IxCHeL Fibres, Yarns & Art: Fibre Babble or How to Survive in a Dream

The girl who circumnavigated the world in a dream of her own making by Paul Bond

It always is busy here in IxCHeL world..but this week even more so ! After doing two busy spinning and spindling workshops over the weekend, there was even more work to come home to , with more dyeing and custom spinning but also organising the November clubs. In between not feeling too flash (yep, probably me over working and overthinking some stuff as usual..lol) I have been trying to get as much work done as possible.

You know, I was contemplating on explaining the hard stuff this update. You know the part where I try to explain how absolutely tough it is to survive as a fibre artist and where one can go wrong. There are so many things I want to address, from #fairfiberwage issues to creativeness to how to follow up that people actually pay you for what they order and how it is so hard to distinguish life from work when you are trying to make a living in the world of Fibre art which in my case is my sole income. The thing is: I won’t this week. I would love to, but it is too hard and there are a few things that I need to get organised in my headspace before I try to convey all my feelings and the things I have found out over the years, before I put it all to paper/blog. It is too important and also, I would not want to either confuse people or piss some people off. If there is anything I can say about life as a fibre artist/small business/farmer, I can say this: it is darn tootin’ (yes that’s North Dakota Fargo style saying “damn” ) HARD! Anyway, more on that subject, at a later date when I am not feeling so “overwhelmed” (most used word in 2016 apparently).

Also, something I had on my list of long babblings to say to you this week was the importance of how to treat your handspun and hand knitted garments made with hand dyed yarns or tops. I always assume people treat their hand dyed yarns the same way I do, meaning handwash them in cold or luke warm water with a mild soap or shampoo (yes, I use hair shampoo for my hair AND my hand dyed yarns) but I recently was made aware that a lot of people are machine washing and using detergent.

Now, I always use shampoo or dishwashing liquid or a mild soap for a couple of reasons: one: if it is good for my hair it will be good for my fibres and 2. These types of soaps do not contain a bleaching agent that so many of the washing powders or liquids have. Even the bio detergents can have some effect on your hand dyed yarns or fibres. So that is why I never ever use those kind of detergents.

I also never leave my yarns or tops to dry in the sun, always the shade. This is especially the case with anything containing silk for example because silk tends to “crisp up” when left in the sun. Sunlight will also “bleach” colour. So a definite no for me. I have been experimenting with specific kinds of washing and there are some very exciting things in the pipeline for 2017 ! Another “Stay Tuned” item for you !

In the meantime for this blog update I would like to immerse you in some super luxurious fluff: The IxCHeL Nr5 Pure luxury tops : a blend with bison, angora, yak, cashmere and Tencel. I have to admit that this blend is one of my favourite blends to spin and work with. It has an amazing drape and the way that it is blended makes for easy spinning and drafting.

Please let me know if you have any questions okay? If you like to order some of what you see here on tonights blog, just message me on ravelry or facebook or send me an email. I will get right back to you with all the details. Happy Snaffling !!!!