Tala Gammon

Tala Gammon is a teacher in Winnipeg who adores working with fibre in her spare time. She started knitting ten years ago while pregnant with her first child. In the last year, she has started playing with natural dyes and carding batts. Batts!

1) Striped Tubular Scarf in undyed grey and white shetland wool from Prairie’s Edge wool farm. It was spun from prepared batts on an Ashford wheel.

2) Fair Isle Fingerless Mitts in undyed light and dark brown shetland from Prairie’s Edge wool farm. It was spun from prepared batts on an Ashford wheel.

3) Asymetrical short sleeve cardigan, in undyed dark brown merino cross wool, as well as naturally dyed Rambouillet purchased from Longway Homestead as a batt. Natural dye was with Coreopsis, and Calendula I grew from seed in my garden, as well as chokecherry from a coworkers farm. The dyed fibre was blended on a drum carder to create a gradient set, and then spun on an Ashford wheel. After knitting, the writing was embroidered on the back and a leather button added (from a local maker, but unsure of the materials).

Team: Bethany Gowryluk Booy, Anna Hunter, Nicole Vechina

Bethany currently lives in Winnipeg, with her husband, where they homeschool their two children. Local food and craft are a family affair. She gardens and forages. He hunts and fishes. They all love to cook and to craft.

The pieces Bethany has worked on for this challenge were not made by her alone. It took a community.
With family who offered deer hides, and friends who helped to scrape and stretch them; the leather was prepared.

With friends who gathered together and taught her how to make natural dyes; the locally produced wool was prepared.

With her mother who taught her how to warp the loom (and is an inspiration for all things craft), the woven material was prepared.

With the influence of her father who helped her to develop a passion for growing plants and who, ages ago, drove her around the countryside to make her first native wildflower collections; the plant materials were prepared.

Bethany teamed up with her friends and fellow homeschooling moms, Nicole Vechina and Anna Hunter for the OYOO Challenge.

Woven Wool Top
The yarn was made by Long Way Homestead from locally produced sheep wool. The natural dyes were made from either garden grown or wild foraged plants including, indigo leaves, elm bark, apple leaves, apple bark, onion skins, sumac berries, cosmos flowers, coreopsis flowers and dock seeds. The material was woven on a vintage 4 harness jack loom made by Leclerc.

Leather Wrap Belt
The hide was from a deer hunted in the Spruce Woods area of Manitoba. It was scraped and brain tanned by the artist and her friends and family, then woodsmoked at Manitoba Buckskin (where the artist had taken a hide tanning course a few years prior). In preparation for the project the hide had to be stretched and softened by the OYOO team. The belt was sewn with cord made from milkweed fibres.

The deer hides for the project were scraped in 2014, by Bethany and Kat and their families. In these pictures, Bethany’s husband is scraping the hair off an Elk harvested by a friend in Manitoba's Interlake.

Fingerless Mitts
Hand knit by the artist using wool produced by The Last Dance Ranch from locally sourced wool and dyed with yarrow. The pattern, named Little Sister Mitts, was designed by Laura Harby, a Manitoba knitwear designer.

Nicole Vechina, lives in MB on treaty one territory. Has wanted a pet sheep since she was seven years old. Plays pretend farmer instead.

Hat: pattern: purl soho classic ribbed hat, knit on US #3 needles. With Clover’s first shearing (2019)
One time Nicole and her son who was 7 at the time, fostered a baby lamb named Clover for a friend. The baby lamb enjoyed trips to the skate park, library, and dentist office, wore a diaper with a hole cut out for the tail, and slept in a cardboard box full of straw in the bathroom. When the lamb was big and strong enough, she returned to her flock at Ferme Fiola Farm, where she still lives and has become one of the bosses of the flock, and a wonderful mother despite growing up believing she was a dog.

Nathalie Rivard

I have been working with wool for 3 years. I dove deep after joining a reenactment group and taught myself to nalbind through the internet. My search for affordable wool to nalbind, brought me to sourcing local raw fleece. I learned to skirt, wash, card and spin wool in order to nalbind. It's a long process, but on the way I have fallen in love with every part of it; from start to finish. The one year one outfit challenge was a great opportunity to challenge myself even more.

Yoke Sweater:

I went to Prairie’s Edge Wool Farm to pick a Shetland fleece for my upcoming sweater. It was quite eventful, since the brakes on my van decided to seize up and I had to stop in at a mechanics in les des Chênes. My husband had to pick us up (I had my baby and preschooler with me) and we headed over to the farm. It was fun to see the sheep and great to meet Barb! I picked a fleece, and of course some mohair too.

I separated the colours before washing because I knew I wanted to use the colours separately for a sweater. This beautiful fleece had gray, brown, light gray and white!

