New Diz from Michael Williams

A couple of weeks ago a got a new diz from Michael Williams.  I wanted a diz for my hackle and had asked Michael to make me on that was small, but still be able to have three holes of different sizes.

Here are the results of my trials:

I loaded my hackle with a layer of red tops from the Ashford Corridale range.

Then onto this I put a layer of blue and white Corridale, about 1/2 and 1/2.

This was followed by a top layer of red Corridale, giving me a sandwich of red, white and blue.

Taking the new diz, I began to pull the tops, working from right to left, then left to right and so on.

I started by using the small hope first, then after reloading the hackle I used the large  hole to pull the tops.  After another identical  reload of the hackle I finally used the medium hole to pull the tops.

The diz felt very nice in my hand, was much less fiddly than the rectangular button I'd been previously using and, surprisingly, I was able to pull all the long fibres only leaving the short noil fibres which was much better than with the button.

You can see the pulled tops on the left.  From left to right - tops pulled through the small hole, large hole, medium hole.

At the front is the new diz from Michael Williams and the threading loop with lovely turned wood handle.

I spindle spun all three trials on my Michael Williams top whorl spindle.


Although there looks very little difference between the three spun yarns, the one on the left, pulled through the small hole, is much more blended.  The centre yarn has more definition between the colours and was pulled through the large hole, while the right hand yarn, my favourite has a good balance of the colours, being pulled through the medium hole.

I understand that Michael will be selling these new diz at Woolfest, at Cockermouth, in Cumbria, on Friday and Saturday, 25 and 26 June 2010.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've not had much time to post just recently, I've been busy at the week-ends for the last month and preparing for them during the week.

At the end of May I was invited by the York and District Guild to tutor a "Backstrap Weaving Workshop" at Coberhill just north of Scarborough. I had a lovely time, the weather was perfect, although we spent it in doors most of the time, the accommodation and food at Coberhill was good and the people on the course were a delight! When I find my camera I'll post some images!

The following Saturday I was in Amersham talking to the Buckinghamshire Guild about "Creative Spinning". After a terribly rainy start to the journey it ended in sunshine and a rewarding talk to the guild. Another lovely group of people.

Last week-end was our Guild Open Day. Beautiful weather brought out a lot of people and we all had a great time, not least because two of the husbands served the tea and coffee and the wonderful lunch we had all contributed to, leaving us plenty of time to spin, natter and shop with Vicky Smedley of MoBears, Janet Phillips of The Threashing Barn and Michael Williams with his wonderful drop spindles and spinning, weaving and lace making tools, amongst others.

This coming Saturday, I'm off to talk to the Oxford Guild on the Saturday afternoon and tutor a workshop on the Sunday. The talk is about how Jane Deane and I approached the Book and the workshop is "Creative Spinning". I really love what I do and enjoy passing on skills, ideas and encouraging creativity.

Then it's Woolfest! Woo Hoo! It's hard work, but so, so enjoyable and give everyone a great chance to catch up with old and new friends in the spinning, weaving and dyeing world. I for one am looking forward to the buzz of the two days and the Tatty Pot supper and Spin In.

See you there!

Not much to say really, but!

I've been quite busy really, so not had much time to post, I had intended to post at least once a week, but I'm afraid I haven't managed that!

I have been teaching on a Monday evening and had to prepare for that, as well as preparing for 5 days of teaching design to spinners for Skylark Holidays.

Add to that preparing to take my dyes to Woolfest at the end of the month and preparing for a weaving course for Skylark Holidays at the beginning of July, too! I wish you could add a couple of hours into your day when they were needed, sometimes 24 aren't enough!!

We had the proof of the book back from the publishers, last week. It really is going to be stunning. For those of you who don't know, my friend, Jane Deane, and I have written a book called "Creative Spinning" for Gaia, part of the Octopus Publishing group. We were asked way back at the end of last September if we could write an inspirational "coffee table" book and were given 6 weeks to produce 30 projects and 15,000 words. Well that was really a tall order so we asked for an extension and they gave us an extra 2 weeks! Needless to say we managed it and the book went off to the technical editor, who did a fantastic job because we were then told it had been sold to an American publisher and they wanted a "how to" section, but still only 15,000 words!

I have to say that the photographs are stunning and the illustrations are really clear. I just hope that it is well received, I can't tell you how stressful it is to have such a tight brief and deadline, my neck and shoulders are still suffering 7 months later!

By the way, the book is one of a series of 4; Creative Spinning, Creative Weaving, Creative Natural Dyeing and Creative Felting.

More soon.