Spinning by a window …
light flooding in to unwind my shadowy worries.
I cast my mind to a warm landscape of wild flax …
hoping to find the colors of the flowers in the wool blend …
I have been doing a lot of fiber blending, and a little spinning too, which is for now easing me slowly back into creative mood ( and am so grateful to “L” for the gift of a beautiful Ashford Traditional spinning wheel!)
Wild Flax; Linum perenne var. lewisii , Lewis Flax, blue flax or prairie flax, seen on the roadside along Mt Veeder road in July, and sometimes early August. Not the domestic farmed species for linen, but just one of the common beautiful wild flowers of Napa Valley that we all call “ wild flax “.
In closing, FEMA clean-up crews have been working rapidly in Napa & Sonoma counties since the wildfire of October, and by the end of December, maybe a clean slate for us? Impossible to forecast the rebuilding ahead, for now I find the cozy window here my joy of the afternoon.
♣ ♣ ♣
Techy stuff for my Wild Flax Blue …
- 2 g each of primary colors (6g tot) , for a base of color-saturated neutral , see this post; blend thoroughly on blending board 3 times Total 6g. Note: for a more dramatic tweed, with gobs of color splashing through, blend only once , then continue.
- 6g cornflower blue, layer very thinly one color at a time, with neutral base. Tot 12g.
- Lift batt, layered again with 2g each of white, light green, teal. Tot 18g.
( I was trying to get more blended base, with a ‘dusting’ of brilliant blue on the last blend…)
- Lift batt, and layered again with 2g of cornflower blue. Tot 20g.
- Drew off rolags.
- Colorway of blend “Wild Flax Blue”
- See ALL color blending experiments & recipes archived in Tweed Chronicles
Jenjoyce Design 
That is a beautiful blue and a lovely sunny position to work in 🙂
Tracey, although I didn’t really talk much about the wool blend in this post, wanted you to know it started with the color-saturated neutral you seemed to be interested in, and I added blue, white, green and teal !
You are so talented Rapunzel.
Taddy, actually, flax is my secret love ; the flower, the products (plural) but especially my big big love is linen. xx
Its difficult not to compare things to Ravenhill, but are finding the light and the shadow. You will spin a new world around you. xoxo
I just might find a window through the spinning, into a new world, who knows! xx
it looks like a lovely and peaceful space to recover your creativity.
I have decided natural light is essential ~ xx
You are absolutely correct. And you seem to have found a temporary place that has some!
Lovely. The color is sublime. I too love flax. . The flower, spinning it.. it was the very first fiber I spun. Aren’t those Ashford traddys little workhorses?
Oh Morrie… the spinning wheel is amazing, it is teaching me really how to spin. I am still not so focused on the yarn as the color, but the wheel is a dream, I love, love, love it!
Oh, and I am finding that by spinning from rolags, and long-draw, there is far less twist in the singles, and for want of a quick finish, I have gotten by with ‘slight felt’ washing the singles, and be done with it ! So now I am keen on perfecting my lace-weight single, but homogenization of fiber is essential for that, as you know. I am spinning to spin, not to knit, but the singles may make nice little lace cowl.
You won’t believe how incapable of anything that I am these days…. started a small knitted Feather & Fan cowl… with one of the felted singles, and I proceeded to lose my knitting bag ~~ Addi lace needles and all ~~~ one of the last survivors of my knit-walk bags too, as it was the one I took with me that day we ran from the fire ( sob ! ). But I have cast on and am now knitting 2-held-together Knit Picks WOA for a few knitting bags to felt. Sorry so much spilling out… but there is a lot of that going on with me these days too, mostly with tears, but good to get a chance to with words. xxx
There is something so very soothing in spinning just for the joy of it. I am so glad you are back in your creative space. You have made yourself a perfect Zen area in which to contemplate, reflect and just be with the colors and the light. Happy spinning dear one.
Thank you Adele, for your part in my rescue team xx
It’s a great wheel. The tool is the thing…
Lovely blend! That shade of blue is a favorite of mine. It speaks to me of sunny skies, soft breezes, and being light and airy, being wild and free while sitting in dappled sunshine.
Oh yeah, that is it … perfectly. xx