I also incorporated a shiny metallic gray Romney wool that I got from Spirit Sands Shepherds.

After skirting, washing, carding and spinning, it was time to pick a pattern for the sweater. After a long search on Etsy for a pattern, and having a hard time deciding, I came to this beautiful and simple crochet yoke sweater. I was nervous to make mistakes, as this was my first time making a sweater and first time following an actual pattern! I hadn't crocheted in almost 20 years, but picked it up again for these projects.

Cross body bag:

The design was really simple since I wanted to use the local wool that was too coarse for a garment (the charcoal gray). I made a tablet woven band for the strap using the same rideau/arcott wool and rideau/ Finn as the bag. I sourced my raw fleece from Sandy Ridge Sheep.

Toque:

I made the toque from the rideau/ Finn for the white, and rideau/ arcott for the charcoal gray accents. I stretched myself by learning to crochet ribbing and learn the waffle stitch. I made a puffy pompom with the same yarn, and gently carded the tips to give it a fluffy appearance.

Prairie's Edge Wool Farm Team

The Prairie’s Edge Wool Farm team included -

Barb Mulock: Shepherd and keeper of a flock of Shetland sheep and Angora goats in SE Manitoba (Kleefeld), Treaty 1 territory., specializing in small scale wool processing supplying local spinners and felters with fibre batts.

Marnie Potter: Long time member of Third Saturday Spinners, a local group of fibre spinning enthusiasts which meet monthly in a spinning circle. Prolific spinner, knitter, weaver and, yes, a potter.

Rose Gerbasi: Local wood carver, and button, clasp, and pin maker from Cook’s Creek, MB.

Nathalie Rivard: Owner of Modern Medieval Shop. Winnipeg weaver, nalbinder and much more.

The team (with the help of the sheep and goats) produced three items:

1. Long sleeve pullover sweater. Made from Shetland wool. Sheep (Porky and Bess) raised on farm. Fleece washed, carded, spun, and knit on farm by Barb Mulock.

2. Long sleeve woollen jacket. Made from Shetland wool raised and processed (scoured and carded) on farm. Hand- spun, woven, and knit by Winnipeg spinner Marnie Potter. Jacket buttons were made by Rose Gerbasi from local deer antler horns.

3. Mohair shawl. Made from angora goat fibre (Willa) raised, processed and hand-spun on farm. Shawl was made using the nalbinding technique by Nathalie Rivard of Winnipeg.

Willa the Angora goat

Helen Mawdsley

Helen Mawdsley is a Winnipeg fibre artist and woodturner. Her work has appeared in publications around the globe, including Spin Off magazine and Piecework magazine by Long Thread Media, as well as through Digits & Threads a Canadian fibre arts online magazine, and Laine Publishing Oy in Finland. She enjoys being curious and exploring history, traditions, and new forms of craft. Learn more at mawdsleyfibrearts.ca

Project: I designed this garment, Indigo Borders, as a cowl knit in the round with colour-block sections in contrasting textures. The cowl begins with a familiar ribbing stitch in the indigo-dyed wool, then moves into a spiral ribbing stitch with the alpaca wool, and then another blue ribbing section in the indigo-dyed wool completes the garment.

Materials: Wool from Seine River Shepherds purchased at the St Norbert Farmers Market in 2021 which I dyed with Japanese indigo I grew in my garden from seed in 2021. I also used alpaca wool from Perimeter Alpacas, purchased at the Manitoba Fibre Festival in 2021.

Heather Zueff

Materials: pattern from Amber’s Leather Creations, Libau, Mb. Elk leather and synthetic sinew from

Bill Warb’s, Winnipeg, MB. Handspun yarn from Margaret Brook, as well as some Polwarth yarn

milled at Longway Homestead. Fleece from sheep farm in Carberry, MB. Beads from stash (either Bill

Warb’s or Amber’s Leather Creations), Winnipeg, MB. Thread from Fabric land, Winnipeg, MB.

The work was created using a traditional moccasin pattern and construction method and beading

technique.

Project 2:

Materials: Pattern inspiration from Amber’s Leather Creations, Libau, MB. Elk leather and synthetic

sinew from Bill Warb’s, Winnipeg, MB. Cowhide from Amber’s Leather Creation, Libau, MB. Buttons

from Fabricland, Winnipeg, MB.

The work was created following the construction method used for the inspiration pattern.

Project 3:

Materials: Elk leather and synthetic sinew from Bill Warb’s, Winnipeg, MB. Cowhide from Amber’s

Leather Creation, Libau, MB.

The work was created using a combination of the construction method for project 2 and

experimenting on a different way to sew the upper part to the sole drawing on previous sewing

knowledge.

I think the work will best be displayed with the foot box stuffed. I will test out different ways as soon

as possible.

