First Quarter Challenge 2015 - Color

[halay]

Frances, this is interesting. Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

[zara]

Returning to the discussion about carding locks - doesn't most carded wool come from fleeces consisting mostly of locks? When we shear our sheep, I discard the fleece from the belly and legs. The rest of the fleece is all locks. So, if I did not card my locks, I would not have any carded wool to work/play with.

[lyn]

Good point Zara!

I buy all my wool as 'tops', and although it's very pretty, when I see dyed locks I go all gooey because they look like jewels and if they are carded they will disappear.

[lyn]

I've just revamped an old felt tea-cosy (the struggle is detailed in my blog post) and I used colour theory to help.

There are hundreds of colour wheels to look at on the internet - here's a pretty one:
colour wheel

The tea-cosy is plain blue and I used yellow embroidery thread on it. The colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel and are described as 'complementary' - they certainly are!

I needed to choose a scrap of fabric to add to the yellow and blue and I usually just 'go by eye' and keep placing bits of fabric until I think it looks good, but I'm not always right and can't be sure why, so it's very useful to have the help of the colour wheel.

The fabric that looked best had the same blue and yellow with two additional colours: a mid-pink and a mid-blue.
Mid-pink, mid-blue and yellow are triadic colours (three colours spaced equally apart on the colour wheel).
Knowing this then gave me the confidence to put it all together - and it really works.

[zed]

Why do you discard the belly fleece, is it too dirty?

Usually the locks I see have come from sheep of small flocks, and the seller has been careful with keeping the sheep clean (Washing before shearing) and generally offering a cleanish fleece or picking out the locks. It's a matter of time/energy/care etc.

Not all sheep have locks, as we'd think of them anyway-curly, ringlets, etc

[zara]

The belly fleece is more dirty and full of vegetable matter, but also shorter, more worn, tangled and sometimes felted together. It is of much poorer quality and just not worth the effort. Most people here in Sweden also discard the whole winter fleece - most shear their sheep both in the spring and in the autumn. The winter fleece is considered to be of lower quality due to lower quality feed (hay), the production of lambs, and all the hay and straw that gets stuck in it. The summer fleeces, grown when the sheep are out on pastures, is much cleaner and healthier looking.

I do feel bad about carding locks sometimes too and try to think of new projects using locks as they are. ;-)

[zed]

It seems such a waste to get rid of anything. I thought Sweden was very progressive and ecological/environmentally friendly. We use wool as insulation here, could 'poor quality' fleece not be used for that?

[Pandagirl]

Lyn, I think the cozy turned out great. Great use of the color wheel to determine the colors and, of course, a good eye. :-). I always eyeball things as well. I hope the color theory will help me refine my choices.

[MTRuth]

Great tea cozy Lyn. Taking the time to learn about color theory has really helped me and gives me a "better eye" even when I don't use the color wheel directly.

[zara]

Feb 10, 2015 12:13:16 GMT zed said:

It seems such a waste to get rid of anything. I thought Sweden was very progressive and ecological/environmentally friendly. We use wool as insulation here, could 'poor quality' fleece not be used for that?

Unfortunately, there is not much of a market for domestic wool in Sweden. I only know of 3 small companies (in the whole country) that buy raw wool that they process and sell as carded wool and yarn. Most sheep farmers here have sheep mainly for the meat - even though Gotland by far is the most common breed (which has a lovely fleece). Most people that felt buy imported merino which is cheaper and more accessible. And both merino and synthetic fibres have taken over the yarn market. The Norwegians are much better than us when it comes to making use of their domestic wool. They have lots of places where you can get your wool washed and carded and a number of micro-mills that spinn yarn. They are very proud of their wool and put a lot of money into subsidizing sheep farming. In Sweden, farming (not only sheep farming) is becoming a rare practice. Swedish farmers have trouble competing with the cheaper imported products. But I hope the trend will turn with an increasing interest in local and ecological produce. 

[Shepherdess]

Great Tea cozy Lyn. I love long curly locks but they usually cost a lot as they take special handling to keep them nice.

[koffipot]

The tea cosy is very smart Lyn. Nice colour combo.

[zed]

Well, if you know anyone with Gotland sheep, Zara, and they discard the fleece, tell them there is a market for it. It would be worth their time to have a look at least. Or give it to you to sell. I used to buy from Sara's texture crafts, but I can't see any raw locks on her site.

[Frances]

Yesterday at Garden Club the outgoing president gave each member a Pocket Color Wheel as a gift. It is two pieces that spins and has arrows for the various color schemes on one side Triad, complimentary, tetrad, split complimentary. The other side has the color definitions and also shows the variations generated when mixing in other colors. Lots of information on a 5 1/2 inch disc. Would be nice if everyone had one to refer to.

This web site is on the packaging www.colorwheelco.com/  Lots of information on the site.

[MTRuth]

I have one similar to that Frances - they are handy for sure.