On the Wheel: Peach and Gold Soysilk

This week, I've been spinning my favorite type of yarn: smooth, fine lace-weight. Though it undoubtedly takes longer to spin fine yarn, I love how meditative and calming it feels to see the bobbin fill, every so slowly, with a continuous length of gleaming thread. Kitten-soft Soysilk - a biodegradable fiber made from the byproducts of the tofu industry - lends itself to this type of spinning with minimal effort, especially when spun over the fold, my favorite technique for spinning lace with slippery plant-based yarns. I'm planning on writing (and maybe even filming) a tutorial on this wonderful technique sometime soon, but until then, check out this great YouTube video on how to spin over the fold. 

The particular Soysilk I'm working with came from TwistedByLynne on Etsy. I purchased a listing for 4 1/2 ounces of her hand-dyed fiber in the "Desert Sands" colorway. It's even more beautiful in person! And I'm so appreciative of how the fiber arrived looking so fluffy and airy, and not at all felted or compacted. (As a fledgling dyer, I would love to know her secrets!)

I've been spinning this fiber on my Kromski Sonata, using the fastest ratio on my lace flyer. Over the past few months, nursing a knee injury, I spun mostly in short, 10-minute sessions every few days, and finally finished up the first bobbin of singles. The spun fiber positively glows, radiating a subtle warmth.

Now that my knee is feeling a little better, I started spinning the second half of the fiber, and I've been clipping along rather nicely. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process, and can't wait to see how the finished yarn turns out.

What have you been creating this week? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Thanks so much for reading, and hope you're having a great day!

In Defense of Simple Knitting

I've been knitting rather steadily for over a decade, and for many years greatly enjoyed learning new techniques. I have fond memories of my first intricate lace shawl, my first sweater, and my first colorwork mittens. Aside from the novelty and slight vulnerability of learning something completely new, I absolutely loved getting lost in the process: checking off boxes for sleeve increases, moving a narrow magnet up a lace chart as I progressed, and carefully adding beads with a tiny crochet hook. Fiddly, detail-oriented work like this has always been a comfort to me.

I still love complex designs - especially when it comes to my favorite thing to knit, lace shawls - but lately I've been gravitating toward super-simple projects that don't even require a pattern. Much like the meditative, repetitive quality of spinning, simple knitting allows the mind to wander and the breath to slow. Because there are no charts to follow or patterns to reference,  I can lose myself in an audiobook, podcast, or TV show without making a mistake, and I also find that I can concentrate better on the story being told when my hands are busy.

This kind of knitting makes my heart sing. And if you haven't done it in awhile, I humbly urge you to cast on something simple and soothing, and allow yourself to enjoy the quiet, understated elegance of stockinette or garter stitch.

The first project I've been working on is a simple stockinette hand towel, bordered in seed stitch to keep the edges from curling. I'm knitting it in Louet Euroflax Sport (100% linen) in the Shamrock colorway. This yarn has unfortunately been languishing in my stash for almost three years - admittedly, I was intimidated by its crisp hand and lack of elasticity - but after all I've read about linen's nearly magical ability to soften with each washing, I'm too intrigued to let fear or uncertainty prevent me from working with it. Yes, it's a bit stiff to work with, and my stitches look uneven and wonky, but I'm going to trust the yarn and see what happens. I think it will look lovely (and be eminently practical) next to my bathroom sink.

Also - as I knit along, I'm becoming convinced that my hand towel will be more squarish than the desired rectangle. If that happens, it will make just as lovely a liner for a basket of muffins or scones.

The other project I've been working on is a simple triangle shawl, knit with some of my own hand-dyed yarn. This particular blend is 60% organic cotton and 40% hemp, and I hand-painted it with fiber-reactive dyes. (You can see it in the background in this photo, though the color is brighter here than in person.)  Can you tell I've been enjoying pastels lately? :)

The pattern that inspired this little shawl is Laura Chau's Simple Yet Effective Shawl. It's really more of a method than a pattern, as it only takes a few rows to get the hang of it, and you can use any weight yarn in just about any amount. (Obviously, the more yarn you use, the larger and cozier the finished shawl will be.) I'm not even counting my garter ridges: I'm just eyeballing it. And though I don't usually operate this way, this throw-caution-to-the-wind method of knitting feels wonderfully freeing.

The short color repeats in the yarn are making a pleasant, slightly blotchy fabric that's surprisingly soft. Like other plant-based yarns, I suspect this shawl will get even softer with washing.

What have you been working on lately? I'd love to read all about it in the comments. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a lovely week!

Introductions and Intentions

Hello, friend, and welcome: I'm so glad you stumbled upon my little corner of the Web. My name is Sara, and I decided to start this blog to chronicle my journey through the fiber arts from a vegan perspective. Though I'm typically quite a reserved and private person, the dearth of vegan-focused crafting blogs prompted me to channel my inner extrovert and share something I'm deeply passionate about: the joy (yes, joy!) of spinning, knitting, and crocheting with compassionate plant-based fibers.

Handspun soysilk

Estonian lace shawl knit with handspun soysilk

Lacy cowl knit with handspun bamboo

I wasn't always a vegan, and I didn't always prefer to work with non-animal fibers. In fact, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when I firmly believed that wool, alpaca, cashmere, and silk were the only fibers worth my time as a fiber artist, and I just as fervently eschewed cotton, linen, hemp, and others because of this pervasive bias. 

When I became a vegan for ethical reasons in January 2014, I found myself feeling conflicted about my substantial yarn and fiber stash, and started researching how these soft, luxurious animal fibers were produced and procured. I wasn't happy with the truths I discovered, so after a period of reevaluation and reflection, I donated most of my stash to charity and dedicated myself to working with and learning more about plant fibers.

Socks knit with Vegan Yarn Pleiades sock yarn

Shawl knit with organic, marigold-dyed cotton lace yarn

In the time since, I've learned so much about vegan-friendly fibers, and continue to do so every day. In this blog, I'll chronicle my adventures in spinning, knitting, and crocheting with cotton, hemp, ramie, bamboo, linen, and other fibers. There will be tales of my works in progress, celebrations of finished objects, and reviews of gorgeous fiber, yarn, and books. I also plan to post spinning tutorials for folks new to spinning plant fibers: it's really not as hard as you might think. And on top of all this, I've recently dipped my toes into the waters of learning how to hand-dye yarn, so there will likely be dyeing tales, as well.

Handspun organic, color-grown cotton

Handspun organic, color-grown cotton

You certainly don't have to be a vegan to read and enjoy this blog! My intention is to share the joy of working with these beautiful fibers with everyone, not just vegans. I hope that the information I share will demonstrate that plant fibers can be just as lovely and luxurious as the animal-based fibers you might be more familiar with. Variety's the spice of life, as they say, so if you're in a spinning rut and looking for something new and exciting to work with, plant fibers might be just what you're looking for.

I have a bunch of great content planned, and I hope you'll stay tuned for future posts. Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!