Heather Zueff is a fiber artist based in Winnipeg, MB. She graduated with a general BFA from the

University of Manitoba, School of Art program. She experiments with knitting, crochet, Tunisian

crochet, weaving, spinning yarn, embroidery and sewing. She draws inspiration from her heritage

and world travels, most notably her time living abroad in eastern Europe. She currently has 1

published knitting pattern and several more knitting, crochet, weaving and sewing pattens in the

design phase.

Paul Campeau

My name is Paul Campeau and I consider myself an outdoor enthusiast who lives on an acreage just north of the town of Holland. I am also a beginner in the world of brain tanned buckskin and subsequent garment fabrication.
This new and exciting journey began in December of 2018 when my wife Michelle saw an invitation to a brain tanning workshop put on by Carl Froese of Manitoba Buckskin and she encouraged me to attend. And yes, you can actually use the brains of the animal or a similar emulsified oil for the tanning process. Ever since that time I have been learning this ancient art of natural hide tanning. A couple of good books and tons of time on YouTube enticed me to begin my own hands on learning experience. The next step after creating the beautiful, soft and luxurious textile that is buckskin comes the desire to create something with it. The result are 3 pieces that are currently on display, with a handcrafted bolo tie as an accessory. Having never sown anything in my life, I had a significant learning curve but have enjoyed these projects immensely.

1. Cowboy chaps. These are working cowboy chaps made from commercially chrome tanned elk hide. These chaps are held together by a deer buckskin support fitted with recycled horse harness for the belt and buckle. The side designs are created from elk hide with beaver tail inserts and deer antler conchos. All items are hand sown and come from within a short distance of our property.

2. Buckskin jacket with fringe. The material for the buckskin jacket was brain tanned and smoked. It required 3 deer hides to create. It is hand sown with artificial sinew and buckskin thong and it has deer antler buttons. The deer were harvested by myself on our property and I tanned and smoked the skins.

3.Elk hide vest. This vest is made from chrome tanned elk hide that was tanned commercially by Miami Leather and I then sewed it by hand with artificial sinew adding a brown leather accent. The elk was harvested by myself close to our property.

4. Bolo tie accessory consists of a deer antler center piece adorned with a stylized sun made from the claws of a road killed porcupine and pieces of beaver tail leather. All sourced from near our property.

Mandy Furney

Toph Hat

Materials: Raw white dorset fleece from Manitoba shorn in 2021 was washed and spun by artist using an Ashford Traditional Wheel. Skeins were dyed using sun jars and garden plants.

A blue-grey colour was achieved with purple chokecherry leaves from the artist’s garden and iron.

The yellow and white yarn was created from Dyer’s Coreopsis flowers gathered from a fellow participant’s garden. The dye bath was poured over the pre-mordanted skein in a jar and did not fully penetrate to the bottom.

Description: The white-yellow skein of yarn was an unintentional result of dyeing; a “Happy Accident”. I thought the best use of this yarn would be short rows to highlight the colour changes. I paired it with a second available colour of dorset yarn that I thought had the best contrast. Based on my available meterage and yarn weight, I chose a sideways knit hat designed by Woolly Wormhead in the Elemental Collection I had. This design is Toph.

Daphne’s Sweater

Materials: Raw Shetland wool shorn from Daphne of Leafhaven Shetlands in 2020. Washed and spun by artist using an Ashford Traditional Wheel. During the cleaning phase, the whitest and darkest locks were separated out to become their own yarns. Spun as a traditional 3-ply yarn.

A small skein of yarn was dyed yellow with dried marigold petals, from the artist’s 2020 garden, using the sun jar method in a sunny window.

Description: The sweater was custom designed by the artist using the contiguous shoulder method and knit from the top down. It includes simple flower elements, reminiscent of field flowers, around the waist and sideways hem. The upper body was worked with alternating skeins of the main yarn. The lower body was started in the darker yarn to allow for greater contrast when working the flower stitch on the waits band. Waist band flowers worked in marigolds-yellow and white. The hem was worked sideways using a flower lace garter and micro points as well as splits at the hips. The neckline was worked in white yarn with a scalloped crochet stitch. A slipped stitch garter stitch was used for the cuffs to coordinate with the hem, but primarily because the artist likes tighter cuffs.

Battle-Weary Dragon Shawl

Materials: The artist purchased a batt of mixed Shetland colours and a batt of Shetland blended with alpaca from Prairie’s Edge Wool Farm in Manitoba. Both were spun up using an Ashford Traditional wheel. The Shetland was made into a 2-ply yarn and the blend was made as a 3-ply yarn. Glass crow beads in a deep red were purchased from the Winnipeg Trading Post. These are close to a 2/0 size. A small length of alpaca handspun yarn was used for the bind off.

