RAM Vikings – Textile tools

Viking age needles, spindle whorls, and loom weights from the RAM exhibit

In May 2019 I visited Edmonton and the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) to see the touring Viking Exhibit from Denmark.

Handspun Romney 2-ply

Two-ply handspun Romney natural white wool yarn on the borrowed Mason Wheel

Just a quick show-off post today of some new 2-ply wool yarn I’ve spun up on the wheel I’ve been borrowing from a friend. The wool was from Shuttleworks – which is no longer in business. The wool is Romney, from the UK, in natural white.

Dyeing with apple leaves and twigs

Finished apple leave and twig-dyed wool yarn showed with undyed yarn for comparison.

In my last post about dyeing with apple tree bark, I showed off my finished yarn (sort of a soft mustard with a touch of peach… but in actuality I did the research first, and then did some totally different dyeing before going back to what I had researched.

I wanted the chance to dye just with apple leaves, and a chance to dye just with the bark – BUT in all of my research I got antsy… too antsy to wait for the bark to soak, and too antsy to find the alum for the leaves and do the pre-dye mordant.

Natural dyeing with apple tree bark

natural white Romney handspun 2-ply wool dyed with apple tree twigs and bark

We were trimming our apple trees this fall, and I thought I remembered something online about dyeing with apple tree bark. I did a super-quick search (as the branches were coming down practically) and found enough to make me want to save some of the branches for an experiment…

Pyrography box – medieval spinning

Wood burned box with a medieval woodcut image of three women in the process of producing yarn on the lid.

After my first round of wood-burned bling boxes, I decided I really wanted to make more – some as bling boxes for my various costumes, but some as sewing/gear boxes to hold various things particularly for my SCA play.