect things, they may not like light but that just means they can go undetected in dark corners for too long) the first thing I did was inspect everything I had in my office to see what they didn't get into and what they did. What they didn't went into a large AIRTIGHT container, thankfully everything I had in tubs that weren't air tight they hadn't managed to get into yet so that was all moved into the air tight tub to make sure nothing could touch it. Since they only got into the one shelf and what I had left out so what I could salvage went into freezer bags and went into the freezer for 6 weeks (it only needs about 3, then you take it out let it thaw 24 hours and then put it in for another week or so to make sure you get the eggs that may have been dormant... I did not do that 😂but I did keep them in their individual bags to inspect just in case and they have been perfectly fine!) the only casualties I couldn't salvage were a few hanks of handspun, and my first colourwork sweater I was working on and had left out on my desk that I hadn't worked on in a while 😭 now I keep clothes moth traps hung up where I keep my wool and it has a pheromone that attracts clothes moths specifically (If anyone else is dealing with a moth problem I asked about it on my tumblr and got some really great helpful answers that made me feel better prepared to deal with the problem www.tumblr.com/woollywooloo/745803899083112448/thank-you-so-much-it-definitely-makes-me-feel?source=share <- the link to it to share the knowledge)
You give me hope that I might be through the nice fleeces (!) i got last month (family friend with no concept of 'oh just a little bit') within two to three business years. Go chaos goblins!
Och die blue texel is zo mooooooi!! Wat een toffe werkruimte ook. Heel benieuwd wat je nog meer gaat maken. Me, trying to not unlock another hobby TT_TT
The cardigan is adorable on you. And the fact that you made it all the way from the fleece is super cool. Also, I really appreciate you mentioning international granny Square day. I work at a library that has a yarn craft club that actually meets tonight, and I’m sure that several of them do not know about that. And we are going to be adding it to our programming calendar. So thank you!