Description: The artist had been wanting to try knitting her own Battle-Weary Dragon shawl design in a heavier weight of yarn. The marled yarn lended itself well to the textured body and she knew the the solid colour would work well for the scales. The dark blood-red beads were chosen to fit the inspiration of the Battle-Weary dragon. The artist aimed to maximize use of each yarn and ran out of yarn for the bind-off. Fortunately she had plenty of handspun Manitoba alpaca yarn sitting around from previous projects to finish the shawl without undoing any of the knitting.

Chocolat Mittens

Materials: The artist purchased a skein of dark brown yarn from Ferme Fiola Farm shorn from a Rambouillet-Ridout Arcott sheep (Chocolat) and spun by the local mill at Long Way Homestead.

Skein of white yarn was spun from a Manitoba Dorset fleece using a suspended spindle made by Manitoba maker Ed Tabachek. Most of the spinning was worked while walking outside at a local dog park.

Description: The artist typically allows the yarn to dictate the project. In this case, the Chocolat yarn had been sitting on a book shelf near her spinning wheels, forlorn because it was wool from 2018 (recently purchased/rescued by the artist) that wished to be formed into something new. One day it demanded to be paired with a solid white yarn for mittens. The artist pulled out various skeins from the 2021 project and found one that best matched. A local thrift store book find provided a colourwork mitten pattern in an appropriate yarn weight and the artist resigned herself to stranded knitting (even though it is her least favourite technique) for a thicker mitten. These are usually worn with a second knit liner mitten. They have been blocked only by wearing this winter and have endured many hours of shoveling snow.

Katrina Woelk Balzer, Anna Goertzen Loeppky, Tara Epp

Artists: Katrina Woelk Balzer, Anna Goertzen Loeppky, Tara Epp

Bios:

Katrina Woelk Balzer grew up in Winkler, MB and now lives in Winnipeg. Katrina has always enjoyed making and crafting and while her interests have evolved over time (friendship bracelets to scrapbooking to card making), one interest she has always enjoyed is sewing. She took lessons as a kid, and then came back to it every once in a while until just before the pandemic when she decided to try garment sewing. The pandemic ended up being the perfect time to dive in. One aspect of garment sewing that intrigued Katrina was the idea of slow fashion and the desire to be more aware of where clothing comes from and how it’s made. It was through this that she saw the One Year One Outfit challenge and decided it would be a fun way to get to know the fibreshed and learn new skills along with her friends. 

Anna Goertzen Loeppky grew up in Abbotsford, BC and now lives in Winnipeg. Anna has always enjoyed crafting and creating with friends.  Anna enjoys learning new skills from others and has explored throwing functional pottery, sewing garments and paper crafts.  Anna was intrigued by dye plants after learning about them in one of the OYOO meetings, she found it meditative to pick the coreopsis blooms throughout the summer to dry them for future projects.   

Tara Epp grew up in Saskatchewan and now lives in Winnipeg. She began crocheting when she was about 10 years old, taught by her older sister. In her preteen years, she had a keen interest in sewing and made herself a few dresses, but soon found greater enjoyment in the process of crocheting. Her projects have moved from small accessories such as toques and scarves, to blankets, and eventually, to garments and household items. As she learned more about sustainability and slow fashion in recent years, Tara became more interested in making items with natural fibers and choosing projects that would be practical and long-lasting. The One Year One Outfit Challenge felt like the perfect way to learn more about this practice, local resources, and extend and develop her skills. 

Woolen Clogs:

• Raw wool roving from The Last Dance Ranch

  • Light grey wool from sheep, Magni

  • Cream wool from sheep, Celeste

  • Dark grey wool from sheep, Poppy

• Pattern and tutorial by Rasa Eidenaite-Agejeva (Etsy shop: Makeshoes)

• Water from Treaty 3 

• Natural olive oil soap from Art Soap Life

All three of us made a pair of our own clogs through wet felting. None of us had ever done any felting before, and this was a skill we were interested in learning through this project! With all three of us returning to school in the fall of 2021, we set aside a Saturday to make our clogs. Little did we know, the process would take about 10 hours and be a significant physical workout!

We set up in Anna’s basement with plastic tables placed over the floor drain. We had many laughs throughout the day when our clogs looked like they were made for feet multiple sizes bigger than our own, and as we rubbed and rolled the wool, blasting music to keep our energy up. 

We had a great day, but felting may not be something we do again soon. If we try it again one day, we will know better what hard work we are getting ourselves into! 

Crochet Sweater:

• Undyed alpaca yarn from Enchanted Grove Alpacas in brown and light fawn

• Wooden buttons from Salvaged Earth Designs

This sweater was made by Tara, who was an avid crocheter prior to this project. However, this is the first garment she has made without using a pattern (and first experience with buttons and buttonholes)! In an effort to make something practical that would be worn over and over again, the design was inspired by the popular Patagonia sweater. 

