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New and old products on the market. Interesting and imaginative uses of fibre and textiles.
No idea if it's available in Australia, but Miles Kimball has a flexible little magnifying glass attaches right to your finger, enlarging your view for sewing, knitting, crafts, and hobby projects. If you can't get your hands on one, it should be too difficult to cobble something together from bit and bobs around the house.
Magnifying Finger Attachment — Miles KimBall (via CRAFT: blog)
Brother Japan has developed a USB sewing machine that will be powered by the PC.
The two models, Innovis M200 and the Innovis N150, both come with preset designs of traditional Chinese and Japanese characters as well as Disney characters (The N150 has a special embroidery add-on for more complicated designs).
Newer designs can be downloaded from the website, and there's a colour touchscreen on the machine which you can use to select designs, and will also display the instructions. The M200 will cost US$2,375 while the N150 will cost US$1,800. They'll be available in Japan in November, and seeing as they're using Disney-copyrighted images, they probably won't be seen outside of Japan.
USB sewing machines from Brother the Innovis M200 and N150 — Newlaunches.com (via Gizmodo)
Itay Potash's prototype sewing machine, Flat Mode, blends high-technology with modern form and function. The compact machine folds up and closes like a laptop for easy storage. Flat Mode makes it easy to whip out the sewing machine to hem a quick stitch. The simple minimalist digital interface and four main buttons take out the overwhelming guesswork of today's computerized sewing machines. Bluetooth technology is available so the foot pedal can control the sewing machine. The Flat Mode prototype garnered Potash top honours by the Manufacturers Association of Israel and he is currently working on mass-producing his sewing wonder.
Sew Slim — Metropolis Magazine (via MAKE: Blog)
During a recent visit to see my Scarf Exchange Friend (Isabel Mitchell, Beaufort, Victoria) I was privileged to be introduced to Mrs Helen Wright who was working at her farm (Elmhurst, Victoria) with her Finn sheep.
The promotional literature on the Finn sheep advertises the following advantages: increased lambing percentages (Helen had one sheep who had five lambs last year), super lean meat, milking ability, wool production, longer breeding season, ease of lambing, growth rates and efficient feed conversion.
The book, In Sheep's Clothing: A Handspinner's Guide to Wool by Nola and Jane Fournier, informs us that Finn sheep are natives of Finland. The sheep have naturally short tails and are a very hardy breed; they thrive in rugged climates on high roughage feed. The fleece is semi lustrous and open with long, pointed-tip staples. The crimp is variable but all fleeces have a silky handle. The fleece is suitable for a wide range of knitted and woven fabrics and the crimp adds bounce to blends with mohair, alpaca. Fibre diameters are 50's-60's, 31 to 24 micron.
I have purchased a Finn fleece, about 56-58's and 25 micron, and washed up a staple. It looks superb. Helen has many more fleeces for sale, as well as some Finn crosses with Merino and Superfine Merino, and Corriedale. She is willing to do mail order, and will send samples if you give her some idea of the count number, eg. 56's. Last year at Birrigai's shop, (Canberra), I purchased carded Finn lambswool for my scarf exchange, and I can hardly wait to see what will be done with the fleece!
Contact details:
Mrs Helen Wright
94 Boatman Road
Glenlofty via Elmhurst VIC 3469
Phone: 03 5354 8242
Mobile: 04 3854 8204
Email: kanangra@bordernet.com.au
Caroline Baker
We can buy super wash wool fibre here in New South Wales. The Guild received a bag full, which was given to several members to try. It slipped very easily, but spun very well making a very fine yarn. It did not felt very well. I don't know if anyone tried to dye it — Peta Andersen
Dale of Norway has recently started manufacturing a teflon-coated knitting yarn that sheds water and is intended for use in all-weather knitting projects.
Knitter's Review gave the telfon coated yarn a test drive and found that it knitted up much like its non-teflon counterpart and was a great addition to the Dalegarn range. It's not an end-all solution to getting wet, but it will give you a little added protection.
Continue reading "Dalegarn Hauk: Teflon Coated Knitting Yarn" »