The sweater came along slowly throughout the year, made up solely of half double crochet stitches. Although she wanted to use a more complex and interesting stitch pattern, half double crochet best-suited the desired appearance and texture of the sweater. In the process, there was a lot of crocheting rows and pulling them out again, adjusting the fit and placement of buttonholes. 

It is sure to be a warm and well-worn garment in Tara’s wardrobe! 

Leather Wallet:

• Tanned cow and bison hide leather scraps from Earth and Hide

The wallet was made by Katrina and Anna, this was their first time working with leather.  They got an assortment of shapes, sizes and colours of leather scraps from Chuck of Earth and Hide (a small Manitoba business).  Chuck gets his leather locally and it’s tanned at Miami Leather Co. Our wallet design was inspired by the Wilder Goods Bi-fold card wallet that is made locally in Winnipeg.   

Katrina and Anna used Katrina’s sewing machine (carefully!) for this project. Unfortunately, the machine did not like some of the types of leather, leading to only one wallet made instead of two. They are still learning the best method for sewing leather without too many tools.

General Reflections:

We all came to this project with different skills and interests. In deciding and designing our three items, we discussed the skills we wanted to work on, and the materials we wanted to use and that we thought would be accessible to us. In the end, we decided that we would try felting clogs together, Tara would use her already established crocheting skills to make the sweater, and Anna and Katrina would try out their sewing skills with leather. We each were able to use a little of what we already knew, and learn new skills together.

Gathering materials was a project all on its own! We all have done quite a bit of making with different materials, and each of us value using local, ethically-sourced and sustainable materials for our different makes. Despite this, we did not know the options in the fibreshed very well, and had to search for the materials we needed. We came across the leather through Instagram when Chuck (Earth and Hide leather) invited people to use the remnants from his project, and found the roving for the clogs through searching the Pembina Fibreshed supplier list. We enjoyed making new connections and learning about local people producing all kinds of materials.

A skill that Tara was interested in developing for this project was spinning wool. Along with the purchase of pre-spun yarn from Enchanted Grove Alpacas, Tara also purchased 200g of roving and a supported spindle from Mawdsley Fibre Arts. Although she intended to have some spinning lessons with Helen Mawdsley, it was not able to happen due to COVID-19 restrictions and general busyness. She has learned some basic skills by watching Youtube, but is still very much in the beginning stages of learning, and was not able to use any hand-spun yarn for this project.

Although we did not end up using them for this project, we were also inspired early in the year to purchase seeds for coreopsis, safflower, and indigo dye plants. We were able to harvest many coreopsis blooms, a few safflower blooms, but our indigo did not come up. We have dried our blooms and will look forward to experimenting with natural dyeing in the coming year!

Hillary King

I’m Hillary, a farmer and maker living in Winnipeg. I was introduced to wool when I became a volunteer at a living history site near my childhood home in Minnesota. For nearly 8 years, I would become “Thelma, the Weaver’s Apprentice” on Saturdays, under the mentorship of a skilled fiber artist who taught me to spin, knit and dye. After getting my art degree and an accidental interest in farming, I moved to Fairbanks, Alaska to pursue a farmer training program at Calypso Farm and Ecology Center. At Calypso, I built up my fiber skills with their lovely Shetland fleece and was inspired by the successful integration of art and fiber production into their farm system. I moved to Winnipeg in 2019 with my husband and our two malemutes, and have found participating in Pembina Fibreshed projects a wonderful way to delve into my new farming and creative communities. I currently farm with Slow River Gardens in St. Adolphe, and hope to someday have a farm of my own that celebrates color, creativity and (of course) sheep.

Materials + Sourcing:

I purchased lovely Rambouillet batting from Longway Homestead (courtesy of the Rannie family flock) in the spring and gradually spun it on my Ashford Elizabeth II over the summer months.

With the exception of black hollyhock from a friend's garden and the avocado pits/skins saved from taco nights, I grew all my dye plants from seed. I harvested and dried french marigold, dyers coreopsis, calendula, yarrow, rudbeckia and japanese indigo through autumn. 

Item #1: Burdock Shawl

Burdock shawl pattern by Ash Alberg, Sunflower Knits.  Handspun Rambioullet dyed with coreopsis, fresh and dried French marigold.

Item #2: Shik’is Headband

Shik’is Headband pattern by Jennifer Berg. Handspun Rambioullet dyed with marigold, coreopsis and black hollyhock.

Item #3: Seed Cowl

After learning the tubular join on the Shik'is Headband, I wanted to try cowl with the same construction.  The design was inspired by many hours of online seed shopping. Handspun Rambioullet dyed with coreopsis, marigold, avocado pits/skins, and black hollyhock.

Maureen Winnicki Lyons

Wearable Wool Salad with Crouton Toque (Felted Tunic and Pompom Hat)

The FELTED TUNIC created with raw Wensleydale, Cotswold, Scottish Blackface and Romeldale from Spirit Sands Shepherds in Carberry; Shetland and Mohair from Prairies Edge Wool Farm in Kleefield; Icelandic from Dragon Ridge Farm near Dauphin; Tunis from Dusty Ridge Ranch in St Malo; Rideau Arcott from Seine River Shepherd in Ste Anne, Romanov x Clun Forest from Sandy Ridge Sheep in La Broquerie, on a foundation of Rambouillet milled into batts by Long Way Homestead from GRannie Rambouillets and Johnstown Farm Border Cheviots in Binscarth. It’s a Wearable Wool Salad

POMPOM KNIT HAT created with Icelandic wool from Sandy Ridge Sheep in La Broquerie, Manitoba milled into a lopi-style yarn at Long Way Homestead. Topped with a pompom made of Romney from Spirit Sands Shepherds in Carberry. It’s the Crouton Toque

My intention to create an ensemble made entirely from Manitoba fibre began a few summers ago as a project with the children (that was not unpleasantly sidetracked when we decided to try every plant we could find in the backyard in solar dye jars) so when the concept of the One Year One Outfit challenge was raised by Pembina FibreShed, I jumped at the opportunity and have not stopped talking about it for the past 14 months to anyone who’ll stop to listen. 

Enthusiasm does not always align with outcome, however, so I found myself desperately short on time at the conclusion of the one-year timeframe and submit only two instead of the required three parts. 

The first, my Pompom Knit Hat is fairly straightforward: natural wool made with a circular knitting machine topped with an overly-large pompom created of intact locks. 

The second, a Felted Tunic. It’s Wearable Wool Salad, a tapestry of various wools from some of the many breeds of Manitoba sheep and based on our wall-hanging Wool Salad workshop but modified to wear. It was intended to replace a winter jacket but, realistically, without sleeves not entirely practical. (Sleeves will come next year in the form of a floor-length sweater to be worn with it.) If my felted tunic is a Wearable Wool Salad then the knit hat with pompom is the crouton to top it. Otherwise known as the Crouton Toque. 

The satisfaction this project has brought me is incalculable for all the reasons one could cite to join any One Year One Outfit challenge. The challenges themselves to me were twofold. Due to the nature of working with a felting process oriented in raw wool, I had to wait until dye plants could be harvested before beginning with dyeing locks to be used in felting which forms the largest part of the endeavour, meaning that I spent the first six to eight months of the available time growing dye plants and dyeing locks to be used instead of investing time in the laborious process of felting the main component of the piece. 

The second aspect to the challenges I faced was based in trying to survive (nevermind thrive) during a pandemic. I found it nearly impossible to execute a finely-laid plan amid the drastic uncertainty of lockdowns, illnesses and unemployment. Cancellations, postponements, unexpected periods of remote learning, supply chain interruptions, disputes, financial woes— all these factors impacted my intentions in a highly negative, punitive manner. Nonetheless, I persevered. The tactics I used to overcome these challenges are now metaphorically woven into the pieces and form a barrier of protection from that which would do us harm as much as does wool on the sheep itself. 

Maureen Winnicki Lyons, owner of Wool Mountain, quietly subverts the whirlwind age in which we live with 20 years of experience in handmade slow-living through the arts and crafts  movement in Manitoba. Through MWLminiMakers, Maureen offers skill-based workshops, and the materials to do it via Wool Mountain including 200+ breeds of wool starting with local breeds sourced first

Ash Alberg

ash alberg

bio: ash alberg is a queer femme and fibre witch who helps fellow fibre witches to connect, create, and get confident through an online community, online courses, and curated collection of products for makers by makers. by profession, ash is a knitwear designer and natural dyer. by life, ash is a fibre witch, hedgewitch, queer femme, and parent to the resident coven pooch, willow.

materials used: polypal wool spun at long way homestead, dyed with an exhausted tansy bath modified with iron

techniques used: knitting (the emperor sock pattern, available at ashalberg.com/patterns)

display: sock blockers (included)

Michelle Campeau

I have been weaving on a floor loom since 2016, this craft has stolen my heart, captured my

imagination and stimulated my creativity. Many hours are spent observing colour and pattern,

planning projects, winding warps and bringing them to the loom to beam, thread and sley.

Every step is a meditation and exploration. Peaceful and rhythmic the cloth comes to life on

the loom. And then... what will it become.

My projects have used a variety of wool from Ferme Fiola Farm which was milled at Longway

homestead. Most of the yarn used was a fingering weight and from a variety of sheep Rideau

Arcott (Pepper, Fleur & Grey Beauty), Rambouillet, Wensleydale x Romney (Grisette). The first

project was a Poncho in plain weave and the second a Skirt in a Twill. In both cases the fabric

was woven and then cut and sewn after washing.

Katherine McLean Delorme

Katherine (McLean) Delorme

Katherine lives in Kenora, Ontario with her 3 children and 2 cats, and works fulltime as a physiotherapist at Lake of the Woods District Hospital. She joined the project for the creative challenge, and to make clothing that doesn’t have the negative environmental impacts of the current clothing manufacturing systems. She started knitting initially as a child in the 1970’s but really returned to it when heading off to university in 1989 after deciding to knit her niece a sweater for Christmas, and hasn’t quit since. She took a spinning class around 2011- 2012 and purchased a Louet Julia spinning wheel in 2013, then took dyeing classes at the Manitoba Fibre Festival starting in 2014, as well as at Wolseley Wool, and then moving to natural dyeing in 2017. She bought two raw alpaca fleece at the inaugural Manitoba Fibre Festive in St. Norbert in 2017, and her first raw sheep fleece in 2018 to try processing through all the steps from scratch. She took a ridged heddle weaving class prior to the pandemic, and purchased a floor loom second hand through a local buy and sell. She managed to get into a beginners 4 shaft weaving class with the Manitoba Weavers and Fibre Artists in November 2021, and joined the Ontario Weavers and Handspinners Flax Plantalong, growing flax for the first time this past year (after having to put up an enormous fence to keep the Kenora deer out of her garden area in 2019). Having mainly worked with wool, those alpaca fleeces are still waiting their turn, but hopefully the alpaca webinars that the OWH plans to put on this year will help them get some attention, in addition to the quilting and cross stitching projects waiting as well. Besides the fibre arts, she also enjoys Scottish Country Dancing, yoga, music and making all kinds of things, including soap, wine, kobucha, and kefir. She is also getting more and more into gardening, for edibles, dye plants and fibre.

Kilt Hose

The raw materials for these Kilt Hose came from Barb Mulock at Prairie’s Edge Farm. I purchased a batt that was 75% Grey Shetland wool from the Barb’s sheep and 25% mohair from her goats, blended at the farm, totaling 10 oz. I stripped the batt lengthwise, and spun it worsted style, into a 3 ply yarn, and knit them up 2 at a time toe up socks, that I designed myself, with a cable pattern at the top. This was a fairly quick gratifying project, as a lot of the processing was done for me, and I finished these in the beginning of April 2021.

Tartan kilted skirt

The raw materials for this kilt came from Barb Mulock at Prairie’s Edge Farm, one white fleece and one grey fleece, from her flock of Shetland sheep. The white one was purchased in 2018, and had been washed, but other than a small amount that had been combed and spun (for use in another project), the rest of the fleece was sitting and waiting for further processing. The grey fleece was purchased in 2020, but hadn’t even been washed yet. After the experience of washing the entire white fleece in my bathtub, the grey fleece was washed in smaller sections, and only as much as I needed for this project. Once the OYOO project was announced, I started combing the fleeces, and dizing bird’s nests from the combs, collecting them in large tubs. My plan was to try to comb all the fibre I needed and spin it all at the same time to try to get some consistency in the spinning. A good idea, but difficult to accomplish. I also spun small samples of the white fleece, then tried some natural dye experiments with plants in my yard. Ultimately, as summer was getting short, I focussed on the white fleece to get enough prepared fibre to spin and then dye a large quantity of green yarn. The dyeing plan flip flopped from with Tansy, then to Marigold, then back to Tansy again, with a final iron after bath to achieve the green colour (alum premordant). Then I focussed on the grey – I wanted to get it as dark as possible. I talked to Ash Alberg in September when on the Manitoba Fibre Trail, and she had suggested overdyeing with sumac. I collected/foraged both sumac leaves and candles, and overdyed the grey yarn (no mordant, just naturally occurring tannins), removing the fibre to dissolve iron into the bath, and returning to the bath for the final colour. The white yarn was the natural colour of the fleece, and was the smallest amount needed in the pattern. The fabric was woven on a 36” Leclerc Artisat jack floor loom, and raw edges were overlocked for stability. The skirt was sewn in a combination of machine and hand sewing. The leather buttons were purchased from Hank and Purl, though may be replaced with firmer buttons made of bone or antler, when I can source and make them. The leather buttons tend to fold and curl a little too easily for my liking, and are the only things keeping it on. If I am going to dance in this skirt, I want to make sure it is going to stay with me the entire time.

The tartan is the MacLean of Duart Hunting tartan, an official tartan in the Scottish Registar of Tartans. The MacLean history website claims that it is the oldest recorded tartan in Scotland, and dates to a charter in 1587, but the Registry states there is no evidence to support this.

This skirt, being completely washed, combed, spun, dyed, woven and sewn by one person, took the entire year to make.

Fingerless gloves

After completing the skirt, there was a skein of green yarn left over, and a bit of white (the grey yarn was almost completely used up). Not enough material for a top (and not enough time to really consider combing, spinning and knitting one) I decided on a small project for my third item – fingerless gloves. I had collected cosmos sulphureus and coreopsis flowers grown in my yard throughout the summer and dried them, so they were used to dye the white yarn three different shades of yellow/orange. I modified a pattern from the Shetland Wool Week annual 2018 called Banksflooer Mitts by Terri Malcolmson. I used the pattern on the palm as written in the pattern, but because my yarn had been spun fairly fine for weaving, and didn’t match the yarn used, I had to modify the number of stitches, and therefore modify the pattern on the back of the hand. I used Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting 2011 edition to help me create a new pattern that I charted out on knitting graft paper to use. The thumb length was also increased.

Knitted toque in natural undyed wool

This was a last minute addition to my ensemble. A couple of years ago there was a magazine called Spin + Knit – a special issue from Interweave. On the cover was a fair isle hat knitted from handspun natural Shetland wool colours. I thought it looked amazing, and wanted to try it. I had sourced some fleeces, and some batts at the Manitoba Fibre Festival, but was lacking the greys. They weren’t Shetland, but I managed to pick up some small amounts of grey roving that had been processed by Longway Homestead’s mill, a Romney and a Cotswold, for a couple of greys. I spun up some yarn, but wasn’t able to get as fine a yarn as the pattern called for, not even close. The yarn sat, waiting for me to either recalculate how I could still make the pattern, or to do something else. Since I had a little more time on the challenge, and hadn’t managed to make a top, I thought I would add a hat. Since I had a limited amount of yarn, and I didn’t want to reknit the hat too many times for corrections, I decided to start at the top, and work in increases to the size I needed. I modified a very simple colour transition between colours so that I wouldn’t be caught running out of a colour in the middle of an intricate pattern. I used a combination of Top down lifestyle no swatch needed hat pattern, and part of the Sunset hat pattern graph, both on Ravelry. I had to rip back once to change it, increasing the number of stitches once more, and decreasing the number of rows in one colour, otherwise it was a fairly quick ‘make it up as you go’ project.

Karen Enns

Karen Enns

While I have always been a maker, sewer, knitter, I have always had a fascination for articles and art made from scratch. I always planned upon my retirement I would learn to spin and weave along with my machine and hand knitting. I am 3 years retired now and have acquired an Ashford spinning wheel and recently a Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom. The pandemic restrictions have definitely slowed down my progress with being able to connect with people and groups that would assist my opportunities to learn more and do more, but so has my busy personal life and family time. I have spent more time at home than I anticipated in retirement but have had constant projects in knitting and crochet on the go. My husband and I own a farm south of Grunthal, growing hay and saskatoons. My dream is to have fibre animals of my own to enjoy and market their wonderful fibres and be a part of this exciting growing industry.

Cropped Eyelet Pullover

This is a very warm but light weight sweater made with 90% alpaca 10% merino yarn from Turtle Mountain Alpacas, Killarney, Manitoba. It is a knitted pattern, very soft and comfortable with very versatile style for casual to more formal attire.

Crochet Stripe Sweater

This sweater has the best story.

The yarn it is knitted with is from raw sheep and alpaca fibre from two local farms. The dark grey fibre is alpaca from Dan-Di Alpacas, St. Malo, Manitoba. The white sheep’s fibre is from a local sheep farm called Anderson Sheep Farm south of Steinbach.

I skirted as much of the debris as I could from the fibre and brought it to Longway Homestead for washing, carding and spinning. The yarn spun is the yarn that I used to crochet this sweater.

I also have a red stripe added to the pattern, which is a 3 strand lopi 70% alpaca 30% merino from Turtle Mountain Alpacas, Killarney, Manitoba.

This is a very warm and comfortable sweater, easily worn in cool weather without needing a jacket.

Felted Collar

This felted collar is the result of a workshop I attended in Grunthal, Manitoba where I live. Shaila Wise of Beary Wise Creations lead a workshop creating wool cowls with locks. In this class a beautiful wearable collar was made that will be next-to-the-skin soft with curly locks. We learned the basics of wet felting but also the more advanced technique of felting locks that are loose and flowing.  

The fibre used in my collar is a Wendsleydale cross from Spirit Sands Shepherds (Gerry Oliver) just outside of Carberry.

Wool cowls with locks is a great way to incorporate the look and feel of "fur" with the knowledge that sheep were unharmed in the process. You can create a beautiful wearable shawl collar that will be next-to-the-skin soft with curly locks.